Anatomy of a Tantrum

It looks like the terrible two's are shortly upon us.  Caleb has learned to throw tantrums!  I really find them incredibly cute and almost funny.  I know... I'll change my tune later when they happen all the time, but it's just so cute to see him so frustrated.  And then I laugh at him and he screams and shakes even more. He makes little fists and shakes them at me in rage.  lol.  And now he's learned to flop himself on the floor.  Luckily he's only had a few - which is why I still think they're cute.  I happened to capture a tantrum in picture by accident.  He was being so cute playing with his cars so I started taking.  And while I was taking pics, he got frustrated with a car that wouldn't do what he wanted it to.  Here's what followed.  It TOTALLY cracks me up!

Happily playing cars:

Then the car annoys him, and here it comes... the shaking fists.  I love it when he does this.  lol.

 

Next he flops himself on the floor.  Then puts his head up to yell:

Still flopping in anger:

Calming down, but still mad.


I know - I'm bad for finding this amusing.  I think I find it cute in pictures because there's NO SOUND!

Lydia lost her first tooth!

Lydia has been so worried about the fact that she is "6 1/2 and in 1st grade and still hasn't lost a tooth".  She had one that's been loose for a little while and kept asking me when it would come out (and believing it never would).  I told her maybe before Valentine's Day and we both agreed it would be cool, but unlikely, if she lost her first tooth on Valentine's Day.  Well, the unlikely came true!  lol  Lydia lost her tooth on Valentine's Day just like I predicted.  And even better... it fell out during church.  I ALWAYS wanted to lose a tooth while I was at school or church... or somewhere other than home where everyone would get excited, but I never did.  She came home from church and showed me and I was so excited for her that I picked her up in a big hug and swung her around in circles (she ate up all that attention).  She is beyond excited!!!  She kissed her tooth all day and danced around the house with it. She claims "My tooth loves me so it came out!"  Hooray that it finally fell out so she doesn't have to worry anymore.

Valentine's Day

Here are some pictures of the kids that actually let me take pics of them.  Katie doesn't like her picture taken and the boys... well they don't like Valentine shirts very much.  lol

First Anna, Lydia and Elizabeth wearing their Valentine's Day shirts:

Elizabeth showing off her cute piggy tails.

The kids get a heart with chocolates for Valentine's Day every year from mom.  It started out mostly when they were little and I'd give them one and eat the rest.  Now they're all big enough that they ate them all and I didn't even get a bite!  lol 

Caleb loved his because it has a truck on it.

We also had pink chocolate chip pancakes (which I forgot to take a picture of so you'll just have to imagine them).  And I made a new chicken dinner for Blake (since he doesn't like chocolates... er doesn't want to eat them).  We got out the Valentine's Day table clothes and napkins and I set out the chocolate hearts by the side of their plates.  The table looked really cute, but I forgot pictures of that too.  Anna was so excited, she couldn't stop bouncing around.  She loves stuff like that!

And two cute pictures of Lydia with Anna's heart pillow.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Katie in Pictures

Katie's birthday always reminds me of those first few days and weeks of her life. They were certainly eventful! I had planned on an unmedicated birth and it's a good thing I did because there was no time for anything. We got to the hospital at 4:15 and she was born at 4:32. Blake said it was pretty fun watching all the doctors and nurses scramble. I didn't really pay attention to that.  She was in NICU and had a blood transfusion and stayed in the hospital for 6 days. Michael wasn't able to see her because he was too little - they wouldn't let him in the NICU. It was a nightmare having a baby in NICU and a 1 year old and barely 3 year old at home needing their mommy. But we survived. We didn't know before she was born that she had DS. And even after she was born no one was certain. They suspected she did but couldn't be sure until the blood test came back 3 weeks later. But by then she was our little Katie and we loved her for who she was/is and didn't care much what the test said. She had already won our hearts - right from the very start.  I'll NEVER forget when I held her for the first time and our eyes met for the first time. I thought to myself, "they look different to me".  I didn't know she had DS then. But it wasn't so much the physical appearance of her eyes that made me think and made  that moment so memorable. It was because her eyes pierced my soul. It was like our hearts connected through her eyes and I truly saw heaven! It was an incredible experience! Katie has come such a long way since then. And she's taught us so much every step of the way. She constantly surprises us by doing things no one ever thought she'd be able to do.  I can't imagine life without Katie and I'm so grateful she's part of our family!

Here are some pics of our sweet Katie Bear:

3 months old:

 

 1 year:

 2 years:

 3 years:

4 years:

5 years:

6 years:

7 years:

8 years:

9 years:

10 years:

And for 11 years see the previous post since I haven't got her 11 year old pictures taken.  :)

Happy Birthday Katie!

Katie is 11 years old today!  She has been so excited about her birthday... she's asked me everyday for the last six months, "When's my birthday?"  She was so excited to bring her birthday treats to school that she got ready BY HERSELF and without being stubborn.  She even sat down to let me do her hair and said, "I'm nice."  lol.  I'll post a time line tomorrow but I'm waiting for someone to scan her pictures for me.  Here's my sweet birthday girl this morning. 

Happy 11th Birthday Katie!!!

New pics

I love this picture of Elizabeth.

Lydia on Native American day.

Caleb making a mess and really proud of it.

Elizabeth and Caleb playing in a box.

Anna put earphones on Caleb and he was fascinated.

Lydia and her "mad face".  Imagine this picture and her saying "Hmph" and you have a good picture of what I deal with whenever she's unhappy or stubborn about not doing something.

Playing dressup and Wii Guitar Hero at the same time.  lol  The ballerina and the witch rockin' out!

I actually got a few good pictures of Katie!

 Miss Anna looking cute.

The Silver Lining to a Broken Honda

The transmission on our Honda Odessey went out this week.  UGH!!!  Blake was working in Iowa and Nebraska all week. He was supposed to take a rental car since he tries not to use our own vehicle for work. But because if the Toyota recall Hertz didn't have any cars available. So he had to take the van. He drove the 400 miles there and then 400 back.  The amazing thing is it broke down right after he got off the freeway... 5 miles from home!!   He was able to coast into a parking lot and then call me to come get him.  I just keep thinking, "What if he would have broken down on the freeway somewhere far away in the middle of nowhere?"  So while I'm sad we have to deal with a broken car, I just keep counting our blessings that 1) he was so close to home, 2)  it didn't break down while he was on the freeway or in the middle of nowhere or both, 3) he was able to coast into a parking lot and 4)  he's safe! Amazing, huh?!!! So there's the "silver lining" I found when dealing with a broken car.  He was definitely being watched over!

I Love You!

On Sunday Caleb learned how to say "I love you" and it was very obvious that he knew what he was saying and that he meant it.  We were sitting on the couch and he snuggled up to me, put his head on my chest, gave me a big hug and said, "aluvoo".  My heart melted right there!  He said it multiple times complete with lots of hugs.  And yesterday he put his hands on my cheeks, pulled me close and gave me a big open mouth kiss and said, "KISS Mommy!".  He knows how to make his mommy happy.  I guess I can overlook the fact that he doesn't sleep and he loves to take things apart.  (He knows what he's doing, huh? lol)

Just look at my sweet little Momma's Boy:

Watching "Dora Springtime".  This is the first show that he was interested in and that he really paid attention to and understood.  Basically Dora and Boots go on an egg hunt and the eggs have prizes hidden inside.  The prizes are things kids love... stickers, bubbles, a car, a ball, etc.  Caleb has the prizes memorized and shouts out what is inside the egg before they open them.  He gets so excited and it's so fun to watch him watch Dora.  lol.


The prize in the egg is... "A CAR!!! (His obsession for cars is amazing!)

 And next... "BUBBLES!"

Really the title of this post could be describing Caleb talking about Dora as well as his mommy... "I love you Dora!" lol.  Here are some more pics of him watching Dora:

Winter "Swimming"

I'm following up with my goal from my previous post about "special times" and creating memories.  I think I'm making progress learning to enjoy small moments and create more memorable experiences.
The kids were out of school last week and were all bored.  I came up with the crazy idea of "swimming in the winter".  I let them swim in my big garden tub.  They all put on swim suits and played in the water making potions, playing "cooking class", etc.  Lydia was really timid and nervous at first and refused to join in.  She said it was "too weird and made her worried."  (Typical worrying Lydia!)  But once she saw the other kids having a ball she decided to join them.  She ended up being the one who protested the most about getting out.  They had a great time!   Katie absolutely LOVED it!  She loves water and could swim constantly but she gets cold really easily in the outdoor pool, so this was really fun for her to "swim" in warm water.  I have to say they better remember this activity because it turned out to be a MUCH bigger mess than I thought.  There was water, toys, clothes, wet swim suits, and towels everywhere!  lol.
Here's all the fun.  (And Caleb really does have a swim diaper on, you just can't see it.)

My favorite picture... all of them splashing.  Katie was laughing hysterically and sweet Anna tried to cover Caleb's eyes while she splashed so he wouldn't cry.