Kids Being Kids

Here are just some pictures from the month of the kids just being kids. I thought they were pretty cute. But of course I would think that, I'm the mom!



Hannah's ready to get out of the house. Too bad we weren't going anywhere.

Hayden ~ It's OK, I'm a doctor and I practice better in my jammies with a princess bucket on my head.

Let me see the picture the mom!

I love this window ledge. No doubt it is taking a beating, and we will have to have it refinished if we ever decide to put the house on the market, but the kids just love to play on it. It's just the right height!



Aunt Aubrey came over one night and all the sudden Liv comes around the corner wearing her boots. She had no problems walking in them either! 

 

Hayden wearing underpants over her diaper, sitting on a pan, reading a book about Santa. We read celebrate Christmas all year round here. Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas is still a favorite cartoon we have to watch.

Hannah, Jonathan and the rest of her sisters love to wear this hat. Too Cute!

Olivia, mid-air!

Liv having a little quite play time after her siblings have gone down for the night. It's hard to see but her mermaid is hugging the white bear. What a sweetie!

When Nana Takes the Kids

At the end of December Nana started to take two kids every few weeks to come on adventures with her. Sometimes they just go to her house and play. Sometimes they go to store and run errands with her. Sometimes they go hangout at the mall. No matter what they do they always have fun and come home ready for nigh-night. Do I even have to tell you how much I love this!!!

I can't tell you how quiet it is in this house when you take away not one, but two kids! This is as close as I get to being alone in my own house. This "quiet" time is so special for me because not only does it cut down the noise and fighting, but it also lets me spend more quality time with whoever is home. Dividing your attention between two kids is so much easier then having to divide it between four.

This is the first time Olivia got to pick someone to go with her to Nana's. She picked Hannah, and they were both so excited!

Saying goodbye to Big Boy.

This time Jonathan got to go with Liv and so it was just me and my two little girls.
Hayden is on the left an Hannah on the right.

Hayden saying "Cheese!"
 It looks like we had noodles, chicken, and peppers for lunch. The girls LOVE red, yellow, and orange peppers. Jonathan and Olivia won't even touch them.

Hannah chowin' down on the peppers!

Thanks Nana for the extra special "quiet" time! I hope you are enjoying it as much as I am!

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!