Not Much To Report

All of us have now had our spring dental cleanings and I am happy to report that we are all cavity-free! Skyler was a little disappointed because that meant no laughing gas for him this time around. Lucky for him, the dentist recommended pulling some teeth because the adult teeth were coming in behind them, so he got his laughing gas after all.

Oliver and I have been baking this week. We made him cinnamon rolls and soft "oreo" cookies. True to form, he didn't like them, but the rest of the family did. We also learned that his endoscopy biopsies looked very good and we can consider soy a safe food for him.

And, some oldies, but goodies in the photo department:

I love how they are sitting in the exact same position

Watching the Super Bowl - Jonah was bored  almost immediately, and though Skyler  quickly followed suit he was still always wanting to know what the score was.

Our Super Bowl spread. Don't you wish you had been at our house?

The kids decorated the TV

Valentine's Day Treasure Hunt

Valentine's Day treasure hunt. The hunt led them to the car, and we drove to Barnes & Noble so they could each pick out a new book.

The Wii is Back!

Our Wii has been fixed. There was much joy and rejoicing in our household this weekend (and a ridiculous amount of Wii playing). Oliver asked me the other day "how dumb are you at Mario Brothers? You probably fall in the lava all the time" Um? I'm sure I'm better than you, three-year-old.

OLIVER has had an odd obsession with watching the sunrise at the beginning of this week, but (luckily for us), he hasn't managed to get up that early. So, we would hear "oh, no, not again!" each morning shortly before seven. Oliver also had another endoscopy this week. We are still awaiting results.

While Oliver was being a real patient, JONAH was pretending that his teddy bear was one during a field trip to a Children's Health Fair at one of the other hospitals in town. I was going to go on the field trip with him, but it got changed to the same day as Oliver's endoscopy, so I couldn't go.

SKYLER is learning cursive. His cursive is legible - hooray!

I almost bought a Vitamix blender this week, but I didn't, because I didn't like the demo lady at Costco and had no desire for her to benefit in any way, shape, or form  from my purchase.

JORDAN read a book about Peru to the kids and then decided we needed to eat Peruvian food for dinner, so we did.

The Week That Was

OLIVER still thinks he is a puppy. He will randomly bark, which I think is kind of cute except when we are at church, when I will tell him that there is no barking allowed at church. He also still insists that his puppy name is Bananas.

JONAH had his snack day and show and tell at school this week. He took his Mickey Mouse/Jack the Pumpkin King ears (see picture from last post). He loves those things and will randomly wear them when we go places.

SKYLER went on a cub scout field trip to a local nature center. He saw two porcupines in trees, and said that he didn't know before that that porcupines could climb trees.

JORDAN AND I convinced the kids to go see some of the Parade of Homes houses. They were very well behaved and actually enjoyed it. Especially the house with the theater room. They really wanted to go live in that one. Too bad we don't have an extra $850,000 lying around!

Last Month and Then Some

I had the best intentions of keeping up with my weekly posts, but I think maybe I skipped a few weeks? Here's a little catch-up with random (and sometimes not so random) pictures interspersed.

OLIVER still loves loves pajamas, but has added slippers to his repertoire. It's cute. Oliver and I go to help in Jonah's classroom each Monday, and one day we stuck around for their "indoor recess" and Oliver did the art center with Jonah. We went to Disneyland and Oliver was just barely tall enough to ride the 40 inch rides. He loved them all, but still says that his favorite ride is the Gadget GoCoaster, which was his favorite ride last time. He had no fear at all and was even all set to ride Space Mountain, but he fell asleep during Fantasmic and we were going to take him afterwards. Oliver thinks he is a puppy named Bananas.

JONAH keeps getting invited to fellow kindergarteners' birthday parties. He went through a phase where he was making "monsters" everyday in the at center at school (pictured below - kinda creepy, but creative). He currently seems to want to design amusement parks when he grows up and is always sharing his latest ride ideas and whatnot. Roller Coaster Tycoon is his favorite thing to play on the computer. He loves riding his bike to/from school. His favorite rides at Disneyland were Haunted Mansion and Mater's Junkyard Jamboree (he rode that at least six times). Jonah currently thinks that Scooby-Doo is the greatest show ever.

SKYLER presented his science fair project (seeing how different sweeteners affected candy making) and also made it through his first Pinewood Derby. His car didn't do so well, but he had fun. He has swapped out  riding his bike to school for walking home with a girl in his class. He really like Matternhorn at Disneyland (he rode it four times, I believe) and he had fun pin trading (for the uninitiated - many cast members wear lanyards full of Disney pins. Guests are encouraged to trade their own Disney pins with the cast members). All the kids thought that was a lot of fun, actually. He also liked hanging out with his Aunt Kristin. One morning, we left them behind at the hotel, and then they walked over together later and rode a few rides before meeting up with the rest of us. His current favorite read is books in the "Hank The Cowdog" series.

Fast cars! Skyler's is, unfortunately, the one that is not winning.

Showing his science project to his teacher

It's Grem! Because, you see, if it doesn't do well you just blame it on the fact that Gremlins are well-known lemons.

I have been riding my bike and pulling Oliver in the trailer to pick the kids up from school. I now feel bad for giving Jonah a hard time about the "hill" in between our house and the school. It is important to note that this particular "hill" is only noticeable if you are pulling a child in a bike trailer or are a five year old bike riding novice. Instead of food cravings, I instead got a strange craving to watch 7th Heaven reruns. I came up with a killer snack schedule for our trip to California. The kids got one predetermined, bagged snack each hour. It was may more OCD than I tend to be, but it was much better than hearing them constantly ask for a snack and me constantly passing things back. I was pleasantly surprised by how fun Mater's Junkyard Jamboree was (who do you think rode it with Jonah over and over again?). I thought I would have more time to, well, eat things at Disneyland, but everyone else was really speedy when they rode rides I couldn't (due to my pregnant state), but was happy to get a chance to eat a fried green tomato sandwich. Yum.

I wasn't planning on being in this picture, but the picture guy offered to take one and then Tow Mater started in on it, and well, how does one say no to an animatronic tow truck? He said, "yay!" when I agreed to be in the picture.

JORDAN has been reading books. He also spent some time working on a YouTube video about what it would be like if watchmakers celebrated their successes as much as football players do. Remember Skyler's science project? It required making a lot of candy, which Jordan has been happily eating. He got a garden put in in our backyard. He and the kids planted stuff. I don't know what exactly. He has started running again now that it isn't so cold in the morning. Jordan has also taken an interest in bow ties and colored shoe laces.

For Posterity's Sake

Easter 2006

Easter 2005

Easter 2013

I love it when I can find clothes that match in toddler and boy sizes. This is probably my last chance to dress all my kids in matching outfits, so I went for it.

Skyler appears to be up to something and Jonah and Oliver look skeptical

We also did our park easter egg hunt. I wasn't going to, but then Jonah said "aren't we going to have an Easter egg hunt at the park?" so we did. Jonah also requested that we color eggs this year (which we haven't done for several years), so we did. I guess Jonah was calling the shots this year? The boys all got hexbugs in their baskets. One is already out of batteries and another is missing. They love them, though!

Another Week

OLIVER and I went to the aquarium. I asked him if he would like to go to the aquarium and see the fish and he looked at me all funny and said, "fish? huh?". I took Skyler to the zoo or gardens or aquarium on nearly a weekly basis when he was Oliver's age. And, once Skyler was in school, I took Jonah (and baby Oliver) fairly frequently too. But, clearly, it has been so long for Oliver that he had no idea what I was talking about. On our way out, he sat down in the photo booth and insisted we get our pictures taken.

JONAH went to a birthday party for a little girl in his class. At the last minute, he didn't want to go (but still fully intended on going to get her a gift, because he's sweet like that) because he said he didn't like girls. He changed his mind, and had a very fun time (though I heard complaints from him that there were too many girls there). From talking to the birthday girl's mom, I gathered that Jonah is quite popular with the kindergarten ladies.

SKYLER got a start on his pinewood derby car. He is making it to look like Grem from Cars 2.

I decorated and un-decorated for Valentine's Day. Now the spot where my decor was looks a little bare. Which is odd because the spot remained empty from the time I took down the Christmas decor the week after Christmas and early this week when I put up my garland of hearts.

JORDAN got his hair cut and told me I did the best job I have ever done cutting his hair. Okay, he didn't really say that, but I do think I did a darn good job this go 'round.

New Year's Trip to Durango

We wanted to get out of town for New Years (to take advantage of the fact that Jordan had several days off) and at the last minute decided to go up to Durango, CO. We weren't the only ones with this plan as it was very hard to find a place to stay! We lucked out and ended up with a great price at a great bed and breakfast.

While there we played in the snow, ate in a "fancy" restaurant (not really, just more fancy than anything my kids have ever eaten at!), visited Mesa Verde National Monument and rode a train up into the mountain.

A view from the train.

On the train

The train stopped for a little lunch break after about an hour and half. 

In front of the train

I quite enjoy the look of sheer terror on Jordan's face

The view from our suite at the Bed and Breakfast. That gate marks the end of our little backyard that was perfect for snow angels and snowball fights.

This Week

OLIVER was quiet one day, so I went to find him. He told me he was pretending to be a baby koala. Fair enough, carry on then. He has also been telling me quite a bit that I am his favorite mommy. He also says that he only likes me when I tell him to put on pajamas. He doesn't like me when I ask him to pick things up, go to church, or put on clothes.

JONAH has been asking for awhile to go to the magic shop and buy a magic trick. He had earned enough money and we had enough time on Saturday, so Jordan took him. But, the store was closed and will not re-open until next month when it opens under new ownership. He was a sad little boy, but got a frozen yogurt date with daddy as a consolation prize (a date I imagine he would have had either way, but don't tell him that).

SKYLER found a cricket inside our house and was upset when Jordan made him put it outside. The next day, he found the cricket again (it had a missing back leg, it didn't really go far), brought it inside and made a home for it out of a shoebox. He now claims he has a pet cricket. He looked up information about crickets and learned that its lifespan is only about a month, so I hope that will ease the pain when the cricket inevitably dies.

I had an ultrasound this week, because we are expecting another baby and all. Baby looks good and we (I?) are happy to report that its gender is still unknown. I also organized the junk drawer.

JORDAN gives it three days before the junk drawer starts to become a huge mess again. On Monday, he spent about an extra 12 hours at airports after his 6 am flight home from Dayton, OH was cancelled. He was in the Cincinnati area for a board meeting of the American Watchmakers and Clockmakers Institute.

The Spirit of Giving

Once the older two started sneaking around and making and wrapping Christmas gifts for the rest of the family, Oliver wanted to join in too. Oliver's idea of gift giving was finding anything he could and wrapping it up for someone. This drove me crazy to no end (he ended up wrapping a lot of stuff), but how I was I supposed to tell him no? Everyone really got a kick out of this on Christmas morning and when it was time to open presents from Oliver, it was fun to see which DVD or book he decided to wrap up. I was especially happy to see one DVD case that he had wrapped while the actual DVD was still in the DVD player - I had been looking for that case for quite a long time! Jonah was not happy, however, to see that Oliver had wrapped up a little plastic snowman that he got on the last day of school. Apparently, he had been looking for that too!

On Christmas Eve, Skyler was sad that he hadn't bought gifts for his brothers. I told him that maybe if he had brought this up several days ago, we could have done something about it. :) He had great gifts for his brothers though - a coupon saying that he would clean their room, $1, and a ring toss game that he had made in cub scouts. He and Jonah also worked together to make a board game for Oliver. It's nice to know my kids can be nice to each other sometimes!

Christmas Morning

This year we did a time lapse video for Christmas morning. I love it because it really tells the story of the morning in just three minutes!



And here's a picture of each kid with their Santa gift:

Ollie and his Doggos (with my new bike in the background)

Jonah and his Spiderman mega web blaster and boots

Skyler and his Domino Rally

A Visit to the Tree Lot

The other post was already a bit picture heavy, so I decided this topic gets its own.
The pumpkin patch that we love to visit transforms itself into a fun tree lot after the pumpkins all go away. We didn't buy a tree, but we still had a lot of fun playing!

Writing a letter to Santa. I don't know what #1 is supposed to be, but #2 (and #3, I guess) is Doggo (stuffed animal dogs). He would ask Santa for that every time with full confidence that Santa would know exactly what a Doggo is.

#5 says "Dad wants a bunny" and while we normally spell Oliver's nickname "Ollie", we take what we can get when he is doing the writing and spelling all by himself!

Skyler decided to sneak in the window. Bad timing, because look who was watching!

Santa peeks in to make sure everyone (ahem, Skyler) is behaving.

Preparing for Christmas

Last year I did a photo a day thing for December showcasing all of our fabulously fun Christmas activities (or lack of, which was more frequently the case). It was a great little project and I was looking forward to doing it again, and started off with a bang, but ultimately I just wasn't feeling it.

Here are some pictures that would have been part of that series, though.

The first thing one must do to prepare for Christmas is attend a football game (just go with me on this one). We took the boys to watch Jordan's alma mater play in the high school state semi-final game. A high school game makes a perfect first football game! It took the boys a while to really get into it (like, half the game), but once I took them up to the very front of the bleachers and they got to see things up close, they thought it was really cool (kind of strange actually, considering it's a bit harder to see what's going on when you aren't up a bit in the bleachers). We had to leave just a bit early and they were sad to go. Skyler and Jordan returned the next weekend to watch the state final (it was Jordan's high school versus the high school that the kids will go to if we stick around in this neighborhood, kind of funny!).

And then we have to decorate the tree. I was so excited to finally get a nice picture of the lighted tree - though I realized it really wasn't that hard! The kids (Skyler especially) weren't too keen on decorating the tree in the dark, so this was what I got.

We have never had a tree topper for our tree. I don't really know why, I guess we have just never found one we liked enough. I want a star and Jordan wants an angel so that tends to complicate things. Stars must be easier to build from legos, because the boys and Jordan set out one Sunday morning to create this for our tree.

This is a book I got for Christmas from my dad when I was about Skyler's age. It is full of Christmas stories, songs, crafts, and recipes. There's an advent story in it that is meant to be read one chapter each night in December. I think this year was the first year I have ever read it as it was intended! It is kind of a lame story, but it was fun to read a part each night nonetheless.

The kids were very into listening to Christmas songs this year. One night they turned off all the lights and danced around with glow sticks, and I took some cool pictures.

Oliver and I visited Jonah's class when they decorated gingerbread houses. I thought it was pretty neat that Jonah's teacher had some extra supplies on hand so that Oliver could do one too! And I thought it was even neater that Oliver could do this and not even care that he couldn't eat any of the candy! He even would ask me to wipe off his fingers anytime he got frosting on them.

This year on the Sunday before Christmas I decided to torture my boys with suit coats! For weeks, I talked it up like getting to wear a suit coat and tie to church was the coolest thing ever and they must have bought it because I faced very little opposition when it was time to get dressed for church!