Rub A Dub Dub 3 Kids In A Tub

Every morning I have to pull Elizabeth back from trying to dive into the tub when the boys are taking their bath. She wants to join them so much that I finally gave in. She loved it. The boys weren't too thrilled because I wouldn't let them have as much water with her in there. They had fun with her though. I don't think she'll let me go back to the baby tub tomorrow!

Chicken Dancer

Caleb's school had their 30 year anniversary celebration this past Thursday. Each grade performed a song and dance. The Kindergarten class opened the show with the Chicken Dance. There were 5 classes full of 5 and 6 year olds, all wearing white shirts and big chicken hats they made in class. It was hard to keep track of which chicken was Caleb. We just aimed the camcorder in his general direction and hoped we got him. It was so cute! Caleb had so much fun.

Happy Easter

Our family really enjoyed their Easter celebrations this year. Having young kids sure makes the holidays more exciting! As I went to post pictures from Easter, I was disappointed by how few I actually took. I guess I just didn't want to miss the action myself. I never even got a picture of the three kids all dressed up Sunday morning. So, here's what we got!

Caleb and Kayden coloring their Easter Eggs.

So many eggs, so little time...

The Great Grandchildren had an Easter Egg Hunt at Great Grandpa and Grandma Lee's house. The boys wouldn't hold still long enough during the hunt for me to get a good picture.

One of the items in the grandkids Easter baskets was a bottle of bubbles. The bottle was shaped to look like soda pop. Kayden didn't understand "look like" and drank from the bottle. I didn't catch him until he was choking on them. He was blowing bubbles out his mouth for awhile after!
Elizabeth in her Easter dress.

1st Steps

Elizabeth took her first official steps on Sunday, the 29th of March- just under 11 months old. She was very proud of herself. We had to bribe her with treats to get her to walk again for the camera. It probably won't be long before she's running around the house with her brothers.

Super Star Student

Caleb's Kindergarten class rotates who is the Super Star Student of the week. It usually coincides with their birthday, but since Caleb's is in the summer he was the star this past week. Each day of the week was set aside for something special for him. His favorite was on Friday when he got to do the "Share and Teach" portion of super star week. Caleb made a volcano at home and put together a poster of pictures to show how he made it. Then he had the volcano "erupt" for his class. The kids all loved it!

Caleb making his volcano.

Quarantined

The phrase, "I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy", comes to mind when I look back at the last week and a half. Except for lucky Matt, our family was hit hard by the stomach flu. If reading about puke will make you sick.....well you just might want to skip this entry. Elizabeth had been a little sick to start with but I didn't think much of it until I was sick too. Matt must have known it was bad when he came home from work to his OCD wife lying on the floor with the clean laundry unfolded on our bed, toys everywhere and the kids watching their third movie for the evening. I felt so bad for Elizabeth because she wanted me to hold her so bad, but if I just shifted my weight it would make me throw-up. I 'd be holding my hair in one hand and holding Elizabeth back with the other while puking into a bowl on the floor. Oh how I counted down the minutes until Dad was home!! Matt was great the whole time. He took care of the kids and found our bed under the laundry so I could pass out. He'd just finished getting everything in order when Caleb started losing the contents of his stomach. After getting no sleep from cleaning Caleb up all night, I begged Matt to stay home because I didn't know how I'd be able to take care of the kids with Caleb so sick and being sick myself. I can't blame him too bad for going to work. Within a couple of days Kayden joined the fun. I kept waiting for Matt to get sick too, but he never did. After 7 days of puke, I called the doctor to see why this wasn't going away. I was cleaning everything down- Lysol was my friend- so why were we still sick?? They told me I hadn't "cleaned their system out well enough". It was mostly just Kayden who was still sick. The pediatrician said only clear liquids for 24 hours. Kayden didn't like this at all!!!! He was crying and begging and sneaking food. He pulled food out of the garbage. I put a lock on the fridge and pantry door. A 3 year old doesn't understand why he can't have food. Kayden still puked after no food for 23 hours (couldn't make the 24- you try denying your child that long!!).Kayden trying to break into the locked up pantry.

This is Kayden after one of the many times I had to tell him "no" to food.

The boys and I carried around what we called our "puke buddies" (a bowl to throw-up in). It was pathetic. Just when I thought we were getting better Matt or I would be cleaning up again! One afternoon after Caleb got home from school, Kayden was sitting on the kitchen table watching Caleb work at the table and then said, "my tummy hurts", then he fountained into Caleb's lap. I was very proud of Caleb. He didn't get mad or sick himself. He just said, "it's all over me". Luckily I could laugh at it myself as I was cleaning it up. It was always sad in the morning when I'd go to get Elizabeth out of her crib and sometime during the night she'd thrown up and we didn't know, so it was caked all over her.

Another false alarm of thinking we were all better, I had my mom watch the boys. Her poor couch will never be the same- sorry Mom.

But, I'm excited to say we all went to church today and no one has thrown up in 42 hours!!!!!

Quarantine over!!!!! We've missed playing outside of our house!

Elizabeth at 9 Months

Elizabeth is so much fun! She's into everything now. Her favorite thing is to get into the desk drawer and pull out all the papers she can before mom catches her. At Elizabeth's 9 month well check-up she weighed 16 lbs 5 oz- still not quite doubling her weight at birth- we're working on it. She's 50% in her height category but only 10% for weight. She's a happy baby that loves to explore!! She just started crawling up the stairs the other day, so baby-gates are now decorating our home.