Push Car!

There's nothing...

 

 

like being push around...

 

 

the house by your...

 

 

big brother while he's only wearing...

 

 

underwear and a coat!

Football Fun!

After dinner one night we went outside with the kids to have some fun.

 

 

I set Zeke on the step to watch the bigger kids.

 

The boys got the football out and we tossed it around a bit.

 

 

Of course the boys don't so much like the actually playing of football, but more the tackling!

 

 

And trying to steal the ball.

 

 

And just generally rolling around on the grass wrestling each other!

 

 

Ella Bean wanted to get in on the action, but she didn't really understand the rules so every time the boys caught the ball and she didn't she would have a total meltdown.

 

 

It was fun running around in the yard teaching the kids how to do a silly victory dance and spike the ball. Of course they'll have to unlearn that if they ever go into the NFL.

Five Year Pictures!

The Saturday after Jack's birthday we took him to JCPenny's to get his pictures taken. I have to say...I wish he had been going to JCPenny's from the start. The pictures at Sears were nice, but it was always such a hassle trying to get the kids to cooperate with the photographer. It was like we were doing their job. Not at JCP! The photographers are wonderful! They interact with the kids and they get them to smile naturally. Every year when it's time to get Jack's pictures taken I'm always dreading it because he is really a difficult subject.

 

 

The photographer today got him to open right up and we got some wonderful shots. The best part was I don't even think my blood pressure rose even a little bit! Victory!!!

 

 

The adorableness is off the charts!!!!

 

 

When we came in for Zeke's pictures we mentioned that we would be back in a couple of weeks for Jack's. The photographer told me to have Jack bring in something that he loves that could be in the pictures with him. He chose his puppy....Maximus, that Aunt Michelle got him at his 4th birthday. So sweet!

Fire Truck Bed!

These pictures aren't the best since they were taken on my phone. Back in May when Ga-Ga and I went to the Mill Creek Garage Sales Ga-Ga bought this for Zeke.

 

 

Our kids are always out of their cribs early so I imagine Zeke will be using this around Christmas time. Right now it's in the garage and the kids have been having so much fun playing in it.

 

 

Zeke already thinks it's pretty cool!

 

 

They play in it almost daily which of course means tears are shed because of it almost daily.

 

 

It is pretty big so I'm going to have Michael move it down to our basement until it's time for Zeke to sleep in it. Our garage is so full of all sorts of kids contraptions it's a bit ridiculous!

Two Hands On The Wheel!

 

He's already perfected the hold at 10 & 2!

First Auto Accident!

Lately the kids have been making up games to play while riding on their power wheels. Things like cops and robbers. They also play this game where Ella is the daughter and whoever is driving in McQueen is Ella's father. So in this case Jack has stolen Ella and Owen is trying to rescue his daughter.

 

 

They have their hands stretched out and Owen is saying, "Daughter!"

 

 

Jack is on the run!

 

 

He decides to take a detour and try to out run Owen on the sidewalk!

 

 

If only his driving skills were better!

 

 

I was laughing so hard!

 

 

There we go...let the games resume!

 

 

Ella decided to join her "Father" since the auto accident freaked her out.

 

 

Jack decided to have his puppies hitch a ride with him.

 

 

Then he took Logan on a ride! All in a days play I guess!

Birthday Breakfast!

If you're Pinterest I'm sure you've seen this recipe for homemade strawberry and nutella pop tarts. I had all the ingredients and decided to make them for the kids on Jack's actual birthday.

 

 

 

Of course they take a lot more time than you'd think especially when normal pop tarts take...oh 5 seconds to rip the wrapper open. I didn't do the whole cut the strawberry in the shape of a heart though...seriously I have 5 kids to look after!

 

 

Here they are fresh from the oven!

 

 

We woke Jack up by singing Happy Birthday to him. He was excited to get measured on the door frame in the kitchen. He has grown about a 1/4 inch since November. I'm thinking he's going to sprout up this summer though.

 

 

Ready for breakfast!

 

 

Goof ball!

 

 

The girls, Zeke and I LOVED them....what's not to like about pie crust, warm nutella and strawberry jam! Of course Owen and Jack didn't like them at all! :(

Sun-mer Time!

Since last week was so nice I decided it was time to get the kids to the sprinkler park. It was warm, but a bit breezy so the kids didn't get super wet.

 

 

Of course even though it wasn't even 11am the first thing they wanted to do was eat.

 

 

Cute little bathing beauty! Logan's hair is finally starting to grow in and have some body to it.

 

 

Zeke Man was SO tired...as you can very well see! I was hoping he would take a quick power nap in the van on the way to the park, but no such luck. He was one tuckered out boy by the end of our outing!

 

 

I love how The Centre at Norpoint has both normal playground equipment and the sprinkler park. The kids have fun running back and forth.

 

 

Owen said, "Take a picture Mom!"

 

 

After we ate a little it was time to introduce Zeke to the water. He was not too thrilled about it, but he didn't have a full blown meltdown either. The other kids were trying to show him it was fun!

 

 

Monkey boys!

 

 

Logan was so funny...she walked right up to this and just stuck her head under the water. She was all for getting wet even though it was still a little cold.

 

 

Then we went and dried off and had some more snacks.....a bunch of munchies, crunchy carrots! Bonus points for who can name the cartoon!

 

 

By this time Zeke was seriously almost falling asleep while he was eating. Poor guy! I tried to see if he would just lay down with me on the blanket, but that was a no go!

 

 

Overall our first trip to the sprinkler park was a total success...no meltdowns, lots of smiles and good naps afterwards!

Taekwondo Testing!

My recovery after my gum graph went pretty slow at first so Michael ended up having to leave work early to take the boys to Taekwondo for me. It's kind of frowned upon if you operate heavy machinery under the influence of high powered pain medication!

 

 

 Normally it wouldn't matter if they missed a week, but this particular week was when they were getting their new belts since they had tested the week before and passed. Also it was the last class until September since the younger kids are getting to take the summer off.

 

 

Ella is going through this phase...I hope...where she hates for me to do her hair. She wants it to be long and she doesn't want me to put it back in a clip or a band of any kind.

 

 

Even though I love Taekwondo I'm really happy they are taking the summer off. Our schedule is super free now...no MOPS, Home School, Bible Study or Taekwondo. So nice! Although I know good and well that come the end of August I'll be dying to get back to our super busy schedule!

 

 

New belts = proud boys!

Goals!

 You might remember that we are going through Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University and we have starting having our kids work on commission. We decided that the kids should have a goal in mind for the money they are saving. You know something to look forward to and work towards. Owen has known for a long time what he wanted to work towards and it's come in handy when we've been out. He seriously as a "money is burning a hole in my pocket" way about him so he would just spend it all in a heartbeat. So when we are out and about and he wants to spend some of his money I just ask him if what he wants whatever he wants more than he wants his tank. That usually keeps him in check.

 

Jack and Ella didn't know what they wanted to spend their money so we decided to take a trip to the toy store.

 

 

 

Here's the tank Owen's been talking about for months. Just the other night we sorted and counted (I forgot how fun that was) all his money and he has over $17! I'm so proud of him. He's more than half way to his goal.

 

 

Ella isn't really big on playing with toys really. She has her few favorites....babies, strollers, kitchen stuff. She did see this house though and she like the doorbell and the little people. Since Ella is younger she only gets paid for keeping her room clean. She doesn't have any extra jobs right now. We will change that in the future though. She's going to have to save for a while to get it...right now she only has $4.

 

 

Jack is my little actor....loves to be playing a part. He saw this pirate costume and just wanted to have it. It's only $14 so it won't be long before he makes his goal. I'm not exactly sure how much money he has now though because he wouldn't help me sort his money so I didn't count it for him. He was in a mood!

 

The coolest part about our trip to Toy's R Us was the fact that we didn't buy a thing and we walked out hand in hand with 4 kids and none of them were screaming or crying or throwing a fit. They knew going in we were just going to look and find what we wanted, but they would have to work towards it. I literally gave myself a pat on the back when we got to the van. Serious parental victory!

 

It's been so wonderful going through FPU learning how to manage our money, but it's also been wonderful passing on those traits to our kids. Helping them learn that we need to be thankful for the money that God gave us and tithing to the church. I love seeing them getting excited to give their money back to God!