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.