Catching Up

Wow! I can't seem to get caught up on anything. Here are some random pictures from the last month. I feel a New Year's resolution brewing...

Cookie Monster

Matthew has learned rather quickly that he has to protect his food from Rachel and Nathan. We do feed all of our children, it just always looks better on someone else's plate! He holds his food with both hands like a little chipmunk.

Nathan coming in for taste...

Happy Birthday, Matthew!

Matthew is "1" today! I honestly wasn't sure if he would live to see the day. He has been in survival mode since about 6 months old. Having 2 older siblings, who like to play rough, can be tough on a little one, but he has held his own! Can't wait to see him fight back!

He had a great time with his cake once he realized he could just stick his hand in and go for it. He also enjoyed his bath in the kitchen sink. That was a first for him!

Before

After

Satisfied birthday boy!

Getting dirty never tasted so good!

Digging in!

Happy Mother's Day

I could feel someone staring at me as I slept this morning. I awoke to see Nathan standing next to our bed. It was 6:30 am...so much for sleeping in. He was so anxious for me to look for the Mother's Day gift he had stashed. After a game of "hot/cold", I finally located the tile he had made at school. Very cute! The kids made breakfast for me and behaved most of the morning! That's the best gift any mom could receive.

First Haircut

Matthew got his first haircut today. He smiled and laughed through the whole thing.

Matthew's Adventure

Matthew got his first ride in an ambulance last Friday afternoon. He was taken to the hospital with a bad case of pneumonia. We went in for a doctor's visit and his oxygen levels were so low that they decided to call an ambulance to take him directly to the ER. He and I ended up staying overnight until he could maintain his oxygen levels. He didn't seem bothered by all the tubes and monitors hooked up to him. We were discharged late Saturday afternoon and he is doing much better.

We all scream for...

Krispy Kreme! Rachel strikes again! While we were distracted at Nathan's t-ball practice, Rachel was focused on a task of her own. We found her in the van, face down in the box of doughnuts. She left her "mark" on each and every one.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! We hope you are enjoying this special day as we celebrate the resurrection of our Savior. Church was an adventure...all the children were on a sugar high! Ah, Peeps...

We had hoped for an Easter miracle of our own...a decent picture of the kids. We ended up having to adjust our definition of decent. Rachel is the "Chandler Bing" of our family. She just can't seem to take a "good" picture as evidenced below.

Matthew is disgusted by all of it! His facial expressions are hilarious in the family shots.

Taking "cheese" to a whole new level

Matthew was letting it all hang out...

Look at this crew...Jeff Foxworthy would be proud.

A Moment for Matthew

This poor little thing gets the scraps of time that are left. We thought we'd shine the spotlight on him.

Rachel's Music Montage

Every night when we put Rachel to bed we go through the following singing ritual. She sings the same songs in the same order...never deviating. Sometimes she gets lazy and does the actions with her thumb in her mouth as shown during the "Wise Man/Foolish Man" song.

Biker Boy

We took the training wheels off of Nathan's bike today. He took off with no fear!

A Happy Rainy Day

Rachel got an Ariel umbrella at the store yesterday and was so excited to play in the rain today. She literally played with it and didn't really use it to shield herself from the rain.

Snow day...the real deal!

Well, I think we've had our last winter hurrah. We woke up to about 5 inches of snow this morning. The kids, dressed in their hodgepodge of snow clothes, ran out first thing. They went sledding, made snow angels, and shoveled the driveway. Fun morning!

Pinewood Derby

Our ward recently had a Pinewood Derby activity. Nathan and Jared created a Batmobile for the competition. As goes the tradition, Jared was more excited than Nathan about the whole thing. Jared was thrilled that it actually made it down the length of the track.

When I turn my back...

Rachel strikes! Her mission in life is to torment her baby brother. I must say "Leave your brother alone" about a million times throughout the day. I was vacuuming and couldn't hear the cries of help from Matthew. When I walked in his room, I found him buried alive. When I asked her what she was doing, she replied, "He wanted a toy." Well, he certainly got one!

3 Going on 13

Happy birthday to Rachel! It was a "girls just wanna have fun" day for Rachel and me. We had a great day at the Children's Museum and enjoyed a gourmet meal (kid style) at McDonald's. The video clip proves that no one likes to get older...