I'm very behind on my blog so I plan to make this a catch up post. There is a lot to say and I really don't want to try and make it cohesive, so the following is everything that pops into my head in the order it does so.
Yikes, right?
Considering the fact that I recently polished off a pan of brownies on my own, I think it is safe to say that I have a long way to go towards my New Year's Resolution of eating healthier, however, I have made some serious progress and the boys are finally starting to get on board. Everyone loves the fruit and veggie smoothies, especially Sport. I don't know how I did it, but the kid also loves salad, broccoli, stir fry veggies, zucchini...and anything on my plate eaten with the fork I have in my hand.
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| Sport and Colt drinking my green smoothie. |
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| Sport and Sis fell asleep on our walk and we really didn't want to wake them up so we carefully carried the stroller up the back steps and into the house. |
Baby Sis is definitely my daughter. She can't just sit still in your lap, but instead she rocks herself back and forth and bangs her head against your chest. Its hard to try and have a conversation holding her because she knocks the wind out of you while you're speaking.
The boys all have unique techniques to help cheer Sis up when she gets upset. Dash holds her and sings silly songs, Colt clicks his tongue and claps and Sport covers her with a blanket, like a parakeet.
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| Dash and Sis snuggling before school. |
A couple of weeks ago the PTO sponsored a Medieval Night. Colt was super excited to dress up like a "knightmare".
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| Three brave knights and one fair lady. |
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| Dash was the voice of the frog at the Medieval Night play. |
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| Medieval Bounce House. Sport was as scared as he looks. |
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| Colt and Dash jousting at the Medieval Night. Hilarious. |
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| This was a lot of work for both the boys, but they loved it, as did the audience. |
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| They were both declared champions, which forced them to settle the tie at home in a good ol' fashion wresting match. |
There is something about bath time that turns Colt up to full volume. Add that to echoing shower walls and you what you get is a headache.
The best part of waking up at 3 am to feed your baby girl is hearing her giggle when she sees you coming.
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| One day Colt sat on Sis and started making funny faces. I was yelling at him to get off, but he couldn't hear me over her giggling. |
Last week I realized something about myself that I have been subconsciously doing for a few years now - sneaking around, I'm a sneak. I tiptoe around the kids like a ballet dancer. For instance, if I need to shower, I wait until all the kids are distracted and then slowly back out of the room. I quietly walk towards my bathroom fighting the urge to break into a run, but I can't help speed walking as I get closer, then I slam the door shut and lean against it, listening quietly. This technique usually gives me the time I need to get into the shower, but since I don't lock the door (there could be a legitimate emergency) I almost always have at least two boys waiting for me on the bathroom floor to get out and solve their problems, such as the fact that their "booooored!"
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| I was trying to bake brownies for the missionaries so I put Sis up on the island by me. I thought it looked like a magazine spread with all the ingredients sitting around her so I took a picture. However, the truth is that two minutes after the picture, Colt and Sport both climbed onto the counter, most of the ingredients ended up on the floor, Sis started crying and I had to postpone the whole process while I fed her. Later I snuck into the kitchen to finish up the treats by myself. |
It's no secret that Dash is competitive, but I never thought it would be such an academic advantage. His school has an online reading program that lets the students practice reading stories and taking quizzes both at school and at home. The students are supposed to eventually work their way through levels A-Z. Dash can't stand to have any other student in his class within two levels of himself so he'll come into our room at 6 am on a Saturday morning and ask to be allowed to read from the computer program. We can't really say no, so we stumble in there and soon Colt joins us. Colt is a great listener (to Dash, not so much to his parents) and so he can usually help Dash answer the quiz questions after he has finished reading the story. Colt feels so involved that he has repeatedly suggested that Dash ask his teacher "Ms. Mogley" (aka Ms. Mobeley) to add Colt's name in the student section of the computer program.
The boys are also excellent mathematicians. A third grader on the school bus told Dash that he won't learn times tables until 3rd grade so Dash came home and made me teach him the concept behind the "x sign". Now Dash can figure out most simple multiplication problems in his head and he is teaching Colt how to add three numbers as well.
The boys are saving all their money for an outdoor basketball hoop. Pennies and dimes take a while to add up so when Dash's front tooth fell out at breakfast the other day he was completely thrilled because it meant a visit from the tooth fairy. He was particularly excited because "his best friend Rhett" had recently been visited by the tooth fairy and she had left him $10! Dash felt confident that this was her new norm. Unfortunately, all Dash got was $.50 and a note from the tooth fairy promising him that she would be visiting again soon. He wasn't disappointed, however, but he did interpret her note to mean that he would get his $10, but he would have to lose more teeth first. Several times now I have caught him in front of the mirror trying to manually loosen more teeth. It's like his part time job!
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| Dash's missing front tooth. |
We are all so happy to announce that Brandan just finished up another Masters class and has 6 weeks off before his summer classes begin. Hallelujah. Whenever he can grab a spare minute, Brandan still loves to carve and has made quite a name for himself on Ebay. His goal is to make enough to pay for Christmas and he is already about halfway to a very nice holiday.
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