Christmas Cookie Decorating

Since the kids are on Year-Round school, they have several short breaks throughout the year, instead of one long summer break. We are on track "B" this year, which means the kids were off the entire month of December! I was a little nervous at first- what am I going to do at home with all 5 kids all day, other than go completely insane?? Really though, we're nearly at the end of their break and it's been great. So nice to not have to deal with school and homework in addition to getting ready for the holidays.

Raz and I planned some fun activities for the kids-- here they are decorating sugar cookies. So much fun!

Colin wastes no space when decorating his cookies! 

Have a little cookie with your sprinkles, Leah! 

I love her face after we dusted some of the sprinkles off for her to eat it! Ha!

Adam~ 2 Months Old

I'm determined to blog about Adam each month- even if it's a few sentences and a picture. However here I am at 2 months and I'm already late! (Adam will technically be 3 months old next week!) Oh well, better late than never!

Really, I think subconsciously I delayed blogging about Adam's 2nd month because, well, he's really not that different than his first month, lol! I guess that's not true- he smiles all the time and laughs, which is super cute. He's starting to follow toys and people with his eyes. He's a very alert baby. He just doesn't sleep any better. As in, he still wakes up every 2-3 hours throughout the night. He still wants to nurse all the time. So put those two together and I still feel like a zombie most of the time. As a matter of fact, he just woke up... again... after just a 1 hour nap. Sigh. It's a good thing he's cute!

Adam's 2 month stats:
13 lbs 9 oz (95th%!)
24" long (85th%)
head circumference, 16", (75th%)

These are classics...

Adam's Blessing

Adam was blessed on Sunday, November 17, 2013, when he was 6 weeks old. It was a fun day- we had lots of Adrian's family come to spend the day with us.

He was blessed by Adrian at our church at 9am and then we went over to Christy and Keoki's house after church for lunch. In the car on the way to church Thomas announced that "Adam was going to scream the whole time." Ha! Luckily, that didn't happen- he was perfectly awake and quiet. He did however completely fill his diaper upon our arrival to the church- so much so that it leaked out onto his darling little blessing outfit! Ahhhhh! I had a minor meltdown in the church bathroom, but luckily, a little soap and water cleaned it up for the most part. Before leaving the house I opted to layer outfits- so the white onesie underneath was a lost cause, but thankfully it took the brunt of the blowout- without it his little outfit would have been ruined.

The lunch was fun- lots of family came and we all had an enjoyable time. (We did have fun- even though Colin's face in the pictures shows otherwise!

I found this cute little sweater outfit at Target! (Actually, I found it when Adam was only a week old, so I called Raz and had her run to Target to see if they had it- she's such a great friend!) Christy made this darling quilt for him too, so I thought it'd be fun to take pictures of them both!

Leah's 2nd Birthday

We all celebrated Leah's 2nd Birthday this year in mid-November. We didn't do anything spectacular, but then again, anything remotely out of the ordinary is spectacular for a 2 year old!

Leah had special birthday pancakes and then we opened presents with just our family the night of her birthday. A few days later, we reserved part of Adam's Blessing celebration for a little Leah birthday cake. I think she enjoyed herself!

Leah is a spunky little 2 year old! Her favorite food is cheese and cookies (or anything sweet, really!) and she loves to sing and dance. The "terrible" two's hit a few months ago- this girl can seriously throw a tantrum. Luckily tantrums seem to only occur at home- when we're out and about she's a little angel! I think she enjoys the stimulation that comes from going somewhere. She loves to play on the play ground and try on everyone's shoes. Her favorite person besides Mom and Dad (and sometimes I think we're even overshadowed!) is her Auntie Raz. Honestly, her face lights up when Raz walks in the room and she runs straight into her arms. She's pretty territorial when it comes to who gets to hug or sit by Raz too. It's cute.

Her blankie is still one of her best friends and her bed is loaded with all sorts of baby dolls, books and soft toys. If I'd let her, I'm sure she'd also take a snack cup of fish crackers and raisins to bed with her. This girl enjoys her food!

Leah is 25 lbs (45th %) and 34.5" tall (65th%) with a giant noggin that's in the 95th%!

I took some pictures of her on her birthday- these are the results!

Halloween 2013

With Adam making his grand debut on October 3rd, Halloween was super simple this year, to say the least. Simple as in, we didn't even carve pumpkins and the only pumpkins we even bought were the tiny ones we got on Colin's preschool field trip. I was worried the kids would be super disappointed, but as it turns out, they think carving pumpkins is rather disgusting, so there you have it.

I keep the kid's costumes from each year in a big tub and when Halloween rolls around, I have a general rule: either wear a costume we already have or pay half the cost of a new one. Some years everyone wants a new one. Other years we recycle costumes. So, if you think you've seen my kids in some of these costumes before, well you're correct! Although we do have a couple new ones I got at a kid's consignment sale. ;)

Thomas is Darth Vader, Hailey is a witch, Colin is Spiderman and Leah is a pumpkin. Even Adam got into the spirit this year- he's sporting a "My First Halloween" onesie. Fun!

I Heart Naptime

Life reverts back to simpler times with a newborn in the house. I find myself centering activities and errands around the necessities: food and sleep. For myself. For Adam. For the other kids. I'd say about 5 out of 7 days of the week I successfully get everyone fed lunch and happy so that we (Leah, Adam and I) can take an afternoon nap at the same time. 

Today was not one of those days. 

Adam's been cranky all morning and has hardly slept at all. On the flip side, Leah has a little bug and has slept all day. 

So I've kept myself busy cleaning and folding laundry. But oh how I wish I was napping!  (I can't wait until Adam isn't waking 2-3 times during the night!!)

Here's our "supposed-to-be nap time" was spent today...

And of course the inevitable ...

But wait... As I type this post on my phone...

Nap time!

One Month Old

Adam turned 1 month old on Sunday. Not much has changed since my last update- he still mostly eats, sleeps and poops with a few tiny smiles here and there. Just in the past day or two though he has started "talking" when he's awake. It's so cute- I love it when babies begin interacting!

He's getting to be quite the little chunk. No clue how much he weighs but he's wearing 0-3 month clothes now, even though half of them are still quite big. He's long, so even though he's heavy, since he's tall he's still skinny! So the pants I have on him today are quite big. lol.

The other kids are still doing great with him. Thomas is such a huge help! I'm crossing my fingers he begins to sleep better soon though. Some days I'm so tired I feel like I can't function!! I just keep reminding myself that this part doesn't last long...

Saturday-the day before Sunday

So it's official blogging month or something like that. You're supposed to blog once a day for the entire month to "celebrate." Once a day? Yeah that's not going to happen, but I'll give it a go. I've been wanting to do a couple "day in the life" posts so this is a great opportunity. 

So this first post comes to you on Saturday night. It's been a day of cleaning, running errands and keeping the kids happy and on task. It was a good day- we did a little resting and relaxing but also managed to cross off items on the to-do list. Laundry is folded and put away. Kitchen floors are clean. Boys' haircuts are done. I even put haileys hair in curlers. 

So how does this all leave Adrian and I come about 8pm?

Tired. So tired. 

So we veg. And watch the Jazz lose. And keep tiny baby happy. 

That's about all there is to our Saturday nights lately. : )