What we're doing

Strawberries were on sale here for 1.00/pound. So of course we had to hold everything else and make some JAM! Here's Nora and Miles being great helpers. I had Nora wear a headband so her hair wouldn't get in the jam and Miles thought he needed one as well! The pink stuff on Miles' face is fingernail polish... he found some downstairs and painted both hands, his shirt and face.

This is a frequent sight in the mornings in the kids room. Sophie reading to the other two in her bed. Such fun memories for them - and me.

I love these two pictures of Miles and "Pencher". Miles loves to follow Spencer and do whatever he is doing, and eats up any attention Spencer gives him.

Sophie did some weaving in art class at school and it's kind of a funny story because they sent home a paper saying, "Congratulations! Your child's art has been chosen to be in this exhibit, and only a few kids from each school in the area were chosen.." and her art teacher sent home a note saying "Congratulations Sophie!" I was excited for Sophie and asked her how the teacher chose whose art to go in the gallery (knowing how it would make a lot of kids feel bad if they really only chose a few) and Sophie said, "She sent around a paper in art class and if you wanted it to be in the art show you signed up for it... if you didn't sign up you got to take your project home that day." This made me laugh. I'm still glad she wanted to sign up and have her art displayed for us to go and see... But let's just tell it how it is don't you think?

Her weaving is the 2nd one above her head. Our cute little artist!

We cannot seem to get Miles on a regulated schedule! He has consistently been waking up at about 615am and not going back to sleep... which means he needs a nap. But I've tried giving him a nap at 11am and at 2pm and no matter how long or short he sleeps he still stays up until 915 or so and still wakes up at 615. I would actually prefer him to not nap and be asleep right at 8pm when the kids get in bed. That's what we're working towards. Yesterday he fell asleep in the car and Brian brought him in and laid him on the floor and changed his diaper and he stayed asleep. Maybe I should just enjoy the naps for a while longer and let him stay up later!

Sweet little boy

He even slept right through the girls' efforts to wake him with loves.

Funny kids and a birthday memory

My kids never cease to make me smile. I usually record their antics on my "mommy blog" but today I feel like posting it on this blog.... so I will. A few days ago at the grocery store we were picking up some sand for the sandbox. I reached down to pick up the bag of sand and the cart started slowly rolling away (we were on a slight incline...) I looked over at Miles and said, "Hey - where are you going?" and he said,"Ummm...... the BEACH!" He loves pretending all his cars and trains are going to the beach lately and is constantly bringing me a car or train and saying, "You be him. Monster coming. Go beach!" I think he's going to love when actually we do go to the beach this summer. He also loves pretending to be a puppy and carrying this star rattle around in his mouth and playing fetch with it. And playing with the babies from the dollhouse. It must be said Miles loves babies and I think {hope} he'll be such a good big brother!

Nora and Sophie were getting in the tub so they both went potty before they got in. Nora went second and I heard her say to Sophie as she got into the tub, "My pee just mixed with yours and it STINKS!" I know that's a gross story - but still funny!

And today is my dad's birthday. He would be 54 today. It's so weird how the older I get the younger I realize he was when he died (42). So here is a picture and a memory of my dad, happy birthday dad/Grandpa Corey!

This is a great picture of my parents :) I think it was when they were chaperoning one of the High School dances at PHS. This mustache was (for me) part of who my dad was when I was younger. He would occasionally shave it off and I remember very clearly when he would because for a second I would think, "Who is that man?" On Saturday mornings my dad would often wake us up, give us a long list of chores and tell us if we had it done by noon we could be done for the rest of the day. My parents loved working in the yard and being outside (which my mom still does), my dad would often be working on the car with the music blasting. Creedence Clearwater, Jim Croce, Bread, America and Cat Stevens always remind me of my dad. Then later we'd head to the grocery store for a "Quarter pop" from the pop machine, when they used to sell Shasta soda's for a quarter. So grateful for good memories.

life consists of...

calming tantrums - Miles is so in love with one of our neighbors bikes that he has a major fit when anyone else rides it. But that face is just so cute.

playing with friends -Miles adores our neighbor Spencer! When he says his name it sounds like "Pencher", at bedtime a few nights ago I gave Miles a hug goodnight and said I love you and he said, "Me love Pencher hugs!" and yesterday outside he put on Spencer's football helmet and said, "Me like Pencher!" It's so cute - and I think it makes Spencer pretty happy, too!

Here is Nora and Maddie. Sometimes these two can play for hours on end without a problem.... and sometimes not! :) It's been so fun to watch their friendship grow - they were both just little two year olds when we moved here.

waiting for school to get out - I am excited to have this girl home for the summer- although it will add more drama to our days! The other day she was upset over not being able to have the neighbors over to play and she wrote a note that said, "This is the horibulest, badist day of my life. And I absulootly mean it!" I guess since she already had the "wurst day of her life" this even topped that! However, she is generally such a sweetie and a wonderful big sister.

We've been spending tons of time outside playing with neighbors, going on walks, having bbq's and eating otter pops. Spring is so great!

Oh, and all these pictures were taken with my new camera! Hooray!

Ultrasound...

This is a lame picture of my picture... but it will do for now.

Today we had our ultrasound for baby! It was a good reminder that next time we will leave all the kids with someone and show them the pictures afterwards because they really can't tell by looking at the ultrasound that it is a baby, and they can't sit still that long. But chances are we'll forget and take all of them again next time anyway! It was fun to watch baby move all around and curl up into a ball and not let the ultrasound tech get any measurements for a while. The baby got it's first spanking from the lady {and hopefully last - but ya know I'm not perfect and all the kids have gotten a swat on the bum at one time or another...} She was trying to get the baby to move around so she could get a measurement so she was pushing on my belly and I watched the baby's bum go up and down on the screen. It made me smile. All looks well and we declined to find out if baby is a boy or a girl. I just love surprises!

Child labor

Brian enlisted the help of the kids to clean his bike last week. The poor bike is going downhill fast and Brian now has to peddle it furiously before the chain catches and it will work. He walks it off of campus before attempting this so not too many people witness it!
We have been watching craigslist for a new one... again.

Miles started to brush his teeth with the greasy toothbrush - yuck.

The kids had a fun time helping dad clean up his bike!
These were the last pictures I took with my old camera (R.I.P)... but another one is on the way. Yay!

Tiny Kicks

I'm 18 weeks today - and started feeling the baby move earlier this week. Which is seriously the best feeling in the world! Can't wait for the kids to be able to feel it, too!

At least I have our computer to take a picture... and please ignore my messy hallway!

Spring Break!

Sophie has been out of school this week for Spring Break. It's been so fun having her around and gets me excited for the fun and adventures we will have in the summer! She's sure a sweetie. We've had rain for most of the week so we haven't done too much, but it's supposed to dry up tomorrow so hopefully we'll be able to do a few things outside this weekend - unfortunately there will be no pictures of them. :(

All in a days work...

Here is what Miles has accomplished today:

* ate a blue easter egg dyeing tablet

* broke his new kite
* ran full speed into Nora, making her pass out
*rolling down a hill over and over again, saying "Go. Mowles!" the whole way down
* tipped over the computer (luckily Sophie was there and caught it)
*only ate chips and salsa for dinner, politely turning everything else away with a "Nope, tay-too."
*kept his sisters awake at bedtime by saying over and over again, "Duck tooted!"
AND knocked my camera off the desk and BROKE it. I know I am responsible for it, I was the one who left it there after all. But I'll just blame Miles for now. So no pictures of our super fun day of Easter egg hunting and kite flying. Sad.Sad.Sad. No more picture taking for a while.

A busy day for our busy boy.

Loving our busy Spring!

Well, my original April fools plan didn't work out (switching beds). I had decided it would be better to just move Nora down from the top bunk and put her in bed with Sophie. I figured I would move her when I woke up in the night, because I always wake up in the night. But then I didn't wake up until almost 6. Brian still gave it a try but when he tried to move Nora she freaked out so he put her back. Darn it. Guess we'll try it next year! I did tell Sophie when I woke her up that it had snowed during the night and she was quite upset about it...

I also got to plan a playgroup activity. It was fun to do something for Nora and Miles (and the rest of the kids of course). We had a tricky Easter egg hunt, played a bean bag toss game (where I tried to give them rocks instead of candy - but then some of them wanted the rocks!) Then we had a snack of "grilled cheese sandwiches" and "juice". Which I thought was the best part! It was really jell-o in cups, and pound cake with orange frosting. It was pretty fun to watch all those confused cute little kids. I had some snacks leftover so I brought them outside after school for the kids and the neighbor kids. The best part was that Sophie knew I had made the cake into sandwiches, but when she saw them she was so convinced they were real she was not happy and said, "Mom! I thought you were bringing out cake!!"

Sophie's school held a Fairy Tale Ball for all the first graders. Sophie had been planning for weeks that she wanted to be a "Sun Princess". She asked me if I could make her a dress and I said it may be a bit hard for my sewing skills but we could try to find something for her. A few days after that conversation I overheard her talking on the phone to my mom and saying, "Well I asked my mom a long time ago to make me a dress - and she hasn't even started it yet. So I was thinking maybe you could make me one?" Of course Naunie sewed up a cute skirt and jacket and sent them in the mail within two days. And Sophie was thrilled. I did help her make a yellow mask to go with the costume. It was a fun activity and the kids had a great time at the "Ball."

Miles has been having a great time playing outside - he had to wear the girls old winter coat one day because I had put his away a bit too quickly and just happened to have this one out still. It was only girly on the inside and the sleeves so it wasn't that noticeable.

Of course Nora has been so happy to be back outside exploring and playing. She really wanted a kite the other day, so she spent about an hour making one of her own. She happily ran around the yard making it "fly" for quite a while. Cute, cute girl.

And just a cute picture of Miles - he loves digging in the flower beds in the front yard with the neighbors. I like to call the hours of 4pm-6pm "happy hour" in our little neighborhood because we all congregate outside and visit while we watch the kids play. So fun!
Sophie's spring break starts today so she will be out of school all week - hopefully I will get some more pictures of her to put on here. I took most of these while she was at school so pictures of her are lacking in this post.
Happy Spring!