Ladybugs...

There are so many ladybugs on our chamomile plants today! Noah loves to watch them, he is such a bug boy. He will get down on the ground on his belly to get close to a bug that is crawling on the ground...usually an ant or a pill bug. He calls them "buh" and cries for them when we have to leave.

Hurry...

We were getting to be in a hurry this afternoon as we headed over to my parents house to spend time with my brother. He invited us up there to hang out and swim in the pool with him while he was prepping food (he's a chef/caterer). So time was getting away from us as we were all involved in different activities and then all of a sudden we were in a hurry to get over there. And what did Noah decide to do? Well, wasn't it time to jump into the bucket full of water? According to him, this was the perfect time to get all wet and have some fun. And while we are in a hurry, why not have Ben join in on the fun? Yep, they were both splashing around and having oodles of fun while we were trying to get out of the house. Lucky for us, it wasn't like we had to catch a plane or something.

Creative kids...

Since the kids did a bit of painting and it was all readily available still, I got the paints out again this morning. Noah painted on the easel and did quite well. He loved the color green and wouldn't share with anyone. He kept saying something that sounded like "leh-lo" (for yellow) and "Nana" (for Hannah). I think he knows that Hannah loves the color yellow! What a smart kid.

Hannah worked with paper, scissors and glue and made a dinosaur, see the pink legs?! She found some cool little stickers too and made some cards for fun.

Ben painted too. He did a little hand printing with some work with brushes too.

Prince...

Noah loves Hannah's princess shoes. They wear her shoes together and run around the house together. I love the tow truck shirt that goes with them!

2 Painters...

We hadn't painted in a very long time, so today we got out the paint! Noah was sleeping so the older two got a little bit of time to be creative without having to fend the little one off.

Hannah painted. She tells me that her painting is all about a girl named Hannah and that she dropped her purple bag of sticks (the brown and yellow lines) and that she is sitting down because she is tired because she went on a long long hike. Here is a picture is to show how she painted it...sideways! Ben has done this before, I'm wondering if this is a normal thing for kids to do...to paint themselves sideways.


Ben's painting is below. He has a cactus growing vertical, after he adds green grass and blue sky. In the picture below it is 'not done' because he wants to add a barn, but unfortunately he got the playing bug and ran off to play, leaving his painting unfinished.

I have to add that while Hannah was telling me all about her painting, Ben was watching from above and over the easel. It wiggled a little bit and went crashing down and broke. Kinda woke us all up...now we need a new easel...

Chalk fun...

Today we got out some new chalk and went drawing on the driveway. We haven't done outlines of them in a long time and even Noah got one done. After I drew their figures, they filled in with the essentials (eyes, nose, mouth...) and I just love their expressions next to their masterpieces!

Ben

Hannah
Helping Noah with his

The tent...

Hannah received a birthday gift from her Granny, GranDad, Auntie and cousins that all of our kids love. It is a ballerina play set that comes with a tent, a sleeping bag, a blow-up couch/chair, tiara, flashlight (and some other stuff that I have forgotten). We put the tent up and it really only fits a couple of kids inside. No one can sleep in it because it is a tall tent, not wide. Anyway... there is a blow-up couch that turns into a bed in there too. The fighting has begun, Ben jumps on it, Hannah grabs it, Noah tries to lie in it, Ben takes it to another room, Hannah tries to get in it, Noah is in it already and everyone is screaming and tearing at each other. One thinks the other is laughing and another is crying... Think I'm kidding? Here's a video of the chaos that has been happening every few hours.



And the blow-up couch? It is now in the garage in a very high place. Ugh.

Bubbles...

Hannah got a giant bubble maker for her birthday and has been sharing this nicely with her brothers. They love this! We've been blowing bubbles and having so much fun trying to see how big they can get! Noah tries his hardest to blow the bubbles and hunches over in trying and ends up with bubbles on his lips but sometimes he gets a bubble out. Hannah loves to run and jump after them trying to pop them before they pop themselves.

Check out these beauties (I'm talking about the bubbles)!

Hannah's birthday party...

Happy Birthday Hannah!

Hannah,
Today you are four years old. I can't believe how quickly time is passing. We have watched with wonder you grow up to be the cute and curious little girl that you are today. You're tall with beautiful green eyes, blond hair with natural highlights. You weigh as much as Noah today, wow. You are a strong willed, independent but yet still dependent, and funny goofy girl!
We had a fun day together. We served you breakfast in bed with your favorite breakfast (Cheerios) and you opened all of your presents from us. Then we went to Cuyamaca College and toured their Conservation Garden with some friends. After everyone napped we went to dinner with Granny and Auntie Heather, Marissa and Ryan at Rubio's (your choice of restaurant!) Granny brought a giant balloon that you love.
Below are some pictures taken during the day.
Happy Birthday big girl! I love you!
Mommy

The bay...and balls...

Today is the day before Hannah's 4th birthday and we didn't have anything planned so we went to a park that is right by the bay. It is very close to the bay but the kids didn't want to play in the water (it was a bit chilly). They were a little tired, I guess. We only brought a few little snacks and the park didn't have very many kids playing at it so maybe that contributed to their quiet moods. We had a nice quiet time even though everyone was mellow.

While the others napped, I took Ben to Target. Tomorrow is Hannah's birthday and we still hadn't gone shopping for her presents! We went to Toys R Us first but we didn't find much there. We headed into Target and found exactly what we wanted to get her. We decided on a bunch of little things instead of one big one. We found lots for her and it was hard to decide. It was also hard to shop with a child for another. Ben wanted everything in the stores too. But with a lot of reminding that he will have another birthday in 7 months we got out of the store without buying him anything! Now...to wrap!!

This is Ben on the balls in front of Target

Friends...

Today we met up with a friend and her two children. We went to check out a charter school together and afterwards we let the kids all run free at a park. It was cold and windy out and they really weren't 'into' the playground. They found a little cliff to play on. Yes, a cliff. Well, there was a little trail that went down to some baseball fields below but it didn't seem like a nice enough trail to walk on (you know the kind where you twist your ankle and fall head over heels into a prickly bush...that kind) So they all wanted to play in the bushes and hide from us. We didn't mind really, they were all playing nicely enough and no one was bugging us! I did catch them all together and snapped this picture. Cute bunch!

Ben & Natalie are in the back, Noah and Hannah in the middle and Jonathan in the front

Spanking...

butts...Our kids love to run around the house and spank their butts (it's more of a tap on the butt, and they are doing it to themselves...for the most part) Noah is the one who starts it...every time. They get out of the bath and they run around the house doing this. It is quite funny and I have lots of video of it (because it is so darn cute) but I'm not posting it here... but believe me when I tell you that it gets us laughing every time!

Ant adventures....

Today we went to the "Ant-Sized Adventures" at Mission Trails. It is a nice little program for preschoolers given by a ranger. We met in the library and the ranger read some stories and taught us about rabbits. Then we went on a short hike to search for rabbits and rabbit burrows and along the way we learned about the flora and fauna around us. We never found rabbits but we did find some scat (one of the vocabulary words we learned...technical term for rabbit poop). During the hike, Noah was not a happy camper and cried for a good bit, I took him out of the Ergo and he wailed a flailed his body louder than ever before. I couldn't wait for the group any more and went ahead to the visitor's center. He calmed down and so we joined the rest of the group. We went into a classroom for a craft: bunny ears, and a snack: peeps. All in all it was a good time, I do think that everyone was tired...everyone was asleep within minutes of coming in the house....Noah didn't even make it out of the parking lot awake! I'm thinking that we'll do it again next month!

Hippie girl...

We went to a friends house today for playgroup. It was cold and dreary out. Hannah decided to wear the coolest thing she has in her drawer. I think the kids get confused when I say it is going to be chilly they wear warm weather clothes and the opposite when I say it will be warm or hot (they run for jackets!). So I have long stopped fighting the fight with a 3 year old and just let her be and let her wear what she wants. (I do always bring extra clothes if she/they decide that I was right about the weather) Anyway, this friends house has a little trail along a canyon and we went exploring. Actually we were following a cat which got scared away by Noah growling at it. Hannah was barefoot and free, dancing along the path and waving her stick around like a wand....such a hippie at heart!

Noah waters....

Noah has grown to love watering the plants. He watches the water come out of the spout and briefly hands it over to me and then quickly demands it back. Sometimes the hose gets a little heavy and he needs help to pull it to the next section of flowers. Today was a nice warm day and he watered the plants and grass and feet while the older kids napped!

A little water on Mommy's feet

A little on my feet

A little in the plants
And the sidewalk...why not?

Karate pics...

Ben loves his karate class. Here is a picture of him during his class today. I think that today was his 5th or 6th class so he's still working on it and getting better with every day! I'm sure I'll take more as time goes by.

confetti egg...

Here is a picture of Ben cracking a confetti egg on Marissa's head.

Happy Easter!

We went to my parents house this morning and stayed all day. Noah slept in and napped before we left (he's still a little booger-y from his cold) so we felt that we could stay all day. The Easter Bunny didn't make it to our back yard (Ben dropped most of his eggs and smooshed them-another story) but he did bring some goodies in their baskets. We went on an egg hunt at Granny and GranDad's house. They had so much fun searching for the eggs. There were only 5 children hunting for eggs this year so there were LOTS of eggs per child. After the egg hunt the kids gobbled lots of candy and headed for the trampoline, where they spent a good part of the rest of the day.

Egg hunt #2...

Today we went to a friend's house for a luncheon and an egg hunt. I invited my sister because the house was just down the street from her. We had so much fun. Noah stuck real close to me and followed my every move, Ben and Hannah ran off with Marissa and we didn't see them for most of the morning...until the egg hunt. The plastic eggs were filled with toys, stickers, healthy treats, and no candy. They didn't really care that much about what was inside, it was the egg hunt that mattered, they could only find 12 eggs and then they were done hunting. Not one kid had a fit because they had to stop. They had so much fun running around the back yard searching all over the place, it was truly an enjoyable morning.

Egg dyeing...

We hosted this year's family egg dyeing event. We had my sister and two cousins and their children over for the morning. It was great fun! The kids love to dye eggs for the Easter Bunny and they just couldn't wait to do it! We had to split the group into two groups (under 5 and over 6) and it was a bit more manageable. We couldn't do it outside because Corey is working on replacing the patio cover and there's sawdust flying all over the place. So we all packed inside at the little table in the tiniest dining room to do it. The whole process went so quick! I remember sitting for a long time dyeing eggs when I was a child...could be that they are still young and just dunk the eggs in for 10 seconds and want to go play....maybe...

Pics...

With my new camera... I think the quality is about the same as before (better?) but it's the speed that the camera can turn on and take a picture...I'm thinking that I might not miss as much as before with the camera that was so slow to turn on and shoot a pic.