All Dressed and Sugared Up

Featuring: Darth Vader, Tinkerbell Captain Rex Clone Trooper (or something like that) and our little Witch. Margaret and Nick bought the kids pumpkin pails and they were put to good use around the block on Halloween night.

Trenton was just glowing that evening as he came back with all of his treats (and stood by our black light).

Cue heavy Breathing

The mand behind the mask

One treat collected, one treat consumed. Go Dallas.

We were a little late getting started as they begin trick or treating long before dark here (maybe because we're sort of out in the country and it really does get dark without any street lights??) Dave took the 3 kids who can walk on their own two feet around the block and I manned the fort with Tink handing out candy to little beggers. I love Halloween.

Cake, Pumpkins and Fairy Princess Cowboys . . .oh my!

No huge 1 year old birthday bash, but I did make fondant for the first time and had fun experimenting with it. As a result, Lexi enjoyed not one but two little cakes just her size. The kids and I celebrated on her real birthday and we did it again that weekend so that Dave, my Sister Margaret and her boyfriend Nick could join in the festivities.

She was very girly and neat with her cake, not at all exciting, I just hope I can teach her how to make a good mess with it by the time she gets married.

The cold weather left us not wanting to go back out after the boys' soccer games on Saturday so we stayed in and carved pumpkins instead.



Lastly, Brooklyn. Such a girl. Loves skirts. Loves dancing. Loves being "pretty". Loves pink. I can't wait for her to turn three so I can get her in soccer or something and make sure she can at least be a tough ballerina. She is forever changing outfits and they are all so cute that we often have to hunt down the camera.

Happy Birthday Lexi

Lexi turns one today and I am somewhat saddened to see her grow so fast as I sit here for the first time at my baby's one year mark not already pregnant or planning to get pregnant in the very near future. She was born in the midst of an already chaotic life and I fear we haven't taken nearly enough pictures of her, but here are some of them we did catch from birth to one.

Hello bright cold world! Birth announcements that I never even sent out.

First Holiday: Halloween

All bald after mom went crazy with the clippers trying to rid her of horrible male pattern baldness. Firts Sunday at Church. One month old.

All bundled up for the winter cold.Just one of the many ways she is loved by her siblings. Easter sticker smack in the middle of her forehead that she has no way to remove.
First Rice cereal. First trip to Kentucky.

First Graduation experience as daddy finished dental school. almost crawling

Just last week as she is walking along things, still pretty much bald but with the beginnings of some strawberry blonde hair

She came as a suprize, but we cannot imagine life without her. She gets the hiccups everytime she laughs hard, loves to pull both her own hair and others and continues to be one of the greatest sources of joy for our family. We love you Lexi!

Labor Day

No exciting journaling on this one . . .just some photos from our Labor Day trip to the Natural Bridge State Park in Easern Kentucky. My mom was out visiting the week before Labor Day and overlapped a few days with a visit from my cousin Lachelle and her husband Nick and kids. The hike up to the natural stone bridge included something like 500 steps so to motivate the boys we told them they could play a minute of xbox for every step they counted. It worked pretty well and they probably still have time saved up since the following weekend we put the xbox and television in an extended time out as I felt like it was not bringing the best out in our children. They haven't played xbox since and have watched maybe a few television shows that they earned for completing certain things. They have however, learned to ride bikes without training wheels, played outside a lot, taken an even greater interest in books, used their imaginations to play, wrestled, enjoyed soccer season, etc. . . .all better activities anyway in my mind. In case you're wondering, Dallas has also returned to some bed wetting, but still can and does go dry . .so we'll continue to work on that and search perhaps for some other form of extrinsic motivation for him.

How many is that Trenton??

It's a toss up on who poses the best. GQ/puffy chest Dave or pop a squat/ride a horse Bri?

It was fun to have Grandma's company . .not to mention help. She and Lexi enjoyed the view opposite the natural bridge (it's the line of stone you see in the background.

We almost got the whole crew to look at the camera.

Butler . . party of 6.

Coming back down. This little crevice in the wall was creepily narrow. Lachelle couldn't even walk through it with the baby back pack on. I knew there was a reason we wanted Nick with us .. .who else was going to hoist Dallas down the mountain? Dallas and Keyton were fast friends after this unique experience they shared together.

I like the Fall: Halloweeen , cool weather, leaves changing color . .However there are a few things I don't care for that come with the season: plentiful spiders huge and small and snakes. Dallas found this little guy wrapped around the sensor on or garage door. Yuck!!! Apparently it was a rat snake and they can grow up to 6 feet long. I wasn't happy that Dave let him go near our house as I now have nightmares of him coming back for a visit when he's all grown up.

Xbox Talks

I was quite opposed to getting a video game system because I feel like boys become addicted to it and stop wanting to do anything else (things I consider more worthwhile like playing outside, reading books, making things with legos, spending time with their wives, etc.). Well, I gave into all the men-big and small- in my life and conceded to let Dave's parents buy the family an xbox 360 for Christmas. There was a lot of rock band played by Dave and my brother over the Holidays and the boys really began to enjoy lego star wars, but it hasn't really been an issue at all since then. In part due to the fact that after Dallas broke the LCD tv in January they were grounded from playing. That grounding stayed in place until the big move in June where Dave hooked it up to the DVD player in our car and let them play as we drove cross country.


It's been hooked up in our basement and pretty much all they ever wanted to do is play it since we moved here. It drove me crazy They would moan and whine and throw fits if I asked them to do anything that would interupt their precious xbox playing. Well, I was about ready to do my own throwing (of the xbox in the trash), but Dave helped us come up with a better plan where we use the xbox for incentive to get other things done. The boys now earn "xbox" time by doing chores, practicing reading and writing. etc. That has been working out well and I love that they are doing more constructive things in addition to playing a lot less xbox.

However, now I love the xbox (and brooklyn) and here is why:


Last week Brooklyn had a few successful day after day potty trips on her own accord so I decided it was time that I buckle down and attack the whole potty training thing. She woke up dry on her second night of no diapers and so of course we had to point out to Dallas (going on 4 1/2 and not ONCE having ever stayed dry at night) how Brooklyn had dry pants in the morning. I think he was just as shocked as I was and totally baffled by how she had done it. Anyway the combination of his two year old sister not wetting the bed and Dave's huge incentive of 2 hours of xbox time if Dallas could wake up with dry pants FINALLY motivitad the kid. Many of you know that up to this point I was convinced that I would be buying night time diapers for this kid until he moved out of the house as he has never been able to do it. We had even tried waking him up and having him go to the bathroom 2 and 3 times during the night and he would still wet the bed! Well, now that he finally decided it was worth it (little rascal), he has gone 4 nights in a row with success!! It's amazing.

I have gone from having three kids in diapers at some part of the day down to one! As a mom, and financially challenged mom at that, this is really exciting. Brooklyn still isn't perfect but she's doing totally fine and definitely good enough that I don't plan on ever returning to diapers. I'm thinking we should go out and celebrate using the money that I won't have to spend on diapers. It'll be a potty party!!

The Circus at the Zoo

What's wrong with this picture?? The fact that it is just two moms with 7 1/2 children (my firend is pregnant) and not a daycare. At least it seems others think something is wrong becuase they are always staring!! I know we are entertaining and most people are just thinking "glad that's not me" as they politely comment "wow, you've got your hands full." I think I am going to continue to agree with them and then politely ask if they'd like to help.

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I don't venture out too often with all the kids because really it's hard to keep track of all of them let alone try to keep them behaving appropriately. But sometimes we just have to get out so we do and we walk around in our happy (at times anyway) little bubble and ignore the fact that everyone else is staring wondering why anyone would have that many little kids so close together.

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Last week we took a day trip to the Louisville Zoo with our new friends. We had done this once before and miraculously spent all day there without any naps, major tantrums, issues etc. I should have known our luck had worn out before expecting such wonders again. This round was sprinkled with a lot more whining, tantrums. arguments, etc, but it was still fun. The Portland Zoo is huge and great and I think I'd have to say this zoo is just as good if not better. It's similar in size but seems to have a better variety of animals to look at. It also boasts a tram, carousel, playground and splash park in addition to the traditional seasonal attractions and train.

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The lowlight of the trip is a toss up between Brooklyn's tantrum where she bailed out of the stroller and ended up with a huge bleeding goose egg on the side of her head and our time spent by all the snakes where I got to watch a cottonmouth repeatedly strike the glass anytime a person would get close (freaky aggressive snake!) or watching a rattlesnake ingest its lunch-a lovely little mouse. I HATE snakes. They absolutely creep me out and this did not help anything. The only joy I found was pointing out a California King Snake to the kids and telling them that they eat rattlesnakes.

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Otherwise I spent the weekend as a sinlge mom as Dave was out of town for a conference and I somehow managed to keep track of my friend's kid for one of those days and nightsas well as a favor to my friend who was also out of town. The kid is the same age and has a similar temperment to Dallas . .need I say more? I've decided that sometimes the more challening they are to take care of the more they make you laugh though.

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As I was nursing Lexi he says, "Is she drinking your milk?"

Yes

"I like it when my brother drinks from mommy's boobies"

Oh, why?

"Because I like boobies."

What a little man he is at the ripe age of four.

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I am finding joy in motherhood . .because I love my children while wondering if being a man is really all that bad? I've always appreciated not being a father who feels the weight and stress of being the head and provider for a family. Then weekends like this make me realize being a man also has its perks.

Weekend in review:

Mother-stay at home with 5 kids

Father-travel to an ortho conference for golf tournament, cocktail party, movie, banquets and "networking"

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Really which one would you pick?

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Okay, I've given it a lot of thought and I'd still pick mom because being here to take care of my family is my passion and I truly feel like I am doing what I was meant to do and find great satisfaction in that. (But I'd totally be okay for a weekend getaway here and there. I guess I'll cash in on those when the kids are a little older and we hopefully have a few more resources to foot the bill.) For now I'll bask in the days where I get to soak up the sun while the kids are napping, enjoy the chaotic day trips to the zoo, enjoy staying in bed when the kids decide to sleep in and treasure the moments while my babies are still babies cause I already see them slipping away too quickly.

Sundays at our new house

I like Sundays. I'm not exhausted because I've had Dave's help with the kids and our evenings allow for time for me to force family walks upon everyone. Last week we took a walk to a nearby Confederate Graveyard. I need to study up on my US history but I believe Kentucky had soldiers that fought for both sides. It was really cool to see all of the headstones for the confederate soldiers that are buried there. The kids were spent by the time we started walking back (have I mentioned Dallas is like the laziest kid ever when it comes to exerting physcial energy). As you can see I ended up with Brooklyn on my shoulders and Dallas took a ride in the pink stroller.

I also like our new house. Tons more room and brand new so we get to claim every mark, stain and dent when we move out =). But really, this is a pic of the kids on our back deck . . .I love the wooded creek that runs right through our backyard so fun to be doing dishes and look out a window at this beautiful scenery rather than stare at a wall. Also boasts an unfinished basement which in our house equals a room where the kids can play and not destroy anything but cement walls, scrap carpet and our old tv. Lovin' It!

The Spirit of the Lousiville Slugger

I feared the boys being bored out of their minds moving here in the middle of summer-being at home all day everyday and not having any friends-so I was very quick to find the YMCA and sign them up for tee-ball. This is one of those times where it paid off to have our kids so close together as they got to be on the same team in the 4/5 year old division. This is their first exposure to baseball so it's been fun to watch how they respond. We also visited the Louisville Slugger Factory/Museum per Trenton's birthday request and posed for a photo in front of the huge bat. They've now had two games and we've decided that Trenton can hit pretty well although he seems to like to send line drives right to the first baseman (luckily none of these little kids can even stop the ball and if they do, it takes them a few minutes to remember to then go and tag the base. Dallas complains a lot about being hot and tired and I think the only reason he gets excited about games is for the snacks and drinks that follow, but he's still fun to watch and although he's by far the shortest on the team at least has the left-handed thing going for him.