Holiday spirit

The baby enjoyed his first Christmas parade last weekend.
He was thrilled, as you can see.



Thankfully, the festivities were short, and we left right after Santa rolled by.
Baby Joshua's older brothers were happy to see the man in the red suit, but were disappointed they didn't get any candy.



The weekend was filled with football as well. Joshua doesn't care for it much.



The kids continue to amaze us with their lessons! Jason is learning division. Michael can now count to 100!

He's also learning about sounds and is in the beginning stages of reading. We always talk about words and the letters they start with. For example, he'll tell me, "Mommy, cat starts with "c."

Unfortunately, a lot of our conversations revolve around puking. The baby spits up regularly, Jason threw up recently because he wasn't feeling well, so you can see how things deteriorate during dinner table talk sometimes.

So Michael said recently, "Mommy, throw up starts with "f." He was so proud of himself.

Get it? "frow up?"

You really can't make this stuff up.

Part of the family

Nope. We don't leave the boys alone with the baby. They might pat him a little too vigorously.

I know they love their baby brother, though.

Happy Thanksgiving

We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

We are counting our blessings many times over this year, and we were blessed to have family and friends to celebrate the day with. If I do say so myself, the meal was a fine one.

It's funny how many hours it takes to prepare a meal, yet it takes just minutes to devour it.



Jason was obviously surprised when he took a bite. He told me it was the "best turkey EVER!"



It kept the family smiling, that's all that mattered.
In all the holiday craziness, the baby's 7th month came and went.
Baby Joshua is not moving much, but will tolerate standing on his tip-toes, and he doesn't seem to mind standing next to his biggest brother.




Hard to believe the holidays are here. But you know they are just around the corner when Doug strings Christmas lights. This year, Michael wanted to supervise.



And Jason wanted to play football.




Great.

Mean mommy

Jason has a friend over to play today. Ethan and he are having a great time, flitting fom game to game. Today, Mean Mommy told him he couldn't start another game until he cleaned up the last one.

That's when Jason exclaimed, "There's TOO much WORK in this house!!!"

Just wait until he gets tall enough to push a lawn mower...

Strike a pose

I've taken a few yoga classes in my life, like maybe two.
Michael has taken many, many more.
I learned while speaking with his teacher, Miss Dawn, yesterday, that yoga keeps the children centered to start the day. Every day. Maybe I need to learn some poses to bring him back to center at home.

This is a new position Michael just learned. I can't remember the name of it.



Jason and I call this our favorite. Warrior.



And, of course, downward dog.



The funniest part is Michael will strike a pose and move from one to another seamlessly. It cracks us up, which is probably not the desired reaction.

One little person who is not laughing is our baby. He's seriously concentrating on those milestones. Drooling plenty since he's teething. Here you see him sitting up. We put him there, but he is holding up his parts all by himself. He just had his six-month-old checkup. Baby Joshua weighs 15 pounds and has grown to 27 inches.



The two boys are back in the pool. We've started swimming lessons at another Y near us, and the kids are so far having a great time. Michael has turned into such a nurturing little soul. In my recent conference with Michael's teacher, I learned that he continues to be a constructive force in the classroom. The other day, Michael told both Doug and Jason, "I know you can do it, I know you can." I think they were playing a video game or something.



Meanwhile, Jason is just fighting off the girls.
A 4-year-old in his class apparently wants to marry him, and told him she wanted to have a baby.

He said, "I need to decide more before I marry her."
As for the baby comment, he said, "But I don't want to do that yet."

Let's keep it that way, at least for a couple of years.

Have a great weekend!

Halloween happenings

Halfway through November, and we're still focused on Halloween. The huge bags of candy in our kitchen are a constant reminder!



I know you have seen this costume before. Jason wore it for two years (by his choice, not mine, I promise!), and I guess Michael had seen it so many times, he thought THAT is what a costume should look like.

If you've ever met Michael, you know it is difficult to get him to change his mind.

As a Green M & M, Michael enjoyed the parade at school this year. Jason was there, too, but I couldn't see him in the crowd to snap a picture.

We had a great time trick or treating with friends, T.A. and Emily, and ALL of our children. Boy, we were a big group.



Last year, I remember we walked alongside the excited kids as they went from house to house. This year, I'm just thankful we brought some extra adults. Our kids, much older, and much faster, far outran us. There was no stopping the kids and their candy.



Jason dressed up as Anakin Skywalker. The kid has never seen the Star Wars movies, and it has been years since I saw the last one. His friends at school have seen snippets of the films and apparently talk about it all the time. That's why Jason wanted to play a role in this saga.

But, of course, he had questions. Questions to things I just don't really have the answer to. Like: "Mommy, when Darth Vader takes off his mask, does he look like Anakin Skywalker?"

"Umm, yes, Jason, just older."

"But, why?" he asks.

"Well, he's been through a lot."

"So Mommy, why does Anakin turn into Darth Vader? and DOES HE DIE after he takes off the mask? And why does he die?"

I know there are easy answers to these questions, but I do not know them. And I realize that when I make up an answer, he always seems to know, shooting back more questions in return.



Thank goodness for the child who doesn't talk yet.
My little pumpkin had a good time trick or treating as well. He just doesn't get to enjoy the treats.

Birthday visit

Thanks so much to Grandma and Grandpa for coming to visit us for Jason's birthday! They had plenty of alone time with Jason and Michael, but I think they were a little taken with this guy...



With the exception of a rather long (it felt long!) car ride, Baby Joshua was a delight, and he had a wonderful time with Grandma and Grandpa. Look at that smile!



And, though the pictures are still in my camera, we had big success in celebrating Halloween, or as Jason knows it, "The day our arms hurt because we get so much candy."



My little artists got to work before the big day. Pictures from trick-or-treating to come.

Birthday bowling bash

The lanes were filled with Jason and his friends last weekend for a birthday bash at the bowling alley.



What a great bunch of kids!



Even Michael, who was having a tough time because the focus was Jason, Jason, and more Jason on this day, managed to enjoy himself.



Jason had a blast with his friends. The highlight, he told me later, was the STRIKE he bowled during one of his games.



Of course, there was much more to be thankful for--the cake, the pizza, the fruit juice, the friends, and the presents...



Thanks to all who came out to enjoy Jason's special day!!!

Six months old

AAAH!

The last six months have passed in a flash.

Half a year old, and Baby Joshua is already following in his big brothers' footsteps. Looks like Jason, doesn't he?



I have never been successful in encouraging the boys to use pacifiers. They have always preferred their fingers.



We've noticed that instead of bothering with the baby, the two older boys prefer to be by themselves. Jason and Michael have really gotten close recently. There's a fair amount of fighting between them, but, thankfully, a fair amount of fun.



And that leaves me time to be with this little guy.



Lucky me.

Family photo op

It's very difficult to get us all in a picture together. But, when we all manage to squeeze in, the first thing that comes to mind: "Boy, do we have a lot of kids."

Happy Birthday, Jason!

Our #1 baby is now SIX years old. Break out the Kleenex.

And the milestones keep on coming. He lost his SECOND tooth yesterday, which he was concerned about because it is right next to the one he lost a couple of weeks ago. He was afraid his friends would make fun of him. At dinner last night, we asked him if that happened. He said, "No, no one noticed." I suppose all his friends are sporting the same big gap as well.

Of course, the tooth fairy had to pay a visit overnight. Jason woke up, astounded that she dropped off another three bucks for tooth #2. Doug told him that sometimes the tooth fairy doesn't give that much for succeeding teeth. Jason said, "Well, maybe she did because she knows it's my birthday today."

Plenty of birthday festivities this weekend, and we're looking forward to a visit by Grandma and Grandpa. More pictures and stories to come.

My baby is growing up too fast!

My home run hitter

Jason is a home run hitter. In his last game against the Yankees, in his second time at bat, he hit the ball so hard, the coaches say he would have successfully circled the bases (had the girl in front of him not stopped in her tracks and planted herself on third base).

Unfortunately, I missed it all.

I was on the playground with Michael and Joshua. At the time, I was trying to convince Michael that he didn't need to do a #2 in a porta-potty. I won that battle of wills, by the way. And, it WAS a battle of wills since he didn't actually "go" until the next day.

But, back to the game. On Jason's last time at bat, he "broke" the tee. Which is apparently a good thing. The coaches seemed impressed, and they said they'd not seen that kind of hitting out of a t-baller, ever. The tee was a new one, they say. So impressed they were, they actually GAVE us the broken tee at the team's end of season party last night. If Jason could sleep with it, he probably would. However, it is resting nicely in a wagon in the garage.



It's kind of bittersweet, as I knew it would be. The t-ball parents and I spent the last two months complaining about how much time we spend at the ball field, and I know we'll be sad when we're not out there three times a week. Crazy, huh? Rest assured, we'll be back in the spring, complaints and all.

And, you can be sure, Jason will be practicing for the next time he's up against the Yankees.

Seeing the sights

Thanks for all the birthday wishes and presents in the last week. We celebrated together with Tim, which was a real treat.

And, it gave us a chance to explore a bit, introducing the kids to the sights and sounds of Northern Virginia.

First, we went to a petting zoo--and, the kids weren't all that interested in the animals--not once they saw the playground! And, for Jason, an open field is all he needs.



We were very glad to have Tim on hand for some much-needed help for a tired baby.



I was thrilled to be able to catch up with old friends. Cathy, Lisa, Amy, Erin and ALL of our children. And I mean ALL of them. We filled up the playground.




You know it's a good time when all the kids are unwilling to leave.



We got to celebrate cousin Danica's 3rd birthday, and as always, the boys are parked near the cake, usually closer than the birthday child, ready to pounce when the sweets are cut.



We thought we were going to miss a t-ball game by going away. Turns out there was no game scheduled, so one day, we went to my old elementary school, so Jason didn't have to miss a thing.



Michael didn't seem to mind the surroundings at all.



I know these pictures all look the same, but Jason is truly amazing us with his strength. He can go across the monkey bars; at this playground, there were three different kinds of bars, and he went across them all. Then he did some pull-ups.

Do they award scholarships for this kind of thing?




It's a good thing the boys built up some stamina early in the trip.
We ended with a metro ride to the National Zoo, and a visit to see the world famous pandas.




The boys may have interested in the pandas for about a minute. Maybe two.
But the variety of animals and the beautiful day made it a wonderful experience for us all. Just one Michael meltdown. We felt very lucky for that.




We expected, wrongly, of course, that the pandas would be their favorite stop on our trip to the zoo. Nope. Not even close.

Toward the end of our journey, down a hill after a Michael meltdown, we had the opportunity to watch a tiger in action. That was cool. It was moving all around, seemingly looking around for something, giving a sullen Michael a reason to focus. Then we realized what the tiger was looking for, when she stopped, just over the water that separates her world from ours.

She was looking for a bathroom.
And, the kids couldn't get enough.

Just ask them about it sometime.

"What was your favorite part about the zoo, boys?" we'd ask.
Almost in unison, they'll say, "When the tiger pooped in the water."

Nothing else compared.




We even did the touristy thing and took pictures by any "animal" we saw.



And every time I turned around, Jason, who turns SIX next week, kept doing this. Obviously, he's trying to measure himself against anything that is tall. Funny how all little kids do that. He is growing so fast.



And, we are growing older as well. We finished off our trip with a birthday treat with the family. Thanks, Mom and Dad. And, Happy Birthday, Tim!
We love you all very much!!!