November Part 1

Working our way back here, So here is part of November while I wait for February to officially be over so I can start on the picture organization :) It may seem silly, but it makes me happy to have a system in place that I know I can follow, so I'm sticking with it!

During November, I tried to really get some things in order that I had neglected during our moving craziness in October. Our move went so much differently than I expected, so I wasn't nearly as organized as I like to be. Anyway, on the first day of November I tried to get some of the food storage food down to the garage. Most of it was unpacked into the kitchen, which made for full cupboards, and I was unable to find anything that I needed. As I boxed up baking supplies and extra condiments, Makenzie worked right next to me, packaging her most important item :), Actually, she said she was going on a trip to Amber's house, and this is all she needed. I love this girl and her cute personality.

We also had a plumber out to do some needed work in the laundry area and bathrooms. I was SO happy to have some updated fixtures in the bathtubs, especially because they were able to turn off completely! Alex and I think we will do most of the updates in this house slowly and by ourselves, but plumbing is one of the things I'm not sure we, as inexperienced DIYers, should touch.

The kids are still adjusting to all the nuances of this house (they often complain that their toys are SO far away from me in the kitchen (SO far being one wall and two steps, the rooms are right next door) and they are constantly finding new hiding places and fun surprises. I loved when I saw their intuitive solution to the big windows to the backyard that only have blinds covering the bottom half...no problem, just play with shades on :)

November begins the dreaded season of football games and basketball games at the same time. This lasts through the holiday season, and during this time, every minute with Alex is special. This year we tried our best to just play and have fun, which I'm sure wore Alex out even more, but he's a great sport. Here are the kids all getting a horsey ride, and then they teamed up to give Daddy one as well.

The kids have really been enjoying window markers, but the rule is that they have to clean the window after. I'm not sure why I made that rule, but it has made for some amazing front window cleanliness :). From left to right is the part I did with Makenzie, Olivia's Section, and then Carter's on the smaller pane. Perhaps some practice is in order, but I will let them practice on the back windows.

That moment when you think your brother adores you, then you realize he just wants to eat your hair :). Actually, Hunter loves all of his siblings, and is likely to give a big open-mouthed kiss to anyone who gets close enough.

Dance parties always bring out the crazy in these kids...and the crazy faces in Makenzie. I'm not sure why, but she cannot sing with her eyes open, or dance without a crazy face. I hope she never grows up, because she is the best entertainment ever!

Washington has absentee ballots, so one evening the older kids and I talked about voting, and they helped me vote. They were both really interested in the way the election process works, and we all enjoyed reading about the local bills that were on the ballot. Olivia especially liked that she could help change the laws, and decided for a while that she wanted to be a judge so she could be in charge of all the laws :).

I will never cease to be amazed at the different positions that kids can fall asleep in. Kenzie's head was a good 6" lower than her body, but she was dead asleep :)

The kids LOVE Les Schwab! Popcorn for days...it is now just a couple weeks from us getting our snow tires off, and Olivia is already trying to negotiate going before or after school ('if I get up extra early and get every kid's clothes out can we go before breakfast? I just need one of those alarm clocks like you have') so she doesn't have to miss out. Sadly, all of our errands get done during school hours, just so I have one less pair of legs to keep track of as they all take off running through the aisles of tires.

Sometimes, when you get the kids set up for lunch, with the 5 month old baby watching from his high chair, and run to the bathroom, you come back to this. He was shoving that PBJ as far into his mouth as he could, and he screamed for about ten minutes after I pried the last piece from his hand. Such a mean mom!

Looking back, I'm not sure why I thought this would be a good idea, but i took the kids to one of the Men's Basketball games that was in the afternoon. It was at the perfect time, but Alex works during the game, so it was just me. We sat at the top of the stadium, as close to an exit as we could get, and I came prepared with snacks and coloring stuff to entertain the kids. I'm not sure a single one of them saw even one minute of basketball, but they all enjoyed the popcorn! Three bathroom trips, 2 candies, 1 tub of popcorn, and 40 LONG minutes of basketball later, we went home and called it a fun family adventure :).

Just a picture of Nutella Rice Krispy treats that I don't want to forget. For when Rice Krispies (my favorite cookie-type dessert) aren't enough :).

Alex's parents surprised us when they decided to come up for Makenzie's birthday. We were so glad to see them; we always enjoy having company and the kids count down the days until they come every time. Between Hunter's birth, summer vacations, and two different moves, we were able to see them most every month since April, and I hope that we can continue to see them often while we live in Pullman. We haven't made the drive yet, but it's closer than Concord by a couple hours, so I imagine it will be nice :).

Makenzie requested one thing for her birthday: a dog cake. She was very specific, and I desperately went to every bakery in town looking for one. You can see in the first picture why I might do that...

I'm not a baker by any means, but I love to make birthdays special, and this cake turned out good enough that she still talks about it 3 months later, so I consider it a win :). The next post will cover her actual birthday, it was so fun to celebrate this sweet girl turning two.

January Part 3 - Grandparents!

The last weekend of January we had visitors; Alex's parents came to visit! We decided not to tell the kids, mostly because the weather is a huge question park, and I didn't want to promise something I couldn't deliver. Not telling the kids meant that I had to get creative to get the little projects for that week done so we were ready to relax and play while we had visitors. I was organizing a shelf upstairs and came down to this :) It was Carter's first foray into scissor-dom since the awful Carter Salon incident in December, so I almost got mad before I realized that he was just cutting lots and lots of squares. He cut two entire pieces of construction paper into little squares, for no particular reason...

Olivia had a half day, which meant that she got done with school when Carter was going, so we had an afternoon just for the two of us while the little kids napped. We spent a good portion of that time in the kitchen making a few weeks worth of baby food for Hunter. My strategy for making baby food is to just throw any slightly overripe fruits and veggies together into the blender, this was actually the first time since O was a baby that I planned ahead and bought supplies to make into baby food to freeze. O was just excited that I gave her a sharp knife :)

A was all about tasting the blueberry banana batch, but didn't try the green stuff (peas, spinach, pear). It was so fun to have just one curious kid in the kitchen with me. I often get overwhelmed by the questions and demands and requests to help by  2-3 kids all at the same time, so I'm likely to put on a show while I do a majority of the cooking or baking. This afternoon gave me hope that I can develop into a mom who cooks with her kids :).

This guy was the beneficiary of all that cooking, and he was nice enough to nap until about 30 seconds after I got the last cubes into the freezer, so we got everything done that I needed.

Most days the chores are pretty set. Makenzie puts the silverware away, Carter does the rest of the dishwasher, and Olivia picks up the living room, stairs, or play room depending on what needs done the most. The kids are always super excited when I give them something else to do, even if it is cleaning the bathroom :) I'm sure by the time he is an effective cleaner he won't be so excited to help in the bathroom, but it was super fun to see Carter giddy as I explained how to use the Lysol wipe. He was really careful to shut the door so 'Hunter couldn't come chew on them' and to empty the garbage when he was done because 'Makenzie can reach the wipes in the trash'. What a thoughtful boy...

Makenzie's job this day was to get this washcloth dirty. It sounds weird, but when I give the kids a washcloth, they know that they are supposed to clean walls, doorknobs, railing, and baseboards until the rag is super dirty. They are always so proud to show me all the messes on the rag, and Makenzie was no exception. She kept running to me to show me every little speck of dirt on the rag and to get encouragement after every wipe.

The next day, Alex's parents drove up, and made it in time to see Carter's Chinese New Year parade. I wish I had gotten my act together enough to take pictures, but this is the only one I got. We spent the whole time laughing at Carter's serious, almost solemn face as he marched up and down the hallway. They did the route three or four times, and his face never changed. It took him a couple times before he even noticed Grandma and Grandpa, and he didn't even crack a smile at that! I was shocked, as he is a total Grandpa's boy.

Once we got home with all the kids, the excitement was in full force. It was actually fun to see Olivia's surprise, she just ran around half yelling for about five minutes :) Grandpa and Grandma came with gifts, which is always fun, but I only took a picture of mine :) I couldn't believe that they had actual Beaver football player Lego figures! It may never make it into the kids play bin, but my little Brandin Cooks be displayed in a place of honor every football season :)

This little guy is constantly showing us his new skills, which included pulling himself up this week. He is getting more efficient at crawling, and is always trying to show us that he can keep up with the bigger kids. I'm sure it won't be very long until he's running around with all of them, but for now I just try to take those extra minutes to cuddle my last baby.

WARNING: SICKNESS and details ahead...
Two days before the Casqueiros came, Carter threw up a couple times. He had one resting day and was back to normal on Friday, so I assumed we were good to go. I assumed wrong. Friday night, the first night with Mary and Gary there, we had disaster zone. Makenzie started around 9:30 throwing up. After the first time, complete with bedding cleanup and bath, I put her back in her own bed, just laying on towels instead of bedding. That didn't last long, she was back at it (and of course missed the towels and made a mess all over the floor) just a couple hours later. After that she was moved to beside our bed, and was up about every ten minutes for the next 4 hours. I don't want to type this without mentioning that 2 year olds who are sick tend to throw their heads around, and Makenzie refuses hair ties, so every time she is sick it's just a mess. Everywhere.

Around 1, in the middle of M being sick, Olivia came out and made it to the top of the stairs before she threw up, all over the landing and first few stairs. It was lovely. I was so glad to have a husband who prefers the bedding/floor cleanup over the kid cleanup and cuddling, because we can each get our job done and get the kids back laying down. Olivia didn't want to lay down, so I went upstairs with her, and she continued to throw up every ten minutes for 5ish hours as well. For a couple hours I was running back and forth between Makenzie, who was with Alex but very hard to help singlehanded, and Olivia who would yell 'Mom, I'm going to throw up' over and over whenever I left.

It was a long night, and we created enough laundry that I never stopped switching it the entire next day. I always err on the side of washing everything rather than leaving any mess uncleaned, so we washing all of our bedding and most of the pillows and cushions as well. I am so grateful that Mary was there to help me get through the laundry and ensure that someone was always watching over the sick kids, and making sure they weren't sneaking food that would hurt their tummies.

This next picture is Makenzie after giving her baby a bath. I was SO glad that she had received an all plastic doll for her birthday because she did not want to bathe at all, but as soon as I promised that she could bathe her baby right after, she was on board.

We didn't do anything on Saturday, but Sunday afternoon was a basketball game that we decided would be the perfect way to get out of the house. Everyone had been well for a day, so I figured (once again, that we were in the clear. It was really fun to go to the game, and especially cool when Butch T Cougar came to share his popcorn with the kids :).

After our one fun day, things went back downhill, Gary was the next one to fall victim, and he had one sick day before Mary and I fell ill the next evening and Alex the evening after that. It was a rough few days. Add that to the fact that the Casqueiros had to drive home before the next storm hit, so they drove as soon as Mary felt well enough, but I didn't even get out of bed to say goodbye, and it was a matter of hours before Alex was down. I'm just counting my blessings that Alex was in town this time (last year when I got a 3-day-super-sick bug Alex was out of town and the kids survived on nothing but plain toast they made themselves) and was able to stay home one day to take care of the kids.

Just one cute picture sometime when everyone felt OK and the kids wanted to do makeup on their dad. Not sure why they made him Rudolph, but it was a fun evening, and they have a wonderful dad :).

January Part 2

We start out with just a few pictures of the smiley baby. We all love this little boy so much, I hate to see him grow up so fast. He's pushing 8 months and starting the inevitable crawling :) We have so many legos and marbles and little animals on the floor... here we go again!

These two have become quite good buddies over this school year. Now that Makenzie is talking and can pretty much keep up with him, Carter is eager to have a little buddy follow him around and listen to him for a change (O is somewhat domineering when she is home... :))

One Friday night we had Matt and his family over for dinner and games. It was so fun to see them again, and Makenzie especially was glad to have her buddy again. She is inseparable from Korissa whenever we see them, which is pretty adorable. We had pizza, put the kids down or in front of TV, and played games for a while. As the stay-at-home person in our family, it was so nice to have a game night, and actually speak to someone who wasn't under 7 (I'm out of practice for sure). I'm really grateful that Alex and his boss get along so well and can be friends as well, it definitely seems like this job is a great fit for him, and the city is a good fit for the rest of us for so many reasons.

Anyway, we planned this evening in about 5 minutes, so dessert was not something I thought about (I was just lucky that I had salad stuff, as our pizza is often served with canned green beans :)) I let the kids bust out the creamsicles and we gave Hunter his first taste. Needless to say, he ate almost my entire popsicle and still wanted more :)

The kids always have fun making a family band, and I am always grateful when it doesn't include a recorder (or 3)... honestly, I love to hear them play even with a recorder, but I am occasionally glad that I can close the door into the play room :) I hope these kids all grow up with the same love of music that I had in my home growing up.

Alex is starting to have more days off on the weekend, which is much appreciated around here. Football season, especially when it combines with preseason basketball, gets a little dicey, but we made it through. One of the big projects in the new house is garage organization. There was SO MUCH shelving installed all around the garage, but it was all shallow and narrow, and made it difficult for my long van to fit into the garage. So Alex tore down one entire side of shelving so he could install his shelves that fit our bins. This was much harder than it should have been, because whoever made the shelves got a little nail-gun-happy. Anyway, he took it on, used his brute strength, and made it happen :).

The next day he made his shelve happen,which are the perfect size for us, and allow the extra room on one side for my van to park. It's so amazing and roomy in there now!

To celebrate, he took the kids (minus one who needed some calm-down time with mom) out for ice cream! The girls were thrilled to use their 'ice cream tickets' that they got in their stockings, which meant they got full size sundaes...and major sugar highs :)

I just loved walking in to this one afternoon. I don't know why the chairs are on top of the table, but I love (and sometimes hate) how Alex can find the fun activity in anything. I would have totally been cleaning up and encouraging the kids to help me put everything in its place instead, but he ignored the mess and made a 4d experience for the kids :). He is great at embracing 'the mess can wait' when he has time with the kids.

Sometimes when you run to answer the phone during lunch, you come back to this sweet (and messy) moment :). Makenzie is a great big sister, and absolutely loves having a baby to dote on. She is constantly putting her face right next to his, and when he open-mouth kisses her, she just grins and says 'hu-ter love me!!'

These two are often caught in a power struggle as Carter learns to assert himself. Olivia isn't used to having anyone argue with her, so it's a constant learning process. I loved this game that she came up with however, because she was working on her sight words and since he isn't there yet, she had this game where she would read the word to get a card, and he would say the name of the first letter to get it. It was the perfect modification, and they played happily through 3 or 4 rounds without any intervention.

After the reading game, Makenzie woke up, so I asked if they would play blocks with her (she has a tendency to play Godzilla around any card games :) They played Olivia (and mom) style, with sorting and arranging more than building. O was so sweet to give Carter all the duck colors :)...love that girl!

Hunter is still toothless, but has been exploring with more foods as he passed the 8 month mark. He is at the stage where a tray of cheerios can entertain him long enough for me to eat a quick meal, or chop veggies for dinner, or any other 5 minute activity in the kitchen. I hope this stage lasts forever!

One day we successfully got all the kids dressed before taking O to school, and as an added bonus, I had showered and gotten dressed, so instead of heading home we went to Moscow (about 15 minutes away) where there is a little mall with a few stores. It's hard to call it a mall, but it's a big step up from Pullman, where your choices are Safeway or Walmart. Since it was pretty spur of the moment, I didn't pack any drinks or snacks (I didn't even grab the diaper bag, just my wallet and keys for the quick trip to the school). We were on a deadline of whoever had the first poopy diaper, but luckily that didn't happen so we were able to get a huge treat for a snack...Starbucks cookie! Carter couldn't contain his excitement about the cookie and chocolate milk...he grinned from ear to ear the entire time :)

I go back and forth between buying and making baby food, but every time I make it I can't believe that I ever buy it. It's so easy, and about 1/5 the price depending on which fruit you use. This particular day I had one overripe banana and one overripe avocado sitting on the counter, and had just rinsed out Alex's smoothie bowl from his bullet blender, so I peeled a pear really quick and threw it all in. No recipe or cooking required, which is my style of baby food. It tasted great, all the kids wanted a taste :)

One big development of January, is that Alex and I decided to get a King size bed! We needed a queen mattress for a guest bed, and have been talking about a King for a while, so we decided it was now or never. We also decided that since we were selling our bed, we might as well sell the entire set and get something smaller now that we have a big closet. So we took pictures and expected to sit on it for a few days. That evening it sold. The woman who bought it came back the next morning to pick it all up, and all of a sudden we had nowhere to store clothes and were sleeping on  a mattress on the ground. Maybe some forethought would have been better, but we made it work :)

I took a few pictures of my little man helping Alex disassemble the bed. As soon as Alex asked for help, he ran to the play room to grab his toolbox and went up to help :) He especially loved learning the art of stretch wrapping, which is a Casqueiro tradition that is 3 generations strong.

Don't forget, ladies, this guy is off the market :)

We had a fun Saturday with a movie matinee (a huge thank you to our local theater for doing this program...8 saturday morning movies for $5!) of Kung Fu Panda 3 and then lunch at Sella's, our Pullman favorite. The kids love their pizza, and I love that I can get fancy pesto, sundried tomato, artichoke calzone...it makes my mouth water just thinking about it.

All of our kids enjoy the vacuum, including Kenzie. I won't pretend that this photo wasn't staged though :). I was almost done making her ABC Book, and needed a 'V' picture, so I just let her play and dance with the vacuum for a while :)

No explanation, just a fun kid who constantly keeps me on my toes

Hunter has been exploring new foods lately, including a lot of 'real people' foods. The only issue is his big sister who thinks that if mom gives him food, she can give him whatever she wants too :). So far he has tried Cheezits, goldfish crackers, and I saved him from fruit snacks, blueberries (uncut) and almonds. It's an adventure all the time with these two!

I loved this moment so much, I just wanted it to go on and on. The grocery clerk thought I was a crazy person when I pulled out my phone and tried to get just the right angle of these kids while I was juggling Hunter and trying to pay :). I asked the kids to stay close to the cart (the arcade games are SO tempting!) and Carter sat down, invited Kenz to join him, then proceeded to show her his own version of a clapping game. They had so much fun, and both demonstrated patience, which is a rare thing right now :).