Saturday

We have had a very busy Saturday. I woke up this morning to my 9 year old (not my 7 week old!) telling me, "Get up it's 5:45." My first thoughts were, "Wow! I slept all night - thank you A!" quickly followed by, "oh yea we have a swim meet this morning." I got K up and got breakfast for the three of us then we went speedy quick to the pool so that I could write on them in permanent marker, my personal favorite thing about swim meets. :)

They both swam great and tried hard - I couldn't and wouldn't have asked for more. At one point I had to run home and feed A. While I was here Jason and I noticed the most peculiar thing, Z with his shirt up and baby bear hugged up close, when we asked what he was doing he said, "feeding baby bear." Well of course we couldn't resist this picture (Jason is wondering what Mark will say about this). I thought it was very sweet.

Here are the results we know as of today:
K came in 7th in one of her events but was disqualified from several for illegal moves - i.e. she used the wrong stroke or kick or a combination of the two. She had a good time and swam her best and that is what counts!
B came in 1st for the 100 yard Individual Medley, 2nd in the 25 yard freestyle and 3rd in the 25 yard breaststroke. I'm not sure what happened to the other three he swam in but I do know one was a relay and his group was disqualified.
Again we had a great time and now we are going to relax the rest of the day.

Ten Things

I composed a list of the ten things I love about each of my children as they are right now. I wish that I had done this when the older two were little. It is fun to sit and think about the little things that are sweet or cute. Here's my lists (the items aren't in any order - this isn't late night tv!):

Ten things I love about B (age 9):

1.) His great sense of humor

2.) He always knows how I’m feeling even when I wish no one did

3.) He is an awesome athlete who amazes me at his flexibility and diverse abilities

4.) The way he talks to his brother and sisters

5.) His beautiful blue eyes

6.) His caring nature toward all people (not so much toward bugs)

7.) His laugh

8.) How brave he is in new situations

9.) His hugs!

10.) His curiosity

Ten things I love about K (age 7):

1.) The way her nose flares when she’s laughing really hard

2.) Her willingness to do anything you ask with a smile

3.) The look she gives me when I tell her to stop whining

4.) K logic – I can’t ride my bike because my nose feels funny (I made that one up but hers are like that)

5.) The way she kisses her little brother and sister

6.) The way she reminds me of myself when I always wanted what my big brother had

7.) Her hair when it is brushed

8.) Her easy-going spirit

9.) How she taught herself to ride a bike

10.) Her silly smile when she realizes she just said or did something silly

Ten things I love about Z (age 2):

1.) His face when he’s sleeping

2.) The way he wants me to hold him when he wakes up from nap

3.) Hearing him talking in the morning before he gets out of bed

4.) Watching him give kisses at bedtime

5.) Listening to him learn to talk, I love how he repeats what we all say in such an innocent voice

6.) Hearing him sing, “Golden thinking chhhair!”

7.) When he says, “I hold her,” several times over and then holds A for less than 5 seconds

8.) He’s so honest. When I ask are you messing up your brothers Legos? He will answer very honestly, “yes.”

9.) His giggle

10.) “I want up!”

Ten things I love about A (age 6 weeks):

1.) Her smell

2.) Her smile

3.) Her coos & giggles (breathy little noises)

4.) Her silly middle toe (better known as the forgotten toe)

5.) The way she sleeps so well

6.) Her hand when she’s nursing – fingers flared out

7.) The noises that she makes when she’s nursing – very noisy eater

8.) Her faux-hawk

9.) Her sweet little nose – if you touch it sometimes she will smile

10.) Her wide eyes

B is home

Let me begin by telling you that B is home safe and sound. He had a great time and is hoping that he can go again next year. Now we are anxiously awaiting our visit from G'ma Bonnie and G'pa John (aka TTG - Trailer Trash Gramps) - they will be here on Sunday. We are all so excited about their visit - especially A, we've told her about these grandparents and how silly they are and how they will love her like nobodies business! She can't wait - I know she tells me these things! :) Oh yea - A slept all night last night! Bed at 11 awake at around 6:30!!! Yea A! What a great baby we have!
We went back to CS on Monday so I could see my doctor (all's well). I farmed out all of my kids except A who accompanied me to the doctor. K went to my friend Shelley's and played with Samuel and Z went to my friend Christi's to play with Alexis. Thank you all for your hospitality! It was a busy day but it was good to see everyone and now I'm trying to figure out when we can go again.
I knew staying home was going to be a lot of work but I'm still amazed at how busy I am as a stay at home mom. Yesterday we did a lot of running around, B lost his goggles at the river so we had to get him some new ones for swim team and I needed to do some grocery shopping. We were out all morning and didn't get home until it was time for lunch and naps. Today is laundry day so we've been busy with that. Now that we are all home all day the house is in a constant wreck - it has that lived in look! So I feel like the energizer bunny when it comes to cleaning the kitchen and picking up stuff (burp rags, notebooks and balls oh my!). Z got a new ball pit and he loves it and actually does a good job of picking up most of the balls but there always seems to be a stray one here and ther.

Captain Joe

I have a confession to make. We put the DVD player in the van before we moved and we've never unplugged it so Z has been watching the same Blues Clues every time we go for a drive. It turns out that episode has made quite an impact on Z. Yesterday we were getting B ready to go with his friend to the river and Z was enjoying putting the new life jacket on. Every time he put it on he said, "Z is Captain Joe." or "Captain Joe will sail right to it." According to B&K (who are also forced to watch Blues Clues) this is from that Blues Clues episode. Needless to say we have had many moments of laughter with Z calling himself Captain Joe & he's very anxious for the life jacket to get back so he can be Captain Joe again... I'm sure he wants B back too!!!

Credit

I believe that we should give credit where credit is due so... Thank you Rae Ann for telling me about Babywise and encouraging me to make A stick to a schedule of eating. She has been sleeping well at night for four nights now, anywhere from 9-3 or 10-4. I am so happy and wish only that I had listened to my wise old friend 9 years ago!! Yes that was a compliment Rae Ann - no I didn't just call you old! :)
So here's the latest with Jason's Clan:
B is still doing swimming, although he has not competed yet - we've had prior arrangements every weekend since he started and this weekend they are at tu and they (tu) created some rule about not allowing anyone to compete if they haven't competed twice during this summer - hmmm.. sounds like they know an Aggie has joined the ranks and they are scared!!
K has successfully taught herself how to ride a bike! Poor second child. Once she did that we realized that her bike was too small for her, so we are in the process of getting her a new bike, she's very excited about the prospect of riding her bike to school. K has also decided to join the swim team. She will go this evening to try out. She'll do fine and I'm looking forward to her getting to practice her swimming twice a week.
Z is the same wonderful little two year old! Okay, let's face it, when I'm trying to get him to take a nap I suspicion that he is a monster but I know better for many reasons:
He says, "Thank you Mommy!" in the cutest voice I've ever heard and he says it without prompting most of the time.
He kisses A with such tenderness that it makes my heart melt.
He always wants to hold A (granted it is for about 3 seconds) but it is so sweet.
He gives kisses and hugs every night to all his siblings and whatever part of Mommy & Daddy he can reach, most of the time our thighs (if the other parent isn't holding him).
If he doesn't get a nap it takes about 1 minute in the car to knock him out and then what a sight to behold he is, those sweet little cheeks, blond hair and eyelashes gently closed over those bright blue eyes - he is so precious at those moments that you know he's no monster, just completely misguided in the area of naps.
A - what can I say about A. She's smiling now and can sleep through anything - Thank you Lord!
Jason likes his job. He's currently not very busy and that doesn't sit well with him. He's a good worker bee and doesn't do well with idle time.
My friends Kierstyn and Shelley have put videos on their blogs. They are amazing! Yet one more thing for me to strive to do, here's hoping I can figure that out! BKZ could sit and watch those videos all day!! Thank you ladies! :)
Until then, here's a couple more pictures...

It isn't very often that I can get a picture of Z sleeping, but I risked waking him up for this one!

Here you can see B coaxing a smile out of A. I think they will get along just fine.

Happy Father's Day - Jason.
We ALL love you so much!

disclaimer: at any time I reserve the right to have grammatical errors and spelling errors in my blog - it's my blog and I'll goof up if I want to. :)

A sleeps

A slept through the night from 10pm to 4am! I really needed that... the night before we had a rough time with a 1am feeding and then getting up at 4:30 and thinking that it was time to be wide awake and alert. Now I'm not going to assume that this is A's new normal but oh how nice it was for her to sleep all night last night.
B&K are doing math and reading work this summer. We have a program set up that they are really enthusiastic about, here it how it works. They do a lesson in a math book that we bought them or a reading lesson and when they are done to my satisfaction they draw a card from a deck of playing cards, this tells them how many points they got for doing their lesson. We add the points up and Jason and I have predetermined rewards. For example: 50 points and they can buy a candy bar or gum at the store, 100 points they can buy a lunchable, 250 points they can buy a new book, or 400 points they can get a new toy. Yesterday they were so excited about it that they both did two lessons (I had to put a maximum on the lessons so I don't run out of work).
Today we are going to go get B's friend so that he can stay the night.
Here are some pictures of my little sweeties - you can see who the sleepy heads are and who is up causing havoc around the house in the morning.




Finally this is an image I want to keep forever in my mind. I love the way A flexes her fingers while she's eating. It reminds me of how K used to rotate her feet in a circle when she ate. I love these sweet little idiosyncrasies. A also has a toe that I want to get a picture of and show you. More about that later.

Hi ho, hi ho

it's off to the doctor we go - again! This time we went for Z - he has pink eye. I went ahead and got the paperwork to fill out for B, since next week should be his turn if all goes the way it has lately. All I can say is that I'm glad this is happening now that I'm at home and I'm not missing work and the kids aren't missing school. All is well, no one really feels sick.
This week has been uneventful for us (with the exception of our doctor's appointment today) so far, tomorrow I'm taking all the kids with me and we are getting the oil changed on the van - hope they can work fast! Then Friday B's friend, Harrison is coming over for the night. That should be fun.

Jason's dream realized...

Jason has said for a while that he's been looking forward to me being a stay at home mom so that he would have healthy home cooked meals and clean toilets. Alas, all I had been able to do up until today was cook "semi" healthy meals - today though his dream was realized and he has a clean throne too! Yea, I did some housework today. I think A will be moving into her room this evening, the kids were very helpful today so I got quite a bit done. Yippee!

I love my family

We were thrilled to have Aunt Erin come and visit us from Massachusetts. I think she really came to practice her parenting skills on BKZA since she is expecting her first baby in October. We were all thrilled to see her, enjoyed the many cravings and food choices that expectant mothers enjoy... since we felt it was only right to partake with her. So we had donuts for our elevenses (Hobbits or Lord of the Ring fans will understand that word), then we went out for Culver's hamburgers and frozen custard for lunch, we had a wonderful dinner of grilled turkey burgers for dinner prepared by my sweet B and finally we had my birthday cake for dessert (I made my grandma's pudding cake - which I LOVE!). Then on Saturday we had goop bread, kind of like cinnamon rolls only a yummier, then for lunch we ate BBQ at a local restaurant (Salt Lick -Brad & Laura is that the one you all told me about?) and then had cheese and chocolate fun-do (that is fondue for those that don't know) for dinner. Um - yum!
Needless to say Jason and I are really ready to get back on our diets now! That is of course until the next group of family comes to visit... why is food such an entertainment to us?
Yesterday we enjoyed our first family event here in our new subdivision. They had Family Fishing at the pond so we went. Erin stayed home with A (I thought the heat would be too much for her) and Jason and I took BKZ to go fishing. We had a good time, but I missed seeing the only fish being caught, I was with Z getting drinks. Here is what happened. K, with Daddy's help, cast her line and got a nibble. She was so excited that she yanked the fishing pole so hard that the fish and line went flying behind her, over the path and into the grass on the other side, with such force that the teeny, tiny fish flew off the hook. A man assisting the fishermen/women came over picked up the fish and handed it to her so that she could get her picture taken (I'm not sure by who) and then was instructed to toss the poor fish back into the pond. So K threw the fish, as if it were a football right into the ground in front of her. Jason then picked it up and gingerly placed it back into the water, he said later he thought he saw it swimming a little confused around other lines, poor little fish had no idea the strength of that girl!
It was a really good weekend. No I'm not completely unpacked, however today I took all the "donation" boxes out to the garage so I may be able to actually arrange my living room so that the couch is against a wall and the chairs aren't just sitting willy nilly in the living room. Also, since Erin was here we cleared a path in A's room so she may be moving into her own room in the next day or two as well.
I'm going to put some pictures up for you all to see.

K&Z's room is the only one that is box free now (Z's little bed is on the left).

Our fishing trip.

Z showing us what he looks like after eating his donut.

B was showing K how easy it was to ride a bike and I couldn't resist a picture of a kid with a mohawk on a pink Barbie bike!


A with Aunt Erin

Swim Team

So B decided after one night that he wanted to be on the more advanced swim team and tonight was his first night of practice. He had a great time! I could tell he was happy, every time I saw his head above water (which wasn't much since he likes to be under water & he was in the water a LOT) he was smiling! I am thrilled that he decided to move up to this level, he's swimming a lot and is enjoying it too!
K has pink eye -so we took another trip to the dr. today. Last week we were there because A's umbilical cord hadn't fallen off (all is well - it has now). K was very unhappy today since I quarantined her from her brothers and sister and those are her favorite things to play with. When I told Z that K was going to the doctor his response was something like this, "K doctor, hurt? Ha ha!" I'm not sure what that means... but it was funny anyway.
Z has been doing better with his naps. Last weekend Jason made him close his eyes and told him not to open them at nap time so I've been following suit and it is working. Z will get into bed and I will ask him what he needs to do and he said, "Close eyes." And then that is exactly what he'll do, close them real tight!
Jason is sick - he has a cold. So I guess me being here hasn't helped him that much. Ha ha! He says he sleeps so much better, I'm not sure how. I sure would sleep great if they all left me for the night... tee hee.
I had a great time tonight watching B and reading a magazine, but I missed my ComGroup - Daniel & Kimie I'm sorry I couldn't be there to see you! Love you all so much and miss your smiling faces!
Can't wait to see Erin - she will be in tomorrow night. We have lots of fun food planned to help with her pregnancy cravings. I may not be pregnant anymore but I can have empathy for those cravings!
Here's a pic of Z with his brothers swim cap on - so cute!

Miss Me?

We have been a very busy family lately. The kids and I have been adjusting to our new stay at home family status, we are developing a schedule that goes something like this:
I get up at around 7am and get a quick shower.
We eat breakfast.
A eats.
We walk to the park (trying to meet kids and people - no luck yet).
We come home play outside a little while.
Watch The Price is Right.
Play, feed A, play, watch TV, read a book or two.
I fix lunch (I'm working on healthy lunches... takes a little more work than a sandwich and chips).
We eat lunch.
Naptime (we are trying to convince Z&A that they need naps at the same time).
Snacktime when the babies wake up.
Play inside or outside, depending on how hot it is.
Fix dinner & wait for Jason to come home.
Now in all that convoluted mess I'm trying very hard to unpack boxes, keep the house clean and do laundry. I have to say that laundry is much easier as a stay at home mom, I usually do a load or two a day and then it isn't all waiting for me on Saturday morning.
This weekend we went to church at Fellowship of Plum Creek, the kids seemed to like it and I thought it was good. A lady, named Keri sat with me, which I thought was very nice and one of my big complaints about some of the churches in CS, I always felt like a leper because no one would sit by me (even after I tried Sunday school and Bible Study), really I took my weekly bath every Sunday morning (ha ha). We will go back next Sunday as a family and join the kick off for the Vacation Bible School, which is next week.
I have thought of many miscellaneous things to tell you all but I am not sure how to put them in an email or blog so I'm just going to list them here.
Z thinks that his little sister broke her belly button... when the umbilical cord finally fell off he looked at her with such a distressed look and said, "It's broken!"
B is doing swim club on Tuesday and Thursday evening. I met a few ladies there... so that was good, one of them I ran into at church too. Everyone I've talked to loves Plum Creek which is a plus. Finally, B decided to taken a fashion stand this summer and we allowed it because we knew all the grandmas would love this... check out the picture below.

Yep - that is a mohawk!!

Much love to everyone!