Warming Up

Hot chocolate has become a big part of this winter for our family.  I hadn't ever given it to the kids before this year, but way back in November, after playing outside for a while, we needed a warm up, so I pulled some out of the cabinet, and the four of us split two cups.  The kids were addicted.

I love this picture.

Yes, this was just after the stitches incident.

I wanted to get a picture of Aaron's face without the cup, but when I tried pulling the cup from his mouth, this is the only look he would give me.

Now anytime we play outside, the children feel practically entitled to hot chocolate when we come back inside, and most of the time, I agree.

February 16, 2012

In case you haven't heard, that's the date for Clayton's Fontan at Stanford.  We're on the schedule.  We'll get planning on all the logistics after Christmas.  For now, we're just going to focus on the holidays.

A Few Steps

It's time to confess it.  Aaron's still not walking.  Yes, he's 16 months old.  Clayton walked at 17 months.  They told me he was late because he'd had two open heart surgeries.  Then Eli didn't walk until about 16 months.  Now Aaron's 16 months and not really getting the whole thing yet.  I'm beginning to think the open heart surgeries had nothing to do with Clayton's delays.  My kids are just not early walkers. 

Aaron cruises the furniture like a pro.  He can stand independently for a couple minutes.  He will take a step or two toward me if I'm cheering him on, but he's really just not quite walking yet.

I was able to get this picture a couple weeks ago though.  It's one of the rare moments he's taking a couple steps towards me.  You can see the thrill on his face.  He's always so proud.

So for now it's just a step or two here and there.  I'm sure he'll be walking by kindergarten.

Aaron's First Haircut

Just before our Thanksgiving trip to Arkansas I decided the time had come.  Aaron officially had a mullet, and something had to be done.  I'm no barber and have always taken the boys to get their hair cut, but because we were really looking at about ten hairs on the back of his head, I decided to trim it myself.  It really was an improvement.  He still looks pretty bald, but at least his hair isn't growing down his neck anymore. 

The few long mullet hairs

So excited

It was a family affair.

There were a few long hairs up the back too.

The big boys were so interested.

The final product.  His stork bite shows a lot more now.  All my boys had that on the back of their necks.

After Aaron was done, I realized the big boys really needed trims as well, so I took them over to Great Clips the next day before we left town.  Now everyone looks neat and tidy.

Happy Birthday Eli!

On Monday we celebrated Eli's third birthday!  I can't believe this boy is three.  In some ways it seems like he was born yesterday, and in some ways I can't believe he's only three.  I think having Aaron so close to Eli has skewed my perception of time. 

There's so much to say about Eli.  Eli is definitely the child requiring the most "parenting" these days.  We're either laughing at him hysterically or wanting to pull our hair out in frustration.  Sometimes we're feeling both ways at the same time.  Eli is passionate about everything.  He plays passionately, he loves passionately, and he loses control passionately.  He's never dull, that's for sure. 

Eli's greatest love in life is... still... trash and everything that has to do with trash, trashcans, dumpsters, and garbage trucks.  It's really completely out of control.  The first thing he wants to do at anyone's house is see their outside trash cans.  Really?  He wants to know what day is trash day for every place we go.  He recently saw a garbage truck empty a dumpster at Clayton's school.  Now we have to talk about it nonstop everytime we take Clayton to school or pick him up.  That's twice a day, five days a week.  It's painful for me. 

In honor of Eli's great love, I decided to have a garbage truck birthday celebration.  It will probably just encourage the infatuation, but I couldn't resist.  One day I'm sure we will get a big laugh over all this. 

 The traditional birthday donut selected by the birthday boy

Blowing out the first "fire" of the day.  Leading up to the big day, Eli was constantly reminding me that there would be fire on his birthday.

My attempt at a trash truck cake

He loves being the center of attention.

Blowing out the candles

Happy Birthday Eli Jacob!



That's Gonna Leave a Mark!

Yes, if you haven't heard, there's been an incident.  Just before we were to leave for school on Wednesday, Eli and Clayton got into a scuffle, and Clayton ended up with a nastly little cut on his forehead.  Apparently he was pushed into the toy chest in their room.  I was pretty angry with all the arguing that had been going on all morning, so I marched in there, ready to give them a piece of my mind.  Clayton was in the fetal position, and I ordered him to stand up.  When he sat up, his whole face was covered in blood (and, as a side note, there was a little blood on my new carpet, YIKES, but it all came up later).  I took him into the bathroom, made one pass over the wound with a handful of tissue, and I knew we had to go to the ER. 

Dragging three small children to the ER by myself first thing in the morning is not really my idea of fun, but the boys did pretty well.  It took almost three hours to get three tiny stitches, and then we were off.  Clayton was so brave, so we stopped in at Wal-Mart to pick up a new little car for a reward.  When Ryan got home later that night, Clayton had no interest in showing Ryan the stitches.  He only wanted Ryan to see his new car.

I'm sure with three boys this will not be our last stitches incident.  I actually can't believe this was our first.

One day last week was "P" day at school, and Clayton's teacher sent home a pickle bandaid for each kid for the next time they were "in a pickle."  Clayton was beyond excited to wear his pickle bandaid to school the next day.

Today we're letting them breathe a little, which reminds me I need to call and get an appointment to get them taken out soon.

Halloween 2011

About a month ago I started to think about what the boys could be for Halloween.  I love a theme, and I started trying to think of one.  It just happened around that time that the boys were watching The Chipmunk Adventure (remember the one where the boys race the girls around the world in hot air balloons; I loved that movie), and then I knew, they had to be the Chipmunks.

Their costumes were so easy.  I ordered men's turtlenecks and rolled up the sleeves.  I fused yellow A on Alvin's shirt, and I didn't bother with Alvin's red baseball cap because I knew Eli wouldn't wear it.  I hemmed Eli's shirt because it was just slightly too long, and I didn't want him to trip on it.  Then I found a pair of Harry Potter glasses for Simon, and that was it.

We took the boys to our high school's trick-or-treat night a couple nights before Halloween, and they got a warm up on all the "trick-or-treat" and "thank you" stuff.  I was really impressed with the high schoolers.  They were so sweet to the boys and so enthusiastic with all their booths and games.  So many kids had put in a lot of hard work to pull off an event like that.  Now every time we drive by the high school Eli says, "That's where we have fun!"

After that, they were ready for the big night.  Ryan and I took turns handing out candy and taking the boys around our neighborhood.  Clayton and Aaron rode in the wagon, and Eli walked.  At each house, Eli was the first to the door and the loudest with his "trick-or-treat."  I think he could have walked all night, but the other two were ready to come home after a while.

These are our pumpkins that almost didn't happen.  I really procrastinated purchasing carving pumpkins this year.  On Halloween morning I took Clayton to school, and the little boys and I set out on a quest that led us to three grocery stores before we finally find pumpkins at a fourth store.  We were lucky to find these.  I didn't get carving on them until about 3:30pm, and it takes a long time to scoop out all the insides, not to mention, I needed to cook dinner and oh, keep a vigilant eye on my three "helpers" who were intent on attempting to get their hands on knives.  I finished them up just in time though, and I liked the way they turned out.  Maybe next year I'll plan ahead a little better and try something a little more intricate.  Probably not, but maybe.