The Adventures of Life With 4 Kids

Hugging my Ears

2008-04-08T09:06:00.001-07:00

This morning Katie was screaming & Josh was mad about all the noise. So, to get back at Katie, Josh said he couldn't hear her...he was "huggin' his ears" to block out her noise!

Another "cute" thing was when Nathan was looking at a map & told me, "Here is where the Avalanche Mountains are." He meant the Appalachians! :)

What's in YOUR kitchen drawer?

2008-03-13T15:12:00.000-07:00

I bet it's not something like this!:) (Who knew that cookie cutters made great teething rings??? At least the top, rubbery part!)

Spring is Here!!!

2008-03-13T15:03:00.001-07:00

And along with spring comes wet, muddy feet & pants & hands! But it didn't seem to bother the older kids today.

Nathan was out building a dam where the melting snow was running along the curb. He also panned for "gold" (which he is displaying in this picture). He had some success--he did find a piece of gold (a gold cap to a Budweiser bottle) and a dime. Here he is with his treasures!

Megan has always loved jumping in puddles. She had a blast riding her bike through the puddles on the street, jumping in the water streaming along the curb, and finding plenty of mud. That's my girl!;)

School Days

2008-03-13T14:52:00.001-07:00

Everyone seems to be hard at work these days...even Katie!:) (Although on this particular day, Josh must've taken a "vacation" day!)

Sir Nathan

2008-03-13T14:48:00.001-07:00

Showing off his new grown-up teeth...

A cute face as my little scholar studies a map of the world:

Miss Megan

2008-03-13T14:38:00.000-07:00

Megan is looking so grown up!!!

Here she is wearing my robe...it's just a little big on her!:)

Prince Joshua

2008-03-13T14:32:00.001-07:00

Princess Kate

2008-03-11T08:49:00.001-07:00

Here she is playing peek-a-boo:

Temper Tantrum caught on Camera!!!

2008-03-11T08:18:00.001-07:00

This is what happens when I take away a piece of paper that she wanted to chew on. Princess Katie has a fit! Gotta love her expression in the first picture...if looks could kill!;)

My practice subject from last night

2008-03-11T08:00:00.000-07:00

Good old Abby, who was trying to snooze, was my test subject last night as all the kids were in bed. Bryn was in the shower...I didn't think he'd appreciate my photographing him, so the dog it was!:)

And here I got all artsy-fartsy (sorry to use that word mom, but it is part of the phrase!). You know those photos people take of their babies' feet? Well, I did a similar thing with the tops of Abby's paws. Hmmm, not nearly as cute as the baby concept, but oh well!

Tomorrow!!!!

2008-03-09T20:30:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow my new camera is due to arrive...between the hours of 8:00am & 7:00pm. I need to be home in order to sign for the package when it arrives. Nothing like an 11-hour window to make it difficult to plan out the day. Here's a picture of what my camera will look like:

A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words...

2008-03-04T11:26:00.001-08:00

But unfortunately my camera died yesterday! That's o.k., I will just try to use words (around 1,000 or so) to explain our wonderful day today...

This morning, while I was busy for 2 or 3 minutes, Joshua took the opportunity to climb onto a chair & take almost every single book off our 7-foot bookshelf in the basement & dump them into a pile on the floor. What's worse is that he also chucked a glass bottle with a boat in it on top of them & it shattered, spreading glass EVERYWHERE on the books & on the basement floor. Not cool. He was in big trouble for that one.

Fast forward an hour or so to lunchtime when I was feeding the kids some pepperoni tortilla pizzas I had made. I cut Katie's up into little pieces & placed them in front of her. She chose to shovel a bunch of them into her mouth and ended up choking. Thank goodness I looked over at her when I did. She had a strange expression on her face & she was turning red. I unbuckled her from her chair & flipped her over & did the baby heimlich on her. At first it didn't work; she just turned redder. I continued to do the back blows & she finally gagged & threw up the food that had been caught in her throat. What a relief.

This mom has been emotionally drained since a little before noon. A nap sounds pretty good to me; too bad I can't seem to convince my children of the same thing. Heaven knows what would happen were I to actually sneak a nap in with as quickly as Josh can get into trouble. I hope you were able to get a good mental picture of what happened today as I managed to describe it in 111 words rather than 1,000!

"Carons"

2008-03-03T12:35:00.001-08:00

Today we melted down the stubs of old crayons we had & made some new, "fancy" crayons. The kids loved them & it was a very quick process. Joshua refers to crayons as "carons," and is very excited to color with these new ones!

Read Alouds

2008-03-01T19:05:00.000-08:00

Nathan CAN read...he just doesn't seem to have the desire to pick up a book and actually read for fun just yet, even though he sees us reading books frequently. So tonight I managed to get him to read a stack of books. What card did I play, you might be asking? I suggested he read to his caterpillars...the ones that arrived on Monday for our butterfly kit. That seemed to be just the right motivation for him. He read away to those caterpillars, showing them the pictures & everything. It was very cute!

Guess Who? Sorry!

2008-02-29T18:16:00.000-08:00

I just named 2 of the games the big kids & I played together tonight. I got them (the games!)at a local thrift store for 40 cents apiece...what a steal! We HAD a Sorry game prior to moving, but I haven't been able to find it since we moved in, so just went & got a "new" one the other night. It's really fun being able to play games with them like that. (Although we're still working on not boasting when you're winning & not whining when you're losing.) And to top the night off, we cozied up on the loveseat & read a couple of new library books together. There's nothing I love more than being sandwiched between my kids as we read a good book! Most of all I love seeing how completely happy they are right now--life is good!

Recent pics of the kids!

2008-02-28T19:24:00.001-08:00

Here's Kaitlyn. She's not smiling, but I like this picture because you can see how one eye (on the left) is much more hazel than the right eye. The right eye is mostly hazel, but has a quadrant in the lower right that is all blue!
Here's Josh...prior to the staple incident (see previous blog entry):

And Megan, very cheerful & happy this particular morning!:)

And finally, here is Nathan. You'll notice he is missing his 2nd tooth, lost earlier in the morning during breakfast. Don't worry, he didn't swallow it & the tooth fairy came later that night!

ER

2008-02-28T19:10:00.000-08:00

Josh spent a little time at the hospital yesterday afternoon. Nothing major, thankfully. But he grabbed a tag on a cord...a tag that had been stapled on & the staple got hooked through the pad of his pinky finger. It was hard to tell how bad it was; he was bleeding & you could see both ends of the staple sticking through his finger. Thank goodness my mom happened to stop by about 5 minutes earlier--she was able to take care of the other kids while I raced Josh off to the hospital. He was anxious at first & obviously distraught over his sore finger, but calmed down pretty quickly once we were taken back to our room. He didn't want to sit on the bed with me, so I picked him up & held him in a cradle position & rocked him back & forth...and in less than 2 minutes he fell sound asleep! While I was sorry that he was hurting, it was really nice to have some snuggling time with my usually squirmy 2-yr old. After his nap, he woke up in good spirits, and we read some books together & examined some of the things we could see in our room--"There's a laundry basket, Momma!" (it was a little garbage can) "Oh! There's a kleenex!" (a medical glove sticking out of a box attached to the wall). Finally, after about 2 hours of sitting there, the doctor came in to remove the staple. A rather simple procedure & one that probably could've been handled just as well at home, eliminating the $100 copay. But that's life. He cried when the staple was removed, but just as quickly stopped, fascinated by the droplets of blood coming out of his finger. The kind nurse brought in a bucket of soapy water for him to splash his hand around in for a while. Then she further cleaned out his finger, finishing it off with a Snoopy band-aid. Ever charming, Josh said "Oh, thank you for the band-aid!" and about it being a Snoopy band-aid, "This is my favorite!" Safe to say he was a favorite patient of the day. It doesn't get any better than a minor injury & a well-behaved little boy at the hospital!

Bye Bye Binky

2008-02-21T19:53:00.000-08:00

We're down to 1 child using a binky now! Tonight we took the binky away from Josh cold-turkey. He was a little sad about the idea, but after hearing his big brother & sister say that they don't use binkies, and hearing that the Binky Fairy would bring him a special present if he got rid of his binky, he decided he could handle it. After bedtime stories & songs, we turned out the light, he rolled over & went right to sleep.

Here's what he's getting tomorrow morning from the Binky Fairy (who is an excellent clearance sale shopper, I might add!). A Sing-A-Long Spiderman pal!

Lunar Eclipse

2008-02-20T20:56:00.000-08:00

Tonight was very special! Nathan is SO into planets & anything "out of this world" that the lunar eclipse couldn't have taken place at a better time! We started counting down the hours until the eclipse already this morning--he just couldn't wait! Here's a picture of him explaining to Megan what is going to take place:

As we waited for the moon to rise, the kids had a special "lunar eclipse treat" (a Frosty from Wendy's). It was kind of like how you get popcorn at the movie theater & then eat it all before the movie even starts:
Then we started watching the moon as it changed. It was VERY cool.

I don't have the best camera by a long-shot, but I was impressed with how some of my pictures turned out in spite of that. I figured they'd mostly be a complete blur...and they are, but not as blurry as I was imagining! We had a PERFECT view of the moon from both downstairs, and upstairs. It was a blessing to be able to stay indoors to watch the eclipse with as bitterly cold as it is around here lately.

I'm not sure what was up with some of the colors that turned up in some of my pictures (some had a blue hue, others were pink, purple, greenish?!?!) but they look cool in spite of that. Also, I have included the reflection of the moon off the window from where I took the picture. I could've edited it out, but I think it provides a more accurate picture of what the moon really looked like. I couldn't use my flash while taking the pictures, of course, but the reflection of the moon is less bright & you can definitely see the eclipse better from some of those angles than of the "real" moon that I was shooting. Here are some pics!

Shadow just starting to cross the bottom left of the moon:

Notice in this next photo how the reflection of the moon shows just how much further the eclipse has progressed:

Oooh...it's like time-lapse photography!;)

More of the same, about 10 minutes later:

Now the reflection has moved to the top right portion of the photo. Again, you can see better from that angle just how much the moon is in shadow, compared to the brighter version:
The moon started to turn a reddish-brown here. It didn't really flatten out; I must've moved a little as I took the picture:
And here is the final picture where you can actually see the moon and its rusty-colored appearance:

Too Cute Not to Share

2008-02-09T22:02:00.001-08:00

I don't normally post my nursery letter orders here, but this one was SO fun to do (click on the picture to enlarge it) & I think it turned out super cute!

YMCA!

2008-02-09T18:39:00.000-08:00

Well, we bit the bullet & joined the Y today!:) Temps were a balmy 14 below or so outside & we decided it was just right for an afternoon of swimming in the pool...the indoor variety, of course! We had a blast! The kids were so excited, it was a joy just to watch them. They were giggling & splashing like crazy in the wading pool. The fountains were going when we first got there & Josh screeched & squealed at the sight of them. Kaitlyn was the only one who wasn't quite sure about this enormous bathtub she was in. She tried to climb up me as I held her, but eventually she realized it was fun to hang out in the pool. (Boy did she take a great nap when we got home after all that stimulation!) I'm sure we'll be going back for more pool time very soon!

Joshua updates!

2008-02-08T10:51:00.000-08:00

Last night (drum roll, please) he peed in the potty!!!! We're nowhere near success just yet, but the fact that he went in there was very encouraging! He CAN do it...we now just need to make a habit of getting him some practice time on the toilet!

And this morning he got his finger stuck in a storage bin. It contains a bunch of their toys & he happened to find a small hole near the handle portion. It was just big enough for the tip of his pointer finger. The problem was, he put his finger in all the way to his 3rd knuckle...and got stuck. So, I had to pull his finger straight up to get him loose. It worked, but not without tearing a layer of skin off that section of his finger. Ouch! I know it hurts a fair amount when just a top layer of skin is rubbed off. He's got a band-aid on it right now, but it sure took a lot of encouragement to convince him that I should put it on.

A Good Night's Sleep???

2008-02-08T06:20:00.000-08:00

Last night Bryn looked into our smoke detector issue. It must simply be an old detector as it did NOT have a back-up battery in it. So, he disconnected it & we'll purchase & install a new unit this weekend. After getting that one disconnected, we were guaranteed a good nights' sleep, right? Wrong! Incredibly, at 2:13 a.m., the detector in OUR bedroom started chirping & woke us up! My initial thought was that it was still the hallway detector, but how could that be? Then we listened more closely & discovered that the chirp was a little louder than it had been the past 2 nights. So...today I will be running to Target & buying a bunch of 9-volt batteries to replace in ALL the smoke detectors so this doesn't keep happening! Here's to a good night of sleep tonight...I hope?!?!

What's with this?!?!

2008-02-07T08:33:00.000-08:00

If it's not the kids getting us up, there's always got to be something else, it seems! The past couple of nights have been fairly restful as far as kids not getting up the entire night. Interestingly enough, however, our smoke detector has chosen the magic hours of 1:30-3:30 to begin "chirping." The first time it happened, I woke Bryn up & he tried to take the detector down. That's when we discovered that it is hardwired into the house. Interesting. He had a heck of a time getting the thing to snap back into place...it's a wonder no kids woke up! The chirping then stopped. But, same thing happened last night, this time around 1:30. Grrrrr. It does not make this sound during the day. This is the oddest (and most annoying) thing!!!

Whac-A-Mole

2008-02-03T05:36:00.000-08:00

This is what our nights have been like lately. We no sooner have one kid back to bed in the middle of the night, finally fall back to sleep, and someone else is up. The youngest two are both teething, so I am sure that affects their sleep. Nathan is always a great sleeper...until Josh wakes him up since they share a room. And Megan sleeps well until she has to get up to go potty...at which time she insists on coming down to our room, crying and needing one of us to help her to the bathroom. We were up 9 times in 5 hours last night. Someday they will be teenagers & we'll have to wake THEM up...won't that be funny!

By the way, did you notice on the picture of the box that it says "4-player game"? Yeah, the kids are taking that to heart. (And no, we don't use hammers to get the kids to go back to sleep, tempting as it may be!)

Practicing for Valentine's Day

2008-01-29T15:51:00.001-08:00

Do I really care that much about Valentine's Day? Not really. But it's always good to practice making some of the treats beforehand, just to make sure they turn out how they should on the real day...in other words, I was craving chocolate today!

So grown up...yet so very young

2008-01-29T15:44:00.000-08:00

It's easy to forget sometimes that my 6 yr old is just 6 years old. Sometimes he seems wise beyond his years. The other day, however, I was reminded of just how young he really is. He was looking at the globe and asked me if that was what the earth really looked like. I told him yes. He then asked, "Does it have the words on it, too?"

Clouds

2008-01-24T08:30:00.000-08:00

Megan informed me the other day that she does not care for "the cheese with the clouds in it." :)

Trouble? Who Me?!?! (Part 2)

2008-01-23T08:17:00.000-08:00

What is it with Joshua & locking doors?!
He was playing so nicely up in his sister's room. After a short while, I heard him banging on the door over & over. Intuitively, I just knew he'd locked himself in her room. I put the baby in her exersaucer so I could have peace of mind that she was in a safe place while I went to check out the situation.

Sure enough, the door is locked from the INSIDE. As you can see, it's not just a push-button lock that I could easily manipulate to open from my side of the door. So, the only option I had was to take a screwdriver & remove the doorknob. I finally got the knob off on my side & it dropped into Josh's hand on the other side. That's when the tears started flowing for him as he thought he had broken the door & probably figured he was going to be in big trouble. In spite of my attempts to tell him it was o.k., he was not in trouble, he continued to cry & be upset. I ran back downstairs and managed to find a leftover sucker in a cupboard & unwrapped it & pushed it under the door for him in hopes that it would calm him down while I worked to get him out of the room. (It didn't really work.)

Even with the knobs off the door, the lock wasn't coming undone. I finally had to wedge the screwdriver between the moulding of the door and pry the latch open that way. I was thrilled when the door suddenly popped right open. I could just picture the headlines:

MOM SAVES 2 YEAR OLD BOY FROM HIS OWN PREDICAMENT IN 10 MINUTES!

Maybe I shouldn't be proud of the time it took...maybe it means I'm a lousy "breaker and enterer" but regardless, I saved my little boy! He happily picked up his sucker & continued his day as though nothing had happened. I proceeded with my day as well, preparing dinner for the family...except with greasy black fingerprints on my shirt from his little hands & a slight pink stain from his sucker rubbing on me. (Figures I was wearing a white shirt!!)

Trouble? Who, ME?!

2008-01-10T15:34:00.001-08:00

See this cute little face? Well, just read on to see what this little angel-in-disguise pulled on me today...

My charming little 2-yr-old accidentally locked me out of the house
for 10 minutes! I had gone out to bring the trash cans up from the
curb & when I tried to open the door to the house, I couldn't! He had
turned the deadbolt just far enough for it to latch. Ugh!!! The
oldest 2 kids were in the basement & Kaitlyn, thankfully, was snapped
into her chair at the kitchen table with a snack, so I knew she was
o.k. I told Josh to unlock the door & he GIGGLED!! I then started
yelling for Nathan or Megan, but they couldn't hear me. Each time I'd
shout for one of the kids, Josh would copy me, shouting their names as
well. No luck. I then ran to the front door & rang the doorbell a
million times. The dog started barking, but apparently my oldest were
completely oblivious to all the commotion upstairs. I ran back to the
locked mudroom door & yelled for Josh to go get Nathan. It was like
he finally realized this wasn't a big joke. He tried, but for the
first time, of course, he actually COULDN'T get the childproof door knob cover to
work. At this point I decide to run to the backyard and see if I can get
him to open the sliding glass door as I knew I had only one of the
locks to that door fastened. So here I am, barefoot but wearing cheap
sandals & running through the snow in the yard to try to get in from
the back of the house. Plan A was to try to get Josh to unlock & open
the slider. Plan B was to go bang on the window well cover over the
window to the basement & hope that Nathan would come upstairs to see
what the deal was. Thankfully Plan A worked & I successfully made it
inside. On the bright side, I finally wizened up and have
put a spare key in our mudroom for any other events such as this.

Reflections on 2007

2007-12-26T16:11:00.000-08:00

While Josh takes a moment to reflect in his syrup...

I wanted to take a moment to reflect on this past year.

Katie survived her first year with her 3 siblings who took quite an interest in her...and are still thrilled to compete over who can make her smile or laugh first. These pictures are from January:

In February, the kids practiced holding Katie...

Here's how Katie felt about it:

March brought with it a big old snowstorm...

As well as Times of Togetherness...

Loads of Laughter (and teething!)...

And the first picnic of the year!

April brought times of family togetherness:

Birthday wishes for an uncle:
Easter:

And Valiant Super Heroes...
April showers bring May mud puddles...

Sprinklers...
New tastes...bananas for Kaitlyn, popsicles for the older kids:
And beautiful eyes!:)

June meant fun in the pool!

Science projects & experiments...

Cute girls...
Big Accomplishments at 3 & 1/2 years of age...

And growing up...
July brought more birthdays...(Josh turned 2!)

And cute baby feet!

August was a trip to South Dakota. We stayed at a cool hotel (thanks Mark & Mary!) that had a big pirate ship wading pool for the kids:
August was also hands-free corn on the cob...
Exploring nature between rain showers...

And (gasp!) a VACATION up north!

September held the remainder of our Labor Day weekend vacation...

Fun photo-ops:

And Megan's mud bath:
October was a visit to the apple orchard...

Pumpkins galore...

And halloween...

November was a new little walker in the house...
As well as a 4th birthday for Megan!
And finally, December brought beautiful scenery, from frost...
To snow...
As well as Miss Kaitlyn's first birthday!

Holiday baking...

Packages delivered...those empty boxes are always a hit!
New traditions...camping out under the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve (yes, this is our Charlie Brown tree, but it served its purpose!)

And the obvious, celebrating Christ's birth & opening/enjoying new presents...

2007 was great! Now we're done reflecting, so go eat your waffle....and have a great 2008!

Oh the Times They Are A-Changing!

2007-12-21T20:08:00.000-08:00

And so are the kids. Nathan is officially growing up as he lost his very first tooth tonight! It seemed extra wiggly this evening & tonight he said it was laying on his lip & was bugging him & then it just fell right out! About 15 minutes prior to this event occurring, he had come downstairs saying his tooth was hurting. We told him it was likely to come out soon. His only concern was that he might have to "gum" all his food like the baby does!!!!! :) Here's a picture of our little guy (not the most flattering, but that's o.k.) with a gap between his bottom teeth!

Winters Aren't That Cold Anymore

2007-12-18T14:34:00.000-08:00

No, this has nothing to do with global warming--it has to do with having kids! I just spent the past 20 minutes outside sledding with Megan & not for one minute was I cold. When you're having fun, you just don't notice the elements. I know this comes as a shock to my warm-weather friends--how can temperatures in the 20's not feel cold?! All you have to do is walk up a hill hand-in-hand with your little girl who says, "Mom? We're friends!" and the cold won't touch you one bit...in fact, your heart actually melts! :)

Whatcha Doing, Mom?

2007-12-18T13:44:00.001-08:00

Christmas Cookie Baking Day!

2007-12-15T16:11:00.001-08:00

The older kids & I made some fun Christmas cookies today. Nathan wanted to make some santa sugar cookies, and Megan chose to make gingerbread men. (And just for fun I made a Rudolph cookie.) Here are some photos from our day!

Santa cookies:

Rudolph cookie:

Gingerbread men:

Nathan decorating a santa cookie:

Nathan with the finished product:

Megan working on her gingerbread man:

Megan's finished product:

A Year Ago Today (Part 2)

2007-12-14T17:01:00.001-08:00

A year ago today, Kaitlyn looked like this:

Here is Katie today (notice she is sporting an entirely different birthday suit, compliments of Uncle Lee & Auntie Phyl!;)).
Katie at her birthday dinner--she's playing the Italian role & saying, "Manga, manga!" which means, "eat, eat!"

Mmmmmm. Chocolate birthday cake! It tastes pretty good!

It's even more fun to squish!

I call this picture "chocolate bliss." Life doesn't get any better for a girl than having a belly full of chocolate!;)

A Year Ago Today (part 1)

2007-12-13T19:32:00.000-08:00

I went into labor on my own in the afternoon! I remember everyone calling me that day, seeing if I was still pregnant (you know how they always do that toward the end) and I started to notice I was having some actual contractions. I began to count how many contractions I'd have & then do the math based on how long I'd been on the phone. I could see that the contractions were getting closer together. They never hurt, but they were intense. Bryn insisted I call the doctor, although I didn't think it was necessary just yet. To appease him, I called the OB & much to my surprise, they told me to hurry up & get to the hospital since it was my 4th baby & she could come quickly. I called Bryn (he was still taking the bus to work downtown since we both assumed I'd be induced as I was the other 3 times...and therein lay our mistake) & he said he'd hop on the next available bus. I called my mom to alert her to the situation. She was in the middle of a walk, not real close to her home. No worries. An hour later they both arrived & off we went to the hospital...where I was still only 1cm dilated! We walked the halls for an hour & nothing changed...for either one of us!;)

I was sent home with contractions coming every 2 minutes. We were home for all of 10 minutes when my water broke with a giant contraction. We had to call my mom to come back, had to ask a neighbor to watch the other kids until my mom returned & back to the hospital we went. I recall the contractions being quite intense by this time--I could've made a sailor blush at some points. On the flip side, Bryn was driving like I'd never witnessed before! (I suppose he had some fears about the fact that my contractions were now one minute apart. After all, you don't want to give birth in a high quality car like our hamster-powered Saturn!) We actually belonged in the fast lane that night as we whizzed by other cars.

We arrived at the hospital & pulled up to the emergency entrance. As I sat in the wheelchair Bryn had dragged carside, I completely forgot about any pain I was feeling from the contractions. Who needs an epidural when your husband tries over & over to push your wheelchair up the lip of a curb without any success?! (In his defense, I DID weigh an extra 50 pounds & was no longer the feather-light bride he had married 8 & 1/2 years earlier.) Around the time the ER security guard was walking out to assist him, Bryn, with a final burst of energy & strength, made it over that hurdle & we were granted access into the hospital!

By the time I finally got back up to the labor & delivery floor, I was dilated to 4cm. Got my epidural & within minutes, the baby's heartrate plummeted with each contraction . Of all my kids, it was the least "enjoyable" labor because I was so worried about the baby & why this was going on (turned out her cord was around her neck). On 12/14/06 at 1:49am, I got the green light to push, and at 1:51 Kaitlyn Elaine was born. It took exactly 118 minutes LESS to birth my 4th child compared to my 1st & for that I am forever grateful! (So was the on-call doctor!)

It's fun to look back & reflect...but it's really weird NOT being pregnant again around my child's first birthday like I was almost every other time!;) So tomorrow I will say goodbye to the baby days forever & hello to life with a toddler as my youngest. There are 2 ways to look at it--I can be nostalgic & sad, which is not always a bad thing, or I can be happy & look to all the things in the future that we'll get to do together as a family that we couldn't do as easily with small kids. I'll take choice number two!:) Happy early birthday, Katie! We love you!

Someone's in the Kitchen with Momma...

2007-12-12T16:52:00.000-08:00

All the kids are into watching the goings-on in the kitchen these days (well, Katie could care less). Today we made white chocolate/chocolate chip cookies & every time I'd increase the speed on my mixer, Josh would gasp & say, "Oh no!!!" with a big grin on his face. This evening he kept shouting, "Brown the beef!" as I was browning it up for our dinner. Here are some pics of my little chef-in-the-works! :)

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

2007-12-08T19:47:00.001-08:00

The sweetest thing happened yesterday. I had my Christmas CD's playing & the kids & I were singing "Away in a Manger." Josh was sitting on my lap on the floor and Megan was sitting to my left. Megan wanted me to play the song again, so I did. She called Josh over to her & he sat on her left. She then put her arm around him & they swayed back & forth to the music & sang along together (awwwww!) and then he kind of just laid back on her lap with his head on my leg & she patted his back & shoulder. It was the cutest thing ever!!! I needed to write it down, not just to share with everyone who reads my blog, but for me to take a look at in the future when they're fighting like cats & dogs! These amazing moments DO happen from time to time!:)

The Magic Icicle Tree

2007-12-05T13:02:00.001-08:00

The best part about playing outside on a cold day...

2007-12-05T12:20:00.000-08:00

Is coming in for hot chocolate! :)

Beauty Sleep?!?!

2007-12-02T20:09:00.000-08:00

Katie took a late afternoon nap and slept her hair into a totally messy do! I had to take some pictures! :)

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!

2007-11-30T12:14:00.000-08:00

I had to make a new Christmas candy countdown for Josh. The 2 on the left side are ones my grandma made for me & my brother about 30 years ago!!! Today I pieced together a new one. It was time-consuming, and I'm amazed I was able to start AND finish a craft with the kids up & around!!! (We won't talk about how my kitchen looks right now as a result of "playing" and not working!) I'm pleased with the final result. The kids all watched & cheered me on as I attached pieces of candy to their candy ribbons...and also sampled a couple candies!:) Josh is confused about the candy cane at the bottom--Halloween was not too long ago & he calls the candy cane, "candy corn."

I love that we have a fireplace at our new house. It's fun to have a traditional place to hang our stockings!

Things We Can't Live With

2007-11-30T06:59:00.001-08:00

Josh HATES that there are holes in the feet of his jammies. He'll be fine & then suddenly freak out, saying, "Toe pop! Toe pop!" These were Nathan's old pajamas. I might just cut the feet off (of the pajamas, not Josh!) and then he can wear socks. Josh is like his mom--he has to have his feet covered when he goes to bed!:)

They're Hard to Contain!

2007-11-28T12:42:00.000-08:00

Today Kaitlyn managed to push the pack-n-play that was blocking the exit from the room, out of the way! This thing sits on carpeting, so it's not that easy to move. But she's a strong & determined girl. Before I knew it, she had dashed across the entry way, climbed all the stairs & run down to Megan's room to play with Megan & Josh!

This afternoon she's been bound & determined to play with the buttons on the TV. Toys are of no interest, but those TV buttons are the greatest. I finally resorted to sticking her IN the toy box to prevent her continual fascination with the TV.

Thanksgiving

2007-11-24T08:35:00.000-08:00

After our Thanksgiving meal, Nathan summed it all up with this statement: "Oh boy, I think I outweighed myself!"

'Nuff said! We were ALL stuffed!

First Snow of the Season!

2007-11-22T08:27:00.000-08:00

Everyone was out sledding, even though we have maybe 1/2" on the ground. They had lots of fun. Here are pics of the kids (and even the dog!) out enjoying the snow this morning!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, TOO!!!

The Little Drummer Boy & the Monster

2007-11-20T08:45:00.001-08:00

Christmas music is playing in full-force on the radio here & has been for nearly a week. Today Megan was playing with Play-dough at the table when the Little Drummer Boy song came on. Perhaps you're familiar with the version they play on the radio--a man's voice mimics the sound of a drum; the part I'm referring to is probably supposed to be a bass drum. Megan heard it & asked what it was. I told her the name of the song. Then she asked, "Is that the monster?" when she heard the deep, "brummmm, brum brum brummmmm" of the bass drum. It's not as cute in writing as it was in person, but wanted to share a 4-year-old's perspective on Christmas songs!

Trick Or Treat?!

2007-11-19T09:31:00.000-08:00

Yesterday when I made Megan's cake & frosting, I let Megan & Joshua lick the frosting off the beaters. Josh was super excited & really liked the taste of the frosting. After handing him the beater, I prompted him with, "What do you say?" I was expecting a thank-you. Instead he took another lick & said, "Trick or treat!" :)

Let it Snow

2007-11-18T18:34:00.001-08:00

We got our first really big snowflakes coming down today. It didn't entirely cover the grass, but there were white patches. All the kids enjoyed seeing the giant flakes swirling down. I managed to capture Megan in this moment (she seems to be the star of the show today!).

Pretty in Purple

2007-11-18T18:27:00.000-08:00

Some more pics of my birthday girl! She had SUCH a great day--she was so happy the entire day; you can see it in this first picture. (Thank you Uncle Lee & Auntie Phyl for the adorable outfit she's wearing!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MEGAN!!!

2007-11-18T05:23:00.000-08:00

My little girl is 4 years old today!!! It's so hard to believe--it seems like just a few months ago she turned 3. 4 years ago right now I was at the hospital being induced. It even seems strange just to think that at that time we were only a one-child family. I can barely recall what life was like back then & how EASY it was raising just one, by comparison to having 4 kids now! Funny how it seemed "hard" back then!;) Megan was such a good baby & overall is a really good kid, too. She's always been an early riser and the same held true today. She was up before 6:30. Here's a picture of her with her new doll house that we got her--if the big cheesy grin on her face is any indication, I think the house is a hit!:)

A one-minute snippet of our life

2007-11-15T07:43:00.000-08:00

No photos taken to go along with this one. But here's the set-up: it's close to breakfast time. Josh is strapped into his booster chair, Megan is at her place at the table. Nathan is still downstairs (and avoids all the chaos), and Kaitlyn should be wanting to sit at the table for breakfast. I go to set Kaitlyn in her chair & she starts having a tantrum about it. Rather than fight her about it, I put her down in the family room to play. Apparently this is not what she wants, either. She decides to continue her tantrum by tipping over & screaming. I am working on getting breakfast on the table when Megan decides to yell at Katie to stop crying. As she turns to yell, she tips over her glass of grape juice which goes spilling EVERYWHERE. I now have stains on a chair & a sticky floor. Now Katie is so worked up, she starts to gag, Megan is crying because her juice has spilled, Josh is asking where breakfast is, and I'm trying to clean things up and NOT lose my temper, which was very difficult. Ugh! I can't wait til this evening when we're taking them all in for flu shots; that'll be another fun time, I'm sure!

Gallon Guy/Gallon Gal

2007-11-12T09:17:00.000-08:00

In school, we've been studying various methods of measurement. This included not only your standard inches, feet, yards, etc. but also teaspoons, tablespoons, cups, pints, quarts, gallons...you get the idea. Well, today we made Gallon Guy/Gals. It gives a great visual for remembering just how many pints are in a quart or how many cups make up a gallon. The biggest sheet of paper is the face of the gallon. The arms/legs are quarts, the hands/feet are pints, and the fingers/toes are cups. As you can see, 16 cups make 1 gallon, just like 2 pints makes 1 quart. I wouldn't have been able to remember this without the help of...GALLON GUY/GAL! Here are some pics of the kids with their respective measuring heroes!

The best way to wake up from a nap...

2007-11-11T12:27:00.001-08:00

In Grandma's arms!:)

When Dads Dress Kids...

2007-11-11T05:05:00.000-08:00

It doesn't always look quite right. Last night I went to bed early with a headache. This morning when Megan came downstairs, I got quite a laugh out of what she was wearing. She had on her regular pajama top...but all I can figure is that her pajama bottoms went missing at some point yesterday, so Daddy dressed her in a pair of stretch pants. I'm sure you're wondering what the big deal about that is. Well, Megan turns 4 years old a week from today. The stretch pants she's wearing are her baby sister's...they're size 12-months!!!! Granted they were originally Megan's...3 YEARS AGO! Here's a picture for your viewing pleasure!:)

The Great Toy Swap

2007-11-08T12:15:00.001-08:00

I love the morning following a "toy swap." I stay up late the night before, switching out the toys the kids have been playing with for the past couple of months & trade them for a bunch of other old toys that suddenly seem "new" to them. This even works if I move a certain toy from one level of the house to another. For some reason it seems to add appeal just changing the location of things. Here's a couple pictures of some of the kids from this morning, playing with their newly discovered old toys:

A New Favorite

2007-11-07T15:49:00.001-08:00

This is Nathan's all-time favorite book series right now. I'd heard of Hank the Cowdog, so when I saw a bunch of them in the library, I checked out 3. We read through them & had to immediately go & check out some new ones. Nathan lives for reading the adventures of Hank & Drover.

And just so you all know, Nathan plans on writing more Hank the Cowdog stories when he grows up. He will have them published in 2030. ;) I guess he'll be a successful writer at the ripe old age of 29!

Look Who's Walking!

2007-11-06T10:59:00.000-08:00

Now it's REALLY official. For the past couple of weeks she's been taking 8-10 steps here or there. Last night I watched her crawling around on her hands & feet, which was rather odd. Well, she used that method to teach herself how to stand up all on her own. After tumbling over with the first attempt, she mastered it right after that & promptly took 16 steps in a row! Nathan is currently upstairs performing the "carrot-in-front-of-the-rabbit" trick with her--he's holding out a pencil to Katie, which gets her attention & then she follows him wherever he goes, trying to catch the ever-elusive pencil. She's our earliest walker, at 10 & 1/2 months of age. The other kids didn't walk until a few days before or a few weeks after their first birthday! Go, Katie, go!

Kitchaboratory

2007-11-05T21:06:00.000-08:00

Have you ever seen a kitchaboratory? It sounds rather exotic, no? Here's a picture of one:

Yes, it's a kitchen/science lab combo. As you can see, we have been growing bean seeds. We also created a self-watering garden that was planted inside a large pickle jar. We put--what else--bean seeds & bean plants in there. It has been quite interesting to watch them thrive; to see the cycle of the roots taking up water, the excess water coming out of the leaves & condensing against the jar, and the plant once again getting watered as the droplets roll down the inside of the jar. Carrot-tops were our experiment from last week. I made a beef stew that Monday morning & decided it would be a perfect time to utilize the ends of the carrots I'd chopped. We placed them face-down on a saucer of water & within a couple of days, the tops began to sprout. And our most recent endeavor is to try to fool some twigs into sprouting leaves from the buds meant for next year, even though it's late fall. Obviously in their natural environment, they would not be sprouting leaves for many more months.

Although I have lost some valuable counter space, it's only temporary & very worth it so that the kids can witness how things grow. Even I have found it immensely fascinating & fun!

Socks Elder Bugs

2007-11-04T03:45:00.000-08:00

That's what my almost-4-year old calls them. We've had a warm fall & the asian beetles & box elder bugs have come out in full-force. The kids have collected about 20 of them total & put them in their bug-collecting box. Yet we continue to find more, flying around the lights in the kitchen or climbing up the wall. Josh is learning to master the technique of a gentle touch. A number of bugs have succumbed to a not-so-gentle handling by his little fingers. He's always disappointed when the bugs don't "go" anymore. And if there are any bugs on the floor, you can be sure Katie is going to find them and do what babies do with everything...so it's imperative that I keep a close eye on her or else she's going to ingest a bug or two. Not the worst thing, but not what I would choose for her.

In the Beginning...

2007-07-25T15:02:00.000-07:00

There were no kids & fewer stories to tell. In a matter of 5 years, 4 children were added to our lives. So many crazy things happen on a weekly (if not daily) basis that I have decided to keep a blog documenting what happens from this point forward.

Had I decided this last month, I would've had a great post about my 23 month old getting his leg stuck in the floor vent in the family room & how I had to call 911 because my neighbor & I couldn't get him out. (Long story short, a fireman went into the crawlspace under the room & pushed Josh's foot while another fireman pulled him from up above & out he popped, only sustaining a bruise on his thigh from being trapped for about 15 minutes.) Next time that boy says, "Stuck! Stuck!" I'm going to pay more attention!

If I don't laugh, I'll cry. So laugh along with me as you read about all our adventures!