the answer. . .

it's Aidan, Emilee, Chandler, and Ethan left to right. Good guessing Mahina! I think you were the first to get it right. Fun stuff!

Oh, and for those who asked. . . I cut out their pictures in Photoshop, and then put them all together and added my own background. I also changed them to Black and White and then put the color back in at only about 30% saturation overall, then brightened up the cheeks and eyes with more color saturation. If you'd like more specifics than that let me know! Thanks for playing!

Bed Hog

They're Back!!! My big boys (Ethan, Aidan, and Gordon) have been gone in Alaska visiting the grandparents for a whole week!!! I missed them so much! But, I also enjoyed living the life of a mom with only two children for a week. It was funny, I was thinking back to when we only had two at these ages and if Gordon had left me for a week I would have gone Crazy! But this time, it seemed like vacation! I did a lot of playing with the babies, errand running with only two, and very little cooking and cleaning (but the house stayed a lot cleaner than usual!) Anyway, I'm so glad they're back. I'm making pitches for Gordon to come on as a guest blogger and give us the details of the trip. So leave a comment encouraging him to do so, would you? Thanks!

While they were gone, Emilee was having a hard time sleeping. Something about Daddy being gone I think! Anyway, after 2 nights of about 4 hours of sleep, I gave up and she got a first class ticket into mom's bed. She slept much better! And, I discovered something! I think being a cover hog must be a girl thing, because look at these pictures! How can a 12 lb baby steal the covers like this? But this is how we woke up every morning! Her future husband doesn't have a prayer!!! And yes, she inherited this skill from me!

A little something. . .

Here's a little something I've been working on this week. I've probably spent way too much time making this picture of all 4 babies at the same age, but I love it. I think it may have to find itself at home on a wall somewhere. . . Can you tell whose who?

4 Months Old Already

How can my brand new baby be 4 months old already? She is getting chubbier and doing more things every day. She's still my tiniest by almost 5 lbs at this point, weighing in today at 12 lbs 13 oz (40th%), 24 inches (75th%) and a head circumference in only the 10th%. (which is consistent with her growth all along, although she did drop 10% in weight.) She surely is a joy to have in our family. Current favorites are being held over our heads for "airplane time," being held in general, being talked to, and she's starting to grab at her toys from her little play station. Here are some photos from the past few days. . .

Happy 4 Month Birthday!

Booted

Poor Chandler! He's a fun little side kick, but sometimes the big boys want to build something elaborate, like a big train town and they don't want "the giant baby" to come through town tearing it up. That's what happened last night, when poor Chandler was booted from their room, and when we went to check on them this is what we found. . .
And here he is doing his best to look disgruntled. . .

Emilee's New Ride

I think I've mentioned that Emilee is a particularly "needy" baby, maybe even a couple of times? Well, she's gotten much better, but still likes to be held, talked to, rocked, loved up, and snuggled a lot. How much? All waking hours, pretty much! She sleeps like a dream when she sleeps, and she's as happy as a clam awake, as long as she has company! She also hates my baby bjorn. She does NOT like riding in it, so I have a very sore back from toting her around. One of my friends at church walked by me in the hall the other day wearing a "moby" and I've been grilling her about it ever since. Her baby looked so cozy! I thought maybe, just maybe Emilee would be willing to take a ride in something like this. But, it comes with a hefty price tag. About $50 and I just can't buy another baby hauler!!! I think it's crazy how every kid needs different stuff. Anyway. . . I figured out how to make one myself by looking at their web site and what it really is, which is 18 feet of stretchy fabric, tapered at the ends. So, I went off to Joann's last night and bought me 18' of stretchy fabric and Whaala! Emilee is as snug as a bug! So far she loves it and is just as comfy as can be. It's also the most comfortable "baby wearing" item I've ever tried on, and there are so many options for positioning her. Forward, back, side, whatever you fancy. The only problem is that now I look like one of those "hippy mama's" that likes to wear her sling all day and walk through the mall barefoot while nursing her baby in the sling. I promise you I won't be attempting that. Here's a look at her new ride. . .
And, from the back. I know!!! I look like I've been wrapped in some Grecian toga! But it sure is comfy!

The Good, the Bad, and the Cutie

The Good: Captain Underpants is trained! I even braved Costco and Church in unders, and no accidents. Our earliest Trainer. Hurray for Chan Man!

The Bad: The 6 week supply of diapers I bought two weeks ago. Now I get to store them I guess.

The Cutie:

The Good: School's out! Playing with friends!

The Bad: Friends don't like pink eye.

The Cutie:

The Good: The Fridge is back in business after two sketchy weeks. Only $150 repair bill, pretty good!

The Bad: The dishwasher blew up yesterday, and we are now hand washing for the time being. Ugh.

The Cutie:

The Good: FINALLY sunny skies!!! We've been waiting forever! Warm, 75 degrees and beautiful!

The Bad: Sunny skies bring out the grass pollen in full force, with no rain to clear the air. I am an allergic mess!

The Cutie:
So that pretty much sums up my life this week! A little good, a little bad, but always a cutie!!!

the Helvetia Half Marathon

We've had quite a weekend! It began early Saturday morning when Gordon, his brother Joseph and his wife Lara all set out to run the Helvetia Half Marathon. I thought briefly about running this, but then decided it would just be too wild of a comeback after having a baby only 3 months ago. But next year, I'm hoping to run with my buddies! As you can see from the photo, we have lots of friends that also ran, mostly my mommy friends from the ward. I'm hoping to do the 10K with the Robyn's next year. We'll see how it goes! Gordon finished the half in 1 hour and 38 minutes, placing 118th out of around 2600 runners. Not bad for his debut race! We were very proud of our daddy and had lots of fun cheering him on!
Dad Wilde in Alaska just couldn't be left out of this activity, and in honor of his kids also ran a half marathon yesterday, on his own! (glutton for punishment?) Way to go dad! Wish you were here to run it with us! Maybe next year???

Front Yard Friends

We had a friend over the other day that discovered these little cuties living in a tree across the street. Yesterday I finally ventured out to take a peek and aren't they the cutest? Their heads are about the size of an M&M, to give you an idea of how tiny and sweet they are, and very visible in their little nest. It's fun just knowing there are some sweet little babies living across the street! And, it will give us an outing to go visit them over the next few days as we survive the "at home" week of potty training. Welcome little friends!

I see London, I see France!

Chandler's Wearing Underpants!!!

He's feeling like a super kid today! 6 1/2 hours and no accidents yet! Yea Chandler! He was showing so many of the "readiness" signs that I decided to go for it. (thanks to a little nudge from Robyn) So wish us luck this week! Hopefully we'll be able to leave the house again in a few days!

Brilliant Invention?

We have early risers. We seem to be the kind of people that produce early risers. Particularly early rising two year olds that can't tell time yet. We have struggled with how to keep our kids in bed until 6 a.m., and frequently failed at our attempts. Recently, we tried a new technique. . .

While in grad school, one of Gordon's friends was working on developing a new line of clocks. One that was programmable for every day of the week (we have this one as well), and another for children. We got to help him by taking surveys of what we would like in a childrens alarm clock, etc, and he came up with this. . . our dream clock. . .
So far, we think it is a brilliant invention! We program it with our time choices and it glows yellow (like a nightlight) all night. At 6 a.m. (or whatever time we choose) it goes from yellow to green. When Chandler wakes up, he's not allowed to knock on his door until it's green. "Green means go!" There is of course a leaning curve with this, and it took a week or so to get him used to the idea, but it seems to be working now! He hasn't pounded on the door at 5:45 for several days now! Hurray for innovation! American Innovative, that is! The clock also plays a "learn to tell time" game that progresses as your child does and seems pretty great as well. So if you have an early riser. . . you may want to give this one a try!

So Sweet!

the Annual Ward Fathers and Sons Campout (aka - mom's quiet night off)

5:00 - pull out of driveway with 3 hungry boys and a car full of camping gear
5:15 - drive through Taco Bell for dinner and realize wallet was left at home.
5:30 - back at home to pick up wallet. try again. . .
5:45 - back at Taco Bell. get and PAY for food.
5:50 - scream from back seat announcing that there is jalapeno sauce on quesadillas.
5:55 - back in line to reorder quesadillas without creamy jalapeno sauce. (mom usually takes care of these things)
6:00 - on the road
7:00 - arrive at camp in a downpour
7:10 - making the best of things, boys in slickers and rain boots. we will have fun anyway!!!
7:20 - child announces that he has had an "accident." (this is not a child in diapers and is not just a wet accident - i know. . . what the heck!)
7:30 - get child cleaned up and into only other clean clothes. while doing this, youngest child bonks head on cement wall. screaming ensues. . .
7:45-10:30 - mud, rain, campfires, bike riding, play equipment, rain, more rain, more mud.
10:30 - all kids cleaned, changed and in bed. aaaahhh. . .
6:30 - miraculously, no one awakens at 4 a.m. and the kids are up and ready for more mud
7:00 - more rain
8:00 - pancake breakfast, served one pancake at a time. attempt to divide 1 pancake between 3 boys over and over to keep them eating and satisfied.
9:00 - middle boy slips in mud and runs like a wild child around the camp screaming "mud!!!" "van!" wanting clean clothes (which no longer exist) out of the van. child takes off shirt and tries to "wash" it by rubbing it all over the wet van. more screaming when he realizes it is now wet.
10:00 - children convince dad to "stay for games."
11:30 - second to last car to pull out of camp. a stop at burgerville for burgers and shakes. chandler cannot be awakened for food.
12:30 - arrive home with two sleeping children. Little ones nap for a long time more. phew!

the kids had SO MUCH FUN. my husband is a rock star. emilee and I really enjoyed each other. thanks honey. . . this is the stuff great memories are made of! :) i'm already looking forward to next year. . .

The Graduate

Today was Aidan's pre-school graduation. He was SO excited! The kids sang songs and it was so cute when they danced. Aidan was an exuberant singer and really enjoyed getting his diploma, as you can see from the photo above. . . Congrats Aidan!

Before the ceremony they had a little lunch that we were signed up to bring dessert for. I made ice cream cone cupcakes and I knew they were going to be a hit when we walked in, and the playing children were suddenly sitting very nicely in chairs all around the table. It was cute. They all had their eyes on the one they wanted. I used the betty crocker recipe instead of the "fill the cone" method, and it worked SO WELL. Very fun. . . they were gone in less than 5 minutes. . .