Reuben's Little Mommy

She never gets tired of taking care of her baby brother.  She is going to make a great mom some day! 

Complete with nursing blanket!

Adeline's 2nd Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MISS ADELINE!

Adeline LOVES Minnie Mouse, so we had a Minnie Mouse inspired cake, . . .

. . . and some Minnie Mouse decorations.

She loves hanging out with Mommy and being held and snuggled. 

Scott had the great idea to let Minnie hold a candle.  Adeline was not sure how to blow out the candles, so Scott ended up doing it for her.

Love those two front teeth when she smiles!

Here she is trying to figure out why there is no juice inside her new Minnie Mouse cups.

Peter could not stay away from the action.  He had to "help" her open almost every gift.

Adeline got a ladybug pillow pet, Minnie Mouse cups, a baby doll, a stroller, a dinosaur transformer (from her brothers:), a book, a tea set, and puzzles.

She LOVES her baby Jenna, her stroller and her Minnie Mouse cups.

Adeline is such a cutie these days.  She is always doing something to make Scott and I laugh.  She is very feisty and definitely all-girl.  Adeline understands most everything, but talking might be an issue with her.  She says "uh huh" to everything and will only say words with the letter D.  For example, she says baby like this:  de de.  She gets the correct amount of syllables and the correct intonation, but she will not use the correct sounds.

I think her favorite colors are purple and pink because those are the color of dishes she usually picks out at meal time.  She does not have a favorite show yet because she will not sit still long enough to watch one.  She would rather help me take care of Reuben or help Scott do something around the house.  We call her our "little shadow" because she follows us around so closely.  In fact we are tripping over her all of the time!

 We love you, Little Miss Adeline!

The Rigster

I just felt like Rigby needed his own post.  He is much more of a background kid compared to his flamboyant siblings.  Here he is with some of his favorites: Doggie pillow pet, Turtle pillow pet, Froggy, and his yellow blanket.  He is just so handsome.  Love you, Riglebee!

The Kids' Creations

For Thanksgiving Peter's teacher sent home a turkey that he was suppose to decorate/camouflage so it would not be captured and eaten.  He decided he wanted to make a "Mr. Rainbow Turkey" as he called it.  Rigby felt left out, so he made one as well.  And Little Miss Adeline just loves getting pictures taken with her big brothers.

Peter's Turkey:

Rigby's Turkey:

The boys LOVE making things with their Lego Duplos.  Some days I really hate that we have almost 1,000 of the dumb things, but seeing them create and use their imaginations makes me happy and helps me tolerate the mess.  Here is Peter's creation inspired by Mr. Business in the Lego Movie:

I guess kids are never too young to start text messaging.  Here is a text that Adeline sent my mom the other night:

Super Bubble Baths

Since we have moved to Louisiana, the kids have enjoyed taking what we call "super bubble baths."  At this house we have a tub with jets in the master bedroom that we turn on when there are bubbles; when the jets agitate the water, it makes the bubbles froth up a lot.  The kids absolutely LOVE it and ask for it all of the time.

Reuben's 1st Bath (not really)

Sooo, these are really not pictures of his 1st bath.  I wish I would have had the presence of mind to take pictures of his 1st bath, but sleep deprivation, other children's needs, and hormones have taken their toll on me and I forgot.  Ooops!

Reuben is almost 2 months old in these pictures.  These pictures are great because it is rare to see him NOT crying during a bath.  Usually he whines and then works himself up to a screaming cry by the time I finish.  He is super cute and I love him, but I cannot wait until he starts enjoying life a bit more. Love you, Reuben!

I love the fat rolls on his leg in this picture!

He looks a little concerned, huh?

St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day was on a Monday, so we made rainbow cupcakes for family home evening.  The kids absolutely LOVED helping me do this.  Peter keeps talking about them and almost everyday since, Rigby has demanded that I make more.

We also had fun trying on our green leprechaun mustaches.  Sorry for the blurry picture, but I was trying to use Scott's new camera and I cannot get it to focus (too much camera for me I've decided:).

This leprechaun hat and beard is one of Peter's creations that he makes after school.  We have had to restrict the use of tape because he goes through it like crazy!

Our silly leprechaun with his "leprechaun trap."  All of the students at his school made one, but that darn leprechaun just stole all of the gold and left the classrooms a mess.  Peter was really upset with the leprechaun and just ranted on and on about it when he came home from school; it was super cute and hilarious.

The leprechaun was suppose to climb up the ladder and get stuck in the container while trying to grab the gold.  I guess he brought a rope with him!  Peter is confident that he will catch the leprechaun next year though!

Kids' Update

Adeline has turned into a little mommy since Reuben has been born.  She is always running to grab his pacifier, sharing her food or drinks with him, patting him on the head, and giving him kisses.  It has been so cute (and annoying sometimes) to see her take care of her little brother.  We have plans to eventually move Reuben into Adeline's room, but for now we are afraid she will smother him out of love.  

Adeline is still into clothes as well.  Santa brought her dress-up clothes for Christmas, but things like Peter's and Rigby's underwear and Reuben's onsies are more appealing than her cute skirts.    

Rigby has become even closer to Scott since Reuben has been born.  He has been so stuck on Scott lately that he will wake up in the middle of the night and move his bedding to sleep next to our bed.  I feel bad because I am struggling to balance my time with each of the kids and Rigby seems to be the one that I always forget.  I have been spending some time trying to figure out his speech and allergy issues lately.  It made me feel good to hear him say to Scott and my Mom, "Mommy took me to the doctor and got me medicine to make it better."  So I guess he does see me helping him somehow. 

 

Rigby still falls asleep in the strangest places.  As usual Rigby was not in his room the other night, so I began to check every room in the house to see where he had crashed.  He scared me to death because he ended up being in the last room I checked.  He had fallen asleep on the tile in Adeline's bathroom with the door shut and lights off so it was pitch black.  Crazy kid!

This is how Rigby eats anything with a skin. 

Peter has probably been the least effected since Reuben's birth because he is at school a lot of the day.  Although, he does seem to try and sneak or do things without asking first, so that has been a little frustrating.  His school recently had a showcase night where he could show me some of his school work and we were able to do some activities together.  Peter loves it when we come to school with him and I love sharing the entire school experience with him.  Here is some of his artwork:

Reuben has made great progress this past week.  He is starting to be more content and enjoys studying our faces now.  He seems to be the biggest baby out of all the kids and also the strongest.  He prefers sitting up to laying down and he loves to practice lifting his head and standing.  Sometimes I wonder if part of his frustrations are because he feels physically limited.  I think this kid is going to be a busy body once he figures out how to move!

Scott's New Toy

Scott has been having a lot of fun with his new camera.  I am glad he is so good at taking pictures because I often forget to pause and snap some.  Here are some cute pictures he got of the kids before church the last couple of weeks:

Peter Loses His 1st Tooth

Peter was eating an apple at dinner one night and the next thing he knew there was a little tooth sticking out of it.  He got $1.50 from the tooth fairy.  He thinks he has so much money now ($25.00).  We keep having conversations about what $25 dollar can buy, and it has been fun to see him begin understanding how far money goes.  He is so much fun to talk with.  Love you silly boy!

The Newborn Phase

I have not posted very many pictures of Reuben because for the first two months of his life this is what he looked like when he was not sleeping in our arms: (By the way, Rigby wanted to comfort Reuben one morning so he put frog and turtle next to Reuben's bed.  So sweet!)

I think Reuben has done more crying for the past two months than all of my other children combined.  Peter was a fussy baby, but Reuben definitely has beat him at that game.  The poor boy has had major tummy problems and three colds since he was born.  From about two until six weeks, we could not comfort him despite our best efforts, and the only way I could get him to sleep on a good night was to hold him all night long.   Thankfully, his latest cold is clearing up and his tummy issues are beginning to be manageable.  He is sleeping in his own bed at night and will usually take one nap in the swing during the day.  Also, we can pick him up and comfort him with the pacifier and sometimes without it!  Scott even managed to capture a picture of his almost smile:    

I wish I could say I have handled this all well, but I have been a bit of a wreck the past couple of months.  My kids and husband have been great to put up with my grumpiness-thank you!  I am anxious to see his little personality develop and to get some more sleep!

We love you Reuben! (That is what I repeat to myself when I am at the end of my patience with the kids.)  Keep those smiles coming because they melt my heart little boy!

Rigby's 4th Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RIGBY!

This expression of pure excitement is a rare treat coming from Rigby, and we love to see it!

Monster Cupcakes

Yet again, Peter struggled with not being the center of attention.

Peter finally got over his grief and helped Rigby unwrap almost every gift.  Good thing Rigby is such a patient kid.

Rigby got a potato head, a Bumblebee Transformer, candy, books, an angry bird pen/notebook, a scooter, and Voltron.

Rigby is probably our sweetest and most stubborn child.  He finally has been potty trained-most days; although, he is not underwear trained yet because more often than not, we find him naked from the waist down after using the bathroom.  He is so easy going and will play independently for hours.  Rigby is always willing to share without any prompting from us; if he gets a treat from church, he will always set aside some for Adeline and Peter.  His favorite shows are Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Voltron, and Magic School Bus.  His favorite colors are orange and green.  He also loves frogs.  Rigby would eat peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwich, string cheese, and juice for every meal if we let him.  We love you Rigby!