Gavin: five months

Gavin has had a big month: he had his first taste of food, moved out of his cradle, and is starting to scoot and sit up on his own!

It's kind of been a rough month for sleeping though. He is waking up at least 4 times every night. We've tried everything we can think of, and the only way to get him to stay asleep longer than an hour is to let him sleep with us.

When he is really tired, he "sings" himself to sleep. Pretty dang cute!

He doesn't demand to be held ALL the time now, but he does prefer to spend most of his day in my arms.

Gavin is my little mama's boy! And I love it! Paul jokes that Gavin doesn't like him, but let's be honest - nobody can get these kids to laugh like he does! I'm soaking up all my baby's attention now before he realizes who the fun parent is :)

I haven't let my hair down this month, because he is grabbing at everything he can get his mitts on!

He loves when we talk to him, watching Jenna and Liam run around, and "jumping".

Our little Gavin may be high-maintenance, but he makes up for it in adorable smiles and giggles!

Liam: 2 years

Oh Liam, Liam, Liam! How do I even begin to describe this little firecracker!?

-He doesn't walk. He runs. Everywhere he goes!

-He's got a big 'ole head, and he uses it like a battering ram when he wrestles daddy.

-Liam is just the sweetest little boy! He is always giving us hugs and kisses and cuddles. He says "sorry" by giving a kiss on the cheek.

-He's got the you've-hurt-my-feelings pouty lip thing down! It's so cute!

-He still isn't much of a talker. And he's not a copy-cat; he won't say anything unless he wants to. Does it frustrate me that he says "Hulk" and "Ralph" perfectly but won't say "I love you"? Yes, it does.
-His first phrase was "there it is". -He refers to all animals by the sound they make. -He doesn't say any colors or numbers, but he does know a lot of them. -If he's really excited about something, he whispers it: "pizza!" "daddy!" "choo-choo!" "dee deem!" (ice cream)

-Things he finds hilarious: destroying things, being chased but not caught, animal noises, spinning in circles, and when Anna turns into ice at the end of Frozen. That one disturbs me a bit.

-He loves ducks, lions, trains, planes, balls, hats, and being outside. And puzzles - we have puzzles in every room of our house, and he does them every day.

-He hates getting his diaper changed. And getting dressed. He runs away every time. Fun times for all!

-He dumps out all the toys as soon as I put them away. Our playroom is just always a mess now.

-Liam likes to run away from me whenever we are out of the house. And he doesn't listen to me. Ever! I have to be very strategic in our outings, like making sure I have access to enclosed places, strollers, and somewhere to put Gavin when I inevitably have to chase Liam down.
I'm totally getting my come-upance from judging other moms when Jenna was my only kid.

-He LOVES Gavin!  He always comes running if Gavin cries. He is constantly giving him kisses, laying on him, and trying to pick him up. He calls him "Dee" so much that I've even started calling him Baby Dee. And he gets very concerned when strangers hold his brother.
I can't even handle the cuteness from these two:

Jenna: 6 years

Jenna. I cannot imagine my life without her! And I don't know how I would handle having these boys so close together without my big helper.

This sweet girl:

-Loves to make up jokes! They don't usually make sense, but she will be offended if we don't laugh.

-Still says she wants to be an art teacher when she grows up. But every once in a while she say she also wants to be a scientist, ballerina, fashion designer and mom.

-Is a huge cuddler. It is a rare sight to see her sitting by herself. And I love that she wants to hold our hands, and give hugs and kisses in public. I'll be sad when that someday stops.

-LOVES animals! And learning all about them! Every time we go to the library she comes home with a book about a different animal. Last month it was horses and butterflies. Now she has books about flamingos and poodles.

-Is very protective and proud of her brothers. She loves to run and wrestle with Liam, and entertain little Gavin. But, heaven help the little boy who dares to enter her room! That is her sacred space, and gets very upset when I let Liam in there.

-Makes gifts for people all the time! Her teachers (school, piano, art, church), friends, cousins, grandmas, brothers, and Paul and I have been the recipients of tons of pictures, bracelets, crowns, and necklaces.

-Is super sensitive, which can be good and bad. She is very kind to everyone, but can also get her feelings hurt pretty easily. Many days have been declared "the worst ever" if we don't play or read to her on cue. Drama.

-Loves to sing, especially in the bathroom. The whole house is treated to songs from primary, Frozen, and little ditties she makes up while she showers or brushes her teeth.

-Still is very concerned about doing the right thing. She is constantly asking about what is "allowed", or she'll make a statement and then ask "Is that correct?"

-Is becoming quite sassy! I'd like to blame it on the other kids at school, but the truth is she reminds me a lot of myself as a kid.

-Is a little fashionista! She draws all the time in her "Style book" and just got a "Learn to be a Fashion Designer" book for our upcoming Thanksgiving trip. We have to pick out her school outfits the night before because it takes forever, then in the morning she selects her jewelry and models in front of the mirror.

-Hates to get her hair brushed, because she inherited my super sensitive scalp. But she still loves to get all dolled up: curl her hair, paint her nails, pretend to put on make-up. She talks about sending the boys all camping so she and I can do a spa day. Sounds good to me!

I love my Jenna-fish so much! She is my best little buddy, and the most awesome little girl I've ever met!

Hilarious first food try!

We said good-bye to the warm weather this week with one last picnic in our backyard.

Now bring on the winter coats, mittens, and SNOW!!

Also this week:

Gavin finally graduated out of his cradle. But he's still in our room, just now in the pack 'n play. We won't move him to the crib in his and Liam's room until he is sleeping through the night, or at least only getting up once in the night (it's taking longer than we had hoped).
He also got his first taste of real food this week, on the day he turned 5 months.
I absolutely love the pictures we got, very reminiscent of Liam's first taste of rice cereal.

"This. is. disgusting."

"Please! No more!"

"Ugh. I think I'm going to be sick."

"I'm gonna get you for this..."

Hahaha! And then we furthered the torture by letting Liam in on the fun!

Liam started taking naps again, thank goodness! He had stopped when Jenna went back to school and we weren't doing a lot, because Gavin was so little. I guess I felt bad making him lay down if we hadn't been very active in the morning. But I've realized we both need that time, so even if he doesn't sleep he has quiet time in his room every day.

Jenna gave our FHE lesson on Monday. She read us a story about Jesus, and then for the first time unprompted, bore her testimony. It was pure faith, and I'm so grateful for her example to us!

She got her first 1st grade report card this week, and I was not at all surprised by 2 things her teacher said: "Jenna has developed into a social butterfly and is a friend to everyone in the room." and "She has an astonishing curiosity for science topics." That's my girl!
Her class is currently learning about geography, and each family was asked which states or countries they had family/friends who the child could write to and receive a post card from. We said we could do Brazil (Paul asked one of his mission companions), so of course that was the country Jenna was assigned. I hadn't thought about the fact that they don't speak English, so Paul obviously had to help Jenna write the letter:

She can't wait to get a reply!

Paul and his boys at work decided to not shave their mustaches in November in support of men's health. But, he reluctantly shaved it this week when he learned the local news station was going to interview him about UVA's concessions again. I was not at all sad to see it go!
I forgot to take a picture, but he's excited to do it again next year. So we have that to look forward to!

Kali is just enjoying life! I'm trying to slow the the inevitable march of time and be more grateful that I get to stay home and be a mommy to these 3 beautiful children! And a game night with the girls Saturday night certainly didn't hurt ;)

Lipizzans

Jenna had Monday and Tuesday off of school this week! The school probably wanted to make sure the Halloween sugar-high wore off before they let the kids come back :)
On Monday we tackled some art projects, cleaned our rooms, and took a long walk around the neighborhood. Then we spent Tuesday at Bounce 'n Play! In order to get out of the house these days (since I am carrying Gavin 90% of the time) I need somewhere Liam can run around, but won't get lost or hit by a car. And this place fits the bill! I also love going out with Jenna and Liam because no matter how much they might fight at home, they are always best buds in public!

Liam is always so excited when Jenna comes home from school! Part of it may be because he LOVES to see the "bus! bus!". But he sure does love his sister:

...and his brother:

On Friday Paul and Jenna went on a daddy-daughter date to see The Gala of the Royal Horses!

Jenna was so excited, and it didn't hurt that she had just picked up a book about Lipizzans (a breed of Spanish royal horse) from the library! They both had a lot of fun together:

Saturday, Jenna was invited to a friend's spa-themed birthday party. They did manicures, facials, decorated their own cupcakes, glittered their hair, and even had a pinata. A little girl's dream!!
While Jenna was getting pampered, I checked out the Library sale. It was completely packed, and not nearly as cheap as the one in Maryland, but $2 for a new hardback certainly isn't bad! I came home with some goodies of my own :)

Sunday was our ward's Primary Program. Jenna had been looking forward to it for weeks, and we made sure to get a seat right in front of her. She was singing and smiling and waving to us for the first half of the program. But, right before her part, she got an itchy throat and started coughing a lot. It wasn't distracting, but she thought that it was and got super embarrassed. So much so that they had to skip her part :(
She was heart-broken! Then in nursery another little boy hit Liam hard in the face with a toy truck, and he refused to go back in after he calmed down.
A rough day, but nothing a few hugs and kisses couldn't fix!

Mario Bros. Halloween

We had our Ward Halloween party on Thursday, and of course Trick-or-Treating on Friday. I'm loving the fact that the boys are still young enough to not care about their costumes. So when Jenna chose Princess Peach, it was an easy decision to dress up Liam as Mario and Gavin as Toadstool. If I was really feeling motivated, Paul and I would have dressed up as Bowser and Daisy. But I wasn't, so we carried Wii controllers and went as the players.
I'm pretty proud of the fact that we spent a grand total of $8 on all our costumes! We bought jewels and tulle for Jenna's costume, and everything else was made from stuff we found around the house.

I just can't get enough of these cuties!!

I walked around with Liam while Paul and Gavin handed out candy at the ward trunk-or-treat, and then Friday night Gavin and I manned the door while Paul took the big kids trick-or-treating around the neighborhood.
Liam doesn't say "trick or treat", but he held up his bucket for candy and said "thank you!"
And as usual, Jenna was a great big sister. 

They were only out for a bit, and then Jenna had a blast handing out the candy. She said that's what she's most excited about for next year!

In other news, Paul only has one more football game for the year! Yay, we're so excited to see more of him! Kali got a second calling this week: Relief Society pianist. I haven't had this calling before, and I'm excited to finally nail down all those hymns!
Jenna had her Fall project for school this week. She had to come up with a "wondering question" about fall and present it any way she wants. She chose: How and Why do leaves change color and fall? We went to the library and got as many books as we could find on trees and leaves, and she got to work on her research:

Then she made a poster with her findings and glued on colorful leaves she had collected. I forgot to take a picture of it before she turned it in. I'll try when we get it back.

Liam is doing his best to motivate me to start working out

And Jenna is loving the fact that we will let her carry around Gavin now (always supervised of course).