Halloween

Costumes were fun (and easy) this year. Mia was a witch (gotten post Halloween in a previous year), Ryan was "Anakin Skywalker" from the Star Wars: Clone Wars era, and Wyatt borrowed a pirate costume. He doesn't have the eyepatch and the hat he wore to all the parties because he couldn't find them when he needed to. Tyler and I sat in a chair outside on the porch for an hour to hand out candy.
Don thinks that I am the Halloween Scrooge because I mumble under my breath (and sometimes not so under) about the older teens and adults holding out bags for themselves. I found a new pet peeve this year when I saw parents dragging half asleep toddlers and babies who had no interest in collecting anything, holding their bags for them, saying trick or treat for them, and pushing them off more than half asleep in the stroller. Who are you doing this for - you or your children? Are you really that desperate for candy? All right - let me get down off my soapbox. It was a ton of fun.
The three oldest kids went to two trunk or treats, a classroom party and real trick or treating for an hour. Lets just say that the amount of candy in our house right now is probably the scariest part of our Halloween season.

Pumpkins

We used patterns when carcing then pumpkins this year and we invited Nana over to help us out. The kids did their own this time - which was awesome! They were pretty patient with the whole process once they "got it". Mia did a happier face. Ryan and Wyatt did a more traditional skeletal look, Dad did a zombie face, I did a bat, and Nana craved out a witch. It only toook me an hour and a half to clean up this mess!

First Day of School

AAAGGHHH! It's finally here - my babies are going to school! They were up at 5:15am this morning (Tyler didn't help there) and were sooooo excited to get out the door. You can't get more ready for school then these kids are. Ryan spent most of the morning explaining things about school and answering questions (when will we have PE? how many recesses do we get? what's the ROUTINE?) Don and I dropped them off at school and walked in with them (tradition not to ride the bus the first day). They immediately left us without so much as a goodbye to find friends and play. I am so excited to see them grow and learn in a different way. I felt like I did all that I could do with them at home (in this aspect) and that they will grow so much in school. Wyatt has Ryan's old teacher (who we loved) and who knows him from when we went and volunteered in the classroom. We felt like this wasn't his first day at all! Mia was already holding hands with another girl in her class (who she met for 30 seconds during registration last week) and Ryan was racing around like a kid in a candy store saying hello to friends, trying to find basketballs to play with, and generally having a grand time. Incidentally, he said to me yesterday, "You know why I am excited to go back to school? Well, two reasons: first I get to see all my friends. Second, I don't have to do chores or homework!" I said, "you are still going to have homework!" (I have them work on things throughout the summer during "homework time" in the morning). He said, "Yeah but Mom, school homework is WAAYYY easier than your homework!" Hee hee. I guess I am doing something right. He is in the gifted and talented class at school and I know he will do great! The last picture is of Don and Tyler standing alone after all the kids ditched us. Now I get to blog, put away laundry and dishes, plan dinner and vacuum - ALL BY MYSELF!!

Explaination Below

Tyler - 3 months

Tyler is three months old today! We can't believe how time has flown! It seems like we just brought him home, but the pictures of him have definitely changed. He seems to be the perfect baby. We are waiting for something to blow up in our faces, but at this point he is almost too good to be true. He started sleeping through the night at 8 weeks old (11 whole hours people!). I hadn't even gotten my sleep training book that I used for all the rest of the kids out - he did it all on his own-- no "crying it out" required. He is a great breast feeder (except in the late afternoon when he feels he is entitled to every two hours ) and switches to the bottle fairly easily when I need to get out -we started this early in anticipation of me going back to work.The kids love to play with and hold him. He was a little late in smiling, holding out to about 10 weeks for a real "social smile", but now it is hard to get him to stop. We know when he is really tired because he just stares at you endlessly. He has a few babbles at this point, but he is not that vocal. He is such a "go with the flow" baby that it is hard to believe that this is the same soul who caused me great misery in pregnancy. He is easily in the 90th percentile for weight. I haven't weighed him recently, but he was over 12 lbs at 7 weeks. He takes after all of our other kids in low muscle tone. Floppy legs that don't support his weight, extreme dislike of tummy time (the only time I can get him to cry enough to clean out his upper nasal congestion), and most likely to be a little slower to reach all those other gross motor milestones. We are having so much fun with Tyler that we almost don't want him to get bigger (especially since he makes my arms pretty tired right now). He is probably a bit spoiled, but also gets woken up quite a bit to fit with the rest of the family's schedule. Anyway, you have probably guessed by now that we are loving life with a baby around! Enjoy the pics Mom. :0) Since I don't have ANY handle on how to format this blog (we are lucky I get it up without hitting the computer) I am just going to caption them this way: #1 He loves the swing and stares endlessly at the mobile of stuffed sea creatures (which doesn't move anymore) #2 Daddy tickling my chin #3 A serious look #4 I liked this pic because it shows his fascination with his tongue. He is often seen sucking his tongue or sticking it partways out.

Ranch Part Two

Here are the ostriches (which grabbed the feed cup and yanked it right out of Ryan's hand) and the minature donkeys which were a sedate as a mammel ever could be. We also had great fun feeding the Lorakeets (Ryans favorite) which look like minature colorful parrots. The came and landed all over your body and drank from a little cup the kids held - so fun!

Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch

Yesterday we had great fun at an ostrich ranch (the largest in North America) that we had passed on the freeway at least 15 times since living here in AZ. With Don gone and spring break upon us, we decided there was no better time than now and left the ranch wondering why we waited so long. The trip was a total success, except for the fact that my camera ran out of batteries before we got to feeding the lorakeets (grrr) which just means we will just have to go back! Here is the first few animals (we actually had fun feeding everything BUT the ostriches which we too aggressive for our tastes). The deer we slobbery and the goats were noisy, but it didn't stop the kids from going back 3 and 4 times to empty their cups!

lookalikes

Look-Alikes

Especially now that Tyler has started to smile, we are delighted to see his resemblance to Ryan. None of our children have much similarity to each other, apart from the blond hair of the boys. This mimics my own family, who looks as alike as George Washington and Gearge Washington Carver. Of course, Ryan looks nothing like his baby pictures, so the mystery remains. Here are two of Ryan and two of Tyler.

Updated Pics of Tyler

Now that I am finally current with all the other pics, here is some taken just yesterday evening. Cuddling with Tyler on the couch is everyones favorite thing to do and he is generally very accomodating. Ryan is having a blast being the "biggest brother" and is very understanding of baby needs and concerned about how Tyler is feeling. Don has the early evening hours with Tyler (his unhappiest time for some reason) and shows what a pro he is in the Daddy department.

Bath time

Our first bath was quite the event. Everybody was fighting for ringside seats and after I got everything ready, Don swept in and did the honors. We are a little weary of baths because of the excema in our family, but there comes a point where rotton spit up makes the decision for you.