Winter Days

With the exception of this past week the past two months have been relatively warm...which this mama loves. Just being about to get outside for a little bit is a life saver with three kiddos. Anyhow, over the past two weeks we have had some crazy weather...so every once in a while I get my act together and we do something new.

Ryan loves to watch Curious George and then he always wants to do whatever George did in the show. Sometimes its simple...and other times its not so much...

Like making puppets. great idea. lets do it!

Of course Ryan wanted to make Rescue bot puppets. I helped make Blades and Yiayia made an awesome HeaWave. For Grayson...we made a dinosaur...with a top hat.

They were so happy with these puppets and of course we had to do a puppet show. 

I stole this idea from Ryan's school...these kids love candy. I mean, what kid doesn't? Anyways, since it was coming up on Valentine's day we had some conversation hearts around the house. Instead of just giving them to them we made a chart. They sorted the colors and then made a bar graph. It was great because they actually didn't eat the candy until they were done. Well...Ryan didn't. I'd say a good 30 minutes were spent with this! Wohoo!

And Legos might be my favorite thing ever. We play with legos a lot and the boys never get tired of them. Ryan has recently started playing with the big kid legos...which is fun but also incredibly annoying since the pieces are so small and of course everywhere.

So proud of their creations 

Building a dinosaur, pirate ship and rocket!

We even busted out with some science experiments...which were a HUGE hit. Ryan loves science time at school so I knew he'd be excited about doing something at home. Every Friday after school he tells me about their experiment and then asks if we can do it at home...it hasn't happened, until now. 

POP FIZZ

Baking soda & colored vinegar = lots of fun!

And good ol' Elephant toothpaste. Ours wasn't as thick but it was probably due to the yeast...it was old. The boys didn't care...they loved it! This one didn't take as much time but they got just as much excitement out of it. 

And the boys love reading baby Hayden's books...in her room.

Lot's of indoor time recently...ready ready for our family trip to Mexico for Spring Break!

Baby Giggles are the BEST

6 months - Baby Hayden

Happy half-birthday little lady!

I really thought you were teething this past month but after our little visit to the pediatrician I think you were dealing with allergies and your FIRST ear infection!  You never grabbed at your ear and since neither of the boys ever had an ear infection it wasn't at the top of my radar. Dr. N said it was only a little one but I felt horrible for not bringing you in sooner. Anyhow, we got some antibiotics and that was that. Well kinda. You hate them. I even got grape flavor added...apparently you are not a fan. I need some more antibiotic experienced mommies to spill the beans on the best flavors :)

Aside from your ear infection, drooling like crazy, drippy nose and chewing on everything we had a pretty great month. You are still such a little sweetheart who loves to smile. You have started to push up on your arms ...I am sure you will be popping up on your knees pretty soon too. Hello crawling...

We started eating solids...after about a week you figured out what to do with that silly tongue of yours. I started you on veggies, but as soon as I introduced fruits...you weren't as thrilled with those veggies anymore...so now we mix them. 

We are working on naps in your crib but they don't last long. Some days I desperately just want to let you nap in your swing (because you will nap looooong) but I know it's just a quick fix so I have been making myself put you in your crib. We are typically getting a 30 minute nap in the morning and about the same in the afternoon. The good news is that you don't turn into a bear with such little sleep...so I guess it's ok. If one of my kiddos isn't going to be a good napper I think it works out best that it is you...

Let's talk about nights. I nurse you for the last time around 5pm, you eat baby food around 6pm and then I give you a bottle around 7pm. Swaddled (still) and in bed by 7:30.  Generally you sleep until 4am...and then you wake up. Like clockwork. So I go in and feed you then you go back down until 7:30. I know you are getting to the point where you can sleep 12 hours without eating...so this won't last for much longer :) Although I only nurse you at 4am there were quite a few nights over the past month that you woke up crying starting as early at 11pm. Yikes! One of us would go in there, and quickly get you back to sleep.

In other news, you look identical to your brother. It's kinda crazy. I mean, take a look at Ryan at 6 months...

Cuteness. Love you bunches!

Green Beans

And she's not a fan....

Happy Valentine's Day

 My three little Valentine's!

I wish I could have said what an amazing day we had but truth be told I came down with the flu and was in bed all day. boo! My parents were incredibly helpful and entertained these kiddos all day (and the next two). So grateful for them!

Super Bowl Sunday

This past Sunday we celebrated Kevin's dads birthday with brunch at Lakewood Country Club. Always so much fun with the whole family - the boys just love having their cousins around! I love how much they love our little kiddos...and how much our kiddos love them. Of course Hayden is a big hit...but Lyla has a special thing for Grayson. And Ethan and Ryan are best buddies. It's pretty darn cute. 

Hanging with his fav

lots of sugar...

After brunch we headed home for naps.

 Then over to the Haydels for the Super Bowl!

Hanging with Liam

Celebrating baby Jack's 3rd birthday!

Hayden loved hanging out with Susanne all night

And Andy gave her a bottle. So cute :)

We had so much fun over at the Haydel's house! Thanks for having us!

February Goals

Hello February!

Isn't she a doll? I can't get enough of her :)

Before I jump into February goals I wanna do a review of January...

January

Organize Kitchen --it happened! For the most part. I didn't take before pics but here are some after:

This set of cabinets has had a bit of an identity crisis. It previously housed plates, bottles, random party platters and even had some arts/crafts. It was a modpodge of stuff and the contents of the cabinet changed depending on who emptied the dishwasher. So...I needed to get this fixed. And I did. Whew.

I love using the pan organizer for my baking dishes. It's so much easier to grab them now and I don't have to unstack all of them to get a size that I need. 

One of my least favorite things about the baby stage is all the baby supplies in the kitchen...bottles & pumping gear. So much clutter! I am not a fan of seeing all the little parts all over the kitchen or on a drying rack so I immediately cleared a drawer out so I could hide everything.  I love it. I basically dump everything in here and shut the drawer. 

I have always kept the kids cups/bowls/plates in a drawer but they were all basically thrown in one. It made it a pain in the butt every time I opened it to find what I needed so these clear bins have made me oh so happy. 

I also did some work on the pantry...it's probably the 5th or so time I have tackled it, but I think this one will stick. I still need to work on a better organization for my pots/pans/lids as well as our cup area so hope to get that done soon. 

Passports 

Three trips down to the passport office and we have successfully submitted everything for these kiddos to get passports! I have all three back...

Yup - let's take another look at that last one....

Church

We are happily getting back into our Sunday morning routine. Hayden attended church with us one Sunday while the boys went to Sunday school. The next weekend Kevin and I taught Ryan's class and had a great time with all of the kiddos. We also saw a bunch of friends that we never realized also attended the same church - I guess that's one of the downfalls of a big church. Anyhow, baby steps on getting more involved. 

Beachbody -- I completed the 21 day Fix program and am very happy with my results. I lost a total of 6lbs and 8 inches. All of my clothes fit again and I feel comfortable in them - yay! I plan to continue using the work out videos and the eating guidelines because I feel so much healthier. I'll probably do a post dedicated to this program with more details soon!

So happy with my January goals and success so I am going to continue...here is what's in store for February!

February is short and sweet...so are my goals :) 

1. Behavior & Chore Charts
Wow - I feel like both of my boys are testing me lately. There is so much hitting/fighting/crying going on that I feel like it's a big joke...on me. Ryan is the sweetest little boy but for some reason he thinks its ok to hit/bite/push Grayson. And lately Grayson has been getting in trouble at school. Almost every day he is sent to time out. Sometimes its for hitting, or throwing toys, 'misbehaving', not listening...and today, for standing on his chair during lunch. Oye, this kid is testing everyone. Anyhow, I am going to attempt Behavior Charts and see how they work. Good Luck to me!

Rewards - we have gone back and forth on this. Why should we reward for chores/behavior? Isn't that just part of being in the family? However, on the other hand it is also an opportunity to teach the kids about managing money. In the end we have decided to reward with money. If they want a new toy - they will buy it. We are done buying toys, unless it is for a holiday/birthday.

I created these charts for the boys based on these charts I found on Pinterest.

2. Organize and Backup all digital pictures
I bought a back up hard drive over a year ago and have yet to back anything up. I know I would be devastated if something happened to my computer so I need to buckle down and get this done. That and I have basically run out of space on my computer so it would help to get some files off of here!

3. Order (and create) Grayson's Two Year Book
Yeah...five months late. Good thing he doesn't know...

4. Organize - Username/Password masterlist.
This is another thing that has been on my radar for a while and I just need to do.