Water Fun on Memorial Day

It's a gorgeous 85 degrees, sunny, with a light breeze today. And unfortunately, 3/5 of the kids are sick. So we are having a low key day here at the house and enjoying the nice weather, while being grateful for those who've died so we can.

Hmm

In a girly sleep sack, on a girly blanket, wearing just a onesie...it's hard to tell if it's a boy or girl! I guess I need to try to get some boy sleep sacks!

Return to simpler times...

The kids will play far longer with a pile of wooden blocks than with just about any other the toys they have. And with less fighting. There's something to be said for the less is more thought.

French??

Selah was very proud of her American flag that she built out of Citiblocs. She wasn't to happy to hear she actually made a French flag...

Never?

At the store the other day,

Selah: Mom, can I buy this?
Me: absolutely not!
Selah : why not??
Me: because it's real and it's sharp!
Selah: ugh. You never let me buy anything!

Sweet, sweet sleeping baby

I have literally hundreds of sleeping pictures of Elijah. Probably in part, because he's so precious looking when sleeping. But also because I see him sleep far more than any other kid. And yet, even hundreds of pictures later, I still love pictures of him sleeping. Maybe because it's so much work to get him asleep and he sleeps so little??

More rice!

In the middle of the night, it became apparent the rice was not all cleaned up. It was in Elijah's clothes. I had forgotten that Noah had poured done over Elijah's head. So...we slept with rice. If you know me and my "princess and the pea" issues, you know what a huge deal this was! Elijah also had a terrible night. So the question is, was it the rice, food, or the fact he's sick...

And now He knows...

Elijah now knows he's missing out when he goes to bed. While we were enjoying the fire, a neighbor started shooting off fireworks. He may never sleep again now that he had seen the coolness of life when he's normally asleep.

~Sarah

Prefect gets better

When you add a baby!

Poor Elijah is having a really tough time lately. I don't know if I ever posted, but we are moving forward trying to get a diagnosis. He has a scope 7 July, so until then we are supposed to be making him eat as much food as possible. So far he's had...a couple accidental ingestions. That have not appeared to go well. Friday it was a piece of a gf crepe. He literally squirmed all night. I feared a repeat last night since he was up twice before 930. The second time we just brought him out to the fire. He was quite content out there!

First Fire

Last night we had the first fire of the season. Well actually, year. It was prefect, the temp was pleasant, there weren't any bugs, there weren't any children, and then...

Elijah came to help

And by help, I mean spread all the rice Noah and I had cleaned up right back over the floor. And I was silly enough to try three times before I quit and decided it could wait until he was in bed. Finally, Bryan saved the day again with the vacuum. Much better idea. The for is now(mostly) rice free.

Tonight's helper was...

Noah. Who worked really hard to clean up Elijah's rice mess. Because while Elijah was entertained, only 5 grains of rice remained contained. And the clean up was going swell until...

Desperation...

We're entering the terrible twos around here. Mr Elijah thinks he rules the world...and watch out when you tell him no! This evening I was making tapioca, and he felt that he would be the best stirrer. Now if you've made tapioca, you know you have to stir for a really long time. (Tonight, 45 minutes. I made a triple batch because a single gets everyone a half of a cup.)

Not only is it not safe for him to be stirring, he's not able to do it in a way to keep the tapioca from burning. And I can't possibly hold him at the stove for that long and retain my sanity. So...

Bryan came to the rescue and suggested rice to play with. And I gave him a nice big container, you know, too keep it all contained...

Well it did keep him entertained...

Our Tenderheart!

Selah crossed over in American Heritage Girls on Thursday. She was a Pathfinder, and now's she's a Tenderheart. She is so incredibly proud and excited. Sadly, she has to wait until September for her next meeting!

Just looking!

Selah and Her friend's little brother were pretty bored about halfway through the AHG awards ceremony and wandered over to check out the desserts. They walked a few circles around the tables seeing which goodies there were to enjoy if the ceremony ever ended.

In loving memory...

Jonah wasn't very happy after hearing the news that Landon Donovan didn't make the world cup roster. He erected him a memorial.

Catching up on a few missed zzz's

Mr Elijah had a bit of a rough night. Funny how he finally sleeps peacefully once everyone else is awake. Well at least one of us is getting some extra rest...

Too Much Boys

Selah: moon, are you pregnant.
Me: um, no. (Do I look it??)
Selah: EVER again?
Me: I don't know, we'll see what God says.
Selah: I hope he says YES! And that it's a GIRL. We have too much boys.

Jonah's hospital picture

So when Jonah was born, we did what normal first time parents do, and we ordered hospital pictures. And we ordered birth announcements, too. And then they came. And we returned them. Obviously, this was before digital cameras. I promise he was far cuter in real life. (We assume they stole his pacifier and then snapped the picture before he cried.)

Miss Blue

Bored Selah plus a marker during Mass will apparently get you blue hands. Good thing it was washable.

Worn Out!

Mr Elijah appears to have worn his Ohio State right out. And perhaps his feet are a little big? He didn't seem to mind at all, but I'm feeling guilty! (Even though his little toes are super cute!)

New Underwear!!

Selah got some new underwear at Costco last night. And I promised her that if she didn't take then to bed with her I would wash them so she could wear them today. Which I did, but then I went to bed before they were done (oops.) Worse yet, I forgot to switch them when I first got up this morning (double oops.) Now she's semi-patiently waiting for them to dry. Watching them tumble and singing songs about new underwear. It doesn't take much to excite this little girl!

~Sarah

Heavenly weather

This is what Spring should look like. If heaven was a temperature, it would be just like it is right now. 68, sunny, light breeze. Ahhhh...absolutely perfect. And not bad this week.

Another Climber

At least he's another cute climber!

Life...as we know it.

Played life tonight as a family. Bryan: Selah, do you want to go the career path or the college path?

Selah: ummm, I just want to go to the get married and have babies spot.

Me: well first you either have to get a job or go to school.

Selah: (looks at the two paths) fine. I'll get a job. (It's shorter.)

2 turns later she stops to get married.

Selah: yes!!! I'm getting married!!! Now I can have babies!!! (Spins and everyone had to give her 50k as a wedding gift-it's way updated from our childhood) (screeching) PURPLE MONEY! 3 PEOPLE MONIES?!?

Noah: you want more purple money? I'll give you this purple (50k) for those three yellows(100k each).

Me: absolutely not.

Selah: yes! It's okay, mom.

Bryan: Noah, you were just trying To scam a 5 year old!

Noah shrugs. She wanted purple money!

Selah counts how many spots until she can have a baby. She then proceeds to try to turn the spinner to the right number for the baby spot rather than spin.

Bryan: you have you actually spin, Selah.

Selah: ugh. I just want a baby!

She did this the whole game, even tried To go backwards for more babies. We was laughing so hard I was crying. I wish I'd recorded it. She may be the most difficult child we have, but she is also the most entertaining!

Sometimes You Luck Out

Like when you're not very good at keeping track of your coats and shoes but your younger brother is the same size as you and is much better at it. I would say Selah wears Micah's coats and shoes at least 50% of the time. And yes, she then often loses Micah's stuff...

A Big, Fat Lip

Elijah was running on the sidewalk yesterday (yes, we tell him not to run, he's one. He doesn't understand why that's bad. Or he didn't.) While he was running, his foot caught on uneven pavement and he fell. Hard. I didn't see any of it, Jonah was outside with him, so when he came in gushing blood I was quite concerned. I was surprised by the amount of blood, that did eventually stop, but when I finally was able to look in his mouth late last night, I saw the skin between the top lip and gums was torn. Apparently it's called the Maxillary frenum and when it is torn it bleeds a lot. That explains that. What I read is that it's a common injury in toddlers and it usually grows back. Whew.

Praying that his teeth are fine, the swelling is far worse than it looks in the pictures. He's not a pretty baby right now! He's been a little clingier, but he's eating fine so that a relief.

Life with Noah

Noah: Mom, I'm going to try something new, is called no-dirt-pile sweeping.
Me: (distracted, making dinner, trying to deal with a baby with a split lip )
Great. Thanks, Noah.

A few minutes later, Noah goes running down the hallway with the broom. Runs back into the dining room empty handed.

Lightbulb goes off in my head.
Me: Noah, did you saw you were "no-dirt-pile" sweeping?

Noah: yep. Worked great!
Me: so that means you didn't use a dust pan for the dirt?
Noah: nope!
Me: so...what did you do with the dirt?
Noah: ummm...
Me: you didn't sweep it down the air vents did you?!?
Noah: ummm...
Me: seriously?? Noah, you can't do that!
Noah: well it's dirty in there anyway!
Oh. My. Word.

Wait...

Everyone else is awake now, Mom? Well now I'm tired and want to sleep!

~Sarah

1st Lost Tooth!

Selah lost her wiggly tooth that has been bugging her for weeks finally on Sunday. After spending the morning crying about it, she was overjoyed even it fell out in the afternoon!

Grocery Store Helper

Elijah appears to have inherited the building gene. He can even make towers out of groceries in a moving grocery cart. And he was pretty proud of himself.

Lego Movie

We took the kids to see the Lego Movie-finally! Elijah did better than expected and actually sat with Selah for a bit. She loved it, she really would like him to be a real-life baby doll. Most of the tone he wants no part of it. Occasionally, he will acquiesce and participate. He didn't really watch the movie, but he enjoyed her straw, my necklace, and eventually, looking at pictures of himself on my phone.

The movie, however...disappointing.

Buddies!

Selah is in her glory!

New fashions

Noah: I'm starting a new fashion. You know how people wear their hats backwards? I'm going to wear it sideways and people will see me and  and want to do it, too! Cool, huh?

Think they will want to copy his backwards undershirt, too?

At the tigers game!

Selah: Mom, who do we cheer for?
Me: today we cheer for the tigers.
Selah: tigers. Right. Who do we cheer for tomorrow?
Me: the Indians
Selah: Indians. Right.
Selah to Amber: which one are the tigers?
Amber: the Orange ones.

It's a lot to remember when your 5!

Don't turn your back

Part 1

~Sarah

Oh the Joy!

Elijah was sitting on my lap during lunch yesterday and he grabbed a piece of gluten free bread that was on the table and tore it into little pieces. And then, he tried a bite. And then, another. And this went on until he ate the whole piece! He really enjoyed it, but was up within 30 minutes of going to bed.

Dad!

I just had a piece of bread...and it was GOOD!

Unexpected Super Parent Night

What do you do when 4/5 of your kids have food allergies and you are unexpectedly traveling over a meal time? Well, this time we stopped at the grocery store and bought safe "ice cream" and sorbet for dinner! We're pretty much the coolest parents ever right now. (They got a movie from redbox, too, which is why they wouldn't look at me.)

I spent 45 minutes checking websites to find a restaurant to stop at with no luck of finding things that were safe that they would actually eat. This was actually less expensive, faster, and WAY cooler than a restaurant, anyway!

Special Time

Micah had a couple minutes of special time with his grandpa today. It's rare to see Micah warm up to someone right away, but he has always had a special bond with his Poppy.

Rough Life

So if Jonah doesn't become a fight pilot or join the Air Force, he's most likely to find a job that didn't require a tie..or belt. He not only wouldn't put them on until we got to the church, he had the tie and belt off before we left and the shirt unbuttoned. The things we make our kids do...

A Fish!

Micah caught a nice little fish (with some help from uncle Jonah.) This was nothing compared to the huge fish Brianna caught! (Unfortunately, my phone was dead at the time so I didn't get a picture.)

~Sarah

Too much Fun!

Selah had way too much with her cousins today, she was asleep within 15 minutes of leaving the park!

~Sarah

What a bunch!

We were able to spend the day with this great group of kids. The kids all had a blast spending time together, and everyone was sad when it was time to leave. Jacoby, Brianna, and Makian all made their first communion today, and then we went to a park to picnic and play. If you remove the cold wind and rain and hall that came through, it was a very enjoyable time! There was soccer and fishing along with eating and running around. Something for everyone!

~Sarah