Fresh Toth: January 2011

Days 14 - 22

Day 14

Evelyn loves Pop Pop. Even more than me. Seriously, given the choice between the two of us, she runs to him! She was "helping" him put a bookcase together, here.

Day 15

I love when my parents come to visit. My mom got more done in 2 days than I did in two weeks. It's like hiring a professional organizer, only better.

Day 16

Naptime is over, but the chubby cuteness isn't.

I love the just woken up look.

Day 17

Poor baby. Already had a bath tonight and he got back in while I was putting pj's on the other baby in the house. But then he got wet and cold and stuck. Oh, twins. You drive me crazy. Can I please just finish one thing at a time? This happens all the time to me right now. It's not a matter that a baby gate would solve. I need another pair of hands, in a bad way. The twins have always been a handful, but I think they are particularly diffiicult right now. I don't see an end to this stage coming anytime soon, so it looks like I have my work of training cut out for me. First on the list: "Come here." When I say that to Evelyn, she squeals and literally runs the other way. And so it goes.

Day 18

Watch out Caleb. Gideon looks like he knows how to use that thing.

Day 19

The twins love to wake up the boys. Joshua doesn't like it so much. I think it's funny. But Joshua is a grump when he wakes. I really need to put him to bed earlier. I treat him like Caleb and he's just not there yet.

Day 20

The reward for keeping their grubby fingers out of the dough while we made Valentine's cookies for Kevin.

Day 21

Oldest and youngest. We've thought that little Gideon looked like Caleb when he was a baby. I think he does still, but he does have his own look.

Snow day. I love bibs on kids.

Joshua, however, does not like bibs. He got stuck for a few minutes and writhed in a fit until he got them off.

Caleb dressed himself to go out. Later I learned that he wore 2 pair of pants, 2 pair of legwarmers, 2 pair of socks, and even, just to be safe, 2 pair of underwear. But apparently he was unconcerned with his upper body. He wore just a t-shirt under his coat.

Day 22

Valentine's cookies. These look cool, but they taste even better!

A few of the cookies were tongue-in-cheek.

7-13

Day 7

Little booger woke up at 5 am. I'm sleepy now too babykins, and it's not even 9 in the morning. At least one of us will get two naps today.

Day 8

When shooting the bad guys on the star wars game, it helps if you stick your tongue out. Also, after a quick competition I was surprised to find out that Caleb is better at this video game than I am. Is that possible? He's 4! I was shooting at the big ship and he said, "No, Mama. Shoot at those little blue things. They help you know where to shoot."

Day 9

Evelyn presiding over the week's laundry mountain. I remember sorting my clothes into Lights and Darks. Then came Whites, Lights and Darks. Now I have a load for practically every color. I'll have to admit to finding some visual pleasure in this arranging, though.

Day 10

He wrote this one. He had such joy in the pure white of the snow. "They look like they are just, painted in white!" he said. Compare to Day 7 of last year.

Day 11

Day 12

Morning to myself at a local German cafe. So thankful for a mental break. Of course, I spent the rest of the morning stuffing Christmas cards into envelopes. But at least I didn't have to talk to anyone or correct/redirect any little bodies.

Day 13

You know it's cold outside when I let this thing take over my living room. The kids were thrilled with Gideon's birthday present from my mom. I've been holding it hostage for a time like this and finally decided inflate it.

365 days of pics. Again.

I'm tired of feeling bad about not having anything for Kevin to look at. He can see my blog but not my Facebook. So this is for him. I'll watermark my pics soon. Maybe tomorrow, but for now, I'm going to start the new year right, without worrying about the 200 pics I failed to post from last year. This might go a little haywire when we start moving in April, if Kevin doesn't buy us a MacBook, but I want to share while I can.

Day 1 of 365 days of pics:

Evelyn welcoming the new year.

Day 2: Classic Evelyn when she's excited

Always underfoot and under-skirt.

A kiss from Gideon.

Joshua: "Baby attaaaack!!"

Day 3: My babies sat at the kids' table. No booster, no high chairs. Big kids, now.

Day 4: Mmmmm, milk (I will be so relieved when we get out of the sippy cup phase.)

Day 5: Spent the whole afternoon (while all four kiddos napped, boo) looking for my passport. All I found was this busted old passport from 24 years ago. Hilarious. I'm always worried about being a mouth-breather!