Pictures I like:

And what he actually spends most of his time doing:

Forgive me while I post way too many pictures of the same thing...

Baby S was blessed on Sunday while his Grandpa Mark and Grandma Paula were visiting.  At first, I worried that GQ's summer blessing outfit would be too chilly for Baby S, but it all worked out when Spring came to Iowa.  (HALLELULAH - We did NOT have a bad Winter, but I looooovvvvveeee Spring).

Then, I got these great pictures of Baby S smiling and laughing:

Right before he got grumpy and started screaming.

Visiting family:

Three generations:

First official, full-family photo.  We have enough of us now that everybody smiling is not necessary:

and then...

... at the end of the day, I discovered something fuchsia had melted in the dryer and all my children's clothes now have fuchsia streaks...

Wow.

If you want to destroy my sweater (morning) grab a string, and walk away...

Last night, after getting Baby S to sleep, I went in to check on the other cherubs in my life. Usually they are perfect about this time of night. As I entered the room, I noticed a smell.

Throw-up? No.
Stinky diaper? No.

I began moving from child to child to see who was emanating this smell. I don't know why I saved her for last, since I knew it must be her.

And it was. Good old Meggie. Covered from head to toe - literally - in Hello Kitty lip gloss. She had also covered her (naked) American Girl doll and several other sundry items.

At this time, I was amused. Good-spirited. Jovial. I laughed and thought: "Oh that Meggie!"

Flash-forward to 6:30 (actually 5:30 to my body).

Baby S is awake. And he thinks night-time is over. He eats at 8:00, then at 2:00, then at 5:00.... on a good night. And then he thinks night-time has ended. I do not agree. And by 7:00, when the other cherubs have disappeared and produced real live awake children, I am no longer amused by last night's antics.

I begin cleaning M. Two shampoos later, her hair is still sparkly and sticky from lip gloss. I give up. I tell her to get dressed, and I begin on the American Girl doll. She has pink eye. Every time her eyes roll back into her head, they come back covered in pink gloss. She also looks ready to go sunbathing. Her skin is covered in a greasy sheen - not much different from tanning lotion. I give up. I move on to the bed.

At this time,GQ asks if he can put his Buzz Lightyear costume on. I tell him to wait until we put his clothes on. He leaves. I go back to cleaning the bed. Then he comes back.

With hot pink fingernail polish all over his face.

Which, upon further inspection, is also spilled all over the green carpet in my bedroom.

All before 8:00!!! Such lovely cherubs.

So, if you see us today and we smell like lip gloss, fingernail polish, and carpet cleaner... you'll know why.

Sound Bites

Says GQ - with great gusto - when he is excited about any proposed activity (dinner, tubby-time, move-night):

"Let's do it."

Says GQ - in all seriousness - when I tell him he cannot have a candy because it is gum, and he is not old enough for gum:

"I NEED this gum."

Says GQ - in utter annoyance - when I tell him 'no' to anything:

"Ooookaaaay, Mom."

Says GQ - in an innocent tone - when he wants to get M in trouble:

"M hiiit me, Mom."

(And - while it seems likely that she would do this regularly - I have found it is rarely true.)

Says GQ - in a conversational, this happens every day tone - when he finally climbed out of his crib during nap-time (something we have been surprised he hasn't done before):

"Hi, Dad!"

E's Art Exhibition

E had her art displayed this weekend at a local bank downtown.  (Why they don't display in a warmer month, I don't know.  With crazy parking we were walking two blocks in the cold evening with four children... along with a million other children.  Brrrr.)  E's is the rainbow picture.

E looked forward to this ALL week.  She loves to paint and draw and color and create, and she was pretty sure that she won the biggest award EVER. 

Above is E's friend Eva from school.  Below is GQ, who really wanted a picture taken of him.  M didn't care.  Neither did S.

One Month Old Update

New pictures for grandparents:

Baby S is starting to actually look at us now.  Whenever he does focus in our faces he gets this surprised and somewhat troubled look on his face as though he is wondering where exactly he was sent.

Justin jokes that he thought he was going to come to Earth as a horse, because those are seriously the noises he makes all the time.  E sounded like a bumblebee when she was born.  S sounds like a horse.  I wish we could get it on video, but we never know when it is coming.  We will try.

I had Justin take some pictures of the baby with me so that when we all grow up the children will actually believe I was around during their childhoods.

But we can see who the star of the photos really is.  S is getting fatter cheeks, and his hair is lightening.  It has a significant metallic tinge to it.  That redhead gene is a strong one, I tell you what.  His eyes look like they are going to be blue (despite what the pictures look like up top.) 

Housekeeping 101

Today was a "house" day.

First, we bathed. This may seem obvious, but for us it is an accomplishment. Since none of my four can bathe themselves yet, bath-time entails an entire morning of tubby time. So now we finally smell good. (Except E, who was at school, and still needs her shower. But I still crossed it off the list, because it sure felt like I did something.)

Then, I made a grocery list. I had to think of some new meals since - due to illness, not pregnancy - I've pretty much thrown up everything I used to like to eat.

Then, we went to the grocery store. First we picked up E, because school was over - and anyway, who wants to go to the store with three children when you can go with four? This is how it went down:

I drove up to WalMart. I parked. And then, I drove away. Yep, I was too scared.

Unfortunately at the stop light I saw visions of our refrigerator at home:

no milk
no lunch supplies
no dinner supplies

And, yes, that pretty much crosses every meal off the list.

So, I turned around and went back.

In the parking lot I:

fed the baby
put GQ in a cart
put S in the sling (remember that I am height deficient and cannot see over the carseat if I put it on the cart like you normal people)
told E and M to hold onto the sides of the cart.

And we went in. Once inside, we set about grocery shopping. The kids were actually really good. The worst it got was E deciding to hold a spontaneous ballet class in the produce section. As for myself, I must admit that I operated in a bubble. I hate that look on people's faces that appears once they manage to count all the children attached to my cart. So, if you tried to wave at me, just realize I was ignoring everyone.

Once home, feeling very proud of myself, I decided to clean the floor. This is how I did it in case you want to repeat my amazing methods:

1. Give your three children glasses of water and straws.
2. When they start blowing bubbles decide to be one of those "cool" moms that doesn't freak out.
3. Leave the room to change the other child's diaper.
4. Ignore sounds of the children getting more water from the fridge.
5. When you come back and find a lake on your kitchen floor tell your children to get some bath towels and wipe up the water.

(perhaps this may seem unsanitary since half of the water was blown out of my children's mouths... but beggars can't be choosers, my friends, and I must say that my kitchen floor looks very sparkly just now.)