It's A Sister Thing

Ethan is going to be a patient, patient man.  Or he's going to snap.  It really could go either way...

The girls dress him up in their running clothes.  

 They make him a soccer player...

 Alix steals his pajamas...

Alix shares her pajamas...

Brooke does his hair...

 Sam lugs him all around...

They make him play mad scientist...

Even early on - they accessorized him in pink fur...

But on the other hand...

Sam helps him in the shopping cart.

 He gets awesome snuggles.

 Erin plays with him

 Brooke lets him hang out

The twins play with him

 And Sam teaches him to dance.

He is a well-loved, well-tortured little boy...

Mind Goggling...

We are pretty laid back parents...  I figure a good dose of "figure it out" is crucial for a child's development (I used the word "development"... That makes me an expert, I'm pretty sure...).  The girls wanted to start a fire.  So we let them.  It was uniquely made, so there was a LOT of smoke.  And here is where the "figure it out" experience they've had their whole lives came in to play....

Make it work, girls.  Make it work.

Broken hearts...

Some families move in and become a part of your family.  Then, sometimes, they move back away.  Taking a piece of your heart with them.  My girls have been blessed to have amazing friends in the Hill girls.  Best friends.  That one friend of a lifetime.  And now we're all a little lost without them.  I personally feel like I've been in a divorce and my husband got custody of my two (best behaved) kids.  Hills, we love and miss you...

The final hug goodbye.  I was bawling like a baby.  They handled it better than I did.  (I'm crying now. How can they be gone?)

And my triplets are back down to twins...

What's a little shaving cream deodorant among friends?

 Hip hop legends in the making...

 One of dozens of Charlie's Angel poses I have pictures of these two doing...

 Erin and Kaitlyn on one of our many beach trips...

 Adrienne and Brooke at the rodeo.  She's the only kid I'd willingly add to mine for an 11 day vacation...

 Alix and Kailtlyn at track...

 They went to Disneyland together...  

 My 6 daughters...

 It's going to be a long summer....

Pinkalicious...

(My posts are all mixed up because I'm so far behind... I'm trying to catch up by summer.  And I'm just not organized enough to do it order...)

April around here brings rain (duh...) and the Pinkwood Derby.  This was the third year our ward has done it.  (I was recently released as primary president and this is the one thing I asked her to not change...)  We made 5 cars this year.  In ONE day.  Why five, when we only had three racers?  One for Brooke. One for Alix. One for Erin. One for Sam (couldn't leave her out...).  And one for Kaitlyn (Her family was in the process of moving and her dad was already in AZ...).

Alix went Seahawks themed (Go Hawks!!!).  I sketched the design and she painted it.

 Erin did all her own work.  And named her car "Baba Loca".  Which is what we sometimes call my mom.  And which translates into "crazy grandma..."

 Brooke also did all her own painting.  Nice lightning bolts, sister!

And Kaitlyn's car.  Which the two of us did with no help from Tom.  (You'll notice how much carving we didn't do...)  But it turned out so cute. 

 And poor Sam was woefully neglected and got no pictures taken of her car.  But she did paint it all by herself...  Love you Sam...

It's always fun to see all the different cars.  Don't you love the Taco?

Mother's Day Crunch

Some people get breakfast in bed on Mother's Day.  This year I got something extra special...

I was lying on my bed reading over my lesson for church and Tom came in.  I was moving to make room for him and he flung himself  laid back on the bed.  Somehow, the back of his head met the front of mine at a high rate of speed.  We both heard this horrible "crack".  I leaned over, not quite able to see yet and proceeded to bleed all over our bed.  Awesome.  I totally broke my nose.  It's still swollen, has a lump on the right and leans gently to the left now.  But I can breathe through both sides of my nose for the first time in years.  Cheaper than another nose surgery, right?  It's going to be hard for Tom top this next Mother's Day...

 But I really do love being a mother.  More than anything.  It's been a road getting here, but I wouldn't change my life for anything.  Too bad we didn't take any pictures of me and my beautiful children on Mother's Day.  So instead you get a couple of us on vacation...

Hop To It!

You know how it's harder to get your kids to do homework once it's sunny outside?  "The year is almost over anyway..."  "It's too nice outside...."  "Mom! It's not raining for once! (Can you tell we live in WA?)"  "I though you said exercise is good for me..."  And on. And on. And on....  I found the solution.  At least for the littles.  Reading hopscotch.  We used the words to Sam's current unit in Read Well instead of numbers.  Whatever word her rock lands on, she reads.  If her rock doesn't land on the board, she has to read them all.  She LOVED it.  I got a tan.  She's ready for her test and we'll be playing again tomorrow with new words...