Peter's Birthday

Peter had another anniversary of 26- that is what he calls birthdays!

We surprised him the day before his birthday and took him to get a shotgun!

He has wanted one for quite some time and since we don't live close enough for him to borrow his dad's, it was time for him to have his own! 

I researched and talked to people and figured out the best store to take him to so he would have a good selection and good prices.  I have made enough purchases by now with Peter to know the process he goes through before buying something like this.  He had been doing some researching on his own and I believe his hope was to use birthday money from parents to buy a gun! I kind of beat him to it- I had his parents and my parents send the money to me and that is how the surprise worked!

 Sunday morning we had "Dad's famous pancakes".  That evening we had friends over for grilled chicken and vegetables and then Oh Henry Bars for his birthday dessert. 

We also built our first fire of the season- it was a chilly day!

We love you Peter/Dad!

This is just Lily being cute.  She has decided that food is better when eaten with a fork or spoon.

Flashback Friday

This is not so far back- it was just last Friday!

 Lily kept me on my toes by dumping cereal all over the couch.  Cinnamon Chex does not vacuum up easily.

 We had a Halloween Party at Joey's taekwondo school. 

Here the kids are all dressed and ready to go!

 Power Ranger Joey- this was the only time he did the red hair.

 Jack the Pumpkin king (although more than one person called him Beetlejuice).

 

 She was a pretty and spooky witch.

 Classic Tinkerbell! We tried to spray gold sparkly spray in her hair but it is so blond it did not show up.

 Arabella won the princess/witch category of the costume contest.  She really was excited despite the look on her face in this picture.

 Joey loved the games.

 Dancing with dad.

I loved watching Joey get down and dance!

We had a really fun night!

Pumpkin Patch

A few weeks ago we took the kids to the Pumpkin Patch for a picnic and fun for FHE.

We had a great time!

 I snuck up behind Jon and he did not realize it for the longest time. 

 They had SO many great cutouts!

 All the kids going up together.  Come on Lily, you can do it, we will help you!

 She loved it!

 Arabella had no fear after watching her brothers go down head first.

 Lily wanted to go again and this time dad helped her and sent her down on her own! She laughed the whole way down!

 The hayride.  The boys wanted to sit right behind the tractor (see picture below).

 4 little pumpkins!

 Who does not love a bounce house?!

 The kids were carrying hay from the bottom to the top, trying to make the hill higher.

 Who are those two young good looking people!

 Joey was a bit nervous about his jump but did it and then...

went for an even bigger one!

We will definitely be going back to the pumpkin patch in the years to come!

Fifth

I had a hard time settling on a halloween costume this year but this seems like the BEST one I could have had!

Baby #5 (and the final) will make it's debut in early May.  My due date is the 10th but my doctor delivered Lily 11 days early so I will just plan for very early May.  

I am 12 weeks and looking forward to my evening nausea going away and feeling like I need a nap every afternoon when life is the most crazy around this place.

I called my doctor as soon as I found out and I have been getting my blood thinner shots every day.  I had an appointment on Wednesday and the baby looked great!

We are not particular about whether this one is a boy or a girl since we are tied at 2 each.  But this will be one very loved baby that is for sure!

Flashback Friday Halloween Edition

I believe this idea came because of Joey's red hair but here we are:

Barney, Betty, and Bam-Bam.

And yes, I am looking way pregnant in this!

He was a really cute little cave man!

Crossing the Great Divide

Lily wants to be like her older siblings.

She will follow them out to the van, the only problem is crossing the great divide.

 She has mastered the little lip at the end of the garage, where the door comes down.

 But this deep chasm poses the problem.  She will stop and stare at it and inch her toes closer to it.

She will eventually step over it. As you can see her little foot is just bigger than it is so I can see the distress. 

She will more willingly cross it if someone holds her hand. 

For quite awhile, she would side step along the side of the van so as to avoid the smaller line that runs parallel with the van.  Then she would get down and use her hands to bear crawl over the deep abyss. It is really cute!

Flashback Friday

We loved having Jon around and he fit in to life pretty smoothly.

 Like I said, Peter loves to snuggle with babies.  He still has this shirt although it is now his work shirt.

 Joey used to come up to Peter and Jon and lift up his shirt.  Then, Peter would move Jon's little arms and "punch" Joey's tummy and say: tiny fists of fury.  Joey would laugh and laugh.  Jon was too little to really to respond but he did not cry. 

 Brothers

When Jon was 4 weeks old he got RSV.  It was awful.  He was diagnosed on a Friday and we spent the weekend doing treatments and he seemed to improve.  I took him in on Monday for a recheck and we were lucky enough to get an ambulance ride from the Pediatrician's office to the children's hospital were he stayed for about 30 hours (between ER and floor).  It twas so sad!  I could not nurse him which was really hard because I had just been diagnosed with mastitis.  

The day after he was released Joey became sick.  We took him in and he had RSV and an ear infection.  We spent the next week doing breathing treatments every 4 hours, antibiotics for me and Joey, tylenol and motrin as needed for fevers for Joey, and Jon would nurse about every 2-3 hours.  I do not look back on that time as a particularly pleasant time but I was so grateful for good doctors and a baby that had been sick but not so sick he was on a ventilator and in the ICU.  

Jon I hope this was an experience only you have.