St. Patty's Day

I really like to do things that make the kids life fun and build memories, but I also don't want to overdo it and make it so they expect something huge all the time, and I want to try and remember my limits and remember that ultimately the most important thing is making sure my children always feel my love for them.  So I know that a lot of people do these huge things for St. Patricks day like a huge party and making a leprechaun trap, but I am good with giving them a green meal.  It is something that they think is pretty cool and it isn't too much extra work.  I let the girls make our decorations, which I think they actually like better than me decorating, plus it helps them stay busy.  We had Green mashed potatoes, green jello and salad, and then we I put some food coloring in sprite.  We also had pork chops, but I didn't color them because that just seemed too gross to me. And then we had green dirt cake for dessert.

 Janie was our little leprechaun, she wore the cute hat she made at preschool.  She also thought it was so funny that people call it St. Patty's Day because her teacher is Miss Patty.

 Russy sure had a good time eating his food. He absolutley loves mashed potatoes so he went to town on them, and the jello too.

 Kevy decided to set a bad example when I took his picture and show me his potatoes and the girls thought it was the most hilarious thing ever, so naturally they had to do it too.

Russ really enjoyed his dessert and even decided his nose needed a little taste too.

Buddy Bear

Oh my goodness do we love our Buddy Bear!  Russ is 17 months old now and I just can't believe how grown up he is starting to seem.  He really is starting to look and seem like a little boy rather than a baby.  Although he is still my baby and I just want to eat him up all the time!  He was never chubby, but he is really starting to thin out and get tall.  At his 15 month checkup he was 22 lbs. (15%) and 30.5 inches (25%)  I know not very big, but for one of my kids not too bad!  He is definitely bigger than all the girls were.  

It is crazy how different he is than the girls, which is so fun to have that difference!  He is so boy, it is crazy!  He loves sticks and dirt and balls and trucks and anything that he can use as a weapon.  So funny.  One of the funniest things that he likes to do is act like a monster.  He will start growling and chase the girls around. He has really picked up his talking lately too.  He can say Mom and Dad and all of his sisters names.  But lately he has started saying baby a lot and he says it so clearly.  If he gets a phone he picks it up and says Hi, Hello.  He says ball and he even recognizes when it is a baseball and can say baseball.  Which Kevy of course thinks is the coolest thing ever. I got him some baseball jammies and when he first saw the pants he started petting them and saying baseball.  He also says Santa and Big Boy, and raises his hands when he says that, and banana and night night.  He even has started saying Harry, as in Harry potter since Lizzy is so obsessed.  I know there are more I just can't think of them right now.

The thing he loves probably more than anything though is his dad.  He is a total daddy's boy.  When he hears Kevin get home from work he races to the front door screaming DADDY!  I love that he loves Kevin so much and even though it makes me a bit sad that he prefers Kevin every time over me, I am so glad that since they are the only boys they already have that special bond.

 I just thought he looked so cute sleeping here with his blankie and monkey,  he is super attached to his blank and if he has it his thumb automatically gets put in his mouth.  We have found a few more blankets that he will take, which is good because this one is getting hammered.

 Russy loves trying on glasses and wearing them.

 Another thing he really seems to like is the remotes and always is changing the channel on the girls, which drives them crazy.  These two are my little day buddies and are so fun to be with while the others are at school.

 The girls love playing with him outside, which is a good thing because he could spend every waking hour out there.  We have lever handles on our doors so I have to make sure I keep them locked at all times because he will be outside the first chance he gets.  The girls couldn't find his stroller so they put him in our fruit cart and were pushing him around.

 He is going through a bit of a picky phase with eating, which drives me nuts because he used to eat EVERYTHING!  And now stuff that he used to love he won't touch.  He is still a better eater than most kids but one of the things I can't ever get him to eat is bread, silly kid!  He does love frozen gogurts and another thing he really loves besides fruit, (all kinds) is Chips and Guacamole.  He loves that stuff.  Most babies I know don't really like chips that much but Russ sure does.

He really likes his treats too.  If he knows there is a treat he will not let us have some without him.  He is such a special boy,  I can't believe that he is already 17 months old.  Time is going by too fast and I just want it to stop so I can keeps these kids little a bit longer!  But we are really enjoying him getting bigger and seeing his super fun personality shining through!  We love him SO much!

President's Day

So for Presidents day we had a four day weekend and I was really itching to take a little trip.  It has been a while and I knew with Anne coming this was my last chance.  Unfortunately we just don't have the money, but we didn't want to just stay home and have a regular day, so Kevy took off work and we went down to Fairfield to see my parents.  We had lunch together and then we went to visit the Jelly belly factory which happens to be there.  Apparently a lot of other people were doing the same thing, because the line was really long.  So we bought some jelly beans and waited it out.  The girls were really patient and good waiting in the line. 

 Russ was a bit wild and it was a bit hard keeping track of him while we waited.  He wanted to be held and wander around too.  There was also some live entertainment, which was probably the highlight of the whole thing, because it was so awful.  It was a singing group of young girls and I don't know why they were there all I know is that it was some of the worst singing I have ever heard!  The poor little girls were so awful and singing so loud.  Lizzy was making funny faces and we had to teach her not to, but I had a hard time not making those faces it was that bad.  Like make you want to cover your ears bad.

 We had to get a picture of all of us in our cool Jelly belly hats.

 It was cool to see all the portraits they made out of jelly beans.

 Russ really didn't like wearing his, but I had to get a picture with Kevy and him in theirs because it was just too cute.

 After the factory we went back to my parents and went swimming.  Or I should say the kids did.  It ended up being a cool windy day, so Kevy and I were not interested in swimming but the kids had a blast.

 Kevy put Russ in the pool after being in the hot tub, and you would think he would cry and be sad but he wasn't he loved it, even though this picture doesn't look that way.

 The pool was heated, but on a cold day and after being in the hot tub I thought the girls were crazy to get in, but they didn't care.  Silly kids. Jane knew where it was at though and she stayed in the hot tub the whole time.

Russ especially loved the swimming.  I was out there fully dressed with a hoodie on and I was cold, but Russ was crazy and loved it.  He only got mad when we made him get out.  I am seriously in for it this summer.  He loves the water way too much, I know it will be trouble.

Valentines Day

Last year I made a fun Valentine's dinner for all of my sweet valentines.  They loved it so much that I decided to make it our new tradition.   I made mini heart shaped pizzas last time and this time I decided to just make one big heart shaped one.  Much easier.  I also made this fun stained glass jello, and a yummy valentines drink.  I let the girls decorate for me because they love to do that.  It is so cute to see them get creative with crepe paper.   I also have almost perfected my homemade pizza and it turned out really good. (It has taken me a while to figure out how to get the crust not doughy in the middle with the toppings not overdone.)  

 Russ loves pizza, just like his dad, so he enjoyed this dinner.  I love how he always smiles for the camera.  I have so many smiley pictures of him.

 I love when I do things that the kids think are super neat and special.  It makes me feel like I am doing an okay job as a mom.   I made giant sugar heart sugar cookies and frosting earlier in the day and I had gone and gotten a bunch of valentine bulk candy to decorate.  The girls got to decorate two for friends and then we went and took them to them.  It is a family tradition that I have carried on from when I was a kid.  I always looked forward to decorating them every year and now my kids do too.

 Janie made hers for two of her friends from church and playgroup.  She did a super good job.  They all ended up needing a little help with the frosting, but the decorations were all them.

 Lizzy made hers for two of her church friends too.

 Nellie made hers for a church friends , but one is her little friend that is in her school class who is  boy.  She tells me a lot that it would be okay for her to marry him because he is a member of the church, but she is worried because he is a giants fan and she is a dodgers fan and she just doesn't know if that will work out.  So silly.

Russ loves climbing on the chairs and turning on and off the lights while the girls are at the table.  He is such a silly boy.  Maybe next year he can decorate his own cookies.  After the girls decorated theirs it was time to deliver them.  I had to stay home because I was having a ton of contractions that night, so many that we almost went to the hospital.  So I was sad that I didn't get to go with them and deliver them, but Kevy said they had a lot of fun.  It was a great Valentine's Day!