Cutie face

I am seriously so in love with this stinkin' cute little guy.

We sure had a rough couple weeks with him being sick though (I think it may have actually been RSV). Anyhow, it was really lucky my mom was in town because this kid has been the neediest of all my kids when he's sick.  (At least that being a clone of his father thing is consistent.  :)  I seriously spent the large majority of a week and a half in his room holding him in the rocking chair for hours at a time so he would sleep.  I swear this kid thinks he's an only child or something.

Good thing that's over though because I really love this age! Here are a few pictures over the last few months to catch up.

This little guy is so in love with his brothers and gets so excited to see them or chase them around. Whenever we walk out in the hallway and he sees the boys all start running down the halls he gets so excited and starts flailing his arms and digging his heels into me while he's sitting on my hip like he's telling me to giddy-up.  He's starting to get some crazy wild curly hair.  I've never had to groom a child's hair so much, but this kid has such tight curl on the sides that he starts getting little poof balls that look Princess Leia buns if I don't try to tame it.  He's currently getting his 5th tooth, and he got the first 4 in a matter of about 2 weeks. He has even managed to chip his front tooth before it has even grown in (I have no idea how).  Awesome. He has such bad stranger anxiety I finally quit the gym since I got 3 minutes of working out every time I tried to take him. He just likes what he likes, and currently that is only 5 people in the world.  (And Grammy was at least finally tolerable by the end of 2 and a half weeks.) We affectionately call him the little prince since he is the only person in the family with their very own room, and his wants, needs and preferences pretty much run the household. I was really serious that this kid thinks he's an only child. 

He's so much fun to have around though.  We're already anxious for the next stage. Whenever Ryan sees busy little babies running around getting into everything he just shakes his head and says, "I don't want a one year-old!" (I keep reminding him at least it's not two one year-olds.) So we're enjoying the cuteness...and immobility, for as long as it lasts.

Halloween Festivities

I am not a Halloweener (he he).  I did not grow up in a Halloweeny home. I can never get my husband to dress up and last year was my first adult year dressing up only because my kids kept asking me what I was going to be for Halloween.

So I am trying to reform.  Trying very hard to be Halloween festive.  Enter the internet.  So many great ideas!  (I know pinterest would be a great resource, I'm only concerned with getting into it for the potential amount of time I could see myself wasting there.)   So we started off with a great idea I saw here - power tool pumpkins.  Genius idea for a house full of boys and no carving involved.

I forgot to take a picture of it lit up. Hers looked better, we should have tried to make the holes bigger since we didn't have a bigger drill bit, but it still looked cool. And was fun.

Then I decided to have some little Halloween parties for my kids.  I did one with the little kids we do preschool with for the twins.  Then the next day I did one with some kids from Cash's class at school.

I chocolate-dipped a bunch of pretzels and tried to make them festive looking.

 

Then I talked about how it was October and because of Halloween I found the weirdest foods at the grocery store.  Like...

Mummies.  And....

  

Monsters.

And yes, even...

Since there was such strange stuff at the store I tried to look elsewhere to see what else I could find to eat.  But since it's rained here so much lately, well, guess what I found a lot of....

Yep, worms.  Lots and lots of slimy, wiggly worms.

Then I had to concoct my Witches Brew.  Pour in some bat juice (I debated calling it spider blood or something but wanted to stay on the side of gross rather than gory), add a few spider eggs (raw sugar crystals), and then I asked Cash what his dad did for work.  "He's a doctor."  Right, and what kind of doctor?  "An eye doctor."  Yep, so I had to have dad bring something home from work so I could complete my potion. Eyeballs.

It may not look like much in the picture, but the effect was great.  

It was so fun watching them laugh and squirm and giggle and get so grossed out!  Phoenix covered his mouth and backed away every time I came near him with a worm, and Ashton never even broke down and tried one. They were made of jello that you pour over a bunch of bendy straws with the necks extended that you then squeeze out one at a time.  It was hilarious. Even when I was squeezing them out of the straws some of them I swear would keep moving and give my mom and I the willies!  I found them here, and she referenced this person who had an unbelievable likeness in the ones she made!  I also got the monster pudding cups from this same blog (I've made lots of stuff from her blog and love it), saw the mummy ideas here, and got the ghost poop idea from a very Halloween-savvy friend.  

I made a bean bag toss and gave away prizes when they played.

We also did a couple crafts - some simple spider pops,

(Although they looked better the second time we made them since I cut the pipe cleaner a little shorter, and I would have liked to find all red suckers so they would look like black widows but no luck.)

And then we did these super cute Halloween lanterns I saw on my cousins blog.  She's the one who led me to find them here and all the other great stuff I have since found on that blog.  

It was so fun and turned out so perfect!  The crafts were fun and really cute, not too hard for kids too.  (I'd already pre-cut all the shapes out of construction paper).  

As for that witches brew, I have to say I love these new submersible lights I got - (interjection - they made for great bath fun too with some baby food containers filled with water and food coloring and then closing one of these lights inside them.)

 

Anyhow, there you have it. I am now officially Halloweeny.  The kids had a blast and it was super fun. 

Who knew the three year-olds would be so much easier to control than the five year-olds?  Man, those kids were wild!  We did invite a set of triplets, however, so maybe we were asking for it.  :)

  

I'd say I could make it a tradition - but I think I already used up all the good ideas I could muster.  And of course I can only do it if my mom decides to keep up her annual October visits...and she will probably change her mind after this.  :)

May your Halloween season be just as spook-tacular!

Random thoughts

Last night as we walked in from the parking garage to our building, we saw our neighbor at the garbage chute - in high heels, a strapless mini-dress...and an apron.  Ryan and I exchanged amused glances and as soon as the door was shut, the exact same thoughts came out:  "Jealous?" I asked at the same time he said, "How come I get the shaft?" There are multiple thoughts on this - first, who on earth cooks dinner in strappy high heels?? Second, I know this woman is married, so it's not like she putting on a show for some suitor. Third, this woman is definitely in her 40s or maybe 50s, so is it possible she has been doing this every night for 20 years?? Fourth, stop giving my husband crazy notions that this kind of behavior is normal.


Next disconnected thought. The other night as I printed off the 33 pages of homework for the week (yay for going green!!!) I realized I was glad I wasn't the parents of the triplets in Cash's class.  100 pages of Kindergarten homework to print every week?  It's ridiculous enough for one child.  (Mind you, this isn't including the mathbook, the 30 minutes of reading a night, or the educational websites they're supposed to work on every day....)

My mom just came in town. I gave her the true Miami experience today as we went to a dollar store in Hialeah. You know we're on the wrong side of town when at the light before we turned into the parking lot, some guy rolls down his window to ask if we were lost.  That corner alone boasted 2 dollar stores, 2 flea markets and a Salvation Army. Charming little neighborhood.

I think I was discussing my feelings on all the red tape you have to go through to get your kid from school here with Ryan and then realized, "Well, I guess I shouldn't expect any less since even the deodorant in Miami is under lock and key."  I kid you not. I have to hunt down employees at CVS just to buy my husband some dang deodorant around here.

The end.

The good old days

The other day we were at Costco. I had the twins in the cart and the baby in the front pack (not even the whole herd like usual), when a little old lady passed by with a twinkle in her eye and said, "Those were the good old days." It took me a minute to register my emotion, and then I realized - relief!  I understand if you live somewhere else, comments like that may be common.  But here, I usually have to brace myself and fasten on my social graces when I see someone about to open their mouth to me.  There's the ever common "You have your hands full," but here is said without a hint of admiration; rather, it's said with the same reaction my children have to dogs - the person scooting to the other corner of the elevator before one of my children breathes, sneezes, coughs, pees, or gets their grimy fingers on them.  (Of course, you have to remember that Miami is the place for singles who want to hone their bodies to bronze perfection during the day and flaunt them at the clubs at night. Children are a serious threat to their lifestyle.) "You're done, aren't you?" is another frequently used one, often followed by, "You should be."  (My dentist here emphatically used this multiple times...before I had my last child.)  "Are they all yours?" of course, but a version of this I infer from the looks of the Miami crowd when we're anywhere near the ghetto and they see Ryan and I together is, "They all from the same daddy?????"


Anyhow, I reflected on this woman's comment on the way home and wondered if at some future time I would say that to someone else.  When my eyes got teary thinking about it, I decided the answer must be yes.  Even now as I sit here, baby napping, twins happily (and humorously) playing Mr. Potato head, and I sit munching on cookie dough as I steal away for a few minutes on the computer...what could be better?

I love, loved this talk this past weekend in general conference by Elder Andersen.(General conference is a bi-anual event where we listen to the leaders of the church and it's broadcast throughout the world.) He said very simply, "We believe in families. And we believe in children." He talked about how where the standards of the world and the standards of the church used to be compatible, they now are often widely separated. Having kids was one of these since many people now marginalize the importance of having children or suggest delaying or limiting children in a family. It was just a nice reminder that it takes faith to have kids in the world today, and especially not to be afraid to rank children as more important than all the luxuries, money and perfect body we could have if we focused on those instead. I'll admit, it definitely takes faith to live on one salary in Miami - it's an extremely unpopular and uncommon scenario here. It takes doing without a lot of things that would be nice to have, but I have to remind myself it's a worthy trade for my kids to have each other and for me to be here with them.

The thing I really don't get here is all these rich people have one or maybe two kids who get a mercedes when they turn 16, get their ivy league college degree paid for and a house as a gift when they graduate.  But then it seems that all the underprivileged people here are the only ones I see with big families. Doesn't make sense. Shouldn't all these educated and wealthy people be the ones trying to re-populate the world? Is the world going to get progressively dumber?

Anyhow, there are the few people though that look at us warmly and I get the sense they have their faith in marriage and family restored. The rest of them may look at us with disdain... but their children think we're awesome.

Order

Yes, most of you guessed it: Phoenix, Cash, Diesel, Ashton.

Name those babies

Alright, I'm pretty sure you can figure out who is who (except maybe the twins, but that's always the case).  Kind of fun having all boys who wear the same clothes (and smile with their mouths wide open) so you can really compare similarities.

What I walked in on this time

Good thing we don't just limit ourselves to honey around here.

Twinners

We had a LOT of this from Ashton over the last little while:

It was kind of a rough summer with him.  I knew it wasn't even just me when one time my sister got back from watching the kids for a while, and as we were about to leave again Ashton said, "I'm going in Julie's car!" at which point she blurted out, "LIKE HECK YOU ARE!!!" which made us all burst out laughing knowing that she had experienced the fullness of Ashton's tantrum-throwing.  Luckily since we've been back we've been working on it's a LOT better. They seem to take turns though being totally uncontrollable for some period of time because my family was all surprised thinking Phoenix was the difficult one when he was quite angelic all summer. Thank heavens there seems to be some sort of switch that at least alternates rather than having them both like that at the same time or I'd really lose my mind.


(Can I say how much I love these shirts my friend made? We have a few styles and I love them all.)

Anyhow, my chubby little twins are growing up and losing their baby look.  They're totally little boys now who run around the house yelling things like "BOO-YAH!" and "modified!" (some sort of souped up car terminology I'm assuming). I know growing up and losing babyhood is usually kind of sad or bittersweet. I'd say in the case of the twins it's actually swaying in favor of sweet rather than bitter.  :)  People told me the first 6 months of having twins was hard.  A few said the first year was hard.  I got to one year and was constantly running two different directions after self-endangering toddlers and wondered how they only thought the first year was hard.  Then I got to two years with tantrums and stubornness and defiance and no one listening to me and still running different directions and wondered how anyone survived the twos.  But hey, guess what?  After three years it's finally easier!  The independence is sooooo welcome. It's like we've finally tipped the scale to where they are now more fun than work.

In fact, I'm sure all the independence is quite responsible for the really pleasant time we're having right now.  I should knock on wood, but I'm feeling pretty good about 4 kids at this point and I'm loving their ages.  There are a lot of factors that play into it - last year we were gone 4 hours every morning while Cash was in school since we would just wait up there for him rather than have to drive an extra hour back and forth. I also used to go to the gym and take naps every day.  Well, guess what I found out?  When you're not out of the house four hours every morning, don't go to the gym, and don't take naps, and you have a baby that actually does finally take naps on his own...well, you actually get a lot done. I'm even sort of being the kind of mom I want to be. I realized this is why other moms don't usually feel as crazy as I did - they actually have time to do things and get housework done and aren't trying to squeeze it all in after 3 in the afternoon.  And even though I abruptly killed my naps when we took the twins' away at the end of the summer (so they would zonk out at night and not keep Cash up now that they're in the same room), I haven't become the total beast I thought I might.

Anyhow, it just seems every month the twins get more independent - and it makes such a huge difference not having to climb in the back of the car, the middle seat, and the other side of the car just to get everyone's seat belts on, or to have to chase everyone down and get each of them dressed multiple times a day, or help them with the bathroom every time, or to have to pick them up all day or carry them around.  I mean, I really had to ponder how bad I wanted to go anywhere before I went because of how much effort it was to get in and out of the car.  But now I have such appreciation for just dropping in an infant seat and going.

Someone even said the most miraculous thing to me yesterday, to which I said, "What?" just to hear those words come out of her mouth again.  She said, "Your kids are all so good in church." Then she said they'd sat by us two weeks in a row and felt more crazy with two kids than we were with four.  I was speechless for a minute, then realized they really had been good the last couple weeks. Granted, they're not sitting with folded arms listening to the speaker, and usually someone is playing on the iPhone by the end of the meeting, but it's  a far cry from rolling down the aisles and running up on the stand like we've had the past few years.

These two are really at the cutest age and play so well together. I think when any two of my kids are together rather than any three they play better, but really, with Cash at school, these two play all day long together and are so stinking cute. I love hearing their funny conversations about rock and roll or superheros, love hearing their creative play with different games and rules they make up, and love how well they get along for the most part.  It really almost makes me sad Diesel doesn't have a twin.  Almost.

And for some reason, when we are twins we must do this all the time:

(Seriously this happens every time I tell them I'm going to take their picture.)

Or even this:

I guess all that independence has it's downside - they always dress themselves and I can never get them to dress alike anymore!  I know I need to let them be their own person, but it's just so stinking cute and makes everyone in the world who sees them smile.  So I've taken to bribery and about once a week and I pay them to dress alike. :)  So far it still works. And on my day there will be no ugly character shirts, you better believe that. In fact I've taken to hiding those for most of the week or using the "it's dirty" excuse.

Anyhow, I smile so often during the day watching these two. I'm sure this is the time people were telling me about all along, that this time would come - and they were right. It's fantastic.

Kindergarten

Alright. We're officially three weeks into school here.  Cash got in to the charter school at the Miami Children's Museum.  Big hooray, since I'd been hoping for years he would get in there and it was all up to a lottery.  We knew people who didn't get in.  We were lucky. And it is close. Very close. No more driving 25 minutes to school.  It's unique. I'm pretty sure my kids will never get to go to school in a children's museum again, so that was a big plus. And it has more than 0 white kids, unlike our local "F" rated school that we're zoned for.

BUT.

Wow, what happened to the good ol' school days like we used to have? Cash had 20-something pages of homework this week in addition to the 30 minute reading log he has to fill out every day.  Now, I'm all for reading, don't get me wrong.  But I just have such little down time with my kids - by the time we get back from school, get the baby fed and down for a nap, do his reading and homework... it's time to make dinner, then baths and bed.  I mean, really?  Is it not fathomable that perhaps I would like to do something with my 5 year-old other than sitting at a table being his task-master while he traces the letter C fifty times?  Perhaps you don't realize my child has more important things to be doing at this age, like running around outside or playing pretend or jumping on the couch with his brothers. I mean, I really can't imagine that 6.5 hours of school a day (kindergarten is full-day here) isn't enough to learn whatever the requirements are by the time he finishes kindergarten. I had half day kindergarten and no homework. And I remember a big play-house in our kindergarten room. My husband didn't even know his alphabet when he started kindergarten and he's a doctor.  Unless kids these days are going to be building rocket ships by the time they graduate high school I just don't see why it's necessary.

I will say some of it is just the flavor of parents down here. Maybe the Latin influence. These parents are kind of intense. (The teacher seems a little intense too. I asked Cash one day if his teacher smiles and he had to think about it. ".....No.....well, maybe sometimes.") Anyhow, I overhear the parents here bombarding the teacher with the pettiest little things. Even if they are stay-at-home parents, their kids have been in "school" since they were two.  Last year the Pre-K teacher said we had no idea how many parents ask for homework (yeah, point 'em out to me and I'll take care of that)....  Anyhow it's silly to me.  If my kid fails kindergarten because he didn't do his homework you can totally blame his mother.  The other night when it was time for bed and we hadn't done his reading because we'd been out I just said forget it. I am not keeping you up for homework when you are five years old.

Actually, the teacher's introduction to the homework on the back-to-school night was as amusing as anything. She starts off giving this big speech about "Here at the Children's Museum we are going green." She even uses the word "paperless" and then proceeds to tell us how we will be uploading the homework at home. I start thinking, "Wow, uploading?  Really? Like scanning it in or what?"  Then I listen further and realize, oh, no, she means downloading. She says, "Every week you will have to go on our website and print the homework off at home for your child to do and then bring it to school to turn in the following Monday."  At this point I almost laugh out loud - then I look around at all the other intently-listening parents and I'm like, wait...are you buying this???  I so wanted to raise my hand and say, "Right, but that's not really going green, now is it - since we're still using paper??  That's just a covert way of saying we're not going to be using your paper - we're going to be using my paper at my printing expense." I seriously wanted to laugh so hard that they were trying to pass it off in the name of "going green!!!" and that everyone else was just nodding their heads feeling so proud that they were going to be teaching their children the importance of being conservation-minded. And they're telling me this just after I had to bring in three reams of copy paper for the school supply list. (Which brings me to another whatever-happened-to-the-way-things-used-to-be? When did parents have to start supplying everything from lysol and kleenexes to reams and reams of copy paper for the school?  I guess it's just because there's not enough money in education?  I certainly never did that when I was in school. Caught us off-guard as first time school parents. I would so rather pay a supply fee and have them get exactly what it is they want than have hundreds of parents all running around fighting each other in the store for the last "yellow folder with claps" and "blue plastic folder with pockets" or having to buy "kindergarten paper - found in educational stores." Why do I have to hunt down an educational store to go buy one item?)

Anyhow, back to the good things, Cash is a stellar student.  Shy, but stellar.  He says he's "too scared" to play with anyone at recess, but he's gotten on the good list of the few students that have gotten to go out to the museum to play every week.  And he never gets moved down on the behavior chart.  He seems to enjoy it, which is great.  We get to hang out at the museum after we pick him up which is at least a nice way for him to blow off some steam after school.  So 2 or 3 times a week we stay after school and the kids have a great time playing around.

Our museum visits are also increased because of the pick up situation.  This also boggles my mind a little.  I seem to remember the school bell ringing and everyone just running hog-wild to get out of the building.  Now I have to potentially sign in two different places to be able to get my child from school at the end of the day.  Because it's a museum and not originally designed as a school, there's not a great drive through area.  The parking lot isn't even paved, it's dirt. And if it's a rainy day, you have to go all the way inside to pick up your child.  Right, so instead of one kid getting wet, I have to get all four wet... and 4-wheel through the muddy/grassy/weedy parking lot with a stroller. And it's not like I just walk in the door. I have to enter the museum and sign in that I'm going to the school. Then go all the way to the back of the museum into the school area, wait for the tiniest little elevator with every other parent trying to pick up their K-5th grade students, go up to the second floor, and then maneuver my stroller through the tiny and overcrowded upstairs where the classrooms are, where I will again sign out my child and possibly even show ID.  Talk about inconvenient.  So my question is - is it just like this everywhere now?  Is that how the world is?  Or is this place as weird as I think it is?  Miami is not really known for efficiency or running things in a manner most would deem sensible, but maybe the whole world is getting frisked and finger-printed to get their children from school and I was just oblivious.

Anyhow, overall successful.  Not the most convenient - especially since in Miami at 3pm during hurricane season it is apparently raining more often than not. But having to get everyone out of the car go in and pick him up all the time means we're already in there so they might as well run around and play.  And keep the mess out of my house.

More happy summer

I loved some of the every-day shots my mom took of the summer. It seems like when I had my camera out it was to try and get one great shot of the kids, but when I saw hers I was so happy that she had just captured what our summer was really like every day.

Although my picture-taking efforts did turn out some cute ones of everybody as well.

My cousins wedding reception made for a cute backdrop to try to get some pictures of the baby with everyone. And while he didn't always perform, there were still some cute shots!

Although the most winning photo of the whole summer had to go to Grammy:

I couldn't believe it.  I take hundreds of shots with my boys trying to get a decent one with everyone looking at the camera, no one picking their nose, no one holding toys up for the camera, pulling faces or throwing a tantrum... and it NEVER happens. My Christmas cards usually involve body parts and faces from about 17 different pictures being photoshopped together. So when I said, hey, sit here with the boys, and we got a perfect shot on the first try - and a picture I adore - it was nothing short of monumental.  Now that picture really sums up their summer. Just a natural, casual picture out in the front yard on a beautiful day with their Grammy.

It was the best.

(She deserves a good picture with them.  She put up with A LOT this summer.  And is still recovering.  :)