9 month milestones

I thought I post some of the milestones that this little man has hit recently...... In just the last couple of days he has started to clap!! I love that milestone :) Clapping babies are very cute.
He's also started to pull everything out of the dishwasher if I try to load it with him nearby.
He absolutely loves to play in and dump out the dogs water. I'm not sure that area of the carpet is going to survive this age.
He will also wave back if you wave to him. He started doing it for Matt and Matt alone at first.
Watching babies learn and explore is one of my absolute favorite things about having kids. I guess I shouldn't limit it to babies.... watching them learn at any age is pretty amazing. Hailey learning to speak in full sentences...... Maggie learning to write......(she's starting writing notes to people)....... Jackson - thinking and creating complex race tracks and lego sets...... I love it!

Some of Caleb's favorite foods right now.....
organic instant oatmeal with yogurt mixed in
fresh strawberries (LOVES these)
chopped up grapes
pretty much any fruit, really
cheese
peas
beans....
Today his lunch was frozen peas (warmed up), cheese chunks, and strawberries.
He will eat almost anything. He gets very cranky when he's hungry.

He pretty much only feeds himself now. In true fist to mouth mess form :) He's quite good at it and I enjoy the freedom of not having to spoon it all in. However, it makes for more laundry since it's quite a messy endeavor and he just rips off any bib we put on him.....

Spring

This is Maggie's favorite time of the year. She loves it when the flowers start to grow. We planted some so I think she will be very excited when those PINK ones start to come in. The ones that are left anyway. Chipmunks apparently like plant bulbs and they dug up a number of ours.

Yikes

This boy + this ball = mayhem.
On saturday as Matt and I were cleaning downstairs - Hailey and Caleb were asleep - Jackson comes running down to tell us he broke it. Uh oh. He was throwing this huge exercise ball around (in the Ben 10 game he and Maggie had made up) and it hit the chandelier in the dining room. The bottom portion fell off and hit the side of his head!! Yikes. He only had a little scratch. It could have been so much worse. At least he came to tell us right away eventhough he knew he would be in trouble. He had to pay us $10 towards a new light :) Luckily we hadn't switched that one out yet......

Another one down

Last night at bedtime (why is it always at bedtime??) Jackson's top front tooth came out. Well, got pulled out more than came out. After we had sent him to bed he came out with bloody fingers from wiggling his tooth. I cleaned him up and told him to leave it alone - if he could. When I went in to put Caleb to bed Jackson was sitting on his own bed wiggling away. I just sent him out to get a rag to contain the mess. A few minutes later he comes out to show us that he had pulled it out. He was VERY EXCITED!! He loves to get the money from the tooth fairy. I was impressed that he pulled it out himself. He's usually a bit of a wuss and hypochondriac...... :) I still can't believe he's old enough to be losing teeth! It seems like the first few years I was a Mom went by fairly slowly - NOW they go by so fast I wish it would slow down so I can remember it easier. Lucky for me we have blogland :) I'm much better at this than I ever was with a diary.

It's getting warmer!

 

The days are getting warmer.... in between all the rain that is...... and we spend a lot of time on the swings. I have a feeling you will see a lot of pics that involve kids and swings, swings and kids :) I guess it's a good thing we think our kids are cute.
I put Caleb in the sand box for the first time the other day. He wasn't sure about it on his bare feet, then he ate some, then he smiled and crawled all around in it. He loved it. He kept grabbing and squeezing the sand and patting down the piles we made. He only ate some at first - hopefully, it stays that way. Hailey loved the sand box but I hardly let her play in it when she was younger because she was always putting it in her mouth.

Bike

 

Remember the big wheels type trike I said was in the box? This is it. You could say he likes it a little. :)

In the collage you can see the little scooter wheels on it that let it spin around. It looks pretty fun. I wish they had one in my size!! We have taken the bikes down the elementary school a few times. All the kids love to ride. Maggie tried out 2 wheels the other day. She was a little nervous but actually pretty steady while I helped. This might be the summer for her to go without training wheels. I played around on Jackson's razor scooter while the others were riding bikes. It was fun :)

someone is SEVEN

 

This was what Jackson wanted for a cake. We had decided on a robot theme a little while ago so I did a google search for robot cakes with him. He saw this one and decided that was it. We showed him other cool cakes but he was sold on the idea of everyone picking their own donut!

 

 

Opening presents..... He got a lot of Legos... he spent the next few days building the sets. He was a pretty happy guy. He also got some Junie B. books, the bike, a magnifier, an iron man mask and a few other odds and ends.

 

 

This is the robot pinata that we made for his party. He really wanted a pinata but the closest thing we could find to a robot was an Optimus Prime pinata at Walmart for $20 so we decided to make one. I took a number of boxes and spray painted them silver then I handed the mass to Matt and said I need a robot pinata. I love engineer husbands :) I think the robot turned out excellent and Jackson was very impressed. The kids loved hitting it. It didn't break as easily as I thought it would.... Matt put candy in the head, the body and both legs. The kids loved that they got to break apart so many pieces and that so many had a chance to break it.

It was a fun day. I can't believe I have a SEVEN year old. He's a great kid. His favorite things to do are build with legos, watch Ben 10 (or almost any movie really), play in the sand box, create anything and everything and play with friends. He's getting very independent and loves to get his own cereal, make his own sandwiches, microwave anything we let him, and help me out. He is great at helping me when I ask with dishes, laundry, vacuuming, mopping....

Rainbow cupcakes

 

Since Jackson's birthday is so close to St Patricks day he decided to take rainbow cupcakes to school. He really enjoyed helping me make them and was very excited to take them in. I think they turned out pretty cool. His class loved them. I got the idea for them here - http://www.mysweetheartmoments.com/2011/02/get-ready-for-some-st-patricks-day.html. I saw them several other places also. Such a cool idea.

Birthday prep

 

Jackson's birthday was March 18th. We wrapped presents while he was at school one day. One of the presents came in just a plain, big box so I let Maggie and Hailey decorate it with markers. I love that such simple things can be such a big deal for them. They loved it. I loved that Maggie wrote Happy Birthday on it. There is something cute and awesome about kids just learning to write (and having the desire to do it).
This present is actually a bike/trike thing that I got on sale at christmas. Jackson has loved it. It looks like a big wheel (kind of) but has a lever you can pull that makes it go up on little scooter wheels- then it can spin in a 360.

St. Patricks Day

 

I think I said I was going to try to post more often so I didn't need to do so many at the same time...... obviously, I haven't met that goal this time :) I think this is the 10th post in a row..... and I'm not done yet.
In preparation for St Patricks Day I made a rainbow decoration and the kids made leperchaun traps. That was a very involved activity. Jackson had elaborate ideas that included tying things to the fridge handles and such. We had to tell him he couldn't set it all up until the night before...... Maggie got into it too and made her own trap. Her trap is the one is the picture. Somehow we missed a picture of Jackson's. I'm sure we will have a chance to try again next year.The leperchaun left a note that said they almost tricked him and then he turned all of our food green.... pancakes, eggs, milk, orange juice.... the kids thought it was great. In retrospect we might need to use a more natural food dye for it next year. I'm not sure all that color sat well with the kids. I love St. Patricks Day. It's another one of those low key but fun to get involved in holidays :)

An attempt at 4 for 4

 

This was an attempt at getting all 4 kids in the picture AND looking at the camera. It almost worked. :) Yes, I know that two of them are shirtless. Apparently I need to time my picture taking moments a little better.

Styrofoam

 

Matt was working down in the garage one day when he called the kids down to see something cool...... These little styrofoam balls were sticking to everything!! The kids had a great time playing in it. We had to vacuum them off - brushing them off didn't work at all.

Hot chocolate

 

One of the best parts about a cold snowy day is the hot chocolate :) The kids love coming in to get warmed up with it. They ask for it constantly..... but I don't do it very often. It makes a lot more dishes!! :) They were very impressed with this hot chocolate that came with mini COLORED marshmallows. Especially because the marshmallows were in their own little package seperate from the hot chocolate so they could pour them in on their own.
I prefer Hot apple cider to hot chocolate.....

Swing set and snow

 

We finally have our swing set almost completely back together after it sat in storage for over a year!! The kids have loved it. Maggie, especially, will go out and swing for a long time. She started swinging on her own the summer before we left Utah - so she was about 3 1/4. The independence is great except for the littler ones getting in the way. Hailey got hit once and is much more cautious now - thank goodness. Hailey loves to swing too and asks me to put Caleb down so I can push her big. Jackson loves the trampoline a little more I think but he swings for long periods of time too. I LOVE having the kids play outside. Knowing that they are getting excercise and fresh air is an amazing relief to me. That was one of the hardest parts about living in the apartment. There really wasn't anywhere for them to play outside!!
Of course it snowed the day after Matt got the swing set together. Maggie didn't care. She was out there swinging in the cold rain for a long time!! Caleb wasn't sure about the whole swing bit but didn't cry. (Now that we have put him in the swing more he loves it!)

Jackson and a lego tower

 

We have a picture very similiar to this one from a few years ago. I think Jackson was about 3. When he started building the tower I told him about the picture and showed it to him. Then he wanted to make a tower for how tall he is now..... He still absolutely loves to build with legos. He has drawers full of the little legos that he plays with endlessly. I wonder if Caleb will be as interested in Legos?

Painting the girls room

 

We painted the girls room a little while ago. Well, part of it anyway. We promised the kids that they could help with their own rooms since we didn't let them help out in the main rooms. We only painted the top half of the wall pink. The bottom will be white board and batten. Somehow I missed taking a picture of Maggie when she was helping so I just have this one of Hailey in all her pull-up glory :) She is such a funny kid. She is halfway potty trained now. She goes stinky in the potty almost everytime but needs a pull up for the other...... Kind of backwards. It won't be long though before we are back to only one with diapers. They are all getting so big.

Entryway light

 

Our entryway light used to be an older style glass one. Not my style at all. So we replaced with a different one. If I had an unlimited budget I'm not sure the new one is one I would pick either but it was on sale and makes a BIG difference. Now we have a very white entryway. I'm working on that :) I can't decide what color would go well there. Maybe my sis will help me out when she comes to visit in a few weeks. Hint, hint.

4 for 4

 

Look at that - a picture with all 4 kids looking at the camera at the same time....... apparently cleaning them up first was a little too much for me that day :) We will be heading in for pictures soon since Jackson just turned 7. I think we will try for some full family pics at the same time.

Maggie's hair

 

Maggie loves for me to do her hair. She has definite ideas about how she wants it to look. It's a challenge for me to get it as close to what she wants as I can. She loves to have her "puffy"...... It will be so interesting to see what happens when she starts to do her own hair. I'm sure she will surpass my skills in no time :) I found a hair thing that kind of looked like a tiara that I thought she would like. She loved it and wanted her hair up with it. Hmm. Cute girl! I have started to take pictures of her hair dos to make a little photo book that she can pick her "hair for the day" out of. I'm hoping it will streamline things a little :)

Hailey and prayer

We have started to add Hailey into our prayer cycle. We just go youngest to oldest. When she started to show interest in having a turn we started to say prayer with her. At first we would say the same thing for her to repeat each time. Then she would say it herself. Now she is starting to add in her own things - it's very cute and funny. Sometimes it's hard to keep the laughter in while she finishes..... Tonight Matt put out the pickles with dinner and Hailey was excited. It also happened to be her turn for prayer. It went like this
"thank you pickle. thank you dinner pickle. thank you dinner pickle. A M."
Little ones are so funny. Her A M at the end in place of Amen is always cute too.
Hailey went to bed before night prayer so Maggie said it. She does it very well all on her own. Tonight she prayed that Matt and I wouldn't get the sickness that the kids have had. Good prayer :)