Dinner at our house

Typical dinner at our house. Since I had my blog fast for so long, I got a little happy with the camera and decided to document most of our happenings over the last 24 hours.

Mags chomping down on some orzo. The teeth at work!
Owen making silly faces.

Elise eating her green beans... which she called pupas.... her father informed her that they were not pupas, but beans.
Most not in her mouth but on her shirt. Oh well. Silly kids.

Ellie's Playdate

Elise had her first preschool-friend play date today. It is the first time we had a friend over who was not from church. This is her best girlfriend at school. They had LOTS of fun together.

Ellie and her friend are so cute. They have to hug each other every time they see each other. I mean, EVERY time they re-enter a room, there's a hug.

They're girls. 3-year-old girls. They like to laugh and scream in high pitched voices, play dress up, pretend they are princesses, etc. They are girls and wanted to play with only girls.

This left poor Owen out of the mix. It was the first time he didn't have a friend over at the same time Ellie did and he sure was feeling like the 3rd wheel.

He was sporting a lot of sad faces as he was feeling left out-- Dad did play football with him so he wasn't too lonely.
Look at that alligator tear coming down his cheek! Poor boy.
Mags was her happy, jolly self. Dad took her outside and she loved that!

TEETH!

Look at them choppers!

Kid Updates

Since Christmas, we really have been laying low at home most days. I think that is another reason I haven't been blogging, nothing has really been going on! But, the kids have been having fun anyway, so I will do some updates about them.

Elise has been really loving her preschool class. She has a friend there that she loves and even went to her house last weekend to play. Her friend is coming over here tomorrow so she is very excited about that. Ellie can now write her name and is learning to write all sorts of numbers and letters. She has started to show some interest in wanting to know what words say and what time the clock is showing. The kids keep busy on the days they don't have preschool and we usually have friends come over for play dates on those days. When you have 3 kids, one more doesn't make a difference and a lot of times it is actually easier to have them entertain each other. Next weekend Ellie is hosting a princess party where all of the girls her age at church and preschool will be coming over dressed up as princesses for tea and a royal luncheon. It should be a lot of fun.

Owen is a ball of energy and continues to love running all over the house and climbing everything he can. We recently changed his schedule around so he goes to bed an hour later and since then he has been doing awesome at preschool and really enjoys it. Before we changed it up, he was falling asleep before lunch time and waking up when the other kids were sleeping. It wasn't working, but I am happy to report that things are wonderful now. Owen gets more and more verbal each day and follows instruction a bit better than he used to. He has learned the importance of using Kleenex and wiping himself down after meals. That seems silly, but really, it's a big deal. As reported in the previous post, Mags is doing all sorts of new things. She is chowing down on cheerios, Nilla wafers, fries, couscous, rice, etc. Her hair is growing in so I can finally start putting bow clips in her hair and you know that makes me happy. A girl has gotta have a bow. Maggie is really long, much longer than Ellie was so a lot of her pants are short on her. Oh well, the girl is gonna have to wear floods because I bought too many clothes with Ellie and I don't think I am willing to buy more at this point. Summer is coming soon, they're just like capris, right? She still has the pacifier... not ready to give that up. She won't be 3 with it, but we didn't get rid of it at 6 months like we were so adamant to do. Oh well. She's happy and healthy, who cares about the rest!?

The kids are thriving, so Daniel and I are happy. We really are lucky to have three fun kids to have around. We didn't imagine we would have so many so early, but we wouldn't have done anything differently.

Oh that Mags

Our baby girl is 8 months old now. She is sitting up, crawling like a champ (or an army man, whichever), eating baby food all day and even growing teeth! That's right, as the 8 month mark came around, so did her two bottom teeth. Boy, has she let us know that she is unhappy with getting teeth. This new development has certainly encouraged me to start giving her a cup more often!

Finally getting a little hair on top.

Sweet smiles and weird looking elbow.

Rolling over in style.

Making her escape.
Loving her activity table.

Maggie has started standing on her own with support. Look at those feet though, it's amazing they can hold anything up; they're so skinny!
Aurevoir infant car seat. She is now in her own convertible car seat. It's a good thing too because this infant seat was falling apart. It said goodbye to all of us as it made it's way to the trash can. Baby #4 gets a new one (not an announcement).

All smiles as Magdalyn shows off her sitting skills.

Love that lil' tongue!

Glad I was able to catch you all up on Maggie's recent advancements. Believe it or not, it is our first child who has the least amount of baby pictures. Poor thing. That's ok, we make up for it with subsequent children and with her pictures as a toddler.

Living at the ER it seems

While we went home to visit my return missionary brother, we made our "routine" visit to the ER. It seems like every time we go home to visit we end up at the ER for something or other. This time it was the middle of the night when Owen started screaming uncontrollably and grabbing at his ear. Uh oh. Since we knew Maggie was coming down with a staph infection we decided to just take them both in at the same time. We left the house around 11 and didn't end up home until about 3. Yuck. This was after hours, and I mean hours of Owen screaming. He had just fallen asleep after he received some numbing drops in his ear. Forgive the pictures of Daniel and I... we were REALLY tired.

The ER... with one tired looking dad. Daniel isn't as used to being up all hours of the night!They both wanted mom. Ugh. We tried several times to pass one or the other off to Daniel, but they would just scream. Good thing I had two arms.
Maggie... definitely looking like she is suffering, huh? Well, I think she was just happy that she got to stay up so late and got to play with us the whole time.

Thankfully, the children have healed up nicely and we are now entering into, hopefully, a streak of healthiness.

Look who is home!

Uncle Pat is back!

I missed my brother so much while he was on his mission. He got back on January 14th (I think it was) and we went and saw him that next weekend. It was so much fun to see him again. I made it my personal mission to run and flail on top of him as often as possible. That's the kind of thing you do to little brothers, even when they aren't little anymore. We are glad he is back and Elise and Owen especially enjoyed getting reacquainted with him again.

Nothing happened... we're fine! :)

I guess this post is long overdue. I have had three people either email or call me to ask if we are alright. Yes, we are fine. I haven't blogged in awhile and it has been for a number of reasons. I was pretty sick for a week, the kids have been sick on and off, been trying to switch around sleeping schedules, not feeling inspired and laziness. Yes, I think that covers it. But we are okay. Here are pictures of the kids from just this very morning to serve as proof of their well being.

See, they're fine.

How the kids spent their evening

We let our kids jump on the couch.  We inherited our furniture and it just so happens that it has a little bounce when you land on it making it really great for sofa jumping.  They hurl themselves from the end table onto the couch.  Why not?  Doesn't it look like fun?!

PS- Don't worry Mags was laughing at the kids on the floor.  She thinks her siblings are pretty hilarious.

PSS- Sorry if our kids come to your house and want to jump on the furniture, I suppose that is the drawback.

A New Nephew!

My sister-in-law (Daniel's sister) had her second baby on the 10th. Weighing in at 8lbs 7oz, we are so happy that Austin David Bullock is here!!! Thanks to Lindsay for continuing to provide us with nephews cause we sure love 'em! (we love our nieces too, thanks to my sister for providing those!)

This is the only picture I have seen of Austin, but I think he looks a lot like his big brother, Spencer!

Look what Mags can do!

It's about time.

Pictoral Updates

Still laying low here at home mostly, but I took some cute pictures of the kids so I thought I would post them. Owen is doing great at preschool. He is a bit timid going in and doesn't like laying on his rest mat, but besides that, he is loving it! I continue to be nervous about it but I think I will feel better as he gets more and more used to it. I spent all of Thursday cleaning the house and it was wonderful to be able to do it while Elise and Owen were in preschool. It really is nice to have that time to get things done.

And a few goofy ones...

The weather has been AMAZING the past couple of days. Lots of walks and outside play as we enjoy this 80+ degree weather! Pictures of that to come. Kids are feeling healthy and happy and we are grateful for that!

Owen's First Day of School

Yesterday was a pretty emotional day for me. Owen started preschool yesterday. It isn't something I had to do, but he was always so disappointed when we dropped Ellie off and this really is a great opportunity for him to fly on his own (without his sister telling him what to do) and get to know other kids his age.

There was a bit of trepidation (mostly with wanting his picture taken) but he survived and since being home has had a positive reaction from it. They said he had a hard time during rest time but that wasn't really surprising since he doesn't like to nap at home either. It takes all kids some time to get used to a routine and Owen is no different. We are eager to see how he does in the next week or so to confirm that this was a good decision. If he hates it, we will take him out.
It was really hard leaving him and I was nervous about it all day. I asked Daniel several times if he thought Owen was alright. He did, but I was still nervous about it. I did use my nervous energy to bake a pie and some bread. Both items were made with ingredients I don't like so Daniel (who is trying to diet) is left to eat them both :).

Laying Low

It has been awhile since I have posted anything, but that is because we have been taking it easy around here and just coming down from all the excitement from Christmas. We have spent most our time at home and playing with new toys. Just now we are starting to get back into our routine again and inviting friends over, going places and getting back to life as usual. I haven't done any updates on the kids in awhile so I will update you with what is happening with them.

Maggie is getting bigger (thanks to baby food) and is eating like a champ. She still doesn't sit on her own yet, but she is awfully close. Mags has started to drag herself small distances but mostly gets around by rolling over and over. She also can stand by herself while holding onto something for a short time. Maggie still doesn't have any teeth (at almost 8 mos. old) but her hair is finally starting to get a little volume and length (thank goodness, I have been dying to stick a bow in it). She is happier than ever but sure does like to be held.... they all do.

Owen is a big boy these days and never ceases to surprise us with all of the words he is learning. He loves his sisters "Ese" and "Magowyn", just now starting to give Maggie a little attention. He had a rough holiday with being sick but now that he is over it, he is back to his normally happy, independent self. Owen enjoys reading in his bedroom, messing with the microwave and jumping off all pieces of furniture. His new love is banana bread.

Elise is always our little mother around the house. She takes care of her siblings with "love" and assumed authority. She is a very creative child and comes up with all sorts of fun things to do and stories to tell. When she talks she says things just like her mom does (it is often frightening to realize the similarities). Ellie enjoys cooking with mom, doing crafts all the time and playing with her friends. Elise loves fruit of all kinds and really likes broccoli.
These pictures are pretty funny... I am holding them up with my feet but if you turned them upside down it looks like I am stepping on them.
We continue to have lots of fun together as a family. The weather has been quite pleasant this week and we hope to take more advantage of it in the coming days by visiting the park. No big plans for us coming up except the return of my brother from his mission next week for which we will be visiting Houston for a weekend and then probably nothing else until March.