Craft Weekend

I'm not sure why we call it Craft Weekend anymore since we don't really finish any crafts anymore like we used to.  But it was time for our annual girl weekend!  Since I have a new baby, all my sisters and my mom came to my house this time.  It was fun.  We ate yummy snacks, and gabbed a lot.  We did do one project - they all helped me paint Emmaline's room but I will post more about that later when I have pictures to show of the new set up! 

Besides just enjoying hanging out together, we did go on a walk around a lake.  I was surprised to see Pelicans in the lake - I had no idea they came to Colorado!

There are also a ton of Canadian Geese around the lake.  The are extremely used to people and will come right up to you.  The problem of course is that they are the same size as the kids!  We did bring some bread to feed them.  Emmaline was holding a piece in her hand and one goose was getting pretty aggressive with her because she wasn't throwing pieces out fast enough.  That goose walked right up and tried to snatch that bread right out of her hand!  In an effort to protect Emmaline, my sister, Jana, gave that goose a big kick and knocked it right on its butt.  He wandered away with some ruffled feathers and no more bread.  There were quite a few geese families too with their little goslings. 

There were signs up warning us about other wildlife as well.  I like the part where it said to grab our small children and also to fight back.  What do they think I am - a vampire?

We also paused and took some pictures of all of us.  So here are some shots of me and my sisters and mom.  One is the "nice" pose - and the other is the more accurate representation of how things really are with us!  You can spot Lincoln's feet there in the sling too.  He got to sneak into the picture.

And then one last picture!  We realized we didn't have a picture yet of all of my family together! I wish we could look more like a nice magazine family - but I guess this is accurate at least!

Rating:  5 Golden Eggs (ala Willy Wonka)

6 weeks

It has been six weeks already!  Lincoln was in a fantastic mood this afternoon so I took advantage and snapped some pictures of him.  About half an hour after I took them, he smiled at me for the first time.

Rating:  5 Laffy Taffy

Six and a Half

Nope - not my shoe size!  Well, actually it IS my shoe size.  But actually what I'm talking about today is that Lincoln slept for six and half hours last night!  YAY!  He has been doing nice 3-4 hours stints for awhile now but this is the next breakthrough.  In honor of the event I tried to take pictures of the kids.  Actually - I just noticed they were all wearing bright primary colors (except Lincoln I guess - green isn't a primary color) and that screamed out "photo op!" to me.  However, it is quite the nightmare to take pictures of 4 kids and to have them all clean, in one place, and happy - all at the same time.  First the girls were all obsessing over Lincoln and then of course Lincoln was grumpy:

Then I tried to get them to all sit for the picture AND be happy.  That didn't work.  That is Idgie eating a Jelly Bean that I tried to bribe her with.

Finally I got this picture - kind of.  Except for by the time I actually got them to this point, and we were done talking to the neighbor who leaned over the fence to see what was going on (I kid you not - she climbed on a stool and leaned over the fence), the sun was so high in the sky that all we got is a lot of shadow and washed out faces.

I'm the fourth child and I used to wonder why there were hardly any pictures of me.  Now I know why.

Rating:  4 Sour Patch Kids

Kindergarten Graduation

It seems like it was just barely the beginning of the school year and my oldest baby was crying as she walked into the school.  And now look at her!

They did a cute little graduation ceremony today.  The kids sang some songs, told about things they learned this year, and received their diplomas.   This is Emmaline showing how they learned to be "Star Writers" this year.

When they received their diplomas, they got a chance to tell what their favorite part of kindergarten was.  She said, "My favorite part of Kindergarten was learning everyone's name."  She explained later to us that it was because learning their names meant she was making new friends!

Of course no matter how much she has grown - she is still small.  She got to stand next to the tallest kid in her class during the program and you'll note she only comes to his shoulder!

Emmaline also brought home a book of some work she had done throughout the year.  I selected just a few of the artwork and writing samples to show off here!

Rating:  5 Pixie Dust

This Summer

Last year we made a list of things we wanted to do during the summer.  We didn't get to all of it - but it was nice to have a list written down so that when we were sitting around on Friday saying, "what should we do tomorrow?" we had a list to work from.  We also consulted the girls this time around so they helped come up with some of the list for this year.

Take the older girls to see Toy Story 3
Picnic at a "Beach" (we'll go to a lake)
Picnic in the Mountains
Picnic at the temple grounds
Walk Main Street and check out all the little shops
Butterfly Pavilion
Denver Zoo
Children's Museum
Walk one of the Green Belts
Play in the fountains at the park
Go swimming
Camp in the backyard (we aren't brave enough to take them all out real camping!)

One Month

Our little guy is one month - and not so little of a guy anymore!  He had a a check-up today and he is now 9lbs. 2 oz. and 22 inches long!  That means in the last month he has gained two pounds and grown two inches.  I knew it was coming.  I looked at him a few days ago and realized the newborn was gone and an infant had replaced him.  The doctor asked how nursing was going.  I told her it was going fine.  She asked how often he eats, and I told her I had no idea - I just feed him when he is hungry.  She just commented that clearly it was working!

Rating:  4 ounces of pure cream

Kindergarten Concert

A week or so ago, Emmaline's teacher told us that Emmaline had her feelings hurt at school.  Apparently three other kids in the class were talking about how she was the smallest kid in the whole class.  From what I understood from Emmaline - they weren't directly teasing her - or even teasing at all, as much as making a statement of fact.  But all the same, it made Emmaline cry.  But for the end of year concert, I was very happy that Emmaline is the smallest, because she ended up right on the front row!  There she is right on the end, in the pink dress.

Rating:  3 Lollipops

Mother's Day

It was a great Mother's Day this year.  We celebrated on Saturday instead which turned out to be a very good thing!  AJ took the girls on an all day outing and I got to stay at home and enjoy the peace and quiet!  I did have Lincoln but really he's the easy and quiet one compared to the others!  He and I slept in until 9:00 (admittedly I was holding him to do it - but sleep is sleep!).  I read a book, watched a movie, took a nap, ordered some lunch.  It was great!  That night after the kids went to bed we got some food from Chili's for dinner.  I admit that due to the fact that I am nursing, I am currently a bottomless pit, and managed to consume an entire rack of baby back ribs - and it was fabulous.  We also finished watching Sherlock Holmes (I fell asleep watching it for date night the night before!)  Overall a great and relaxing day.  Who knew that spending the day NOT being a mother would be the perfect way to spend Mother's Day???

However, it turns out the love didn't end there.  A couple of the kids had colds on Saturday, I had the sniffles too but by that night I was getting pretty sick too.  So on Sunday, we ALL were sick and snot nosed except for AJ (thank goodness!).  If only one person can be well on Mother's Day - please let it be the father!  That way the mom can still relax and rest!  Unfortunately, AJ had to speak in church, so I stayed home with all the kids and he went.  I made him call me on his cell phone when he spoke so that I could hear it.  I felt really bad about not being there to hear him and support him so the cell phone worked out perfectly! 
Then on Sunday afternoon, I got gifts too!   The girls were apparently very insistant to AJ about what they wanted to get me . . . are you ready for it???  .....  BALLOONS!  So yes - they bought me a bag of balloons, and instantly asked when I was going to play with them and was I going to share.   It was no shock later when Emmaline asked me what I wanted for dessert that night, and in the same breath told me to pick something "safe" so that she could eat it too!

AJ got me a gift too.  He has a habit of always going bigger and better.  I asked him for a little planter box to put in the window and a packet of cilantro seeds.  We're always buying fresh cilantro and it doesn't do well outside, so I figured I could grow it indoors.  So what does AJ come up with instead?   An AeroGarden.   Which of course is totally awesome and also on backorder - so when it gets here I'll take a picture of that!

Thanks for a great Mother's Day everyone!  I love you!

Rating:  5 Lollipops

Kids

I thought I'd do a bit of a sum-up of all the kids and what they've been up to.

LINCOLN

Here he is taking his first real bath!  He wasn't a huge fan but he survived.  He has this habit of growing in the night.  You wake up in the morning and look at him and he is bigger.  Drives me crazy!

IDGIE

Idgie is turning into a chatter box.  She tries to say the prayer at dinner and loves socks and dress up clothes.  Who cares that it is hot outside?  I tried to get a picture of her in her socks but she kept trying to sit down for the picture and instead I got this cute picture instead!

LILIANA

Lil would like you know how passionate she is about everything.  Sometimes I think she is a 14 year old trapped in a 3 year old body.  She also is a very silly girl and learning that she can try and make people laugh.  She wouldn't smile for a picture.  This is all I got instead.

EMMALINE

Emmaline has been doing a lot of activities for school lately.  On Tuesday they went on a field trip to the zoo.  The highlights were apparently seeing the monkeys and walking past a small aquarium to get to the bathrooms.  The day after the zoo, they had field day.  I got to go and watch that.  The 5th graders were in charge of the activities and were all doting on her.  I think it is the fact that she is a full head shorter than all the other kids in the class that they kind of were babying her.  She didn't seem to mind though.  It got her some extra turns in the tug-of-war!  (she's the one at the front)

Rating:  4 Pixie Dust

Time

Isn't time a funny thing?

Three and a half years ago we moved to Colorado. I still find myself being surprised that I live here. I'll sometimes be driving home and that thought will cross my mind and it just seems so weird. Never in my whole life did I ever envision I'd be living in Colorado.

In the last three and half years, I have also brought three babies home to this house.  How strange is that?  I'm glad we had the foresight to pick a house we'd grow into!  Emmaline's room only had a dresser and a toddler bed, there was a guest room, and an empty nursery. Now every room has at least one child in it.

I think it must be babies that make time go faster.  One moment they are all squishy and red with elephant skin hanging off their bones, and in a matter of two weeks, you look at them and suddenly their skin is filled out and so smooth and creamy looking.  I alway notice it in their hands first.  One moment the fingers are these little twigs and the next they suddenly seem more solid and less wrinkled.  It happens in the face next.  And then the legs.  And then suddenly that fresh from heaven child is gone and you have this real little child to get to know and to cuddle with.

Rating:  5 Lollipops

Street Signs

So yesterday we were driving down the road, and spotted two teenage boys walking down the sidewalk with 20mph School Zone sign under their arms.  After a brief discussion on what to do, I called the police and AJ started to follow them.  We kept our distance so they didn't know we were watching them and I told the police where to go.  We watched the boys walk into their house, and less than 5 minutes later, the police were knocking on their door.  I can imagine the scene - these two boys likely walked in the door, started to high five each other and decide where to hang they sign and then ....  *knock knock knock*

We actually got to watch from a distance because the cops asked us to stick around.  We were parked down the street and saw the cops knock on the door.  It took quite awhile for them to answer, and we saw the cops go around the back and check things out.  Finally the boys came to the door, and after about 10 minutes, we saw the street sign come to the door too.  I would guess no parents were home because we never saw them.  The boys weren't physically arrested but I do *think* they got citations. 

Eventually a cop came down to us and told us we could go.  He said that someone else had also called in, and that if we hadn't of called, they wouldn't have found the boys.  They even knew right where the sign came from, so that's good!

Rating:  5 Lollipops