He LOVES Her

 Jag has always felt a deep love for little Anya.  Her other brothers really love her too, but he feels so deeply about her.  Maybe it is because they share a birthday.  Maybe it is because her hair is light like his.  Whatever the reason, there is a connection between them.  He will never get out of the car if she is still in.  If I have my hands full and run an armful into the house, he will sit by her until I get her out.  He is forever looking for hazards that he needs to remove.  He is always commenting on how sad it is to see her getting so big (he is worse than me).  Every outfit is "beautiful,"  every hair style is "darling."  He loves.  This week Anya has been sick and Jag has been sick with worry. 

He would just sit and cry with worry.  He drew her pictures.  He woke up at 2 A.M. to ask what the Dr. had said about her.   He is a fabulous brother.  This is the one that, when she is 16, the boys will have to worry about.  She holds his heart.

For the Record: the poor baby had a double ear infection and strep.  Lovely!  We are now having lessons on hand washing for those loving brothers.

Egg-citing Photos

Here are the photos of our annual backyard hunt.  Each kid has an assigned color of egg to hunt for.  It is always a huge hit with the kiddos.

 Jag sees someone elses egg in the tree.

 Anya was pink and her eggs were filled with her daddy's favorite candies. 

 Finally, on Sunday evening we colored eggs.  I had boiled them on Saturday morning and was hoping that the kids would forget, but instead we colored eggs while waiting for dinner to finish. However, I think that  boiled eggs make my house smell like farts and with 4 boys in the house, do I really need more fart smell?

Happy Easter!

Easter Clothes

This for a number of reasons is probably the last time that my 5 children will match for Easter Sunday.  Maybe I'll get lucky and Davis, as a 12 year old, won't care that he matches with his 4 year old brother...

I think that they look amazing and beautiful, but hey, they are mine.

Keep in mind that it is before 8AM on Easter.  Anya and Noah take a little warming up before they find a smile. 

11 Months

Anya is 11 months and busy.  She is terrible when she needs to hold still.  Changing diapers and doing hair are difficult.  She is crawling.  She crawls funny with both toes pointed outward.  Kind of frog-like.

 She loves to try to climb the stairs.  Her brothers put things on the stairs just out of her reach, and she loves the challenge.  So far she has only climbed 1 stair and tumbled down that same 1 stair.  It is one of her favorite places to play.  I probably ought to try and stop this.

 We have to keep her hair clipped back so that it stays out of her eyes.  She has 3 1/2 teeth on top and only 2 teeth on the bottom.  Sometimes she is like a baby crocodile when I have to feed her.

 She still sits in the splits.  She will sometimes fall asleep in the splits with her head down in the middle.  I have to try to switch her legs when she does that because that just isn't right.

 Notice her frog crawl.

 She loves her binkie. 

 She loves her brothers.  She is their favorite as well.

The Princess

Is It 10?

Noah loves snacks!  He would skip all meals and live off of just snacks if I would let him.  But, I don't.  Which is why he is sitting in front of the stove watching the clock.  Waiting and waiting for 10:00, the official snack eating time.  He is great at finding the 10 and knows that it isn't P:UB  (a.k.a. 9:48).  Every  day he sits on his chair, shouting out the time, waiting for the magical moment when the fruit snacks can be opened.  Funny boy.  (Ridged mom?)

A Bowling Bash

Christian's 10th Birthday!

 Christian had a party at the bowling alley with friends Collin and Dillon (and brothers).

 Jag's gift brought laughs from all the boys.  Shaped erasers.  Shaped like a toilet, toilet paper, plunger, and pile 'o poo. 

It is hard to believe that my little Christian is 10.  He is a wonderful kid.
Here are a few thoughts about my guy:
*  He is so expressive with his smile and eyes.  He always has been.  He just draws people in with his cute face.
*  He is the hardest, yet easiest, kid to buy for.  He likes nothing in particular, yet everything is great.  Hard to find just the perfect gift, because he never knows of anything that he wants.  Never.  Unless it is something that a brother has just gotten or thought of.  Davis won't tell him of any of his "wants" for fear that they will be "stolen" by Christian.  This also makes Christian easy to buy for because he is thrilled with everything he gets due to the fact that he didn't have any ideas to start with.  Who am I kidding, he is hard to buy for.
* Christian has a ton of nicknames.  Chin, Chinny, and Chin muggins are the most commonly used.  Davis is always coming up with a new one.
*  He is the ULTIMATE helper.  Always aware of the needs around him and willing to step in without being asked.  I couldn't have made it through Darin's deployments without his help.
*  He loves his family.  Loves, loves, loves them.  He is always writing sweet notes and leaving them around.
*  He is tough and never quits.  I've always referred to him as my Everyready Bunny...keeps on going.
*  He sings everything.  Sings way too often and is always making up songs.  He doesn't just answer a question, but is more likely to sing the answer.  Living with him is sometimes like living in a Musical!  That stinking afterschool choir (on a side note, he WON'T do the actions for the songs in choir so not quite a musical).
*  Christian is a great kid.  He isn't moody or disrespectful.  He is polite and hard working.  He is awesome at laundry, dishes, and bathroom cleaning!

Happy Birthday Chinny!

Chompers!

She is so cute (even with this bad hair moment).  Her 5 teeth are big and sharp. 

She bites everything.  She even grinds her teeth making awful noises. 

She thinks she is funny, so do we.

Bluebonnets revisited by: Jag

Jag came downstairs in a strange outfit.  When I told him to go and change, he explained that the blue was so that he could blend in with bluebonnets and green were their stems.  Oh, OK, don't change then.  He wanted me to take him over to where we had taken bluebonnet pictures, because he didn't get the shots he'd wanted.  (The boys were banned from my photos for misbehavior, remember?)  I just laughed and continued with my day.  Next thing I know, he has combed (kind of) his own hair.  He keeps nagging and nagging. 

Fine, off we go to the bluebonnets.  He staged his own pictures and then he also told Noah where to stand for his.  He came to check on the results, and declared them, "Perfect."

These are Jaggy's bluebonnet memory pictures. 

Awesome!  Just like my boys!

A Texas Spring

I have never seen more wildflowers than here in Texas.  Lady Bird Johnson made it her project, and it is evident everywhere in springtime.  These are the Bluebonnets, Texas' State Flower.  These are my darling children.  Actually most of the pictures are of Anya (and we have lots more) because her brothers were being major dorks and got kicked out of our wildflower pictures.  Honestly, you wouldn't believe how hard it was to make them stop laughing and making stupid faces just so I could take a picture. 

 The only picture, with the boys,  that is worth putting on the blog.  Actually I should put them on just so there is a record of our day.

April Fools Food

What to do on April Fools day?  Fool their stomachs.

Dinner for dessert.

Mashed Potatoes and gravy (in case it is too hard to tell) and peas and carrots.

Dessert for dinner.  Cupcakes with pink frosting.



Did I fool your stomach too?  Ha, I am so funny!  Obviously the mashed potatoes were marshmallow frosting with caramel gravy.  The cupcakes for dinner were mini meatloaves with pink potatoes on top. 

My boys thought that I was wonderful. 

But the best joke was when I told Davis to pull my finger...  


APRIL FOOLS!