Food? No Thanks.

Jane tried squash 2 weeks ago. Her first "solid" food.

It was a no go. She hated it. In fact, her eyes kept watering, as if she were about to throw up. I tried for about 2 minutes, but nothing was getting past those lips!

I tried giving her rice cereal a week later. That went a bit better. She tried 2 tiny bites.

I have noticed her watching me eat now. I think she is starting to figure out why we're putting all that "stuff" in our mouths. Perhaps in another week she'll be more adventurous and try 3 bites of something. ..

A "Girly" Party

Lorelai was invited to a birthday party for a 3-year-old playmate this week. Lorelai decided to wear her "pretty dress" and I found a purple beaded necklace and matching bracelet to make her feel extra special. She even wore her sparkly pink shoes. She wasn't too thrilled to go, as the photo shows:

Happily, she came back from the party in high spirits wearing rose-tinted strawberry shortcake glasses and a pink hat.
Girls really do have all the fun!

Azael's Birthday

Azael celebrated a birthday recently - the BIG NINE! Azael requested we have a bonfire, so we invited a few of his (and our) friends and roasted hotdogs and made s'mores. Then Azael had his first sleepover with his friend Kyle. All our boys are in the same room, so essentially they ALL enjoyed the sleepover. Here they are:

While the boys made a ruckus, I worked on Azael's requested birthday cake: Super Mario Bros. And when I was done, I swore to myself and everyone listening: "I'm never doing a cake request again." But I will. I always do. Here is the cake-and I was so so relieved when Azael seemed to like it (he had a very specific image in his head).

For Azael's actual birthday, 3 school friends from Madison came out. Mystery Man made a treasure hunt for them, complete with a computer-generated map of our 1 acre property. They spent an hour running back and forth across the woods finding the "broken bike" and the "rusted washing machine" and the "old metal post," each leading to the next clue and ultimately, the TREASURE (bazooka gum, starburst, and CardJitzu Club Penguin Cards). Here they are in the woods on the hunt.

Then everyone enjoyed the Mario cake with ice cream. Azael is posing in front of the giant birthday card Ephraim made for him.

Nine years old!

Silas holds up the giant card he made for Azael. (a big cake with candles)

Ephraim explains his card (a big cake on the back of a swimming dragon)

Happy 9th Birthday, Azael! Hope it was as fun as you dreamt it would be!

a bit about Azael: creative, opinionated, always thinking, way into "fair/unfair" right now, responsible, smart, silly, cool, organized (-ish), funny, a leader, a great big brother... and on and on. We're glad Azael is in our family. He is quite a leader - I think he will do some great things in life! We love you, buddy!

Hello New House

Well, we survived our move. But just barely. We're in our new house, thanks to all the wonderful help from many many many great friends who were able to provide assistance with moving, childcare and cleaning. I'll be really honest: I had no idea it would be so difficult and exhausting. We have been in our new home 10 days now and have unpacked only half our stuff, if that. On the 1st morning here, my friend Maggie showed up to get our kids so I could unpack. She walked in to find boxes everywhere, milk dripping off the counter, a dirty diaper smack dab in the middle of the floor, and miscellaneous portions of pizza around on the table and counters (our breakfast). Maggie came in and wordlessly started cleaning up. She took kids so I could clean the old house and unpack, etc.

Anyway, that blur is fading and we're all starting to stabilize. We love our yard. I see birds walking right outside the windows, we've heard coyotes, and seen deer. The 3 boys spend lots of time in the back playing in the small stream. They made a raft to float down the "river" but it sank and they came in all wet. Our washing machine is seeing a lot of action here.

Our house is one of 10 one-acre+ properties on the dead-end street. We are directly across from an older farm, and it's fun to see him out with the tractor, 4-wheeler, lawn mower, tiller, etc. Just like when I was growing up. Our boys can ride up and down the road fairly safely on their bikes. Silas learned to ride without training wheels last Sunday.

Our bedrooms are all painted. Ours is Yosemite Green. The girls' bedroom is Shortbread Yellow. The boys' room is Agile Blue and decorated with Super Mario Brothers decals. They love it. We have two empty bedrooms which we'll use for a general toyroom and for a lego room. Eventually kids will move into those rooms, but for now they seem to enjoy sharing rooms.

Enough words. Here are some photos:

Mystery Man and Jane on our last day in the old house.

Jen in her paint clothes (after painting at the new house)

Lorelai, Silas, Azael, & Ephraim on the rock wall at the new house. The farm I mentioned is across the road behind them.

Our living room at the new house. I will paint

this room eventually. Silas riding his bike all by himself on our new street.

Oops-a wreck: Silas drives off the road and into a big pine tree.

He immediately jumps up and says, "I'm OK!"

Jane loves the new house, too. Here she is in her exersaucer.

More photos coming soon.