The Actual Birthday

First Year Highlights

Ruby and Eliza Claire had a great birthday. Ruby woke up early (5ish) - I guess she was just too excited about turning one to sleep. We opened presents and spent the a while playing with them. Then it was time to go grocery shopping. After shopping we had lunch at a pizza place with Michael. After lunch we came home for nap time and then had some friends over for a playdate and cake. After that it was time for dinner, bath and bed.

First Birhtday in Pictures

It is amazing how different the day was from a year ago. Then Michael and I got up at 5ish and headed to the hospital. About 7:00 they started getting us ready for the c-section. By 7:30 they were doing my spinal. Ruby arrived at 7:58 and Eliza Claire arrived at 7:59 am. Both were healthy and perfect. Within an hour they were both in recovery with me nursing. What a new experience. Rehm and Charlotte both ended up in the NICU and it was several hours before I got to see them. After lunch their big siblings got to come to the hospital to meet them. Wow how they've changed in a year.

Ruby currently weighs 21.5 lbs and is inches long. Eliza Claire weighs 23.5 lbs and is inches long.

Happy Birthday Girls,
Jenn

The Birthday Party

The party ended up being a small affair with us, Grandma and Grandpa and our dear friends the Weatherbys. We had a great time. Ruby and Eliza Claire clearly enjoyed being the center of attention. They both had great fun with their cakes though they attacked them in totally different ways. Ruby went for the big mess and annihilated her cake , Eliza Claire went for eating more but doing so very neatly and having half the cake saved for later.

You can see all the pictures here. Make sure to check out the cakes. A friend of ours made them and they were delicious and beautiful!

Happy Birthday Girls!
Jenn

Note to Self

Don't leave the room when children are playing with play dough.

I decided to be Super Cool Mommy and make play dough with the big kids this afternoon. Of course they enjoyed measuring, mixing and kneading. Once it was done they got out some play dough toys and were sitting happily playing. I decided to go upstairs and fold a load of laundry. A few minutes later Rehm came to tell me Charlotte had put some of her play dough in water. Still I wasn't too concerned. Of course I came downstairs to find huge blobs of wet, messy, gooey playdough, water dripping from the counter, and a girl with play dough smeared all down the front of her outfit.

So half of our new, just made play dough is now in the trash, a girl is in another set of clothes and they are getting ready to color. I wonder what excitement that will bring.

Ah the joys of summer,
Jenn

Play Dough Recipe (I like this one because it is a no cook recipe)

1 cup salt
2 cups sifted flour (I didn't sift it - I never do)
2 tablespoons alum
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup water

Mix all ingredients together until they form a smooth dough. Food coloring can be added to the water before adding it to the mixture. More flour may be needed to get the right consistency. Can be stored in a zip top bag for several weeks.

Ironing

No, I'm not ironing. I don't do that. Well, at least not very often, really only for special occasions. I don't like ironing and always seem to burn myself in the process so I avoid it if at all possible.

Charlotte informed me when I took the picture that "the thing I'm holding is very HOT!"

Charlotte came in the kitchen today and ask for help setting up her ironing board (which is actually my play ironing board from when I was her age). We got it set up and in a few minutes she was back again. This time she needed help finding her "ar-on." It was imperative that we find out it immediately because today was Charlotte's only day to "ar-on" this week! She had to get all of her "ar-oning" done today because she wouldn't have time to "ar-on" again for another week.

A few minutes later she came out to tell Rehm she had "ar-oned" his vampire cape for him. And she just informed me that when our friend come over to play today they aren't allowed to wear any dress up clothes because she has already "ar-oned" them and doesn't want to get them messed up and she is done "ar-oning" for the day. Especially the Cinderella dress that she "ar-oned" that she wants to wear for Halloween.

I don't know where she gets this new found love of ironing from as I don't think she has ever in her life seen her mother do it.

Happy Ironing!
Jenn

PS She is now coloring and keeps telling me "I have to concentrate really hard on what I am doing now."

Typical Summer Day

What does a typical day look like around here? I'm not sure I know but here are some of our normal activities for our home days.

I invested in the Crainium Mega Fort. I found it on sale at TRU Memorial Day weekend. We love it! It is great and the kids can spend about an hour at a time playing with it. This is the day the decided to build a hot air balloon. After building it they came to ask me for a fan to make it blow up. We didn't have one so they had to pretend.


We also have craft/school time everyday. This consists of Rehm working on his summer work book and writing in his journal. Charlotte usually gets some paper and markers out at this time too.

We play with lots of dolls, dress up clothes, blocks and other building things as well.

Three days a week we go to the gym so I can work out and the kids can all play. Two days we go to swim lessons. We try to have at least one playdate each week as well.

I didn't forget the girls. They usually are crawling around playing with their toys are being entertained by their older siblings or they are asleep.

For the last couple of months Charlotte has been much more interested in letters and what sounds they make. She has been trying to spell her name for several weeks. This week she finally got it right will all the letters! Now I think she thinks "tt" is it's own letter in the alphabet but that is OK. Here she is showing off her new skill. Maybe in the next six months we will get her interested in actually writing letters.

Portraits

Today we had pictures done of all four kids. What was I thinking? I took them all by myself and with two outfits each! Overall it went well. Ruby and Eliza Claire both did fine for individual pictures but wanted nothing to do with group pictures. Hmmm, I wonder what that says about them. Finally at one point I handed them each a tag off of their dresses and told the photographer to just take the pictures whether they were crying or not. Here are a few of the pictures. More can be found here.

We did the pictures at Portrait Innovations. This is the second time I've had pictures done at one of their studios. I really like them. They took over 100 shots, we picked the ones we wanted and had all the prints by the time we walked around the building to Target and back.

Jenn

PS I should mention that Eliza Claire figured out clapping for the very first time in the middle of the shoot. What a smart girl to hit a milestone during professional pictures.

Swim Lessons

Rehm and Charlotte started swim lessons last week at Nitro Swim. They have had three lessons each and I am so impressed. The facility is amazing, except for the fact that it is not air conditioned. The instructors seem to be top notch. The kids are learning at a very fast pace. The focus is definitely on proper technique.

I'm not surprised we are impressed since Rehm had private lessons with the owner two years ago. I've been singing his praises ever since. He loves what he does and has a great method of teaching that really seems to click for my kids. I've been referring everyone to Coach Mike since the very first lesson.

Today Rehm swam the width of the pool on his back and on his stomach- only kicking, no arms (they were practicing kicking technique) and for the first time figured out how to breathe without stopping. This is a huge development for him. I was so proud of him.

Charlotte is learning to glide and float and is doing a great job as long as she remembers to hold her breath. Sometimes she forgets and it isn't pretty. Of course she chokes and gags but her poor instructor looks at her like shes grown a second head she carries on so.

The swim lessons are set up as stations. When a child finishes a station they get to get out of the pool and go ring this large gong set up to one side. Of course the kids love this. The first day of lessons Rehm finished the first station and got to ring the gong. After class he came up to me, really excited, and said "Mom, I got to hit the bong!" After I got done laughing I explained that it is a "GONG" not a bong! I don't need him going around town telling everyone he loves his swim lessons because he gets to "hit the bong." I don't think that is quite the kind of advertising they are looking for.

Happy Swimming
Jenn

It's about time!

Rehm and Charlotte checking out the Guadalupe River in Gruene

Ruby and Eliza aren't very impressed with the river, must have something to do with nap time

Yes I know I haven't written anything in forever! "Why?" you ask. Well because life has gotten in the way of blogging. Summer seems to be much busier than the school year so far. We have swim lessons twice a week, lots of play dates and just finished VBS. We made a little road trip to Gruene last weekend to visit Uncle Steve. I'll have to post more about that later. Not to mention just keeping up with four very active, very demanding kiddos. OK, my kids aren't that demanding and actually do a pretty good job of entertaining themselves, but man can the older two get on each other's nerves.

Charlotte with the longhorn at VBS - Yes we had real live longhorns for the kids to have their picture made with, and the last day we had a petting zoo for them to enjoy (the theme was Avalanch Ranch - think Colorado Western). Forgot to mention this longhorn is no longer alive - it is stuffed. I wouldn't actually let her stand unattended that close to the live one and the line was shorter with this one.

Wa-hoo!

I pretty much spent all of my "free" time the last 3 weeks on VBS. I'm happy to say it is over and went very well. Rehm and Charlotte loved it and are still insisting we listen to the songs every time we get in the van. Charlotte especially enjoyed dressing as a cowgirl all week. Rehm said his favorite part was the snack station, except for the day they made make-a-plates - that day the craft station was his favorite. Charlotte's favorite was Mommy teaching the Bible story for her class everyday. My favorite was getting to share the Bible story with all the 2 and 3 year olds everyday. It turned out to be a very neat experience for me. One I didn't feel equipped for but God did his part and I think it went OK.

Ruby and Eliza Claire spent a lot of time at Grandma and Grandpa's and seem to enjoy getting some spoiling. Although Ruby wasn't a big fan of napping in the pack-n-play. But then again Ruby is very picky about her sleeping arrangements.

I had a very funny conversation with Charlotte last night about what she was going to wear to church today. All of the kids that attended VBS were supposed to wear their VBS t-shirt to church this morning because they were all going to be singing (the big kids in the sanctuary, the little ones in their music time). This is the conversation that ensued:

Me: Charlotte you need to wear your VBS shirt tomorrow.

Charlotte: No Mommy! I can't! I have to wear a Sunday dress so I can look my most beautifulest!

Me: You can wear your denim skirt and your cowboy boots.

Charlotte: No! No! No! Those aren't Sunday clothes I have to look fabulous on Sunday for church!

Me: Miss Gayla wants all the boys and girls to wear their VBS shirts!

Charlotte: I'll wear my shirt but I must wear my new Sunday shoes (thanks Brooke for the hand-me downs)

Me: You need to wear your boots so you look like a cow girl to sing. You can wear your Sunday shoes after church

Charlotte: No I can't Mommy Sunday shoes are only for church!

Me: Since they are new you can do it just this Sunday.

Charlotte finally agreed and wore her cowgirl clothes complete with bandanna and pigtails. Needless to say she was adorable. I guess I should be glad we have ingrained in her that her church clothes are special, but man I didn't know it could be so difficult to get a kid to dress up like a cow girl on a Sunday!

Happy day! Yes I know it is Father's Day and I need to write about it but can't right now - I'll add it to the list of things I need to write about. Ugh! I'm behind.
Jenn

Finally! Sea World!

We have been trying to go to Sea World for months. We were supposed to go over Spring Break but Michael had Pneumonia. We were supposed to go over Mother's Day weekend but Rehm had T-ball Play-offs. This past Saturday we finally made the trip, despite the weather forecast for a 90% chance of rain. Yes, we drove two hours to go somewhere outside when there was a 90% chance of rain. I know it sounds crazy but we already have season passes so even if the weather was miserable we would have only been out our gas money and time. And we knew as hard of a time as we had finding a time to go if we didn't go last weekend we wouldn't get there until August or September.

Grandma and Grandpa went with us. Grandpa thought we were crazy to go with the rain chance but was a good sport and went anyway. All the way to Sea World every time we would run into rain Michael or I would say "I bet Grandpa is pointing this out to Grandma" and every time the rain would stop we would say "I bet Grandma has mentioned that the rain has stopped."

By the time we arrived it was overcast but not raining. So we went to the rest room, bought tickets, sun screened everyone, got a map and started making plans. The first stop was the Steel Eel. Yes I said the Steel Eel. Rehm had discovered that he was tall enough to ride it and he wanted to do that first. Michael and I both decided to ride with him. He sat next to Michael and I sat behind them. I was OK with the fact we were letting him ride a big roller coaster until we crested the first hill. Then I thought, "what were you thinking? This ride scares you and you let your six year old get on it! If he freaks out there is nothing you can do, he has to ride the whole thing!"


Luckily, while a little scared by the whole experience Rehm seemed to enjoy the ride. Not enough to ride it a second time but he was smiling when he got off and very proud of the fact that "he" had ridden the Steel Eel!

I, on the other hand, decided that maybe we really weren't responsible enough parents to have 4 children. What were we thinking? The rollercoaster has a 15 story drop and goes approximately 65 mph! And we put our six year old on it! Maybe not our best parenting decision.

After the Steel Eel we took Charlotte to ride the Texas Splashdown. Then we went to the Shamu show. After lunch we checked out Viva. Then Michael took the kids to ride the Texas Splashdown again and Dallas, Helene, the twins and I went to see the Cannery Row Capers. Following that Charlotte rode the Shamu Express with Michael while the rest of us went to the shark aquarium. We all met back up at the Touch and Feed Dolphins. Then it was time to go.

Our favorite show was definitely the Viva show (known as the Silly Man Show at our house). It was great as always.

Click on the picture and you can see the dolphin in mid air

Everyone had a fun day and Grandma and Grandpa decided to upgrade their tickets to a season pass so they could go back with us in the fall. I'm thinking this is to make sure we don't do anything stupid like let our six year old ride inappropriate rides.

Off to try to be a little more responsible,
Jenn

PS I've updated the May pictures to include our Sea World trip.

Eleven Months

Ruby: Weighs 21.5 lbs, crawling army style, pulling up on everything, says "uh, oh," "hi," signs "all done," "more," climbs stairs, plays "so big," waves, claps plays "where's the monster."



Eliza: Weighs 23 lbs, crawling on all fours, pulling up to knees, says "hi," "mama," signs "all done," has two teeth, plays "so big," gives bonks, claps with one hand on her leg, plays
"where's the monster."

Oh Boy, Now the Fun Begins!

I was working on the computer a few minutes ago when Charlotte calls me to say that Ruby is on the stairs. When I get in the living room she is on the fifth stair! Yikes! I sat behind her to catch her if she fell and she made it all the way to the top. Way to go Ruby.

I don't have pictures yet as I couldn't leave her to go get the camera for fear she would fall. I did however think about possibly getting it and decided it wasn't a good idea. So hopefully soon I'll have my camera handy when she decides to go for a climb.

Jenn

Where Did Those Come From?

Sunday morning Eliza Claire and I were playing. She put something in her mouth off the floor and I went to fish it out. (Now I do have to say this child finds anything and everything on the floor. No matter how small she will find it and it will go in her mouth! ) Guess what I found? Two bottom teeth! Where did those come from? She hadn't drooled, fussed or had any swollen gums. Just all the sudden two teeth. She really is going to be my child that does everything different!


Sorry no pictures yet. She isn't quite ready to debut her new pearly whites.
Way to go Eliza Claire,
Jenn

School's almost out!

Rehm on the first day of school

Rehm at the end of the school year

I can't believe that tomorrow school will be out for the year. Wow, our first year of big school is over. What a great year it has been. Rehm had the best teacher in the world. I just don't know how she did it everyday. What a big job to have.

Here are some things Rehm has learned how to do over the course of the year.

Read

Tie his shoes

Walk to school by himself (though we don't let him - someone always follows him)

Addition and subtraction

Writing and sentence structure. He is all about punctuation.

Lose teeth

He has made lots of friends and learned how to do lots of things for himself. I just can't believe how much he has grown this year and how much he loves school. He is very sad that it is time for summer. I think he is going to miss his teacher.

We went this afternoon for a presentation by his class. The kids got their teacher a plaque with their class picture and all their signatures on it. This was her first year teaching. She cried when they gave it to her. I did too. I really love this woman and really felt like God purposely put her in our families life this year. I will miss her so much next year. I guess the good news is I have three more kids who will go to kindergarten so we have a chance to have her for a teacher again.

Here is Rehm's part of the presentation from this afternoon. I'm sorry it is sideways. Not sure how I managed that but I can't get it to flip.



Jenn

Ah, the Grocery Store

The grocery store had gotten easy, very managable, even enjoyable. And now preschool is out.

When we got to the store Ruby and Eliza were asleep. I thought if I got the stroller out then maybe they would go back to sleep in it. No luck. Of course having the stroller means I have to do the old push the stroller, pull the cart routine. And having Charlotte with me meant finding a place for her. We decided to use the buggy board (it attaches to the back of the stroller and gives her a place to ride).

What I forgot until we were in the store is I can't push the stroller one handed when Charlotte is on the buggy board. The stroller is too heavy. But I must push the stroller one handed or I can't pull the cart. I muscled through for a while and then Charlotte decided she wanted to ride in the cart. Much better. But of course then she had to go to the bathroom and we were on the other end of the store. Then she wanted out of the cart but wouldn't stay with me. And then she wanted to know if we were done yet. And then she had to go potty AGAIN!

We made it, got everything we needed and I managed to get home with all three girls.

And next week, Rehm will get to go to the store too! Oh joy, I'm so excited I don't know if I can wait till next week! Won't that be so much fun? Hmm maybe I won't need to go next week. I bought a whole lot this week...

Happy Shopping,
Jenn

Whose Child is This?

Because she sure can't possibly be mine. You see my children don't crawl like normal children, they army crawl. They do this for months and months and ruin all their clothes while cleaning my floors. Then maybe around the time they figure out how to walk they'll get up on their knees and crawl.

Eliza must have been switched at the hospital. She army crawled backwards but she started crawling forward on all fours, no army crawl! What is up with that? Hmm, she looks too much like the rest of us to have been switched in the hospital, what could it be? Ah ha, she is making sure to stand out from the group. So she is going to be my kid that has to be different. Or maybe she knows how frustrating I find all those dirty shirts and she is just being helpful. Whatever it is it sure is cute to see her crawling around and she sure is proud of herself.

Jenn

Ruby's New Trick

Ah the joy of two babies. Here is Ruby's new trick. She crawls over to Eliza Claire, pulls her hair and then sits up, claps and says "yeah!" Of course Eliza Claire cries and cries. So what does Ruby do? Goes over and does it again!

Off to referee,
Jenn

Rehm and the Rhinoceros Beetle

A couple of months ago Rehm came home and said he wanted to look at insects on the computer. He informed us that he needed to decide what his favorite was for Quest. He and his daddy looked and he decided his two favorites were the Giraffe Beetle and the Rhinoceros Beetle. He finally picked the Rhinoceros as his most favorite. So he printed a couple of pictures of the Rhinoceros Beetle to take to school to show his Quest teacher.

For several weeks nothing was mentioned about the beetle. Then Rehm came home one day and informed us he needed to make a beetle out of stuff found around the house. And he needed to take his materials to school the next day so they could start working on them. Oh boy! Of course we had t-ball practice or What-A-Wednesday and choir or something that night.

We decided he could make the beetle out of a soda bottle, straws, and a funnel. Of course we had none of these things actually at home so Michael had to do a 9pm grocery run. But Rehm went to school the next day with all the stuff he needed to make his bug. I was glad he was making the bug at school as it kept me from micromanaging the process as I'm sure I would have done if he had made it at home.

A week or so later his teacher sent home a sheet of facts about the beetle that he needed to learn for his presentation on the bug. We worked really hard and he learned all of his facts.

For the presentation they invited three kindergarten classes and parents to attend. There were four students giving presentations. Rehm did a great job! He told everyone all of his facts and only had to ask the teacher one question. He even personalized the presentation by telling everyone that if he were a rhinoceros beetle he would be able to lift a whale shark! His whole class laughed as they are all used to Rehm's love of the ocean.

The other presentations that day were for a lady bug, tarantula and black widow. All the kids really did a great job.

I videoed the presentation (while holding a baby and Charlotte and trying to keep the other baby from pulling a little girl's hair) but have not been able to figure out how to get the file size small enough to upload it to the blog. I'm still working on it.

The beetle is now living on top of Rehm's book case.

Jenn

The Princess Show

Was it magical? Was it spectacular? Was it amazing? Yes! Yes! Yes! Especially if you were three and a half and in love with all things princess. Charlotte and three of her princess friends went to Disney on Ice - Princess Wishes Sunday. Before the show all the friends had to dress up in their princess costumes, complete with their high heels and get their make up done.


Then it was off to the show to see all of their favorite princesses while eating popcorn and cotton candy. The show really was well done and featured 7 different Disney princesses.


There were fun special effects including a dragon that really breathed fire (which scared Charlotte) and fireworks at the end. Fun was had by all.

Do I sometimes get concerned that Charlotte is obsessed with the Disney princesses and dressing up in the most sprarkly outfits she can find (complete with jewlry)? Of course. But you know girls will be girls and no one forced Charlotte to play dress up or like princess movies, she came that way. For all her girliness she is one smart girl who knows what she wants and stands up for herself. So at the end of the day I think she'll turn out just fine. Well assuming her father and I don't scar her for life.

And they lived happily ever after,
Jenn

PS I've added more pictures to our picasa web album.

Doesn't this Look Comfy?

This is how I found Eliza Claire in her crib today during nap time. This is actually the second time today I found her this way. I don't think I could even get my body in this position much less stay in it for a nap! Silly, silly girl!

Eliza has gotten really good at getting to sitting from laying down but apparently has a little trouble doing the reverse. So when she sits up in her crib I think she plays until she literally falls face forward and goes to sleep.

It sure doesn't look comfy to me but she slept this way for over an hour this afternoon and would have slept longer if I hadn't had to wake her to go pick up Ruby's prescription.

Tomorrow I promise to post pictures of Charlotte from Disney on Ice - Princess Wishes.

Happy Sleeping,
Jenn

Mother's Day - What is really means

Traditionally, my family celebrates Mother's Day on Saturday and then celebrate with Michael's mom on Sunday. This year was no different.

We were originally planning a trip to Sea World for the day but Rehm's T-ball team had playoffs today and we couldn't miss those. So hopefully we will get to Sea World soon. It seems every time we plan a trip something comes up to cancel it.

Michael wanted to know what I wanted to do.For some reason continuing to tell him I wanted to go to Sea World didn't seem helpful to him. Finally I told him I wanted to go out to breakfast as a family before the T-ball craziness started. So we went to Kerbey Lane and it was yummy as always.

After Kerbey Lane we went to check out the new swim center where Rehm and Charlotte will have swim lessons. They received their swim suits and caps, which of course they both wanted to try on immediately.

Charlotte modeling her new swim gear

After a few hours at home it was time for T-ball. If we won our game then we didn't play again until Monday, if we lost we had another game immediately following the first. Of course we ended up losing. Unfortunately we thought we were winning but then the scorekeepers for both teams huddled and found that the other team really had one more run than the umpire thought and that made us lose the game.

Charlotte during the first game

We won our second game of the day. There was some drama in one inning when it looked like the other team was going to make a triple play. However, one of the coaches from the other team interfered in the play so our team only ended up with one out instead of three. Whew! Rehm batted in the winning run! He thought that was very cool. The boys were thrilled but that meant we had to play a third game today! Yikes three games in one day with six year olds!

We had a two hour break so we went to grab some dinner. Apparently we forgot to feed the kids lunch! I guess it is a good thing they had a big breakfast! At dinner Rehm got too much mozzarella stick in his mouth which made him gag, which made him spit it all out in my hand! Yep, the joys of being a mother :)



Then back to the field to play the third game. Unfortunately we were all tired and they just couldn't pull it off. We lost. The boys were sad. The parents were sad, but also kind of glad they wouldn't have to come back Monday and possibly Wednesday for more games. So the season is officially over for us. I think Rehm had a great time playing and will want to play again next year. And apparently, I don't dislike T-ball and baseball as much as I thought. Surprisingly, I really enjoyed the season. Now granted there are still times that I think they all take it a little to seriously...

So apparently the pampering mother's on TV commercials enjoy on Mother's Day is a TV myth. At my house Mother's Day looks a lot like any other day. And you know I wouldn't have it any other way!

Today was the perfect Mother's Day as I got to spend it with my kids having fun! (OK so the dinner incident wasn't really fun, but hey I think getting thrown up on and peed on were in the job description so who am I to complain? Oh wait, no one shows you the job description! Hmm. I think there is a conspiracy out there...)

I am just so blessed to be the mom of five wonderful children! And so thankful that I get to watch four of them grow.

Happy Mother's Day,
Jenn