Soccer Girl

Mara loves soccer, and oh how I love Mara! The thing I love most about watching her "play soccer" is that she is so happy while she is chasing the ball. Look at that happy smile. I just love this girl!

crawling's for suckers (oh, and so is walking)

When I took Milo for his one year old checkup, the doctor asked all the usual questions. Is he walking? No. Does he pull himself up and walk along things? No. Does he pull himself up at all? No. Does he crawl? No. He has since learned to pull himself up and walk along things, and he's a really good climber. He doesn't have any problems getting around, but as you can see, he doesn't walk or crawl.

Monday Morning

Just messing around with the camera...

(You might be wondering where Ashton is. Well - he got up at 6am so he could get his jobs done. He's out playing with friends. He's always really good about doing his jobs, which I love. I don't love it when he gets up so early.)

Valentine's Day

Alex and Ashton made these Valentine's boxes. Aren't they cute? They did it all themselves (except the spray paint on the boxes). The rosy cheeks were Alex's idea. He wanted to make them look like happy robots. Ashton's robot is the one eating candy, and Alex's robot has wire arms. I think it sums them each up perfectly.
We got crafty this year and made our own valentines. Valentine's day = a LOT of candy, so we were trying to do something a little different. We gave out valentines with bouncy balls. There were two different valentines. One said "this Valentine's day have a ball" and the other one said "dear valentine you make my heart bounce".
For the past few years we've done a little treasure hunt with our kids for Valentine's day. I didn't mean for it to become a tradition, but this year, they started asking if we were going to do it again way back at the beginning of January. They were so excited before they went to bed, you would have thought it was Christmas Eve. I'm not kidding. Here's how it works. On Valentine's morning they wake up and see a note in their mailbox. The note tells them to go somewhere else and they have to figure out the clues until they get to their presents. This year we hid notes in the piano bench...
the shower...
and the mixer, among other places. They requested that we make it harder this year. Apparently last year was way too easy.
Their presents were hidden in the fridge in the garage. They got books. They get books every year and they love it. It makes me happy to see them so excited about getting books. They love this little tradition.
I love flowers! Thoughtful of Rob...
We made these delicious little cupcakes. Yum! We (Ashton, Mara and I) love cooking together.

I love Valentine's day. It's such a cheerful holiday. It brightens up the most dreary time of year. I also love to have the opportunity to do nice things for the people I love.

"Mom can I do extra jobs when I get home from school?"

Here are a few phrases we've heard at our house lately:
Can I make my bed?
Excuse me. I need to go do the dishes.
Can I do extra jobs?

Here's why:
www.myjobchart.com

We've been doing it for the past week and it has been fantastic! My kids have always had jobs to do, but now they keep track of them all by themselves. Ashton has really embraced this. He has gotten all his work done before school so he can play right when he gets home.

They are saving up the points they earn to buy special prizes. I woke up this morning to the sounds of the dishwasher being unloaded (by Ashton) and to Alex practicing the piano. Heaven.

6 month update

Milo is now 6 months old. He is so much fun and brings such joy to our family. He smiles and laughs all the time. He can roll over. He can sit up for about 30 seconds unassisted. He tries to grab everything in sight. He sleeps pretty well at night. Sometimes he rolls over and gets stuck on his stomach while he's sleeping. He loves his momma. His brothers and sister (and mom and dad) are all crazy about him. We've started feeding him baby food. He doesn't like rice cereal very much, but he likes it when it's mixed with applesauce. He likes bananas, squash, peas, apples, and pears. He does NOT like green beans. I don't blame him. The real thing is so much better. He is happy and content and we are so glad that he is part of our family.

Here are the stats:
16 lbs (24th percentile)
26.77 inches long(64th percentile)
17.6 inch head circumference (79th percentile)

Just for fun, here are Mara's stats from when she was 6 months:
17.44 lbs (77%)
27.75 inches (97%)
It's interesting how different they all are.

ode to piano practicing

Since August, when Milo was born, Alex has had to practice the piano on his own most of the time. This makes him really frustrated because he likes to have moral support when learning new songs. Practicing has become really frustrating to him, a black mark on the whole day. He especially hates practicing scales. I don't get it. Scales are the easy part, but whatever.

Today while I was doing some laundry I found this poem. It had fallen behind the dryer and was sticking out. Oh Alex. He makes me laugh. If this is his outlet for expressing frustration and anger, then good for him.

I love how he just gives up in the last line of the poem and writes the words in bigger letters. There's just nothing else that can be done with scales. We may as well just throw them away today!

we've got the fever

Mara has been sick. So sick. This is the first time she's ever been really sick, like with a fever and cough, etc. She has had such a high fever that we haven't been able to keep it down. Being sick, though, is no excuse for sloppiness. We demand beauty at all times. High heels are a must!
So is a tiara. She doesn't have lipstick smeared all over her face like she usually does. I'll let it go this one time just because she's sick. (She threw a big fit when we had to strip this dress off her later - because of the high fever.)
She wanted to go outside with the boys, but I told her no. That's okay. She just pulled up a chair and proceeded to talk to them through the window. I tried to talk her into wearing pajamas, but she insisted on her favorite dress with leggings. She also had two bracelets and a necklace, but she gave those up pretty quick. Smart.
I hope she gets better soon. Poor thing!
This little guy seems to be going downhill, too. I really hope he doesn't get as sick as Mara. Having a sick baby is so scary!

Happy Birthday Mara

Happy 3rd birthday Mara! We had a big party for her with face painting, tattoos, pedicures, games, crafts and lots of treats. It was wild and crazy, which is just what you'd expect from a bunch of 3 year olds. We love Mara so much and are so grateful to have her in our family!

5 months!

This picture might be too small to see, but Milo has dreamy eyelashes. Super long and curly. (sigh)

If time doesn't slow down a little bit, I'm afraid my heart will break.

Christmas Cookies and Other Sweets

Mara was a gingerbread cookie in the Nutcracker this year.

She was so cute. It was fun to watch her perform. The ballet was really well done. We all had a really good time. When it was over Alex said "that was awesome!" There were three performances. During the first two Mara was kind of stiff and dazed by the lights and audience (there were a lot of people there).
She started busting out with her own moves during the 3rd performance.
I love the look on her face in this picture. I know she's wondering why she doesn't get to wear one of those frilly pink dresses.
We said goodbye to our dog a few weeks ago. It was a hard decision to make. She was a good little dog and we miss her, but we think we made the right choice. There has been much less yelling, fighting, and mess at our house without her. A new baby and a dog are a little too much for me. She went to live with a nice little family. They were really excited for her and they love her so that makes me feel better. The boys were a little sad, but not too much. I think they never got over her reign of terror as a puppy. Mara was really sad. She loves that dog.
This is the only picture I could get of Alex. He is always on the go. He loves to play outside with his friends. This year for Christmas he wants; a compass, a magnifying glass, and binoculars. He loves exploring in the field across the street from our house.
Ashton has been such a good boy lately. He is sweet and kind and very obedient. I couldn't ask for a better boy! This year for Christmas he wants a yo-yo.
We never make it through the day without a tutu. This is the new double decker look she's been doing lately. A tutu on top for the "shirt" and one on the bottom for the skirt. Mara is a breath of fresh air in our house full of boys. We love this sweet little girl. We say that she is really girly, and she is, but underlying that is the fact that she loves everything to be pretty and sparkly. I love that about her. She wants a flower and a butterfly for Christmas.

Here is my sweet baby boy. We are just crazy about this little guy. He's gotten through the fussy newborn stage and now he is just a joy to our family. Ashton started calling him Smilo because of the constant grin on his face. It's caught on and now we all say it. The kids all love to make him smile and laugh. Ashton says that Milo wants lots of yummy breast milk for Christmas. That's probably true.

Boo!

Here's Mara with her little friend at their dance class Halloween party. Mara = "kitty cat"
Ashton and his friend at the school parade. As you can see, Ashton is by far the tallest kid in his class. Ashton = zombie (which is interesting because at our house, we've had a few sleepless nights due to his fear of zombies)
Mara was a little unsure about all the kids/teachers wearing costumes. She was afraid of the school mascot - an eagle. He tried to high five her and she wouldn't give him the time of day.
Alex at the school parade. Alex's costume was a black shirt, skeleton gloves and vampire teeth. Rob and I tried to persuade him to dress up, but he wouldn't.
Lion cub. Isn't he so cute? I just love this little guy.

Getting ready for trick-or-treating. Mara didn't want to go at all, but Rob took her to about 3 houses. Then she was done.
Zombie Ashton getting ready for trick-or-treating.
Alex came up with another accessory to his costume. A plastic butter knife that he painted red with "blood".
Here they are enjoying their candy. Halloween was toned WAY down this year. It wasn't as fun for me, but they still had a good time. I realized that my kids can have a fun holiday with a LOT less effort on my part. Lesson learned.