FISHER FAMILY

Ears

2012-01-31T11:42:00.000-08:00

On Jan. 11th Caleb went in to get tubes put in his ears. We did that twice with Jackson so it wasn't a totally new experience. Caleb has had multiple ear infections recently and the fluid wasn't going away and antibiotics weren't really helping so in for tubes we went. The hospital let me go back with him to the OR and stay with him while they put him under. That was actually really nice. I knew he was going to scream and throw a huge fit if they took him away from me. He didn't cry at all. The doctors and nurses were way more worried about me. I think some parents tend to freak out a little...... I didn't - I was too relieved that it was going so smoothly without screaming and fit throwing. I was kind of amused by the nurses standing close to me, telling me it was ok, what to expect and constantly asking how I was doing. They said it was a lot harder on the parents to come back with the child but easier on the child. Personally, I think it was way easier on me too. Tubes don't take very long. After 15-20 minutes they came to get me so I could see him in the recovery room. He was awake and NOT happy. Coming off the anesthesia is by far the worst part of the whole experience. After they were sure he was fully awake I took him back to our room. He was still pretty fussy but starting to calm down. He drank the cup of juice they gave and a squeeze applesauce so after a little while they let us go. We got there at 6:30 am and left at 9:00. Overall it went really well.
He went from needed his blankie and pacifier constantly to just when he was tired that same day. It was pretty amazing. He is a much happier kiddo now. He is also talking a lot more. Kind of cool how something so simple can make such a huge difference.

Mohawk

2012-01-13T17:51:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago I was doing the girls hair when Caleb came in and wanted me to do something to his hair too. He loves to do whatever the big kids are doing. So I gave him a little mohawk. He thought it was pretty funny. He kept reaching up to touch it. Hailey called it his 'wave' and pointed it out to everyone!! It's a good thing mohawks are cute on little guys. It gets a little less attrative as they get older.... :)

Christmas morning 2011

2012-01-06T12:35:00.000-08:00

I found a remote control snake that we decided to give to Caleb. We left it unwrapped by the tree. That was excellent. The kids all played with it while they waited to open everything else. I will have to remember that trick :) They had already opened their stockings..... Maggie was very excited about a towel hair wrap. She loves to wrap up her hair after a bath but the towel always falls off. Funny girl. Hailey is playing with a poingo. I gave it to them as a family gift. They have all loved it. It's just a little pen thing that has special books to go with it. It reads the books alound and there are a lot of different games to play. I love that it's simple and small. The kids have all used it quite a bit. If you don't have one -you might think about it. It was only $10. It came with 2 books and I bought an additional 2 for $5. Caleb liked watching everyone else open presents :)

They all got some kind of project thing to do so they spent quite a bit of the morning quietly working at the table. Another excellent plan to remember for the future. Jackson is building legoes, Maggie is decorating girls with scratch off stickers, and Hailey is painting a little teddy bear bank that Jackson got her.
They have a secret Santa shop at school that the kids can bring money in to choose presents for whoever. I let them take $10 and they each chose a present for each person in the family. They were so excited to wrap them up and kept talking about how much everyone was going to love their presents! Very cute. I took Hailey to the dollar store to get presents for the other kids. She picked out a ball for each of them :)

I decided to make a hooded towel for each one of them. We've had small hooded towels before and they love them so I wanted to make bigger ones. I made Jackson's a bomb bird, Maggie's a butterfly and Hailey's a unicorn. They were actually pretty simple. If you didn't do a design, you could have towel done in about 10 min.

Christmas Eve

2012-01-06T12:24:00.000-08:00

On Christmas Eve we had our bigger dinner. Although it was just our family - we had ham, mashed potatoes, rolls, salad, corn..... Matt bought and apple pie and a chocolate mousse pie. Maybe someday I will make pies. After eating we opened presents that came from other people. I like opening presents Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. I think it makes it last longer.... :) My sister made a pillowcase for each of the kids. They were so excited to have their own special material - just look at their faces! We played with the presents and games until bedtime.
During the day (because I tend to put things off) I had the kids take turns wrapping presents for each other. They really loved that. I think it will have to be a new tradition. They might need to draw names to see whose presents they get to wrap. Maggie really, really likes choosing ribbons and bows to put on the presents. Then we would bring up the pile and put it under the tree. They thought it was pretty cool to see the pile grow bit by bit each time we brought some up. I was really happy that it was a laid back day. We had everything we needed so we wouldn't have to run to the store and I had wrapped almost all the other presents already. I did have to finish their hooded towels but there really wasn't much left.

ICE skating

2012-01-06T06:55:00.000-08:00

We went to one of those free night timeshare promotions...... it was at a very cool resort. No, we didn't buy anything but we did go ice skating with all the kids for the first time. So funny to see all their personalities come out in an activity like that. I get out on the ice first with Hailey, Caleb and Maggie. Sometimes I don't know what I'm thinking..... Matt was trading skate sizes for Jackson. I was holding Caleb with both hands while Maggie held the wall and Hailey alternated between me and the wall. Caleb thinks it's great and slides his feet all over really fast. Hailey is slightly nervous but really wants me to hold onto to her so she can "go better", Maggie is fine holding the wall and happily inching along. Next thing I know Jackson goes whooshing by and crashes into the wall at the far end. Matt comes skating up and does a pretty good slide stop considering he hasn't been on skates in years. He used to work at an ice rink - just before I met him. Jackson gets right back up, takes off and falls down. He does this over and over until he gets the hang of it. By the time we get off the ice he's up more than down. His pants are soaked from falling but he's begging to skate longer. Matt helped out with Hailey and Caleb who also loved it but started to get cold. Caleb refused to wear gloves. I went around a few times with Maggie who liked it but seemed just as happy holding the wall. I look over to see her pants wet (not from ice).....shoot. All of this happens in about 15 min. So I take Maggie, Hailey and Caleb so we can get dry clothes for Maggie. Matt and Jackson stay and skate until we get back. Whew. It wears me out just reading about it again. I only have a pic of Matt and Jackson. I will add it soon. Jackson has been begging to go again. In fact everyone really enjoyed it. It was just a little rink. I can imagine the look on Jackson's face when he sees a full size rink and he's allowed out on it. We will probably try to go again this winter. We just need two more adults...... :)Rollerblades may not be too far off.

Coloring

2012-01-04T06:21:00.000-08:00

Caleb has started to discover the wonders of coloring :) He doesn't really worry about staying on the paper.... but at least he's not coloring anything and everything like Hailey at the same age!! That's why we got her a little artist ornament when she was about 15 months at Christmas. The world was her canvas. She would color on the walls, the floor, books, herself, ANYTHING. She's a little better about that but has to be supervised..... just in case!

Lego Advent Calendar

2012-01-04T06:17:00.000-08:00

We have done some sort of Advent calendar for the past few years. This year we got a Lego advent Calendar. It was pretty fun. Each day you would open a door and get some small lego thing to build. All the days went together to make a Christmas lego scene. Santa came out on the 24th. The kids really enjoyed it.

Oh Christmas Tree

2012-01-04T06:15:00.000-08:00

We put up the tree and decorations on Dec. 1. I love having Christmas lights around the house. When we moved into the house here there were a couple of artificial trees left behind so for the last two years we have put a tree in the living room and one in each of the two bedrooms. The kids love having a tree in their room. We don't decorate those - they are just pre-lit ones. It's fun to decorate the tree with the kids and have them hang their own ornaments that we have collected for them each year. It's getting a little harder to remember which ones belong to which kids so I think I need to make little books for them to keep track. It will help to remember why we got the ornament we did. We try to get something that reminds us their interests or main events that year.

Hello Santa

2012-01-04T06:10:00.000-08:00

This was the kids first opportunity to see Santa this year. They were pretty funny. However, every time they see Santa they tell him something different that they want - and usually this is days before Christmas. Hailey said she wanted Cake?? Jackson wanted a bionocle and Maggie was very careful to whisper in his ear so we wouldn't hear. She also wouldn't tell us what it was. I wonder if she's testing Santa? :)

Dance class

2012-01-04T06:04:00.000-08:00

Way back.... just after Thanksgiving..... the girls finished their dance class. I wish I could say it was a success and they loved it :) Hailey either wasn't ready or wasn't interested. She seemed to enjoy it at times but for the most part she didn't follow instructions and the teacher had a hard time keeping her attention. I think she was the youngest in the class. Maggie liked it okay - but it wasn't what she expected. She wanted to learn real ballet dances and this was a creative movement class. She tends to be dramatic to get attention. Fallind down, being silly..... She had a hard time listening to the teacher also. In their defense, the class wasn't necessarily geared towards it's 3-5 yr old age group. At the final class we could all come in and watch. It was pretty much a disaster for us. Hailey was whiny and completely inattentive. Caleb kept screaming because he wanted out there with the girls so I had to take him out in the hall. Maggie kept being silly...... Whew. Sometimes they are well behaved and sometimes NOT. I think we will wait a little while and then, if Maggie is interested, we will try out a more traditional class. Dancing, singing, dressing up - those are her favorite things - and they have been for a long time so I would like to give her the chance to get into it a little more.... eventually :)

Agents Fisher

2011-12-05T13:43:00.000-08:00

This picture makes me laugh everytime I see it. It's in a bathroom of all places. Jackson was messing around doing silly poses while we waited for the girls to finish up. One of them reminded me of Charlie's Angels so .....

Beach in Florida

2011-12-05T13:41:00.000-08:00

We went to the beach once while we were there. Of course that would be the one time it was windy and the water was FREEZING. Especially after swimming in the super heated pool at the house. The kids had fun playing at the playground and feeding the seagulls though. I wish I had a video of the seagulls. In the parking lot they were flying down and snatching snacks right out of Jackson's hand as he held it up high. That would be a really fun beach to go back to on a warmer day. As long as we wore sandals - there were a lot of shells. The best part was that you could go out really, really far without it getting very deep at all. 100 ft out and it was hardly up the kids waists. We headed home and swam in the pool

One down...

2011-12-05T13:34:00.000-08:00

Maggie lost her first tooth while we were on our trip. Literally lost it... Just after breakfast one morning I noticed that she had a little bit of a lisp when she was talking to me. I looked a little closer and said "Maggie, your tooth is gone!" She said "really?" I thought it was pretty funny that she didn't even know it was missing. She was really, really excited about the tooth fairy coming. She wrote her a note about loosing her tooth and put it carefully under her pillow. I love to see the kids so excited about things.
* Her other bottom tooth just came out today. Now she has a pretty big hole :) It came out when she was eating a snack - she thought it was a seed and spit it out into her hand. Then she got really excited and showed me that it was her tooth.

LEGOLAND FL

2011-12-05T13:29:00.000-08:00

Since we have a few lego lovers in our family and we were going to be close to legoland..... we added it into our trip. All 18 of us went. The buy an adult ticket get a child ticket free deal worked out perfectly - since the youngest two were still free!! We went on Thanksgiving day to try to avoid the crowds. It worked. We hardly had to wait in lines at all. The kids adsolutely loved it - and most of the adults too. It is always amazing to see the things they build out of legos. There was an entire city section with different replicas of areas built out of legos. There was a NASA section (that should probably have a blog post all to itself :) ) There was a Vegas section.... The rides are geared towards younger kids - Jackson could go on all but one ride by himself. He liked that. It was a little rough since Caleb couldn't really go on anything - even with an adult. He didn't like that at all. His favorite part was the carousel at the end. We rode it over and over as we waited for some of the others to go on a bigger ride. Maggie was scared of some of the roller coasters but loved the other rides. Hailey loved the roller coasters but got scared on a ride that was in the dark. We had a lot of fun. Hailey has asked a few times since if we can go back. My favorite thing was the 4D Clutch Powers movie that we watched. We wore 3D glasses and then there were parts in the movie that we got sprayed with water, air blew past, it snowed......... a rock monster sneezed on us. The kids LOVED it. I wish we would have planned the day better to see the other two 4D movies!! At the end of the day I got each of our kids a mystery mini fig. That was very cool. They loved opening their package to see what they got. Hailey - guy in an alligator costume, Maggie - Navy sailor, Jackson - viking, Caleb - artist. They were so cool that Matt has put them all in a 'safe' location :) Poor kids with a lego loving dad!! Maggie also got a lifeguard mini fig from one the employees. Maggie told her how much she liked her name tag (everyone had a minifig on their nametag) and she gave it to her! Matt has also confiscated that one because it reminds him of me :) He promised Maggie he would get her another one. In fact she will get three lego girls in her stocking.

FLoRiDa

2011-12-05T13:15:00.000-08:00

We were in Florida Wed, Thur, Fri and Sat. Matt's brother and his family were there, one of his sisters and her family were there, and his parents were there. So we had 8 adults and 10 kids!! There are some old family friends from Michigan that have a house in Florida and they allowed everyone to stay there. It was great to have everyone in one place. The cousins got in a lot of play time and A LOT of swimming time. A house with a pool is AWESOME! It helped that there was a fence around the pool and doors to block the kiddos from it. The weather was amazing. Sunny and 70-80's the whole time. We did the big Tday dinner on Wed so we could go to Legoland on Thur - in the hopes the crowds would be smaller. By the end of it Caleb was getting pretty comfortable in the WARM water and would jump in to us wearing a life jacket. Maggie was practicing swimming on her own. Jackson was constantly swimming underwater and Hailey was swimming around and jumping in with her life jacket on (and a few times without - we really have to keep an eye on her) :) Our whole family loves water. It was a good trip. It's always nice to see family and get to know everyone a little better each time we visit. Maybe we should invite everyone here....... then we won't have to drive ANYWHERE!! Oh, yeah. Maybe we should fill the holes in the yard first.....

Florida here we come.....

2011-12-05T12:50:00.000-08:00

We drove down near Tampa, FL for Thanksgiving. It took us two 12 hour days to get there and 2 more 12 hour days to get back. The kids travel really well considering they are buckled into carseats. DVD players help immensely. There is a pretty cool building that we stopped at for a break. The kids played at the playground. Caleb splashed in puddles. Then we drove some more. and some more.

Deck....

2011-12-05T12:43:00.000-08:00

Deck progress has been slow but ongoing. It needed 8 holes for footers - each one 42" deep. Matt dug a few of them out by hand - then when Saturday came we rented an auger for the remaining 6. It was a lot of work. We couldn't get them all deep enough with the auger so Matt has been working on getting them the right depth with a post hole digger and bar. This house remodeling diet is working fairly well for him :) Now the holes are complete and ready for concrete. But the weather isn't going to hold out for us. We are supposed to get rain over the next couple of days - which fills the holes - that has to be drained out .....
We put Jackson down a hole to show how deep it was. Caleb thought that was pretty interesting and Jackson loved it.

Jax

2011-11-16T07:28:00.000-08:00

Can you see it? This guy is growing up. He is looking so much older to me recently. He is figuring life out. Making connections. Listening and commenting on our conversations :) Reading really well. He is starting to read books to the younger ones before bed - we started reading books at night when Jackson was about Caleb's age. Jackson reading is motivating Maggie to learn. He is excellent at math. He very rarely complains about doing his homework although it can be hard to get him to focus and finish it. It's not all that uncommon for 20 spelling words to take him an hour! He spends his free time playing with the girl next door :), playing on the computer, building with legos, and playing with his siblings. He has an amazing but occasionally frustrating personality. I am excited to watch him grow and change as time goes by!!

Sleepy boy

2011-11-16T07:15:00.000-08:00

I love to sneak in and take sleepy pics every once in awhile. It helps me remember how little they are even when they act so big while awake :) He has a pacifier and a blankie just like Jackson did. Maggie did too but definitely was not as attached to her blankie. Hailey sucked (still sucks) her thumb - she also had a blankie but is pretty much been over it for awhile now. Jackson still has one of his blankies around. It still makes an occasional appearance where the girls don't care anymore. For naps and bedtime I gather up his accesories and a sippy cup (I usually do water but sometimes juice) then I take Caleb in, lay him down and walk out. However, I am the only one that can put him down. He freaks if Matt tries. I think he is the winner right now - of lasting in the crib the longest. All the other were in toddler beds by this age because they either started to climb out or a new baby was coming :) Hailey moved out of the crib when we moved out here. I don't really have any plans right now to move Caleb out - we will just wait and see how things go.

Halloween 2

2011-11-16T07:08:00.000-08:00

I think this round of costumes was actually for Trick or Treating :) We also had a church party and a school party thrown into the mix along the way. Trick or treating around our neighborhood was kind of crazy. This was our first halloween in this house so we had no idea what to expect. Some friends had warned us that a lot of people come to this area for trick or treating. We bought a lot of candy just in case. It was wild. There was a long line of cars coming into the neighborhood. Tons of people. The neighborhood watch and police were out monitoring. The streets were crowded. Most people just sat out on their porch with candy to hand out because it would be insane to go to your door a billion times for that many kids!! There are not very many subdivisions around here so everyone congregates at the few there are. Wow. The kids loved it.

Funny kids

2011-11-16T06:59:00.000-08:00

We had absolutely beautiful weather in October. The most consistent nice weather I remember since moving out here almost 2 years ago. We enjoyed being outside a lot!! One day we were talking about the pictures that you are supposed to find out what's wrong with it and Jackson wanted to try it. Maggie just wanted her picture taken :) and then there was another attempt at all 4 kids in one frame. All 4 in the picture - success. All 4 looking and smiling - failure :)
The last few days have been rainy but warm. That is still so odd to me. It's gets warmer on rainy days here. The opposite of what happens in the West. I think the nice weather is coming to an end.

JUMP JUMP JUMP

2011-11-16T06:50:00.000-08:00

Caleb can now jump on the trampoline by himself. He can get both feet off again and again...... He loves it. I love to watch him :) I'm not sure the older kids like to watch very much since they have to do it from the sidelines. Caleb does not appreciate getting knocked down over and over :) I can't believe that he will be 18 months in just a few weeks. It has gone by so fast this time around.

Halloween 1

2011-11-16T06:45:00.000-08:00

October was a very busy month. The kids had 4 chances to dress up!! These pictures are from Jackson's cub scout halloween party. It's so much fun to watch the kids decide what they want to be and dress up. I used to think that I needed to get "halloween" costumes but I've now realized that even if I buy new costumes there is a very good chance they will just pick an old standby from the costume bucket. It's very well stocked thanks to Gram, Goodwill, DI and yardsales :) They love to look through everything and try on one after another. They play dress up all the time so I'm always a little surprised how they can be so excited for Halloween. Kids are amazing!

Apple cups

2011-11-04T12:44:00.000-07:00

I showed Matt a picture of apple cups in a magazine...... that night before dinner he decided to make them. I was impressed! He doesn't go domestic on us very often :) Putting in the effort to do something cute and fun for the kids - aww, I was so proud! The kids were impressed - cups you could eat! with apple cider in them.

Dancing

2011-11-04T12:36:00.000-07:00

Maggie has wanted to do a dance class for a very long time so we signed her up for a creative movement class at a nearby college. The class is for ages 3-5 so Hailey goes too. Maggie was a little disappointed that it wasn't a regular ballet class but she is having a lot of fun! I thought it would be a good start to see if she was interested in staying in dance. I don't know that we will sign her up for classes yet but I have a feeling it will be in the near future :) These two cute little girls and fun and flair to our lives everyday!!

Fall leaves

2011-11-04T12:28:00.000-07:00

1 trampoline + 1 pile of leaves = lots of fall fun. This kept the kids better for a good hour or more. It kept me busy too - I had a lot of fun attempting to take focused pics of them :) I love to see the kids discover new things around them. My favorite thing to do is watch/listen to them as they play outside.

Fire station open house

2011-11-04T12:22:00.000-07:00

The fire station near us had a open house recently. We went to check it out for a little while. Hot dogs, lemonade, halloween candy and a firetruck ride!! Excellent. The kids loved buckling into the seats and putting on the headsets. We won't mention the spilled lemonade, dropped hot dog, and 3 trips to the bathroom - ahh, such is life with little ones :)

Princess night

2011-11-04T12:16:00.000-07:00

Each year the Chik Fil A here does a princess night. This is the second time we have gone. The girls absolutely love it. It's a pretty busy night but the crowds don't seem to bother them. Each of the princesses is there. They do a carriage ride with Bill - the horse. We made crowns, played games, and went wild with princesses everywhere.

we PLAY

2011-10-15T18:10:00.000-07:00

It rained for almost all of September. We have had more rain in October but every once in awhile.... a beautiful day is thrown in. While I can't say there are as many mild and beautiful fall days like we had in the West - there is some incredibly beautiful weather here too. Just much less frequent. So we take advantage of those nice days and play outside. See Caleb in full - Hailey is in MY SWING mode - ?? He's learning how to hold his own with his siblings already. They are all getting big so fast. I'm glad to have this blog to document where all that time goes because it's gone before I even remember it happened.

Halloween is coming....

2011-10-15T18:00:00.000-07:00

The kids (especially Maggie) have been anxious to decorate for something/anything. So they were excited when I told them we could decorate for Halloween on Oct. 1 :) We made these painted jars and put flamless candles in them. They are pretty cool at night. We have some other simple decorations that we put up also. I will put up some pics of those soon - maybe. It was fun to decorate and the kids loved it. However, Hailey has been wanting to go 'ask people for candy' ever since!!

Moustache mania

2011-10-10T18:44:00.000-07:00

Who can resist a good moustache? :)I found some at the dollar store and it always provides a little fun. This all started because we were on our way to princess night at Chik Fil A and I asked Jackson if he wanted to wear a costume...... the final decision. No. But it was fun to play with the moustaches for a little while.

Dirt. Water. Boy.

2011-10-10T18:40:00.000-07:00

Caleb is a lot like Jackson was..... some dirt + water + rocks = little boy heaven. This little dude loves to get messy. And it's so cute that I usually let him...... sometimes I regret it when I have mounds of laundry and lots of baths to do but for the most part I love it.
He's also showing off his newest trick. He's learned how to lay on the swing on his belly so he can "superman swing". He likes the indepence it gives him to play with the swings.

Construction continues....

2011-10-10T18:36:00.000-07:00

Just in case you have missed the latest in construction fashion..... Hailey is here to model some current options...... The kids love to help Matt out with the jobs but they have to wear shoes and eye protection. Apparently we might to need to update those requirements a little. She was so funny out there swinging her little sledge hammer to help smash rocks in her swimming suit! Jackson loves to get into the smashing too. Maggie will from time to time but it's not as high on her fun list. :)

Creek

2011-10-10T18:30:00.000-07:00

To get out of the house one day Caleb and Hailey and I walked down to a little creek nearby. They had a blast throwing rocks in. Hailey loved walking in the water a little. It was pretty fun. However on the walk home a neighbor told us that there have been a lot of Copperhead snakes around and they like it down by the creek. Yikes. Guess we won't be doing that again!!

pigtails

2011-10-10T18:26:00.000-07:00

Little blonde Hailey with pigtails. Somewhere there is a kid picture of me with similiar pigtails. If I find it I will have to add it to this post.

Paint

2011-10-10T18:24:00.000-07:00

We went to an outdoor adcventure type activity and they had a painting area. There were large plywood animals stuck in the ground and the kids just painted the same animals over and over. They thought it was great - as did all the other kids running around. Caleb tried too but he kept itching mosquito bites and smearing paint all over his head...... at least it washed off easily.
They also did a scavenger hunt where they found things in nature to match different colors - red, green, brown, orange.... easy and simple. My two favorite words :)

School Days

2011-09-22T07:57:00.000-07:00

All three big kids have started school. Jackson has a male teacher this year and it seems to be going really well. He llikes 2nd grade despite the fact that he now has 20 spelling words...... He is happy to go everyday and happy to come home everyday :) He is still full of energy, creativity, and emotion. Maggie started full day Kindergarten. She loves it. It hasn't made her tired at all. I remember Jackson coming home so tired but Mags just goes and goes. She loves doing the projects, art work and seeing her friends. She loves to dressup, have fashion shows and play with her siblings. Hailey started preschool two days a week for just a few hours. She also loves it. Her school focuses a lot more on play than on academics so she loves to go play with her friends. It does make her tired. She eats lunch and takes a nap right after. She is energetic, very caring, high strung little girl. Caleb is home alone with me for those few hours that all the others are in school. For now, he still takes a morning nap so it's usually very quiet around here :) Sometimes I get a lot done and sometimes I sit and update the blog :)

Mess. Mess. Mess.

2011-09-22T07:48:00.000-07:00

I have to document things like this so that I can look back and see that I've made progress....hopefully :) Caleb loves to play outside A LOT. So that's where you can find us when he's awake. Unfortunately, it leaves the house a bit of a disaster. or it could be a huge disaster...... With Matt working on house remodeling projects all the time I don't have the back up help to keep things under control. It might make a difference that I let the kids get messy..... just look at Caleb. He had a great time in that mud though. That means I spend valuable clean up time - cleaning kids up. Dishes can only be done when Caleb is sleeping because he pulls everything out of the dishwasher....knives first, of course. Or he pushes me away from the sink and clings to my legs because he wants to go play outside..... So for now I do the best I can and try not to get too frustrated about the fact that it doesn't look like I did ANYTHING that day.

Busy

2011-09-22T07:39:00.000-07:00

Hailey and Caleb love to play in the water at the sink. It can keep Caleb busy for over an hour..... However, I have to stay right there because he is not that stable on the chairs and tends to climb....... so eventhough he is highly entertained I can't go off to get anything else done. Ho hum. Someday all this mess will just be traded in for teenage paraphenalia right? so I shouldn't get my hopes up that it will be cleaner once this toddler stage is passed.......

Broken bone.....

2011-09-22T07:34:00.000-07:00

Well, we have the first broken bone in one of the kids...... I'm kind of amazed we have been as accident free as we have given their personalities and energy levels :) And the broken bone?? It's not even one of the big kids! Caleb broke his collarbone towards the end of August. In the picture you can see the lump on his left collarbone. He was sitting on one of the the kitchen chairs - those red ones - and fell off to the side. He just landed the wrong way. He was really fussy and didn't want to use that arm at all - so after about 2 hours we decided to take him in to the urgent care - it was closed. Of course. He was doing better so we just waited until the next morning to take him in. They said he was fine - no fracture, no break. Two days later he accidently sat down on a shoe and fell over to the left side. He caught himself with his left arm and started crying pretty hard again. He was fine 10 min later but later that day I noticed he had a pretty good lump along his collarbone so we took him back in for another x-ray. Sure enough, this time they found a fracture. So it was probably weak enough from the first fall that the second minor one made it worse?? Anyway, treatment was to keep him from climbing....... riiiight. He is the biggest climber at this age out of all of our kids. That's why all the chairs are down on their backs. He climbs on the chairs and onto the table. They are very lightweight and tip easily so this is how our dining room looks now and probably will for the next 6 months or more. I can't even put them up on the table because he can pull them down...... He is healing nicely and aside from the first couple of days hasn't slowed him down AT ALL :)

Park play

2011-09-08T11:17:00.000-07:00

Why is it that when you have a swingset, slide, trampoline etc in your own backyard the kids still love to go to the park?? :) I guess we all like a change of scenery now and then. They play in our backyard almost everyday so I'm very glad that we have what we do. It gets a lot of use. This park was the same one we took those family pics at. It's made of mostly recycled tires. I love going to the park on cloudy days - as long as it's cooler. Cloudy does not always mean cool here - sometimes it means crazy hot with high humidity. I can't believe how big all of these guys are gettings and so independent!

Idlewild

2011-09-08T11:14:00.000-07:00

The day before school started we headed out to a nearby amusement park (about 1 1/2 away) In this area..... that's nearby :) However, we had to make a quick stop off at the instacare before heading out..... everything was ok - kind of. I will do another post about that soon. We had a good day. This park has a lot of rides for even really little kids. I wish I had gotten more pictures. There was a lot even Caleb could go on. He LOVED it. He wanted to go on some of them again and again. They all really enjoyed the rides. Jackson was big enough to go on almost every ride by himself. He really loved that. We spent a couple of hours at their water park also. The water was VERY cold!! Other than that there were also a number of slides and things that the little ones could do. I love it when all the kids can be entertained in the same place :)

Current family pic

2011-08-28T19:02:00.000-07:00

Speaking of pictures..... we just took this one at a park the other day. Maggie needed a family pic for her kindergarten class so we set the timer and took a couple of shots. Literally - 3 pics total. You see two of them here. I usually get more cooperation if we end with a funny one. Even when I take them to the studio. Sometimes that turns out to be my favorite picture. Taking pics at the park was pushing it - they wanted to go play. It was a cool park with most of the toys/structures made out of old tires. There was also a pool there that we spent a little time at. The weather wasn't great but it was warm enough. It was a pool we wanted to try out and at 1/2 price for the end of the season it was worth it. We liked it a lot. There was a shallower end, a ramp, and a couple of waterslides. Excellent for entertaining the whole gang :)

Sunday pics

2011-08-28T18:55:00.000-07:00

We needed some pics for the church primary so we had a little, and VERY quick, photo shoot just before we headed out the door. Luckily I have 4 cooperative kiddos. They are almost always willing to indulge me and the camera - as long as we keep it quick :) So here they are at ages 7, 5, 3, and 1.

Green bubbles

2011-08-28T18:50:00.000-07:00

If you see colored bubbles for sale at the store.... this is what will happen. In our family at least :) Luckily they are washable and actually came out really well. Hailey was painting him with bubble stuff. He didn't mind. This boy absolutely loves to be outside. He fusses and whines when the big kids go without him. Leaving me with a choice - try to get things done with a clingy, whiny boy or take him outside. The latter usually wins so the house is usually a M.E.S.S.

Reunion

2011-08-28T18:43:00.000-07:00

The reunion on Matt's Dad's side is always held at a lake in Michigan. The weather was fairly cold and yucky (so not many pics) but we did manage to get in the water a couple of times. There is a water trampoline that the kids swam out to with Matt - they liked that. Even Hailey swam out with them. I stayed on the shore while Caleb played at the edge. One night there was a speed boat for the kids to have tube rides. The big three all loved that. Hailey was really, really cold but wanted to go anyway. She was grinning the entire time. We went to same reunion two years ago. It was fun for the kids to be back at a place they recogized and fun for me to get to know some more of Matt's family a little better.

Kayaking in Lake Michigan

2011-08-28T18:33:00.000-07:00

Gram and Papa havea couple of kayaks that we took with us on the second day. Maggie and Hailey thought it was ok. Caleb didn't like it and Jackson absolutely loved it. After going first with Gram in the kayak with him, then with Matt swimming alongside he ended by going out in his own kayak with me in the other one. He could control his own quite well and did an excellent job.

Michigan in Aug

2011-08-28T18:21:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of Aug we headed up to Michigan for a family reunion on Matt's side. We went a few days early to spend some extra time with Matt's parents. It was a lot of fun. We went to a beach on Lake Michigan the first day. The waves were pretty rough and that beach wasn't allowing swimming but there was a very cool fountain and playground. It was pretty chilly in the wind so we didn't stay out there very long.

There was also a carousel. The area used to be a large amusement park but it closed down years ago. The carousel is the only nod to the past. The kids really enjoyed riding it. Even Gram got in on it - on her favorite Spartan horse :)

The next day we headed out to a less public beach. The weather was beautiful and the kids loved playing in the waves. Their lifejackets are a blessing and a curse. It gives me peace of mind but it gives them a little too much confidence. We had to call them back for swimming out too far a number of times.

Caleb gets a haircut

2011-08-15T10:45:00.000-07:00

Caleb's hair was growing in pretty long on top with some wispys getting in his face. I kept thinking about giving him a haircut but it never happened. Then one day, as I was sewing downstairs, he came over to me and I just took my scissors and lifted the longish stuff and chopped it off :) A few snips and that was it - he had a haircut. Much more clean look - I really hate wispys :) It made him look older to me.

Fun at the park

2011-08-15T09:45:00.000-07:00

Sometimes - when I see pictures of the 4 of them together I am still amazed that we have 4 kids!! They love to get out to play but most of the time it's very short lived because it's been so hot. We play a lot in our backyard but that usually gets cut short because there are a lot of little black knats that drive us crazy! They get in our eyes, ears, nose, mouth.... ugh! Caleb loves to get and go anywhere. He is a lot like Jackson was as a baby. He can be cranky and ornery at home but as soon as you get him outside or running errands he's perfectly happy.

Happy Birthday Hailey!!

2011-08-15T09:42:00.000-07:00

Hailey turned 3 on Aug. 1st. We went to Chuck E Cheese the Saturday before and then had a party for her on her birthday with just us. She loved it. We decorated the kitchen and made her cake..... she was very excited. Especially about her "unicorner" cake.
She is talking really well now but recently - in about the last two months - has started to stutter. She repeats a word over and over before finishing her sentence. Right now it's really kind of cute :) She loves to play with her siblings. She plays princess, dress-up and barbie with Maggie but she also plays legos, and digging in the sandbox/mud with Jackson. She has an excellent sense of humor and makes us laugh with funny expressions. She can recognize and name most colors and gets dressed herself. She is fully potty trained but wears a pull up at night because I still let her have a drink before going to sleep. Completely my fault and hopefully soon to be remedied :) She still takes a two hour nap almost everyday but is starting to go to bed later at night so that nap will probably phase out soon. She says that she is very 'drinky' when she means thirsty. She loves to help in the kitchen and with cleaning.

Lego Kidsfest

2011-07-14T11:57:00.000-07:00

In June we planned a trip up to Pittsburgh so Matt and Jackson could go to Lego Kidsfest. We were going to stop at IKEA, then I was going to take Maggie, Caleb and Hailey to the childrens museum. However, on the way up Hailey said she wasn't feeling well. When we stopped at IKEA I noticed she was running a fever so we decided that Maggie would go with Matt and Jackson and I would go to the store for some medicine. We got some medicine and snacks, after a nap and medicine Hailey was feeling better and we played at a park. Matt, Jackson and Maggie were at the Lego fest for about 5 hours. Somehow I managed to do things around Pittsburgh for that long too :)
The lego fest was pretty cool. There were a lot of activities to do. Lego games, lots of building areas, lots of lego statues, a rock wall, and area so full of legos it was almost like a ball pit. They all had a lot of fun.

Water balloons

2011-07-14T11:40:00.000-07:00

This was very funny. I was filling up regualr balloons with water so the kids had HUGE water balloons. Jackson hugged his and said "this is the water balloon of my dreams". :)

4th of July

2011-07-14T11:38:00.000-07:00

For the 4th of July we lit off a few small fireworks of our own in the backyard before heading out to see the city fireworks. We just found a place to park and watched them from the car.
The kids LOVED watching our own little fireworks. Hailey was especially fun to watch. One of their favorites are the snakes. We did snappers at the end. Matt would hand one to Caleb, as he was holding him, and Caleb would throw it down to snap. It was very cute. I was in charge of the fireworks this year because Matt was a little done in from using a sledgehammer all day..... that would be because of the back door removal that turned into a huge project.
Caleb was very sad that Matt brought him in before the rest of us came in. I love the 4th of July!! I even made some decorations. That is a first :)

Curls

2011-07-14T11:30:00.000-07:00

Matt likes to make fun of me for wondering where Hailey's curly hair comes from...... In my defense, my hair does not look curly on the top.... or maybe because I ALWAYS wear it up :)

Entryway

2011-07-14T11:28:00.000-07:00

This is at the beginning of entryway demolition..... Our door would only open halfway so we needed to rip out the tile and try to fix the problem. I wish I had taken a picture of the black/gold tile we found underneath :) Matt ripped that our also. For the last month or so we have had a plywood entry floor..... but the door opens all the way :) We are planning on replacing the front door soon so we will finish the entry then. Oh, and Matt took out the back sliding glass door - major project!! - so he isn't allowed to tear up the front anymore until we have a back door again.

Watermelon shark

2011-07-14T11:24:00.000-07:00

I love finding fun things to do in Blogland :) Jackson helped me make this watermelon shark for a Family Home Evening treat. He thought it was very funny that it was missing some teeth - just like he is. I cut in a little too far....

PVC water pipes

2011-07-13T18:27:00.000-07:00

We have had these PVC water pipes for a few years now. I found the idea in a family fun magazine. You just cut up a PVC pipe into different lengths, get some connectors, and a hose attatchment and you have instant building fun. We drilled holes in some end caps to make showers, we got some cheap sprinkler heads to put on..... the kids love to create with these but tend to have a hard time working together towards a common goal.... good practice :)
Caleb also loves these pipes but really hates it when he gets sprayed on accident!!

Snack

2011-07-13T18:21:00.000-07:00

One of the kids favorite snacks is yogurt in a ice cream cone. Caleb won't really eat yogurt by itself but out of a cone??..... he will eat the whole thing. Now that picture is a little more accurate of eating time with Caleb :)

Indoor pool.....

2011-07-13T18:20:00.000-07:00

Somehow we have aquired a large number of blow up things..... We got this pool at the end of our last summer in Brigham City so it has never even been outside. One day I decided that it would make a good ball pit for Caleb. So we had an indoor pool :) I'm not sure we will ever take it outside. It has worked well to entertain the kids every once in awhile as a ball pit or pillow pit. They love to see something new every once in awhile. We could get rid of almost all of our toys I think. We need someone close by to rotate toys with :)

Caleb milestones.

2011-07-13T18:17:00.000-07:00

Caleb can drink from a cup and is starting to use a spoon. I think I must have taken the spoon picture as he started because he is rather clean...... that is definitely not what he looks like when he is done but he tries and actually does quite well. He loves to feed himself and he LOVES to eat!! He almost always eats as much or more than the big kids do.

Jackson first and last

2011-07-13T18:12:00.000-07:00

Jackson's first day of 1st grade and last day(ish) of first grade.

First and Last

2011-07-13T18:09:00.000-07:00

Here are Maggie's pics from the first day of preK and the last day of PreK.

Maggie's last day of PreK

2011-07-13T18:07:00.000-07:00

Somehow I missed the pics when I was posting last time...... On Maggie's last day of preK they invited the parents in to watch a slideshow of the year, have popcorn and the kids filled out autograph books. It was pretty fun to see how much Maggie has grown and changed over the year. She loves school. She has a kindergarden packet with activities to help prepare her for K and she is always asking me if she can do some schoolwork. She loved going to school everyday and would be sad whenever it was cancelled or we went on a trip. The coming years are going to be full of emotion and fun with this little girl :)

Butterflies.....

2011-07-13T17:58:00.000-07:00

We got Maggie and Insect Lore butterfly habitat for her birthday. You send in the form to order caterpillars. We got five caterpillars in the mail about a week later. They come in a special container that has the food they need. They were TINY! But they almost double in size each day. It was crazy to watch them grow so fast. Then they made their chysalis on a paper at the top of the container. After they do that you move them into the butterfly habitat. About a week later they butterflies emerge. It was very cool. We kept them for a few days. There were instructions on how to feed them. Then we let them go. It was pretty remarkable. I think we will have to do it again.

Chik Fil A cow

2011-06-20T12:06:00.000-07:00

The other night we went to a Chik Fil A activity. This time it was cowboy night. The kids love these activites and seeing the cow :) They did a ring toss, snake in the boot toss..... they all got free ice cream coupons. It's not quite free entertainement because we buy dinner but it's good cheap fun :)

Field Day

2011-06-20T12:03:00.000-07:00

During the last week of school both Maggie and Jackson had Field Day. They did some running events, tug of war, throwing games etc. They both had a great time. Unfortunately I forgot my camera on Maggie's field day..... she had a lot of fun though. She also got to have a water balloon fight.
Jackson got 2nd in his distance run. It was a hot day and he decided to wear pants..... at least I convinced him to change to a T-shirt.
Caleb and Hailey really enjoyed the popsicles at the end. Hailey didn't want to share hers. Caleb was much happy when he had his own :)
That last week of school was rough on me and the little two. There were so many things going on that we needed to attend I had to interrupt their naps or they had to go without almost everyday. Whew. That makes for some cranky kiddos.

Hailey

2011-06-20T11:53:00.000-07:00

Hailey loves to wear hats. She is a little mini me. She is talking really, really well now. She likes to say funny things and make us laugh. Her sense of humor is excellent. She is such a fun kiddo to be around.
The other picture is the bed I made for her. Matt helped a little at the end to finish it off because it takes me FOREVER to get things done with the kids around and I try not to have Matt watch them so I can finish my projects because he has an extremely long list of projects to do himself......
Hailey was very excited to have a "big bed like Maggie". She has been sleeping on a mattress on the floor ever since we moved into this house. It was actually a mattress topper folded in half. We didn't even buy a new mattress for the bed we just kept the folded topper. It leaves about 2 ft at the end of mattress so we might put a toybox of something there. Hailey isn't big enough to need the extra length :)
I really like building furniture. I have a long list and big plans but no opportunity..... we will see what I can accomplish :)

Happy Birthday little man!!

2011-06-07T10:38:00.000-07:00

Caleb is 1 today!! Crazy, crazy, crazy. I can't believe that this is the 4th one year old we've had. I love this age. I love them at every age but that one year mark holds a special place in my heart :) Caleb is a very happy boy. He is starting to play more and more. He is so interested in everything and loves to mimic what we do. He has an infectious laugh and repeats words that we don't think he should be able to say..... he doesn't do it often and rarely again and again but he's yelled each of the kids names after we have, he has said 'blast off' and a number of others. He is walking fairly well now - he will go all the way across the room but if he falls he sticks to crawling the rest of the way. He can do the stairs independently. Amazingly, knock on wood, he has not fallen down the stairs yet!! He loves to play on them and goes up and down, up and down. He also loves balls of all kinds - hence the basketball cake :) You can sit down with him and roll a ball back and forth over and over. He is a little more of a cuddler than the others have been and will just come sit with us on occasion. I look forward to many years to come with this little dude!
He hasn't needed a haircut at all yet! Typical of our babies.

A TIGER no more

2011-06-07T10:13:00.000-07:00

Jackson has been in Tiger cub scouts this past school year. For the most part he (all of us) have really enjoyed it. Matt and I hate having to run kids around to things already... yikes. What will we do when we have more than 1 thing on the schedule :) There was a lot of fun activites and field trips that Jackson got to participate in. Maggie loved being involved whenever she was allowed also. The pinewood derby sibling races were especially fun.
Next year - as a 2nd grader - he will be a Bear.

Pittsburgh Zoo

2011-06-07T10:08:00.000-07:00

For Jackson's 1st grade field trip they went to the Pittsburgh Zoo. It's a 2 1/2 hour drive!! They encouraged/requested that a someone come with each child so we decided that the whole family should go. Matt would have had to take a day off work to stay home with the others anyway.... so he drove the car with the three little ones while I rode the bus with Jackson. Poor Matt - Hailey threw up twice (she gets carsick) and Caleb screamed the last little bit. It was a fun day at the zoo though. The kids all loved seeing the animals and playing on the zoo playground. Somehow I missed getting a good picture of Jackson and I also missed a picture of the polar bear playing with a ball. I guess there's always next time.....
After we were done at the zoo we went and visited some old friends of Matt's. We have been doing that a lot out here. It's fun to be close enough to visit so many people he hasn't seen for a very long time. We played at their house for a few hours before heading home. It was a good day - even if we didn't get to fit in an IKEA stop like I wanted to :)

Teacher appreciation

2011-06-07T09:59:00.000-07:00

I helped Jackson and Maggie make these flower pots for their teachers. The flowers are actually pens. Jackson thought it was great to keep that secret from his teacher for most of the day. He loves to surprise/trick people :) Maggie thought they were beautiful as she does all things pink..... It's always fun to get a little crafty. I've seen the idea for flower pens and the tags that read "thanks for making Maggie bloom" all around the web so I thought I would combine the two.

Maggie is 5!!

2011-05-14T07:00:00.000-07:00

Wow - ANOTHER 5 year old! I can't believe that Maggie is 5! It seemed crazy when Jackson hit 5 and now my second child has turned 5! Can you tell that I'm a little shell-shocked? :)
We had a little party with Maggie's best friend and her family. We finally made Maggie a cake and gave her the rest of her presents. Matt and I built that dollhouse bookcase - we gave her some barbies and clothes to play with in it. Later on it will just be a bookshelf. The cake was really easy and turned out cute. I love that. :) I also made the apron and chef hat for her. I love that we are doing so many things while at this house. I want to make things for the kids though - rather than working on completing house projects..... maybe because the smaller things I make I can do with minimal mess and involvement - I can walk away at any point and pick it up later. That's now usually true when we get into a home improvement project.
Maggie is a great kiddo. She loves school and is sad when there is a day off for some reason. She is not looking forward to summer vacation! Funny girl. She loves to make things - cards, pictures, presents....... I love that creating is something she enjoys. She also loves to play outside with Hailey, Jackson and the neighbor girls. Especially on the swings. She will also climb trees with the others. She is getting braver and will put her head underwater on her own now. She loves to help in any way she can but gets overwhelmed with big assignments. She loves to be around us and loves hugs. She also really enjoys going to cubscouts with Jackson and will always chose that if it's an option :)I can't believe that she will be in kindergarten next year. It's an all day program here. I will miss having her around!

11 months

2011-05-13T11:12:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that Caleb is 11 months old already. Although he has his own individual personality he also has similarities to the other kids. Funny how that happens :) He is an active, determined, HAPPY little guy. Just like the other three - he's not timid, or careful..... He's going to be in the water, on the trampoline and going down the slide with the others in no time. He already tries to bounce while sitting down when we put him on the trampoline. He was standing up on that spin toy then carefully raising both arms into the air to stay balanced while standing on it. Sheesh.
His siblings absolutely love him - he does not always love the attention..... especially if it is keeping him away from a ball - his favorite toy. He will roll and a ball back and forth with us already. He will over, around, under, or through anything to get to a ball on the other side.
I love that the girls are starting to get along a little better. They still fight quite a bit but now there are nice playtimes thrown in too :) Two extremely strong personalities that don't give in...... whew, I'm sweatin' the teenage years already!

almost....... WALKING!!

2011-05-13T11:05:00.000-07:00

For a little while now - Caleb will stay standing when you set him down. He will also let go of things and just stand there for a little while. The other day when Matt put him down he actually took a few steps!! It won't be long before he's on the go like the rest of them :) He crawls all over the yard already. His favorite thing to do is play in the sandbox. He also turns around to go down the little hill in our backyard.
When Jackson was little and cranky - you could fix anything by taking him outside. For Caleb - it's climbing the stairs. He LOVES to climb up and down, up and down the stairs. He's starting to go backwards now so he can do it fairly well on his own.

When we were taking pictures and videos of Caleb taking some steps the girls wanted in on the attention so they 'pretended' to walk and fall down too. They thought that was hilariously funny.

Busch Gardens

2011-05-10T08:30:00.000-07:00

When the shuttle was cancelled - they were hoping they could reschedule it for Monday - so we decided to stay a day later than planned. Then the shuttle was pushed even further out so our extra day was spent at Busch Gardens :) The kids LOVED it!! We learned a few things though to make our next amusement park trip even more enjoyable. Jackson is tall enough to go on a number of bigger rides but to take him on them means the other kids are just waiting around and it takes a long time to walk around the park with everyone. He still likes the smaller rides so it would have worked out better to stay where there was smaller rides. The kids love water - anywhere, anytime. We should go to a very kid friendly water park - since they are also fearless.
We had a great time at Busch gardens. We also caught a few of the side shows the park put on. The kids were pretty impressed. Maggie fell asleep within seconds of getting into her carseat...... we pushed her pretty hard to keep up with us. She did a really good job. She was big enough to go on a couple of the bigger rides and I thought she might be a little nervous but she loved it!! Except the BIG roller coaster that went upside down..... she didn't want to do that one again. She wanted to do the drop one again and again with Matt though.
Gram and Papa came with us. It was nice to have a couple more adults around. They took Jackson on some rides and also watched the littler kids so Matt and I could take Maggie and Jackson. It would be a lot of fun to live close enough to a park to have season tickets. It's also much cheaper per visit that way :)

Saturday

2011-05-09T13:10:00.000-07:00

We stayed in Daytona Beach again on Friday night so we could meet up with Matt's old boss on Saturday for lunch. It was great to see some of the guys that Matt really enjoyed working with. After catching up with them for a bit we headed off to Tampa where Matt's parents were staying with some old Michigan friends - the Potter's. They were nice enought to let us all stay at their house for a few days. They have a pool so the kids thought it was the coolest place ever. We swam a lot. The kids are all little fish!! Maggie is still the most cautious one but she was dunking her head under and jumping in which is a big step for her :) Hailey we had to keep a life jacket on - she would just jump in - anytime, anywhere!! Jackson was diving for stuff on the bottom of the 8' deep pool. As long as Caleb was warm he loved it too. There was a jazuzzi that he could "walk" around the sides in. We even swam at night with the pool lights on one night.
Gail Potter knew Maggie's birthday had been the day before so she made cupcakes and planned a little scavenger hunt for the kids. They really liked it. Maggie loved having everyone sing to her again and, of course, opening a few more presents.
We still one more party planned here at home for her. She really wanted a friend party like Jackson but it turned out her birthday would be during the Florida trip we decided to go with plan B. So we will have dinner and cake/ice cream with her best friends family. Lucky girl.

Shuttle

2011-05-09T13:02:00.000-07:00

This little shuttle is in Cocoa Beach. We thought we would at least take a picture with a shuttle while we were there. Jackson was our photographer.

More BeAcH

2011-05-09T13:01:00.000-07:00

We spent some time on Cocoa Beach right outside Cape Winds - the condos where Matt would stay when he traveled to Florida for work. Caleb LOVES the beach. He was pushing the sand everywhere and holding it up so the wind would blow it out of his hands. He got cold right at the end - and he was a little sand man. Jackson also got cold after playing in the waves. We kept having to tell him to come back in because he would go out too far. Maggie and Hailey played in the sand a lot and ran through the shallow water of the waves. Then everyone had to take showers to get all the sand off :)

April 29th - Maggie's 5th birthday!!

2011-05-09T12:58:00.000-07:00

After the shuttle launch was cancelled and our schedule suddenly open - we went down to Cocoa Beach to have dinner with one of the guys Matt used to work with at one of Matt's favorite resturants. It was a lot of fun. Since the day of the shuttle launch also happened to be Maggie's birthday we had some chocolate cake at the restuarant and sang Happy Birthday to her :) Her birthday was spread out over a number of days and mini parties!!

Waiting at the park.....

2011-05-09T12:16:00.000-07:00

Somehow- these were the only pictures we took at the park. That's quite sad. I would have loved to have pics of our kids with Tim and Amy's :(
Early the next morning we headed out to Cocoa Beach to try to see if we could find a good spot to watch the launch. Matt's parents recommended a park in Titusville - it had a playground and food nearby. So we planned to meet them there along with Tim and Amy + kids. We all managed to make it and we hung out at the park for a long time. We got there around 9am and the launch was scheduled to go off around 4 pm. However, at about 12:30pm the launch was called off. We were kind of bummed since the launch was what set the whole trip into motion in the first place but we were glad that we got to spend time with everyone. The kids had a great time playing on the playground, in the dirt and catching geckos.

FLORIDA

2011-05-09T12:10:00.000-07:00

Whew. We are back from our trip to Florida so it's time to share some pics :) We took two days to do the 17 hour drive... the kids did amazingly well. So well that we really don't mind the idea of road trips anymore. There was a time that I thought road trips would just be out of the question because NO one would enjoy it, but the kids have proved me wrong - on our Christmas trip to Atlanta and this recent trip to Florida. We stop fairly often but it helps everyone to stay happy and sane :)
On the way down we stayed about an hour south of Charlotte, NC. Then we stayed in Daytona Beach, Fl. It was about an hour north of Cocoa Beach - where we would be going to see the shuttle launch. There weren't really any hotels available any closer..... they were expecting close to 700,000 people, which is probably 3 times what they normally have for a launch. Our hotel in Daytona was right one the beach so the very first thing we did when we got there......? Suit up and head for the beach :) The kids loved it. The water was pretty cold so Jackson was really the only one that got in. Caleb crawled all over the place on the sand and towards the waves. Maggie and Hailey played in the waves too but wouldn't go very deep at all. After that we went and swam in the - much warmer - hotel pool. Matt and I LOVE the ocean so it's fun to take the kids there and see them enjoy it too.

:)

2011-04-25T19:41:00.000-07:00

Mini Charlie's Angel...

Chocolate Lego guys...

2011-04-24T17:37:00.000-07:00

I saw this really cool mold for lego guy shapes. You can makes chocolates, ice cubes, crayons and lots of other things I'm sure. The kids were extremely impressed with these.
On a side note - just after I took the melted chocolate off the stove - Hailey touched the burner!! Yikes. She started screaming. I put her hand under cold water - which she amazingly let run over for a good while - then she sat at the table with ice on it while we did the chocolates. She was very cooperative for 2 3/4 :) It didn't blister at all. I hate those close calls. It makes me more diligent yet a little more paranoid.....

Fun. Messy.

2011-04-24T17:33:00.000-07:00

Why is it that the things the kids love the most are the things that create the most mess?????
I had gotten a couple of different egg dying kits from the store since they were only $1. It was fun to experiment with different types of decorating. It's come a long ways from just dye and crayons......

Squirt guns

2011-04-24T17:31:00.000-07:00

We gave Jackson these squirt guns for his birthday and finally let him use them the other day. We have had A LOT of cold and rainy weather recently. Enough that our roof started leaking. Lucky us. We have a ton of things to fix in this house.... fun and not so fun at the same time.
Anyway, back to the squirt guns. You hook the filler adapter up to the hose and then the guns click in to fill up. They fill up quickly -5 sec or so - and then they are pressurized so you can just hold down the trigger. These work great for Hailey who can't get a regular gun to squirt very well. They don't work amazingly well but since I got them on sale - they seem to be worth it. The kids like them. It's fun to break out the warm weather stuff :) It rains and rains and rains in the spring here so it will be hit and miss for the nice days. Oh and the grass in our yard is minimal. Mud prevails..... so I'm not sure how often we will be breaking out the sprinklers. After all the rain I think I will be happy to be mud free for a little while...... Hailey and Jackson might have other plans though. Those two love the muck and mud. Maggie usually stands by on the side and watches while the other two and knee deep. A literal MUD ROOM would be so excellent. Especially if it had a shower :)

A whole lotta help

2011-04-16T18:39:00.000-07:00

Mom and Sarah came in for a few days to help me out - and help me out they did!! They got so much painting done. It was excellent. I am amazed at what other people get done when I feel like I'm going backwards all the time - every once in awhile when I am kid free I remember that I can do it too :) It was fun to visit with them and have them see the kids again. It's been a year - I think - since they have seen the kids. Other than Caleb - I took him up to WA when he just a few months old.
We were so busy (they were so busy) I didn't even get the camera out. That's terrible! (and now I can't even find it.....) We did a lot of decluttering and reorganizing also. The house feels much better - there is still a long ways to go but they put a serious dent in the to do list! The girls room is painted, the boys room is painted, the master bedroom is painted, part of the kitchen is painted.... whew!! Thanks guys - I love you :)

April Fool's Day dinner

2011-04-07T10:39:00.000-07:00

I love April Fool's day now that I have kids (and that some of said kids are getting a little older). This year I wanted to make a fun April fool's day dinner. Since the kids are still younger they are pretty easy to impress. I made these "cupcakes" from Family Fun. They are actually colored mashed potatoes on top of meatloaf. The kids really thought they were cupcakes at first. Matt actually loves meatloaf so he was more impressed by what they were than what they weren't :) The juice is actually jello. I put it into cups with straws and let it cool that way. When they tried to take drink it wouldn't come out easily at all. They loved being "tricked". We also put together funny things to eat with and then drew numbers to see who would have what. Oh - did I mention we were babysitting 4 more kids that night?? They thought this was pretty fun too. Someone had tongs to eat with, someone had a baby bottle to drink out of.......

Spring decoration

2011-04-07T10:34:00.000-07:00

I was excited to actually make something crafty :) My Mom made all kinds of wood crafts when I was growing up. I still like those kinds of decorations. So I made a spring decoration....... the I is missing a little something. A flower dot for the top maybe?

The kids think it's just another toy. I'm always finding the letters arranged in different ways or stacked on top of each other..... Maggie claimed the pink one as her own for awhile - I had to hunt it down to paint the S on it........

Remeber when.....

2011-04-01T12:05:00.000-07:00

I was looking through pictures the other day and ran across this one. I don't think I ever remembered to post it..... This is how our bedroom looked at the apartment whenever we had company. It was a two bedroom apartment so when people came to visit we would give up Maggie and Jackson's twin beds and have them come sleep in our room. They really didn't mind at all. It was pretty cramped but it doesn't really matter when it's just sleeping quarters. Like a tent :) This seems like so long ago already - it's been a whopping 4 1/2 months. I guess it's a good thing that it's a distant memory because I didn't like the apartment when we lived in it!! It really helped me realize what is important to me as far as family space goes though.
#1 on the list is outdoor space to play. I knew I missed it but I didn't realize what a difference it made it my mood to know that the kids could play outside.
#2 Family room - having a space big enough for the kids to play in without tripping each other was also greatly missed.
#3 Counter space in the kitchen......
Those were the biggest things I missed. Everything else was annoying but I could deal with it. There are several other things I really appreciate having again but I could live without. Those other three things have been upgraded to necessities I think :)

9 month milestones

2011-03-28T11:20:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-28T11:14:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-28T11:13:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-28T11:09:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-03-23T11:15:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-23T11:09:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-23T11:07:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-23T11:04:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-23T11:01:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-22T14:40:00.000-07:00

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 :)