What?

You haven't "seen" me in a while you say.  What?!  I've been busy! 
In fact, I've got to get back to folding my 6 loads of laundry. 

She's Three

Afton's three and as cute as can be!  She was thrilled it was her birthday.  And even though it was a school day and truthfully other than opening presents it was probably pretty boring, she was thrilled.  We did go swimming together as a family (per her request) and ate ice cream cupcakes.  We love our Afton!
 

 

 

 

The Baby Who Didn't Like Her Cake

We celebrated little Cora's one-year-old birthday here recently.  It came with presents, balloons, and a large personal cake to destroy and devour to her hearts content.  Well, we've never had this kind of reaction before . . .

 

 

She hated the feel, look and taste of it.  She was completely mad and upset until we got that thing away from her and gave her some little baby snuggles. 

She was completely satisfied and content once we gave her a spoon and a fork.  Go figure!

 

You Should Go to Wichita

A few reasons, shown in pictures, why Wichita, Kansas is a great place to visit with kids.  (It must be noted that there are no pictures from the zoo, but it was awesome.  Trust me.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Expressions of a 1-year-old

Cora can pull a pretty good, "I'm-annoyed-face" all with flared nostrils and snorting.  It's pretty great.  We told the kids that instead of yelling or hitting when they are mad their options are either to pull a Cora face or rapidly blink their eyes to express their anger and frustration.  For some reason, this edict isn't working.  A parent can dream can't they?

Mother's Day Photos

As a gift to myself I'm hoping to make it a tradition to have a picture taken of me with each of my children individually every Mother's Day.  I think I've done it at least three years and counting.  It's fun and sometimes results in some funny photos. 


Mommy and Cora

Eliza (who wore a flower in her hair! Her sister is sure rubbing off on her with the girly stuff!) and Mommy

Afton (still eating breakfast) and Mommy

Russell and Mommy

And the picture that will bring me belly laughs for years to come:
Mommy and Jaron
(Really I'm not attempting to strong hold him into a picture.  It really was a very loving embrace I had around him, however, Jaron who resists smiling or looking decent in most any photo made sure to give me a prize of a picture.)

It's so awesome to be a mom!

Sleep Deprived

Afton's at that in-between state where she won't really take a nap during the day.  I doubt I have ever been at that state in my life, where I didn't need a nap, but of course, I'm a crazy adult who thinks sleeping is a luxury instead of a punishment.  I digress.

After a few days sans nap the sleep deprivation sets in and she just conks out pretty much anywhere. 


Looks soooo comfortable.  At least she still had her pacy and treasured doll.  (Which, by the way, that doll was mine growing up.  She has latched onto that thing and funneled all her intense, baby-nurturing into.)

No time to even lick the spoon clean.  She dropped off into a chocolate pudding induced slumber.  Ahhh, so blissful.  Except for the fact that she woke up wet and I had to emergency steam vac the floor.  I'll have to put that on a resume someday, my ability to be flexible and make sleep inducing pudding.

Summer Goals

Our kids are finally old enough to somewhat get the whole "goal" thing.  In an effort to keep them  occupied on worthy things we set some summer goals.  There have been a few times, I must confess, I wish I had set the goals for my kids. 

A few of them would have been things like:
*Don't drag dirt through the house. 

*Ask mom if there are any jobs I can do for her.

*Smile and be happy and don't use a whiny voice about anything mom makes for dinner.  In fact, beg her to make Brussels sprouts and other vegetables I turn my nose up to.

But yes, that is my wishful thinking.  However, they have set some good and thoughtful goals.  One goal Russell set I felt a bit guilty about.  He wanted to learn to tie his own shoes.  He's only been begging to learn for a few months.  It probably doesn't help that really his only lace up shoes are his church shoes and well, we are usually in a rush to get out the door when he makes the request to learn. 

So after designing, creating and donning his own pirate paraphernalia he was properly prepared to learn.  (From Dad I might add who made the conscious effort to focus about 10 minutes of his time to the task.)

And success!  He did it!!

Magic

There is something magical when you have a baby in the house.  Now Cora is far from being a "new" baby; she is 8 months old but she sure has a strong hold on everyone's hearts.

I wish I could clearly capture how the kids act and react to her . . . the best way to describe it is like magic.

Tonight Cora assisted me in putting all her siblings to bed.  We had to move quickly because she was a sleepy baby rubbing her eyes and yawning but she kept a smile poking out from behind her pacy in every room.  And more important than getting a hug and a kiss from me, they begged to snuggle Cora, kiss her, and even shake her hand. (Thanks for the laugh Afton.)  How their eyes light up as they told her good night and how her eyes were shining right back at them.

What a gift it is to have a baby in our house.  Such a truly wonderful gift.  I treasure it.  Every day brings such precious moments of excitement, smiles, giggles and love with a baby around.  I've also noticed how it brings out my children's desires to serve, be kind, be tender, assist and love.  With Cora they will do anything for her (or for me if it means for her).  "Oh, she spit up, here let me wipe that up." "Oh, she looks hungry let me give her a handful of Cheerios."  "Oh, she looks like she needs a toy, I'll dump the box out for her."  "Oh, I think she poopy, let me sniff her and then get her diaper and wipes."  "Oh, she is crying let me carry her to Mommy." 

She brings out the best in everyone.  Babies just have that natural ability.   
Maybe it's because they were just with God.

Brothers

This little scene warmed my heart after a long frustrating day of having five young children home all.day.long. Not that I don't love all these children dearly, but having to attend to all their needs at once can be a bit taxing. I felt bad I wasn't present for any of their tuckings-in, except sweet little Cora. I was busy cleaning up the dozen eggs I dropped all over the fridge and floor. It was definitely a fitting end to my day. 

(Hmmmm, I just remembered that urge I got at about 3:30 today to break something. Yeah, breaking eggs really wasn't what I had in mind.)

Anyway, it's a relief to know that tomorrow is a new day.  

Baby Jokes

Our little Cora is growing. She's doing all sorts of cute baby things that make me lament, "Slow down please!"  Like rolling, grabbing, and attempting to navigate around the floor.  In fact, she's mastered the backward scooting.  I would almost feel bad for her that when she sees something she wants and scoots herself away from it, but she's pretty content to go any direction.  And more likely than not, she'll find something on the floor to check out or "clean".  But lately she has been threatening to crawl.  Pulling up onto her knees and rocking back and forth.  Or toes!  Jaron thinks we need to help her.  Once again, I think we need give her pep talks to slow down.

We made a recent discovery that I think makes her advanced for her age of only 5 months old.  The scene is this:  A frantic morning rushing the boys to school.  Everyone is packed into the van and Cora is cooing and chirping away from her perch in the infant seat.  Jaron comments, "Oh Cora. Are you talking to me?"  Which was met with the very indiginant reply from Russell, "She's not talking to YOU!!! She's telling jokes!"  So you see, our baby can tell JOKES!  Amazing!  I must confess I've had a pretty good laugh about it.  It also helps that whenever Cora starts to talk, even if it's in the middle of the sacrament, Afton will loudly proclaim, "Cora's telling jokes!"

Baby Bathtime

We can't get enough of this darling girl!  And she loves bathtime!

 

 

New Year's Eve

When you have 5 kids under the age of 7 New Year's Eve can be quite the party.  Of course, maybe not the type you would attend in your more (adult) youthful days.  But we pulled out all the stops!  I had the grand idea to make party hats at about 7 pm.  What works of art they are:



Cora was a bit overwhelmed by them.  Well, she was confused by the strange things we were all sporting on our heads.

Jaron our master artist embelished from my original design and even went to making bracelts. 

 

I can't even begin to explain how thrilled the kids were with these creations.  They kept them days and days (and probably longer if I hadn't gotten sick of them and thrown them away.)  I am constantly impressed and reminded about how we can find happiness in the simple things in life. I'm so grateful for my children teaching me that lesson again and again. 

 

So yes, we all donned our party hats and played some rousing games of "Don't Eat Pete". (Though we design our own game board and use whatever candy is on hand.)  Afton won; figures she would be able to figure out how to eat the most amounts of candy.  At that point, the kids tuckered out after consuming bowls of popcorn.  We "celebrated" at 8:30 by banging pots and pans (for some reason the suggestion my mom always gave me when I was young sounded so much better in theory than practice) and then put the kids to bed.  Clark, Cora and I lingered until about 10:30 pm after watching a Psych episode.  You don't know what you are missing until you celebrate New Year's this way.