What We Did With Our Summer: Part 1

It was hot... we ate LOTS and LOTS of Otter Pops and Shaved Ice...

Sibling Love

This is not always a captured moment.  But there are many moments like this around here.  I see the love they have for each other and I am grateful to witness it.  I hope they can develop a great friendship when they are older and I hope they can always be there for one another. 

Otis can be feisty, but I think he has brought a sense of love and affection to all the kids.  I guess babies have that effect on people :)  Milli is a sweetheart.  She wants to help and is patient with her little brother. 



Its is my privileged to be their mom... may I take full advantage of the sweet moments I have with them! I know they wont be little for ever and time will not stand still. 

Sometimes I'm A Nice Mom

 The kids don't love running errands with me.  And to be totally honest, I don't love taking them on errands with me :) But I always try to make it fun and reward them for good behavior.  Sometimes that works, other times it totally does not! 

After moving into the new house, we had lots and lots of trips to Ikea or Lowes.  So the kids got very tired of both of those stores.  It was a hot summer and we were being very frugal... For $4 (including tax) I was able to go from the "mean mom" to the "nice mom." Thx IKEA!

 

It was worth the mess for all the smiles and happy kids I got it the end.  Truth is, I really do enjoy the kids.  I want to make them happy. But you can't always get them everything they want.  They don't always expect something, and most of the time, they do deserve a treat :) 

 

I like to be the nice mom all the time... I just need NICE kids all the time too :)  Easy, right?

12 Stitches (graphic pics)

 

We went to the park and while chit chatting with the girls, I see Mylo walking towards us, bawling and holding his head.  He had no idea that his head was this hurt.  I took one look at it and I got a little sick.  He ran into an electrical box... he was running, while looking back at whoever was chasing him, and when he turned around to keep running he ran right into the corner of this box.  He cut his head clear to the bone!  OUCH!!!! 

I rushed him to InstaCare and after some numbing medicine and an Otter Pop, he was as good as new.

When our kids have gotten hurt, we have always taken a bunch of pictures, so they can see it later on :) 

The Dr. put in 3 stitches inside and 9 on the outside.  I told Mylo he was going to look like Frankenstein :) He didn't seem to pleased. 

This last picture was a few days later, stitches still in.  The scar looks good now and will continue to heal just fine.  His hair mostly covers it.  

This little boy rarely gets hurt.  I was glad that he didn't his his eye!  When we were done we headed back to the park and check out where he had hit.  There was still hair on the box!

Abuela and Mari watched the kids and drove us back and forth from park and hospital.  Friends and Family always there to save the day!

Mylo Turns 7

Mylo turned 7!  Its so crazy to think my little baby boy is getting so big.  He is as cute and funny as ever.  He opted for a bigger present and no party this year (again) and that was perfect in my book. 

He got an awesome Ninjago Lego Set and he was VERY PLEASED! 

Leah pretty much built it for him.  They both love to build Legos together and this was perfect.   We are still in our apt, but so close to moving to our house.  You can see all the boxes and suitcases behind them.  It was chaos for a few weeks in the apt :)

It has become tradition to have doughnuts on our birthdays, we all look forward to it!  Because all of our stuff was packed away, I mean I had 6 plates and utensils and two pans, we didn't have an actual cake.  So Mylo blew his CANDLE (yes, only one) SEVEN times :)

We sure love our smarty pants!  He continues to be funny, clever, a little stinker at times, but ALWAYS super cute!  His big brown eyes melt my heart and his beautiful full eyelashes make it hard to say "no" to him.  He is doing fantastic at school and has lots of great friends.  Im looking forward to seeing how he continues to grow.

Winter is FINALLY Here (I'm not pleased with its arrival)

We woke up on Saturday to SNOW!!!!!!  Seriously, I was not happy about it, because of the house, this BETTER not slow us down this week.  If it does, then Mother Nature better watch out!!! (jk, I love Mother Nature and I am grateful for her and her 'moods').

The kids LOVED it!  After a few hours of begging me to go play outside I let them.  I haven't let them play outside much because I can't watch them.  Our apt is around the corner from the parking lot and I don't feel safe letting them play there. But one of my goals this year is to be more of a "yes" mom (more on that on another post).

Snowball "fight"

They played on this parking strip right in front of our apt for a while.  

They tried to pile enough snow to make a snowman, but quickly realized it was too much work.  I love how Mylo is trying to get the snow to the right area, heheeehe. 

Then they moved over to the parking lot, where they found a fort-like pile of snow and played there for an hour or so.  Otis joined in the fun for a bit... 

 

 

 

Otis kept his hat on.  SO CUTE!!!! 

 

When they got cold, they rushed inside for some hot cocoa.  

Isn't that the best part of playing in the snow?

It was worth the work getting these monkeys in their snow gear.  They played for a long time and were so happy.  Plus, this is what being a kid is all about.  I'm glad I can see them enjoy life in simple ways.

Mellow Mylo

This kid has become a little more vocal lately.  I think he is finally figuring out how to be as "loud" as his siblings.  He has for sure been the easiest of our kids. He is kind and polite and mellow.  He is so mellow that he is borderline lazy :)

He is a very smart kid!  He can spell like a champ and is a great reader.  School is so easy for him he doesn't even try, which has become a bit of a challenge since he gets bored and goofs around.  He has some great friends and together they are a lot of fun.

Here's a sampling of our sweet, funny, mellow boy...

Dave got him this mask while on one of his trips.  eheheee, makes me giggle! 

Crazy face

Sweet as pie

HANDSOME!  look at that face!!!!!! 

Mellow, go with the flow kid, even when getting his cavities (yes, plural!) filled.

 

Did I mention he lost a top toof, finally!  We yanked it out the other night and he was SO happy. 

 

I cried, He didn't.  Dave laughed at me, for crying.  I cried because his "baby" smile is no longer!  Makes me sad to see my kids smile change.  Now he will get huge teeth that will probably be all messed up and his baby face will become a big boy face, im not ready for that!  

Now he is Mellow, Toofless Mylo! 

Leah's Christmas GNO and Some Extras

Leah has been doing wonderful in school and as a reward she got to invite a few of her friends for a Christmas Party.  Mylo and Milli also got to invite one friend over, it was a lot of fun!  However, 11 kids in our small apartment is not optimal, but still fun!

They decorated cookies with LOTS of frosting and LOTS of sprinkles...

Otis watched, HOPING for some frosting to decorate his non-frosted cookie :) (is he not SO cute!!!!!)

Leah has made some super cute friends this year and continues to be friends with some from last year.  Im looking forward to having these girls over more often.... roudy but FUN girlies!

HOLY FROSTING!!!!

Then, they watched Santa Claus (1).  It was an entertaining movie, cute too. 

 

This was  fun night... perhaps we will do it again :) 

Helpful Kids

Sarcastic Title.... (for the most part)

Leah wanted to pass off some Faith In God "goals" 

and one of them was to prepare a meal for the family.  

She made one of her faves, Taco Soup, YUMMY!  

Otis helps me get to the vaccuming sooner than I would care, 

by dumping an entire box of cereal!!! its a good thing he is so cute, or else....

Otis also loves to "help" me with the laundry.  My most dreaded task as a mother. 

It seems that he ALWAYS knows that I am going to do a load, because he is always there with dirty laundry in his hand.  He also loves to watch as the washer goes round and round. 

Mylo, our little monkey helper.  We needed a cooker from way in the back

and this little monkey climbed through all of our junk that has been stored in here.  

He did this twice, bless his little helpful heart.

Homemade Oreos!  The girls (mostly Leah) and I made them over the Christmas break

Then we ate them ALL!  They were that good and Leah is a GREAT helper in the kitchen. 

Close up of the Homemade Oreos, YUM! 

Three of these and a cold glass of milk, heaven for your belly.