This morning

This is what I came out to this morning. 

Eerybody up and ready for the day!

We recently switched Anne over to a "big girl bed" after getting a toddler bed from some neighbors!  It has probably been our hardest transition, but I would say not hard, still.  The exciting part is that Anne can open the girls' door.  So, this morning, at about 6:30, when I hear the door open, I go out to tell Lilia to get back in bed (assuming it's her).  On my way to close the boys' door, which has been left open after a trip to the bathroom (which, incidentally, was probably the catalyst for the girl(s) waking up), I looked into the entrance and saw Anne sitting on the Fisher Price gas station sucking her thumb.

Quiet as can be.

Just sitting there.

It would have been so darn infuriating, if it hadn't been so cute!  Got her back to bed and that lasted not quite half an hour.

 I wouldn't mind the getting up early as much if I weren't battling a cold - complete with sore throat - since the second half of last week!  Oh, well.

Life certainly goes on.

And I sure love these kids.

Costumes!!

We had our church trunk-or-treat on Friday and the kids were so excited!  They would not stop asking when we could leave for the church.

We all had a fun time with the chili night, costume parade, and trunk-or-treat.

 Here they are after they've scored all their loot.

Costume-wise, this has been our easiest Halloween, yet!

Benny requested a storm trooper costume for his birthday from Grandma and Grandpa this year and Grandma went ahead and googled "storm trooper costume."  If you ask him, he tells you that he's one of the good guys when they're dressed up as storm troopers.  I told him to choose Han Solo.

It was Andy's turn for the Optimus Prime costume and Benny so nicely asked if Andy wanted to borrow his mask to go with it. (The cheap-o mask that came with the costume got chucked sometime last year, I think, but Benny had gotten a much better mask with his birthday money.)

Without even hesitating, Lilia wanted to be Max in his wolf suit from Where the Wild Things Are.  The ears have seen better days and almost never stand up anymore.  But she looked great and was so excited to wear it!  She also did a great job of holding her tail the whole night so it didn't drag on the floor.

And Anne got to have her second year in the monkey suit.  It was a bit of a stretch to get her in and zipped all the way, but we did it.  And she had a great time hobbling around with all the big kids!  She was a big hit and you could tell how adorable she knew she was.  She had a big smile on her face the whole time - especially when she realized she was getting candy!  She was more than willing to say "treat!" when prompted.  And always ready with a thank you.  She looked so cute with her little treat bag draped over her arm.

It was a great time and they're all looking forward to Wednesday when they can go around the neighborhood.  Benny keeps asking if he and Andy can go around by themselves this year.  They sure are growing up!

Hot chocolate afternoons

I love enjoying a mug of hot chocolate on a cold afternoon. It's even more fun to share the fun with some great kids! We lucked out that today was Benny's "early out" day (school lets out two hours early on the last Friday of the month except December and May) so he got to join us!

Not sure what this look was about, but I love it!!

A little blurry, but I love that he wanted to enjoy his hot chocolate while reading to himself.

A boy after my own heart.

Anne was already put in bed by this time (unfortunately she is still not sleeping...) and Lilia missed out on the treat since she didn't eat the rest of her sandwich.

That was left over from yesterday's lunch.

 Because she's a stubborn little girl.

But I can be much more stubborn.

She also knows that she won't have any chili, rolls, or candy from the ward Halloween party tonight unless she finishes her sandwich.

That I am bringing with us.

Too much?

And now the kids are enjoying their second movie for today (Benny's first).  Both Monster-themed, incidentally (Monsters, Inc. and Monsters vs Aliens).  It must be Halloween time!  We did set the timer and were able to get the family and living rooms cleaned up, so I think we're good to take it easy as we start our weekend.

Now my turn to get my salad ready for a (late) lunch and then to make some rolls!

Running

Honestly, I'm not running as much as I would like to these days.  However, with Spencer's schedule, that is to be expected.  I could take advantage of our YMCA membership and go during the day (the kids actually love the child watch there, anyway), but between it being sick season and not wanting to feel like the whole day is taken with me trying to run, I feel like it's better not to.

Twice in September I actually got up before 5a to go to the YMCA and was able to get back just as Spencer needed to leave for the hospital.  The first day I did that went great!  I did not feel tired at all (that was a Friday).  The following Wednesday I went again and felt like I could barely function the rest of the day.  Unless I'm going to bed at 8p, I think that option has closed itself.

October has been a little bit nicer.  Spencer only had to work the first weekend and in addition, one of his chosen weeks off was last week!  That was so nice in so many ways.  I was able to go running three or four times.  I only go 2 miles each time and I am getting slower each time, but I don't mind.  The weather has been wonderful for running and I love being able to get outside.  I'm looking forward to Saturday.

Unfortunately, November's schedule will be back to hopefully one day off per week for Spencer, so unless I want to get up before 5 again, it looks like things will slow down even more.

I think I was 18-19 weeks in both of these pictures.  Definitely getting up there!

And, no, we're not going to find out the gender before-hand.

 

June Birthday catch-up: Lilia

This girl is "free!!"

This was not actually a birthday crown.  Crowns are a regular accessory around here.  Here Lilia is modelling the stickers from one of the princess sticker books from her Bubbe.

For Lilia's birthday we went up to Bartlesville for the Kiddie Park there.  A fun little carnival they have over the summer for kids under 10.  A bunch of old-school rides, but they're either one or two tickets (tickets cost only $0.25 each), and the kids love them!  It's close to an hour away from us, so we've only been a couple of times since living here, but I wish we had done it more.  I hope we get at least one outing before we move next year.

Some pictures of the day.

 The birthday girl with her new shades.

 Anne also enjoying the day.

 Sporting her new shades and new church shoes.
Yes, Lilia has been dressing herself for some time.  I don't make her change.

 The yummy birthday cake!
I think this was a gluten-free yellow cake-mix with mandarin oranges mixed in with crushed pineapple mixed into whipped cream for the frosting.  It was very tasty.

 Everyone ready to go at the Kiddie Park!

 Waiting in line.

 The favorite ride!
The boys were so happy they were strong enough this year to pull back on the handle to elevate their plane.  The last time we went they were the only ones who didn't make it up.  But they still loved it!

 Lilia didn't make it up this year.

 Benny was so excited for this ride!

 It was so fun to see Lilia on this ride.  Just sitting back and enjoying every minute of it.

 Love the silly mirror!

 The carousel.

 I was there, too!

I think this ride was remembered to be more fun than it actually was.  Thankfully our kids are so low-maintenance they had a great time, still!

When we went two years ago, Benny had recently been toilet-trained.  He loved this ride so much he didn't get off for a bathroom break.  And his shorts were dark enough that we didn't notice afterward.  I can only imagine how many kids have done the same!  What a good thing for rain!

Just kickin' back and enjoying the ride!

 Benny's getting old enough that I think it was a little tame for him.  He's starting to entertain himself a little bit more.

 Boat ride!

 I loved the car selections by each of the kids on this ride.
Benny got the fire truck!



Andy the flashy sports car.
Really, I could see those two being flipped.

 And Lilia on the tractor.
That's our girl!

 Rocking boat.

 A reprieve from the stroller during bathroom breaks.

 And the roller coaster ride!

The caboose.


And here are a bunch of pictures from my phone of our resident "big girl" from the last several months.

Here she is "pregnant" with what I think was quadruplets.

I love pictures of all the kids sleeping.  Naps are getting far fewer and even further between.  I hate having to wake kids up to pick Benny up from school.  This was one of those times.

I took this picture to document one of my favorite wardrobe selections of Lilia's these days: a cute dress that's too short, so she has to wear shorts underneath and she picks some hand-me-downs from the boys.



Playing doctor and the doctor's office.
And this little girl has impressed our pediatrician enough that I've been told more than once she could grow up to be a doctor.
I have no doubt, but I'm pretty sure that's not what I want for her.



Playing "Knight" with the boys in Benny's armor.



Helping to take care of little sister.



Taking a break at the park.

Sporting her goggles.

One of my favorite looks of hers.

Goggles, again.

And another favorite look.  Her sunglasses from her birthday.  She regularly keeps those in the map compartment in the van (right behind the compartment for my sunglasses) and she often opens the one for my glasses so we can both wear our glasses.  I love it.

Lilia is such a delight to have in our family.  She is a very bright little girl who impresses most who see her.  She speaks very well and is very intelligible.  One of our favorite stories about Lilia was from over the summer in nursery.  It was so hot in that part of the building they would often open the window for some relief.  Some kids would throw toys out the open window.  Because there was no exit close to the nursery, the nursery leader would drop Lilia out the window to retrieve the toy(s) because Lilia was the only one trusted to not run away once outside.
I love that because Lilia can be quite stubborn (I can't imagine where she gets that!), but she knows what is right and can be very adamant about that.
She is a very good girl.

Wednesdays

Usually Wednesdays are not the greatest day.  Spencer is usually home later due to "Academic Afternoon," which is held every Wednesday.  Today, however, due to the afternoon being cancelled and some things Spencer needed to do, we enjoyed having Spencer home before 4p!!  In honor of such an event I thought I would share something happy.

I think we all felt this happy.

While at the same time I felt this tired.

And Spencer, wonderful man that he is, prepared dinner.

Both pictures from 19 Aug 2012.