Busy Saturday

Today, Nathan and I traveled with my parents to visit my Grandma. It's a 2 hour drive and it felt like forever with Nathan. He is not a good car-sleeper. He took a catnap and fussed the rest of the way. Thankfully, he's not a loud crier. I had hoped that more of my extended family could meet Nathan but that didn't work out. My Grandma and my Uncle Danny were able to see how much he's grown since they last saw him, though!

Nathan and Grandma Hill.

Nathan finally crashed on my Mom's lap. He took a few cat naps for a total of MAX 2 hours of sleep today. He usually gets 4-5 hours/day so he's really wiped out!

The sun was right in his face on the way home so we made him a tent. We thought we were so clever--he kind of frowned about it. :)

*Brian and the rest of the kids had a fun, busy day. I heard Lily and Samuel had waffles and marshamallows for breakfast. They rode "real" bikes and their motorized bikes, went to a park and went to Grandma and Papa Kreger's. Oh and they ate McD for lunch. Wow! They will probably want Nathan and I to go away more often! :)*

Samuel walked in the house in his pajamas, filthy with dirt and orange pop. I picked him up and noticed he had decided to go without undies today. Ha! I was just imagining him at the park that way. Thankfully, I had picked some up from the store and he was excited to see Hulk on some underwear and put them right on! Samuel was watching me earlier this evening and he looked at me and said so seriously, "Me like you." So sweet!

I got the kids a "How To Train Your Dragon" stationary set from the clearance section at Wal-Mart. Hunter and Lily took their sets and made a little desk area in Lily's room. It reminded me of how much I liked playing "office" as a kid. Ha!

Lily's "desk". She was so disappointed that she couldn't go back outside tonight, after being outside pretty much all day. That trait must come from her Dad.

7 months old

I've been trying to upload a video for this post for the past 24 hours and I have finally conceded defeat. I can't get it to work. Bummer. I will post it separately if I can get it to work later.

I know I just posted 6 month pictures but Nathan is 7 months old now. He's getting the hang of sitting up but not quite there yet. He moves around a lot and spends most of his "play time" on his tummy, scooting around. It makes me realize I need to vacuum and I am always looking out for the little toys the other kids may leave around. I like this picture because you can see the excitement in his eyes that one of his siblings is paying him attention. He also wants to grab anything that gets close--Lily's hair is the best! :) This picture also shows the major amount drool he has (you can see drops on his face/neck). He's pretty funny--smiles and laughs and loves to talk and play. He is a squirmy child--makes me wonder if he'll always be on the go?!

In other news...the twins finally had a classmate over to swim. They were so obsessed with the friend coming over--they checked the sky for rain, prayed that it wouldn't, asked me a thousand times when it was... They had a lot of fun. Samuel is fully potty trained now--that happened during his recent illness. It's so nice having only 1 little bottom to change. Samuel did get to go to Toys R Us as a prize and he picked a new puppy. We are just busy, trying to enjoy these last 2-1/2 weeks of summer before the school routine starts up.

6 month pictures

Patrick (Frost Photography) took some great pictures again. I try to narrow down what I wanted to show on the blog but it's so hard!!

Baby-sitting

Tonight, we got to baby-sit my niece, Katherine, who is 15 months old. The kids were super excited about having her over!! She was very good--very quiet! She did call Lily "Mama" and give her a kiss so that was pretty funny. And here she is feeding her baby. I thought it was so sweet! She also gave her baby a kiss and carried her around for awhile. :)

Swimming Lessons

Swimming lessons ended today so this is the day parents are allowed to take pictures. My sister, Andrea, and I laughed at the thought of doing more than one session each summer. I might if not for younger children. Hunter and Lily had a blast. They learned a ton and spent most of their class underwater--a huge accomplishment for both. I read their report cards to them and told them good job. Hunter said, "Thank you. We worked really hard!". :)

The 4 cousins waiting for lessons.

Nathan showing off those teeth!

Samuel found a puddle on the last day and used his shirt to try and soak it up. He also marched in the puddle and sat down in it. He was the wettest child!

Lily and Hunter were trying out their front crawl during "Mr. Shark".

On the last day, 2 classes combined so the boys enjoyed being together!

Toothless Twins

Hunter and Lily are both missing one of their front teeth now--and it's the opposite tooth. I think it's so funny! Hunter has been missing his since he was about 3 years old so nothing new there. Lily just pulled hers out today--and she was very proud she did it by herself.

Nathan's New Skill

Nathan loves to talk! I keep trying to record him and finally got him to do a little bit. He's so cute!

Number 5?

Hunter: "I love summer!"

Me: "I know and it's going so fast!"

Hunter: "I want it to be Christmas!"

Me: "I don't because the baby will be 1 year old around Christmas time."

Hunter: "Well, we'll just have to do it all over again!"

Me: {laughter} "No way."

Finally Friday

How cute is this outfit??

I just feel this has been a l-o-n-g week. Long. We did start swimming lessons this week. The twins are doing amazing this year--much improvement. Brian and his Mom, Barb, always told me in past summers that the kids were young and would eventually get the hang of it. They were right! It just clicked this year. So that's why I am so NOT worried over my little Samuel, who was signed up for lessons but is not taking them after a 1st day attempt to get him in there. He likes the water okay but he doesn't want to move away from me. It'll pass, trust me. :)

Other than that, we took the 3 kids old enough for a movie to see 'Toy Story 3'. That was tons of fun. The theater was pretty empty so no pressure to be quiet and still. The kids actually sat really well for it, anyway.

Nathan is in love with his crib. He smiles every time he heads up that way and will still sometimes fuss a bit but most the time he just goes to sleep without a peep. Although, we are seeing a pattern--not sure if it's coincidence. At night, if I put him to bed, he doesn't make a sound. Two nights this week, though, Brian put him to bed because I was gone and he cried quite a bit. Is he turning his favor toward me?? :) He loves to babble and 'ma ma' is said a lot, which I see as a victory even though I know he's oblivious to the meaning.

I accepted a chairperson position for the twins' school PTF (Parent Teacher Fellowship) and had that meeting this week--3 hours long. Wow! It's good to know what's happening, though. We'll see how I do at my position (Prayer Chair)...it's mainly about organizing and planning.

I will end the blog w/swim lesson stories:

Day 1...Samuel crying, clinging while I try to work out if he's going to do lessons or not.

Day 2...Nathan cried the whole entire time (tired!) and Samuel injured his toe. He needed a band-aid so I went to ask for one. They wanted him to sit in a chair and he freaked so I asked if I could just take the band-aid w/me. They wanted his name to record in their little binder. I now carry band-aids in the diaper bag.

Day 3...Fraud agency called in the morning and it turns out that, no, we did not authorize a $500 purchase in the UK. So I spent my morning dealing w/those issues. Got to swim lessons, endured the HEAT, went to leave and realized I almost forgot Samuel (again). He was hiding in stacks of chairs. Thank goodness my sister goes w/me to keep me on track. When do you know you have too many kids? When you start leaving them behind. We get out to the van, get everyone loaded (not an easy task) and I go to put the stroller down and the thing-y breaks. I can't describe how it folds down--this push and slide button... But it's totally broke. I contemplate just abandoning it in the parking lot but I manage to squeeze it in the back. I was so ready for a nap after that.

I am so glad it's Friday!

Real quick: I had to organize books/games/puzzles because they were out of control. I moved this little shelf up from my scrapbook room (when was the last time I was in there??!) to help w/that goal. This is the best garage sale buy ever--$15. Natasha was with me when I got this so when Brian was moving it, I told him I thought Natasha lifted this into her trunk by herself so that spurred him on to just pick it up and move it (he was making me help!). I don't think that's a lie, either--I think she literally picked it up and made that thing fit. :)

Trouble!

Nathan doesn't crawl but he can get around. I had him on his mat but he managed to get to my massive book pile.

Hilarity

My last post about the reunion had a picture of Nathan smiling and I mentioned his fatigue at that moment. Well, here's his belly laugh that is Hunter is causing by yelling random things at him. He loves his siblings but he's prone to this laughing when he's super tired. :) The video is about a minute long and it takes a bit for him to get going. If you listen hard, you can hear Brian call Nathan, Samuel. We ALL do it! Ha!

Our Weekend

This weekend was too busy for my taste! Saturday, I attended a wedding shower for my cousin, Michelle. It was 2 hours away so it took the last half of the day. We had fun playing all sorts of games. I won 2 prizes so that was awesome.

Sunday, we had the Cable Family Reunion (Brian's side). It was rainy but pretty cool while we were there so that was nice. The kids thought the 1 hour drive was about forever but they did enjoy seeing a mouse and some frogs. :)

The biggest news is that Nathan has a tooth now!!

Here are some pics from the reunion today (they aren't great but I got some!):

Nathan getting hysterical because he's so tired!

Samuel and Hunter

Lily and Sydney

Carley (high in the air!) and Samuel being pushed by Brian

Samuel's pet baby frog :)

The long awaited day

Every summer, my sister and I try to get a playdate in w/all our kids. She's a teacher so it's the best time to do it! This summer has been impossible! My kids have been sick whenever she's been free, which isn't often! But today was it! We got to spend a few hours over there, enjoying the sunshine and living in fear of her dog. Ha! The kids like the idea of a dog but actually being around one is another thing! And, of course, the time ended w/my kids crying on the way home because they didn't get to do all the things they wanted. Good times.

He's fine!

I know it's strange but Nathan really never sleeps in his crib. 1st of all, the upstairs is so incredibly hot. 2nd, there are 3 boys in 1 room and who can be trusted? Brian pretty much solved the 1st problem by putting in a 2nd air conditioner upstairs in the other window (thank you, JoDee!). The other issue...who knows how it will be solved?! But we will figure out a way because I need to get that baby in his crib.
Yesterday I put him up there and I think he felt it was a new environment (because it is to him!) and he cried, cried, cried. Today, the same thing. I know he'll get used to it but it's hard to hear him cry nonstop for so long because he so rarely cries at all. But I have no choice because the other sleeping arrangement does not work for reasons I refuse to say here on my blog because I still feel horrified. :)
Oh, and, yes those are 2 pacifiers in his crib even though I told my family we were done w/the pacifiers. He doesn't care for them so I figured we should stop trying because why get him addicted just to take it away in a year? But, I tried everything to soothe him. So there's proof of him in his crib--safe and asleep.

Perfection

Last night I went to a movie w/my Mom and sister so Brian was on his own for a few hours. When I returned, he was telling me about Lily getting upset about something and it was just this long story. Anyway, the next morning, Lily starts telling me about her Dad and complaining about his handling of the situation. I wasn't even going to go there! So, I said, "You know, there is only one perfect parent. Do you know who that is?" and Lily hesitated a second and shouted out, "Mommy!". :) I did laugh but then said, "No, it's God the Father." I just thought that was so funny (and ironic).

Another Rainy Day

Another rainy day and the baby is asleep...here's what is happening in the house:

I broke down and let Lily get her jewelry-making kit out. She received this from a classmate for her birthday. This is the kind of gift we (Brian and I) dread--Brian also dreads makeup gifts. I would get this gift for my sister's daughter because I think it's funny to do things like that. :) Anyway, we've put this present off for 8 months and I had to finally allow it to come out. She wants to make jewelry for me and all her girl-classmates. :) It is keeping her busy!

Samuel wanted me to take another picture of him in this pose. Maybe he's embarrassed to be caught watching Lily make jewelry.

Obsessed much? Hunter wearing his Ben 10 shirt, just finished his Ben 10 Wii game (because Mom is no help!) and is now watching a Ben 10 cartoon. As I type this, though, he's in the kitchen talking Lily into letting him make some jewelry. :)

Hunter did talk Lily into sharing her supplies so I got out the lacing beads for Samuel. I think I got these in the dollar section at Target awhile back. Looks like we'll keep busy today...

Independence Day

(* Samuel is in a no-shirt phase of his life*) Happy 4th of July! It's been a fun but exhausting weekend. Friday, my Mom, sister and I went shopping at an outlet mall--tons of good deals!! Saturday, we were at Brian's parents' house. We played outside a ton and it was miserably hot--but super fun! Today, we went to my parents' house and had fun swimming and playing Uno (I won 3x!). :) We are all pretty wiped out and I am really looking forward to the next 2 days of having Brian home and relaxing from all this busyness!

Big Day

1) I had taken Hunter into school and was back outside getting the others out of the van (don't usually have to do those 2 separately but I was actually late)...anyway, Lily said, "I see a deer." and I said, "Oh, you do not." and she said, "What is that?" so I look...it's a deer! Ha! Right next to the playground. I was able to get her and Samuel out in time to see the doe run away. How exciting! I guess she knows what she's talking about.

2) Samuel proudly told the teacher (Hunter's tutor) that he pooped in the potty. She congratulated him and he smiled big at me. The only thing is that he has NOT, in fact, pooped in the potty.

3) After we got home from school and I let Samuel out of his seat, I grabbed the baby and the diaper bag and headed inside (the twins are always up and out of the van in a rush). I locked the door, as I usually do, and looked around. What's missing? Oh yeah, Samuel. I rushed back outside w/the baby. There he is...opening the gas tank door on the van.

4)I survived a trip to Target w/4 children. There were 2 tantrums, a bloody lip (not caused by me--ha!) and a threat of "you will NOT get a (free) cookie if you do not stop (fill-in-the-blank)" given to 2 children.