I realized I have a lot of pictures to post of what has been going on around our house and that I have neglected a family update in a while. So I will just jump right in.
I want to start by sharing two new additions to our house. These are two projects I have been working on. and owe a big *thanks* to Curt Brinkmann for building the coat rack for me and for the picture wall. Here they are.
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| our new picture wall and new living room arrangement |
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| our entry way coat rack |
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| I used chalkboard paint and magnetic paint |
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| i hung the hooks low enough so the kids could hang their own coats |
Carter has been very entertaining lately. Some of the things he says makes me wonder what his brain thinks about all day. One night at dinner Chad and I were talking about swimming with the dolphins and how that is on my bucket list. Carter grew concerned that the dolphins would "eat" us, but when I reassured him they were usually nice he then asked if he could swim with them. Chad piped in and told him he could swim with the dolphins when he was married with his own kids. We of course start laughing, when he crossed his arms across his chest and says "I am never going to buy me a wife!" Hopefully if he changes his mind, wives are going for pretty cheap. Carter has also been singing a lot more. He will sing songs her learned in preschool or him and Camden still regularly sing Christmas carols. He has also been big into playing with a stuffed monkey (that is a dog toy) pretending that it is monkey from Ku Fu Panda. He flies that monkey all over the house and it is *always* accompanied by sound effects. He can play with that monkey for hours. He has also been very eager to put on his pajamas and asks a lot throughout the day if he can put them on. His favorite pair are his Darth Vader ones (you know, the low quality character jammies) and will often ask me to wash them right after he is done with them so he can wear them again. He also insists that Chad wear his Star Wars T-shirt when he has on those pajamas. I also wanted to mention in case I haven't before that he *loves* to wear any pair of argyle socks which he calls his super hero socks. The great thing about him wanting to wear different things and change is that he does a good job putting things back and not making more laundry for me. I really appreciate that! One last thing I want to add is that the other day I asked Carter if he would go down and get the level for me. He said "I don't know if I know what that is." So I told him it was the thing with the bubbles in it and it was straight like a ruler. About 5 minutes later he emerged from the basement carrying the level!
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| fort for his animals |
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| he wanted a picture with spider man hanging from the window |
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| crazy hair day at preschool |
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| helping me paint the new coat rack |
Camden is so ready for school. I can't wait for him to start. He likes it when we ask him what certain letters are what things say. He loves reading and we find him alone with a book quite often. He has also taken interest in putting on his own clothes by himself. He used to do it if we made him, but preferred our help. Now he takes pride in doing it by himself, usually. He is a good big brother to Callan when Carter is away. He makes sure Callan has the toys he wants or will give him his water when he asks. Both of the boys do a pretty good job of making sure Callan is involved, sometimes too involved when it comes to wrestling. I have also noticed that Camden starts the wrestling matches a lot with both Carter and Callan. We see him breaking out of his shell more especially when he is at the YMCA child watch. He has his friends there and usually jumps right in playing with the other kids. He is also pretty good about telling me what he did there and who he played with.
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| animal pillow fort |
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| playing with Callan |
Callan is a new boy, or at least a big boy. He no longer has his binky! What a glorious day, and a sad day for me. It just means another step away from him being a baby. Even though I am sad that my baby is growing up, I see such a fun future with all the boys being able to do so many more things than nap, eat, and change diapers. The binky removal was pretty easy. The only hard part was for about a week he took terrible naps, but nighttime was fine. Now we are back to our new normal without a binky! This boy has shown some major personality lately. First of all he has *no* fear. None! He adores his big brothers which means he wants to do anything and everything they do. He can climb the ladder on the bunk beds (which we have to take down to prevent spinal cord damage, or the possibility of him having a claw) he tries to go down the stairs head first (which the older boys refer to it as a "cocoa puff", why? I don't know) He will climb all over the furniture, hang off the end of our bed, jump off the couch down stairs and pretty much anything else he observes his brothers doing. It is amazing to me how much he mimics them. He fits right in to their wrestling matches and can hold his own pretty well. I am placing bets now that he will be the next one to break an extremity or need stitches. His understanding of the english language also astounds me. I don't know if it is because he has two older siblings who are always talking to him and interacting with him but he can do almost any task you give him. He really enjoys brushing his teeth and getting his hair combed like the older boys. He runs into the bath room to be first in line. He is also doing better at using utensils. He gets practice every morning with his oatmeal. He is also still into opening all the cupboards and drawers which can be a little annoying, but he is pretty good about putting things back when we ask. He is however showing us how stubborn he really can be. I hope it is not a prediction of our future. I really enjoy this age as they start to discover language and I love the interactions he has with the dogs and his brothers. He is saying more words now as well. I will try and list out all that he is saying. bye bye, mama, dada, Nase, Tatze, Carter, Camden, please, sorry, cookie, love you, brother, ouch, no no, and water. Their may be a few more but I can't think of them right now. He has also started giving kisses. He makes the cutest kissing noise!
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| helping dad dust the refrigerator (once again sarah, don't hate me, at least this time we were cleaning it) |
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| eating his oatmeal with a spoon |
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| he found mommy's shoes |
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| snow ice cream made with tang. they did not appreciate it as much as i did when i was a kid |
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| sorry for the bad quality photo. i let them play with glow sticks in the bath tub and the lights were out. |
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| our awesome marble run we built |
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| making some music |
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| home made cannoe |
