Twenty-four Weeks

As messy as the job is, all three of my big kids enjoy helping me feed K.  K loves to sit at the table with the rest of us too.  In the last week, we added pears and peas to her diet.  She happily eats all of the Earth's Best stage one foods with the exception of peas.  She makes a funny face every time I offer peas, but if I mix them with carrots or sweet potatoes, she will eat them.

There have been a lot of appointments and meetings and necessary outings lately, and K has done great staying with Grandma.  I'm so happy that they enjoy their time together!


K had her first trip to Chuck E Cheese yesterday.  R was invited to a birthday party and K came with us.  It was funny to watch her because she was in awe; between the noise, the kids running everywhere, the dancing characters, and the disco lights, K was thoroughly entertained!!!


K grabs everything now.  If it's within her grasp, she is going to grab it; I have to be extra careful with hot beverages!

She is so much fun right now.  We all enjoy trying to make her laugh because her laugh is just so cute and sweet.

So much for the fourth child not getting much attention; this baby is doted on like no other.

School Vacation Week

The kids have been home from school all week.  I think they have had a lot of fun, but for some reason they don't think they did much.

We pulled out a few different kits the kids received as gifts for birthdays, Christmas, etc.

C made this Model Magic Spiderman:

C and R both made soap art:

They also made their own bouncy balls:

Rainbow toast was made by them, but eaten by me after they decided they didn't like painted food.

They had fun outings with grandparents and friends, including a sleepover with breakfast in bed and a trip to a roller rink!!!

Also, it had to be the nicest February vacation week ever and that meant lots of time for bike riding.  C and R are both riding without training wheels and they are doing very well too!

Boring week, right?  Poor kids don't ever get to do anything!!!!!!!!!!  Ha!!!

Twenty-three Weeks

K is now eating apples, bananas, carrots, and sweet potatoes in addition to the infant oatmeal.

She was great for Dad on Saturday while I went to get my hair cut.  It was their first time alone and K slept most of the time.

K receives so much attention from her siblings.  They still can't get enough of her.

She just started spending a few minutes playing in this seat.  The seat moves around the play table, so this will be more and more fun as she grows.

Every night, K sits with us while we read our bedtime stories and she seems to enjoy it.  She also likes to hold her own books, and right now this one seems to be her favorite.  I think she is going to be a reader just like her siblings!

100 Days of School

C's class celebrated their 100th day of school on Monday.  C had to write about what he would do with $100.00.

I love everything about this.  I think it is so sweet that he decided to give his sister some of the money, and I am also proud of him for deciding to save half of the money for college.  I think his money management skills are perfect.

Kindergarten started school two days after the rest of the elementary school, so R celebrated her 100th day of school yesterday.  They made these great hats and worked on counting by tens.

At home, we read these books:

A Good Day

Every day can't be perfect, but today was a good day.  We didn't go anywhere or buy anything, there was nothing extra special like a holiday or birthday, but the day just felt good.  I made one dinner and everyone ate it (shaved steak sandwiches).  The kids played well together.  We listened to the Zac Brown Band together.  It was a good day.  It doesn't even matter that I have laryngitis and my throat is on fire; it was a good day.  If only I could press pause and just hold on to it.

Love Puzzles

I recently bought some blank puzzles for the kids to decorate.  They used Sharpies to create their puzzles with special messages, then took them apart and gave them to friends and family.

These are the puzzles C made:

He is so sweet.  I love the puzzle he made for me.  I'm sure his teacher will be touched by the special message he wrote for her too!

Here are the puzzles R made:

The puzzle on the left is for Auntie Karen and Uncle Mark.  It says, "I like hugs not cis (kisses).   I hate the cat songs."  On Christmas, Auntie Karen was telling us about a song she sang to her cat ("June the cat") and it kind of upstaged R's dance routine that she was putting on for everyone, so R made it clear that she did not like the cat song.  Obviously, it is a big deal to R because she is still talking about it months later!
 The puzzle on the right is for Dad, and it says, "Nap pee Nap Crap Crap (lovely, long story).  Happy Valentine's Day Dood (Dude)."  R is all girl, but she loves potty talk more than most boys!

R also decorated the back of her puzzles.  On the back of Auntie Karen's she wrote, "I love you", and she drew a picture on the back of Dad's - it says, "Werd Giye (weird guy)".

R made this puzzle for her teachers:

This is the back:

"Mrs. Rayray and Miss Lisa are aliens and they are cute and Reagan with them".   Mrs. Rayray actually called to tell me that she and Miss Lisa laughed hysterically after they put the puzzle together.  She also said that R makes her laugh all day long - I believe it!

It's funny how C and R show their personalities in everything they do.  I can't help but laugh because C loves to be sweet and loving and R loves to be kooky and silly (while still being very loving).  

Valentine's Day

The bow in R's hair was a gift from a classmate (she gave all of the girls bows for Valentine's Day - so cute!).  Dad and I gave the three big kids those huge Hershey's kisses for Valentine's Day.

I thought C and R would enjoy helping me make chocolate covered strawberries, but they were too busy playing.  They were happy to eat them though.  Actually, R peeled the chocolate off and just ate the strawberry - where does she come from?  Crazy!  C probably ate the chocolate and gave his sister the strawberry.

K got this doll from Grandma and Grandpa.  R used to have one like that when she was a baby too.

Grandma also brought Lego Valentines for R and C - they were both thrilled.

I just realized that I didn't get any pictures of T's Valentines, nor did I get any pictures of C - I'm slacking on the job.

The Claw

We went to Dave and Buster's yesterday, and R was obsessed with the claw game.  You know, that big thing full of stuffed animals that you try to win by moving the claw.  She really wanted a pink monkey, and we came so close to getting it a few times.  Then we walked away.  R was close to tears, maybe she even shed a few.  After a while, we went back and the monkey was gone.  She spotted this green frog and decided that was the next object of her desire.  I told her we could try four times.  On the fourth try, she asked me to control the claw.  I thought I moved it too far; I certainly did not think I would get it, but as you can see, Froggy came home with us!  We probably could have bought a huge stuffed frog for less than we spent trying to win it.

Twenty-Two Weeks

K had her first taste of bananas over the last week.  Of course, she loved them.  I hope she will be a good eater like her big sister.

She just started sitting in the Bumbo seat, and she seems to like it.  She also likes playing with her tongue right now!

I'm not sure why, but I have had so much trouble with diapers leaking on K.  I have tried Huggies and Luvs; I think I'm going to try Pampers next.  I never had this problem with my other three babies.

On a final note, our family has suffered through a cold and two cases of a stomach virus.  So far, K has managed to avoid both of them.  I hope she stays healthy.