Bliss & That

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Mr. Happy

Here are a few cute pictures of Brigham from the past week. It's hard to believe that he's 5 months old now!

Getting changed after his nap

First time eating carrots!

Squeaky clean and oh, so cute!

Mr. Fix-It

Here's our little handyman! :) (Again, not thrilled about getting his picture taken...)

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Today out of the blue Isabella came up to me, turned around, stuck her bottom out and pointed to it saying, "Tootsie Roll!"
"What??"
"Tootsie Roll!"
"Isabella, what are you talking about?" My mind raced, trying to think what the heck... (Insert imagination...)
"I have a Tootsie Roll too, like Pilates!"
Aha! "You mean tushie!"

Turns out, my Pilates video instructor calls the buttocks a "tushie" once. Bella was so excited that she had a Tootsie Roll too! :) Thank goodness that's all she meant...

Friday, January 16, 2009

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

Before the weather got too cold (it was still hovering around 20 degrees, though...), we were all able to get outside for a good bit to play in the massive snow piles. Daddy started things out and played for a while before he got snow in the ankles of his steel-toed work boots. :) (I told him that I would be stopping by Target's snow boot clearance isle soon...) I wanted to play too, so snapped some quick pictures and then made snow castles with the sand toys, snow angels, and snow recliners with the kids. It was fun, but the hot cocoa with marshmallows was yummy and so nice to sip on when the sun finally started to get low in the sky and the cold started setting in!

Mark had to shovel the deck stairs to get down to the yard.

Bella fell face first!

Bella's attempt to pull Lincoln in the knee-deep snow. She was just "spinning her tires"!

Snow princess...

I always love to see how high the snow piles up on the objects outside!

A Ray of Sunshine on a Cold Day

Daddy surprised Bella the other day by bringing her a bunch of beautiful Gerbera Daisies after grocery shopping! She put a single bloom on her nightstand, and then we got to enjoy the rest of them downstairs. Mark made both of his ladies very happy that day... Flowers for Bella and groceries for me! :)

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Yum, Yum

Brigham started cereal last week and did so well with it! He loves it and seems like a pro after only the first time. We'll be starting vegetables soon, so I'm sure there will be some colorful, messy-faced pictures to come! :) (Here is a picture from after his first "meal"...)

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Streeetch...

Yesterday when Brigham woke up from his nap I took the camera with me so I could catch his very predictable sequence of waking. It just makes my day to see him so excited and happy to see me!

First such big smiles!

Followed by streeetching and rubbing eyes when he gets un-swaddled.

This is a new look, though. The confused "deer-in-the-headlights" look wondering why Mommy has a bright camera flash in his face!

Dora & Diego in the Flesh

This is the blond-haired, blue-eyed version of Dora (Bella) & Diego (Lincoln) while they were watching the premier viewing of "Dora Saves Three Kings Day" yesterday. While they do make very authentic kings, something tells me that none of the three kings really walked around with barbecue sauce all over their faces. :)

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Stress-Inducing Exercise

So I could fit some Pilates exercise in today, I thought I'd be able to do it while the older two kids were awake. I've done it with Isabella before, but never Bella and Lincoln both. Usually exercise calms one, as does my 25-minute Pilates DVD does for me. Not today, though. I've never had such a negative effect from doing exercise as I did today! This is how it went...

"Breath in through the nose, and out through the nose."
(Insert Bella & Lincoln chasing each other around the couch and jumping over me each lap like they were in a steeplechase race.)

"Stretch one, stretch two, stretch three."
(Insert Lincoln sitting on my stomach with a naked bottom while flat on my back.)

"Cross down and up."
(Insert Bella and Lincoln yelling at each other over the calming voice of the instructor. Okay, well this was the whole time actually...)

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten."
(Insert Bella kicking me each of the ten counts while doing giant scissor kicks next to me on the floor. She thinks this one is fun, so joined in.)

Ahhh... Never again. I will exercise alone from now on. Oh, and two more things that were revealed to me while exercising on the floor today. I really need to vacuum, and the mysterious missing sippy cups all rolled under the couch to live. All FIVE of them!

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Brotherly Bonding

Now it's Lincoln's turn to show you how well he cuddles with Brigham! Of course his snuggles are a little more fleeting and always carefully monitored! As you can see, Lincoln always has something better to do than smile for the camera... ("Blue's Clues" in this case!)

Daddy {Mark}

Both my high school and modern-day sweetheart {he claims he's loved me since seventh grade}, Daddy’s the reason we’re on this awesome journey around the U.S. {Truth be told, the kids and I would happily follow him anywhere. We’re pretty fond of him…} So hardworking, he's always busy putting others to sleep. Huh? You see, he really is quite an interesting and diverse person, it's just that he's now an Army Officer schooling in anesthesia. :) For enjoyment and down-time from school and being at the hospital he loves to cook. {What, Honey? You want to make supper? Uhm... okay!} In addition to cooking, he also enjoys hunting and gardening. {See, diverse...} He’s doing a wonderful job already teaching our young boys what is expected of them to develop into a good man and our only daughter what it takes to avoid those good men for the next 30 years or so.

Mommy {Kate}

I'm Kate, spending day and night molding precious lives and trying to keep up with the laundry and dishes. I'm always wondering how I could do things better at home, trying to learn through grace to be the best wife and mother for OUR family, even if others think I'm off my rocker. :) This is still a big work in progress, though, but I'm just so thankful to be doing the only thing I've always wanted to do- be a wife and mama! My newest label other than Army wife is being a homeschooling mommy. I find being in charge of my children’s education just as daunting as being in charge of their haircuts, and I always joke with Mark that I’ll take care of the English if he’ll help out with the higher level math and science. {He's intensely brainy. Yes, the whole package...} Little by little, I'd like to pretend I'm doing ok with teaching them and figuring it out s-l-o-w-l-y. My will-power is next to nothing when it comes to Dr Pepper, spoonfuls of homemade buttercream frosting, my husband's cooking, and a good home décor magazine. I dream of a little hobby farm with a big garden, clothes line, goats {love!}, pasture, and chickens {again} one day...

{Isabella Grace 8}

Our four little ones keep us busy, happy, frustrated, inspired, tired, and loved. Leading the pack is our first and only daughter, Isabella. We should have known from the start that she'd always be our loud and bubbly one, arriving as a tiny peanut four weeks early, surprising us all. She holds her own quite well to say the least with the boys, and is many times the mastermind behind trouble. Her loves are reading and cooking, but not in that order. Bella is turning into quite the beautiful young lady right before our eyes, and is a natural leader and big sister. It’s wonderful to have a big helper at home now too, as mommies of all little ones know how tough it is without “of-age” helpers. We now also find ourselves calling her "Little Mommy" to the boys very often.

{Lincoln Noah 6}

Next there's oldest of the brothers Lincoln, who makes parenting seem way too easy. :) Lincoln’s a lover of monster trucks and sports, though not in that order either. He also recently got bit by the hunting bug, and just got his first compound bow, much to Daddy's delight. Always counting down the years, he can’t wait until he is old enough to be in charge of mowing and “pooper scooping” on our future farm, which is great, since he's a natural at driving. He's also the most affectionate, soft-spoken little boy, always hugging and kissing us while saying, "I love you in the whole wide world."

{Brigham Isaac 4}

Brigham, Little Brother #2, is just a riot lately, and has Mommy and Daddy wrapped around his little finger. {Part of that may be thanks to the fact that he has possibly the longest eyelashes you will ever find on human or beast. We affectionately call them his face blankets.} There's no possible way that he's four years old already, but with that, he has emerged this year as the "class clown" of the family and is always cracking himself or us up with his antics. He is in love with being a big brother to Little Brother #3, but man, can they argue over toys already! His new love is riding his bike on two wheels after getting rid of those nasty training wheels that slowed him down too much. :)

{Griffin Silas 2}

In September 2010, God blessed us with another little boy in our family, who was born at home- a waterbirth. {Loved it!} Griffin's been such a joy and wonderful fit for our family since the beginning. Riding out the gallons of spit-up and thousands of overnight wakings during the first year have all been worth it, and we are enjoying his full-speed approach to toddlerhood now. He keeps up amazingly well with his older siblings and is still at the cutie-patootie age where nobody can stay mad at him. His fluffy blond curls and perfect kisses may have something to do with that. We are all anxious to see how Finn's personality takes shape, making up the sixth piece of our family puzzle.