Post Nap

28 lbs

This morning, Oliver ate:

Spaghetti

Tuna with crackers

An orange

Pretzels

Craisins

and

A peanut butter and jelly sandwich

All before 10 am.

At 10, he asked me to make him a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup.

I did, he ate it all, and then said he was still hungry....

At which point I knew that what he really needed was not food, but this:

Now here I am, 9 pm, and I just ate a bag full of cashews, Craisins, almonds, and chocolate chips,

But who is here to make me go to bed?

Keepin' It Real Wednesday

It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it - the disposing of dirty diapers.

While performing this unpleasant task one time, Chad chuckled and told me that sometimes he thought about how awful/hilarious it would be to take the disgusting diapers, box them up, and then mail them to someone. They would be so excited to get a surprise package in the mail, and then....WHAM, the smell would hit them. 

Awwwwwww.

I love my husband for many many reasons, but the fact that he came up with this sinister idea makes me fall in love with him over and over again...

every single time I see a bag of smelly diapers.

Staying at home

I had the boys stay home from school today.  They were both well and running around, but I figured they could use another day to stop being contagious, and these were the first absences for either of them, so I figured it would be okay.  That brought about the challenge of having all four kids home with nowhere to go  - kids who have all been cooped up a little too long already.  I decided by 8:30 in the morning that I needed a plan or I was going to end up hiding in my bathroom with Carina, listening to the boys duke it out in the playroom. 

I wrote down a schedule for the boys – chores, piano practice, PE (Just Dance 3), schoolwork, lunchtime, quiet time….with a point system leading to the promise of candy.  I have found with both Colin and Gabe, that once they start school they love schedules and routines and rewards.  Last summer we kept a tight schedule and it saved us.  Today reminded me of the summer, only now Carina isn’t a little infant who will fall asleep anywhere  - she is a little girl who loves to be entertained and doesn’t love to take naps when her biggest brothers are home.  Today she took two 10 minute nursing naps – the lovely kind where the baby finally drops their head back and you let out a sigh of relief as you try to slink off, only to have the baby open their eyes and smile, acting like they had a good night’s sleep.  Hey, Good Morning Mom, long time no see.  I don’t know if you know this or not, but 9 month old babies definitely need more than 20 minutes worth of naps during the day. So, yeah…

It was a good day though, considering.  The boys fought, especially Gabe and Oliver – Gabe is Mr. Jokester-play-on-words right now, and Oliver and Mr. Literal- and Colin got restless and hyper, but we survived Ingalls-style.  We worked and played and cleaned together. I liked it because my focus was right where it needed to be.  I had no choice but to give motherhood my full attention and effort.

I was reminded once again that it is so much easier and rewarding to treat my stay-at-home-status like the profession it really is – my “career” and “passion” – what I believe in spending my time on. It is NOT a distraction from facebook, pinterest, a perfectly clean house, a perfectly toned boy….all those things are wonderful and awesome in their place, but sometimes I feel like my kids are constantly dragging my thoughts back to them with their demands, and today I was reminded how much more fulfilling it all is when my thoughts are just there……right there on them already.

Keepin’ It Real Wednesday

What a difference 24 hours can make.

Last night at this time, Chad and I were strategically gluing the weights on Colin’s first “real” Pinewood Derby car, making plans about what we all needed to do finish it in the next 24 hrs, in order to be ready for the race tonight.

(I know Colin is not included in that sentence, and it is his car, so he really should be….. but this is Keepin’ It Real Wednesday).

Not long after, Gabe threw up in the bowl he had recently requested.  How sad – he won’t be ale to go to Colin’s race Wednesday night.

A couple of hours later, Colin joined him.  How very very sad. No race for anyone.

A couple of hours later, I awoke to the sound of Carina throwing up next to me. Poor poor baby, but I need sleep forcryingoutloud.

And who knows when…Oliver stumbled into our bedroom, eyes barely open, covered in vomit.   I think Chad is handling that, right? Zzzzzzzz

It was a loooooong day, followed by a long day of Smurfs, Mr. Popper’s Penquins, Saltines and Moneyball for Chad and I.  The “good news” was that Chad had already requested the day off to go the Dr. for what he thought was strep throat, so he was home and washed loads and loads of laundry and Lysoled everything.  

So here we are, 24 hours later, and while all the other Cub Scouts are racing their cars, Colin is sleeping with a bowl next to him.

Here’s to hoping to health by Friday…..

which is the big Chinese’s New Year celebration…..

and…

Chad’s birthday. Gulp.

Please don’t let him be sick on his birthday….

or me, because that is almost as awful for him.

Did I ever tell you about New Year’s Eve?

I was one of the most fun times I have ever had with my family.  We threw caution to the wind and let our kids stay up ‘til (gulp) midnight.  Well, Carina only lasted until 10:30 – not even fussing or crying, just happy to be hanging out with so many admirers.  We had brother Levi and sister-in-law Audra there with their seven kids, and my sister Christie and brother-in-law James with their three kids, so 14 kids in all.  Callie, age 4, was the only other one who didn’t make it. 

The cousins had such a fun time – I think the only fight of the night broke out around 11:00 and it was between two of mine (shocker).  Everyone got along amazingly well and kept busy with Just Dance 3 on the Kinect downstairs, Harry Potter on the Wii upstairs, a fire outside, and………

Uncle James’ spritz gun.  He helped the kids made, like, a million of these spritz cookies.  He had some very captivated helpers and all the patience in the world. 

 

Christie made a bingo game with all the cousins’ faces on it, and we broke that out not long before midnight.  We an impromptu prize of McDonald’s coupons, the kids had a really good time.  It was really cute to watch them looking for their cousins faces.

The game ended just in time to countdown to the New Year. 

What a wonderful way to ring in the new year, surrounded by people I love. 

This last picture was shortly after the clock struck twelve, with Ollie starting to fall apart and Chad telling everyone to wrap it up.

No-Brother-Left-Behind

 

One of the gifts that Oliver got from my in-laws for Christmas is a book of preschool worksheets.  While trying to get dinner on the other day, I pulled it out to distract him.  His little toddler hands were quickly at work, tracing and coloring.  I was impressed with him – I didn’t even know he could grasp the concept of tracing yet – and so was Gabe, who remarked, “Ollie is actually pretty good at tracing.”  This is high praise from Gabe, who tells Oliver on a regular basis that his coloring isn’t good enough because he leaves “too many white spots”.  Gabe got a Sharpie out and set to work grading Oliver’s work.  Oliver enjoyed the attention and praise, as he always does when it eeks out of his older brothers.

As Gabe taught Oliver a few pointers, Colin came in.  Assessing the learning situation at hand, he grabbed a blank piece of paper and created a pop quiz for Gabe.  Without questioning Colin’s authority, Gabe earnestly set to work and was rewarded with his own Sharpie-d grade. 

Straight-A students, even when graded by the 8 and under crowd.  Aren’t you impressed?

My doll

Before this little girl was born, I had enough dresses to last her 'til she is around 18 months...most of them given as gifts by people who were excited to clothe our little princess.  What is more fun to buy as a baby gift than a little dress?  I have loved pulling those dresses every week to see what fits her now and every time I do, I think of the person who gave it to her.  Here, Miss is saying, "Thanks Aunt Cathy! I got lots of compliments today!"

She has started doing this cheese for the camera smile where she scrunches up the bridge of her nose and really hams it up.  It makes us laugh every time.  She has also started doing it every time she can catch someones eye, so trips to the grocery store and church are one big, "The whole world is here to see me" fest.

I know, two days in a row of iPhone pictures, but it is better than pulling out my red camera at church, right?  My phone holds my scriptures too, so it I happen to have it with me....and I happen to see something I want to snap a picture of, before church or between classes.....I'm not too obsessed with taking pictures, right? ;o)

A Sun....BEAM!

The new year means that all of the kids move up a class in church, which means Oliver moved from the "nursery"  where he had toys, snack, and his granny, to the Sunbeams, where they have metal chairs, and a lot more sitting.  He is lucky to have some wonderful teachers, but was quite shy about starting something so new.  They start out by meeting with the other young classes for "sharing time" and he would only go in there if he was allowed to sit by his older brother Gabe instead of with his class.   Gabe was quite the big brother about it, and from report I received later, Oliver sat next to him the whole time - almost an hour of singing and talking - and behaved well.  He was sad to then go with his class to their classroom, but he did it anyway.  He told me later about how upset his cousin Liam was about the whole change and said, with a very long face, "Mom, I didn't want to go to class.  I just wanted to go home."  

I remembered Gabe's starting-Sunbeams- picture and made sure I got some of Oliver with his brothers to commemorate the event.  Could they be any more adorable?

Can you believe that I announced I was pregnant with this little guy on this blog, and now I am putting Sunbeam pictures up of him?!

Christmas Day

A couple of evenings before Christmas, as I was putting the boys to sleep, I went over Christmas Morning Protocol. No getting up before six, you come into Mom and Dad’s room and wake us up before you go downstairs, etc.

The next morning, the 24th, Oliver came into our room at around 7 and said in his sweetest, most polite little 3 year old voice, “Mommy, I’m ready.”  He was somewhat devastated to hear that he had one more day to wait.

On the real Christmas morning, Colin and Gabe were awake at the earliest acceptable time.  They roused Oliver from his sleep, and then we had to wake the sleeping baby.  As you can see by the picture below, she handled it pretty well.  As we were taking this picture, the boys could see a few of the presents downstairs, so that fact that they looked at the camera and smiled shows how excited they were to get it done with and on with the show.

They were all pretty excited about their presents, though Oliver had decided two days before Christmas that what he really and truly wanted was not Lightening McQueen (which was what he was getting) but a remote control helicopter (which, coincidentally, was what Colin was getting, times two).  I think he was picturing himself flying it around like his hero Max.  (He gets a lot of his life lessons and ideas from Max and Ruby, I have to say).  Anyway, we did get over his disappointment and we had a fun Christmas morning.

Just as the morning festivities died down, it was time for church.  The kids were all adorable, with the boys in matchy sweaters and Miss in her Christmas dress,  and I really wanted a family Christmas picture – I did my hair and makeup and everything (!) – but of course we were right on time and I knew a few self-timer pictures would put us right into the late zone. So, no pictures until later that night, after naps for almost everyone.

We had dinner at my parents house. My dad slaved in the kitchen while most of us were napping to provide a bounteous and delicious Christmas dinner, provided by my Nana as a gift.  After we ate and sat around (and picked some more, because we are Jeppsons), we did the nativity, which you saw.  Then Sabina handed her ukulele to Audra (our very own Mim of Mim’s Ukes) – Sabina had brought it so Audra could get the family going with some Christmas songs.

Let me tell you, that was fun.  I loved seeing all the kids get into it, dancing and singing, and watching and listening. 

It was a great evening, rounded out with revealing who the candy count winners were! Thanks Mom and Dad!

Nativity Slideshow

For my niece, Elizabeth

Christmas Eve 2011

This was our evening:

Pizza for dinner. 

Made cookies for Santa.

Colin is not big on pictures these days, so I was happy to get this cute one.

Stopped by some friends house for a Christmas Eve party, where I ate some of the most delicious desserts I have ever had in my life.  

Home to unwrap pajamas.  Remember the fabric the boys chose over the summer?  

If I am ever having a bad day, I think I will pull these pictures up.  They make me remember everything I love about my scrumptious children. 

Then we video-chatted with Grandma and Grandpa Coleman and the kids opened their gift from them - an Xbox and Kinect.  Dance Central 2, here I come! The kids were pretty darn excited.

We didn't get the kids to sleep until almost 9, and then it was a pretty late night for Chad and me.  Chad is asleep on the couch as I write this.  We also had a great Christmas - I will post about it tomorrow.  Hope you all had a Merry Christmas.  Thanks for reading :o)