We are alive.

Okay, so we've been a bit busy. I know these 'look what we did the past 2 months' and 'more pics of my kids' posts are pretty lame, but that's all I've got right now.

We blessed our little Cooper and had a houseful of guests. It was more lovely than I care to go into on this blog.

Our kids nearly died with all the fun kids to play with. Really, they did.


Cooper is soooo cute. And fat. And we just love him to pieces. I love having a fat kid cuz I know in about 4 months he'll stop growing and turn skinny just like my other kids. He smiles, but we have to work for it. I haven't been able to catch a pic of him smiling yet. This seemed close, but he was actually gearing up to let out a scream.


His feet are my favorite.


I just love them!

I have other kids too. Here is Breckyn. Our roses are freakishly beautiful right now.


Kyra, tan dulce, como siempre.


And Ryder, well he doesn't stop to take a picture. He almost stopped to make a funny face for me.


But he got distracted and started cutting dirt with a butter knife.

That just lasted for a second and he was off to something else.


There. That should catch you up a bit. Now Kyle will be happy.
The end.

So much going on...

Warning: Picture overload ahead...


but nothing really going on... I feel so busy with 4 little ones but at the same time like I don't do anything. We are adjusting to life moving along at a snails pace once again. Here's what we've been up to lately:

So I'm no photographer, but this was what we got in a little 5 minute photo shoot with the little dude.



Breckyn had to build a Leprechaun trap for school last week. Girls were up at the crack of dawn to check and see if the trap worked (hence the bed heads). The tricky guy actually took the gold and ran, but not without leaving a note. The girls had mild heart attacks that a leprechaun was actually in our house.



Cooper even had to check it out and take a turn posing with each sis.







Ryder wouldn't have anything to do with such nonsense.



He perked up quite a bit though when Breckyn dressed him up as Wendy. He seems to like cross dressing, much to Kyle's dismay.



Mostly he occupies himself with trying to see Cooper. Where ever I put Coop, Ryder finds a way to him and gently pats his head while saying "aaaaaahhhh, cyooper, cyooper, soft, cyoooooooper.."





The girls helped me make Irish potato candy and green cupcakes while the boys slept. They were a hit.





Even Dad got messy.



Seriously check out these toes.



Today the kids were running around playing in the backyard. Love this. Last year at this time we didn't even have a backyard, the weather here is amazing and 3 of my children are all outside! It's great.





It is spring break this week and next week. I guess I'm weird but I LOVE having all the kids home. Just makes me happy. So far we haven't really done anything too fun and I feel bad about that. Life is kind of a blur right now while I'm sleeping like a newborn. So I made a list today of things we will do for the rest of the break.

1. Take the kids to Alice in Wonderland
2. Go to the park
3. Make chocolate pretzel buttons (in Easter colors of course)

4. Make puppets/ put on a puppet show
5. Line Painting

6. Make jewelry and hair accessories to go with Easter dresses
7. Invite friends over

That should make the rest of break a little more fun... Happy Spring Break!

My cRaZy Life

Life is crazy right now. Having 4 small children is crazy. Pretty sure I have my fill of kiddos. I'm good. Everyday I think the same things over and over and over.

Oh my gosh, he's sooooooo cuuuuute.
Don't touch him!
Leave him alone!
Get off him!
Get your hands out of his mouth!
He's sleeping!
Oooh man. He pooped again.
He's hungry, again?
Wanna watch a kid show?
I'm hungry.
I need a treat.
Oh man, what a mess.
I'm too tired.

Top of the Desert

Yesterday we spent the day in the Springs -that would be Palm, not Colorado or Glenwood.
Kyle and I honeymooned in Telluride and had to take a gondola ride just to get from the room to the town everyday. So we are a wee bit spoiled in that regard. Palm Springs is no Telluride but it was actually pretty nice.


I guess it is the 2nd steepest tram in the world. When we made it to the top it was a whole new world! No more sandy desert with palm trees, but miles of forest with tons of snow.



There was 3 feet of snow at the top and it was a nippy 40 degrees! ;)



We hung out at the restaurant on top and hiked around some of the trails. The kids loved playing in the snow. My favorite was definitely coming down the tram at the part where you feel like your falling. That's the best. :)



It was fun, but the next time I am at the top of this mountain I want to have climbed up it, not ridden.

We Had a Baby!

So we went in for our "planned c-section" on Monday and in a matter of hours we had our new baby boy! Everything went perfectly. The stats:

2-22-10 at 10:21 am (sharing a birthday with the great George Washington)
Cooper Danny (Danny is my Dad's name)
8 lb. 10 oz. (17 days early - glad we didn't wait any longer!)
19 inches (shortest baby we've ever had)



Previous kiddos:
Breckyn - 9 days early 7 lb. 8 oz.
Kyra - 3 days late 9 lb. 1 oz.
Ryder - 10 days early 8 lb. 13 oz.

Considering the past 3 children's deliveries this one was by far the easiest. I've done it all now - 1- au natural, complete with dimmed lights and yoga music playing softly in the background (way overrated in my opinion!), 2- last minute epidural followed by almost 4 hours of just pushing, 3- emergency c-section after a day of hard labor and finally 4- a planned c-section. For me, and the way I have babies it is definitely the way to go! Recovery is going well, even better than the last time I'd say. So thankful for our little guy and that it all went well.

Valentine's Day Picnic

We hiked up to one of our favorite rocks for a lovely Valentine's Day picnic. The sun was shining so bright and we loved soaking it all up. Happy V-Day!

Breckyn derygweenmaker (Dairy Queen Maker)

This artist wants more than anything to work at Dairy Queen when she grows up, (at least that is what she says this week). She's been practicing making cookies and cupcakes with playdoh all week. She's totally into drawing fairies and mermaids right now. I may be biased but I think for a 5 year old she does pretty well.

A Rainy Day at Disneyland

I'll admit I thought we were in for quite a wet adventure at Disneyland. We picked up Breckyn from Kindergarten and headed directly there. We listened to the radio on the way and they were throwing around terms like 'bow echo' and 'tornadic'. Of course we are well versed with those terms from living in the Midwest, but it wasn't exactly what we expected to hear in Southern California while driving to Disneyland. The rain and wind got crazy strong, we came upon a fresh accident and then we had to forge several rivers (literally - there were other cars stalled in the middle of it but we were crazy and just decided to go for it).

Upon our arrival and not seeing anybody else entering Disneyland we thought they must have closed the place due to the tornado warning, but no they let us right in! As we boarded the tram hoards of down trodden people looking soaked, sad and wind blown were leaving. They all had the overpriced, plastic, Disneyland ponchos and they just looked whipped. It was barely sprinkling at that point so we just hoped for the best.

I've never seen Disneyland like this. It was deserted! No lines whatsoever. We started in CA Adventure and after zipping through Soarin' Over California twice we came out and the sun was shining! It was seriously a dream come true. Disneyland without people. We couldn't have planned it better if we tried. Even though we were only there for a half day we did way more than we ever have because we never waited for anything. It was a fantastic day!!

My mom was with us so we had plenty of helping hands. Due to my current condition I was sad to not do any of the really crazy rides but Kyle had a brave partner and that would be Breckyn. She didn't really want to go on the Tower of Terror but Kyle talked her into it.

She survived! Although, it wasn't her favorite. She says she'd like to wait until she is 10 years old to try that one again.

I'm afraid we won't be able to top this Disneyland experience for a while! :)

My decapod crustacean children

shrimp: tiny in size, quantity; adjective

Synonyms:bantam, bitty, cramped, diminutive, inconsequential, inconsiderable, little, meager, microscopic, mini, miniature, minuscule, minute, modest, petite, picayune, piddling, pint-sized, pocket-sized, puny, runty, scanty, scrubby, short, slight, small-scale, stunted, teensy, teeny, toy, trifling, trivial, undersized, unpretentious, wee.

...apparently, I've given birth to three of them.

Breckyn has always been way underweight. Kyra has always been super short (however she shocked her doctor last week by growing nearly 3 inches in 6 months!) and then there is Ryder. He is skinny AND short. Poor little dude. At his 2 year check up he weighed in at a whopping 22 pounds. And I tell you I worked very hard for each one of those pounds! He's just not all that interested in eating. We're working on it. I'm not worried about it but we have to do a few little tests to make sure he is growing. He may be small but we still love him anyway. He's full of smiles and opinions and never stops moving. I think he's perfect. Maybe I am little bit biased, but... probably not.

Baby on the brain

After have 3 children we pretty much have what we need for a 4th. Buuuut, here are some things on our wishlist, because, you know, it is fun to buy stuff. ;)

A new car seat is in order. Our old one was purchased 6 years ago on ebay, used.

Trying to fancy up the boys room a bit.

We already have a purple one, pink one and a blue one. Looks like this kid gets green.


Just something cool I've wanted to try.

This is too cute. Must have.

Our crib is old too. And a hand-me-down. And it is currently being used by a very possessive 2 year old who has no signs of wanting a big boy bed.


Some more eye candy for the boys room.


Pretty sure this will never happen. But one can dream.