Thursday, April 30, 2009

Park Day

Here are a few pictures from our trip to the park the other day. It was Yoda's first time to get to "play" at the park. When we went in the fall he was too little to do anything. He liked the swing at the beginning, but later not so much. It was a beautiful day out and the younger kids all had fun.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Nine Months Old!!!

Today baby Yoda is nine months old. It doesn't seem possible that so much time has gone by. We love him like crazy and are enjoying watching him develop his personality. Here is some info on him at nine months. He weighs 24 pounds, is 28 1/2 inches long. He still doesn't eat much real food; nursing is his favorite. He can roll, move from sitting to his stomach and back, is creeping and starting to crawl and is pulling himself up to stand on anything he can get a hold of. This little guy is VERY loud. He babbles, growls, and has started a screeching/squealing noise, especially when the other kids are wrestling. He does NOT like to be left alone anywhere. I guess he is just used to having people around all of the time. And he still is a poor sleeper. He is a very scheduled little guy, but only naps about 30 minutes, and still wakes up several times in the night for a snack! He is a snuggler and overall a happy little guy. We are so thankful he is part of our family!

Wordless Wednesday


Friday, April 24, 2009

Learning to Skate

When I was a kid, we went ice skating at the local park that they flooded in winter. The older neighbor kids taught me and my brothers to skate. I remember having lots of fun, and freezing!


In 2002 when the two oldest boys were 7 and 9, they were invited to a birthday skating party. I went with them and attempted to help them learn to skate. The evening was one of the funniest I have ever had, but not a successful one as far as the skating went. Seriously, the only time I fell down was once I laughed so hard, I fell. Then I wasn't sure if I could get back up, also due to excessive laughing. I was glad when the night was over that we hadn't made a trip to the ER. And neither of the boys, or myself, ever wanted to repeat that again. Well, in hindsight, that was a mistake, and I should have taken them again. The first time is the hardest, and they would have gotten the hang of it and had lots of fun if we would have continued.


So, fast forward to 2009. Two weeks ago we went skating again, well, Luke, Leia and Padme went skating for the first time. They had so much fun and they all loved it. Some very nice people from the homeschool group who were also skating helped them, especially 4 year old Padme. We went again yesterday and they all improved, and again had so much fun. I so wish I had taken the older boys again when they were younger. They are both now 6 feet tall, and it is so much farther to fall. I am trying to convince them to try it again, but old memories die hard.

Here are a few pictures from yesterday at the rink.

Here is Padme with a helper on each side. They were so good to her!



Here is Leia on her own. Last time she hugged the wall the whole time.




And here is Luke, gaining speed.




We will go again next week so they can keep up the practice. And the fun!

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Praying for Stellan

Today we are praying for Stellan. If you don't know his story, he is having a heart ablation this morning after being in the hospital for over 4 weeks with heart rhythm irregularities. You can read all about it at mycharmingkids.net Here is our picture we took with the kids wearing orange in support of Stellan today.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Better Late than Never, I hope!

I still haven't gotten our Easter pictures posted, or an update on our Lenten experience. It's been a crazy week! Hubby went back to work this past Monday after being off for two weeks for knee surgery and recovery. His knee is doing wonderful. I thought we would have a normal week and get back to business as usual, or school as usual. You know how that goes. Padme woke up Monday with a bad cold and cough and baby Yoda woke up Tuesday with a fever and feeling lousy. So much for our week! By Thursday both were starting to feel better, but Yoda still is fussy and not sleeping so well. Since he isn't the best sleeper to start with, this means he is really sleeping not much at all! Anyways, here are a few pictures of the kids with their Easter baskets, and a few others.

Here is baby Yoda on his first Easter. He wasn't that impressed with the bunny or his basket. He liked the eggs better. He is wearing the outfit that my oldest boy wore on his first Easter.





Here is Padme with her basket. She is holding a pink lamb if you can't tell.





And Leia with her basket and bunny.


Luke with his basket and his foam club. All three of the boys got these clubs, plus Daddy got one, for some male bonding, consisting of whacking the tar out of each other. They are loving them!
Here is Padme worried that the Brothers got all the good eggs on the egg hunt.
And a few pictures of the boys outside. Check out our snow for Easter. And no, they don't have any sense to not where shorts out in the snow.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Eggstravaganza

Oh, how we love to decorate eggs at Easter time! It is a big event. We like to try lots of different decorating kits out and see what works the best and makes the best looking eggs. This started with my parents when I was a kid. I have fond memories of decorating eggs with my brothers and my sister, and my parents. I especially remember my dad making these swirly looking eggs, and ones he drew on with crayons before dying to make goofy pictures or funny sayings.

We continued that tradition on with our own kids. For Han's first Easter 16 Easters ago, he even got to decorate his first egg, and he was only 7 months old! We have always decorated eggs with my parents, Nana and Papa, until this year. We missed them. Sniff, sniff..... But, we continued the tradition in our new home, in our new state, and with our new baby dunking his first egg. He liked it and we loved watching him.




Everyone has their own favorite technique and style. Han likes to dunk them and tried some egg tattoos this year. And he started an egg in the mouth trick with some prodding of his father. Hmm....



Obi is our artist and he likes to paint his eggs. He is slow and methodical and makes lovely creations.


Luke just likes to decorate eggs!


Leia likes to paint and stamp. She had some trouble stamping the eggs too hard and breaking the shells.


Padme just likes to paint and paint and paint....
Yoda dunked his first egg. He really liked the dye/water. And the eggs. So much fun!


Friday, April 10, 2009

A Little Princess

Leia and I went to the Read with Me Mommy book club earlier in the week. The book this month was A Little Princess. Leia loved this book. I liked it also, but it was a little bit sad in places, and even made me cry! We had seen the Shirley Temple movie of A Little Princess, and it has a happier ending. But it is a good lesson in how to treat people regardless of their or you own circumstances in life.


At the meeting there was a discussion of the book, followed by snack time, where Leia ate two cupcakes, just to get the butterfly and flower rings that were the decorations. She is wearing the rings in the picture. For the craft they decorated a headband, which she is also wearing. Then the girls all played, which is perhaps the best time of all. She is having so much fun reading the books with me and going to the meetings. What a great idea this little club was!

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Jumping for Joy

We got a trampoline a few weeks ago. The kids have loved it, and in fact, the older boys haven't been out digging in their pit lately as all the free time has been spent on the tramp. The surprising thing to both hubby and me is that they don't spend a lot of time actually jumping. Apparently, the tramp is the BEST place to wrestle. Who knew??? They also have invented many games that they play, and they are playing all together. It is hard with the age span of the five older children of 4 years to 15 years for them to all play the same thing. So, it brings joy to my heart to see them all out playing. And they can't wait for the baby to be old enough to join them. I am not so sure about that!

Setting up the tramp the first night.




A lot of horsing around....



And even a little of actual jumping.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Monday, April 6, 2009

Silly pictures

Crazy hair night at Awanas. The boys didn't want to participate!



Padme sleeping with her favorite not-stuffed animal.


Obi thinks the baby is a great playmate. Here he is letting him listen to his Spanish lesson on the computer.

And here Obi is letting the baby wear his favorite hat.

And demonstrating the baby's grip.... crazy guy!

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Weekly Wrap Up

Wow, what a busy week we have had. It started Mon morning. The baby, Hubby and I all headed to the same day surgery center for hubby to have arthroscopic surgery on his knee. We had to be there by 6:00 am for his 7:30 surgery. His doctor didn't seem to realize the time as he strolled in at 9:00. Who else can show up 1 1/2 hours late for work and still get paid??? And paid very well, I might add. Anyways, the surgery went well and we were home by 2:00 in the afternoon.

Since Yoda is a VERY loud little guy, I paced and bounced and rocked him in the waiting room for a very long 6 hours. He seemed a bit fussy, but I was so tired I thought it was me. Well, the next morning, after another poor night of sleep, I decided that baby might have something else going on so off to the doctor we went. He had ear infections in both ears. Poor guy! At 8 months old, this is his 3rd ear infection. Not sure where it will lead. And he is one chubby little guy weighing in at 23 pounds, 8 ounces! And he still doesn't like any kind of food. Except he loves to eat paper, but I don't think that counts. No nutritional value to it.

So, I had these plans of getting all of this extra school work done with Hubby home to help with school. Always the best laid plans.... We got our normal work done Wednesday only! So, Friday I threw in the towel and we headed for Colorado Springs for the day. We went to a sale called Just Between Friends that was for kids clothes, baby clothes and accessories. Before we moved I hardly bought any clothes for the girls or the baby as we were the very blessed recipients of wonderful hand me downs from friends. Well, moving sort of ruined that. So, I was in desperate need for some clothes for the always growing baby, and Leia was in need of pants without holes in the knees, and some clothes to grow into. I was also hoping to find a big boy car seat for baby and a newer stroller. The girls clothes were pretty sparse, as were the strollers and car seats, but I did hit the jackpot for baby boy clothes. And cute ones, too! I had gotten rid of all my boys clothes after our first girl was born, so I was also a bit sad at all the clothes the other three boys had worn, and I wouldn't have for the baby. Well, I obviously couldn't get the same clothes back, but I got many similar ones and I am excited for that.

The sale was packed and the checkout lines were very long. Hubby and the kids actually went and stood in line about 20 minutes after we got there and I shopped while they stood in line. It actually worked our really well for me as it let me look all I wanted, and then when I was done, it was almost our turn to check out. They didn't enjoy standing in line for over an hour and a half, but it was a good team effort.

After the sale, we went to Chick-fil-A for the first time and we loved it. We will definitely be back for more of their wonderful chicken! Then we headed to the Colorado Springs Pioneer Museum. Very educational for people who know very little about our new state. It was a very nice museum, and free!!! The older boys especially liked it. Too bad I left our camera at home! So, we got in a field trip in and hopefully next week will be back normal. But you know how that goes....

Wednesday, April 1, 2009