Cooking

We cook together often in this house. Last week Kevin asked to help with dinner. There wasn't much more than pouring and stirring and getting the tortillas heated up. So he helped me with all of that! I took some pictures of him. He took the put the tortillas on the skillet and warmed them up and then placed them on the serving plate. He told me he had fun!

Colin's Puzzles

The other night Colin wanted to do puzzles with me. Originally he told me what part I could do, but he ended up doing everything on his own. He has been doing puzzles for a very long time, but he was so proud. I took some pictures. At first he wasn't smiling. The second picture is his "camera smile."

Movie Night

Sunday night was Movie Night! We watched Titan AE this time. As usual, the boys cleared out the coffee table and set up pillows and blankets. They even got out cooq for daddy.


After our pizza dinner (We had to eat at the table this time, since Gwyn can't eat on the floor.) the boys took turns snuggling with me and daddy.



Gwyn took turns yelling and singing very loudly, and stealing to remotes.

More Building

Kevin wanted to build a pickup truck like daddy's but he didn't have directions with the design for one. So he built one himself. I helped with a few parts of the assembly, but he told me what to do. (At one point I had even built something wrong, so I took it apart and he told me how to make it. I would have been made about him being bossy, but he was making something that he planned on his own!) I helped figure out how to get the tailgate and the sides on, but everything else was him, even the roof and the windshield.

BIrthmarks

Gwyn's hair is almost long enough for full pigtails. It still gets put up, but a lot of it falls out. While it was up the other day, I saw her birthmark on the back of her neck. Both her daddy and big brother Kevin have the same one! Most of Kevin's in under his hair, but I tried to get a picture of it anyway.

(Kevin just saw the pictures and told me it looks like I am doing weird experiments with our kids.)

Gwyn

Kevin

Getting the Mail

Lately the boys have been going to the mailbox for us. They work as a team, and as they walk out, you can hear them figuring out who will open the box and who will get the mail.

The cutest part is that they wear our shoes.

Well, Good Thing We Bought Those Bunk Beds

Right now they boys are currently both sleeping in the bottom bunk. They are both wrapped up in the same comforter, and sleeping on the same pillow. They are giggling and talking and have a nightlight in between them.

BONUS - Interesting Colin story:
On Tuesday we had White Castle's for dinner. (It is our tradition to have White Castle's on Valentine's Day. It is classy, we know.) Colin told me on the way home that he was going to eat five chicken rings. He kept holding his hand up to show me. When we sat down to eat, he asked how many chicken rings he should take. I told him to take what he thought was a good number. He told me "I will take three. That means I get two more." Apparently Colin is doing math now.

BONUS story #2 - On the way home from preschool today, it was raining. Colin told me that all the trees were growing again! We talked about how trees need sun and water for nutrients. I asked him what would happen if there was no rain. He replied "Then he trees would die and it would be out of balance." What?!

So then I asked what animals would die, which ones need trees. While Colin was thinking Kevin told me that beavers would die. I said that they use trees for homes. He corrected me and said "Beavers eat the trees too. There is a layer of soft bark that the beavers eat." I told him that I didn't know that. He said "Yeah. I taught you that."

These kids are so fun to talk to!

Kevin's Art

At Kevin's school, if the kids don't want to fall asleep, or while you are waiting for lights out on your cot, they get a notebook to draw or write in. Kevin has already filled two, and once they are filled the notebooks are sent home. In no particular order of awesomeness, here are a few drawings from his current journal. (When we get it, we ask him what all the drawings are and write what he says on the page. Hopefully you can read the description.)

A Morning With Just the Girls

This weekend the boys stayed the night with Aunt Pat. Sunday morning Kevin ran 20 miles, so for a few hours it was just the girls at home. We made and ate blueberry muffins for breakfast, and then Gwyn enjoyed having time to play with her brothers toys. (They are very generous with their toys, but they still keep some from her.)



She picked up all the superheroes and Star Wars guys and put them in the castle. Then she looked into the tube parts and try to reach them. It was really cute. I finally showed her how to get them out using the gate at the bottom.

Surrounded by just some of the superheroes and Star Wars toys!

Well, that didn't take long.

Here is what the boys did at nap time on Sunday. Kevin told me that he was hanging the animals up like at the zoo. Not sure what that means, though...

Gwyn Update

Gwyn is 10 months old today! It has gone by so fast! It may be because she is our third child, or maybe that she has let us sleep through the night since she was so young. Either way, I can't believe that we are already thinking about her first birthday.

Some new things from Gwyn:

• She stands. She only stands for about 4-5 seconds at the most, but she is getting good! She likes to stand in the bathtub, which freaks me out.
• She thinks she knows how to walk. She does not. She has taken a step or two, but she is not close to walking. That doesn't stop her from trying to let go and walk. Or from yelling at you when you hold her fingers to help her walk.
  
• She is working on her 4th tooth. Her third tooth (the first to arrive on the top) came in last week.
  
• She pretty much feeds herself all the time. She loves bread, cheese, and black beans.
  
• She still doesn't hold her own bottle while she eats. (She does when she is reclined getting ready for sleep.) I think it has to do with two things. 1. I am the ONLY one who expects her to hold her bottle. Everyone else (including daddy and daycare!) love to hold it for her. I don't mind though. 2. If the bottle isn't held high enough, the moment you touch it to raise it up, she removes her hands. Immediately. And with a bit of an attitude, as if saying "Thank you, I was so tired of that peasant work."
• She is learning sign language. She knows "more" and "all done" and "milk". She is learning signs for "Kevin" and "Colin" since I don't think she will be able to say those names anytime soon. I am also trying to teach her a few other words as well.
• She LOVES her brothers! She likes to follow them around. They do a pretty good job getting extra toys for her to play with, so I understand when they want time for just themselves.
• Her hairy is crazy. It is too thin to stay in any ponytail that is not on the top of her head. I have gotten a really cute ponytail that is off to the side and flat, but her hair is in her face within a few minutes. I have given up. Crazy hair it is.
  

Here is a picture of her from a few days ago. She is playing with her brothers' Transformers, and she looks like she is posing!

The Bunk Beds Are Here!

I got home from work Wednesday and the beds were waiting for us!


We unpacked everything before I headed to my 7:00 class at Lindenwood University. By the time I got home most of it was assembled. The boys were already asleep in them! Kevin and Colin told me that they helped daddy by holding stuff, and by keeping Gwyn out of his way.


So tonight we finished assembling the final supports and the drawers underneath the bottom bunk. The boys didn't do as good of a job keeping Gwyn away. Every where daddy went, Gwyn was at his feet.


As of tonight, the boys have already taken turns (without any fighting) over who sleeps on the top and bottom bunks. The boys love the drawers on the side of the stairs, the book rack for the bottom bunk, and the way they can sneak from the top bunk to the bottom bunk. (Just squeeze through where Colin's head is in the following picture.)


Here is one more picture with the drawers underneath!