Getting better all the time.

kinda....

 Katelyn is still working on mastering the art of roller skating.  we thought it might help to give the kids practice on their bikes and roller skates so we took them to the "Von Bose" park and let them ride and skate around on the sidewalk that runs around the park and grass area.

 We thought practicing on the grass might help her keep her footing a bit better, and it did help but it was still tricky.

she's getting better all the time and i'm sure before we know it she will be skating circles around us.

our little picker

Grant is a picker, unfortunately, he comes by it naturally.   he has had the scab on his cheek for a number of weeks now because he can't leave it alone and no amount of bribing seemed to work, because he seemed to do it unconsciously especially when we was asleep. so we decided to take control of the matter and put a band-aid on it,  unfortunately that only made the problem worse because apparently he is allergic to the bandage adhesive...  looks like we're back to the drawing board...

What did you do today?

 why is it I can't keep up with my blog... oh wait, now I remember...

plus one load in the washer, one in the dryer and one on the floor in the laundry room... I'd say it was quite a day... too bad we will be repeating the process in approximately 2 days...  It would be great to love doing laundry right about now...

Getting into the swing of things

 I love 4 month old babies, They laugh they smile, 

the blow bubbles with their spit... 

 They stick out their tong... what's not to love?   

Yes Lilly is wearing a boy bib, somehow we have 5 times as many boy bibs as we do girl ones unfortunately it's our little girl who spits up all over the place, so she gets to wear boy bibs... it's not the end of the world...

 We put Peter in a baby swing for the first time, he LOVED it.  actually I think it relaxed him,  he just sat there  with a look of complete contentment and then he fell asleep... should have gotten a picture of that... oh well.

 Lilly got her first experience in a swing too,  she was a little more tense but in the end she also fell asleep... maybe it was nap time? you would think that after 5 kids I would be able to read their signals better...

and of course we can't leave out the "big kids" they wanted their turn in the swing.  I'm guessing in a few years this might not be possible without getting completely stuck but for now we are living it up!

Daddy

 Cameron is amazing in so many ways but especially when it comes to being a daddy.   Even as I write this he is playing little games with Peter while he get's him changed and dressed for the day.  he's always the first to be fun loving and playful but he also helps around the house and follows through with parenting decisions.  I knew he was wonderful when we got married but I really didn't know how great he was until we had kids

I am so blessed to get to spend forever with this amazing guy.

Primary Activity

we showed up in a jammies and ate breakfast at the church while members of the bishopric introduced the new primary theme, "Choose the Right"... or something along those lines,  I love that primary has a theme to focus on each year.  it's nice to have direction.

 I know this may come as a shock to you but no, her hair does not look like that first thing in the morning... I know, I know I'm even surprised myself.

 Grant is actually this happy just about every morning,  he is one of the happiest kids I know.

my kids love and adore juice boxes, they are a rare and special treat at our house, as are fruit snacks,  I figure they are pretty much like candy, they might as well be treated like candy.

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Lilly has pretty much won the heart of the young women in our ward,  it's hard to resist those cute cheeks.

Cameron's hair does not actually look like this in the morning either,  believe it or not, he made great efforts to get his hair to stick up like that.  on the other hand, Peter's hair doesn't change no matter the time of day or night... believe me.

After breakfast the kids were encouraged to color on the tables, they were happy to comply

 Katelyn was so excited to wear her hello kitty slippers,  she LOVES them, and who wouldn't?

My Little Helper

 Like everyone else, Grant loves our two new additions.  He loves to make them laugh and doesn't seems to mind too much when they cry.  Both Lilly and Peter love watching the kids jump and Grant is always happy to volunteer. Grant was also the first to notice that Peter Loves to hear us sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and will sing it to him whenever he gets fussy.

 It's actually become pretty rear to find one the kids feeding either of the babies... especially Lilly because I think we all have experienced being drenched in her spit-up. but today Grant was happy to do it.

It's so fun to watch the big kids interact with the babies,  we all love them so much.

Lilly's First Hair Trim

One of Lilly's most distinguishing features is that little tuft of hair that sticks straight up.  So we decided to give her tuft a little trim.

 Grant had the first go at it, cutting approximately six hairs... yep, that's them, right there.

 Katelyn was the next self proclaimed barber,  and she cut a few more hairs, we feared that between Lilly's head bobbing and the unsteady hand of our other children, Lilly would get her eyes poked out, so we concluded that hair cutting session almost as quickly as it begain.

 The results were stunning... ok so no one actually noticed the change but those of us who were there knew, and we could see the difference... barely.

Baking up a storm is fun to do...

 I'm not sure what it is about the cooler months that get me in the mood to bake, but this December we did some fun baking projects... all of which involved a LOT of sugar!

 Why eat a plain frosted sugar cookie when you can add sprinkles?

 one night while i was up feeding the babies I had this great idea for breakfast that morning, Snow man pancakes!  I thought the kids would LOVE them, and they did, they loved everything except the chocolate chips and candy corn... you can't win them all.

 reindeer ginger cookies.  a huge hit!

 If you didn't get a plate of these from us this Christmas season, sorry.  we ended up making these 3 separate times the last time tripling the recipe, unfortunately after we made up the plates, loaded the kids in the car and made our first delivery each and everyone of the kids had a meltdown so rather then force everyone to finish the deliveries, we turned around and went home... we have since eaten a lot of reindeer cookies... sorry... sometimes that's just the way we roll...

 we only made one batch of these snicker doodle snowman cookies... inspired by certain snowman pancakes... and the ginger cookies tasted so much better that I was embarrassed to give these ones away so we took them to playgroup and the kids all thoroughly enjoyed them.

we also created a gingerbread train... it looks more like a sugar cookie train but that's because we used light brown sugar and light corn syrup, so we got a light result.  no one seemed to mind.

I also baked cupcakes for the Alliance December bake sale.  Chocolate with a few having mint frosting, peanut butter frosting or vanilla frosting with sprinkles.  this was my attempt to please a crowd. They were a hit and sold almost the second they were placed on the display table.

we baked many more things that aren't pictured... or remembered... but I know it happened... it's amazing how sleep deprivation has that effect on you...

Hair

I love doing Katelyn's hair,  it's fun for me to try new things and see what I can recreate.  Katelyn only cries and screams during the brushing out part, and since I would do that part regardless I don't feel bad about  taking time to fix her hair after the initial brushing.

  she's not going to let me do her hair forever so I want to have some fun with it while I can.

 in the end, Katelyn loves it.  She's always pleased when other people notice her hair.

A New Paint

I should have been suspicious when the kids stopped coming in begging for snacks and I could hear the snuffled laughter as the kids took turns running from outside to the kids bathroom and back again. 

What they discovered?  Calk mixed with Water creates PAINT!  

 what was also discovered: Chalk paint is still messy, even if it is made with chalk and water... who knew?

 Fun times had by all... that is until it was time to clean up...