I know no one is probably looking at our blog anymore since we are slackers, but just wanted to let anyone know that happens upon it that familyeguide.com is a great resource for the latest kid friendly happenings in the DFW metroplex. I get facebook status' of all the latest things going on and it has been great! Log on and check it out if you get a chance!

Yesterday, we had the front entry painted. Nothing fancy, just repainted the same color in a more durable paint. I was still happy with the color, we just mainly needed to take care of the wall going up the stair case. For some reason my children have still not figured out what a handrail is for, despite my many attempts to explain this to them. We could have just repainted that wall, but after the floors were put in over a year ago, the tile removal involved lots of tile shards flying and nicking many of the other walls. That, plus five years of wear and tear, it was just time to freshen up. Our painter we have used in the past called looking for a job and I told him we could use an estimate because we needed to do the front entry sometime soon. I had put it off, knowing full well that the greasy fingerprints and nicks from toys "accidentally" falling down the stairs would magically reappear sooner than later. He gave us a great deal considering we have four big walls that go up two stories, and one being the curved staircase. Barry said he could do it, but it sure would be a stupid way to die. So, we pulled the trigger and had it done(by the painter, not the killing Barry part. Whew! Glad I cleared that up!).

Besides nap time, I contained the kids to the living room and kitchen area. I blocked it off so XS had a place to crawl around. By the end of the day when Barry got home he found this...


...and said, "So this is what it would be like to contain Tasmanian devils to one room."

My sister-in-law pointed me towards a blog called Dana-Made-It, because her month of February was a full month dedicated to all things boys. Perfect for me, huh! I saw it and just fell in love with a lot of her fun projects. My favorite thing on the blog was the 90 minute shirts that she makes. I couldn't wait to make one. So, I got all the ribbed knit supplies, dug through old knit shirts, found those I was willing to refashion and got to work with the help of her great tutorial.

I was inspired with trying to get a shirt made for XS's birthday. He's a St. Patty's baby as you know, so at least with his first year we went with that theme. I thought about doing a freezer paper stencil like she makes on her site, but opted with doing a reverse applique instead. I used the same ribbed knit that I used on the cuffs and neckline. The hardest part was getting my pattern the way I liked it. I used some very old scrap t-shirts to do a quick sew up before doing the real deal. I'm pleased with how it came out, and can't wait to make more.

XS is one! I can't believe how time has flown by. Our blog has taken a hit these last 12 months, but it has certainly been worth it. I hope to go back and add in a few things here and there, but I wanted to get a quick blog post in of our sweet XS. All of our babies have been happy, smiley babies, but he seems to be the most by far. Here he is sporting his sweet smile.


We enjoyed a fun St. Patty's day with family celebrating XS's first year. We had lots of good food and of course a green shamrock birthday cake for dessert.



Brothers and friends(more like cousins) gathered around watching the birthday boy open presents.

S and M liked helping XS open his gifts, maybe even a bit too much. Good thing Small's birthday is right around the corner.





He got lots of fun stuff. Some cute clothes, fun toys, and Uncle G and Aunt G mailed a Dr. Seuss book called the Lorax, complete with the stuffed Lorax to go with it. He seemed very interested in the book, I think M can't wait to read it to him. Here is a sweet pic of Grandma with XS and the cute stuffed toolbox set she got him.


Right after gifts we did cake. He just beamed while everyone sang Happy Birthday to him. I think he was loving all the attention. I made him his very own personal green cake thinking he would just dig in and have a blast. Well, that didn't happen. I think it got too late and he just picked at the icing and then laid his head down. Birthdays are exhausting!





Here is a good pic of him in his special shamrock birthday shirt I made him for the occasion. It's called the 90 minute shirt. I made it from a maternity shirt that I loved, but it had gotten a few little stains on it(well, that and I don't wear maternity anymore), so it got refashioned. I'll blog about that another time.


Happy Birthday little man! Your whole family loves you very much and we look forward to celebrating many more birthdays with you. I look forward to watching you grow and pray you will grow into a strong Christian man. For now though, I will enjoy you being little and will do my best to provide the kindling in the hopes that some day God may light your heart on fire for Him.

Love you with all my heart,
Mama

We have really enjoyed watching L this Basketball season. L really loves it and couldn't wait for it to begin this year. He plays in an Upward league, which we have been very impressed with. He has blossomed into a great all around player. He is always aware of what is going on around him, whether it was not letting his offensive player get the ball or working hard to get open while he was on offense. He is not a ball handler, but handles it well when he has it. He is still best at defense, but his offense has really improved. He is still with an age group that doesn't pass the ball around very well, so he didn't get a lot of chances on offense, but when he did, he shined.




The season was over at the end of February and we finally got some pics from the last game. He did a great job this year and was really aggressive. He even came out running from the blue tunnel and high fived his teammates. This was an achievement in and of itself. :) He scored several shots this season and the sweet smile that would come over his face warmed a Mama's heart. He is a fantastic defensive player. Anyone assigned to him hated him as their defensive partner. Not because he would slap, hit, or push the ball away, it was because he never even let them have the ball. He was so good at getting between them and the ball that they would almost always eventually just give up.


We were all sad to see the season come to an end. L is already looking forward to doing a summer camp and he can't wait for next year. M will get to join the league next year and he can't wait to do what big brother is doing. He practices his dribbling all during L's practices, so I think he will be ready when next year rolls around. ;)

You can't catch me, cuz I'm the Gingerbread man!

The Kindergartners at M's school had a very fun day this past Friday. Barry watched the little ones for me so I could go up to his school in the morning to help them all paint their traditional holiday sweatshirts. They made Christmas trees with their handprints and then decorated the tree with fabric paint. It was so much fun. I had just as much fun with L, when he did it a couple of years ago.

When I went to pick up M after school, the first thing he told me was that their sweatshirts got messed up with brown tracks. After feeling very pleased with how his sweatshirt turned out, I was very upset to hear (from what I understood as) someone came down the hall and tracked through their sweatshirts. All I could picture was some mean 5th grader tramping all over the Kindergartners sweatshirts. Upon further investigation, he explained to me, "No Mama, it was the Gingerbread man that did it". I said "What?"(still upset picturing the above scenario). He said that they made a Gingerbread man and the teacher went to bake it in the oven, took a peek when she thought it was done, and then it jumped out and ran away. The proof was the tracks left on the kids sweatshirts, and a letter he left, which read...

I just finished my Thanksgiving Project. I took an idea from my sister-in-law that she did last Thanksgiving for my niece(a Thanksgiving Handprint Turkey Shirt), and changed it up a bit. I didn't know about making my 8 year old a t-shirt for Thanksgiving, but I still loved the idea and wanted to do one for all my boys. So, instead I decided to make Thanksgiving placemats, one for each kid and something I could pull out each year and use during the fall season. Here is my version for son #1.

XS's prints were so small on the large placemat, that I decided to do Turkey's with both his Right and his Left hands. This is XS's:

I'm pleased with how each one came out, and can't wait to use them this year!

For those wanting to know how to do this here are the steps I took:

1. Cut out fabric in the size of placemat you want + 1/2 " on both sides. You need two of these pieces per placemat(i.e. front and back of placemat).
2. I pieced pieces of fabric together to make a quilt like backing, just bigger than each kids handprint. You could just use a solid piece of fabric as well.
3. Trace kids handprints on paper, cut them out.
4. Trace handprint onto fabric with disappearing ink fabric marker.
5. Place quilt fabric right side up, then place right side up of a placemat rectangle piece. (so back of placemat to front of lining. Pin this together.
6. Sew along handprint.
7. Take small scissors and cut out fabric inside the sew line, and then you will see the nice fabric underneath.
8. embellish your turkey. I added button eyes, a beak and the gobble gobble. I also stitched the year '09 to the back side of the placemat.
9. Now place your back and front placemat piece with right sides facing each other.
10. If you need the fabric to be a bit stiffer as I did, you can add interfacing in between the layers too or you can do as I did and just used a stiff muslin.
11. Place that piece on top of your sandwiched placemat, and sew a 1/4" all the way around leaving a small gap to pull the piece rightside out.
12. Miter your corners and cut extra fabric edges.
13. Pull the piece rightside out, push your corners out and iron it down.
14. To give it a finished look, sew a 1/4" around all sides, which will also close up your gap.
15. Now you have your turkey placemat to enjoy year after year (and to embarrass your son when he brings his first girlfriend home for Thanksgiving!).

Since we have been slackers on our blog since XS has joined our family, I thought I would fill you in a bit on XS at 6 months. He turned 6 months on September 17th. At XS's 6 month well check he had not gained very much. I was a little concerned, but his pediatrician was not at all. She said that he was so busy it was no wonder he hadn't gained much. He was 14 1/2 lbs. The kid kicks constantly and rolls any second he is given the chance to be on the ground or in his crib. Since about 5 months old, he would raise his head in lying down position as if he thought he was just going to sit up.

Here is a 6 month pic of him getting stuck on the other side of his bouncy seat, and being pretty proud of himself. The funny thing is that this bouncy seat is pretty reclined and it took me by surprise to see he had pulled himself up and through the underside with very little problem at all. The problem came when he had to get back to the other side. :)



This picture was taken just a few days before he turned 6 months. We went on a vacation with another family to South Padre Island (this is a blog post in and of itself). XS enjoyed getting his own time in the water. This was the only day it was hot while we were there and we set this up so the babies could cool off.

L found this shirt at the store yesterday and just smiled. He showed me and we all knew we just had to get it for Small. I've mentioned before in a post about how Small has always been a blanket snob. Back in the crib days, I would give him a blanket, and if it was not one of the Gymboree blankets we have collected over the years, he would throw it over the side and reject it. He always wanted to sleep with "Night-Night", and often would like to just have one close by for security. We all got in the habit of calling him Linus, but instead of his thumb being in his mouth, the blanket would be. He was starting to ruin some of our nicer blankets by biting them, so I decided with baby coming we would limit him to just one and give the rest to XS. He still likes to sleep with it, but he doesn't always have to. Occassionally, if he is getting sleepy he still finds his Night-Night and cuddles up with it. Fortunately, he is not so obssesed with it that I don't feel like there will be a problem with having to take it away from him. None of my children have ever been thumb/paci suckers or had a security object until Night-Night came along, so for now I find it endearing and just call him my Linus.

It's funny how brother's work together. All little brother's want to be like their big brothers. The big brothers occasionally find it flattering, but too often it is just plain annoying. When they get annoyed, I try to remind them of how special they must be to their little brother for him to want to copy. Sometimes it works, and sometimes I just hear, "Stop copying me", like a daisy chain starting from Large all they way down to Small. Anytime I see them working together cohesively as 3 of Kind, I run to get a camera to document(before I lose my chance). Here are some sweet pics of times like these...


L is an artist. He LOVES to draw. He draws things daily, and sometimes even hourly. The younger brothers follow suit. M is always trying to draw the same things L draws, and often L will try to help him add detail where he wants it. S will always sit down with them and draw the little Einsteins Big Jet(of course it looks like a bunch of circles, but they all just smile and tell him "good job" when he shows it to them).

L is also a big time reader. That is a post in and of itself, but it is fun to see the little ones trying to do the same thing. M is doing great, and I think a lot of it has to do with big brother's influence. S even pulled out a book and told me a long story to go with all the pictures. :) I thought for sure I had a picture of the three of them reading together, but I can't find it. So, instead, I'll just show the one below(make sure and take note of the direction of Small's book).
I treasure these moments and I'm so glad to have them documented, because before we know it these times will be gone. I'm sure in just a blink of an eye, you will see a blog post very similar, but instead of 3 it will be 4. I'm looking forward to those days, but I don't want to rush any of the sweet days ahead. I love each and every one of my sweet baby boys!

I have never been so mad at a mosquito in my life, and I hate mosquitos. I put XS to bed last night with not a bite on him, even with a walk by the creek last night. Then this morning I wake to find him looking like this...


It looks like one ended up in his room somehow and attacked his right side, the side he wasn't sleeping on. Poor kid! Must be extra miserable when you can't even scratch them!

Poor Small is especially sweet, because they love him. He has been bit up this summer. During our walk, we didn't even think about using repellent because no one was getting bit up. Then I noticed Small sitting in the stroller, was bit to pieces. If that is not bad enough, he scratches till they bleed, and he continues to scratch the sores, and he had already had that from another time many weeks back. Here is a picture of small this morning, with two bites on his face.

Those pesky bugs are just plain annoying!!! I'd shake my fist at them, if I thought it would help.

The toothfairy has been working on overtime at our house. Large lost another tooth a couple of weeks ago. I have lost track now what number that makes, I didn't know he even had another tooth to lose. The big news, though, is that Medium lost his first tooth yesterday! I can't believe it! He is getting so big. He has always enunciated things so well, and it is already funny to hear him talk now.

So for those of you who keep up with us on Facebook, I'm sure you know we have ventured into Potty Training Small. He turned 3 in late April and has amazed me with some dry diapers and does not like having a dirty diaper, so I figured it was time to bite the bullet and start the potty training. I thought he was ready earlier, but with XS on the way we felt it better to wait till he was a few months old before trying. And so begins the chronicle:

Monday:
Well, tonight I was grocery shopping with no children and on a whim decided this was the week for potty training. We had a practically free schedule, so I thought I would take advantage of it. So, I loaded up on sweet treats, juice boxes and brand new Thomas the Tank underwear.

Tuesday:
I broke the news this morning to Small that today was the nationally recognized day "No More Diapers Day". I stripped him of his diaper and gave him brand new Thomas the Tank underwear to wear. Then I gave him a big juice box for breakfast. The day was spent sitting on the potty, taking a break, and sitting again. I could not believe how long he was holding it. Here is what the day looked like:


We got to nap time and he still had not peed the whole day. I didn't know what to do. If I put a diaper on him and put him in bed, I knew he would go in his diaper, and that would defeat the point. So, I continued. And we tried different techniques,

that didn't work either. So I finally put him to bed in underwear very late in the day. I checked on him at 7:55pm and he was STILL DRY!!! Can you believe it? A 3 year old held it the whole day! I debated on what to do and 5 minutes later decided to get him up to go on the potty one last time. Well, too late! The waterworks had exploded. So, he won day 1.

Wednesday:
He had an accident in the morning (on the tile thankfully). He pulled the same thing for naptime and did not go again. So, yet again, I had to put him to bed in underwear, and he had an accident in the bed. He did not pee the rest of the day. So, he won day 2.

Thursday:
He woke up with a bone dry diaper this morning. Have you noticed what has been missing from this chronicle? Yep, you guessed it! We got a nice little surprise in our underwear this morning. I flipped out with the grossness of it all, and I will spare you the details. It traumatized Small a bit I think (poor kid), but in about an hour or so after clean up, I got him to finally go pee pee in the potty!! This was our first major break through. He cried because he was scared at first, but then you should have seen the joy on his face when he realized what he was doing and that it was OK. :) Yay! So, since I know from experience this kid can hold it. I finally got out of the house and went to run some errands. I risked it and went with him in underwear. We got home 4 + hours later and I sat him on the potty and he went again! Whoohoo! He was still scared, but we were finally getting somewhere.

Friday:
He started the day off with an accident upstairs while playing. I spent a lot of the day trying to get him to go on the potty again. We had been invited to go to the pool after naptime, so I was trying to get him to go before naptime. Well, he wouldn't and I felt like we were starting all over and we were getting no where. I was losing my patience. Mind you we had been doing a lot of sitting on the potty with little results by this time. And even with the success on Thursday, I felt like I had just caught him at the right times. I put him down for a nap and he woke up dry. I told him if he wanted to go to the pool he was going to have to go potty for me. He didn't. I then told him that we would go to the pool so the big kids could play, but he would go to the pool's potty until he went. By the time we got to the pool, I had lost all steam, and didn't want to follow through. I knew I had to, and my friend knew it too, and pushed me to follow through. The fact that Barry would be home with me this weekend, left me with a little hope. Well, I took him and he tinkled and I counted it success and we enjoyed the pool. We got home and he went for me finally.

Saturday:
pee pee 3 times today in the potty! Yay!

Sunday: Another battle of wills. He woke up bone dry and we had church today and he wouldn't go before, so we left to church. We attempted again at church, no go. We sent him to his class with a diaper on since he wasn't telling us when he needed to go yet. We got out of church and diaper still dry, we took him straight to the potty. Still wouldn't go. We then went on to a restaurant to eat and in the car before going in he started doing the potty dance. I raced him to the potty and success!! He didn't pee again the rest of the day, but after nap we finally had a poop in the potty!


Well, as you can see he is stubborn, but I think we are finally on the road to success. I have also decided his ability to hold it was a pain for potty training, but hopefully it will make the early potty stage easier then the other kids, because I can have him out without having to have as many frequent potty stops.

So lately we have been seeing more of this:


and less of this:

Sorry for the long post, but I warned you in the title that it was an Epic Battle, and what Epic has ever been short?? :)