Four Months

He started laughing a couple weeks ago but his laugh is almost silent until the squeal at the end, its cute. He's rolling over from his tummy to his back and he's discovered his feet. He's quickly getting tired of his swing and likes spending time in his saucer with a blanket to prop him up. He is also our only finger sucker!

23 Months

In a month this kid will be 2!

Sometimes he comes across as chilled out.

Or a bit of a tough guy.


Maybe he even thinks he's cooler than his goofball brothers.








Eventually you realize...

He's leading the goofball parade.

Dancing to the beat of a different drummer.

Making his brothers laugh.

Imitating and sometimes even antagonizing them.

This kid is all personality.

Ouchie

Kane is not what you would call, graceful. I'm not sure if he's uncordinated or if its just his propensity to throw caution to the wind but I know he hurts himself, a lot. For example last night he was playing with Seth, running around the livingroom when he decided to throw himself with all his might onto our poang chair, footstool.

There's not a lot of cushion to begin with and then there are the wood sides. Needless to say he cracked his head pretty hard.

It was unnerving watching it swell up. The pictures dont do it justice!

He cried for a moment but was fine once I offered him some cinnamon bread and water. I'd like to say he learned something from this little life lesson but post snack he was right back at it.

London Emily

She made her arrival last night at 9:09pm! 7lbs 10oz and adorable! I'm so proud of my sister and so happy for her! I cant wait to meet this little bundle of joy!

Its Baby Time!

My sister, Becky, is in the hospital having a baby RIGHT NOW! I'm so excited! It's moments like this that make living far away from family almost unbearable!

Update on our Saturday: Our lunch with the couple from Michigan went really well. Turns out we have quite a bit in common including having our babies at the same birthing center! We're looking forward to getting together with them again!

Our afternoon by the pool was rained out. We got to Orlando, checked the radar and saw a massive storm moving in so we decided to hit up Ikea instead. Recession.. what recession? People are crammed in that store with carts and carts jammed full! I felt more like livestock rather than a consumer, I dont really like that feeling. No more Saturday afternoon Ikea runs.

Hanging out with Aunt Tracy on our way home from Ikea.

My Littles

Our Friday

Boys and their army men!
Bang bang! I dont think there's much hope of these boys being pacifists.

While I was taking pictures of his brothers, Kane found my new flash cards, hid under the table and attempted to destroy them. Cant let that kid out of my sight for a second!

This morning Jed is out for a motorcycle ride with Jay (they're nuts its way too hot!). Then were off to Chick fil a for lunch to meet a couple that we randomly met a couple months ago who are also from Michigan. They moved to Florida almost a year ago from Ann Arbor and have four kids the same ages as ours. Hopefully this goes well and isnt a horribly awkward crash and burn social moment for us! I'll let you know.

Then we're off to Orlando to spend the rest of the afternoon with my sister at the resort she works for. We're getting a pool side cabana! Pictures hopefully to follow!

Shuttle Bus

The first week of school is over and I am officially exhausted! I'll get used to it though. Unfortunately I'm not the only one who's tired. Due to our new schedule both Kane and Seth are missing their naps almost everyday. Its been interesting watching their attitudes quickly digress!


Despite his lack of sleep Seth is really enjoying school so far. One of our new favorite activities to do together is pack his lunch at night. He feels like such a big boy putting the food in his bag. He's slightly more forth coming about his daily activities than his older brother was last year, so far I've heard rumors of painting, pretend cooking, playing on the playground and singing new songs. However, the highlight of his week was when he got to play on a gym bus! Tumbling, monkey bars, trampoline, slides and tunnels, all on a bus! I dont think life gets any better for a 4 year old!


Then there's the kindergartener. He had his first ever gym class! They played hot potato with a bean bag. He's still talking about it. He gets to spend his recesses with his cousin Jon. Speaking of Jon, he has helped me everyday with carrying Kane back to the van after picking up Evan, I love that kid! Evan's been learning about the American flag and memorized Genisis 1:1! Quote of the week, "Mom today we had a tomato grill, the bell went off and we went under our desks." I know I posted that on facebook but I wanted my mom, who never checks facebook, to see it. Hi mom! :)



No school tomorrow which means no alarm clock, yay!

Photo for my grandchildren deprived mom:

More pics to come soon!

First Day of Kindergarten

Earlier this week was Evan's first day of school and let me tell you it was not how I hoped to start off the school year. At the same time my alarm went that morning, Ford woke up hungry so I thought I'd get feeding him out of the way and then get ready. Well, he and I both fell back to sleep while he was eating. Oops. Thankfully I had planned to give myself 2 hours to leisurely get ready so my little nap didn't make us late, we just had to rush around to get out the door.


On my way to the school there was a huge accident that completely shut down the road! I was diverted into a neighborhood going the exact opposite direction of Evan's school and I had no idea how to get out. I had to pull over, turn on the GPS and figure out my new route. I was now 15 minutes late, lovely.

As we walked up to the school Aunt Mimi was outside talking with some other parents. She offered to help me find Evan's classroom and teacher. We quickly realized that a school wide assembly was planned and Evan's teacher was expecting me to stay for it, even though no one told me about it before hand and I had 3 other kids with me! Aunt Mimi was nice enough to hang out with me to help with the boys. After the big meeting we had to go out and do a long dedication for the new school lawn. Finally, it was time to take Evan to his classroom, phew.


Morning aside, it was a really good day! I went to pick Evan up from class and after he showed me the candy he had recieved for obeying his teacher all day, he quitely and sincerely said, "Mom, I love my new school." Yay! His teacher asked the parents to stay for a few minutes to explain to us what they had done that day and what her plans were for the coming weeks. His teacher is so sweet and I've heard nothing but good things about her(she taught one of my nephews)! I'm so excited to see how this year goes!

Up next, Seth starts preschool! He is so excited! We went to the open house recently. Seth was so excited when he saw one of the teachers he recognized that he ran to her, jumped in the air and shouted, "I'm coming to preschool this year!" It was so cute.

The new Kindergartener!

The boys and their breakfast, this is what happens when we're running late!

I add these because I thought they were cute.

Singing to Ford

Kindness

This weekend Jed and I went to Target to return a few things and wander around. As we were heading towards the exit an older man walked up to Jed. I was behind Jed holding Evan and Seth's hands with Ford in the sling. As I watched the man give Jed a side hug and lean in very close to him I braced myself for the awkward moment. Anytime someone approaches us its usually to solicit, we've been asked for money, to join pyramid schemes, to support environmental movements, ect. So imagine our shock when this man handed Jed a $10 bill and told him to buy something for our boys! He said he had four boys and we reminded him of the days when they were all young. He smiled while quickly walking away, barely giving us a chance to thank him. For a moment, we were in shock at the kindness of this stranger before we finally pulled it together and made our way back to the toy isle. The boys had a great time picking out their new treasures.

Playing in the Rain

The boys woke up from their nap during a huge rain storm. Being the loving considerate mother that I am I immediately sent them outside to play even though they were still pretty groggy (in the summer unless its raining its really too hot to play outside). Evan wasnt thrilled and wanted to come back inside.

"Mom I hurt my leg while I was playing." Sorry Evan I dont buy it, especially considering you have been standing in front of the doors since you went out.

Now the rain drops are getting in his eyes.

Dont you just feel bad for him? Now he's cold. This one I actually believe considering how skinny he is however I told him if he started moving he wouldnt be cold. He wasnt open to suggestions. I think Seth might be mocking him in this one. Brotherly love.

No more pictures please! Seth- "Come on Evan playing in the rain is the best! Mom, look I can do star jumps!"

I told them to try catching rain on their tongues. Evan actually perked up and joined in.

Then he told me it wasnt as good as juice.

Mom, I dont know whats wrong with him.

Giving it a second try.

Its actually kind of fun!

Naptime funk over, finally, time to burn some engery. Star Jump!

Art Lesson in the Bathroom

Seth: Mom, I went into the bathroom and the potty was BLUE!

Me: Right, daddy put cleaner in the potty.

Seth: Yeah, and then I went pee and it turned... GREEN!

Me: Awesome Seth.

Seth: Yeah!

Dirty

Distracted

You know you have a lot of kids when, you send one child to his room for a time out and forget about him until his brother asks, "Where did (insert name) go?" You then have to think about why you havent seen him for a while before you remember. As you call for your dear son to come out of his room, he doesnt respond. You go to find him and upon walking into his room see him sound asleep on his bed and think to you self, "CRAP!" You rush over to wake him up hoping and praying you can somehow salvage naptime (otherwise known as the only time you get any peace and quiet in a given day). You quickly realize that he's been out for quite sometime and any hope for naptime slips away, along with your sanity.

One of the many tell tale signs that I have 4 kids 5 and under.

Vacation with a LOT of Pictures

We decided to spend our vacation visiting family this year. We drove to Jed's parent's house to spend our first week with them, Jed's sister and her family. We tried to get in some fun stuff in the mornings so we could get back to the house for nap time. Unlike at home I usually hate naptime on vacations as it feels like such a waste and I tend to be the only conscious person (a love for napping seems to be in the Italian blood!). However I couldnt wait to spend this time enjoying the northern summer weather on my in law's deck that overlooked the Ohio river. It was lovely.

One of our days was spent in Pittsburgh, more specifically the strip district. We visited our favorite coffee shop and bought our favorite flavored coffee, we went to Penzeys to pick up some spices (Ben and Missy have to stock up for their first four term year living in Papua New Guinea), we picked out a block of cheese at the Italian grocery store to take home and we went to the seafood store to see a ginormous lobster! Of course we had our lunch at the infamous Primanti Brothers which, I learned recently, now has a franchise location in South Florida. I was hoping we'd get to see more of Pittsburgh on this trip but that didnt seem possible with 8 kids, 7 and under, in tow. Oh well maybe next time!

I have to mention a huge highlight for both Jed and I was the night that Jed's parents babysat all 4 boys while we went out to dinner! I love being a mom but a few hours out and alone with my husband is always a treat! Thank you Jerry and Rose!

Sadly we didnt get to the second part of our vacation which was supposed to be in Michigan due to illness. Poor Evan started off the week throwing up and ended it that way as well. He got sick once a day, every other day and in between Jed, Kane and Seth got sick too. It was quite perplexing so we decided to come home to be closer to our pediatrician. Fortunately since we've been home everyone has been healthy. Unfortunately we missed out on seeing everyone in MI which is a huge bummer.

Hiking to the waterfall at one of the parks we visited.

So pretty and the boys couldnt wait to throw rocks in the pool at the bottom! Yes, Seth has a ponytail, I dont have a girl and he likes having his hair done, win, win. :)


If you look closely you can see me (and Ford). The pictures are kind of decieving, I was much closer to the waterfall, we were even getting wet!

Cousins arrive and we visited another park with more falls!

The coffee shop in Pittsburgh.


Penzys with papa!

Kane found his favorite flavor coffee, coconut royal.

The massive 12lbs lobster! They had actually had a lobster that was 24lbs that they ended up donating to Pittsburgh Zoo.

Primanti Bros with an overly tired toddler.

Hungry boys.

Seth is going to devour his sandwich. He actually ended up hardly eating any of it!

What got us through our vacation.

Buds!

Boats and trains, nana and papa's house is so cool!

The creek. I dont know who had more fun, the kids or the dads?!

Building a dam.

Fun!