Post Spring Break

Miss Me?

We just got back from Kari's spring break.  We arranged to go up to my in-laws, so we could hang out and the kids could play with their cousins.  They played so hard, we usually spent the afternoon doing this:

Hopefully, tomorrow I will have wrapped my head back around this thing called reality. 

Why do I always feel like I need a vacation from my vacation?

2 months

I have actually been pretty good at taking pictures at the well baby check ups for my kids.  The first being at 2 months.


Bless you!
*Yes, that is a strawberry (or hemangioma) on her forehead.*


Kelsey was actually the first baby I contemplated taking pictures of earlier.  I don't know if it is because she is my last, or because she is "prettier" than the others (which I am not saying) or if I just recovered better, so I felt like going out into public earlier...  I dunno.


When they are this little, there is not a lot of posing they can do.  And Kelsey loves to stick her tongue out. I call her my little lizard.


By this point, she was pretty much done. I had woken her up to put her in the car.


 And it was close enough to time to eat that she wasn't particularly happy with me.


Can you tell we just pulled out the binky?


Such a cute little nakie baby :)


This one, however, I bought.


I almost wish I had bought this one.  A crying angel.  It just doesn't get much better than this.


Unless it is a crying baby on a bed of flowers.  And this one, I did buy.


Her 2 month stats:
12lbs 3 oz (75%)
22 1/4 (50%)

~In the last 2 weeks she has started to smile and talk to me...  I love it.

~I love to hold her when she sleeps, although I have started to put her down, because she takes longer naps.

~She seems to sleep more soundly at specific times of the day, instead of kinda dozing in and out all day long.

~She gives me one 6-7 hour spread at night.  If I were smart, I would go to bed immediately after she finished nursing.  Call me crazy though, I just don't want to go to bed at 8pm.

~She is super mellow and tolerant of her siblings love.

~She is a super baby!!!  I am so glad she is my fourth!!!

Playdoh

Generally, Playdoh is a no go in my house.  It is kinda against my own personal religion :)  But, somehow, on this particular day, I got suckered into watching the kids.  They did pretty well at not getting anything on the floor or carpet.

 The other reason I have a hard time with playdoh is the mixing of colors.  I just had to let it go.

 And they had tons of fun, so...

That is all that matters, right....

Benefits of Chile

It sounds a little absurd that now that my parents live out of the country, I get to see them more often.  But it is true.  They pass through on trips back for work, and I get to spend a long weekend with them.  It is great!  It kinda seemed like the whole weekend was busy and softball related, but we did get to hang out a little bit on Sunday before they left (after I tapped my dad to sub for the 8 yr old class.  Yeah.  I felt bad afterwards about feeding him to the wolves).

Grandpa and Kaitlyn pausing in their wrastling long enough for me to take a picture.

 Grandma took some time to help Kari with her piano book.  We started it, probably 2 summers ago, and her interest comes and goes.  So, I don't make her do it yet.  We'll see if it comes to that.

 Cheese!

 Hubby was able to spend Friday night and Saturday with the fam, but Sunday he had to put his nose back to the grindstone.  Thankfully, he had a good helper for a while :)

 This was also Grandpa's first time to meet Kelsey.  She behaved pretty well for him :)

 And grandma too :)

I managed to not get a single picture of Dylan and the grandparents together.  Imagine that....

Easter Dresses

It's not quite the same as chocolate covered faces...

 ...Or pictures of them fighting over who gets to pick up which Easter Egg (although they actually did a pretty good job sharing)...

 ... But this little photo shoot went pretty well.

 Hoppy Late Easter! :)

*Dresses provided by Grandma, shoes provided by Nana :)*

Softball (finally)

This year, we finally signed up one of our children for some sort of organized sport.  Kari, being the oldest, and most interested, asked to sign up for softball.  We had a somewhat rocky start (as the volunteer coach had to be replaced the day before the first practice) but Kari, being 7, has not noticed anything out of the ordinary.  All of the frustration and lack of organization falls to the parents...  Eh.  No biggie.  They had several weeks of practice before they got their uniforms.  The day she put it on, Kari said she just might have to wear it all day, because she was so excited to finally have it.

We practiced with her a few times at home also.  Check out that stance!

We had several helpers when we practiced outside.  Including this outfielder...  Love her "ready" position.

Saturday morning was Opening Ceremony, where all the teams got to stand out on the field and have their names announced.  The Coach Pitch 6-8 Softball team, the Lady Bugs, are right there in the middle, with the red shirts, black pants, and green and orange balloons.  When their name was called, they released their balloons, which they thought was pretty cool considering mom and dad always tell you to hold on to it.  I guess it is different when you *know* you are going to let go, versus when it is just an accident.

Following opening ceremony, Kari had her first game later that afternoon.  Her and her daddy (who is an assistant coach due to his work schedule) went early to warm up.

For whatever reason, they were running behind.  Like, waaaaaaaaay behind. And we got to watch pretty much the entire peewee t-ball game (ages 3-4).  I thought it was pretty cute watching them fight over the ball, and their "ready" stance.  I also love that there is pretty much a coach for every player on the field it seemed.  And that they looked like bobble heads with the hitting helmets on.

Thankfully, my family of spectators did really well.  This is how Kelsey spent the first hour or so...

And Dylan was happy when we first got there also...  He actually did pretty well for missing nap time, and being in a confined area for about 3 hours.

 We also had a visit from Marty McFly.  (No, really, this is Grandma, but something about the get up just makes me think of that movie)

 Kaitlyn was less than enthused by this point, but she also did pretty well.

 When Dylan got bored, he switched hats with grandma.

 Kari got two turns at bat (in the 5 innings they played).

 She even scored a run!

She was so proud of herself.  As was I!  We now have games twice a week (at least) for the next month...  And, as of last night, grandma and grandpa have left.  I honestly have no idea how I am going to corral 3 children on my own...  Good luck to Kari, though...  And maybe a little to me too ;)

Yesterday

I told you yesterday wouldn't be any better.  And this is why:

 I had left all my cleaning until the last minute.  And believe it or not, it was on purpose.  With 4 kids and a husband,  I wanted the house to look as clean as possible, which is only possible if you come in right after we are finished.  Or if the children are hog tied and bound...  Take your pick :)  So I cleaned all yesterday morning.  Then, I jumped in the shower with a greased pig, also known as a soapy 2 month old named Kelsey, and was late to her 2 month pictures.  Then, we stopped by the grocery store to pick up a few things, but got caught in road construction traffic on the way in, so that took a while.  We came home, unloaded groceries and crammed lunch into kids faces in an effort to give everyone (including possibly myself) a nap before Grandma and Grandpa got here.  As I settled down to nurse Kelsey, I finally checked my messages, only to get one from the school nurse, who had called because Kari had an ear ache.  I called the newer, closer doctor, debating on whether or not to take her there, taking the time to give them all the address and insurance info, only to find they didn't have any appointment left open for the day.  So, we ended up picking up Kari from school and going back to my trusted pediatrician 40 minutes away.  On the way home from the appointment, Dylan took a 10 minute nap.  Great :p  We stopped to get the prescription only to find it wasn't ready.  Once we arrived at home, I sat down to nurse Kelsey again, as I tried to track down the drugs.  Turns out, the doctor was having phone issues for about 2 hours.  So, I am making dinner and shoving it down my kids throats in preparation for softball practice, only to remember that I have not eaten.  All.  Day.  The pediatrician's phone finally starts working again, I have them re-fax the prescription over, and then call hubby to ask him to pick it up on his way home from work.  We almost run into Grandma and Grandpa as we walk out the door to go to softball practice, where we stuff them in the car and finally get to sit down and relax for more than a nursing spell.   Thankfully, the rest of the evening went down hill from there.  And that was my day...  Whew!  It is also my excuse for not posting.  But I feel like it is a good excuse, so I am ok with that :)

And, since I am still not exactly organized in my brain, here are a few more random pictures of a sleeping baby.  At least he was my baby until I brought home my new baby, and then, suddenly, he looked like he was 35.  He gave up his pacifier on his 3rd birthday, and it is going pretty smoothly.  It makes for interesting nap times though, and I never really know what I will find when I go in there.  For example:

Him sitting half on the rocking horse, half on his pillow...  Yes, he was sound asleep.

 Or a few tools.  You know, in case his bed needs repairs.

So that was my day.  It was involved.  It was long.  It was (thankfully) yesterday.  Today, will be much more relaxing.  I hope.  Happy Friday!

Busy Day

It has been a busy day today.  And I don't really expect tomorrow to be any better.  So, I am going to treat you with a quick picture.

Kelsey, getting ready to direct her first symphony.

That is all.  The End :)

Birthday Money Reviews

I have been saving some of my birthday money for a while now.  I didn't know what for, but I didn't really have anything particular to spend it on, so I just put it away for a rainy day.  Well, I recently got the itch to spend it, so I figured I would tell you what I bought, and how I liked it....

First thing I wanted to do was update my digital camera.  I don't know how long ago I bought the current model, but it was AT LEAST 4 yrs ago, probably more like 5+.  Lets just say it was a 6.1 mega pixel camera...  Yeah.  It needed up dating.  I had been looking for a decent deal for a while, and when I found this one at Walmart.com, I thought it was speaking to me.  It is a 14 mega pixel camera that came with a case and SD card for $50.  It is a Kodak (which, apparently, is my brand of choice, as all three of my cameras have been Kodak).  And, thus far, I can't complain.  I actually like the white and pink look on the camera.  On the case, I don't really care. 

And, I think it takes pretty good pictures. A comparison... 

 Old camera (straight out of the camera, no editing)

New Camera.

I think it is slightly more crisp, and I like the coloring better.

I think it takes pretty good videos, I like the bigger viewing screen, and I think it is pretty intuitive to use (maybe that is only if you have had previous Kodaks, I dunno).  The only minus I see is there is no speaker on the camera.  So, while there is a microphone that takes videos, when I play it back on the camera itself, I cannot hear it....  All in all, I would give it 4 stars. 

The other thing I purchased for myself was a lawn mowing aid.  Around our house, I have been the one that does the mowing during the week.  In the past year, that has been because hubby is out of town (and I didn't want him to have to spend some of his precious home time mowing the lawn) and because what precious home time he did have, we seemed to spend it re-modeling the house.  The kids would stay inside watching a movie, while I walked the yard with the mower.  Things will be a little different with a new little one in the house, but.... I had another MP3 player I got when I was working second shift data entry (which was before Kaitlyn was born... so 6 yrs ago, and I am sure I paid somewhere around $100 for it) and it finally gave up the ghost...  The headphone jack stopped working, so I can only assume it still played music.  I saw this one at Walmart.com also, for $20. 

It was a bit smaller than I thought it would be.  I would compare it to an over sized flash drive.  And, it turned out to be pretty easy to use, even though it took me a minute to figure it out.  Turns out I was trying to over complicate things.  I think it plays the music well (as in, has good definition).  And I wanted to be able to see what songs it was playing, instead of just shuffling everything.  Unless it breaks in the next few days, I would give this one 4.5 stars.  What could be improved on it?  I don't know, specifically, but I am sure there is always room for improvement :)

I got to thinking the other day, if it would be better for me to just buy a tablet or iPad of some sort that can do all of these things together.  So lets add it up, shall we?

Camera $50

MP3 player $20

eBook $150

Portable DVD player $120

Total $340

Which is technically cheaper than an iPad, but not than, say, a Kindle Fire.  However, I think there are a few things I like better, such as the lack of back light when reading, and the ability to play DVDs instead of having to rip everything digitally. 

And that, my friends is my review round up for the day.  Take it for what you will, but they were decent deals I wanted to share in case anyone is on the look out.  Plus, I wanted to show off my new toys...  Happy birthday to me!!! :)

Hoppy Easter Randomness

What a fabulous Easter weekend we had!  We were able to spend it with my in-laws at Pa's.  But, guess who forgot to bring her camera?  Guess who didn't get to take a single picture?

That would be me.

However the kids had tons of fun with their Easter baskets.  They hunted for eggs for a whole 3.5 minutes (which was really fast, since the Easter bunny had hidden more than 65 eggs)...  We also got tons of compliments on the girls Easter dresses.  We will probably wear them to church next weekend, and I will try to take pictures then.

So, I will treat you with two random pictures instead.  The first being Kelsey's fingers.  They are so long!  And check out her nailbeds...  She will have super long fingernails :)

 And I love this picture of Dylan.  We went to visit daddy at work, and we were able to chat with one of his friends/coworkers for a bit.  She was super nice and gave each of the kids a stack of post it notes.  I am not sure what she expected the kids to do with them.  I doubt it was to be something productive.  But, this is what Dylan chose to do with his....

At least it is a cute picture of him :)

Pictures and stats

As has become our tradition, we took pictures for Dylan's birthday...  I find the prices are comparable to school pictures, but the smiles are better (because I get more than one choice)....  Worth it for me :)

Check out the GQ-ness!!! :)

He is such a handsome cheeser!

BTW, this is not my favorite form of sharing pictures...  You don't have to buy them.  But, it cuts out a few steps as far as downloading and converting, so...  Just enjoy the fabulous-ness!

Our pediatrician said he could understand Dylan, which would not have been true 2 months ago.  His language improvement is huge!

In fact, the other night as I was tucking him into bed he said "C'mere Mom.  I wanna talka you.  I needa tell you sumping."  It was so cute :)

He still plays with cars daily, and is always lining them up, along all manner of other toys.

His favorite song is either Wheels on the Bus or Apricot tree, and I love watching him do the actions.  Also, since this picture, he has had a haircut.  Amen.

He also gave up his pacifier (as is the tradition in our family) on his third birthday.  He actually gave it up pretty well.  Only a limited amount of crying, and he only asked for it for a few days.  However, he seems to be trying to give up his naps too.  Which is not cool.  So, for now, he takes naps about every other day, because that is as long as he can go without falling asleep during mandatory daily quiet time. Mommy still needs that :)

He is showing quite a bit of interest with letters and numbers.  If he sees a shirt with words on it, he said "I see the ABCs". 

At his annual check up he weighed 34 lb 13 oz.

Which, nearest as I can tell, is in the 80th percentile.

Funny capture in the picture session.  I don't think I bought any of them, but they are cute :)

He also decided he wanted to take a picture on the horse.  This one was all his idea :)

According to the doc, he is also 37 in tall.

That puts him slightly under the 50th percentile for height.

Dang I love me some cute little boy!

Happy Birthday my big little man!!!