Weekend Recap

We had a fun weekend!

On Thursday night we had a slumber party with this cutie, while her mom and dad were at the hospital having her baby sister. We had so much fun!

The kids thought it was the coolest thing that Sarah got to spend the night. I bathed and got them in their jammies early, so the night would be less hectic, and they kept talking about how fun it was to have a jammie night with Sarah!

We went up to the hospital Friday morning to meet Baby Elise and leave Sarah with her grandparents. Then we came home and made cookies, had lunch, and naps.

The kids spent the night with my parents' Friday night. They went to the mall to play and have dinner too, and Matt and I got a date night. We went out to dinner, did a little shopping, and then went back to the hospital to love on that sweet baby again!

Erica's friend Meg was there too and we recreated this picture. We took the same one the night Sarah was born!

Saturday morning we divided up the kids for the day. Barry kept Elisabeth. Matt and Nathan spent the day working on the shed in our backyard.

They got the roof up!

And my mom, Samuel and I spent the day shopping. I won a door prize for free tickets to a Holiday Market Fair at MOPS last week, so we had to use them, right?!

Samuel was a really good sport while we shopped. A few treats helped too!

We found a few cute things. We had plans to watch the OSU/TCU game with some friends that afternoon, but as we were leaving the Holiday Market, I got a text that they were sick and had to cancel. Since we didn't need to rush home, my mom and I (and Samuel) continued our shopping day and ran by a few other stores. We hadn't had a shopping day together in a long time, so it was really fun!

We got home that afternoon about 3:15. Nathan was excited when I told him there was a package on our front porch. We've been doing  a reward system with Nathan where he earns rocks for helpful, kind, out of the ordinary good behavior. He can trade them in for rewards. He's been saving up for a long time (40 rocks!) to get one of the big rewards which is a trip to the toy store for a new toy. He told me he wanted a Paw Patrol Training Center, and since it was cheaper online, I just ordered it for him, and he had been asking everyday when it would come!

He and Samuel played with it all afternoon, while the rest of us watched the OSU game! That was the best part of our weekend. We were disappointed to not be able to watch it with friends, but it turned out to be a fun family activity at home. We'd have dance/spin around/throw up in the air parties whenever we scored (Which was all the time!) Elisabeth learned how to say touchdown from that game.

I can't believe we are three games away from a trip to the playoffs! If we play as well in our last games as we did on Saturday, we'll be there!

We went to church Sunday morning. It was fun to wear some of the new things I had gotten during our shopping day on Saturday.

Elisabeth came over while Matt was taking the picture and started posing. It was adorable.

I packed a lunch for the kids, and we left right after church to drive to OKC. All three kids napped on the way! Samuel fell asleep holding his sandwich.

We made it right on time to Declan's second birthday party! We had a fun afternoon celebrating.

He had a Jake and the Neverland Pirates party, and Lindsey did a great job on everything. My boys loved all the pirate goodies.

Nathan asked for two pieces of cake.

After the party we met up with Matt's parents at a playground. The weather was phenomenal, and we had fun playing. We ate dinner with them and then headed home. It was a great weekend!

15 Months Old

Sweet girl, you are 15 months old! You are at such a FUN age. Your personality is just adorable. You have a spunk about you that makes everyone smile.

You are really into books these days. You want to read them all the time. But you are picky! If you don't want to read a particular book, you'll close it (while I'm reading it) and say no and then hop up to grab a different one. You love peek a boo (lift the flap) books and touch and feel book. Your two favorite books are "Go Thomas Go" and "Peek a Boo- Who Did It." If we are sitting on the floor, you automatically think you have permission to grab a book and sit in our laps.

You also like to play with blocks, dishes, cars, and are playing with your doll house more and more.

You are officially down to one nap per day. You go down between 12:00 and 1:00 and usually sleep 1.5 to 2 hours. You're handling it pretty well, even though I know if you didn't have an older brother in Pre-K, you'd still be taking two naps. You've struggled with the time change a bit, but you're getting adjusted now and are sleeping from about 7:30-6:30 or 7 every night.

At your 15 month well check you weighed 23lbs 14 oz (45%) and were 31inches tall (70%). You're wearing a size 4 diaper, size 5 shoe and 12-18 month and 18 month clothes.

You still are obsessed with your bottles and get 3-4 a day. You're not a breakfast fan. Really you just want your bottle and some simple snacks- dry cereal, yogurt bites and raisins. Sometimes you like banana for breakfast too. You've become a fan of grapes these days and are still a great protein eater (So different than your brothers!). I made chicken and noodles a few weeks ago, and you gobbled up all of it. It was definitely a favorite. You eat much better at lunch and dinner. You love the Gerber toddler ravioli meals and are great at whatever I serve for dinner, but of course you still insist on feeding yourself.

Your are starting to talk all the time. You say about 20 words. Here is a list of everything you say (that I can remember)
Momma, Dadda, Bye Bye, Night Night, Bottle, Ball, Book, Shoe, Bow, Sock, Tickle, Uh-oh, Uh-huh, No, Push, Paw Patrol, Hi, More, Bubble, Pop, Touchdown, nose, eye, poo poo, and diaper. You say Uh-oh all the time and it's really cute and say it anytime anything is out of the ordinary- the phone rings, commercial comes on tv, something is out of place. "No" is a new word that you've learned and you say it all the time too. You are certainly an opinionated little girl.

Lately, when you see our clothes, you'll pick up a shirt or whatever and say "momma" or "dadda" (who ever it belongs to). You do the same with shoes, and I've caught you trying to put shoes on Samuel before (Little Mommy).

You've started coming to find me and tell me "poo poo"and pointing to your diaper whenever you do your business.

You say a dog says, "woof woof," a dinosaur says, "roar" and a kitty cat says "Night night!" We have a book about a kitty and the kitty is sleeping, so you always point and say "night night" and now you always say that when we ask what a kitty cat says. So cute!

Two of your canine teeth have popped through, and the other two are close behind. They haven't seemed to bother you too much (thankfully).

You are a jealous girl. If Daddy or I are holding one of your brothers, you cry and reach for us and try to push your brothers out of our arms. You want us all to yourself. You did the same thing when I held Sarah and even when I held Baby Elise. You are perfectly content being the baby in our family!

I set you down to change your brother's diaper and you threw this fit when I told you that you weren't my only child and sometimes I have to take care of your brothers.

You like to brush your teeth, and I have the hardest time getting the toothbrush out of your grip.

For the first time in probably close to a year when we dropped you off at church last Sunday, you did not cry!!! We were in shock and your teachers were too! I'm so glad you're starting to outgrow some of your separation anxiety. When we pick you up, you're always happily playing and you even take a nap most Sundays. They just put you in your crib and you sleep through all the noise of the other kids. You like your sleep!

You always want to play outside, especially when I'll push you in the swing, but you love to climb and slide almost as much. You are always busy and never stop when we go to a park or playground.

You are into everything and can make the biggest mess in a matter of seconds. You like to pull all our dvds out of the cabinets, all our books of the shelf and everything out of any drawer. I won't be sad when you outgrow that phase.

You've started to always want to carry a bag, and you will not let us help you. You carry your suitcase around and say "bye bye," and always have to carry your diaper bag when we go to church. And you want to always carry Samuel's lunch box when we take him to school.

We love you baby girl. You make our lives so much more fun!

Halloween Weekend Recap

We had a great week/weekend celebrating Halloween. It's so fun with kids! My parents' church does a Trunk or Treat every year the Wednesday before Halloween. It's really fun. My parents did a Flintstone theme this year with their car, and so we joined along with the theme. They were perfect!

 The kids were excited to get candy. Elisabeth figured out the concept SO fast. She couldn't get candy fast enough and always grabbed a huge handful

We walked through about half the cars, and the kids decided they wanted to help hand out the candy at my parents' car instead of Trick or Treating. They had the best time. I think all three of them had more fun giving out candy rather than getting it.

The next night we had more celebrating with a carnival that my parents' neighborhood hosts.

I think Samuel is the perfect "Bamm Bamm!"

Nathan couldn't wait for the inflatable slide.

They got more candy, played carnival games, ate cotton candy, and even waited patiently in a long line for a balloon sword.

My grandparents came up to visit for the weekend too, and we had so much fun with them. I have always thought that they are the best grandparents. Really they are just the greatest people around. So of course, they make the absolute best great grandparents too.

I'm so grateful that they get to be a part of my children's life and that my kids are making memories with them. It's a special thing. And I always look forward to when they visit because they are such a help to me. They both have the biggest servants' hearts and fold my laundry, wash my dishes, and babysit so I can go to Target by myself!

We had a Sunday School party scheduled for Friday night, but unfortunately, rain canceled those plans. My grandparents had offered to keep Elisabeth for us during they party, and since it was canceled they still kept her, and Matt and I took the boys to the movies. It was Samuel's first visit to the movie theater. Minions was playing at the dollar theater, and it was the perfect first movie for Samuel. It was so fun hearing him laughing during the movie and talking about it afterward. Matt and I weren't super impressed, but our boys sure loved it!

My grandparents left early Saturday morning, and my parents offered to keep the kids for us for a few hours on Saturday, so Matt and I got a breakfast date and then we cleaned our carpets. Romantic, right? I was a little grumpy that we had to be responsible on a Saturday without kids, but we got it done quickly and still had time to relax and enjoy a kid-free morning.

We went to my parents' house that afternoon to watch the OSU/Texas Tech game. It was such a fun game to watch (once we overcame that 0-17 start). We made the mistake halfway through the third quarter of telling the kids we'd throw them in the air and spin them around when we scored a touchdown. We might have regretted it by the end of the game after we had done it five or six times! But the outcome was fun!

We changed the kids into their costumes as soon as the game was over. We lost our Dino on Halloween. He wanted to be Batman instead. I knew that there would come a point where I'd lose control over costume choices, but it was still a little hard to accept. I feel like we'll have a superhero for Halloween for the next five years at least. Cute costumes were fun while they lasted!

We trick or treated on my parents' street, and then came home and finished up with a few houses in our neighborhood.

Elisabeth was ADORABLE trick or treating. She is so stinking independent. She refused to be carried and wouldn't even hold our hands when we walked up to a house. She had to do it herself and loved getting all the candy to put in her bucket. Once we got to our house, we grabbed the wagon to walk around, and she couldn't get enough of the wagon rides from house to house.

The kids crashed after our fun night, and Sunday was a normal day. We went to church and came home for lunch and naps.

Nathan and Matt worked on building the shed in our backyard during naptime. We had Bible Study Sunday night and came home and pretty much went straight to bed. We're all still getting adjusted to the time change. (Elisabeth asked to go night night at 5:45 tonight :)).