This and That with the Cousins

It's been a while since I talked about all the kids. Things here are going really good. I finally feel like we have a good routine and Isaac is done nursing which is so helpful. I am doing some preschool with Ethan and Maddie while Isaac naps in the am. I have a feeling his am naps are about over so I will have to get creative. I like being able to help them and sit down with them. Ethan will start school this fall so I am trying to help him be ready. So far he knows all of his letters and he knows the sounds of almost all of them as well. We are working on numbers now.

Isaac and Brady and quite the pair. Some days they play really good together, others they steal toys and give each other dirty looks ha ha. Isaac is making up for the fact that he is the littlest one in the bunch and is usually the one stealing toys or knocking people over. I think he is going to give me a run for my money.

I keep seeing other blogs with pictures on Fridays. Someday I will have the time to actually figure out what instagram is. I use my phone to take pictures of the kids all the time and they go no where but other peoples phones. I don't have a smart phone...I call mine the dumb phone lol. But since I quit work I can't quite justify the additional money each month. So I thought I'd share my low quality highlights of our week. It will be a good way to remember all the fun we have during the day. And if the low quality bothers you...feel free to contribute to my new phone fund. :)

Scene One: On Wednesday morning I was making breakfast and Brady started pointing saying "I-Zak..I-Zak..I-Zak"-

...

Scene two: I went to find Isaac and found him hiding in the bathroom eating a banana he stole from Brady's plate lol lol lol. It was hilarious. He had to go give it back.

Tuesday lunch together. Don't judge my paper plates, I had already run two loads through the dishwasher that morning...

Ethan wanted to address his own birthday invitations. So he wrote every ones names on the envelope and I added the address...

If you have been to Krispy Kreme lately there is a truck parked outside and part of the word doughnuts is missing. So it reads "Eat Krispy Kreme Doug". My dad finds this very funny and sends pictures of it all the time. So I made him his own hat lol. Oh his name is Doug if you didn't know that. :)

Ethan had to get a filling for a tooth that came in with a defect. I am so proud of how well he did. We have been taking him to the dentist since he was two and I am glad because he does really good. After we left he goes "well that wasn't so bad mom...it is still not a lot of fun, but it wasn't bad". I think that sums up every ones feeling of the dentist.

And this silly boy...just cause he is cute. :)



That was so much fun. I love looking back and the pictures from my phone.

Christmas Cookies

My friend Kelly invited me to her Christmas Cookie decorating party a few years ago. And I mean like probably 7 or so lol. I started going before I had Ethan and before I was pregnant. I think I was Kim's date for a few of them LOL.  But regardless of how I got invited to begin with, it was so much fun and I think every year since then I have done some sort of Cookie decorating for Christmas. She still does a party every year and we have gone to most of them. This year we had to miss because Ethan had a PT appointment and we couldn't miss it. So I just did some cookies with Ethan and Maddie this year. I think they had fun. We made the cookies one day and then decorated them the next. That is why there is an outfit change in the pictures. And yes...we are still in our PJ's. Because we have no where to go...so we wear our PJ's when we feel like it. Those who judge...are just jealous hehe.

Sneaking bites of the dough...

It's been a year...

It's been one year since I started watching Maddie and Brady. When I started Ethan and Maddie were 3, Brady was 7 months and Isaac was 5 weeks old. Yikes, I still wonder what I was thinking. I will admit those first few months were a lot...a lot lol. I often went to bed wishing (or crying haha) I had help. But we figured out our routine and we all worked together to make it work. It's been the best blessing ever. It feels normal when they come over now. Some days I forget there are 4 here because it's just our normal thing. I do remember rather quickly when we go to the store though....or have to go to the dr..They really need to make bigger carts! I can't imagine my days without Ethan and Maddie laughing and playing, Brady and Isaac pulling all my dvd's out every day and learning how to share. One a funny note they both say the word share now lol..it's so cute.

I love all of these kids....

It was here??

Spring...it really did make an appearance for a while. I have photos to prove it!!


We did some sprinkler playing!! These pictures are probably my most favorite pictures right now. It's Brady's first spring as a big boy and that means his first time playing in the sprinklers. Ethan walked over and took his hand and lead him to the sprinklers to show him how to do it. Then Maddie took his other hand and they walked him through for his very first time. Melt...My...Heart...

Look at the little guy's face.

These two come up with the funniest things to do....

We also did some serious playing in the sandbox...

Some of us got so dirty that we had to be cleaned off in the sink....

Even the littlest one enjoyed being outside...

It looks like spring might be back again...let's hope it stays!!

Fun Stuff

We have been spending a lot of time doing some fun stuff around here lately.

We made our own lava lamps...

You too can make your own lava lamp! Find out how by clicking HERE!!

We also had a very fun letter day. Ethan has been really into learning his letters and their sounds lately. We ended up with a lot of "letter" things suddenly so it was meant to be.

First a few weeks ago Jon brought home scrabble cheese-its crackers he thought the kids would love. I have been saving them for just the right day.

Then I found letter shaped cookies at Winco that I knew the kids would love.

And it keeps getting better....Ethan got a belated birthday present from a friend and it was a letter Leap Frog movie.

But that wasn't it....a few days after that Jon's mom brought this fun game over for Ethan. So we had some letter cookies and played this while the babies napped.

But the fun didn't stop there! We got out our letter blocks and each of them found the letters in their name...

And then we used crayons to make these....

Then we watched the Leap Frog letter movie together...which was very cute!



You're probably thinking...tell me she is done with the letter madness. But I am not!! For lunch we had sandwiches in the shape of letters, some of those yummy scrabble crackers, i cut cheese out in letters for them. We also had yogurt but it just sat on their plates in a nice blob. :) I am most proud of my cheese..I love cheese....

And that was our letter day!

Reality Show

Sometimes I wish there was a video camera following me all day long. So many funny things happen before I have time to run and get the video or regular camera. If there had been a camera following me I would have shown you the following:

{Please insert your imaginary video for each of these and feel free to laugh or say "awe" as you feel necessary}

I would start by showing you Brady standing next to Isaac while he was in the highchair and wanting bites of Isaac's food. It was funny because Brady would open his mouth every time I gave Isaac a bite. So I gave Isaac a bite and then Brady a bite. 

Then I would move to something funny and show you Maddie standing on the first stair and suddenly falling off and managing to fall into the side of the couch and hurting herself. Yes I said standing on the first stair. :)  And I would then show Maddie trying to drink water from my refrigerator like a drinking fountain....she stuck her head in where the cups go and pushed the button. Oh my the look on her face was hilarious when water landed all over her face. And the little grin on her face while cleaning up the water seemed to say "it was still worth it".

For sure I would have shown you a sweet video of Brady saying "Thank you" every time I put his socks on his feet. He does that every day. So sweet.

I would actually have a video of Isaac on all fours rocking back and forth! Why is my 6 month old doing this I do not know...but every time I try to video he doesn't do it. But all day long he is trying to figure it out.

And I would end by showing you a video of Ethan telling me when he woke up from his nap he was going to be taller than me and then he would be in charge.

Hope you enjoyed the "movies" hehe.

Creation - Day 1

I decided to make Friday's a fun day over here (although I'd like to think every day is fun here ha ha) and do something special. We had a creation "themed day" over here. Now I use the term "themed day" loosely because my friend Kelly has full on theme days that are awesome. But for lack of another term that is what I am calling it.

I didn't spend one dollar on this theme day!! Here is what I did......................

Breakfast greeted them with their Easter baskets we made filled with some chocolate eggs...because who doesn't like chocolate, a jar and a little "flag" type thing that has day one on it. The jar was what we were going to do for their craft but I didn't tell them what we were going to do with it so they were very curious. Ethan wanted to know why it wasn't full of applesauce.

After breakfast and some playtime we read the story of creation and learned about what God did the first day. But since I am reading it to a 3 year old and a 4 year old I decided to spice it up a bit. Since the first day was about how he separated the darkness from the light I read the story in my laundry room in the dark. The kids thought this was the funniest thing ever. Then when we discussed how it was completely dark and when suddenly there was light I turned on one of our brightest flashlights. You would have thought I was taking these kids to Disneyland with their giggles and laughter.

{I didn't take a picture of our laundry room story time since it was dark - so insert imaginary picture here}

Then they played for a while because Baby "I" needed to eat and to go down for a nap and Baby "B" needed his bottle and a nap too.

Then like 45 minutes later lol....we got around to our project. So for this I had to get a little creative because I do not know how to represent light and dark in a craft. I decided to do something with a candle. First I was going to have them make candles but then I remembered that I have 4 children during the day and perhaps I should do something a little simpler. So I started thinking of ways to make candle holders.

Here is what I came up with: Tissue paper + Mod Podge + Glass Jar = loads of fun and one pretty cute candle holder.

Next week we will do day 2 and I have no idea what we will do yet. I should get working on that.

Moments

Moments come and go so quickly it seems. This week was full of moments to remember....

Moments like Brady sharing toys with Isaac....

Brady loves his cousin Isaac. He says his name so clear and he says it all the time. When Isaac wakes up Brady says "Isaac, Isaac, Isaac, Isaac" over and over again. When Isaac goes down for his nap Brady looks for him saying his name over and over again. He is so sweet.

Moments when these two are supposed to be picking up and I find them playing like this lol...

Moments when they start singing their ABC's together while making cookies....

Moments like this....

Moments when we eat green eggs and green milk and green mac and cheese during the day.



Hope your week was filled with moments that make your heart as happy as mine.