The fun never stops.

The kids made party hats for the birthday party they had with the babysitter for Cate.  She wasn't impressed with the party hat but they didn't let that stop them from celebrating.  It's always someone or something's birthday when Tiffany comes over.  

Miss M and Cater and I put the kernels in the pot and watched the kernels go pop pop pop!

 Peek-a-boo!

Cate loves juice. Miss M used to only drink juice but she never drank that much so it wasn't concerning. I wonder if this girls got some sort of problem she drinks so much. She steals the other kids cups and drinks their beverages.

Look at the intensity in those eyes.  This girl is so much.  She can be kinda mean too. She head butts me, she pinches, she bites, she shoves her fingers into my eyeballs. And to top it off she thinks it's funny.  She gets ticked off and she doesn't let it go. She's harder to distract her these days with a toy.  She doesn't forget as easily.  She doesn't seem to require as much sleep as the other children.  Today, we went to the gym (shortly after waking up) for the full 2 hours and then drove to the mall to buy some last minute clothes for our upcoming trip.  We were gone until 3:30pm.  She never napped. She barely acted tired.  We came home and I fed them their happy meals :) and then tried to put her down for a nap. She wasn't having any of it.  She went to bed at 7pm.  She screamed something serious upon being put in her bed but she finally caved and went to bed. The other kids couldn't have skipped naps.  Will still can barely skip a nap without a lot of drama.

She truly exhausts me.  But about the time she exhausts me she turns on her love.  She's a good snuggler when she's not trying to take me out.

Oh. This one.  She loves playing in the sink/bath/any water source.  She is relentless. She screams like a crazy person if you don't let her play or if you turn the water off before she's finished.  She likes to brush her teeth too but I think it's because it's a pathway to the water source. 

Sleeping babies make my heart explode. 

She snuck into the front seat of the car while I was cleaning it.  Her face just shows she is so ornery. 

Things are getting real. The magic bands have arrived for the most magical place on earth.

Busy people

Big Will likes to take part in the experiments now too.  We got out the Costco sized baking soda and vinegar and made piles of colored bubbles.  

Cate and I have a little time alone when the kids are both in school (which is only on Monday and Wednesday). Sometimes we take Hazel on Wednesday and sometimes we get to do our own thing and play.  The two of us went to the open play at the gymnastics center one Wednesday and played around for an hour.  She wasn't really sure what to do without the big ones to follow around.

But we had fun hanging out together.

This picture isn't too clear as it's rather dark but the Village tree trimming people were out and trimming all the trees in the parkways. The trees in the parkways somehow are apart of the Village. I don't understand but I do know that if one dies the Village pays for it's removal and replaces it. I hope our tree stays healthy for years to come. It provides so much shade and beauty.

But the kids watched the workers all lined up in a row.

Aunt Nessie came over with Valentine's Day presents for the kids.  She picked up about 8,324 stick on tattoos and the kids lined up to be decorated head to toe.

On Valentine's Day we loaded up the car and went into the city to spend the morning at the Children's Museum.  We got there before it opened and spent some time taking pictures and goofing around.

I want to find this little contraption and buy one for the house. It was a hot item for Cate and Big Will.  Cate played with it for 20 minutes.  She hasn't sat for 20 minutes ever.

Miss M is a slumber partying fool.  She's spent the night at A's house twice now.  They run around and act like crazy people for awhile then they go to bed like little angels.  Monday the kids didn't have school so A's nanny took the two of them to an indoor play place after they work up and had some breakfast. The girls love having slumber parties.

 Who knows. She's probably up to no good. I feel like it's rare to get a picture of her smiling and genuinely happy. When she says cheese for a picture her face scrunches up and looks ticked off.  And other times she's just moving too much to catch her.

Hanging out in boxes reading stories while Miss M was away. The morning was delightful hanging out with just the two of us. It was awesome not to rush out the door for preschool.

I seriously dislike morning preschool. I would call it the biggest mistake I have made in awhile except all of Miss M's friends are in the class.  It would be sad if she wasn't with them for her last year of preschool. Next year kindergarten starts so early. I think drop off is 7:55am. Most days no one is up at 7:55am around here.  Next year Andrew is going to take over drop off duties and C and W and I are going to beat to our drummer and do afternoon preschool/naps. I am looking forward to it.  I can't handle the yelling/whining/screaming of three kids each morning. They barely have time to shove a pancake down their throat before we load up the car.  Brushing hair/teeth - yea right.

Super Bowl Sunday & More Selfies

Miss M's best friend is taller than her and so we are reaping the benefits with all her hand me down clothes. Miss M loves the clothes and insists on wearing them every day.  She is in love with this dress from her friend and wants it washed and dried every day. Once a week is about my going rate for laundry rotation. So instead of dawning blue for the super bowl party at our friends' house she wore her favorite dress. 

But Big Will chose his blue daddy shirt.

And Cater was able to rock the Panthers sweatshirt that Mimi bought for Big Will when he was a pipsqueak. We had fun playing with our friends and eating the traditional super bowl junk food.  And we definitely enjoyed destroying someone else's house :)

Big Will is into seeing the pictures we take now therefore he's more interested in taking pictures. 

Things are getting a little out of control.

And now Big Will is giving his sister some love.  She likes his lovin' sometimes but he just wants to squeeze her all the time.  It's sometimes concerning but generally endearing.  He is the biggest lover of all the children. He needs more hugs and kisses than anyone else.  His hugs are so big and so tight and so wonderful.  Every morning he comes out of his room so happy and just wants you to love him. It's easy to do until the fighting starts.

A trip to the Planetarium

While reading books Thursday night Miss M and I decided we wanted to go to the Planetarium Friday for a fun new thing to do. Miss M likes talking and learning about space.  Miss M wanted to invite her best friend, Anwen, to go with us. 

Anwen came over around 9am and off we went to the museum.  Nothing says awesome like one crazy woman and four crazy kids. 

The kids could blast off and go to space.

 Miss M is in the bubble while the rover rolled around Mars.

Cater had on her space pack.  It was as big as her but she was insistent in wearing it.

Building...something.

The Planetarium had a great kids area but outside of the kids area there wasn't much to do or see.  We packed up and left a couple hours later. The children requested McDonalds...big shocker...after lunch we turned on the television and relaxed.

 Cate is good at drinking out of a cup when she's contained.

 Trying to keep her entertained while I cooked dinner.

 Getting ready for bed.

Volunteering in the Diamond Room

I volunteered in the Diamond Room (Miss M's class) one day during their two weeks of wood working as they needed additional hands in the classroom.  They use saws and hammers and screwdrivers so extra hands seems reasonable.  

The kids were all so happy I was there. They wanted to play and hang on me and sit on my lap and do story dictations.  There wasn't a dull moment with 16 four/five year olds. 

Miss M loves the easel.  She brings home so many painted papers. I can't keep all the paper she brings home or we'd drown in paper.

This is the chair that Miss M brought home earlier in the week for Bananas. 

 She cut and painted the wood all by herself.

Bananas loves it.

The kids are required to make/draw plans of what they want to build before they are allowed to work on the wood working table.  Miss M had drawn a picture of a table to go with her chair for Bananas, the monkey.  Her plans are the pinkish piece of paper at the bottom of the picture. It is one long rectangle with 8 squares around it for it's legs. Jayne, her teacher, said how she was really strong and good at sawing.

Measuring and marking the legs before cutting.

 Safety first. Gloves and glasses.  Sawing the tables legs.

Lafayette is using a machine to drill a hole into the block of wood so he can put a wheel on his car.

I did story dictations with Eleanor and her story was about Once upon a time Katy (me) came to her room...the best part of the picture is that Eleanor's mother went into the room the day before and drew a picture of Jill with multi colored hair b/c her roots were showing and needed touched up.  Eleanor gave me one solid color of hair and the eyes of a child never lie.