We Wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Where has the time gone. Well, let me show you :)

We did lots of baking and pretzel making. Funny story, Alayna wanted her "makron." I couldn't figure out what she was talking about. Finally, in tears, she explained, "I'm a maker and I need to wear my makron." Translation: she's a baker and she needs to wear her apron. If only I spoke her two-year-old princess language.

Granddad came for Christmas!

We were so excited about opening presents!

We ate and ate and ate!

When it was all said and done we were exhausted and are now recovering. :)

We conquered de-Christmasing the house with a vengeance.

and this cutie tagged along for the ride.

I might give a better update later, but that will have to suffice for now. Here's a couple of hilarious videos of the big kids. They're short - enjoy :)

Video #1 - Alayna singing some Backyardigans karaoke.

Video #2 - the boys dancing and singing karaoke.

Happy Times

Pierce and Alayna are working on spelling their names. This homemade "puzzle" is the best tool that I've seen. Even little ones who are just developing letter recognition can do this one.

Hudson turned six last weekend and Aunt Angela got him some motorcycles to paint. Young children with paint stresses me out a little, but we were well armed with aprons, a table cloth, paper towels a stern lecture to not paint themselves or anything but the motorcycles. It made for some great Sunday afternoon fun. Thanks Aunt Angela!

Matching sweatshirts. I should have gotten a picture of them right after this because they got all dressed up in their "spy gear." Knee and elbow pads, gloves, sunglasses, walkie-talkies, backpacks, and sword stuck down their pants. They are anything but sneaky, but they are awful cute.

A perfect home for light sabers.

I'm having a hard time keep track of this kid. She's getting fast and she's doesn't take "no" for an answer. Now that every outlet and Christmas ornament is within reach I'm in full-time training mode (as if home schooling and personal training and housework and meal prep didn't keep me busy enough!) . She is the smiliest, happiest baby of the four and I'm loving every second with her. Hard to believe she'll be 7 months old this weekend!

Confessions of a desperate mommy

Warning: If you have a weak stomach DO NOT READ the first part of this post!!! (You may not want to ready any of it).

Wednesday is library day for us. Every Wednesday after naps we load up our huge pile of books and movies and make the exciting jaunt to the library to make the exchange for new stuff. Today we did just that. However, everything changed when, from the backseat, I hear, "My tummy doesn't feel good. Mom, I can't hold it ..." He barely missed Adelle who had a front row seat for some serious projectile action. Hudson started the party and it went downhill from there.

My first thought was to get him home and clean up the van. On second thought, I don't want late fees on those movies and if the kids are all going to be sick, we really need new movies (books are good for two weeks). And, if I'm going to be up all night with sick kids I'm going to need some caffeine! AND, mom's who have to clean up after sick kids deserve expensive caffeine. David was headed out of town for a basketball game and I was not prepared to handle four erping (is that a word?) children without ample entertainment and energy. Totally selfish and depraved - I know.

So, we drove home, cleaned up the van, cleaned up Hudson, grabbed a couple of towels, and got back in the van. Yes, we did. Then we drove back to the library. Hudson lost it again on the way there (it's about 4 minutes away) so I told him to lay down on the floor of the van and stay there while we ran in and get some movies. Well, I got what I deserved. As soon as we got into the library Alayna moaned, "Mommy, my tummy hurts." Then she erped all over the library floor. The librarian kindly held the baby while I cleaned it all up, cleaned Alayna up, grabbed our movies (yes, I did!) and finally made a "clean" get away.

We got through the Starbucks drive-thru without any more incidents. We spent the evening watching movies and running to the bathrooms. At one point I had Alayna over one toilet and Pierce and Hudson sharing another one and a towel over my shoulder with the baby. Seriously, you can't make this stuff up!

Everyone is in bed for now and I'm going to make good use of this caffeine and go clean the bathrooms.

Pumpkin muffins & Christmas Carols

I often wonder if other people's lives are like mine. I'm sure all mommies suffer/enjoy the same things. Adelle enjoys a good poop around midnight these days. (I must be doing something wrong). So after I've been asleep for two hours, I'm up to get her changed and back to bed. She's happy as a lark while she's up and she goes right back to sleep - I can't complain too much. Every mommy suffers a little interrupted sleep. I secretly enjoy the time alone with her. Last night I changed her diaper in the glowing light of the Christmas tree while she babbled and clapped. It should be a commercial for something.

6 am rolls around and Alayna comes in with her morning greeting, "Mom, I waked up!!!" I would love to tell you I've already been up for an hour by then and had a great run on the treadmill and done my quiet time and showered. Someday. This morning that was not the case. I rolled out of bed and let her drag me by the hand to the couch. Soon enough Hudson came in to snuggle. Pierce is usually the straggler. This morning we made chocolate chip pumpkin muffins while the Christmas carols played. I went a little crazy buying cans of pumpkin this year. Glad we like it. The kids, especially Hudson, are way into decorating and Christmas carols this year. They think they're going to get Hot Chocolate and pop corn during every little Christmas special that comes on TV and they want to take all the decorations off of the tree and do it again. Yesterday I had some orchestral Christmas music playing in the kitchen. Hudson grabbed his pillow and blanket and laid down in the kitchen floor to listen to it.

Hudson keeps pretending to evaporate Alayna and she's having none of it. Refereeing is not so sweet, but it can be humorous. Alayna came in yesterday morning sobbing, "Mom, Hudson keeps zaporating me!" They have their moments of provoking/reacting. But there are also moments like this morning where the muffins are baking and they're all dancing around and laughing to the Christmas music and I wish I could freeze them right there. Tis the season to soak it all in and make some memories.

Try this link for a little Sufjan Stevens Christmas Love :)

Crawling

She's CRAWLING!!! Check out this video if you want to see cuteness in action.

My baby is 6 months old. Incredible.

Fall Photo Shoot

While most of our all-together shots turned out like this ...

Katie did manage to get a few good shots that really capture the kids and their personalities.

ADELLE

THE BOYS

ALAYNA

They were all looking, sort of, and all smiling, almost :)

I like this one. I don't know why.

I can almost see what they're going to look like when they're older. I love their expressions, wind-blown hair and chubby little hands.

(I probably should have put Alayna in jeans - the concept of modesty is a little lost on two-year-olds).

A picture takin' adventure

Got the kids pictures taken today by one of my friends. You can see some of her handiwork here. I'll post our picture soon.

It was a super-windy, great adventure through a lovely little-bitty old downtown. So much for combed hair. The old buildings made a perfect backdrop for some cute shots. The kids did great for the most part. On her mission to find pretty rocks, Alayna picked up dog poop. The boys freaked out. Later, she needed to go potty and there were no accessible potty-chairs. Thankfully we were off the beaten path and she has brothers so she was not afraid to mark some territory in the grass. We got to see and climb around on an old boxcar that the boys would like to live in just like the Boxcar Children stories.

On the way home I remembered that I was out of bread and all of the sudden felt very tired. This time change has my children waking up at the crack of dawn and CRANKY way before bedtime. I know, we'll adjust. We always do. Anyway, we drove through Chick-fil-a for lunch. What a treat!

We're going to get the rest of our school work done and clean the house. We're planning on enjoying the last of this 70 degree weather. Our FAVORITE days are the days that we can play outside! I am so NOT ready for the cold, dark days of winter.

Smiling Kids

The battery in my van was dead yesterday morning when I tried to start it (I needed to go get some fancy, expensive coffee). Devastated and "trapped" I made a pot of coffee and rearranged the living room. Once I did that I had to do the playroom and got rid of a big bag of toys (you wouldn't even know by looking into the play room though!). Anyway, David bought a new battery for the van, I didn't spend $5 on a cup of coffee, my house looks all fresh and wonderful and I snapped some super cute pictures of my kiddos. Enjoy :)

Adelle jumping

Alana posing

Oh my goodness! Did I mention we've been practicing his smile?! Love those eyes.

HUGE smile to show off the missing tooth and two more loose ones!

Everyday for part of our spelling/handwriting, Hudson has to finish the sentence. Todays' was: I can keep from quarreling by ...

First he said, "Isn't quarrel something in the ocean?" Once he understood what "quarrel" meant he wrote, ... overcoming evil with good. A soft answer turns away wrath.

I love that my kids are hiding God's Word in their hearts and know how to apply it. I can't even tell you how rewarding it was for me to see his answer.

Halloween

We went trick-or-treating last year and the boys got scared at a couple of houses. The houses looked fine but the adults came to the door in scary costumes and my 3 & 4 year-old boys were not into scary...and still aren't. So, they didn't want to trick-or-treat this year. We did dress up and went to visit Gigi and a few of her neighbors, then we went to Wendy's to use our free frosty coupons. Now that was a treat!

The fairy princess, a couple of cowboys and a pretty little flower - I just love it!

Close up - I put a little bit of makeup on her and she definitely felt beautiful! She twirled and flitted everywhere she went.

My mighty men were cowboys. At the three houses we went to (my Grandma's neighbors who are all about her age) the boy took off their hats and said, "yippee-ky-a" instead of trick-or-treat, and gave hugs after they got their candy. It was pretty sweet.

My happy little flower chewed on her petals and showed off her pretty smile all night.

Three big kids practicing their smiles.

Enjoying a sucker and Veggie Tales after a fun night. When we left Wendy's we decided to go for a drive. Once we got out about 10 minutes from town (or bathrooms) Alayna said, "My belly hurts." A few seconds later Hudson said, "I don't think my frosty is digesting very well." We all made it home in time to get everyone taken care of. Those drive will have to be reserved for date night. :)

My living room this morning. Alayna and Pierce are under the other blanket.

My sweet girl.

Peace Making

Do everything without arguing and complaining so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God.

Alayna is in a disagreeable stage. She loves to argue, especially with her brothers. This morning all was peaceful around the school table. Hudson and Pierce were having a discussion about Batman and Robin. Alayna joined in with, "Well, I like my pink Batman and Robin." Hudson countered, "Alayna, there are no pink super heroes." Yes there are. No there aren't. Yes there are. No there aren't. Until Hudson said, "Alayna, you don't own the world." She burst into tears, "Mom," she wailed, "Hudson said I don't own the world!"

Arguing, wailing, and me refereeing are all regular occurrences at this house. Sometimes I correct Hudson with this great bit of wisdom, "Hudson, she's two. Just tell her, 'okay' and go on." But most of the time I try to use scripture to correct the kids. They have the scripture at the top of this post memorized. We're still learning to put it into practice. :)

Fully recovered from the realization that she doesn't own the world.

Pierce and Alayna working on their letters.

Beautiful Blue Eyes and her pretty little fish face!

Orange Power

For my dad's birthday this year David got tickets to the OSU Nebraska football game in Stillwater. The kids all dressed in orange-ish outfits for game day and we had to snap a few pictures before daddy left for Stillwater.

Daddy and Ellie ready for the game - this smiley girl has won our hearts!

Pierce and daddy have been working on the camera smile. Isn't he doing well?!

I just love Alayna's face in this one and I love the way Adelle is looking at her.

The whole crew - what a lucky daddy!

Being silly, as usual. They're so fun!

S'more Coffee, Please.

The kids went over to mom and dad's the other night for s'mores and driveway bike riding. Hudson and Pierce asked Papa lots of questions about heroes and villains. How did Mr. Freeze become Mr. Freeze. Why does Joker look like a mean clown? etc. Then Hudson said, "Papa, now you ask us a questions about your favorite super hero. Or you could just say something about one and we could agree with you." He cracks me up. So they got to watch an old black and white episode about Flash Gordon while Alayna colored a princess picture with Mimi. So fun. Love having my parents so close and involved in my family life.

This morning is filled with the kind of humor that requires a second cup of coffee (my kind of morning!). Pierce broke down when I told him, "No, we cannot buy the lego Death Star today." As I left the room to refill my cup, him wailing in the background, I heard Hudson say, "Pierce, the magazine says it's hard to find and it costs $400. It would take a boy like fifty days to earn that much money." Smile to myself as I walk into the kitchen where Alayna has two balloons that she's "whacking" with (her words). Her hair is all wild from the balloons and she announced, "This one is Dora and this one is Diego and they're having a whacking fight." Of course they are. In the meantime, Adelle is jumping like mad in the doorway jumper screaming and squealing. Yes, we know you're there.

On another WAY EXCITING note, I'm trading personal training with one of my favorite people who has agreed to watch the kids for me once a week and maybe come over and do some cleaning if I want her to!!! For real?! That's like gold! So, while she's watching the kids next week, I'm headed to Hobby Lobby to fulfill one of my goals for the next decade of my life. I will be purchasing paints and experimenting with a little art. I may never post any pictures of this venture, but I'm excited to try something new anyway.

Teeth, coming and going

Hudson lost his first tooth Monday night. He was SO excited. David negotiated me pulling it vs. him just waiting for it to fall out by upping the tooth fairy fee. He decided to share the money with Pierce so they could choose a toy together. Pierce didn't lose any teeth, but I love that he's opening his mouth so wide in this picture!

Fall pictures - I need some picture taking tips for these kiddos. They never all look at the camera and smile at the same time. I think I need an assistant or a professional :)

Sweet girls - I love this one.

It is wild to have a child losing teeth and getting teeth at the same time. And I'm 30. Really feeling older these days - like a full-fledged adult. Yeah, it's wild.

We're working on some major fall projects that I've stolen from other blogger mommies. We're having lots of fun. I'll take pictures as we go. We're having fun over here!

Big things are happening

My 30th birthday party at Mom & Dad's

Angela, Me holding Adelle, Amanda holding Lola

Pierce turned 4

Adelle is 5 months with two little chicklet teeth.

We went to a great pumpkin patch with our homeschool group.

We made a Pierce-size scarecrow, that I have yet to make a head for.

Lots of big things are happening, I just have very little time to write about them. As I speak the baby is sleeping and the big kids are eating lunch and I inhaled some leftover sweet potato fries before I tackle this house ... again. I read another blog of a homeschool mom with four kids (a little bit older than mine). She's super artistic and creative. Her kids do all kinds of special projects and experiments. She paints. Right now she's on a coffee cup kick and they're so cute. I want to paint some and hang them all over my kitchen and dining room. But I don't paint. I know we all have different gifts and talents. I'm not usually big on comparing myself to others. But I do always think other people have it all together and must be doing everything way better than me. Yes, I do have four children under the age of 5. And this week after all the lovely hay at the pumpkin patch my allergies have taken a turn for the worst. Being under the weather always leads to lack of motivation.

Anyway, the kids are done eating lunch and are now all pretending to be puppies. The volume in this house just went way up. I think I'll send them out to the yard for a while. :)