Ben

This evening I let Ben crawl around in the hallway while I poured a glass of wine did laundry, and I looked over to see him standing up holding on to the bars of our bannister...looking down.  He had pulled up all by himself!!!  My camera was downstairs so I raced down, sure I would miss the shot...but lo and behold!  The boy held the pose.  Here he is...growing up wayyyyy too fast:

"The problem with a kitten is that....

eventually it becomes a cat." Which is something we found out over the past year or so. Remember about two years ago when NotOurCat Emma had babies and brought them over? Well NotOurOtherCat "Patti" (one of Emma's babies) is all grown up now. So grown up that she has her own little kittens. Four (so far) to be exact. Guess how I know? Because I caught the little bugger this afternoon hauling her baby kittens (by mouth) all the way from the house next door (which is not even her own house) to OUR house. Yep! Hiding in our bushes we now have this:

Look closely...see the little black face?




:
Up close...


The kitten tried to get away and mom swatted her-

 A little later they came out to play...

Count them...one, two...and a tail-

"Uh...guys?  I seem to be STUCKSTUCKSTUCK!"

Pretty baby

Nope.  I'm not getting attached.  At all.

I love love LOVE the tiny-tail-sticking-straight-in-the-air...

Matt is SO going to kill me. I think I'll tell him I'm ready to have another baby. Then maybe he'll let me keep the kittens....

Sunday School

Had the following conversation with Matthew after Sunday School today:



Me: Hey buddy! How was S. S.?

M: Good. I really LOVE Sunday School

Me: (heart warming) that is GREAT!! I'm so glad. So, what did you learn today?

M: Learn? Nothing.

Me: Ok, well, what did you talk about?

M: Nothing. We just ate. I love Sunday School!!!!



Apparently they were each given two doughnuts and two packets of fruit snacks...and spent the whole time eating?????



I asked Cailtin what they did in her class and she said "Puzzles".



Oh dear! Puzzles? "yes but they were about Jesus". (Shew!)



Me: "Did you talk about them while you were putting the puzzles together??"

C:"Yes!!"

Me:"Great!!!"

C: "Like, this piece goes here, no this piece goes there".



Sigh. Again.



Happy Sunday y'all. Hope next week is better...

Good Morning! Today I have a few minutes to update; so here's a bit about the kids:

Caitlin has a seven o'clock game tonight, which is a little bit late...but since their team has started to rally (after three straight losses to start the season) I am looking forward to the game. I am going to try REALLY hard not to scream from the sidelines. (it's harder than you think!) Caitlin is also getting ready to take the CRCT next week; she doesn't seem to worried about it...more annoyed at the interruption than anything else! She loves school and loves to "teach her animals". I spied on her a few days ago while she was teaching in her room and it's too cute. She sets them all up on her bed and reads to them, then asks them questions about what she read. The best part is when someone gets in trouble...usually for talking. She is really stern with them!! While she likes this game, she doesn't want to be a teacher when she grows up-she wants to be an artist! (I'm thinking architect...that way she can draw AND pay the bills.)

This morning Matthew was so excited because he got to take his book of drawings to school...over the past few weeks he has been working on drawing pictures to decorate his room:

Yesterday afternoon though he decided to take them all down and make a book out of them. We used a three ring binder and made a cover for it and everything. Matthew added captions to each picture and is going to share them with the class today. I'm anxious to know how it goes. He is my little explorer; he loves to go outside and hunt for caterpillars, and while Caitlin usually stomps them ("they are eating all your pretty plants!!") Matthew wants to save them all-he carries them to the woods and to a new home. Actually he decided to keep one of them the other day...he made it a nice home; assured me that he had gotten ALL the different leaves it might like, and put a wet paper towel in to give it water and named it "Kay Tay" (that may be the Jefferson equivalent of Katie...my children have developed a bit of South in the Mouth). I warned him that sometimes animals in captivity don't live, but he really wanted to keep her. He checked in on her throughout the day and she was fine...but unfortunately overnight..she died. He was devastated and promised that he was never going to do that again! I felt so badly for him; he really took good care of her, but I do think it was a good lesson.

Hannah bo seems to slowly be coming out of the terrible two's...she is very sweet and is showing signs of wanting to do the right thing (instead of doing the opposite of what I tell her to do). She has also developed an interest in letters; she can identify the letter S and sometimes the letter P. This summer I think it will be a good time to start Hannah on some "school"...I'll probably get Caitlin to teach her actually-they would both love that I think! Right now she is bringing me some of Ben's baby food-Peas-which is her FAVORITE food. Ben never gets peas because Hannah eats them all! She won't eat them whole...she only likes them baby food style.

Ben is crawling around everywhere! He got into the dog food for the first time yesterday; no kid can resist it! Poor Chassie always sheds about 15 pounds when the kids first learn to crawl because we have to put her food up all of the time! He is also starting to eat more "people" food (especially since Hannah steals all of his food)-he loves graham crackers and yogurt...but generally makes an enormous mess. He is still wearing a bib all the time. He continues to get us up around 530 to eat, which is getting a little old; I'm not sure if he actually needs to eat...but having a baby cry it out for the last hour before it's time to get ready for the day just doesn't feel like a good option right now!

Random Reporting

This past weekend we (finally) celebrated BenBen's Baptism-he did so well! Not one cry and only a few squeals...


Father was VERY generous with the water...Ben's hair was soaked and stuck straight up-

Fortunately Father decided that the Chrism could double as hair gel. Problem solved!

The girls....notice that C is wearing "dangly earrings" (she wore me down....)

The Fam-

Grandpa and Ben...I see similarities

Grandpa and Matthew

Ben, Grandma and Mommy

Daddy and Ben

I also got some pictures of the kids playing in the front yard-our Azaleas are in bloom and the yard is so pretty! Ben didn't make it into this photo shoot..he'd had enough pictures at the Baptism...

Caitlin posing, Matthew grinning and Hannah holding on for dear life!

Hahaha! I just love how she hugs!

Caitlin putting a flower in Pea's hair.

Cheerin'

Ben Crawling Video

...I hope. Sometimes the video thing doesn't work here, so let me know if you can't see it!

News

BEN IS CRAWLING!!!  I'm going to post video soon, but it is so cute!  He hesitatingly puts one little arm up and moves it forward and then just goes.  For some reason I can't remember the others learning to crawl so it feels like I'm experiencing this for the first time...I love it!

Hannah bo got into the blue stamp pad.  I think I am officially a moron.  Seriously, any normal sane person would probably learn not to leave Pea unattended for any length of time with anything that spreads/is sticky/is brightly colored.  But not me.  I left her downstairs with the art basket, and she got the blue stamp pad and proceeded to lick it and spread the contents all over herself and her chair.  At least we have many many Hannah fingerprints for the police database. 

Matthew had his first baseball game this past weekend which Matt went to (I was at Caitlin's soccer game).  Matt said that Matthew was "the whole package" as a baseball player...he can hit (once to the fence and never off the tee!) and field (shortstop) and run.  I was sad I missed it!  After the game we went to a birthday party and Matthew had so much fun with his friends...it was a good weekend!

Caitlin's game was good and bad....bad because they lost 3-1, but good because guess who scored the only goal??? Lil' C!  I was so proud!  It was, of course, a team effort, but it was Caitlin's "boot" that put it in the goal.  Hopefully there will be many more this season!  In other Cailtin news...I just took her this morning to get a blood screen to make sure that the purpura (reddish rash) on her legs that appears to be spreading is not a sign of anything worse.  We should know by Friday and really are not all that worried, since in all other ways she is completely healthy...but I'll letcha know how it goes. 

Pictures to come...but I better get the Ben before he crawls somewhere he shouldn't be!

Messes

(NOTE:  Apparently this post created a bit of confusion.  "Brown Diaper Cream does not equal Poo.  In this particular instance.  Though I will probably refer to poo from now on as Brown Diaper Cream.  Read on!)

  This morning I woke Pea up...and guess what SHE had been doing last night?  Two words: Diaper Cream.  Not just diaper cream but BROWN diaper cream (boudreaux?  or something like that)  It. Was. Everywhere.  Hair? Check.  Clothes? Check.  Sheets?  Check.  Stretch? Double check (I think he had a bit of diaper rash.  On his face.) AH!!!  Diaper cream messes are the worst!  Believe me, I know.  Every single one of my kids has gotten into it-but of course Pea is the only one who did it TWICE.  And with brown diaper cream.  EW. 

More later....

Great Spring Break

Sunday. I'm usually sad on Sunday evenings because the work week begins; Matt goes back to work and the munchkins go back to school. But this Sunday I am especially sad because this is the very end of a WONDERFUL spring break! It began with my birthday (which you KNOW I love) and ended with the birth of baby Zoe and in between was fun, fun, fun!

Because the week was so full I have about 30 pictures  to post...so this may be a long post. However if I get bored, I'll post more later :).

To begin with...my birthday. SO GREAT. It actually started on Friday when Matt surprised me by coming home early (*Matt never surprises me because I thought I hated surprises. Turns out I LOVE them*) with flowers and a yellow cake with chocolate icing..two of my most favoritest things :). We got to get all of our responsibilities done (gym, dinner cooking, laundry and cleanup) and were ready to party (with balloons) by 4:00. What a treat!!

Then on Saturday I had to take the GACE (Georgia teaching certification test) which I probably did not pass, (I forgot to study) but since it was my actual birthday it doesn't really count. Unless of course I pass, in which case it totally counts. After the test, Matt took me out to our favorite restaurant and then to the bookstore. While we were there I dragged him to the romance section (JUST FOR A SECOND) and all of a sudden the sales lady walks up to Matt (who may or may not have been perusing the romance titles) and asks him if he needs help finding anything; to which Matt cleverly (if not convincingly) replies, "UM, Uh, Yes. Can you tell me where the business section is???" I just about died laughing.

Then, on Sunday we had his family over for "Barberitos and Margaritos" which is an excellent combination by the way...and had a nice, relaxed evening.

Then, the week began and Matt had to go back to work, so the kids and I were on our own.  We managed to fill our time with egg decorating and playgrounds and picnics.  I was really able to see what a blessing four kids is...we were like our own playgroup!  We did so many fun things together..and when the "babies" (Ben and Hannah) took naps, the big kids and I got to do more grown up things...it was great.  I am really really going to miss them this next week!  Here are just a few pictures of all of the fun we had:  (I'm tired of writing.  So I'm gonna tell it through the pictures)

Ben LOVES to swing!  He just smiles the whole time-he is such a joyful baby!!

Caitlin: climbing the ladder she used to be petrified of.  What a big girl :)

Matthew-operating heavy machinery.  Sort of. 

Pea loves to swing on the bar above the slide before she goes down (still on her tummy)

These "spinny things" are the kids favorites-the big kids have mastered them!

Hannah, however...has not.  She goes as fast as she can around and around and then tries to run around on the playground right afterward...which never goes well because she is so dizzy! 

Best Buds

When he's not swinging, he's being carried around...he loves it :)

The big kids on a giant plastic boulder.  They SWEAR they found a fossil in it. 

Dying and decorating eggs with the wonderful egg decorating kit Ann brought us...they LOVED it!

Matthew's egg

Caitlin's egg

And Pea's egg.  Which she dyed, colored, stickered, glittered and promptly hurled to the floor after being told that there were no more eggs to decorate.  Good thing it was hard boiled!

The Ben didn't get to decorate, but he did get to eat.  And that was enough for him!

The big kids and I were playing soccer in the backyard...Hannah and Ben are plotting. 

At the playground, Pea found a group of girls and joined right in.  She's so shy....

Swinging never gets old

She loves to be pushed on the swing-she always says, "To da moon?", as in "push me as high as the moon!".

Our Easter egg hunt...it was so much fun!!!  The big kids were so sweet to Hannah...they saved all the easy eggs for her to find. 

Matthew

Pea, showing off her giraffe basket which she loves

"Take the egg, Just don't hurt my giraffe!"

Daddy and The Ben

Caitlin, finding the soccer egg in the playhouse

I had to take a picture of this-Matthew occasionally wets his bed still, except when we wake him up before we go to bed and make him go potty.  He hates wetting his bed, so he made Matt a little reminder note. 

Art skillz

Our Spring break ended in the best way possible; baby Zoe decided to come a bit early, and we were all thrilled!!  Unfortunately I don't have any pictures, but suffice it to say that she is as beautiful as her parents...the kids are so so so happy to have a new cousin and Matt and I are thrilled to have a brand new niece that is so close by.  Happy Birthday Zoe...we can't wait to watch you grow (but not too fast :))