January 2018

In yet another effort to get caught up with blogging enough to start making photo books, I've compiled January's pictures...I can't say with any surety, but the plan is to slowly start catching up :) Here's to 2018's resolution...technically I have 12 months to complete it right?

We started out the year with a wonderful kitchen leak and general plumbing craziness. While I wasn't thrilled with the decommissioned kitchen for 2 days and the expense, I am totally thrilled with the new faucet, which looks so fancy when that area is clean :).

Makenzie has been asking to start 'Mom school' for a while, which we have started with other kids around their 3rd birthday. She is learning about the letter M with marshmallows :). She also enjoyed learning about Mozart on Youtube ('It's a movie about this dead guy!').

And what did this helper do while his sister was sitting with Mom? Dump out a bag of rice onto the ground and 'wash' his hands for 10 minutes :). Hunter is impossible to keep up with, but I love seeing his little brain solve his problems. He was so concerned with the rice stuck to his fingers, but not at all concerned about the rice covering the entire kitchen.

Right after the first of the year I also started a new adventure, going back to school. I am going through Arizona State University's online Biochemistry program, and totally loving it. We are all adjusting to my need to be online for 6 hours a day (at least), but the kids have enjoyed watching my lectures (especially when stuff gets blown up) and completing my lab experiments with me.

The next few pictures are just of random events. We drove through super crazy fog going down to Lewiston one morning, this picture is as we were driving into it. We were going down a fairly steep hill, and for a while we couldn't see more than 5 feet in front of the car. At the bottom, it all just cleared and we were able to drive around town completely under the fog. It was like some science fiction movie of a disappearing city (Brigadoon maybe? Although that's totally not science fiction)

What happens when the kids get to choose dessert? Ice cream topped with homemade Chex Mix of course :) They all loved it, and wondered why I insisted on separate bowls for mine.

We have a video of this (which will never make it in here, so I won't even pretend that it will), but Hunter has been finding new and creative ways to drink his milk and clean up his tray :)...we should stop him, but being the fourth child has its advantages!

Another not-so-fun change lately has been Hunter's many screaming fits when his Dad isn't home. Hunter loves Alex, as most of the kids have at this age, but he is really insistent that Alex should be home all the time. When he leaves for work, and every ten minutes until he gets home at 5:30, Hunter goes to the front window and cries inconsolably. I wish I was exaggerating about the amount, but it was about a month of straight screaming. One lovely distraction from this was the day that Hunter found an ant. He carefully picked it up, carried it around with him, and talked to it for about half an hour before he loved it a little too hard. It was so nice that I didn't care in the least if we had an ant issue.

Makenzie's childhood innocence officially ended this week when she realized that the dad in the Lego movie is also Buddy the Elf. She was quite confused, 'But when did he stop being an elf? Is he bad now?' We shouldn't have watched those movies within a month of each other, but I'm still unsure why she hasn't figured out that most of the Pixar characters sound alike :).

Above is Makenzie driving a train to Grandma's, and below we have Carter's first unprompted sentence :) He worked so hard sounding out all the words, which read 'My legos are in a bin in the playroom.' This kid doesn't love to work on command, but he loves to analyze, count, and manipulate things, so Legos are a huge hit. I'm really proud of his independent spirit and hardworking attitude!

Walmart runs always include a stop to see what bakery treats are on a second day sale. This particular day I picked up some mini chocolate cupcakes for an after school treat, but I had no idea how confusing they would be! Apparently we haven't had mini cupcakes before, or at least not for a while. None of the three younger kids knew what to do with them at all. Hunter and Makenzie refused to touch them, instead eating them strictly with their mouth, and Carter smashed the entire thing into his mouth and then couldn't speak for about five minutes while he chewed...it was a treat gone right :)

After 18 months living in Pullman, I finally found a Zumba class! My friend Adrianne told me about a Sunday afternoon class that has been a really fun addition to this spring :) This picture is from a 2 hour Zumbathon at a local Elementary school which was also a great time.

A couple pictures of kids on different days helping me with my Chemistry labs. The first is about properties of chemicals in solution, and the other about melting temperatures for different kinds of compounds. They are really patient about watching without touching, and love when they get to help with part of the project.

Apparently Miss O gets her selfie skills from her mom...I didn't even know she was capable of having a double chin! I don't mean to brag, but mine is much more pronounced :)

I found this when walking through the school one day. It says 'My Favorite activity is ice skating because I like to dance on the ice. I like to glide on the ice, and have fun with my cousins.' It's important to note that the experience she is writing about is from Boise when she was 4 years old. She has quite the elaborate memory of her gliding and dancing skills.

We have lots of normal activities that keep us running throughout the week. This year we limited the kids to one sport each, plus piano for O, but when they each chose their sports we were still running 4-5 days a week with Olivia's gymnastics, Carters sport of the month through parks and rec, and Makenzie's dance. I'm glad we have another year or so before Hunter adds his schedule into the mix!

The biggest snow this year was over Christmas when we were in San Diego, so when the kids saw their first snow at the end of January, I let them bust out full snow gear and sleds. We were already replacing the grass this year, so I figured it didn't matter what they did. Besides having a few loads of muddy snow gear to wash, I was correct. They managed to tear paths of mud for the sledding run, but they had a blast doing it.

When they were all done, wet, and freezing, we came in for some cuddling time and introduced the kids to Star Wars. We didn't know it yet, but we started our own chapter of the Star Wars fan club, and we have watched episodes IV, V, and VI many times since. Olivia and Carter can't wait until they turn 13 and can watch the rest of them :).

Just a picture of SuperDad over there, teaching shoe-tying lessons while successfully wrestling another kid :) He rarely has a moment without someone hanging off his body, but I think he loves it.

And finally, I never want to forget these moments of after school homework time. Everyone has a snack, then sits at the table working until the older kids are done with their homework. Just for a moment, they are quiet and peaceful :).

September Part 2

The second half of September started with a fun family weekend for the OSU v. WSU game. We have been looking forward to this game since last year when Alex went to Corvallis for the game there. I love that while we live here I will be able to see the Beavers play at least once every two years :) Our weekend started with some Grandma Terece fun :) She spent the week with us helping out with our every day crazy, but on Thursday we took the kids for some fun after school.

Little birdies are sure to surround you whenever you eat around here ;)

When we picked the kids up on Thursday we went to campus and started out at Ferdinand's, because you can't not stop there. Cheap, amazing ice cream, and Grandma had never been! I always feel a little guilty because I think I love this ice cream more than my home town Tillamook, but Tillamook Cheddar can't be beat (Ferdinand's comes close and we get it often, though!).

We walked across campus, stopped in at Alex's office (he was busy getting ready for the game, but we came in and wrecked havoc anyway), and headed to the Bonner Museum, which has been on our list to visit since we moved here.

The Bonner museum is in a  couple little rooms in a random building on campus, but it was lots of fun. Taxidermy animals of every type, and it may replace Cabela's to be the new 'dead animal zoo' that my kids love to visit :).

Go Beavers!! The kids picked their favorite animal to cheer on for the game the next day. O is all about Cougars now (she has fallen victim to peer pressure of her classmates and friends here), Carter is still on the fence (he wants us to know that he loves the Beavers most but wants the Cougars to win also), but Makenzie and Hunter are still loyal :).

'Wow, Mom! Did you know that this is Justin's Daddy's favorite animal!? And it's pink and it can stand on one leg!!'

We closed out the museum and picked Alex up on our ride home. Pizza night was in full swing while we waited for Grandma Mary and Grandpa Gary, Grandpa Turkey Buzzard, and the Bryan Johnson clan that evening.

The next morning we hung out and played with cousins before gearing up for the game. It's always fun to bust out every piece of Orange and Black that we can find and figure out how to make it all work together :). On our way out the door we paused for some fun cousin pictures :).

We were quite a crowd as we walked toward the game, but anytime you let 7 little kids get all dressed up they are a huge hit.

Casqueiro family picture, and a big group picture in front of the Coug :)

We headed over to Cougville for some bouncy fun before the game started. It was pretty warm, but we were happy to be there before the crowds so the kids got to do lots of activities.

I think it's hilarious how differently our kids did the slide from their cousins. Justin and Kylie were into a more traditional approach, but I love Justin's head first!!

I loved this shot of two 6 year olds and two five year olds just heading in to the game :)

We had a perfect view of the game from Olivia's standard, because we were right in front of the Beaver cheerleaders. Once they came out, she spent the entire game copying every move :)

After a few unsuccessful attempts at putting Olivia on the top of this pyramid, the girls figured out the better way to do it :).

I love all these kiddos with their grandparent buddies. You might notice Justin missing from the above group picture. He's actually not missing, just asleep under Grandma Terece's feet. He slept the entire first half, woke up for a big of snuggling, then went back to sleep for the third quarter. Pretty impressive in this venue!

See all the Washington State fans in the background pouring out and just pretend it's because the Beavers were winning :)

On Sunday we took the fam to church and played for a while as all of the Johnsons headed back home. The Casqueiros were staying for another couple days. It was a great weekend that we look forward to repeating in a couple years!

This next picture represents a major labor of love on the part of both of our dads. My dad went to IKEA BY HIMSELF! to pick up our new huge kitchen table and chairs; he ended up driving around to the warehouse to get the actual table, and was able to get everything up to us in one piece. We were so grateful, there is no way for us to get to an IKEA reasonably, and this table was exactly what we wanted at 1/2 the price of comparable tables. Then, Monday morning when Alex was at work, Gary busted out all the pieces and put it together with Makenzie. He actually assembled the new table, all six chairs, our new coffee table, and the entry bench that we had just ordered. He was assembling all day long, and it made a huge difference in our living room. Thanks to both dads for your help! We can now actually fit at our table as a family, and we even have room to invite friends and family to join us :).

After we have family visit and leave, both of the kids that don't go to school need a little extra mom love for a few days. They totally love the extra attention that they get from cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles. Luckily for me, they are super fun and goofy, so it works out pretty well.

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of our local Dairy Queen, they gave out .20 cones all day. That is an opportunity we can't resist, so we went out, in pouring down rain to get some. We weren't alone, the dairy queen was pretty crazy, but the kids were able to snag this table while I waited in line. I'm pretty sure the guy next to us was super nervous about all these kids and no adults when I was waiting for the cones :).

In order to count it as an after school snack, I added a vegetable (french fries) to the menu. Hunter had a french fry graveyard going on: he would take a tiny bite out of each fry then put it on the table and grab another. In hindsight I'm thinking maybe it was just to ensure that he would get his fair share.

When we got home, I mentioned all the muddy footprints that we were leaving on the new floor, and the kids asked if they could mop if they got their chores done quickly :). I just accepted it as a sign of amazing parenting and said of course! They ran around to do homework and chores, then mopped the floor together as their reward.

That evening I started a Love and Logic class that the school district put on. It was a really interesting class with very different ideas than I have heard before. I'm always game for adding new tools to my parenting toolbox (and getting out of bedtime once a week for 6 weeks doesn't hurt :)) so I was totally in.

We absolutely love our new table. We are still bench shopping for the back row, and have since ditched the cushions, but everything about the table is just what we wanted. It has this length, plus a big leaf to put in if we need extra room :).

Random picture of the kids playing while we waited for the big kids to get done with school one day.

This summer we started Friday Night, Movie Night, Pizza Night, and the tradition has lived on into the fall. The kids look forward to it all week, and are constantly planning the movie lineup for weeks to come. I'm not sure they realize that we can watch movies at other times, but that works for us! It may have been September, but the weather got cold for a few days so we busted out Elf as an intro to Christmas. I could totally watch Christmas movies, listen to music, and just have Christmas year round, but Alex was pretty hesitant when I busted this out :)

The next day was the 4th home football game in a row, so Alex was gone at work all day, but the kids and I headed to the Science Center. I don't tend to do very many things like this with the kids by myself (it's just a few too many feet going in different directions) but we talked about sticking together and helping Mom to have a good time, and they totally did. We didn't have any problems, no one complained about missing the last room, and in return they were promised another trip soon.

They also had their first soccer game that morning. Both of these kids are super enthusiastic about soccer, and they had a really fun team with the two of them, three kids that are siblings and some of their best friends, and a new friend who is in Kinder with Carter.

The score was pretty ugly, but at this level we 'don't keep track'. Their favorite part of the day? Huge pinecones and snacks of course!

We were feeling pretty stir crazy and I wasn't up for another activity in the rain, so we busted out some long-lost craft supplies that afternoon. Hunter was in absolute heaven playing in these beads, and the bigger kids were quick to finish their bat painting and come over to show him the 'right way' to play with them. Usually the right way in our house includes sorting, which is in no way genetic or because of their mom ;).

The last day of school in September was Twin Day. O and her best friend Piper dressed up alike in these adorable fox shirts, and planned everything down to skinny jeans and black shoes :). Carter didn't put any planning into it (surprise, surprise) but was concerned about not having a twin, so he (along with 60% of the school) wore Cougar stuff and fit right in :).

Just a baby lounging and reading :) Book messes are the one mess in our house that doesn't bother me at all and I totally encourage.

I really can't remember why I took the kids to the mall after school that day (a crazy sale on something we needed at Old Navy maybe?) but we went and I again gave the kids the talk about '4 kids, 1 mom, if we want to keep doing stuff like this we have to work together as a team to get everything done and have a good attitude'. The talk totally worked. I give it about 5 times a week for different things and it totally works. I don't know why Carter and Makenzie took this as holding hands, but they were super sweet the entire time and held hands as we walked through the mall, then back again for cookies on the way out.

And we get to end our month with this sweetness from Carter :) My first love note from him, and I was totally impressed with all the letters he used.