"I'm the little brother"

He is, indeed, the little brother, as his new shirt from Grandma A. declares. He's not very cooperative for photos these days. He wouldn't leave that tongue in his mouth! Stinker. He is saying so many more words these days, and, yes, one of them is "no." It finally made its way into his vocabulary a few weeks ago. I love that we're able to communicate more effectively, though. It's so cute to hear him say new words and phrases. Things like "I don't know" sound so cute in toddler-speak. The bigger kids think it's pretty funny, too. He's going to be a joy to take to Disneyland, don't you think? :) We get to go soon!!! So very excited!

Mid-lunch snooze

The 4am wake-up proved to be too much to take (for both of us, really). He barely made it to 11:30am before he succumbed.

Bit of a status update

We had a very productive weekend around here. I got my fuchsias and geraniums in my pots at Fred Meyer's fuchsia Saturday and roped some friends into going with me bright and early to stand in line. :) As soon as I got back, our whole family headed outside for a long day of yard work. Keeping Grant out of the street and occupied was a bit of a challenge, but we managed to get quite a bit of work done, even with him out there with us. We were extra productive during nap time. We weeded, sprayed, "preened," "casoroned," and spread two pick-up loads of bark dust. Kari was our chief bark dust spreader that day. She worked long and hard! The kids helped off and on all day and played with the neighbor kids riding bikes, playing games, jumping on the trampoline, and running a "water stand."  I gave them some cookies to spice up their inventory. Maybe later we'll even turn the water into lemonade.

We also dug holes and planted three trees in our backyard--a red maple, a random (cheap) "shade" tree, and an Italian plum tree-- in hopes that we can gain some shade and privacy for our backyard in the years to come.  The kids helped us pick them out. They really wanted to get a fruit tree, specifically an apple tree, but we compromised with the lower maintenance plum tree. We planted Great-Grandma Harrington's rose bush in the backyard, too. Thanks for growing one for me, Dad, so I can enjoy it at this house, too! 

A full day of yard work had us both groaning as we stood up from our chairs at the end of church yesterday. We're getting old.

I didn't take any pictures of our work day. I was too busy working and didn't think to document, but here's one to show the strange red bark dust is gone and replaced with normal brown stuff.

Our fresh, weed-free, bark-dusted yard and hanging baskets.
We're ready for summer!

The rest of these are just random photos on the camera.

Fun game for Aubrey, and Joel seemed to think it was fun, too.

This little guy has managed to stay accident-free this last week. Hooray! He also has slept all night long (until 5:00am or later) the past three nights--a new record for him. For the past week I have given him an early, short nap from 12pm-1pm. That hour goes by so quickly, just doesn't feel long enough, but it's worth it to wake him up if he'll sleep at night. We'll see if the trend continues. I sure hope so. He is the cutest little thing, but he is exhausting right now. He makes me tired. Good thing he's got that bright grin and endearing charm to go along with his energetic, get-into-everything mischievousness.

Nutella and pretzels for lunch

Aubrey "reading" and Grant wanting to just be near her

All four kids watching AFV together.
They're all getting so big!

Resurrection Sunday

In our rush to get out the door to church, we weren't able to get a family photo, but I got one of the kids. Of course, Grant got into Aubrey's pink chapstick just before we left, so he went to church wearing some pink.

We went over to my parents' after church and had a nice dinner and good afernoon there.  Unfortunately, Emily got a bad headache, so Brian and Emily weren't able to join us for dinner or the egg hunt. It was a bummer. Russell spent the day with us, though, and the cousins got to play, which was fun.

Riding with Grandpa

Joel behind the wheel--a slow, cautious driver

Kari behind the wheel--a fast, not-so-cautious driver. Dad says we'd better watch out when she learns to drive.

 



Grandma with Russell and Grant after they had both just woken up from naps. Russell was trying to give me a serious face, but I caught the smiles anyway.



Heading out to hunt eggs. Grandma had 77 eggs prepared, I believe. The kids have a lot of yummy stuff!

Russell was more interested in the shovel than the egg near the shovel.

 

 

I like this one.

And this one.

And this one, too. Russell was Kari's shadow that afternoon. They're watching the movie Cars. He didn't stay there long, but it was awfully cute.

 

Pre-Easter

We woke up Saturday morning to find our lawn "flamingo'd and pinwheeled." The lawn decorations seemed to have been moved from our friends' house around the corner to ours overnight. Hmmm. Still don't know who was behind it all, but our kids sure enjoyed playing with the pinwheels!
















We headed out to the Sunday school egg hunt that morning. The weather was beautiful--perfect for the event.

















The big kids heading out on their hunt. I neglected to get any pictures of the little ones. Oh well!

















We dyed eggs that evening. The kids had already dyed eggs earlier in the week with the youth group (so nice of them to do that--the kids loved it!), so I thought we'd be able to get away with skipping it at home, but no. :)














Trying to keep Grant occupied and out of the egg dye.

Funny little note

I found this on the counter this afternoon:

Mommy,
Can you please unload my lunch? PLEASE?
       Love, Kari

A girl must get tired of being so very responsible all the time. Everyone needs a little break now and then, I suppose.

I unloaded her lunch. :)

Not boring Spring Break

Our long spring break has come to an end. The kids went back to school today. It was a whirlwind of a week(+ a couple days) with playdates, dr appointments, shuttling kids to and from basketball camp Mon-Wed, playing board/card games, and a quick trip to the beach. Oh, and Greg and I got to go see The Hunger Games at the Cinetopia theater (fancier, big, comfy chairs) with some friends, too, and that was fun!

Grant and his injuries added some stress to the week, though. His stitches weren't quite ready to come out when we went in last Monday, so we went back Wednesday. It was not a fun experience. Brian, Emily, and Russell stayed with the other three kids and Mom M. came with me (thank goodness!) to assist, and it took three of us to hold him while the doctor tried to get the stitches out.  Grant is one strong little guy, and one of the stitches was very difficult to get out. Sharp instruments right by the eye of a thrashing toddler make for a stressful situation. Grant struggled and cried so hard he broke blood vessels in his face and neck. I shed some tears before it was over, too.

Those weren't the only tears from me that day, though. That night after dinner we heard that awful I'm-hurt-really-bad cry from Grant again. The kids were on the computer in the office, and he was playing on the elliptical in there with them when he somehow managed to crush his big toe and split his toenail at the base.  Already worn out from our ordeal earlier in the day, I completely lost it, and entered into an ugly (and unhelpful), hysterical panic. Greg took care of screaming bloody Grant while I called the doctor yet again. I really didn't want to have to call them again, but I had to. We didn't have to take him in that night, though, just bandaged him up (not an easy task) and pumped him full of pain meds.
I took him in this morning, one week later, because it's still not looking so great and has still been hurting him. They put him on some antibiotics, as his toe is starting to show signs of infection, which according to the doctor is pretty common in crush-type injuries, despite our best efforts to keep it wrapped up. Hopefully, this will take care of it, and hopefully, we can go more than a week before the next accident! Crazy little man!

In the midst of the toe trauma, Greg took a day off, and we headed to the beach for a quick overnight trip this last Friday. We met up with Ryan and Michelle and their kids and Mom and Dad M. in Rockaway Beach. We had a great time, even with the cold, wet, windy, spring-time Oregon Coast. The kids didn't seem to notice the weather and loved every minute out there. They had a blast catching up and playing with their cousins they don't get to see as often anymore. Grant didn't sleep much that night (what's new?), but we were glad we were able to go. Thanks for a fun-filled 24 hours, guys!

This was on the way there (kids were up too late with a babysitter the night before when we went to our movie). On the way home, three of the four were sleeping, but I didn't get a photo.

Joel loved the water. He couldn't get enough of being out in it, even though it was freezing cold!

Kari and Ashlynn had fun together doing "big girl" things like making friendship bracelets and talking. They sure are growing up!

We put a plastic bag over Grant's sock with a rubberband, which kept his foot clean and dry, but he didn't last long on the beach because he kept trying to go in the water like the other kids. We had to take him back the house, and he was NOT happy about it.

Aubrey was a little obsessive about the collecting of sea shells. She didn't want to miss even one!

Grant with cousin Brennan.  They are only about 8 months apart and are going to be buddies when they grow up.