The Last Post of 2010

This will be the last post from year 2010. It has been a wild year, and I can only imagine them getting wilder. As the kids get older, I feel older, but somehow Adam doesn't seem to be aging much. How that's possible, I'm not sure. Anyways, here are a few pictures from the beginning of the year and the end of the year just to put things in perspective on how far we have come.

OLIVIA

(This is her favorite color.)

Liv sitting in her converted Crib reading Monsters Inc when her bedroom was upstairs.
Feb. 2010

Moved her downstairs and into a toddler bed into what used to be the Poker Room downstairs.
Sept. 2010

Liv excited about her new full sized bed in her room downstairs.
Oct. 2010

"The Babies"

(Not really sure how much longer I can continue to call them that. "The Toddlers" just doesn't sound the same though.)

Army Crawling towards the living room.
Jan. 2010

Getting ready to go for a stroll around the neighborhood.
June 2010

Sitting on their pillows having snacks.
December 2010

 The Kids

Christmas Pictures
December 2009

Christmas Pictures

December 2010

They are growing faster then ever and the days are going faster then ever. That is why I keep this Blog.

Christmas with Cole

Olivia got to open her present from Nicole a few days before her brother and sisters did. They were napping, and Liv got to have a little special time with her Cole.

Liv getting pretty excited.

Nicole helping her get the tape off.

Cool, what is it?



Liv helping Hannah open her present.

Here come the rest of the presents.

Some new puzzles

Hayden with her new robe. I'm not sure what the look is for. Happy, mad, your guess is as good as mine.

Nicole was so sweet. She got them all new hoodie towel/robes with their names on them. I love them. They are cute, practical and they keep the kids warm. They are great after bath time and I can't wait to try them out after the splash pads this summer! Ahh...summer...it sounds so nice doesn't it?

So this was also a pretty sad day for me. It was Nicole's last day with us, as she is moving to Texas to do her student teaching. She had been with us for over 18 months. Through think and thin. From one crazy stage to the next. I don't know what I would have done without her. I had been trying to mentally prepare myself for her departure for the last month thinking, "This is okay, it's time, I can do this." And then on her last day I found myself driving to the post office to mail something bawling my eyes out thinking, "How I am going to do this without her?!" Well, so far I am managing, but there isn't a week that goes by that I don't wish she was here. Cole if you read this, I MISS YOU!

You can also check out Nicole's new blog on her experiences as a student teacher.

Christmas Day

The night before Christmas Santa's little helper, aka. mom and dad, were very busy. We put together any toys that needed to be and had everything ready for easy open. We opened presents when Liv got up, she is always the first up, so she got to wake up her brother and sisters which she loved. We don't get to crazy on presents for Christmas, but they don't seem to mind either. We are going to try to stick to that plan for as long as we can! Here are a bunch of pictures from the day starting with Christmas at home and ending at Christmas and Nana's and Papa's.

Daddy and Liv checking out the new pirate ship. In the summer we will put it outside and then you can fill it with water and all that fun stuff.

Liv playing with her new Packer Cheerleader Barbie. Funny thing about this present is that the Pack doesn't have their own cheerleaders.

Hannah pushing around Chuck the Talking Dump Truck

 

Hannah and Hayden checking out something on the floor while Hayden is wearing her new purse.

 

Big boy putting together the new shapes puzzle. I was really impressed he had it figured out right away.

Big boy lovin' on Chuck.

Hannah's helping Livie open her Christmas stocking. A couple of books, a princess wand, and a few other little things. Next to them is the Fisher Price Airport.

Hayden loving the new egg shaker she got in her stocking.

Daddy got Jonathan a little UPS Truck from the VIPAR meetings he went to in Florida earlier this fall.

Hannah shaking it up with her little egg shaker.

Grandma comes and everyone is excited to see her!

Here is Jonathan and daddy downstairs at Nana's and Papa's getting ready for presents.

Jonathan is not to sure about Hannah, Mabry and Olivia's ring-around-the rosies.



Jonathan playing with his cousin Ian's new trucks.

Nana found Jonathan this cute truck with his name on it that you can put your cars in it and hang it on the wall

Papa giving Hayden a little ride on the chair.

It was a great day. We all had fun and no one disappeared or drank any wine!

Liv's First Christmas Program

Olivia's first Christmas program was great. I thought she did a great job considering she was just getting over a bad cold. My favorite parts would be when she would wave and say, "Hi Mom!" in between songs. Something else I noticed during her program was her nail biting! Does anyone have any ideas on how to get her to stop biting her nails? She does it all the time. I don't even think she realizes that she is doing it half the time either. I tried to tell her about germs, and I painted her nails with sparkly clear paint, but maybe I need to paint them pink or something so she can notice them better. I try to keep them clipped, but there is really no need because she has got them bit down to the skin. So if anyone has any good ideas let me know. Okay now back to the Christmas program. They sang a lot of songs and everyone got to do to something special during at least one of the songs.



Liv is in the front row next to the cute little girl in red and white Christmas dress.



Here they all are after the program waiting for Santa to call out their name so they can get their Christmas present. They had each parent bring something wrapped and between the 5 to 10 dollar range earlier that week. Liv had and has no idea. 



Here she is opening her present from "Santa"

Still working on that corner. Maybe she needs to watch her cousin Mabs. It looks like she knows the fastest way to rip it open!

Ta-dah! It's bathtub Belle. Before I wrapped it I took it out of the box and undid all the twistys so she could just pull it out and start playing with it. This is something that I will continue to do for as long as there toys tied and screwed to boxes. It is a big headache and meltdown saver.

Liv had a great time, but she was definitely tired by the time we left. Colds are no fun!

Christmas Part 1

This year we celebrated Christmas with my dad and sisters the weekend before Christmas. Here are a few pictures from the weekend. For some reason my sister Crystal couldn't come down on Saturday, but she was, however, able to send her two kids with my dad! Jaxen is four and Ella is two. So for one night Adam and I had: 1 four year old, 1 three year old, 1 two year old, and 3 one year olds! Yikes!!! All in all though it went very well and the kids had a great time. 

Here the kids are at supper time. Pizza and apples! Jaxen gave it a thumbs up.

Here Ella is dumping out all the toys she can find.

Aunt Crystal even sent a box of their old toys with the kids. So we know own a very cute Mickey Mouse race track that doesn't stay together for more then five minutes. Thanks Aunt Cystallll!



Now Ella Ray is getting some help from Hayden and Jonathan.



Hey, everyone, look over here!
L to R: Jonathan, Ella, Hayden, Jaxen, Olivia and Hannah

Okay, now lets all sit on the ledge and look over here.

Opening Christmas presents at Theresa's house. Jonathan is more interested in the electronics.
L to R: Kait, Rachel, Maddy, Jonathan and Ella

Liv got a really cute barbie doll and Ella was very, VERY jealous.

In this picture is Uncle Jack, Jaxen and on the floor is Matt.
If you look on the table you can see a glass of wine. More on that in a minute.

Sometime after this picture was taken two things happened. The first: Jonathan disappeared and my sister, Crystal, found him upstairs, OUTSIDE, in the snow with just his socks and normal clothes on, looking OVER the retaining wall!!! He was fine and was acting like it was no big deal, I was freaking out about all the "what ifs" that could have happen! Can you even IMAGINE?! Right before that had happened I had started doing a head count of my children, "Okay, there is one and two (Olivia and Hannah), now where is three and four (Hayden and Jonathan)?" We were all downstairs, so I looked in the toy room, in the spare bedroom, behind the bar, in the dear head room, and the finally the lower garage. Three and four were nowhere in site! I was starting to panic and head up the stairs when here comes Crystal carrying Jonathan down the stairs. His cheeks are red and his hands and feet are cold and wet, but he is happy. So wait, now you asking, "What about Hayden?" Well , when Crys came up the stairs to go out to her car she found Hayden standing in front of the door trying to shut it. So now I am convinced that these two little buggers went up the stairs together to snoop around and somehow Hayden talked Jonathan into going outside and so she could lock him out! I'm just glad that my sister decided to go out to her car when she did, because I hate to think of the "what ifs"!

Okay so that was the first thing that happened and now here is the second: Hayden climbs up on the chair next to the table and tries to drink a glass a wine that was left there. I actually saw the whole thing from across the room and when I saw her reach for the glass I started yelling, which is why she probably ended up spilling it all down the front of her instead of drinking it. Nice.
After that I was done and it was time to go home. I am so thankful that things didn't end up any worse, and I am also thankful that we only have "one, two, three and four."

Potty Meyhem

Oh drama! Well, not long after Hannah used the potty chair Hayden decided she needed to use it too. Both have actually only peed in it once, but here is were the drama lies... The potty I have has a lid, you can use the seat on your normal potty, and it plays music if you pee in it. While all of these things were great with Liv I am finding them to be a nuisance with the others. If I take more then one back at a time they try to push each other off, or will try to close the lid while someone is still on it. Then they are also trying to take off the seat to dump the pee (the pee is imaginary because no one is actually going in it) which is annoying as well. But all of these things can be handled. What is really driving me insane is when I put on their clothes and not two minutes later Hayden is undressed from the waste down. And as soon as Hannah sees this she starts pulling her clothes too. I CAN NOT keep a diaper on either one of these girls! But it doesn't stop there. Ohhh no! The new favorite thing is to take off your diaper while you are suppose to be napping and then peeing, and if I'm really lucky, pooping on your bed. Let me tell you, it is no fun cleaning up poopy cribs everyday!



Hayden giving the potty a try!

Hayden.

Hannah.



I hope this stage passes fast! I don't know how long I can take it! But there is some good news! Jonathan doesn't seem to be playing along with their new scheme to drive mom completely bonkers! Oh Big Boy, how I love you!

Somersaults

Olivia has been attending Somersaults on and off now since she turned 18 months. At times, as a parent, it has been trying...patience and all. Until they turn 3 they have to be accompanied by an adult. Now that Liv can go into the room by herself it has been much better. At least for me that is! I don't know how those teachers do it but they seem to do a pretty good job at keeping the kids in check. This was at the end of the semester so they had a special parents day where you can come in and take pictures. Olivia has come a long way, but I think we are going to take the spring semester off and maybe come back in the summer. If she wants too that is.

Somersaults down the ramp into the blocks. They were pretending it was a snowman.

Olivia is working on her cartwheel and the teacher is working on not getting kicked in the head.

I caught the perfect somersault through the hanging hula hoop on camera. Look at that form!

Carrying the stuffed animals up the balance beam to shoot them in the basket.

Mom, I made it into the basket!

Going skiing.

Jumping on the mini tramp. Below is some video of  her on the trampoline. They could jump however they wanted to, but they had to sing Christmas songs while doing it. She sang Jingle Bells.



If you climb up the rope in the back you get go down the slide.



How high can you get your legs up?

Olivia hates having to spin around the bars so the teachers try to improvise with her.

Swinging from a bar to kick blocks she had stacked.

Look mom a bridge.

Somersaults.