Picnic at the park

The kids and I picked Thayne up from school today, bought food at Wendy's and went to a near by park to have a picnic. We only had about an hour before Thayne had to go back up to study but it was long enough for the kids to eat and play with Thayne. Here's some pictures of our quick time together:

Here's Josie enjoying every piece of her kid's meal. She would eat one thing and then run and play and then come back and grab something else. She did finish it all, though.




















I told Jaed that I wanted to take a picture of him and he did this great pose. He's such a funny boy!




















Jaed wanted to get in the little kid's swing and after much protest from us we finally said okay. Here he is after one push in the swing. He was yelling "STOP" because the swing was hurting him. Thayne had to turn him upside down to get him out of the swing because his legs were so stuck in the little holes that lifting him out was not working. I think he learned his lesson because he didn't get close to the swings for the rest of the time we were there! Josie was singing and swinging while Jaed was screaming and swinging.


















Indi loves the swing. I really thing she could swing for hours!





















Here's Indi resting at the bottom of the slide.
















Kaia is in her first swing and not sure how she feels about it. She did start to cry after I did a few little pushes. She's not ready, yet!






















Kai loves tot be cuddled, held, snuggled and held (oh, did I already say that.). Thayne keeps saying that he hopes she stays calm like this forever but we ALL know that's not going to happen.

Beautiful Days...

I have been taking the kids outside to play in our backyard while the weather has been nice. It's nice to see them run around and play together. Josie gets bored playing with the other two so she'll wander and do her own thing while Jaed and Indi continue to play together. I watched Josie play by herself for a bit and she sang songs to the tree, danced in front of the basement window, made a nest on the ground for the birds, picked flowers and brought them to me, and laid in the grass starring up at the sky. It was very calming to watch her and see that she was enjoying every moment and didn't get distracted by Jaed and Indi screaming and chasing each other. Jaed even called her name a couple of times and Josie completely ignored him and kept doing what she wanted. I dont' know if this is normal play for her age but it seemed very calming and soothing to me. Here are some pics of the kids playing outside:

Here's Kai relaxing in the stroller, listening and watching her siblings play. She had a grin on her face most of the time we were outside!




















Here's the kids playing together right when we got outside. They run right for the swings and start swinging away!
















Jaed is always trying something different on the swings. I constantly hear, "Look at me, Momma!". After I took this picture he wanted me to take a picture of every crazy thing he was doing.



















Here is when Josie was singing to the tree. Her back was too me but when I called her name she turned around and I took the picture.



















Indi was relaxing on the swing after chasing Jaed all over the yard trying to get a ball he had. She gave up and crashed on this swing.

More Funny Stuff

I don't even know which child to start with because they all have been so funny lately. I think I'll start with the most funniest thing that happened. I don't nurse Kaia very much but every once in a while I'll nurse her and one particular time Indi came over to me while I was nursing Kai and she just stopped and looked completely confused. I didn't say anything to her but her confused look changed to a panic look and she said, "Mommy get your butt out of baby Kaia's mouth!". I started laughing so hard. Indi just starred at me and then I guess she got bored because she turned and walked away. A few minutes later I had Kai on the couch changing her diaper when Indi came up and tried to put her chest in Kai's face. I chuckled and said, "Oh Indi, only mommies can do that not sisters." She responded, "Oh" and ran off to play.

This reminds of another time when Jaed was Indi's age and I was nursing Indi and he came over to where I was. He got this horrified look on his face and yelled, "GET AWAY Mommy she's eating you!". I think Thayne and I laughed about that for weeks and it still makes me chuckle when I think about it. I guess that's what I get for nursing my last two very sporadically. My older kids don't have a chance to get use to it. It sure can turn into some funny memories, though!

Jaed has been obsessed with getting dog. We told him that he could have one when he turned 7 so he askes quite often how many more days is that. Well he told me a couple days ago that when he's 20 he's going to get a car and go to the store and when he's in the store his dog will stay out in the car. I asked him what his girlfriend was going to do and said that she would stay in the car with his dog. I asked him which he would love more, his dog or his girlfriend and he quickly responded, "My dog and my T.V.". His poor future girlfriend....she's number three on the important list.

Josie has been trying to wear everyones clothes but her own lately. She's been wearing Indi's dresses (way to short), Jaed's shirts (way to big) and yesterday I saw her wearing an pair of shorts that go to one of Kai's outfits. They looked like spandex on her. They were size 6 months but somehow she got them on. I demanded that she take them off and it took her a good 2-3 minutes to peel them off her. When my sister was here, Josie put on a pair of Kai's bloomers and they were stretched so tight on her that they looked like shorts. Josie probably has more clothes than anyone in the house but for some reason everyone else's clothes are more appealing. I even caught her running around with one of my bra's wrapped around her. I think this is payback because I use to get into my mom's and sisters stuff all the time and I remember my mom saying, "There is nothing sacred in this house anymore." or "Allyson (yes, that's my real name) if it's not yours than don't touch it.". I couldn't comprehend that last statement and probably still have a hard time with it, I'd have to ask my husband!

I don't have anything funny to say about Kaia other than she is so dang cute. Here's our most recent picture of her:

Just got a bath, and lotioned up (hence the shiny forehead!)






































Kai hates to lay down. This is here trying her hardest to sit up. She tries a couple of times and then usually cries until you pick her up. She's too young to be on the go already, isn't she?

Panties

Now that Indi is potty trained I can't seem to keep her clothed, not even with panties. She runs around the house nude all the time. When I ask her where her panties are she just says, "I dunno" and runs off. Well, since we're going to be vacationing a lot this summer I decided that I better get this problem under control. We certainly don't want her to be streeking around naked at other family members houses. So, yesterday I thought I would be very passive in my approach to getting Indi to wear panties, at least. Everytime she didn't have them on I would ask her where her panties were and the first several times she would run and get them (after several "I dunno's" from her and me insisting that she find them) and I would help her put them on. Finally she got a little more clever. Later in the day when I would ask her where her panties were she would have them around her arm, stuck in a purse she was carrying around, at the bottom of her shopping cart, and one time they were even on her leg around one of her ankles. So when I would ask her where her panties were she would very quickly pull them from where ever they were and say, "Wight here mommy!" and then she would run off with me saying, "Please put them on Indi!". Unfortunately, she felt that as long as they were in reach then she had them "on".
I decided that I need to move up to the next level of coercion if she wasn't going to wear her panties. Now if she asks me to help her with something or wants something and she's not wearing her panties I simply say, "I can't help you, Indi, if you're naked. You need to put your panties on.". Most of the time she doesn't hesitate and puts the panties right on. Hopefully this method will work and we'll nip this problem within a couple of days. I'll keep you updated!

Sleeping babies!

I really feel rejuvenated and ready to take care of my babies again after my sister has given me a quick break. After putting all my kids in to bed I sat down and watched them for just a minute thanking my Heavenly Father for the beautiful children he sent me. I am so blessed to have healthy, active children and I pray everyday that he forgives me for my impatience that I sometimes have for these wonderful babies:

Here's Jaed using his bunny, Printzel, as a pillow with his duck, Ducky, sitting up behind him. Can he be anymore precious than that?




















Here's Josie holding her bear, Beary, and laying next to her bunny, Dirty. I sometimes think she's the one that has me wrapped around her little finger.
















Here's my princess Indi holding her bear, unknown (she hasn't name it), and her bunny, Bunny Waamer (Warner). She is truly the princess of the family and I love every minute of it, screeches and all!













Here is Kaia, our wonderful baby who has placed herself in all of our hearts very quickly. Everytime I look at her I feel a touch of love from my Heavenly Father!















I never thought I could be blessed so much. Everytime I look at them sleeping I am reminded how much my Heavenly Father loves me because he has sent me such adorable and precious children and given me a husband as wonderful as Thayne. I feel surrounded by love and can't believe that I get so caught up in unimportant daily stuff that I forget and act ungrateful. Thayne is my rock, my true love and my sounding board and my kids are my personal bundle of love that are just waiting to share it unconditionally if I take a moment and let them!

Baby hair is gone!

I've been wanting to cut Indi's hair for a while now but everytime I started to do it she was scream and cry like her hair had feelings so I decided to wait until my sister came. I distracted her while my sister cut. Indi only said "OWIE!" the first couple of cuts then it was smooth sailing after that. I think she looks so dang cute (not that she didn't before!). Here is the new Indi:

I'm going to let her bangs grow out which will be a pain at first but I think it will be worth it!





































After she was done with the hair cut and got her washed off she started fluffing her hair and dancing while we told her how beautiful she was. I thought we would end up cutting all her curls off but she has lots of curls left and I think she is growing new ones in, so I'm crossing my fingers that I'll have a girl with curly hair like their dad!

Post surgery and lots of fun!

My sister arrived, and the surgery was a complete success and uneventful! I had to go in at 6:00 a.m. and I got home a little after 6:00 p.m.. The Cardiologist said that it was exactly what he thought it was and he assured me that I should be alright from here on out. My sister did great with my kids and they didn't drive her crazy like I was afraid of. I couldn't lift anything over 10 lbs. or do physical activities for 3-5 days so that my arteries could heal so my sister step in and took on my responsibilites for those days. At first I felt guilty but then she kept telling me to sit down and quit touching things, so I decided to lay down and relax and enjoy the hands-off experience and it was GREAT!!! My sister not only took care of my kids, my chores, and meals....she also took care of me. It truly was sad to see her go, not only because she's the best sister ever and I'll miss her but because I have to start wiping bums, changing diapers, clean, and cook again :). She really did spoil me!

I'm not one that likes to lay around so I did have tons of craft projects lined up for us to do and we accomplished them all. Here is just a couple that we did:

Ribbon board to hold pictures, memos or whatever you want. The picture doesn't do justice to how beautiful they turned out.




















This project was done on canvas boards. It's like a scrapbook page done on canvas and you hang it on your wall.
















My sister is amazing. She not only did all the stuff I said above but she did TONS of crafts with me. We're going to visit her for three weeks this summer....can you just imagine what we are going to be able to accomplish and how much fun we're going to have? I CAN!!!! I'm counting down the days!

Try it again!

I'm going in for out-patient heart surgery on friday and I"m getting a little nervous. Those of you who have read my blog since the beginning will remember that the last time I went in to have this surgery I was told that they couldn't do it because I was pregnant. Nine months later, little Kai was born. I'm almost positive that's not going to happen again and that I"ll have the surgery. My sister is coming tomorrow to help me while I recover from surgery. I'm so excited to see her and spend some time hanging out with her. My kids are thrilled as well. Josie told me today, "Mommy, Aunt Becki is coming to our new house and she is going to eat here and use the potty here!". Isn't that funny that she thought about the whole potty thing? She then went on to tell me that Aunt Becki is going to read her every book she has and play dress up too. That's something I can't wait to see :).

I told Jaed that I have to go to the hospital and Friday so that the Dr. can fix my heart. He seems quite concerned. He kept asking me if I was going to be okay and if my heart hurts. I reassured him that I was okay and that I would even be better when the Dr. was done. He asked me who "broke" my heart and how is the Dr. going to fix it. I explained to him that I was born with a problem with my heart and that the Dr. was going to go into my heart and take out the bad part. He seemed to be okay with that answer but as he sat next to me, he rubbed my arm. He's such a sensitive boy and has a very soft heart. He'll always be my baby boy!

I tried to talk to Josie and Indi about the upcoming event but they didn't seem to care. They just went around singing, "Mommy has a broken heart, Mommy has a broken heart". Josie did come and ask me some questions later and was happy to hear that the Dr. is going to fix my heart and that I would be fine.

I haven't been away from Kai for more than a couple of hours so I'm a little nervous about that. I know that my sister will take really good care of her but just nervous about being away all day. Here's the most recent picture of her:

Rough night

I think Indi had a rough night last night. She woke up a lot and ended up just sleeping in our room on the floor. When she got up this morning here is what we saw:


















I really hope that hair-do is not an indication of how our day is going to go. Combing that mess was a real challenge.

Bigger than normal

We went to the grocery store and they had all their easter stuff on clearance so we let the kids each pick out a stuffed animal. We all thought it was that the stuffed animals were all bigger than Kaia. Here's a picture of it. Can you find Kaia:












The animals eat dinner with us, read stories, with us and even pray with us. Here's a picture of them all with there animal. Notice that the animal has to hold Kaia instead of Kaia holding it:

Our Funny Jaed

Jaed has been on a roll at saying funny things lately. Here are just a few:

Kai is starting to talk a lot lately and whenever Jaed is around he interprets everything she says. Kai has said tree, star wars, Jaed, mom, and cookie so far and she's only two months old. I think we have a real genius on our hands!

Jaed asked me, the other day in the car, who was incharge of the town. I told him that the Mayor was in charge of the town and he asked me what his name was. I admitted that I didn't know his name and maybe when Dad came home we could ask him. Jaed then said, "Dad knows everything!". I, of course, didn't agree but said, "I'm so glad you think so, Jaed. ". He then stated, "Mom's know everything too, but you don't!". I didn't know for sure how to answer that so I just kept silent. So I'm the only mom on the earth who doesn't know everything...hmm...is that an okay thing?

Jaed was playing star wars with his sisters and Josie hit him with a light saber. Jaed fell to the ground and said, "Josie you got me. You cut me up!". Josie proudly announced, "I WIN!" but then Jaed jumps up and says, "No you didn't, Jesus healed me!".

Jaed is obviously catching on to our little sayings. When one of the kids needs something, Thayne and I always respond either "I'm coming" or "Ok, just a second". Well, Jaed was in the bathroom and needed some help and called out for Thayne and, of course, Thayne responded "Ok, just a second!". Jaed was quick to say, "NO, not a second. You won't come for 4 minutes. COME NOW!". Thayne and I just laughed and laughed. Josie is actually catching on as well. She needed my help and I told her I was coming but continued to finish up what I was doing. Josie appeared next to me and said, "You're not coming Mom. I called you and said you were coming but you're not coming!". Kids.......they're too smart!

Caffiene Addiction

Thayne drinks A LOT of Diet Pepsi and has been caught giving the kids a quick drink. Well, the other night I was puting the girls to bed and they were quite restless. We put the kids to bed about 7:30 and by 8:00 they normally are asleep but this particular night the girls didn't finally go to sleep until after 9:00 p.m.. I was frustrated, worn out and extremely bugged. I couldn't believe that it took them that long to fall asleep. I went over their day to see if maybe they didn't have enough activities or what but their day was really no different then any other day so the late night didn't make any sense to me. When I went back into our room Thayne told me that he had a full 24 oz of diet pepsi on his desk and now he can't find it. I marched right back in the girl's room, turned on the light and started looking around. I found the EMPTY bottle under Josie's bed. The girls had obviously gotten Thayne's drink, taken it into their room and shared the entire bottle. They were so wired on caffiene that going to sleep wasn't even in the plans. How can kids learn to be so sneaky at such a young age? The next morning we asked Josie about the empty bottle and all she coud say with her head cocked to the side was, "Sorry Mom!".

Two months!

I had quite the adventure today. I had to take all four kids to the Dr.'s for Kaia's two month check-up. WOW....is the only word that really describes our experience. First it started with a phone call. Our insurance company didn't assign Kai a Dr. so they had me call the insurance company while I was there to take care of it. Well, while I was doing that Indi said she had to use the potty so I pointed to where it was (about 6 feet from where I was, single bathroom) and she entered and shut the door. Well then Josie said she had to go and there happened to be another bathroom right next to the one Indi was in so I pointed to it and Josie went right in and shut the door. About three minutes later, I heard the toilet flush in the Indi's bathroom and then the door drastically swung open and out runs Indi naked from the waste down screaming "MONSTER" and pointing to the bathroom. I immediately knew it was the flush that scared her. I tried to calm her down while still talking to the lady on the phone. During this scene, out comes Josie with her pants and panties around her ankles saying, "Mommy, I pee'd in a cup!". By this time I either had to scream at them or laugh, and I chose to laugh. I kept telling Josie to go back in the bathroom and pull her pants up but she just kept repeating that she pee'd in a cup. By this time we had quite the audience. Several nurses and office staff came over to see what the heck was going on and about half of them said, "Oh my.....girls you need to get clothes on!", and then they would turn and leave. Thanks for the help people! Finally, I told the receptionist that I couldn't wait on the phone any more because the situation with my kids was getting out of hand. She took the phone from me and I went into Josie's bathroom where the girls were hanging out by this time. Josie was showing Indi where the cup was she pee'd in. I got them to pull/put their pants back on and was ushering them out of the bathroom when a nurse poked her head in and said, "Whose kids are these?". HELLO! I was standing right there with them, DUH! I told her they were mine and she was about to say something about getting them under control when I stopped her and said, "Don't tell me how to parent my children. I was on the phone with the insurance company!". The lady backed off and tried to apologize to me. I just ignored her and got my kids to the bench where they all sat down and I finished my call with the insurance company.
When they were ready to take us back to a room, guess who the nurse was that called out our name? Yep, it was the one I snapped at. I was a tad bit embarrassed but I just told myself that I did the best I could to get them under control and if she didn't like it then, OH WELL! She did tell me, once we got into the room, that Josie pee'd in a cup that had already been pee'd in by another child and that she dumped another cup out that was full of pee (which belonged to a two year old that they struggled with because he was afraid to pee in a cup and now they have to do it again). (Josie discovered the little cubby hole in the wall where you put your specimen cup after you pee in it.) I just rolled my eyes and shook my head. What could I do about it now.....NOTHING. Then right before the Dr. came in I was getting after the three older kids for being loud and hurting each other and they all started to cry which cause Kai to cry. So here comes in the Dr. with four crying kids and a frazzled mom. I couldn't hear a word he was saying because everyone was crying so I practically yelled, "CAN YOU SPEAK UP, I CAN"T HERE YOU!". He chuckled as he looked around the room and started hugging each child to try and calm them down. I'm sure he was wondering why I wasn't doing that but I was frustrated and frazzled I didn't even know where to start.
I did learn one major thing during this little adventure. I cannot take all four kids into the Dr.'s office again. I was inefficient when it came to crowd control.
Anyways, Kaia was healthy and has gained about 3 pounds since she was born. She had to get three shots and hated every minute of it.

Easter Day!

Jaed and Josie have been so excited for this day to come. Josie was up at 7:15 a.m. waking her brother and sister up telling them that the Easter bunny was there. Thayne and I hid eggs down in the family room and left a note for the kids explaining which color of eggs were theirs. Jaed could find and collect the blue and green ones, Josie could find and collect the pink and yellow ones, and Indi got the purple and orange eggs. When they ran across and egg that wasn't theirs they would call the owner's name out and show them where it was. Thayne and I were suprised and thrilled at how organized and delightful the egg hunt was.



















After they were done with the Easter egg hunt, we told them that the Easter bunny hid their baskets in the living room and off they went. They found them in a matter of seconds were squealling with excitement. The girls both got a purse and a fun chevron car while Jaed got a Star Wars figure (JarJar Binks) and two water guns.




































Little Kai slept and ate through most of it while snuggling either me or Thayne. Next year she'll be running around like her older siblings, though. After we let the kids eat some of their Easter candy for breakfast we put their Easter outfits on and went to church.

Thayne and I decided, before Jaed was born, that when the kids got candy for a holiday (Halloween, Christmas, Easter, birthday, etc.) that we would let them have as much as they wanted on that day. If they wanted candy for breakfast, lunch, and dinner then that's what they got, but the next day we went back to the normal schedule and candy was put up and given out sparingly. I believe in letting kids be kids during those holidays and it's a day that I can relax and not worry about making sure they eat every meal, etc.. Just so you know, we do offer the "good" meals but most of the time they are declined and they spread their candy out in front of them and dive in!

Easter Glamour

One of the best things about Easter, for me, is finding dresses for my daughters and making the accessories. I was able to find the girls matching dresses, even one in Kai's size. I made the girls hair ribbons and sewed lace on their socks they were matching head to toe! Here are the pictures of our cute kids:

School Picture

Josie had her first school pictures taken. She is so DANG cute! She is starting to have an opinion on what she wears and how she wants her hair done and I hate it. I want to be in charge!! If I don't let her have a say in it she cries and cries. There has to be room for compromise, right? The best part about having girls (so far) is dressing them and doing their hair. What will I do if I can't be incharge of that?

Attack of the pudding!

Having pudding at our house is quite a treat because the mess to clean up afterwards is so HORRIBLE that we try not to give it to the kids very often. Some of our kids are messier than others but one out does all the rest. She has to get EVERY last slurp of the pudding, no matter what it takes. Here's a play by play scene for you:

Indi has finished using her spoon and is trying to lick off as much pudding as possible:




















She is now trying to get her mouth down in the container to get as much pudding out as she can:




















Here she is showing me that there is still more putting down in the bottom of the container. Her tongue obviously couldn't reach down in there:




















After her spoon and her mouth are used to best of her ability, she goes for the hand. She digs out the pudding and begins slurping, sucking and licking her fingers until no more pudding is seen:




















She is completely done being attacked by the pudding (actually, I think she was the attacker!) and is very happy with her accomplishments:




















Here are the three stooges after their SUPERB pudding dessert. Josie is our cleanest eater by far:

ACNE!!

Well I was hoping that Kaia was going to avoid the baby acne but no such luck. It's starting to cover her face. Josie was my only other baby that had acne and she got it BAD. Here's a picture of Josie at 2 months old with acne:





























Now here is Kaia with just the beginning of that nasty acne (I couldn't decide which picture to use so I posted them all cuz she's so DANG cute!): Please notice the red hair on Kaia. Yes, it is turning red!

The Warner Bunch

Here are all of my beautiful children:





















It's amazing how much they all look alike!

No Time!

With a new baby in the house it's hard to find time to blog or for anything else I like to do. But, she's worth every minute of my time, that's for sure. It's been an eventful week! We took the kids to the dentist last week and he told us that Indi needs to be taken off the pacifier because it's causing structural damage. So we found all the pacifiers that belong to her and cut them up and put them in the trash. She cried at first but I just kept telling her that the doctor said "No more pi'ers (that's what Indi calls them)". It only took one bad night for her to get over them.....well kinda. Several nights after we took them away, I went in her room to check on her and found her asleep with one of Kaia's pacifiers in her mouth. It was pretty funny and pretty sneaky for a two year old.

A couple of days ago we were riding in the car and Kai started to cry. We searched everywhere in the car for one of her pacifiers but had no luck finding one. I did happen to run across one of Indi's old pacifiers so out of desperation we put it in Kai's mouth. She quieted right down but then Indi started up. She started to say, "NO Kaia, dat mine!!" "Get it out, Kaia!". I felt so bad for little Indi. She cried all the way home saying off and on, "Dat's my pi'er!". Finally we got home and I took the pacifier out of Kaia's mouth and hid it and offered Indi some chocolate and she seemed to get over the traumatic event.

I also told her that the doctor said "No more diapers" so she agreed to where panties. The first two days were rough but then we had two more days of no accidents. We're on day seven and we're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. She does have a habit that needs to be broken soon, though. Everytime she goes to the potty she needs a new pair of panties. There is nothing wrong with the ones she was wearing but for some reason she's bored with them and demands a new pair. I have been giving in to her demands, for now, and folding up the ones she was wearing and putting them back in her drawer. Other than that little quirk, she's doing so well. If you ask her what the doctor said, she yells.."NO MORE PI'ERS AND NO MORE DIAPERS!!".