Landen:
HOLY MOLY! Mr. Landen is only 5 weeks away from the end of the school year. We can not believe he is already almost done with kindergarten. The year has flown by. He loves school so much that he complains when weekends come and rejoices on Monday mornings. About a month ago he requested an alarm clock so he could get up on his own and start getting ready in the morning. The first couple days of using the alarm were comical because he was so excited, he was waking up before it went off and would come marching into my bedroom very angry telling me that it wasn't working. By day three of beating the alarm clock, he wanted to return it to Target, but he got the hang of it after a few more days.
He has made some great friends at school and does really well in his class work. He seems to be like Brian, very eager to learn, math comes very easy to him, and he is very interested in science. He and Brian read childrens physics books and another about the periodic table of elements at bedtime.
Landen is growing like a weed! He is built just like me, tall and skinny. Every time I turn around, his pants are getting shorter and shorter. Thank goodness it is already time for shorts season, that way I can put off buying more jeans until the fall.
He is looking very forward to going home for Uncle Derek and Aunt Erica's wedding soon. He tells me that he is happy he gets to go home and spend time with family!
Nolan:
Nolie Polie has been very into drawing lately. He has been drawing all kinds of different things as well as working hard at perfecting writing his name. He is pretty good at it. He is dying to start school, and we hope to get him into Pre-K next school year.
He has a current obsession with Disney Tsum Tsum's. He has only two, and apparently they are quite popular, because they sell out crazy fast online as well as at Target. He carries his Daisy Duck and Pluto Tsum around everywhere and talks about buying more all the time. We don't have a Disney store very close, but I have heard that that's where we need to go to find more. Maybe a weekend Tsum adventure is upon us!
He also loves collecting "treasures". He is on the look out everyday during our walks to and from school to get Landen. He has found little buttons and beads and other various things that he likes to call "treasures" and he keeps them in a little wooden box that we bought at Michael's. It's cute most of the time, but sometimes he is so desperate for a "treasure" he will grab some really gross stuff from the ground. LOL!
Nolan really enjoys all of the play dates we have quite regularly with our new friends from MOPS. We have friends over to our house often and go to outings with others. It's nice for all of us here at home because it gives us some fun time out of the house! We have made some good friends!
My most favorite thing about Nolan right now is that he can not resist picking flowers for me wherever we are. He is the sweetest little boy!
Gavin:
Oh Gavin. That boy gives us a run for our money. He is into everything, always up to no good but as sweet as sugar. As many of you have seen from my facebook posts, he is working on his make-up skills in recent months and even though I have made the effort to keep things put away, it never fails the one time I forget to, he doesn't miss a beat and I find him quietly applying an entire tube of lipstick or mascara to his face and arms like lotion!
He has become very sneaky and now that he has learned how to properly hide while playing hide and seek, he will hide at times when you don't want him to, sending me into quite a panic.
Aside from his mischief, he has been part of a program here in California called Early Starts since November. Gavin has been behind in his speech development and qualified for weekly visits of a teacher coming to our home to help develop his speech more and he has made tremendous strides. In the past month, he has jumped by three months in his speech level. We can finally have somewhat of a conversation with him now which is making life for all much easier.
One thing I can not forget to mention.....GAVIN IS SLEEPING IN HIS OWN BED IN HIS BEDROOM FINALLY! That was quite a chore for a while, but we have finally succeeded by letting him watch a video on the ipad as he falls asleep. Gotta do what you gotta do!
Baby #4:
That's right, Baby #4 is coming right along. We are 23 weeks and 2 days. He is going to be here before we know it. Having three other kids leaves little time to think about how fast the pregnancy is going. So far, all the doctor visits have been good. I have already set up the crib in our bedroom and have washed my newborn size boy clothes. Because I can't resist baby stuff, I have bought a few new things for this little squirt! Although, I have so many at this point, I have enough to dress a couple kids. :)
We have begun the search for a minivan to accommodate our newest member. Right now, we have no way to get him home from the hospital unless he is strapped to the roof of the car, so we hope to find something soon! I will also be buying his new car seat this week because our old infant seat had expired.
The baby item I am most excited about is the Dutailier glider rocker that a family member of a MOPS friend was giving away for free!!! SUPER SCORE!!! Those retail for upwards of $600. I had left our old glider behind in the move because it was a cheap one we had found on Amazon that was squeaky and not comfortable anymore. Brian knows how much time I spend in it and had told me he would spend whatever it took to get a good one this time. So when I found one for free we were both super excited!!! It is older, but still in impeccable condition, except for the dated denim upholstery. I plan to recover it with a nice grey material I picked up at Joann fabrics. I hope I can make it look nice! I have never recovered anything. Pinterest will be my help!!!
Brian:
Brian has been busy working and still traveling a lot. He spent three weeks at Argonne National Lab, south of Chicago at the end of February and early March. He was in Los Alamos, New Mexico just last week. He really loathes traveling, and we hate when he is away. But we do our best to enjoy the time while he is home. He just ordered and received his box of cigars that he buys himself every summer, so he is ready to sit out back and enjoy one now and again in the evening. We have enjoyed taking the kids out to a nice lunches on the weekends. We are always interested in trying something new. The kids love all different ethnic foods, so exploring what's around us is fun. We also enjoy a good farmers market and are looking forward to getting to the Tracy farmers market on Saturday mornings!
Myself:
I have been incubating a baby, keeping up with housework....kind of, and refereeing three little boys for the most part. I have also been enjoying developing relationships with the friends I have made through MOPS. It makes it easier when Brian is away to have things to do for myself and the kids.
Something I am really excited about are essential oils. I have used EO's since beauty school and throughout my time working in spas and salons. I have always had a few on hand over the years and they are very helpful. After spending an unhealthy amount of time researching what brands I want as well as getting Brian on board since they aren't cheap, I finally decided to buy a starter kit from Young Living. So far, they have been very helpful. They have come in handy right away. Just this weekend while Gavin was having a hard time sleeping due to a cough and runny nose. It wasn't more than 5 minutes after starting my diffuser in his bedroom with lemon and peppermint oil that he fell asleep and didn't have a problem through the rest of the night. If anyone has any interest in more info on them, I hope to be sharing more info on the website and in a blog post soon!
That's about it for now. We hope that everything is well with everyone else!!!