My Boys

We are getting ready to move. Things are getting boxed and moved. Chase thought it was fun to crawl onto this shelf. When I started taking pictures, Caden wanted in on the action.

Kailyn had a music concert. The concert was about a bunch of squirrels and nuts.  The concert was very cute and funny.  Kailyn did great on her speaking part.  She even did the part of a classmate who was gone. The songs were very catchy and all of my kids have been singing the songs all week. (Sorry the pictures aren't great.  Ken was working so I was dealing with a fussy baby and trying to take pictures.)

Kailyn singing (she is in the front row, middle)

Kailyn saying her speaking part (at the microphone on the right)

 Our cute little nut.

Quick story. Kailyn and Jordan ride the bus to school.  Apparently, they are well liked by their bus driver (an older gentlemen that made a perfect Santa at Christmas time).  He calls them giggle boxes. Kailyn, I guess, had invited her bus driver to the concert.  I didn't even know she had invited him until he came over to tell Kailyn she had done a great job. He is a very nice man.  He said that I have some great girls (I would have to agree).  He said that they always say good morning to him and always say good-bye. I will forever be thankful to him because he went out of his way to make it so that he could pick up the girls right at our doorstep when we moved.  Their assigned bus stop was 3 blocks away and across a semi-major road that had no crosswalk (not something they could do on their own and the weather was not something I would want to take a newborn out in)

It's so hard to say good-bye

Grandma was able to come and visit and help us out. She came at a great time. We had to get the house ready to go on the market and I felt like I was making progress SO slowly. Between trying to take care of Ava and little kids that undid all of my work, I was going nowhere. Did Grandma help? Let's just say, the bathrooms are all sparkling, the dishes are done (many, many times over), the kitchen floor is clean, and I have 8 plus dinners in my freezer.

All of the kids loved having Grandma here, even Ava. Yes, she gave Grandma lots of smile. I was even holding her at church and she turns, looks at Grandma and immediately starts smiling at her. Did she smile at me? NO! Ava, why do you smile at everyone but mommy? What does a girl have to do to get a smile?

The only negative about Grandma being here--it makes me miss my family so much! 

I came home from dropping Grandma off at the airport, came in the house and shut the garage door. Chase came running and said, "Oh, no. Gran-ma. Gran-ma."  He tried to open the door and then tried to get me to open it. He thought I had shut the door on Grandma. I told Chase that Grandma went home. He immediately started crying and kept saying Grandma. Yes, we will all miss Grandma.

Happy Birthday Ken

Well, Ken is officially another year older.  The kids were definitely more excited for the celebration then Ken was.  Ken is not much of a cake fan so he requested pie instead.  We had a delicious coconut cream pie, made by yours truly. Yum! Yum!

Music

All of our kids have enjoyed listening to Ken play the piano.  Ava seems to particularly enjoy it. Here she is dozing on daddy's lap as she listens to him play.

Dance a Little Jig

The girls didn't have school on St. Patrick's Day.  Luckily, I was able to find to find a free craft and story time at the Courthouse museum, which was a good thing because the weather was not nice to be outside and we needed to get out of the house.

Checking out the display on old ice cream shops.  Jordan is pretending to eat a fake burger.

I don't know why but the kids loved this car and really wanted to get there picture in front of it so that they "could always remember it."

 I also learned about free Irish music playing that evening.  Luckily, Ken got off work just in time to join us.  The kids had so much fun.  They started dancing to the music and soon others joined.  They ended up all dancing together in a circle.  It was so much fun to watch.  The crowd really got into it and thought the kids were a riot.

Caden and Jordan (I wish I got a better picture of their face-they were smiling from ear to ear).

Caden and Kailyn dancing. Caden couldn't stop laughing.

Here they are dancing in a circle. The adults were trying to get them to dance under their arms and the kids just couldn't figure it out (it was really funny to watch)

Chase just loved playing with the balloons.  He carried it around with him for the next 2 days (even took it to the grocery store) until it popped.  It was so sad to see his little face when his prized balloon was no more.

Ava

Ava is up to 8 lbs 10oz and 21 inches (as of a week ago). The last couple of days have been really rough.  She has been extra fussy (from noon on she was either eating, sleeping or crying).  She is a very gassy baby (I think it may be contributing to her fussiness).  Her worst days just had to be on the days that all of the kids were out of school and Ken worked everyday this week and I was trying to get the house ready so that the owner can put it on the market (not much got accomplished on that end!). She did redeem herself today when she decided to be good.  Thank goodness since Ken had to work and I had all 5 kids at church by myself. 

We still love her though and she sure loves to be held. She also loves Ken. She gave Ken her very first smile and had been smiling at him for a whole week before I even got my first smile! I was so excited to tell Ken she had finally smiled at me only to be trumped by the fact that she had just cooed at Ken...does that really seem fair? I don't think Ava realizes who is getting up with her at night and giving her all of those calories so that she can finally start to chunk up. Yes, they realize very young that daddy is the fun one.

(Ava 4 weeks old)

Lowes

Lowes has great free projects for kids on Saturdays.  The kids love doing them.  On this particular Saturday, the kids got to make race cars.  They loved being able to use the little hammers to build something on their own.

Ken helping the kids.

 Caden putting on the tires.

Chase trying to hammer in a nail.

Jordan helping Chase hammer.

Kailyn focused on hammering (did you notice the tongue?).

Jordan trying to straighten out a nail.

Shelly helping Chase.