Seth in May 2015

Seth is almost done with kindergarten!  I think he had his final reading test today, but I haven't heard how he did.  I know his teacher has been working so hard with him and was really hoping that he would move up a level.  I have seen major improvements in his reading and fluency this year, though.  He enjoys to read, mostly to me but sometimes to himself, too.  He likes to read the easy readers that are chapter books.  His favorites right now are Mr. Putter and Tabby.  He has been doing great in math with word problems and hard carrying math problems.  He has been teaching himself multiplication and division and likes to talk about which ones he knows all the time.

Seth seems to enjoy baseball, though he was so conflicted when he had to go to baseball practice and miss Andrew's tournament games.  He would rather watch soccer than play baseball, ha ha.  He is doing well in baseball, of course, and always runs straight in the house from school and changes into his baseball uniform.  He is pretty good at catching, throwing, and running and is working on hitting the ball.

Seth has been a little emotional lately and seems to get upset easily.  He whines almost constantly and has been fighting with his brothers more often.  He also has been complaining about his legs hurting a lot at night sometimes.  Hopefully he is growing.  He brought home a sheet from school that showed that he grew 1 inch and gained 4 pounds this year (he weighs 41 pounds now).

Seth is obsessed with a new card game that Andrew got for his birthday - Sleeping queens.  He carries the cards around all the time and tries to get you to play with him.  He is doing the same thing right now.

We started back to the pool.  Seth looks like he is drowning half the time.  I really wish he would keep his head more about the water.  Katsu jumped in the pool after him on the day the pool opened because he thought he was drowning.

Fun Things This Month

• Children's day - going to the Chinese buffet with Dad
• lots of baseball games and baseball practices
• Seth missed his first baseball game after coming down with a stomach flu.  He slept almost an entire day, the poor kid.
• Andrew's birthday party - had too much fun, even though a little sick.
• getting to watch Star Wars movies 1 - 3 for Andrew's birthday
• Ridgewood book fair - Seth was super excited to pick out a book from his allowance and bought a Star Wars science experiment book.  Should be interesting.  We got to listen to Mrs. Brinson read a book.
• Pool opening - we've gone most days since.  The day it opened they had free hot dogs and snow cones, so it was pretty fun.
• Cookout for Memorial Day at the park for church.  Seth had a ton of fun and won the game where you had balloons tied to your leg and are trying to be the last one with a balloon.  Seth was good at hiding and was also incredibly fast at running away from everyone else.
• The last month of kindergarten, they have a letter of the day and do something fun.  Seth has gotten to wear a hat to school, have ice pops, bring a game, and all kinds of fun things.
• Katsu and the boys (minus Noah) went to Busch Gardens again on Memorial Day because we heard it wasn't too crowded.  It wasn't, and the boys seemed to have a lot of fun on the day down there.  They rode rides (not roller coasters because Logan didn't want to) and spent a lot of time playing at the playground.  They got to eat McDonalds' for dinner while Katsu fought off a migraine headache.  What a trip!
  
  
  
  
  

Noah is 10 months old!

Noah is 10 months old today.  He finally made it to his 9 month check up last week and is huge, as expected.  He weighed 23 lbs and 7 oz (he is 75-90 percentile) and his height and head circumference are more in the 50-75 percentile.  Otherwise, everything looked good and healthy and no shots, so it was a pretty uneventful doctor visit.

Noah is a HUGE eater, but is not very big on nursing.  He will only nurse when it is time for him to go down for night or a nap and we are in his dark room.  Otherwise, he just cries and fusses and refuses to nurse.  He will eat almost anything though and is really proficient, especially considering he has only two teeth.  He will grab a hot dog and just eat the whole thing.  He eats pretty much everything - fish, chicken, meat, crackers, pasta, cheese, almost all vegetables and fruit.  He will even get himself food.  When we are harvesting things from the garden, he will pull leaves off the plants and start eating them.  He gets excited whenever we pick strawberries because he loves strawberries.  He also really likes grapes and mangoes.

Noah has been a really crummy sleeper lately.  He still goes to sleep more or less on his own, but he seems to think it is party time at night.  I don't know if it is because he is getting teeth (he seems to be drooling a lot right now which is unusual) or just because he is more on the move, or what, but the second half of the night, it is on and off again on whether he will be asleep at all.  I hope this doesn't last very long.

Noah has finally got really proficient at his army crawl and can get around pretty well.  But he really likes standing and cruising.  He is great at going from cruising or crawling back to sitting.  If you turn around for a second, he usually has lifted himself up and is standing holding on to something.  If you hold his hands (or sometimes one hand), he will walk for you.  I think he will be walking by the time he is 1, but I guess we will see.

Noah really just likes to crawl and explore things.  Especially to find anything little small he can find and put it in his mouth.  He is starting to like cars and balls.  He will push the cars around and is even maybe trying to make car sounds.  He also likes to throw things and push buttons.

Noah can say mom and dad and maybe Andrew and bye and hi.  He will clap hands, play "So big", peek a boo, and can wave goodbye.

We took him to the pool for the first time yesterday - I was worried it would be too cold, but it wasn't too bad and he LOVED it.  He likes to sit on the steps and splash and for him to carry him around and to float on his back.  Good, since we go every day in the summer.

Andrew is 8 years old!

Andrew turned 8 years old on Sunday.  Saturday, he had a Star Wars movie watching party.  Not a lot of movie watching happened, but the boys (and one girl) seemed to have a lot of fun.  I gave Andrew free rein to invite whomever he wished - he invited all the boys in his class, the boys from church, and a few other school and neighborhood friends.  We ended up with about 12 kids there I think.  We started out in the backyard - the rain from the tropical storm thankfully let up and the ground wasn't too wet.  The boys played freeze tag till everyone mostly got there.  Then, we had stations set up - pin the light saber on the Jedi, throwing water balloons at plates to defeat the death star, limbo under the light saber, asteroid toss (throwing balls into baskets), and hitting a balloon with a light saber.  The boys especially loved water balloons.  After they got tired of playing, they went throw one more game of Star War freeze tag and we came in for cake and presents.  Besides chocolate cake, there was Jello Jigglers shaped like Star Wars and some veggie straws.  Pretty simple.  Andrew got a couple gift cards to Barnes and Noble and one to the movie theater, some cash, three different lego sets, a retractable light saber, and a ball throwing apparatus.  As he opened the presents, each of the boys got to pick a box of movie theater candy.  Then, we went upstairs and started the movie.  After most of the kids got bored, they went outside and played with light sabers and chased each other, playing football, soccer, and frisbee.  Then, we went back upstairs for some more movie and popcorn until the parents finally came and picked up their kids.  It was a big success and not too much work!  We grilled some dinner after that.  I couldn't go to school on Friday to celebrate Andrew's birthday because the younger boys were sick, but hopefully I can go this Friday.

Sunday morning, we woke up and opened presents from us and from Grandma and Grandpa.  Andrew got a whole bunch of new books by Rick Riordian from us and from his grandparents, he got 3 new games - Stratego, Ticket to ride expansion pack, and Sleeping Queens.  While we were trying to get ready for church, Andrew started to put all the stickers wrong on the Stratego pieces which caused a lot of drama, but we all finally did manage to get to church, albeit with many tears.  The boys had a lot of fun playing Stratego in the afternoon and we also had time for some more cake, looking through Andrew's photo books, calling grandma, having family home evening, and enjoying the birthday on the rainy rainy day.  I still can't believe he is 8 years old!

Andrew has been begging me to do homeschool lately.  I think he gets bored at school - it goes slow.  I also think he is lazy and thinks he could get away with doing a lot less and playing a lot more if he were at home.  Speaking of lazy, Andrew's handwriting has gotten atrocious!  Like horribly bad that I can't read it, his teacher is starting to not be able to read it, and sometimes, he can't read it.  She finally sent home some papers with things marked wrong just because she couldn't read it and comments about the general sloppiness.  Katsu and I spoke to Andrew about it and he brought home work the next day that seriously looked like it was from a book.  Like night and day.  Andrew is just so sloppy about everything because he likes to rush, but if he takes his time he can always do a very nice job.  This is true about pretty much everything.  He'll rush through math or piano and make lots of mistakes, but when he does it slow, he does well.

School has been fine.  He is sad they have no more breaks except Memorial Day and is ready for the end of the year.  They have been a unit on mealworms at school and have all had mealworms and he will come home and give us some updates on which life stage they are in.  They had the school spelling bee.  Andrew was 3rd in his class, so he got to go to the 2nd grade spelling bee.  He did pretty well - he came in 6th.  He knew right when he made a mistake (according to Katsu - I couldn't go because I was at work), but he will tell you now that he did it on purpose because he didn't want to be in the bee anymore (right, Andrew - this kid will NEVER and I mean never fess up to anything less than favorable).  But he still did a lot better than I expected as spelling is not his strongest suit - he frequently mis-spells his spelling words!

Andrew played his season of soccer.  Katsu says that he tried really hard and made a lot of improvement - I didn't go to all the games and practices this time around.  He played pretty well ... he just isn't aggressive and doesn't put his all in when it comes to running and trying to get the ball, so he isn't super competitive at this stage.  He loves talking to his teammates and wants his team to win, though.  He keeps track of the points always.  His team went to the tournament and won the first couple games.  He really wanted his team to win the whole thing, but sadly, it was not to be.  We are still undecided on doing soccer or other sports again in the future.

The ward has been completely incommunicado about either his baptism or Cub Scouts.  We have taken a few steps to planning the baptism ourselves, but Cub Scouts isn't going to happen without some of their input - Andrew is pretty particular that he doesn't want to participate, and that is fine by me.

Otherwise, Andrew is busy with his nose in a book, building and playing, running around, and causing havoc.

Fun Things

• Jump Rope for Heart (he got enough donations to get a couple ducks and a free jump rope)
• Starting soccer
• Friend's birthday party at Jump Fit.
• Ward Chili cookoff and talent show.
• Corned Beef and Cabbage for St. Patrick's Day - I also made a little treasure hunt with clues for the boys to find some candy leprachaun hats that I had made.  The boys loved it and had a lot of fun finding it hiding in Katsu's closet.
• Little Princess musical - I went with Seth and Andrew.  The boys were perplexed at the beginning by all the singing and kept asking me when it was going to be done.  The first act did start out pretty slow, but I think they enjoyed it.  They kept asking me when "half time" was - i.e., intermission.  They fell fast asleep on the drive home, all tangled on top of each other.  Pretty cute.
• Neighborhood easter egg hunt - boys rode their bikes over and grabbed tons of eggs.  A cold day, but a lot of fun.  Seth and Andrew were too cool to take a picture with the easter bunny, silly boys.
• Went to feed the homeless with Katsu.
• Katsu was out of town a couple times, so extra time with mom (and more TV time than usual).
• Watching the play of Treasure Island with Katsu.  We had tried listening to the book on tape on a trip earlier, so I think Seth sort of knew the story.  The story was pretty well done and Seth enjoyed it.
• A sort of abbreviated Easter celebration week - we talked about Palm Sunday, watched some of the church Easter videos, did a Jesus dinner on Thursday and had hot cross buns, but Katsu was out of town most of the week and then he was home for a day and then we were out of town, so it was kind of crazy.
• Easter egg hunts at school - they all came home with tons of candy and toys and eggs.  Craziness!
• SPRING BREAK!!!  On Friday morning, we drove to Williamsburg and then we went straight to Busch Gardens.  We bought season passes and were able to get free ones for Seth and Logan.  The first day, we went to the first Sesame Street place and did all the rides and ended up waiting in line for awhile.  Once, we got outside of that part of the park, we were able to see lots of other things.  There were rides for the kids everywhere and lots of fun ones.   We even got to see animals and watch a couple shows - Irish Dancing and a wild animal encounter show.  After we were all thoroughly worn out, we checked into our hotel.  We were staying in a vacation rental and had two big bedrooms and a full kitchen and a patio.  The boys LOVED it.  We went to Trader Joes and got all of our favorite foods and ate like kings over the weekend.  The second day, we had breakfast and then went to Busch Gardens again.  This time, we had a better idea where to go and we didn't wait in as many lines.  We got to ride everything and it was really fun.  The boys all had a blast.  Once we were worn out and had done everything, we went back to the resort.  The boys all went to mini golf and the pool while Noah took a nap.  They LOVED it, especially the mini golf.  Then, they came home and all slept in one of the bedrooms and got to watch Nick and all the cable shows.  They were in paradise.  And even better - on Sunday morning, they woke up and the Easter bunny had come.  They ran all over searching for eggs.  We packed up, checked out, and drove to Great Wolf Lodge and bought a wand and the boys worked together and did MagiQuest, for like 5 hours!  By then, we beat the first dragon and were SO worn out!!!  So, we drove back to NC to enjoy the rest of the spring break.
• The rest of the spring break, we just relaxed.
• One day of spring break, I took the boys to an Andean and South American music concert.  Andrew seemed to enjoy it alright, but didn't love it.
• Pirate Fest - the boys got to see a BMX show while chowing on free chips and drinks.  Seth was walking in his cleats the whole time from soccer which was a little tiring, but it's always fun to see the whole town dressed up as pirates and we even saw a live mermaid this year!  The boys played games and earned candy along the river and then we cooled off with some ice cream.  It was a lot of fun, even after two tiring soccer games!
• Camping with Dad and Andrew and Seth for a ward campout.  The boys had a blast - smores, foil dinners, playing with friends, in the water, etc.  
• Field day at school
• Children's Day - the boys went to the Chinese buffet
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Logan is 3.5

Logan is 3.5 and the biggest news is he is finally potty trained!!!  I was just completely fed up with him and diapers (a 30 minute ordeal, where he hides, you finally find him, drag him down and change him, he runs off naked, you find him again ....).  He said he wouldn't potty train till he was 12 or 20 or 50 or 70.  Depends on the day.  So, tough luck, I put him in underwear and then dragged him over to use the toilet.  The first few days were really rough - lots of dirty underwear, few successes, but he finally got the hang of it by the end of my spring break.  And now, he is doing great.  He wears a diaper at night, but otherwise, he pretty much just tells us when he needs to go and does it.  Hardly any accidents!  Yay!  He got a Jake the Never land pirates bath set as a present for potty training.  He has already thrown one of the pieces on the roof.  Too bad we don't have a ladder yet ...

Logan is in the fits age.  He needs to throw one huge screaming, on the floor, will not be consoled fit a day, at least.  Over who knows what.  He also is very loud.  Very loud.  He has one volume - loud - and often tries to do loud obnoxious things at the worst times - most usually in sacrament meeting.  He will burst into theme songs or just talk at the top of his lungs.  But he is also sweet and well-behaved some of the time.  He hates to share things, tends to take things, is too rough with Noah.  But he also plays really well by himself, loves to build things, loves to make his bed into a fort and hide under it, loves hide and seek, loves to read books, loves going to preschool and playing with friends, but also loves "home" days.  He wants nothing better than to sit in my lap and be read to, but he tends to wiggle and jump and fall all over me and I am left with bruises by the end of it.  He loves to eat, though it's starting to get less so ... but he could live on snacks and cheese.  He has a way of trying to (and often succeeding) get his way at everything, prizes and treats at every turn.

Preschool and sunbeams are going well.  He is happy to go in by himself and seems to really need that independence.  Yay!  He is starting to have friends at both.  We probably should have some play dates for him, but he mostly plays with his brothers and the neighborhood friends.

He loves to play outside.  Draw with chalk, ride his scooter, play on the neighbor's trampoline (trying to convince me that we need a trampoline).  He likes to help in the garden, climb on the climbing structure, swing.  He is trying to learn to ride a bike without training wheels.

He can cut with scissors and trace a maze and likes to work on both.  He seems to know the exact story line of the hundreds of books we own.  He loves to watch "Jake and the Neverland Pirates" on the computer when he uses the potty.  He loves M&Ms and cheese sticks.

He is still huge - in 4T clothes and sometimes, I have a hard time telling him and Seth apart from the back.  He hates to wear shoes and flings them off as fast as he can.  He never makes it through sacrament meeting with his shoes still on.  The car is usually full of his socks and shoes that he takes off as soon as he gets in.

He just started Tball on Saturday.  He seemed to have fun, but you can tell that listening to a coach and following instructions (and trying to pay attention to the ball when it's easier to just zone off) is something new for him.  His glove came in the mail later that day (he needed one for the other hand since he throws with his left) and he wants to hold it all the time.


Fun Things in March and April

• Starting T-ball
• Friend's birthday party at Jump Fit.
• Ward Chili cookoff and talent show
• Corned Beef and Cabbage for St. Patrick's Day - I also made a little treasure hunt with clues for the boys to find some candy leprachaun hats that I had made.  The boys loved it and had a lot of fun finding it hiding in Katsu's closet.
• Neighborhood easter egg hunt - boys rode their bikes over and grabbed tons of eggs.  A cold day, but a lot of fun.  Logan got a cute picture with the Easter Bunny.
• Katsu was out of town a couple times, so extra time with mom (and more TV time than usual).
• A sort of abbreviated Easter celebration week - we talked about Palm Sunday, watched some of the church Easter videos, did a Jesus dinner on Thursday and had hot cross buns, but Katsu was out of town most of the week and then he was home for a day and then we were out of town, so it was kind of crazy.
• Easter egg hunts at school - they all came home with tons of candy and toys and eggs.  Craziness!
• SPRING BREAK!!!  On Friday morning, we drove to Williamsburg and then we went straight to Busch Gardens.  We bought season passes and were able to get free ones for Seth and Logan.  The first day, we went to the first Sesame Street place and did all the rides and ended up waiting in line for awhile.  Once, we got outside of that part of the park, we were able to see lots of other things.  There were rides for the kids everywhere and lots of fun ones.  Seth went on everything he was tall enough for.  He even went on a water ride (Pompeii) that I think was a little scary for him.  We even got to see animals and watch a couple shows - Irish Dancing and a wild animal encounter show.  After we were all thoroughly worn out, we checked into our hotel.  We were staying in a vacation rental and had two big bedrooms and a full kitchen and a patio.  The boys LOVED it.  We went to Trader Joes and got all of our favorite foods and ate like kings over the weekend.  The second day, we had breakfast and then went to Busch Gardens again.  This time, we had a better idea where to go and we didn't wait in as many lines.  We got to ride everything and it was really fun.  The boys all had a blast.  Once we were worn out and had done everything, we went back to the resort.  The boys all went to mini golf and the pool while Noah took a nap.  They LOVED it, especially the mini golf.  Then, they came home and all slept in one of the bedrooms and got to watch Nick and all the cable shows.  They were in paradise.  And even better - on Sunday morning, they woke up and the Easter bunny had come.  They ran all over searching for eggs.  We packed up, checked out, and drove to Great Wolf Lodge and bought a wand and the boys worked together and did MagiQuest, for like 5 hours!  By then, we beat the first dragon and were SO worn out!!!  So, we drove back to NC to enjoy the rest of the spring break.
• The rest of the spring break, we just relaxed.
• Logan and I went to go see Curious George (along with Logan).  It was a musical, a lot like the TV show. Logan was pretty tired, but he said he wouldn't fall asleep and he didn't.  He seemed to enjoy it as much as he could for being so tired.  It was pretty cute and surprisingly well done.
• Pirate Fest - the boys got to see a BMX show while chowing on free chips and drinks.  It's always fun to see the whole town dressed up as pirates and we even saw a live mermaid this year!  The boys played games and earned candy along the river and then we cooled off with some ice cream.  It was a lot of fun, even after two tiring soccer games!
• Camping with Dad and Andrew and Seth for a ward campout.  The boys had a blast - smores, foil dinners, playing with friends, in the water, etc.  

Noah in March and April

It's been a busy couple of months for Noah.  They grow so fast when they are so little!  Biggest news - Noah is on the move and has two new teeth.

Noah is still fat, surprise surprise.  He seems to have really chunked up the last couple weeks, so I think he will get taller soon.  He went to the doctor a few weeks ago when  he had roseola (of course, we didn't know it was roseola, or I wouldn't have taken him in) and he was a good 22 lbs.  I am sure he weighs more now.  He is growing out of some of his 12 months clothes, depending on the outfit, but isn't really tall enough for 18 month clothes.  Kind of an awkward stage.  His hair is long and growing - kind of with a curl to it, especially when it is wet.  His hair keeps getting in his eyes, so he is really due for a hair cut again.

Noah has cut down on nursing the most of any of my kids.  He still gets distracted during the day and also never asks to nurse.  I usually forget about it until he gets pretty fussy.  He will sometimes go 4 or 5 hours without nursing.  He still wakes up to nurse once at night and I doubt that is going anywhere.  But he is a little demanding when it comes to nursing.  If I pump, he knows.  And when he wakes up at night, even if it has been a couple hours, he is MAD (he also has an anger problem compared to the other kids at this age ...).  He will nurse a bit and then get mad that there isn't as much in there as he thinks there should be.

But boy, can he eat.  Yeah, he only did spoon food for probably a month.  Now, he just eats anything and everything he can get his hands on.  He can eat a cheese stick almost as fast as Logan!  He eats cereal or eggs or fruit or whatever he gets for breakfast.  He eats cheese sticks and crackers and fruits (really loves grapes and strawberries) and sandwiches and hot dogs and pasta and whatever he can get for lunch.  He eats pretty much what we do for dinner - pizza, turkey burgers, fish, beans, pasta, etc.  He makes a royal mess, but loves to eat.  We have to plan on 6 for meals now!

Moving - for most of the last couple months, he has been kind of rolling and swiveling to get what he wanted, then he added in some scooting.  But the last week, he has really gotten the army crawl to work.  He can get around now and he does.  He will try to crawl after us and will crawl as soon as he spots his favorite toy (TRIO blocks - long ones - he would prefer to have one or two in his fist all day and night to chew on as desired.  He also loves Lego blocks (though those come in second place), especially little guns, helmets, and heads that he likes to hold in his chipmunk cheeks.  I swear - I will think they are all picked up and he will find one!  He has no interest in baby toys, but loves to chew on whatever his brothers play with.  He likes to crawl around in the playroom, but he still likes to be held a good chunk of the time.  He doesn't like to contentedly sit though - he wiggles around and tries for you to hold him or tries to plunge to the ground.  Anything but sit still.  Let me tell you - between the four of them and Katsu on the stand, sacrament meeting is non-stop movement and chaos in our row.

Noah has two teeth on the bottom.  He seems like he's been teething the last few days, but I don't know if he is ready to get more teeth yet.  He doesn't suck on his thumb as much, but he does when he goes to sleep.  It's like a reflex - give him his gray blanket, he sticks in his thumb, and he closes his eyes.  So cute.

He sleeps ... differently than the other boys.  He is becoming more resistant to sleep (more fun things to do) and also seems to need his naps a little less.  As long as he is sleepy and it's reasonably quiet, you can lay him in his bed and he'll go to sleep, though it will often take 15 minutes or more for him to fall asleep.  As long as he has his blankie, he is good to go.  He resists more going to bed at night now.  He'll fuss and not sleep and eventually I'll go back in, maybe nurse him again since he didn't nurse well before, and maybe repeat again before he will finally go to sleep.  He will not fall asleep in your arms unless under duress (i.e. church and he is finally so tired he can't resist), so I can't rock him to sleep, so I don't really have any tools up my sleeve, except his crib and his blankie.  He has been waking up really early the last week or two - like 5 am.  Some days I am successful at getting him back to sleep, sometimes not.  I am hoping it is just a very short phase.  He takes two naps almost every day.  Usually one is a good one - like 1.5-2 hours, and the second one is somewhat shorter.

Noah is not super cuddly.  He likes me to be around and will check in, but he wants to face out and see the world.

Fun Things

• Neighborhood easter egg hunt - Noah was cold, but got a cute picture with easter bunny
• Katsu was out of town a couple times, so extra time with mom.
• A sort of abbreviated Easter celebration week - we talked about Palm Sunday, watched some of the church Easter videos, did a Jesus dinner on Thursday and had hot cross buns, but Katsu was out of town most of the week and then he was home for a day and then we were out of town, so it was kind of crazy.
• SPRING BREAK!!!  On Friday morning, we drove to Williamsburg and then we went straight to Busch Gardens.  We bought season passes and were able to get free ones for Seth and Logan.  The first day, we went to the first Sesame Street place and did all the rides and ended up waiting in line for awhile.  Once, we got outside of that part of the park, we were able to see lots of other things.  There were rides for the kids everywhere and lots of fun ones.  Seth went on everything he was tall enough for.  He even went on a water ride (Pompeii) that I think was a little scary for him.  We even got to see animals and watch a couple shows - Irish Dancing and a wild animal encounter show.  After we were all thoroughly worn out, we checked into our hotel.  We were staying in a vacation rental and had two big bedrooms and a full kitchen and a patio.  The boys LOVED it.  We went to Trader Joes and got all of our favorite foods and ate like kings over the weekend.  The second day, we had breakfast and then went to Busch Gardens again.  This time, we had a better idea where to go and we didn't wait in as many lines.  We got to ride everything and it was really fun.  The boys all had a blast.  Once we were worn out and had done everything, we went back to the resort.  The boys all went to mini golf and the pool while Noah took a nap.  They LOVED it, especially the mini golf.  Then, they came home and all slept in one of the bedrooms and got to watch Nick and all the cable shows.  They were in paradise.  And even better - on Sunday morning, they woke up and the Easter bunny had come.  They ran all over searching for eggs.  We packed up, checked out, and drove to Great Wolf Lodge and bought a wand and the boys worked together and did MagiQuest, for like 5 hours!  By then, we beat the first dragon and were SO worn out!!!  So, we drove back to NC to enjoy the rest of the spring break.  Of course, the whole thing was a little crazy for Noah, but he did great.  It's only a 3 hr drive and he slept most of the time.  And we just put his pack and play in our bedroom and he did just fine sleeping at night.
• Basically living on the sidelines of soccer games and baseball practices.

Seth in March and April 2015

This has been a very busy two months for everyone, but Seth especially.  Soccer started the first week in March and Seth has had a game every week and the last couple weeks, two a week.  Seth LOVES soccer.  It is his true love.  He is always trying to get anyone he can to play with him.  He is very serious about it and wants everyone to play exactly by the rules, which can sometimes turn the neighbor kids off from it.  Poor kid - he would just be happiest playing soccer games every day all day long.  He is doing well on his team.  His coach is not the best, but Seth is still loving it and making anywhere from 2-8 goals per game.  He is a little jumping bean, jumping up and down in excitement but always seems to be in the right place, anticipating everything, good about getting in and turning the ball around and making lots of goals.  He is a great goalie, too, and has made some really nice saves this year.  After a game is over, Seth doesn't want to leave the soccer field and wants to keep playing soccer.  When we finally realized he should have a soccer birthday party for his party this year, he can't stop thinking about his party either.  Seth's dream in life is to be a professional soccer player and he talks about it often.

Besides soccer, Seth just started playing baseball.  He has had a few practices and seems to be doing well.  Right now, he has two practices a week.  After three weeks of practices, the games will start so we will see how those go.  I find it a little stressful trying to manage four boys at all this games and practices.  But Seth would be happy to just play sports all day every day.

Otherwise, Seth is busy with school.  Kindergarten is still going well.  He reads well (well above grade level), but when it comes to testing he hasn't shown any improvement this year because you have to read and answer questions in writing, which is tough for a Kindergartener.  His teacher says that his writing has become a lot more focused and clearer, so he is making improvement!  He likes to read the leveled reader books - like levels 2 and 3.  The short "chapter" books that have about 4 chapters.  He is not quite ready for books like Magic Tree House, though he can read them.  They are still a little long for him.  He still really loves Ricky Ricotta books the best.  He has continued to do really well with math and has learned addition with carrying and subtraction with borrowing.  His teacher has also started to teach him money and measurement.  He and another boy get extra math lessons from the assistant teacher because they are so far ahead.

Seth went on his first field trip in April.  They went to the Nuese Riverway Nature Center (or something like that) in Kinston and got to see animals and nature stuff.  But what I mostly heard about was how they got to go get pizza at Pizza Inn afterwards and how they got to ride the school bus.  It sounds like he had a lot of fun.  He also had field day last Friday and I think he had a lot of fun.  I saw some pictures and it looked like fun, and boy, his clothes sure got dirty to prove it!  Too bad they couldn't come in play clothes instead of uniforms.  In March, they had Jump Rope for Heart, which was fun.  Seth's class also won for the kindergarten classes in the Box Top drive, so they got free snow cones from the Kona Ice truck at school.

Seth has been doing really well with piano.  He is very diligent at getting his practicing done each week, but he also just seems to enjoy it and will sit down and play at other times.  He finished the 1A books and is now on level 1B.  He really enjoys playing the duets with me.  He is very good at counting and getting the beats alright and is really starting to learn his notes well.

Seth is also good at remembering to do his chores.  He is in charge of gathering all the trash each Monday and remembers to do it without asking.  He always wants to do what is right and gets really stressed out when he thinks he can't get it done.

Overall, things have seemed to go well for Seth this month.  He is pretty mellow most of the time except when he freaks out about certain things (like having to clean the upstairs or not getting to play video games when he wants).

Fun Things in March and April

• Jump Rope for Heart (he got enough donations to get a couple ducks and a free jump rope)
• Starting soccer
• Friend's birthday party at Jump Fit.
• Ward Chili cookoff and talent show - Seth was so upset we didn't tell him about this beforehand so he could get a talent right.  Like fuming upset.  I guess we'll have to prepare better next year and he can play the piano.
• Corned Beef and Cabbage for St. Patrick's Day - I also made a little treasure hunt with clues for the boys to find some candy leprachaun hats that I had made.  The boys loved it and had a lot of fun finding it hiding in Katsu's closet.
• Little Princess musical - I went with Seth and Andrew.  The boys were perplexed at the beginning by all the singing and kept asking me when it was going to be done.  The first act did start out pretty slow, but I think they enjoyed it.  They kept asking me when "half time" was - i.e., intermission.  They fell fast asleep on the drive home, all tangled on top of each other.  Pretty cute.
• Neighborhood easter egg hunt - boys rode their bikes over and grabbed tons of eggs.  A cold day, but a lot of fun.  Seth and Andrew were too cool to take a picture with the easter bunny, silly boys.
• Went to feed the homeless with Katsu.
• Katsu was out of town a couple times, so extra time with mom (and more TV time than usual).
• Watching the play of Treasure Island with Katsu.  We had tried listening to the book on tape on a trip earlier, so I think Seth sort of knew the story.  The story was pretty well done and Seth enjoyed it.
• A sort of abbreviated Easter celebration week - we talked about Palm Sunday, watched some of the church Easter videos, did a Jesus dinner on Thursday and had hot cross buns, but Katsu was out of town most of the week and then he was home for a day and then we were out of town, so it was kind of crazy.
• Easter egg hunts at school - they all came home with tons of candy and toys and eggs.  Craziness!
• SPRING BREAK!!!  On Friday morning, we drove to Williamsburg and then we went straight to Busch Gardens.  We bought season passes and were able to get free ones for Seth and Logan.  The first day, we went to the first Sesame Street place and did all the rides and ended up waiting in line for awhile.  Once, we got outside of that part of the park, we were able to see lots of other things.  There were rides for the kids everywhere and lots of fun ones.  Seth went on everything he was tall enough for.  He even went on a water ride (Pompeii) that I think was a little scary for him.  We even got to see animals and watch a couple shows - Irish Dancing and a wild animal encounter show.  After we were all thoroughly worn out, we checked into our hotel.  We were staying in a vacation rental and had two big bedrooms and a full kitchen and a patio.  The boys LOVED it.  We went to Trader Joes and got all of our favorite foods and ate like kings over the weekend.  The second day, we had breakfast and then went to Busch Gardens again.  This time, we had a better idea where to go and we didn't wait in as many lines.  We got to ride everything and it was really fun.  The boys all had a blast.  Once we were worn out and had done everything, we went back to the resort.  The boys all went to mini golf and the pool while Noah took a nap.  They LOVED it, especially the mini golf.  Then, they came home and all slept in one of the bedrooms and got to watch Nick and all the cable shows.  They were in paradise.  And even better - on Sunday morning, they woke up and the Easter bunny had come.  They ran all over searching for eggs.  We packed up, checked out, and drove to Great Wolf Lodge and bought a wand and the boys worked together and did MagiQuest, for like 5 hours!  By then, we beat the first dragon and were SO worn out!!!  So, we drove back to NC to enjoy the rest of the spring break.
• The rest of the spring break, we just relaxed.
• One day of spring break, I took the boys to an Andean and South American music concert.  Seth was so tired.  He seemed to enjoy it, but his eyes were drooping and he feel asleep.  But I think he really enjoyed going to a concert.
• Seth and I went to go see Curious George (along with Logan).  It was a musical, a lot like the TV show.  I think Seth really enjoyed it and the story line.  It was pretty cute and surprisingly well done.
• Pirate Fest - the boys got to see a BMX show while chowing on free chips and drinks.  Seth was walking in his cleats the whole time from soccer which was a little tiring, but it's always fun to see the whole town dressed up as pirates and we even saw a live mermaid this year!  The boys played games and earned candy along the river and then we cooled off with some ice cream.  It was a lot of fun, even after two tiring soccer games!
• Camping with Dad and Andrew and Logan for a ward campout.  The boys had a blast - smores, foil dinners, playing with friends, in the water, etc.  
• Field day at school

Seth in January and February 2015

Seth Seth Seth ... in some ways he is the easiest child because he is such a peacemaker and tries really hard to be helpful.  On the other hand, he tends to freak out and get stressed and anxious about the most things.

School is going really well.  Seth has been doing awesome in school and I think he enjoys it.  It's hard to tell.  Seth comes home and every day if you ask him how his days was he will spell B-A-D.  But in truth, I think he has good days and enjoys school and is just a bit contrary (he obviously gets that from me).  His teacher has been so wonderful about differentiating things for him.  She has been teaching him and another student carrying and borrowing in math.  Still, I wonder how challenging school is and if he is getting too bored.  I am planning on meeting with his teacher soon to see what she thinks he should be doing next year.  Because I highly doubt 1st grade math is going to be the least bit interesting or challenging for Seth, but I am not really sure what alternatives we have.

Seth loves to learn, though, especially math.  I bought some workbooks for the summer, but Seth has already dived into the math one and loves doing the work.  He still needs to work on memorizing some of his math facts, but he is awesome at doing his work.

Seth has very neat handwriting, but his spelling is completely hilarious.  His binder from kindergarten is getting so large because I love keeping all the things he is writing because they are so funny, once you can finally decode them.

Seth's reading has improved quite a bit this year.  He still doesn't read enormous amounts like Andrew, but I don't think he has quite gotten to that degree of fluency (though his fluency is up a lot).  I also think he just has more varied interests than Andrew as well.  I also have a hard time what he has actually read and what he just looks at the pictures.  Maybe he really has read all the books he has said, but sometimes I think he is just being agreeable because he wants to be able to read all the books Andrew has.  That said, Seth loves books that are more like graphic novels.  He was in love with the Ricky Ricotta series.  I have also enjoyed finding the kids easy reader chapter books, like the Mercy Wilson series and he has really loved those.  There are so many more books and at such a varied level than there were when I was young.

We have been enjoying some read alouds.  Seth really enjoyed Pippi Longstocking books and laughed out loud heartily to them all.  He also seems to be enjoying Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Seth is very diligent about doing chores and piano practice and anything else.  He is very very motivated by screen time - especially being able to play Lego star wars on their webpage or able to play video games.  I used to be worried that he wouldn't be able to ever stop playing, but he has gotten much better.  He still spends most of the playing time jumping up and down the whole time.  It is really so cute.

Basketball went well, more or less.  Seth doesn't really get the drift of the game as well as he does soccer.  He got the ball only occasionally but basically just passed it off to someone as fast as he could.  He spent most of every game jumping up and down.  I am so glad that basketball is done.  He wants to play again next year, but I would rather not.  He got a medal, so he thought that was pretty cool.  Soccer is starting this weekend, and I think he is going to totally love it.  He is getting pretty excited.

Otherwise, he loves to play Legos and army, look at books, play the new piano, and run around with all the neighbor friends.  He has really been fun.

Well, I gotta go and get Logan from preschool or I would write more.

Logan in January and February 2015

So, Logan used to be a sweetheart ... and then he turned 3.  You can still see the sweetheart peeking through sometimes, but he has become a very big and loud handful.  Logan now throws fits regularly.  Sigh.  And he also is just ... obnoxious.  He will make this weird laughing noise and then kind of flail around on the floor like a worm.  Or spaghetti.  Or something.  If he wants something, he wants it right then and he will take it.  He also refuses to potty train, but will hide if he is poopy and it is like this epic 30 minute battle to find him and change it every time ... and he poops like 4 times a day.  He hides when he try to change his clothes and it is another epic 30 minute battle trying to do that.  He has a super sensitive gag reflex and it takes another 30 minutes to convince him to clean his nose and then you have to hold him down while he is screaming and crying and then he is mad at you and hiding from you for another 30 minutes.  He won't put on socks, puts his shoes on so loosely they continually fall off and takes both socks and shoes off anytime he can.  He is lucky to be wearing anything on his feet by the time I take him out of church along with Noah.  Between the two of them, we are lucky to last about 20 minutes in sacrament meeting.  He has started having nightmares each night and then will go into his brothers room and wake them up early in the morning.  We finally told him to come in our room instead - that is how desperate we are - because the whole house has been waking up at like 5:30 in the morning.  And everyone is tired and grouchy.  He asks for water about every 10 minutes but always spills his glass.  Seriously, probably two or three times a day he spills his entire cup of drink.  He asks for food about every 30 minutes.  He probably eats twice as much as me.  Lately, he eats too much and then complains of stomach aches, and then spits whatever is in his mouth that he no longer wants to eat out.  Lovely.  Suffice it to say, three is fun.  In fact, today in his sunbeams class, he said he was a ninja and painted his face with red paint.  At church.

He really isn't all bad, but he has seriously become a handful.  I kind of want to hide from him until he is potty trained and well behaved again.  At least he goes to preschool.  He is a funny kid.  He still talks in funny complete sentences.  He loves Noah and loves to spend a lot of time entertaining him (yay!).  He talks to him and tries to make sure that he is happy when he is going to preschool.  He says funny things.  Today it sounded like Noah said his name.  Logan said "But he didn't say my middle name".  I asked Logan if he even knew what his middle name was.  He said "I like cheese sticks."  It was pretty funny.

Logan does well at preschool.  He hardly went this month because of all the snow days, but he really likes it.  He was super excited about his Valentine's Day party, a little confused about how exactly the valentines worked, but excited.  He picked out Star Wars valentines for his friends, because he likes whatever characters his friends liked.  He ate all the candy he got in like one sitting.

Logan no longer bonks down the stairs.  I guess he is growing up.

He is doing fine in Sunbeams.  The first couple weeks were a little rocky - he wasn't sure and wanted me or Katsu to be there.  But now he is great.  His teacher buys him all kinds of little toys and treats.  He thinks it is wonderful.  When he isn't painting his face red or being a ninja.  Ha ha.

He loves his older brothers and they are playing better together but it is still a bit rocky sometimes.  They like to wrestle and fight and play light sabers and all kinds of active play.  Playing with toys is a little more rocky because Logan is apt to break whatever they are doing.  He is doing a lot more imaginative play and with toys now.  He likes to play army and super heroes and build forts and pirates.  He still really likes to play games and read books together.

I was trying to teach Logan his letters.  He is awesome at recognizing "O".  The other letters pretty much went over his head.  I'll have to try again when he is a little older.  He is good with shapes though.  I got him a little Kumon book to practice tracing.  (I am aiming for him to have better fine motor control and handwriting than Andrew - have to start young).  He actually does a pretty good job and is learning to have the right grip.  He just needs to press a little harder.  He thought it was pretty fun.  I think I will try cutting next.  He really likes Play-doh.  His counting is better - he understands how to count objects though still tends to forget the numbers 4 and 5.  He has been doing geography with us.  He loves to look at maps and is getting close at being able to find Asia and Japan and China.  He has the funniest answers to geography questions.  We were asking which country has the highest mountain and Logan said "American flag".  Silly boy.

He likes to help around the house - vacuuming, dusting, cooking, etc.  He likes to feed Joe, though tends to spill cat food everywhere.  He is good at setting the table.  He is probably the neatest of the children and is pretty good at remembering to put things away.  He is very eager to learn the piano.  I think he is too young but I don't want to squash his desire so I am not sure what to do about that.  He especially likes our new piano.

So, he's a handful, but we love him.  It kind of reminds me of the book about Leo the Late bloomer.  I suppose one day he will just be grow up and then we will miss the crazy handful little boy he is.

Andrew in January and February 2015

Andrew is mostly the same old mischievous little boy who is always running around, making forts, coming up with adventures, making super elaborate setups of legos, lincoln logs, Trio, blocks and then getting upset whenever it gets touched or falls apart.  Andrew can be quick to help if he's in the mood, but is quick to blame others if he is in trouble (always, always).  He is pretty emotional, easily upset, but generally upbeat.

School is going well and Andrew seems to like it and his teacher well enough.  He is doing well, as always.  He does not lack at all for self esteem.  He will always tell you that he is the best person in his class - this means some combination of doing the best in school work and having good behavior.  He is not always the most careful at his school work, but generally does well.  He worked hard on a timeline project about his life (okay, not super hard, but he did work on it when he would have rather been playing).  He learned about black history month and Martin Luther King, Jr.  He had Jump Rope for Heart fundraising for school and was very excited to earn little ducks to put on a lanyard - thankfully, I stopped him from using all his allowance on donations so he could earn even more ducks.  He is in a special literature group at school, where some kids from all the second grade classes meet together to talk about and read books in another teacher's classroom.  He is always asking me to tell the teacher or librarian to let him check out harder books from school.

He still reads tons and tons at home.  He loves Boxcar Children books, but also has enjoyed rereading Percy Jackson books and also reading the Magician's Elephant and Ten Kids No Pets.  He also enjoys doing workbooks.  I bought the kids some workbooks for summer and Andrew is already loving the multiplication book.  He, of course, has not yet started the cursive writing.  I am hoping it will help improve his handwriting.  We also have been supplementing at home.  We have been learning geography and also reading history each night from Story of the World.  We learned more about Japan and China's geography.  Andrew knows all his continents and oceans, but is also learning all his seas, and capitals and flags, too.  So much to learn, so little time.  We have also been doing read alouds at night.  We read all three Pippi Longstocking books, and the boys laughed their heads off.  We tried a Moomintroll book, but the boys are not so interested.  We will probably try another one later.  Instead, we just started Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Andrew has been relatively diligent at practicing the piano with lots of reminders and is improving.  He is almost done with book 1A.  He loves to memorize music and does very well when we play duets together.  He is not a fan of counting, but is good at quickly learning the notes.  We bought a piano yesterday and everyone is in love with it.

Andrew did basketball and just finished his season.  He is not a very aggressive athlete and really mostly loves talking to his friends on the bench and getting snacks and trophies.  But he does put in a good effort and tries to follow the coach's directions.  I think we are all glad that the basketball season is over.  Andrew got frustrated because he never got the ball during games and practices were a challenge because Noah doesn't like to go in the car at dark, so he could only go about half the time with Katsu.  He starts soccer this week, but after that he might be done with sports.  I think it is time to start something new - like drama!

This last month was very busy and crazy.  Katsu's mother passed away and so he was out of town for a week and a half.  And then it was quite cold and icy/snowy here, so Andrew had 5 days off of school and like 4 days of two hour delays.  Plus a holiday!  It felt like they were never in school.  That equals lots of energy and no where to burn it.  Luckily they got to spend a day or two playing in the snow, though playing with neighborhood friends often leads to lots of drama with Andrew.  He plays a lot and very well with a new girl in the neighborhood, Hannah, who is in his class.  Also, while Katsu was gone, we celebrated Valentine's Day.  Before he left, we all made chocolates together, which was fun.  While he was gone, Andrew had his school party - but was disappointed because they couldn't fit it all in.  He did enjoy getting and giving lots of valentines.  We tried to make it fun at home with special pink pancakes with red sprinkles and special individual heart shaped pizzas.  Other fun things the last couple months was giving a talk in church today and our trip to Williamsburg.

We also got journals to write back and forth between me and Andrew and Katsu and Andrew.  Andrew quickly co-opted his journal to write a long chapter story about Henry and Mary that he has been telling to his younger brothers.  It is quite an interesting adventure ... with lots of fighting!

Andrew is a fun boy.  We are looking forward to him turning 8 and getting baptized and starting Cub scouts (okay, Andrew is not looking forward to cub scouts, but I think he will enjoy it).

Noah in January and February 2015

Noah is growing up so fast and we are apparently too busy to write about it!  Noah is seven months old now and is full of personality.

He is cute and fat.  His head is still kind of flat, but it doesn't look too bad.  His hair was kind of falling off in the back, but it is starting to look better now.  He has had a haircut or two, but is probably in need of another one.  His hair is getting a little long in front.  His hair is getting browner now and even just today someone said he doesn't look as much like the other boys.  I think he looks more like me.  He is pretty fat and chubby - he weighed 20 lbs at his 6 month well check.  He was around 90% or something like that for weight, but only 50% for height and around 75% for head circumference.

He is still nursing, but he is kind of a distracted nurser.  He nips around during the day, and only really eats well if he is tired around nap time or at night time.  He has had a cold the last two weeks, so he has been waking up a lot at night and wanting to eat.

For the last few days, he has been coughing himself awake and then his eyes are glued shut in the morning.  Poor thing.  He was sleeping next to me, but I am trying to get him out of that habit since he is getting better and I really want him to be a crib sleeper, since none of the other boys ever lasted very long that way.  He was sick most of February with colds and croup so it is hard to say how well he sleeps.  He takes two naps a day usually.  One shorter in the morning and the afternoon as long as he can manage before his super loud brothers eventually wake him up.

We started solids around 6 months.  Spoon feeding went well until the last week or two, but now Noah wants to control the process.  Even if he has a spoon, he still tries to take the one we are using and he flings everything everywhere.  He loves to eat.  He really likes table food though.  He was in love with a cheese stick today, but he loves bagels, bread, pizza crust, crackers, bananas, apple slices, etc.  He likes to drink water out of a cup if Katsu helps feed him.  He is just starting to get the hang of the pincer grasp.  He can pick things up between his fingers, but is still working out how to put it in his mouth.  And of course, because he is the 4th, he has had ice cream, pudding, cookies, and all sorts of things.

He just learned to clap his hands this week and it is so cute.  He will clap along to "If You're Happy And You Know It".  He seems to really enjoy music and almost seems to kind of sing along sometimes.  He likes to babble, though he is not super talkative.  He has consistently said Mama or Mom to refer to me for at least a month so I think that is definitely his first word, but otherwise, he just babbles sometimes and loves to spit and blow raspberries.

He likes to sit.  He is an awesome sitter.  No interest in crawling or being on his stomach ever.  Sometimes, you can entice him with something for tops a minute, but otherwise, he instantly rolls over.  Lately, he will reach over to grab something and fall over onto his stomach, so maybe he will do it enough to want to crawl.  He does love to stand.  He does pretty well holding on to us.  I have tried to teach him to hang onto a table and stand, but he isn't into it.

Noah had a hard time going back to Mother's Day Out at the preschool after Christmas.  It was right when he started getting separation anxiety.  But after a couple rough days, he is back to being okay with it.  He doesn't love it, but he survives.  He seems to do fine with teenage babysitters we have had over and actually seems to like having them hold him.  So, I am hoping this holds up and we can go out every now and then (we just had babysitters when I had to work and Katsu was out of town at his mother's funeral).

Noah has his 3 comfort objects - his favorite gray blanket (a hand me down that funnily enough has someone else's name monogrammed on it), his thumb, and a teddy bear we call "Mr. Teddy" that Noah loves to cuddle with and hugs and kisses fiercely when he sees him again.  So sweet.

Noah loves his brothers.  He loves to watch them and play with them.  He especially loves to play with their toys.  He likes to play in the kitchen and sit on the counter and watch me cook.  He likes to dance with us.  Once he starts moving, life is really going to get interesting. ...

A few fun things
- Trip to Williamsburg and Norfolk.
- Watching lots of Andrew and Seth basketball games
- "playing" in snow - really mostly just looking at from inside.  Not much fun to take a non-mover out in it.
- watching lots of work on our home, fixing the flooring and other random warranty stuff
- Dad out of town for 10 days ...
- Valentine's Day
- Lots of brother time when everyone was out of school or delayed from school for 2 weeks ...