Four Girls?

I thought I was blessed with 3 girls and 1 boy! The joys of having older siblings that are girls...sorry Tyler!

Look Who's Sitting!

Hailey decided that today she was going to sit up on her own. She wobbles a little bit, but doing great at the whole sitting thing. She is a happy baby sitting on the floor with a pile of toys in front of her!

Soccer Season

Soccer season has started again! Makena is thrilled to be playing again and loving it. This year she is playing with her very good friend, Katelyn. It is so fun having these 2 on a team together. These pictures are from her 2nd game (I had to work her first game). Makena did awesome. She played really good defense and also was able to score a goal. This is Katelyn's first year playing soccer and what a little soccer player she is! She scored 2 goals this game! It is so fun to have good friends that share a common interest! Love these 2 girls!

Happy 4th Birthday, KALI

My full of life, energetic girl turned 4 today! She was so excited all day. When she woke up, she came out and saw the house was decorated for her. She put her hands on her face and said, "oh my gosh!" She couldn't believe it. She was so happy to have a Tinkerbell balloon hanging from her kitchen chair that she uses. During the day, we didn't do a whole lot because the roofers were suppose to be over to fix our roof, so I didn't plan anything spectacular, but the roofers never showed and that irritated me. So I took the kids to the pet store so they could see the animals. They thought that was a big treat for them. They were looking at all the animals and Kali insisted that we buy some doggie treats for Sadie and Mady.
After the pet store, we had lunch and then took Makena to school. We came home and Tyler and Hailey went down for a nap and I let Kali watch one of her favorite shows, since it is her birthday. It was Max and Ruby. I can't stand the show, but I knew how much she loved it, so I sat and watched it with her.
That night, we went to Chick-Fil-A for her birthday dinner. The kids got to make a bank there and play on the toys. Kali was so excited all day.
Then Grandmas and Grandpas and Molly came over for cake and ice-cream and to open presents. Kali's presents were stacked in a pile and she kept piling them up on one another hoping one would accidentally open up. It was cute to watch her. Finally, she was able to open them. I have never seen her more excited than watching her open up her umbrella, a Tinkerbell hair salon set, Tinkerbell bowl & plate & soon & fork and cup set, purple silly string, bathtub colored soap, treats and a Dora book. It was so rewarding as a mom to see how happy your child is. She didn't want much this year for her birthday...just little simple things, but it made her day!
Then we had cake and ice-cream and sang Happy Birthday to her. She was blowing out her candles, and I put 2 sparking candles on her cake this year and after she blew them out, they would re-light. Kali put her hand on her forehead and shook her head. She couldn't believe they were re-lighting. She finally was able to blow them out and have them stay out.
I hope she had a fun day. Kali is full of life, she is into Tinkerbell, favorite color is purple, she is a good eater but doesn't like anything green touching her plate (broccoli, lettuce, etc.), she likes to walk down the sidewalk and she will keep going (she doesn't care that I am telling her to come back or running after her). Kali likes watching movies and will watch TV all day if I let her. She is into books these days and likes having them read to her. She has such a huge heart and loves giving Jarel and I huge hugs before bed. She loves to see what I am doing all the time and loves being right in the action. We love you Kali!! Thanks for the adventure you are giving us!

Zoo Field Trip

Today, Makena had a field trip to the zoo with her Kindergarten class. She was so excited to ride on the bus for the first time and also to have her dad come with her. Jarel was a parent volunteer and had a group of 3 girls. Also one of the girl's mom and sister came with them. This morning, Jarel commented, "I don't know who is more excited, me or her!" We got their lunches packed, got their warm clothes on because it was only going to be 52 degrees and rainy and they headed out the door. When they got home, Makena told me all about the animals and how the baby elephant Zuri is a little bit bigger from the last time we saw her. They said it didn't rain on them and all of the animals were out playing in the cool weather. She ate lunch by the elephants and they had a great time! I'm so glad Jarel was able to go with her. It was a fun day for both of them.

Hole In My House

Today the stucco guy came to take off our stucco. When he pulled off the stucco, the rotten plywood came with it. That wasn't suppose to happen, but with how rotten it was, you could just pull the plywood off. They are thinking it started to leak soon after the house was built because of how rotten the wood had gotten. Even some of the support structure were rotted through that they had to replace that. We had the hole in our house for about 6 hours and luckily no birds flew inside!

Jacob's Graduation

Today, me and the kids ventured up to the Huntsman Center for my brother's graduation! It was neat to go up and see him graduate. He is now going to dental school in Louisville, Kentucky and will be leaving the end of this month. He has worked so hard to get into dental school and he now can start his schooling for this! I am so proud of him and his hard work. The kids did pretty good at sitting there as speeches were given and as they read each graduates name. We didn't stay for the entire thing, but I am glad we went up there. I told Makena she had to yell really loud when they read Jacob's name. I think she did. After I yelled for him, I turned and Makena was just smiling. Way to go Jacob!!!
I will miss seeing Jacob and Katie every month. But what an adventure that awaits them. Now, I must be saving my pennies so that I can go to his dental graduation! Best of luck to him these next 4 years. I know he will do great, work hard, get good grades and be a great dentist one day!! Jacob amazes me with how determined he is and how hard working he is to have his dreams a reality. So glad he is my brother!

7 Months

Here is Hailey's 7 month pictures. Better late than never. She is into moving all over the place. She rolls forward and backwards and does it really fast. I will put her at one side of the room...and then next I know she is at the other side of the room. She already doesn't like to share. If she has a toy and one of her siblings comes to get it from her, she gets really mad. She loves yogurt and chicken pot pie gravy. She is sleeping not so good. I think she still wants to be an infant! More nights than not, she is waking up and eating every 2 hours. Quite ridiculous, I might say. But, it is not worth the fight to not feed her, because when I do feed her, she goes right back to sleep! She can sit up a little bit, she still goes forward with her body and doesn't last too long. She loves mom. Whenever Jarel is holding her and I am in the room, she whines until I get her from Jarel. And then Hailey will give Jarel the "ha ha, I got my mom" look. It is rather cute, I must say. She loves her silky blanket and loves to snuggle with it when she is tired. Loves to watch her sisters and brother play and laughs at them all the time. Hailey is enjoying the warmer days when we get to go outside and play. She likes swinging on our swing set and going down the slide. She is still the most smilest baby ever and most of the time happy!

"Flowers"

I love how excited Kali gets when she runs in the house carrying "flowers" for me. She tells me, "mom, I found them and picked them just for you."

A big POKE

Yesterday, I took Hailey into the doctor's office to have her blood drawn. Hailey is on a medication study with a vaccine and so they had to draw some blood. When we got there, the nurse looked at her veins and said she was a little dehydrated. I brought some gatorade mixed with water with me just encase this happened to see if she would take it. Hailey took about an ounce and the nurse put a warm glove on her vein to see if she could get it to stick out some more. We waited for a few minutes, the nurse came back in to see if the vein would work and she said that it would and she would go for it! Hailey did such a great job. Hardly any noise came out of her when she got poked. She was more upset that we had to wrap her legs and other arm in her blanket so she wouldn't move while they did it. The nurse got enough blood out on the first attempt! She wrapped up Hailey's little arm and we were on our way home. Even after the nurse poked Hailey, Hailey still gave her a goodbye smile! What a trooper.

Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday started off with Tyler and Kali waking up at 6:15, ready to search for their baskets. They came into the front room and noticed that there were lots of eggs all around. They were super excited and started searching for all the eggs. Kali even found a silver egg (she called it a mirror egg) and got the winning egg. There were so many eggs hidden around, we were still finding them come Monday and Tuesday! They then found their Easter baskets. Kali's was hidden in the oven, Tyler's was in Hailey's bouncing chair, Hailey's was on the couch under her blanket and Makena's was in the dryer. She thought it was pretty funny that the Easter Bunny was trying to dry her basket. The kids got a gumball machine this year, along with playdough and some candy. They were very excited and were eating the candy right away! We then got ready for church and went to church. After church, Makena and Kali came with me to do a drop off at Grandpa and Grandma Hathaway's house. They were so surprised with their basket...and the girls thought it was fun to ring the doorbell and run. We visited with them for a little bit and then went home and got Jarel, Tyler and Hailey and went to Grandpa and Grandma Boyack's house. There, we were spoiled once again. We went on a big egg hunt and found eggs and surprises! The kids were so happy searching for their eggs and Makena thought it was funny that Grandpa hid her egg with her name on it under a shovel. It was tricky for her to find...but she found it! My dad did a great job this year hiding our "name eggs." We had dinner there and had a fabulous time! It was a very nice day for us!

Kali and Tyler

Makena looking for eggs

Tyler with the eggs he found

Jarel told Kali to turn around for the camera...and this is the pose Kali chose to do.

With a little help from Kali, Tyler found his Easter basket.

Tyler getting his money ready for the gumball machine

Makena and Kali looking to see if the Easter bunny ate the crackers and cheese. And yes, the bunny ate the crackers and cheese!

Kali with her gumball machine

Tyler

Hailey loved playing the the grass in her basket.

Hailey

Makena

So excited

Ready for church

Tyler finding an egg at Grandpa Boyack's house

Kali getting an egg

Makena

Kali with all of her eggs

Hailey helping mom out

Kali, Tyler, Gretchen, Makena, Hailey and Ryan