Mama & Baby!

This picture brings such joy to my heart.

Time To Ride!

 We have spent a lot of time outside riding around the past few days! I finally figured out how to get a cute picture of Jack...point to the lens and see look here! So easy! He's so cute!

On Tuesday night Owen learned how to ride without his training wheels. He's asks all the time now if he can go out and ride on two wheels! 

This has been one of those awesome milestones that just makes me smile. He's growing up! 

Racing by Mommy! 

Ella and Logan both know how to pedal a little, but they still prefer to ride around in the coupe car. 

This was the face Logan gave me when I asked for her most grumpy face! 

If Zeke isn't napping when we're outside than he's in his cute car. He just recently started holding onto the steering wheel! 

 

The day after Owen learned to ride his bike on his own he also learned to push off and start pedaling on his own. Before he needed help for that initial part. 

He was pretty stoked about doing it all by himself! 

On the third day he was able to conquer his fear of riding on the sidewalk...the day before he tried, but his tired got stuck in that little rut between the yard and the sidewalk and he almost fell. It's so awesome to watch him learn new things!!!

Inside Out Caramel Apples!

Logan's Mom Jen saw this online and thought it would be fun for me to do with the kids so she bought the ingredients and brought it over last Thursday.

After cutting the first apple and realizing it wasn't going to be finished super fast I decided to sprinkle lemon juice so the apples wouldn't all turn brown.

Jack was my cute little candy unwrapperer! Surprisingly he didn't eat one while unwrapping them!

 

I looked online to find out how to melt caramel properly so I follow the directions I found. First I melted a tbsp of unsalted butter on low heat. 

 

Then we added the caramels 3 at a time. This is where it got interesting. The caramel doesn't melt like you'd think it would. It more clumps together and gets mailable.

I scooped the caramel into the apples and then put them into the frig so the caramel would cool. Now I'm not sure if it was me putting them in the frig or if I didn't melt them right, but the caramel was super hard. I wanted to cut the apples into slices, but there was no way that was going to happen. Each of the kids just got a half an apple. It was also funny because the caramel was hard on the top and in the middle where it touched the apple it was almost liquid. Weird! All in all it tasted good though!

Date Night!

Here is proof that Michael and I actually got out and had a date. In fact we've been much more intentional about dating this year. It's so important for us to keep making each other a priority! This particular date was a double date with some friends...we ate at Spiro's in Kent and then went to a fundraiser/comedy show at church in Kent. It was a great night! 

The previous week we had actually had another date which I called our Groupon date. Our first stop was B & E Meats where we used a Groupon, then we went to a wine tasting next door and bought a bottle of wine. Then it was across the street to dinner at Scotch & Vine where we used another Groupon. If you've never eaten at Scotch and Vine in Des Moines you are missin' out! Go there on your next date! 

Our next date is going to a be fun!!! We are going to a gun range! I'm so excited! We want to buy a gun, but first we want to try out different calibers and see which one we want. The other day I noticed there was actually an indoor gun range in Federal Way. Who knows maybe they'll be a Groupon for a gun range! 

Ella's 3 Year Pictures!

When it was time for Ella's 3 year pictures she was night and day from last year when we almost didn't even get pictures. She was a little nervous, but then she saw Owen go first and then she was okay. When she was done though she was done! 

 My big three year old girl!!!

She's a beauty! 

 

Here are the links to Ella's previous yearly pictures...2 years - 1 year

New Blog Design & Random Thoughts!

I figured since we are almost a week into spring I should probably change my blog header! I must say it is SO hard to find a decent picture of Jackson! I'm really not looking forward to his 5 year pictures. I'm thinking I might just go shopping while my Mom and Michael can try to get him to smile.

Today I took Zeke and the other 4 kids to the doctors to have Zeke's neck checked out. Turns out it's turned into a bacterial infection. The doctor prescribed some oral antibiotics and I have to put Nystatin on it 4 times a day. His neck looks so awful...it's all shiny and almost oozing, but then flaky and peeling in other areas. It's also moved to the back of his neck. I'm hoping to see improvement quickly! He'll be having is 1 year pictures in less than 2 months so I hope it's all healed by then! 

The last two nights Michael has been working with Owen on building his confidence and balancing skills so he can ride his bike without training wheels. Tonight I had to go out and run some errands and when I got home Owen was so proud to tell me he can now ride all by himself. I can't wait to see him ride tomorrow!

The last couples days we've had this mysterious fever going through our house. My friend Kim's kids had it and then Owen had it on Sunday, Ella got it on Monday and I think I might have had a fever last week, but I didn't take my temperature. I do remember I could NOT get warm I was freezing! Thankfully other than being lethargic and not having an appetite it doesn't seem to bother the kids much and it's gone in a day. 

Today at MOPS the boys made Resurrection Eggs. This was Owen's 2nd time making them, but Jack's 1st. Jack has been waiting for this day for a long time. He was so excited to come home and tell me the story and show me all the things inside the eggs. I was just sitting in the chair, nursing Zeke, listening to him and thinking when did he get so big! 

In a couple weeks Michael and I will be taking Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace class at our church. I'm really looking forward to it! 

Enough rambling...I'm off to watch HGTV! 

Owen's 6 Year Pictures!

 How can I have a 6 year old!?!

He's such a big guy! 

That face + those eyes + that dimple = love! 

Here are the links to Owen's other yearly pictures - 5 years - 4 years - 3 years - 2 years - 1 year

A Day At The Zoo!!

 On Thursday the kids and I headed to the Point Defiance Zoo to spend the morning with my friend Stephanie and her daughter Kodi.

Since Wednesday was so yucky out we weren't even sure if we were going to go to the zoo, but Thursday's weather report looked promising so we decided to risk it. When I was getting the kids out of the van it was quite windy, but once we got down into the zoo it wasn't so bad. 

We got to the zoo around 9:45 and for the first hour it was like we had the whole zoo to ourselves. It was great! Plus since the sun was out all the animals were soaking up the rays. 

 

Owen was trying to speak to the arctic fox. 

At the Polar Bear exhibit I had the kids growl like bears! 

 

Close up shot of the growlers! 

 

It was so nice of Steph and Kodi to invite us to come along as guests! Once we were ready to break for lunch Steph and Kodi headed home.

Zeke had been holding out on falling asleep, but once we stopped for lunch he was out!

Logan was like, "Hey enough pictures...I'm eating my sandwich!"

 And what do you do after lunch at a zoo....roll down the nearest hill of course! 

 Next stop was the aquarium where the boys pretended to be dead in the sharks mouth! 

After our only potty break it was time to go let the kids run and play. 

 

During the potty break Zeke woke up so while the kids were playing I fed him his baby food.

 

 Jack conquered the hippo!

Later alligator! 

 

After I was done taking pictures of the kids sitting on the alligator Owen just let Zeke fell straight to the ground...thankfully he wasn't hurt! 

 

He was quite ticked though on the way to the van. That walk up to the parking lot was rough since I was carrying him and pushing the girls in the stroller. I pretty much felt like doing this as well, but you know at least one of us had to keep it together! 

When we got to the van I went to change Zeke's diaper and realized why he was so ticked...he leaked everywhere! Then to top it off  it was super windy in the parking lot so Zeke was super mad about being changed since he was so cold. Then we had a little visitor! 

Seriously this is NOT zoomed! Mr. Peacock was really interested in us and I'm pretty sure it had to do with the fact that we had food in the van. 

 

I even talked to Mr. Peacock and told him we weren't sharing our food. He was deterred. After trying to shoo him and having the kids growl and all sorts of things I figured out the best way to get him to leave us alone...

Take pictures of him! Worked like a charm....after three pictures he was out of there!

Pulling Up!

 When it comes to moving it's no secret that Zeke Man is our latest mover. He crawled at 9 months and don't remind me how long it took him to roll over from his back to tummy. You might think that now that he's gotten a taste of freedom and movement that he might just hurry it along and learn new skills at record speed...nope, that's not his style! 

So in an effort to entice him to want to pull himself I let him hang out with the big kids while they took a bath on Tuesday night. I stood him up and he held on. 

 

There is something so cute about seeing a little bitty body standing up! 

 

After a while he decided he needed to sit down. 

 

He tried so hard to pull himself up on his own, but the floor was too slippery. 

 

After a while he was not interested anymore! 

 

Hey Mom! 

 

Then I got this shot of Zeke's poor neck. It's so red and dry! When he saw the doctor for his 9 month check up he said it was just dry skin. He had been drooling a lot, but he's not as bad anymore. Anyways I have tried so many things and nothing seems to help - Nipple cream, Aquaphor, Cetaphil, Nystatin and Vasaline! I'm thinking of taking him back in and having the doctor look at it again. Thankfully it doesn't seem to bother him it just looks awful! 

Then he did the cutest thing a baby can do! I love it!!! 

Look at those chubby legs!!! 

For the record books on the morning of March 21st...one day shy of Zeke turning 10 months old he pulled himself up all on his own!