Armed & Dangerous

Yep, he figured out how to pull the trigger (after taking out that scary doll in the background with his sore molars).
. . . .He's pretty proud of himself!

Happy Birthday Hudson!

So it's been one year for little Hudson. We headed over to the Sawyers' to help celebrate.

The kids started out at a nice distance.

And zoomed in real fast as soon as it got exciting.

Susan made a super-cool racetrack cake!

Hudson is such a happy, cheery little guy! I know Ben and him are going to be great buds (although so far, they both seem a bit intimidated by each other. . .which is also funny to watch).
Happy 1st Hudson!

Big Helper!

Since I'm constantly late, Kayte and Will are always helping me get out the door by helping Sara with her shoes.
She's learning. . . . till then, I'm enjoying watching this:

And yes, she does pick out her clothes herself. Did I mention I'm always in a hurry?

Where is their mother???

Likely somewhere with a tall glass of wine and the iPod turned up way loud!

Sunday Breakfast.

Well, I missed my mom & dad as they had spent the last 10 days driving across the country in their new Jeep, so I invited my family and I over for breakfast last Sunday.
That's the great thing about mom & dad's place, you can always invite yourself inside and they never leave you standing there in the rain! :)

Will helped make the French Toast.

Sara sorted Dad's silver from his copper for his Wine Fund.

Ben showed off his new skills for his Grandma.

And the girls love a good rainstorm, so they got their boots and umbrellas (never mind the coats) and headed out. At one point it got a bit windy and literally began to lift little Sara's umbrella, pulling her off the ground. Both hollered till help arrived, and when they were safely inside, Kayte said with worry, "If Sara blew away, I wouldn't have a sister anymore."
So true.

Sabbath Dinner at the Wilson's

A very brave Doug and Nancy invited our whole clan over to dinner on Saturday night. There is nothing quite like celebrating with old friends. There were 18 children and 14 adults in attendance: all healthy, all happy, and ready for a good time!

Nancy wanted a shot of all the kids together. We are only missing Chloe in this photo. Turned out pretty well!
We will have to try it again when we can squeeze in the 5 globe-trotting Merkle children.

It was snowing outside, but inside was all Spring with pink & red dishes, tulips, and the most scrumptious grilled steak sandwiches.

The kiddie tables.

Here are the kids dancing as Doug plays "Tiptoe through the Tulips", which is a song even Joe and I remember him playing back in the old days. Great dancing song!
What a fun evening!

Oops!. . .what a day!

Sara's New 'do:

We decided to freshen up her look a bit, her hair was always hanging in her face! So I took to it today with the scissors, but I couldn't tell that her eyebrows were raised as I trimmed, so again, I went way too short!
Oh well, it is hard for this girl not to be cute - if anyone can pull this look off, Sara can!
But it is just turning out to be that kind of day.
I did a whole load of laundry without putting the soap in, and then I emptied half the dishwasher before I realized that I hadn't run it yet. Then I had to wait a half an hour before I showered, restarted the laundry, or ran the dishwasher, because we ran out of hot water with that load of laundry, two baths and two showers already.
Needless to say, I haven't been that productive yet. But during the downtime I got some reading time in with Sara, so the morning was not a complete loss, and maybe on further reflection, it was a providential blessing!

Papparazzi shots!

You boys better get used to this, we love pictures!

This was only 3 of the 12 cameras lined up for this shot! :)

The big Party!

Birthdays are always a good time, but you cannot beat the 1st birthday, and the cake is definitely the most entertaining part. Heather was in charge of the cupcakes shaped like all kinds of bugs. Very cool!

Getting some help with the candle. . .

. . .but Terran needed no help with the cupcake, he can take care of that all by himself. When he finished he sighed out loud with satisfaction!

Cool decor!

We didn't have time to stick around for all of the gift-opening, but we did see them play with the slide we gave them. They thought it was great fun and I will definitely be picking one up for Ben for his birthday!
I was tying a big blue bow around the slide this morning and Will came into the room. "Wow!" says he. "That looks really beautiful mom!" (see, he is very complimentary!)
But then, I can see his eyes roll up to heaven, "Moooommmm, it isn't supposed to be beautiful! It's for boys!!!!"
Well. . . .the bow was blue, wasn't it?

A Date with Kayte

I am sure a lucky mom - I asked Kayte on a date and she said Yes! We headed to Spokane to attend the twin's birthday party, and I had some shopping to take care of. I was so glad she wanted to come with me - she is fantastic company!

When on earth did her legs get so long?

We were at River Park Square and Kayte insisted that we hit the "Magic Stairs" which led us to the food court (who knew?) where we sniffed out some pizza. So we shared a slice. And, as Kayte said, "If we'd never taken those Stairs, we never would have found that pizza!"
So true!
It was the perfect shopping trip to take her on, because I didn't actually have that much to do, so we just wandered wherever we fancied.

We did get a little lost on our way to Jessa's for the party. But we were way ahead of schedule anyway. . . Kayte was happy to see the twins and eat treats!

We picked up a cheeseburger on the way home and then she conked out like this until we were about a block from the house.
Shopping is hard work!
I am looking forward to a whole lifetime of shopping trips with my girls. Kayte was thrilled to get some time alone and wondered, "Is this what you get to do on girls' night?" She can't wait to get to come along for those!

My Kayte

I love her exuberant smiles!

Kayte is an extremist, just like her mom! She is either starving or stuffed full, boiling hot or freezing cold, really excited or just a puddle. The other day we were in the car and she said, "I would like some ice cream and waffles and whipped cream and carrots."
"Right now? . . .Why?" says I, as it was the middle of the afternoon.
"Because I'm starving!" says she.
Well, at least carrots made the list. (That makes me a good mom, right?)

******************

Earlier that same day (in the car again) Kayte was asking about her violin lesson, "So how did Miss Katie think I did?"
"She said you did great!" says I.
"How do you think I did?" asks she.
"Wonderful!" says I. " You've been working really hard."
Will says, "What do you think Kayte?"
"Well," says Kayte honestly, "I always think I do a really good job."
. . .I love that about her.

More fun

Okay, Wednesday was a bit of a disaster. I decided to try to clean the house that day, do some laundry, give baths. . .you know, get some stuff done. But that seriously was interfering with my goal to give the kids some fun during Spring Break Week!
So we started again fresh on Thursday. I went to the Rain Closet. This is the closet where all the birthday toys go, so I always have something new and fun to pull out on a Rainy Day.

We started with clay. I don't know if it was expired or what, but it was really really difficult to mold. Kayte couldn't even cut it with a knife. . .So we abandoned that little idea pretty quickly and moved on. . .

This was very promising! A fishing game for Princess Gems, complete with fishing rods representing four different Disney princesses (something for everyone!) This game proved pretty challenging and I, for one, was quickly discouraged. Kayte thought it was great fun and played on without us. I gave up on the Rain Closet, handed Will and Sara their mud boots and sent them outside.

This was a huge success! The kids mucked around for about an hour. . .

They started out really bundled up (cause that is what they are used to), but by the end of the morning they had shed their hats and gloves, and even their coats. Spring showed up just in time!

Getting into trouble with Little Benjamin

Ben is always on the lookout for trouble. Sometimes I just sit down and watch it happen.

I couldn't figure out how the fan in Ben's room was always getting unplugged. Turns out Ben has been crawling under his crib and yanking at the cord. You can see the (exposed) outlet, and Ben's precious pile of socks starting to accumulate again. He always pushes the crib from the wall so he can watch them fall down behind there.

Then he wanders over and pulls out the bottom drawer and takes all his pants out one by one and tosses them about.
(Notice I don't bother folding them anyway. . . my poor mom!)

He is starting to launch off on his own from a stable position. He stands holding onto something, then lets go, steadies himself, and takes at least one good step before tumbling on down. We are close!

Happy 1st Birthday!

(I'm going to venture a guess that it goes River and then Terran in this one! Feel free to correct me - I'm still getting this down!)

River and Terran turn 1 today!
Jessa endured a marathon labor to bring these two guys into the world. . . but here they are safe and sound, and growing fast! Again, I feel so blessed to be so close to all our family and get to see these little guys so often. They are going to be so fun to watch grow up!
Happy Birthday!

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

I don't know much about the history of this day, but it is a fun holiday and I do love green (especially in the Springtime!)
And the kids were absolutely thrilled to indulge in another holiday, especially one that includes pinching! (They needed some convincing that this was an appropriate tradition. . .but then game was on!)

I nearly forgot about this big day altogether, but caught a wiff of it on Facebook, so I pulled out some green clothes for everyone (Will only has one green one, and of course, that had to be dug out of the laundry basket. . .ah well!)

Plus, it was a good opportunity to take some more goofy pictures of the kids. I always enjoy that (much more than the kids do!)