golf

audrey and jacob were playing on the mini-golf course one day when she saw someone practicing putting. the man was nice enough to let her use his putter and taught her how to hit the ball into the hole. she decided it was better to just put the ball right at the edge of the hole and then hit it:) i found some plastic golf clubs at a dollar store, and audrey's been golfing ever since. we can't go outside everyday, but i made some little bridges and stuff with megablocks. she had a great time hitting the ball under the bridge- it took her about ten minutes to hit the ball through:)

yea! made it through!

golfing is hard work!

brushing teeth

audrey, jack, and sammy love to brush their teeth! everytime the resist, jacob opens his mouth and shows him all the "bugs" in his teeth- and he has a LOT:) they've recently started doing the whole routine by themselves- turning on the water, opening the toothpaste tube, rinsing the brush- everything! it's made mornings and bedtime a lot easier now that they're more independent. we just ask them to line up at the sink- even sammy lines up! he'll walk over to the bathroom saying "ahh" and make a toothbrush motion with his finger:)

superheroes

jack loves superheroes, much to the delight of jacob:) jack caught me watching the ironman 2 trailer one day, the one with the suitcase suit, and he was glued. he kept asking for "more robot man":) i told him that ironman has laserbeams that come out of his hands and feet and jack just loved it. so i downloaded some clips on the ipod for him. then jack discovered that he had an ironman action figure! he spent an hour watching the same 1 minute clip of the ironman suitcase suit, while posing his action figure and copying the sound effects:) jacob was thrilled! so i started downloading stuff from youtube with as many cartoon theme songs as i could find- batman, xmen; i also found the opening sequence to the old spiderman cartoon and now jack makes me sing the spiderman theme song every night before bed:) he's still partial to batman, though, which makes me happy:) he insists on wearing his batman jammies every night:)

the box

sammy loves to explore. he just walks around the house picking things up and moving them around. he especially loves the pantry where we keep most of our canned items. he loves taking out the boxes and looking inside to see if anything will taste good. one morning, while sammy was going about with his usual meanderings, we heard this loud scream come from the kitchen. we ran in and found him sitting in the box that usually holds the pasta:) we had to stop and take a picture before we helped him out- that just made him madder, but the pic come out even funnier:) no idea how he managed to take the box out and then just happen to trip and fall into it sitting down:)

cousins=friends

nathan and becca had a surprise visit out to brampton last weekend, and the kids had a blast with their cousins. i tried to explain what cousins were, but audrey and jacob gave me such blank stares that i told them friends were coming over to play. that sparked their interest:) when becca arrived, we took all six kids downstairs to the playground where they ran in circles going up the ladder, down the twisty slide, and chasing each other:) then we lured them indoors with the promise of chocolate cake, pizza, and a movie. that made them all really happy! they all stayed up waaaaayyy past their bedtimes, but the four older ones were having such a wonderful time together that we just didn't want the fun to end. after jack went to bed- he was practically falling asleep on the couch- we moved audrey, ellia, and annorah into the big bed where they got to watch lilo and stitch, while being tucked into bed. we thought they would doze off- they decided to jump and play instead:) at one point, i checked on the three girls and audrey told me,"mommy, i playing with my friends!" about half an hour later, she told me, "mommy, i sit on the potty and my friends go home now":) i think that was her way of telling me she was done playing and ellia and annorah needed to leave:) so, she went to bed, but ellia and annorah got to read stories with uncle jacob before they left:)

watching yo gabba gabba and dancing along

pizza and a movie- they all wanted to sit on the same side:)

jacob and simeon- before we had kids, babies would take one look at jacob and burst into tears. now that we have kids, jacob figures he's in the club and babies just love him:)

watching the beginning of lilo and stitch- jack's about to fall asleep:)

watching the rest of lilo and stitch in the big bed- some girly time after jack went to bed;) doesn't annorah look like little cindy lou who with her hair like that?

the playground

we love where we live, especially the two playgrounds we have! there's rarely any other kids there, so it's like a private backyard for us! the kids love the bigger of the two playgrounds, and sammy's finally starting to see the fun:) we've been taking him, but he just didn't understand the slides. he LOVES the swings, but over easter, he finally started enjoying the slides:) every time we put him down one, he would get this HUGE smile all over his cute little face:) plus, now that he's walking, he gets to roam around and pick up dirt, gravel, rocks, whatever he thinks might taste good:)

he's A LOT bigger than last fall

check out that smile:)

on good friday, right before easter, we took the kids out for a picnic:) sammy was very perplexed by the grass and dirt, audrey just liked sitting on the blanket- "just like mickey and minnie mouse"- and jack flat out refused to leave the wagon. he would not sit on the ground for all the crackers and freezer cookies we tried to bribe him with. i don't think he's going to be a camper:) fine with us- we're not big on camping, either:)

eating grass

taking a bath after exploring the park and playground- i forgot the baby wipes, so sammy was extra dirty:)

audrey with her freezer cookie

he got out and got right back in once he saw what was happening:)

our little family!

sammy's 1st birthday

sammy turned 1 on sunday!! the kids were overly excited for sammy's birthday. audrey's was pretty sure sammy wanted bananas AND strawberries and his cake:) he only had strawberries. we had cake for breakfast, which made the kidlets even happier:) before we finished singing happy birthday, sammy had already taken some strawberries off the top and started chowing down:) jack and audrey helped him blow out the candles:) and of course, sammy got the remainder of the cake once everyone had a slice- he was one happy little boy! once sammy had a bath, it was on to presents- he liked the card nana and papa ou sent him more than any of his other presents! that's alright- audrey and jack played with his toys for him:) it was a pretty good birthday for sammy, but any day where he gets cake, strawberries, chocolate, AND a bath is a good day:)

taking strawberries off the top- we had to physically restrain jack from eating all the cak:)

carefully looking for more strawberries

happy happy boy!

it was demolished! not as messy as jack though, thankfully:)

listening to his elmo card- it's his new favorite "book"

i have no idea why audrey has that look on her face- i think jack was after her strawberries:)

catch of the day!

funny video clips

for your viewing enjoyment!

sammy's still a little bit wobbly when he walks, but that just adds to his toddler cuteness:)

i have no idea what was so funny, but it sure lasted a long time:)

easter

this easter was the first time we dyed eggs:) audrey was all over it while the boys, well, sammy couldn't have cared less and jack was only interested once he saw the colored water:) the kids each had six eggs and jack dumped three into the blue dye:) audrey very carefully selected her colors and then very impatiently waited for them to dry. she even made me set the timer so she would know when she could put stickers on them:) we also, as usual, had a cake, because we told the kids that easter was a time to celebrate the savior coming back to visit us. the kids that this was just great and said we needed cake to "make him happy":) we didn't have an easter egg hunt- our kids are already too good at hiding things and making things disappear for weeks at a time:) jack did carry around his favorite egg- "ohhh, baby egg so cute"- for about three hours before it started peeling and stinking. then we had to find it, which was not so fun:)

coating the egg with dye- she really liked this part:)

waiting for the eggs to be finished

this was jack cuddling his "baby egg":)

sammy was more interested in toys than the eggs

sammy's walking!

here are some pics of sammy walking. i'll post a video once i manage to get one where he's not distracted by the camera:) he loves to walk! right now, he's better without shoes, but we got him some flip-flops for the summer, so we'll see how he does with something flexible underfoot:) i love that he's walking- no more lower back pain from carrying two babies!!

he found the cereal:) he was VERY happy for the rest of the morning:)

the prerequisite naked bum shot:)

sammy loves to walk!

my toddler!!