More of These Kids

I absolutely love this picture. There are so many times that I see the kids or family and wish I could have a picture of it exactly how it is, but then by the time the camera is out the moment is gone. But the girls were so cute while Matt was reading to them and they didn't move, so I caught it. Averi is in her Tinkerbell costume and it looks like she has her usual 3 blankets with her. She just has to carry so much stuff around all the time! Matt's parents are spending Christmas with Mike's family this year, so they came down at the beginning of December and we had a little Christmas party with them after Kyle's baptism, or as Asher say, baptizy. I had a few errands to run before we opened up presents and it about killed them to wait an hour to open them up. My parents are coming this weekend, (the weekend before Christmas) and we'll have our Christmas party with my side of the family, so Christmas has really been all month this year. It's been really fun.

The kids sure look excited.

I thought we'd try and get a quick picture with all the kids. This is the best we got, they were so excited they could hardly hold still! Not that they would hold still if they weren't excited. Babies are so sweet. The kids absolutely love Preston! He just lights up when they play with him too. You'd think he'd be scared of them because they're a little rough, but he's tough and VERY sturdy!

I love this little face. Asher is so sweet. He's so independent and knows what's best for everyone, and that can make it hard on me sometimes. But lately he has been the best! Yesterday when I got up in the morning he goes, "Mom, did you get enough sleep?" I answered, "No, I'm still really tired, I ended up getting up with Averi, Piper and Preston." Then he goes. "Well, at least you have one kid that doesn't wake you up, and that's me! If you only had one kid and didn't have anymore, you'd get a lot of sleep!" I love how concerned he is with me and what I need. This morning I volunteered at his school for a little bit and when I was leaving I noticed he was going into the cafeteria with his class. They were practicing their Christmas songs with the school. So I walked in to watch him, and I was right in time. When he noticed me standing there on the side his eyes lit up and he was trying not to smile. I'm just really proud of him. He's such a good kid. He walks out the door all by himself every morning and gets on the bus, then goes to school. I love watching him grow up. He's reading really well. I can't believe how far he's come since the beginning of school. He' also really good at math. He just gets it and I think that'll be a subject he really likes.

Asher says so many funny things all the time, and I should write him down when he says them so I don't forget. I was working yesterday and I was doing a ladies hair who has a lot of property and horses. She must have told him that she had horses once. Then when my client was processing Asher and I ran to pick up the babysitter. She hadn't been to our house before, so we walked in and Asher goes, "This is our house, and there's a farmer under the dryer." That was all he said, then ran off to play. It was way funny!

Averi's my silly little girl. She has such a fun personality. She remembers all the stuff she learns and sees on TV. They love Dora, so she knows a lot of Spanish words, and uses them frequently. She always calls Preston her Buddy Boy, and she talks to him in a high pitched voice. It's cute.

Averi just loves all of her stuff. We were upstairs the other day cleaning up toys, and the girls were helping and Averi couldn't put anything away, everything was her favorite and she'd explain to me where she got it. Finally we made a bin of her favorite stuff that was hers and that helped a little. She and Piper just fight over toys all day. Piper takes them because Averi wants them, and Piper loves the excitement of making Averi mad!

Her hair has gotten curly this last year, but it's really fine and frizzy. Today she just woke up from her nap with her hair matted and kind of crazy. She was just standing in front of Matt and I and goes, "My hair looks so pretty today." We go, "Yeah, it's so nice." Then she spent the next 5 minutes explaining to us what she did in the tub with it to make it so pretty. (I did see her squirting water on it with a little squirt gun)

I have been so impressed with Averi. She's done so well with being potty trained. If they are doing good by the end of the year I think I'll put them in a little preschool class on Tue and Thurs. They'd like that, and that's right when Preston takes a nap, so I should be able to exercise and shower at least twice a week!

Piper loves to make faces, and Averi just gets so sad, and so mad all the time. She's either happy or super sad, or super mad. There's no in between. I see Piper's little scowl like a hundred times per day. When she asks me for something she goes, "DON'T SAY NO!" Then makes that face.

And how can you not love a sleeping baby? They're the best! It's the cutest thing and their little hands are the best! I love this little boy! He's so sweet! He's happy all the time and is finally sitting up, rolling over, and eating solids. I think he might even be slimming down a bit. For as big as he is (28 lbs) you'd think he'd eat good, but it's so hard to feed him!

A couple weeks ago Matt's parents were in town and said they'd watch the kids while Matt and I went and saw a movie. Preston would not fall asleep, and the other 3 were down for the night, and JoyLynn went to Chris and Corey's. So Kenny just had Preston, and he would absolutely NOT eat for him. So Kenny tried to bounce him, or rock him, I think he tried to put him to bed about 3 or 4 times. When he was still awake when we got home I was so surprised! Kenny was saying how he's just so stiff and so adamant about not taking that bottle. Then as soon as I picked him up he was limp, and so tired! I put him in his crib, gave him his bottle and he just smiled, drank the whole thing and went right to sleep. Kenny said that Preston kept twisting around looking for me the whole time. He just loves his mom!

Everybody got sick around Halloween, so that made me home bound for about 3-4 weeks. It gave me a lot of time to do some crafts. I made 2 little aprons, 2 wreaths, 3 little decorative Christmas trees, 25 hand sewn mittens for an advent calendar, a cloth book, a bunch of new recipes and some other things that I can't remember. Piper wanted Mac and cheese the other day, so she ran in the kitchen, got her apron on and insisted on being right by the boiling pot, until she burnt her foot of course. She just has to be right where the action is. It kills her to miss anything. Piper's so sweet! She still cuddles and wants to be held non-stop! She loves Dora, and "Bee-oontz" (boots). She's so funny, she adds a sound at the end of almost every word. I should get a little video of her talking, she has the cutest voice and then to add sounds after her words is so funny. So if she says game, she'll add the b sound at the end, so it'll be "gambe" (I don't know how to spell it so it's read the way she pronounces it). Spoon is "spooned". She just makes me laugh all day. All the kids do. They say the funniest stuff! It's so much cuter in their voices than when I try to write it though.

We have the smallest island. It barely fits 2 chairs, so the garbage is the coveted seat at the island. Averi being the smallest of the bunch never gets to sit there, plus she can't get up by herself. So when she got there this time, with her stash of stuff, she didn't get off forever!

It snowed for the first time the other day and the kids were so excited! They put on all their snow clothes and ran outside! I was at walmart the other day and saw that they had snow pants for $13, they're normally like $25 everywhere else. I grabbed 2 pink pairs in a size a little big and was so proud of myself. They'll last the girls 2 winters! But... they're horrible! They're like the most awkward shaped pants ever, and I'll be seeing them for at least 2 years!

Averi, I love her and her crazy hair, and her hands full of toys.