Finger Painting

I will openly admit I have been a slacker mom for the past 9 months or so. You'd think I would have been preggers, moved and then had a baby or something! Poor Blakers has unfortunately been a rather bored kid (which led to him becoming rather adventurous in his effort to find entertainment). So I decided to try to win the Mother of the Year award and to start letting him do some of the stuff his sisters did when they were his age. Unfortunately I have forgotten a majority of the fun things we used to do but finger painting was one I remembered. The kid loved it. Yep we had paint everywhere but it was worth it to see the excitement in his eyes. Any other suggestion on fun things I can do to keep my precocious child busy will be greatly appreciated!

Only a small amount was eaten. Guess its a good thing Crayola makes non-toxic paint!

This kid is a NUT! He is so much fun! His personality has exploded these past couple months. He is obsessed with trucks. Driving down the road all I hear his him screaming TRUCKS, TRUCKS. He will continue to shout it out until he gets a response from me that I see the truck. It doesn't matter if its a pick-up truck, delivery truck or a semi, he loves anything truck. He is also fascinated by diggers, tractors and any construction vehicle. It is so nice that he has developed a love for something because it has really help in keeping him occupied.

In addition to trucks, he has also developed a talent for climbing. He climbs on any and everything. This upside down pretend ironing board is one of his favorites. One day he has used an inverted laundry basket to climb on my desk then try to climb on top of the fridge (in an effort to get to our cell phone chargers). I took that away and put up all the laundry baskets. The next day he figured out he could do this with the ironing board and I again caught him trying to climb on top of the fridge. He's also used mixing bowl, pumpkins, phone books etc to help him get where he wants to go. As I've said a million times before, each day is a new one at our house!

2 months

Wow, where have these past two months gone? I cant believe our Kai is already 2 months. He has been terrific lately. There was about a month where I was ready to trade him in. He had a nasty case of thrush that took over three weeks to clear up and during all of this we were trying to get his reflux issues worked out. Finally he is healthy and a whole lot happier. I love it when my babies finally start to smile and respond. He has been such a fun kiddo!

Kai is our little peanut. He was born smaller than the girls but bigger than Blake. At two months he is my smallest kiddo by far. He is only in the 25% for weight. Tony and I are both rather large people so who'd have ever guessed we'd have such a featherweight. I sure hope he outgrows it! Of course his head is significantly larger ... shocker I know!

I love this picture. It makes him look at chubby and squishy. He is chubbier than he was but compared to his sisters (especially Aliya) he's a bean. Chunk up little dude!

Halloween

This Halloween was a ton of fun. I wish I had gotten pictures of our wards Trunk or Treat party because that was when the kids were in their full costumes and the cutest but I was in charge of the activity so no pics were taken (I could put blame on Tony for not taking pics but I figure he got the kiddos all dressed AND to the church relatively on time so he did more than enough)!

Aliya wanted to be a cowgirl, Blake was a cowboy and Taeya was Selina Gomez (one of Disney's pop stars). For our trunk or treat Blake had on his boots, Wranglers, chaps, belt, hat and cowboy shirt. Unfortunately his butt is so skinny the weight of his chaps and belt kept pulling his pants down. It was pretty cute to watch him walking around w/ his diaper hanging out. Tae had on a full black wig that she insisted on (she also picked out her costume ... again I tried to nudge her in a different direction but she loved this red plaid outfit). And lucky Kai had on a pumpkin hat.

On Halloween night we had a houseful of adults and few kids. My parents had just flown in for Kai's blessing, Tony's mom and brother Matt had been in town since early Thursday a.m. and Colby and Steph came to enjoy the kiddos.

Colby and Steph were the only adults fun enough to dress up. Frankly I was too tired to dressup by the time I got kids ready!

For weeks Steph and Aliya had talked about being cowgirls together. Aliya was so excited to be 'twins' with Aunt Steph!

For Halloween night we decided to forgo Blakes chaps and just wear the hat, boots, belt and Wranglers. I was shocked he left the hat on but he looked darling. I think it helped that the kid had a sucker in his hand the entire time!

Blake ended the night in a rather festive costume! Tony had taken Blakers to give him a bath and later he came streakin' out dressed like this. Needless to say this was the highlight of our evening. Too stinkin' cute!

Are you ready for some football?

I had some of Tony's old jerseys out for Kai's photo shoot w/ Steph and the girls had fun trying them on. It was fun to see how HUGE they were on the girls yet how well it still fit Tony. Seeing them in his jerseys brought back so many fun memories from early in our marriage. It is crazy to think that one day our little boys may be big enough to fit in their dads old jerseys (I am hoping they'll be bigger than their dad but so far our boys are runts).

WWF nights are frequent at our house. I dont know what Tony will do when he cant wrestle all three (soon to be four) at once. Our house is loud and chaotic during these episodes but a ton of fun!

Aliya's Petting Zoo

Aliya has adjusted very well at her new school (not a surprise at all). Her teachers rant and rave about how well she is doing. She has enjoyed it but I still miss her old preschool. I love that I can just drop her off at the curb but I miss her old teachers and the interaction I had with the other moms. Ah well! Anyways, although there are no cool animals on the schools grounds, one day they brought in a petting zoo for the kids. I dropped Kai off with Aunt Steph so Blakers and I could see the animals too!

Here are the kids in Aliya's class. I have no idea what their names are. Guess that means I need to spend some time in her class! Unfortunately that isn't going to happen until she is in at least first grade.

She loved the llama. She kept putting her head on it because it was 'so soft'. Ewww!

These piggies were Liya's favorite. There was a mommy with her two baby piglets. The babies were pretty cute.

Blake seemed to enjoy himself (although you could never tell from this pic). We were the last class to see the animals so the animals were pretty tired. A couple of the goats were laying down. Twice my son walked up behind a goat and jumped on its butt. I was trying to be the responsible parent and not laugh out loud but it was pretty funny. Poor goat!

This picture is classic Aliya. She tries to mother-hen everything. I swear I daily have to remind her that she is not Blake, Taeya or Kai's mom. If she wants someone to go someplace, she'll maneuver them to get her way -- even deer!

Funny how Blake liked watching 'naughty' ram the most. I guess the ram had been 'bad' earlier in the day and got put in time out. Guess they are kindred spirits!

This is a dumb picture but ended up funny. So I took this picture then went to turn off the camera and put it away. Afterwards, I looked up to see Blake holding the bunny about a foot off the ground by both ears. Again I was trying not to laugh but I thought it was hilarious! That kid is such a boy.

Nuncle Jeff

We were lucky enough to get a visit from Uncle Jeff the end of September. We had all but written him off since he decided to head to school in Paris so we were all thrilled when we found out he had to return to the States and was going to spend a couple days with us. Jeff is Tony's youngest brother and a ton of fun. There has been a couple times when he's put one, or all, of my children's lives in peril but its all been in the name of fun. The kids of course love him (don't we all) and they immediately planned out all the fun stuff they wanted to do while he was here: do a cooking challenge (we watch way too many food competitions) and decorate for Halloween. The cooking challenge didn't happen but the Halloween decorating did:

One of the main reasons Jeff came was to see Kai. For 2 1/2 of my kids births Jeff was out of the country. When Tae was born he was in Africa, for Aliya's birth he was in Romania, he was actually in the US for Blake's birth and for Kai's he was somewhere on an airplane heading to Paris (hence the 1/2 - I think he was somewhere over the Atlantic but who knows).

This is everyones favorite position with a newborn. I don't know what it is but once you get a newborn snuggled in and asleep on your chest, its the best sleeping pill ever!

Uh-oh!

Have you ever wondered what a big ole box of Sam's Club diapers look like spread across your bathroom floor? Neither had I but I found out! My almost two year old terror has been on the rampage lately. Anything he can destroy, mess up or break, he does. I am just thankful he hasnt figured out how to open wipes containers ... yet. Its a coming!

I guess I should appreciate how proud he is of all his hard work!

Here's where I get it from ...

Many of you know that one of my favorite gestures is to flip the bird. I don't know why but there is something exhilarating about raising your middle finger high in the air. For years I thought it was because my older brother Steve is the king of flipping people off and I was just trying to be like him but I found out its genetic.

Yep, this is my 90 year old Grandmother showing you what she thinks about something. I love this picture! Next time I flash you the bird, remember, its really not my fault. Its genetically inbred in me!

Pics of Kai

When we found out we were moving to Houston, we were excited to find out a day or two later that Tony's cousin Steph and her hubby Colby were coming to TX as well! We've had a blast spending time with them over the past couple months and our kids absolutely adore Aunt Steph and Nuncle Colb.  I love it when they come over ... I dont have to fight the girls to get them to clean their rooms. They are so excited they are coming, they get in and get it done in no time! 

Steph came over earlier today and took some darling newborn pics of Kai. Her photography blog is:  www.skstringham.blogspot.com. She did a terrific job! She even offered to take pictures of the other heathens. I am super excited to see those too! Thanks a bunch Steph!