We Will Hug Him and Squeeze Him and Call Him Scooch

Each of my kids has learned to crawl in different ways.
G-man took forever to crawl. He just wasn't interested in moving anywhere in particular. Our apartment was small and mom provided for his every need, so why bother? Finally at 9 months I bribed him to move with Cheerios in a line across the floor. He started out military crawling and shortly thereafter moved on to the real thing.
Kiwi started crawling at 7 months and a week later started pulling up on furniture. She was not going to be left behind by her big brother if she could help it.
Mr S has gone in his own direction on the road to becoming mobile. Our home is mostly tile, so he has devised an ingenious way of pulling himself across the floor. Thus we have re-christened him Scooch in celebration of his new found mobility. A friend (yes you Katy) mentioned he looks like he's got a bum leg he's dragging. In true boy fashion he is chasing a ball in this clip.

Hungry

I was looking at some drawings that G-man had done in church yesterday. I was very interested to see that he had written some words on the bottom of the paper since her rarely writes words and usually just draws. He had written twice "I love to eat." Then today he brings home an art project from school. He had drawn two rectangles with some sort of chalky substance. On the back it said "When I look at the picture it makes me feel hungry." Is it just me, or does it seem like I'm starving my kid? If I didn't live with him I wouldn't know that he can out eat me and eat as much as Chad on any given night. So no, we do not starve him. He has the metabolism any girl would dream of. I would encourage him to eat less, but he's a pretty thin little boy. So, I'm thinking I better set aside money now in a savings account marked "teenage boy food fund."

The Apple: A Picture Story

Little Piggies

Water + Dirt = Very happy (but dirty) kiddos. I think it bought us an extra hour of uninterrupted yard work time. Plus we got to spray them off with cold hose water. I don't know who came out on top here, them or us.

Christmas time's a coming

Christmas came out of the attic yesterday and we are in full swing. Chad doesn't get what all the fuss is about. If it were up to him we would skip all the traditional celebrations. Christmas is still Christmas without all the lights and treat making and decoration buying? I admit I'm one of those people that refuses to bring out Christmas until after Thanksgiving. I scowl at the store clerks bringing out the Christmas paraphernalia in October. But as soon as I played O Little Town of Bethlehem on the Organ for our final hymn on Sunday I could feel the excitement building. Christmas has begun and I intend to enjoy every minute of it.
For FHE G-man gave a great lesson on service and we made of list of some people to help. I hope we can find that giving spirit this year.
I turned on the holiday music on the radio and listened to all the holiday favorites. I've had Let it Snow in my head for most of the day. We dug out the Raffi Christmas Album and listened to Must be Santa and Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer. I get to play Christmas songs at church for the next three weeks. I'm excited to go practice!
I turned off the lights tonight and watched TV in the light of the glowing Christmas tree. I'm itching to get the outside lights up. I can't wait to go light hunting with the kids and find the best holiday light displays in the area.
I know in three weeks I'll have heard every Christmas song there is 20 times and be done listening. I know I'll be ready to rescue my house from the Christmas decorations and get everything organized for the new year. But for now I'm loving everything about the season.

Teeth!

Mr S is now 7 months old and much to my dismay has sprouted a tooth. G-man didn't get a single tooth until he was over a year. Kiwi got her first at about 9 months. Now I have a 7 month old with a tooth. Will the next one get teeth at 5 months? Its really throwing a wrench in the whole nursing thing and I'm totally not ready to be done! He's growing up way too fast!
I was hoping he wouldn't start crawling until after Christmas, but it looks like he may start sooner than thought. He's been getting on his hands and knees a lot lately. He's also fairly mobile for a baby who doesn't crawl. He can do a 360 on his bum and his reach gives him a few feet of reach. So I have to be careful about what I leave around him. His favorite thing to find and eat is paper. He throws a major fit if you take away paper he has found. He's already managed to eat a bit. Forget rice cereal, bring on the newsprint.
I'll probably have to give in soon and cut his hair. It sticks straight up and I think its going to start looking more ludicrous than cute. If he were a girl it would make a great piggy tail. Its so fun how different each of my kids has been. What an adventure having a baby is, even the third time around.

Ballerini Kiwi

Kiwi is our resident Ballerini . We did a professional ballet company last year and it was fun, but quite expensive. This year we simply did parks and rec and she had the best time. Her teacher was a riot. He was loud, obnoxious, and had all those little girls giggling from start to finish. Kiwi's favorite antic of Mr Roger we when he would pretend to "toot" when he leaned over for his side stretches. She had her class on Mondays and by Friday she was starting ask when it was time to go back. I'm so glad Mr Rogertook the time and expended the energy to help these girls have a great time.

Poor G

G-man love school more than any kid I know. He goes to all day Kindergarten and would probably stay longer if they would let him. It doesn't matter that most every thing is a review for him (he has learned some history and sign language). I would have thought he would be bored by now. I have to document this so I can show him when he gets older and doesn't want to go anymore.
When told he will be missing school next Wednesday so we can get an early start on Thanksgiving, he was crushed. He bravely held back the tears and asked if we could wait to leave until after centers. He has art that day. That is his least favorite center. When I said we could not wait, he burst into tears and said "but I love school. I don't ever want to miss school!" I asked if there was anything we could do at Grandma's that would make up for it. He assured me through his tears that he likes school more than anything.
I could probably convince him with the promise of a brownie sundae or something. That just seems wrong. I'm not about to resort to bribery to convince my kid NOT to go to school.

Wii Night

Since getting a Wii, we have made Fridays into Wii Night. I must admit, I look forward to it, as I get a chance to hang out with G-man and Kiwi. Mr S really hasn't figured out how to work the controls, but he sure does squish the buttons well. We just have to get him to stop drooling all over them, and he will be good to go.

We still just have the one game that came with the system, the Wii Sports. Kiwi likes to do the boxing, since the others are a little too hard for her, and she doesn't have the patience to learn to play better just yet. G-man loves the tennis, even though he gets really frustrated with trying to return the ball.

The best part is that everyone in our family has a character; we just need to add Gold the goldfish to complete the family set. Everyone loves to be Mr S, since he is so very cute. Nothing better than to play Mr S and beat up Kiwi. Great family fun.

Sick Day

I haven't had time lately to post, with school and all. But today, I was able to justify taking sick time from work, what with Luann, Kiwi and Mr S all sick with a cough. It was nice to be able to just play with the kids and do things around the house. Yes, I still did a few things for work, and worked on my group project, but mostly helped out around the house.

I got my exercise in today by walking with Kiwi and Mr. S to pick G-man up from school, letting Luann get a much-needed nap in. It is about 1.5 miles round trip, so a good amount of walking. The best part is that my arms got a great work-out, as I was the only one walking. Luann has done this a few times, with Kiwi, Mr. S and G-man all in the stroller, and this time I got to push them all. Luann and I did the calculations, and it seems I was pushing nearly 100 pound of dead weight, once you add in the snacks and water. The stroller just really wasn't designed for that kind of task, and I don't know how many more it can survive.

Mommy's Cool

For almost three years I've been going to the gym. I joined with my friend Jana and fell in love with the Les Mills fitness programs they offered. One of my favorite classes is body combat. It combines various martial arts moves into a choreographed workout set to music. I've gotten pretty good at the moves over the last three years. When Gregory decided he wanted to be a ninja at Halloween, I had a lot of fun showing him some kicks. He thought it was pretty cool that his mommy could do that. I'm awesome.

Mr S Joins the Fun

We had a lot of fun carving pumpkins. Probably the best part was sitting Mr S up on the table and letting him play in the pumpkin "guts." While the kids cut, he felt and tasted. Every time he had a taste he would cringe but then a minute later would put the stuff in his mouth again. There are some drawbacks to being the third. However, he gets to experience a lot more than Gregory did as a baby, both good and bad.

To Cathy

Chad has a really awesome Aunt named Cathy. Cathy likes to give gifts. We have gotten some cool gifts from Cathy: Light up pepper grinder, corn on the cob handles, flip flop socks (they covered the feet but not the toes), a giant gingerbread coloring house, an alligator pasta server....The list goes on and on. Some stuff was more useful than others, but it was always fun to get stuff from Cathy. A few years ago she had to stop her gift giving ways due to health problems. But, I wanted her to know that her legacy lives on.
Meet Cathy. This is Kiwi's comfort item. It was given to Kiwi by Aunt Cathy for her 1st birthday (I think). At the time the doll was bigger than she was. We decided to name her after GAC (Great Aunt Cathy) to show our appreciation for the gift. I think Kiwi loves this doll more than mommy sometimes. Cathy has been hugged many times and absorbed many tears. She is a great stand in at those times when Kiwi or mommy are just too dang mad to comfort each other.
Aunt Cathy, you are often on my mind thanks to this doll. I hope you and Mike are doing well.

A Little Bit of Crazy

I saw these on a blog I read and decided I had to try them. G's birthday was a perfect excuse to put way too much effort into something that I shouldn't eat anyway. So I made them for him to bring to his Kindergarten class.






They took a while to make and the edible ink pen I bought did not work well at all. It cost a lot of money too. I don't think I mixed the cake inside the pops long enough so they were a bit lumpy.








G's class thought they were so cute and really good. All in all I think they were a success. Chad thinks I'm a nut to put this much effort into something that someone is just going to eat. I think its fun despite all the work.

The Party

G-man is now six and to celebrate we invited some friends over for a Halloween birthday party. I have to write down what we did so I remember for the next time he makes me do this. I wonder how old he will be when having a Halloween birthday party won't be fun anymore.
We played a few games. First was chuck the candy corn at your friend's head/in the bucket. Then we tried to stick eyeballs onto a ghost using sticky eyeballs and a ghost painted on the hallway mirrored. This was followed by a lollipop ghost hunt in a dark room with flashlights. Next was bounce the eyeball into the cauldron (ping pong balls with irises painted on them). Probably the favorite game of the morning was the mummy game. Each kid took a turn getting wrapped in toilet paper. The fun part came when they tore out of their wrappings like raging monsters. We ended the fun with a spiderweb maze with candy
at the end. The funnest part of that was ripping down the spiderweb.




At each game the kids were given something to put in their party bag. We
made party bags out of paper bags and stickers. Apparently stickers don't stick to paper bags. Either that or I had some bad stickers. G-man's favorite games were the ghost hunt, mummy wrap, and spiderweb maze. The candy corn game was kind of a bust. All they wanted to do was eat the candy corns that missed off the ground.
We made our own pizzas and then had spiderweb cupcakes. I thought the cupcakes were cute.







It was a lot of work but G-man had a blast I couldn't stop telling me how much he LOVED his party. He even thanked Heavenly Father for his party in his prayers. I love making my kids happy.

Kiwi Quote of the Day

At dinner Kiwi was the first one to finish her salad. She was proud of herself and bragged to daddy that she beat him. So daddy said:
"What did you beat me with, a bat?"
"No, a fork!"

Birthdays!

It was my birthday Sunday. Chad keeps telling me that I'm old. Well you're going to be 30 this summer buddy! You just wait! Sunday birthdays aren't my favorite. You can't go to restaurants and get free stuff.
The plus side of it was the primary SMP was Sunday. G-man did a great job and sounded so mature as he delivered his lines. Afterwards we left early to have lunch with the grandparents (both sets were there for it) which was a plus. Not that I don't enjoy going to church...
On a side note, Mr. S is now 6 months old. His newest thing is dumping his toys all over the floor. I think he likes to have a variety of things to slobber on. Either that or he saw his siblings trashing the playroom and thought he'd join in.
Next up is G-man's big day this weekend. We're throwing a party this year. Wish me luck.

Note to Self

Never, never, never, try to go to the zoo with three kids without husband again. It is hard to do and will leave you exhausted without actually having seen a single animal. Next time think about the work required to cart three kids through a bustling crowd of strangers. Remember to bring the camera and food, feed the baby before leaving the car, and get cell phone numbers so the opportunity to catch up with old friends isn't wasted. Don't take one kid to the bathroom at a time. If one goes, make all potty trained children at least attempt a bathroom break. Don't waste time buying food at the zoo. It takes forever and the food is crap! Be thankful for friends who stick with you and share food, watch kids while nursing the baby, and tell you you're a good mom when you're just about to lose it. Be thankful for double strollers that can be triple strollers in a pinch. You are not organized enough to do this on your own until the baby is at least taking a bottle. What were you thinking?!

Expanding Vocabulary

Tonight as G-man and Kiwi and I were jumping on the bed, I was being the Green Monster. I had a green blanket over me, and I was reaching out off of the ground to grab at their feet. Lots of fun was had by all. While we were playing, I kept hearing G-man say a word that sounded like a really bad word (the G-word); I thought, no, he wouldn't be saying that. So I asked him what he was saying, and sure enough, he was saying that. And then Kiwi started saying it; I presume they thought it was funny. So we had a quick talk about it and why it wasn't OK to say. The moment passed, and the fun resumed.

It Begins!

I love the holidays. I love the decorations, I love the excuse to eat horrible food, I love being with family. October is my favorite because it starts it all off in our house with Halloween decorations. We have an awesome haunted house that was bought when G-man was a year old. It was fun to see Mr S get a chance to explore it. Surprisingly enough, it still works. Today we finished it off with some Halloween stickers. Fun times. The third child is always picked on.




Now on to the birthdays. I'll wish myself a happy birthday now, because that may be all I get. I'm usually upstaged by the G-man. He's having a friends party this year. Oh well, that's what you get with kids.

Family Pictures

We got some family pictures taken with Mr. S. We finally have some official proof that there are three kids in the family, and not just two. He was seriously underrepresented on the family wall of fame.







It is really hard to take pictures with three kids. I thought two were bad, but three is horrible. Finding a picture with all three smiling and looking at the camera was impossible. Mr. S really didn't want to sit still for these pictures. Mom and dad were practically doing backflips to get him to hold still for the kid pics. Of course those back flips distracted the other two. I think Kiwi is grimacing in concentration as she tries to remember to look at the camera, and not and mom doing her crazy dance for Mr S.




Then you add in the mom and dad issues. I have a huge smile, so I try not to overdo it in pictures. But then I don't smile enough so I just look grumpy. Plus Chad has a tendency to half close his eyes. Then heads are tilted at weird angles and my belly fat... ok, clearly I'm picky. Here are the ones that had the fewest number of complaints. I hate pictures.

Too busy

Way too much time has passed since my last post. Life has been super busy with School and work and everything. I still have a few more papers to write before the middle of the month, so I have to spend less time with the family to get it done.

We finally had a chance to work in the yard today, moving dirt around and getting rid of the large hill of dirt in the backyard. We are trying to get rid of the bermuda grass from around the trees, and the only real way to do that is to get down to the roots, which go down around a foot. Gives me some real exercise, since I don't do anything else. :)

The point of all of this is to not have the grass grow into the tree wells, and also so we can start a garden. The kids have been really interested in planting seeds, and have planted an olive from some trees around the church. Nothing growing yet, but that is how the watermelon plant started, and that turned into a large plant. They should have fun planting soon enough.

The Many Trick of Mr. S

Now that the baby is 5 months old, he has officially decided to start doing more than just be a slug. Granted, he was a very cute, smiley, wiggly slug, but still a slug. Here are a few of the things our little guy likes to do.

1. Sit up: He can sit pretty well by himself as long as he doesn't forget he's sitting and straighten out his legs. That resulting crash to the ground when this happens is not fun, so mommy tries to stay close. (I have a video of both G-man and Kiwi crashing to the floor because I was not close enough to catch them while taking the video. I'll have to try and get a good crashing video of Mr. S for the sake of tradition).

2. Roll over: It took him a full five months to do it on his own, but now when placed on tummy he will skillfully and quickly roll onto his back. I think he decided it was easier than screaming until mommy turned him over. Although he will scream if forced to repeat this trick more than two or three times. He probably could roll onto his tummy, but I don't think he will anytime soon.

3. Eat Solids: He's only had cereal three times, and is still getting the hang of it. Most of it ends up on his bib, and I think the spoon is more fun than the food, but at least it give him something to do during dinnertime.

4. Bite: I don't know if this kid is teething, but if he can get something close to his mouth, it will go in. His favorite things to gnaw on are his hands/feet, mom or dads fingers, and paper, or at least it would be if mom and dad would let him. That kid has strong jaws, and when he chomps down on a finger, it hurts.

5. Drool: When Mr. S chomps down on your fingers, expect slime along with the pain. He has been drenching his shirts as of late and I may have to start packing some bibs. (oh the horror!)

6. Bounce: Thanks to G. Nancy Mr. S has a place to expend some of his pent up energy. He loves this beast of a play center, especially the little sun that he can grab and chomp down on as hard as he wants.

This kid has a lot of energy right now. He's always moving, always talking, always drooling. I love this stage when he's full of personality but not really moving yet. I dread the challenge of baby proofing my house in a few months. Curse you Legos!

Announcing the Newest Evans

We are proud to announce the latest edition to our growing collection. It is the first appliance that didn't have a pre-designated spot. It is our new upright freezer! Now we can get the quantity of frozen food that we have always wanted! Bread! Meat! More Meat!

Craigslist comes through again.

Mommy's a Meanie

I can't help but see some resemblance here. Perhaps a cross between Captain Picard and a Romulan? Sometimes I can't help but laugh when he cries.

Kiwi Photojournalista Part III: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

How do two children take 170 pictures in one day? Take pictures of every single page of a picture book, take 25 pictures of your baby brother, take 5 videos that were meant to be pictures, and take a picture of every single corner of your playroom and bedroom. And in all the accidental pictures of nothing at all, and you've got one full camera.

Kiwi Photojournalista Part II: Our Saturday in Pictures

Park, bike riding, playing with Seth, playing in the playroom, taking 50 pictures of one book, eating dinner, putting together the bunkbeds, going to bed.