I'm not a T-Rex

We have been spending so much time outside lately enjoying the beautiful weather. New this year to the backyard is a sand box, a favorite of our littlest boy Dawson.  Mike and I have set a rule that sand needs to be kept in the sand box.  Well, Dawson dosen't really think that we mean it, and so we are constantly reminding him to leave the sand in the sand box.  Of course, we still have sand in the grass and on the porch but we are trying.  This week I saw him take a big scoop of sand in a cup and start walking away from the sand box.  "Dawson, make sure you keep the sand in the sand box!"  He looked at me said "OK" and then proceeded to close his eyes and start inching away from the sand box anyways!  I guess he thought that if his eyes were closed and he moved very slowly I wouldn't see him!  Unfortunately for him, his Mommy is not a T-Rex and I could see him no matter how slowly he was moving!  What a funny kid!    

Our Week

 

This week we visited a fire station.  Carter was in preschool, but let me tell you, he was very disappointed that he wasn't allowed to go.  Poor guy, I foresee some disappointments next year when he is in kindergarten and the youngest two and I get to do fun stuff.  But anyways, back to our visit.  Dawson was so excited to see the BIG BIG fire trucks.

 

 

 

Sitting in the truck

 

 

 

A picture with Mommy

 

These two are so funny sometimes.  We had a big group shot of all the kids, and they refused to get near the truck.  They needed their Mommy to get close to it.

 

Walking in the parking lot I say to Dawson "You know I love you, right?"

 

He looked at me and said "I love tires."  Then ran to the tire for a little hug. 

 

I guess now I know where I stand in this little guy.

 

It's funny, all of my kids seem to go through stages where they are very clingy and then it will receed.  Right now Roover is going through a very clingy stage.  She is eating every meal in my lap, follows me around the playground like a little lost puppy, and has been ending up in our bed nearly every night because she is scared.

 

Motorcycle rides on the playground

 

Throwback: God Bless Carter

After looking at pictures from Andrew's baptism, I decided to look at pictures from Carter, Ava and Dawson's baptisms as well.  I realized that I don't have any pictures from Carter's baptism because I didn't start the blog until 2009, after Ava was born.  So for nostalgia's sake, here are some pictures from Carter's baptism.  It was September 16, 2007.  Carter wasn't even a month old, but we wanted Aunt Margie to be there for the ceremony.  She left for Hawaii a couple days later.

 

 

 

Carter, Mommy, Aunt Patty, Grandma Jackie and Aunt Carol

 

God Bless Carter

 

Check out little Riley in the foreground.  I think she was only two years old?

 

Godparents:  Uncle Jason and Aunt Margie

 

Grandma and Grandbo

 

Not yet Aunt Tiffany and Uncle Jason

 

Carter and Tiffany

 

Aunt Margie, cousin Rachel, Mommy and Carter

 

Grandma Jackie and sleeping baby Carter

 

 

Cousin Rachel, Meme and Riley Girl

 

Dad, I looked and couldn't find any pictures of you!  I think you were the photographer in most of these.

God Bless Andrew

God Bless Andrew!

 

Today we went to cousin Andrew's baptism.  Uncle Mike was the Godfather and Aunt Catherine was the Godmother.

 

He was such a sweet, relaxed baby during the entire baptism.

 

 

Andrew not caring at all about the water being poured on his head.

 

Uncle Mike not paying a bit of attention to what is going on.

 

MIKE!  Look at your godson!

 

What a sweet little guy.

 

Tiffany, I love the look on your face in this one.

 

See Dawson?  He insisted on a front row view of the baptism.  Luckily the priest was very laid-back and didn't mind.

 

This kid turns everything into trains.  Even pencils.

 

 

 

Sorry Daddy, but you are always on duty with these two around.

 

Check out Ava's hair!  See had a pretty substantial trim.

 

Blessing for a sleepy little boy.

 

A new one:  the candle thumbs up.

 

Another new one:  the sleeping thumbs up.

 

Love our little nephew!

 

 

Seriously, this kid was SO WELL BEHAVED.  Love his gentle personality.

 

 

Congratulations Andrew

Weekly Recap

 

 

On Thursday it was a gorgeous day!  We went to the zoo for a little fun, exercise and learning.  I let the kids pick one treat.  Ava choose a red slushie, Carter choose a blue slushie and Dawson picked a hot pretzel.  Note to self, buy one slushie for all three kids.  I think I threw away about six dollars worth of slushie.

 

 

I also learned on this day that Dawson is scared of alpacas and octopus in addition to horses and animatronic dinosaurs.

 

We are ready for the sunshine!

 

Carter planted this seed at preschool.  He told me "Mom, I must take good care of this precious seed."

 

Then he preceeded to drown the seedling in water.

 

I'm still hoping that it will survive, but its not looking too good.

 

Every Thursday night Ava and Carter have been taking a kindermusik class.  There is a wonderful play room right outside the class, and I get 45 minutes to play just with him.  He loves this workbench floor puzzle, we put it together every week!

 

I love watching Ava's drawing abilities evolve.  She drew this train, I thought it was pretty awesome!

 

Safety First Carter:  On his belt he has hooked a flashlight, play hammer, tissues and ikea building set.

 

He has also squirreled away "emergency kits" in different locations: his bedroom, the van, and bookbags.  I was checking out the emergency kit in the back of the van and it included band-aids, tissues, and "handitizer" aka hand sanitizer. 

 

 

"I can't hear you there is a banana in my ear."

 

Um, Dawson, those are your shoes.

 

Happy Weekend!

April Showers bring Mud

Our backyard is a little soggy right now, and of course with the beautiful weather they want to do nothing but run around the backyard.

 

 

Which has resulted in muddy kids.

 

Hey, everybody should play in the mud at least once in their life, right?

 

Do leaves sink or float in a mud puddle?

 

Mud Man!

Happy Birthday Ava!

 

Happy Birthday to my little Avarooni!

 

It's so hard to believe you are four years old.  Pardon the nostalgia, but I was going through the pictures from your birth and I picked some of my favorites. 

 

 

I tried to take some pictures of you this morning before we went to church, but you are feeling under the weather so none of the pictures turned out really well.

 

Your hair is getting so long but you really don't want me to cut it.  We may have to get a trim though.

 

 

My four year old girl loves playing newborn baby, house, trucks and trains with her brothers, and dress up.  Some of your favorite foods include mac and cheese {but this is very specific, it has to be the homemade whole wheat version} pizza, apples, carrots, bananas and anything chocolate.  It is funny because you really do not like oranges or raisins but you eat salmon like a bear and are very adventurous with your veggies  {unlike your brothers.}  You will generally pick character books like princesses or fairies.  But you also like Love you Forever by Robert Munch and Madeline. 

 

 

Now that you've hit four your interest in constantly wearing dresses is waning.  For your birthday you picked a new pink dress, but for your birthday party you decided to wear grey sweat pants and an I heart New York t-shirt.  Quite a change from last year's pouffy princess dress.

 

As for pre-academic skills?  You know all your letters/sounds and we are working on sight words.  I know that you know yes/no and sometimes you will identify the.  You can count to thirty and create/extend patterns.  You are riding your bicycle much better than last year with training wheels and you can write both Ava and Avery.  You can cut on a line and sing our address and phone number.

 

 

 

 

Look at this sweet little baby in her duckie pajamas.

 

Honestly Ava, you were just the sweetest, easiest baby.  You rarely cried or fussed and were so content.  Sleeping through the night came very early and I thank you for that!

 

It's funny because we called you Avaroo because you were like a kangaroo and always wanted to be in your Mom's pocket.  You are very much still like this.  You would prefer to sleep in our bed, and you LOVE to cuddle.

 

 

 

Ava, you loved getting your hair washed for the first time.  Look at that head of hair you were born with!

 

 

 

Ava, I can't describe how much JOY you have added to our family.  I love you my baby girl!