Outsmarted By A Boy & A Dry Erase Marker

I have been listing the boys daily activities beside their name on a big dry erase that we have in the kitchen. It has worked well because it allows us to adjust things daily to what is most needed and what is going on during the week.

Here is what happens when Smarty Pants 5 year old Chase gets a hold of the dry erase marker!

Hudson Turns 1 - His First Year Flew Bye!

It is hard to believe how fast time flies! Hudson is now 1 and his first year in our family just all flew bye so fast......

We celebrated him with an airplane themed party. Oh, believe me, I had so so so many cute ideas, but.... he is turning only 1, and won't remember any of this anyway so I was sort of forced to bring it down to reality and leave things a little simpler.

It was not the easiest few days for him...or all of us for that matter! He was pretty much not a happy boy during all of the festivities. He cried a lot and just wasn't feeling great, although the whipped cream did interest him :) I decided to portray the honest side of the birthday celebration rather than edit out the crying pics... Enjoy!

The cake...

The crier...

Tasting the cake calmed him down and he actually did enjoy the whipped cream...

The kids had fun painting airplanes, but Hudson, in classic kid style, preferred playing with the box!

And then we had a small family celebration again on his real birthday, the 16th.

My big boy!

It was another fussy day overall, but we did find a few happy moments scattered in with the birthday blues.

Another chance to see the candle...he wanted to touch it, of course...and then he had a small taste of sugar again (he didn't even touch the cake, just cared about the whipped cream)

The boys had fun decorating airplane cookies in Hudson's honor...and Hudson simply ended the day crying.

Oh, and how could I forget? In all my efforts to make my sweet boy's birthday special, I had decided to give him a simple gift - a long and fun time in the bath (see, he is the 4th and usually gets a quick dip, if lucky, and only for cleaning purposes...but he loves, loves, loves the bath - poor boy!) So I lovingly decided to give him that - and I get him all happily into the water, and within minutes he POOPS in the water!! Grrrrr..... Happy birthday sweet Hudson!!!

Getting Ready...

I simply cannot believe that I am making party preparations for Hudson's 1st year birthday! Tuesday, the 16th. Crazy! I looked back on my blog and found this letter I had written to him while he was still in my tummy and we all awaited his wonderful arrival. This boy has changed my world and I love him for it.

So very thankful.

Party post coming soon!

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November 3, 2009

As the big birthday of my fourth son approaches, I sense the desire to record my sentiments, my thoughts, my feelings.... I choose to do so in a letter to my sweet baby boy Hudson who is currently tucked safely under my heart, kicking my ribs and causing my tummy to form into some strange shapes as he nestles in for another night.

Dear Hudson,

We are all anticipating your arrival. Reece specifically asked if you might come tonight because he is so eager to see you and hold you. He asks me if you are going to be chubby and what you are going to look like. Chase often kisses you or pats you through my tummy. He loves to be near you. Piersen says your name numerous times throughout the day...and although he likely doesn't understand what all of this "baby brother" stuff means, I am certain he will be quick to protect you and beam with pride that you are "his" baby. Your Daddy had his hand on you last night, wondering when you were going to make your big appearance. He is anxious for your arrival - ready to have you here. And me....

Well, I love you deeply already and am just so very thankful that God has given us this long journey together to bond and experience life together. You are one special baby - you have given us hope after loss. You have given us joy after sorrow. You have given us thankfulness and appreciation for another experience at being parents. You mean so much to us - so much more to us than just "another boy". You are unique and your arrival to our family is full of celebration! I am excited to meet you here on the outside - to watch you grow and change and to see your personality develop. To get to know just how God has knitted and formed you. I have so enjoyed my pregnancy with you. The adventure has brought many smiles to my face and tears to my eyes. Seems like forever ago that you scared us during the very early ultrasound that questioned your viability. And then each check up, each ultrasound, each pregnancy milestone or movement from you - all so cherished and accepted as real miracles. We are so grateful for you.

As we await the moment when you decide to truly let us know you are ready to come (because there have already been a few questions in my mind since I can't seem to predict much about you these days :) ) I just want to wish you a safe and healthy journey. I want to thank you for giving me one more opportunity to experience the beauty, pain, and miracle of childbirth. I thank our God for giving you to us - just exactly in the timing He saw fit. You are very special, very loved and very much anticipated. We've been waiting for you. Come quickly and come safely. Praying for you to be strong and healthy and ready to steal the hearts of all of us....and to join our family (get ready! it is quite the adventure!)

All my love, Mommy

The Boys & Soccer

This soccer season is officially over for my boys. It was so fun! I really loved watching them and cheering for them and feeling proud of them for running, and playing, and passing, and scoring, and for burning. so. much. energy! Each of the three big boys played and had their own unique contributions to the sport...and to my heart.

Reece has a powerful left leg and it was so exciting to watch his team. They made the game, well, let's just say a real game in comparison to the younger boys... Very fun! Reece played great defense, kicked the ball long and hard, and gave his heart out there.

The highlight of watching Chase was to see his Mexico background and love for the World Cup shine strong. When other kids would score, they would just smile and give a slight cheer. But when Chase would score....he would beam with pride, spread his arms wide, and celebrate with a victory lap around the field (see picture below) Everyone enjoyed his celebrating!

Pierce's affection for the game was a slow progression. He wanted to play - not ever practice. He just wanted to cut all that extra stuff out and get to the good stuff. He was smaller than everyone on the field and was not very aggressive in getting to the ball....but you have never seen a bigger smile on a kids face and more consistent running out of a 3 year old. He followed that ball wherever it went, and wasn't concerned about actually kicking it. Running. And smiling. That was enough :)

I took a lot of pictures. I am posting them because I love them.... I can foresee many more hours in our future spent out on the soccer fields!

"Trickle down" Teaching

If you live at my house and you are not me, you are a boy.

This makes for an interesting bathroom.

All of the boys, except for 2, are not the best at aiming when they use the potty - (and I am certain that the younger 1 of those 2 will shed his diaper someday and also struggle with the aiming thing)...

So that means 3 out of the 5 male species are using the potty several times a day and not aiming well.

You can draw your own conclusion.

Years ago we saw this cute little sign painted on an old country store public restroom and the boys laughed so hard when I read it to them....

If you sprinkle when you tinkle

Be a sweetie and wipe the seatie.

So.... since they thought it was so funny, and since the first part of the clause is pretty much a given, I decided it was high time I started teaching them the follow through.

The oldest began his new job duty today...and did a great job I must say.

My hope, is that when he begins to experience, first hand, how disgusting this area can become, he may take aim a little better....and that eventually this teaching will trickle down (ha! no pun intended), to the younger shooters too!

And as this learning unfolds, I am going to enjoy a clean bathroom at someone else's expense, every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Whooooo hooooooo!

I Might Need To Do This More Often....

Not sure why, but I was feeling a little under the weather this afternoon. Benjy kindly offered me a free pass to take an afternoon nap in hopes of stamping out any thoughts of a possible sickness coming our way. I graciously took it ~ closed my bedroom door and crawled under the covers. It didn't take me long to drift into a deep sleep. Soooooo nice.

I don't know how long I was out before I heard tiny footsteps approaching me (why is that once you enter motherhood you can't sleep past the tiny footsteps sound?????) I knew if I opened my eyes I would be dead...so I faked it.

A few moments passed, and to be honest, the curiosity was killing me as to which boy was staring me down. I knew it couldn't be Pierce because there was too much self-control being exhibited. There was some rustling, wiggling, shifting, and then......a sweet kiss on my forehead. I am sure the smile must have escaped my lips. A sweet moment. It was Chase. I whispered to him that I wasn't feeling well and he needed to leave, but what did he need?? "FOOD" he whispered. I directed him to an easy option and off he went.

Back to my sleep....

A while later they all came piling in the room with homemade cards and pictures and mispelled words of love and well wishes. So sweet.

"All on their own initiative", Benjy told me.

I hugged and thanked them all. I felt loved. And special. And cared for. Until.....

Chase ruined the moment by stating, "Mom, I thought you were dead. "

:)

Apparently it is a rare thing for this Mom to take a nap!

Happy Halloween! "Oooooooooooooooo CANDY!"

We had a really fun weekend. Lots going on but we managed to squeeze it all in...

The boys had been anxious to carve their Jack-o-lanterns a few days ago, but with everything we had going on we convinced them to do it in stages...appeasing them with a little fun every night (which let us squeeze the most enjoyment out of the smallest activity and saved our tired selves from attacking the whole mess all at once)! So Thursday evening was designated to designing the face! Trust me, that in and of itself took enough time for these boys (I sense a wee bit of perfectionism pulsing through some veins already) Then Saturday morning we finally got around to gutting and carving them. Here are a few fun shots of the action and then their final mug shots next to their Jacks (ummm, excuse me, Pierce decided to name his "speedy boy" and was quite bothered by any reference to him as a Jack-o-lantern)

We love Toy Story and since we have found ourselves feeling like we are from another planet these days, I thought it was a perfect costume idea when Reece suggested the Toy Story aliens... So that is what they became....

Pre-performance mode they had practiced their unison alien voice of pointing and saying "ooooooooooooo candy....you have saved our lives, we are eternally grateful" - but that kind of fell by the wayside when they began running like wild indians to get to get the candy...usually leaving stumbling Pierce at the back of the pack...

As you can see, the masks held up great for a picture but weren't so user friendly when in trick-o-treatin' action....so Chase improvised and held it high on his head...and Reece apparently thinks he is already too cool at age 7 and didn't keep his on for very long at all. Pierce was the cutest, truly looking like an alien as he stumbled around, trying to keep up with the big, fast kids (ha! and easily losing his way because he was more focused on maintaining extreme caution around any costume that might be scarey)

And I knew Hudson would never keep anything on his face, so we tricked him into alien world by attaching his onto the back of his hood :) It was pretty cute when he crawled around to find the candy stash. Oooooooooooooo candy!!!

Hudson got a hold of a tootsie roll....at first I was not too concerned until I noticed his rapid sucking motion and total contentment....he got through the paper and was loving it!! (not so happy when I pryed it out of his mouth!)

Here is a picture of the friends we went trick-or-treatin' with. It was a great night....Happy Halloween everyone!