Are they going to hate me???

Maybe it is the twin in me but I LOVE to dress Nash and Gray alike. Joey thinks I am crazy but I think it is so cute to see them looking so much similar. I am going on the record, promising that this will not go on for much longer. And it is not like I am doing this on a daily basis. There is nothing wrong with the twinner look once or twice a week. So I will enjoy these cute "twin" boys until they have their own opinion about it.

New Do

I am officially letting go. Luke has wanted for a long time to wear his hair down daily as he puts it. I love it when he spikes his hair up. But truth is, he has the cutest face and so it does not matter how his hair is done. So yesterday after basketball pictures, I asked him if he wanted a buzz. He was super excited. I must admit, he looks super cute AND my mornings just got a little easier!

Luke's Great Report

Yesterday we had Luke's second parent teacher conference. He, like his siblings, had been sick all day. But we gave him some Motrin so he could make it to the conference. Mrs. Grimes had nothing but great things to say about our Luke. She said he is very smart and very caring. She said that if she is concerned about another student, she can put them at Luke's table and she knows he will take care of them. She said Luke is a great leader. She has taught Luke how to check for the next day's lunch and has him teach the other students how to do it. He is so far above in reading. He is at a 2nd grade level. They score according to number. For first grade at this point in the year, they should be at an 8 or 9. Luke is at an 18!! What a smart boy. She said that she feels so lucky that Luke is in her class. She said she would be so sad if one of the other teachers got to have him. Of course I teared up a bit when she was speaking so highly of him and of course Luke teased me about it as we left. After the great conference we let Luke go and choose a book from the book fair as a reward. He chose another Diary of a Wimpy Kid. We are so proud of Luke. What a great example he is to the other students in his class and what great example he is to us. We love you Lukie!!

Too much too soon

Either I am getting old or Gray is growing up way too fast. I think it is probably a little of both. I just do not remember any of the others moving as much as he does. He will find any little thing on the floor and it immediately goes in his mouth. The picture shows an Oreo that Nash dropped on the floor. Gray loved it not only in his mouth but all over his clothes. He is starting to climb too; stairs, fireplace, in the shower. He is not even 8 months old! Just feels like all this is a bit sooner than I expected or love! Gone are the days of getting things done. Now my days are spent chasing the little boy who loves to be on the move.

Siblings

I know that at first it seemed crazy to have all these kiddos so close together but I am really loving the blessings. They all play so well together and love to spend time together. Don't get me wrong, there are moments of fighting and biting by Nash but most of the time they love each other. It is so fun to watch them play. Here is how it normally goes: Luke comes up with an idea of what they are going to do. Harlee is so excited and will pretty much do whatever Luke says. Then Nash joins in and just follows them around mimicking their every move. I love to see the close relationships that they are forming. It makes me so excited to think of how they will look out for each other as they get older. What blessings come with the craziness of having 4 kids under 6!

Clockwork

It is fair to say that I do not have the best memory. I think that sometimes that is a blessing. I do not remember how hard the baby phase can be which allows me to keep having babies! Gray is a pretty good sleeper. He usually is asleep by 7:30 or 8pm. He gets up once in the night still which I would not be miss if he could sleep through the night. But he is very consistent with getting up in the morning. He is up every morning between 5:30 and 6am. Not so fun for a tired mom! Good thing he always pops up in his crib with the biggest smile and is so excited to see you. That makes the early mornings a little easier. I have to be honest and say that I do look forward to the days where I can sleep in past 7am!
PS- Such a cute pic. He is making a silly face. I was trying to get a pic while he was wrapped up in his favorite show the Wiggles! He turned for one quick second and smiled before returning to his show.

Luke the Pirate

I love it when teachers obviously do not have kids of their own. Yesterday was such an example of that. Luke came home with a black piece of paper telling me that he needed to make a pirate hat for school tomorrow. I had a RS meeting last night so Joey was going to help. Joey was struggling to get Gray to sleep so Luke tried to make it by himself. That did not go so well and we were so thankful that we had some black card stock. About an hour later I had the hat done and thought it looked pretty good. Luke was super concerned what everyone was going to think and was certain everyone would think he looked stupid. Oh course I reacted like anyone who just spent too much time on something stupid and told him not too worry about it. Too bad he got his mom's issue of worrying what everyone else thinks. So this morning we added corners and staples at Luke's request and a little elastic so it would stay on his head. He promised he liked it and that he would come home and tell me if everyone thought it was dumb! Here's hoping everyone is worried about themselves and don't worry about Luke's hat!

Our Pet Fin

Luke was begging Santa for a dog this year but with four little ones it is just not the time. So Santa brought Luke a fish on Christmas morning. By the afternoon poor "Fin" as Luke had named him had died. We promised to go get more fish right as the stomach flu hit. So on Wed. Dec 29 we went to Walmart and purchased five little $.29 goldfish. They all died pretty quickly but one of them is still thriving! He is "Fin the 2nd" and from the beginning it was obvious he was the strong one. Luke is doing such a great job taking care of him and making sure he gets fed. So he has been with us for 3 weeks now. That has to be some kind of goldfish record! He is becoming a part of the family. Harlee even told me this morning that Fin thinks she is his owner! The kids love him and it is fun to have a little pet in our family.

Gray's Ongoing Journey

This morning I took Gray to have a chest x-ray. Depending on the results they would move forward with the feeding tube. I was so nervous especially since he has been sick. Also there was a mess up with his medicine. I guess that the pharmacy accidentally gave him double the dose last time. Good thing it was not a narcotic or something that might harm him in such a high dose. So this week he has been fighting to adjust to less medicine and we have been enjoying getting up with him a few times a night. So with the sickness and the medicine adjustment, I did not have the highest hopes for a good xray. But prayers have truly been answered and his xray looked normal. I was so excited to hear the news. So he will go in another month or so for another swallow study. Those results will determine the next step. As for now we are just so happy that the medicine seems to be helping and he is doing so much better.

Anniversary Getaway

It's that time again. I cannot believe we have been married nine years! Our actually anniversary is on Tuesday but we celebrated last night. We went first to see a movie called Country Strong. It was different than I thought it would be but it was really good. We had free movie tickets so anything is better when it is free! Then we went to Olive Garden for dinner. It was so good and so nice to sit and talk uninterrupted through dinner. Then we made the long drive to Zermatt where we were going to stay the night. I seriously just love being with Joey. We talked the whole way there and really enjoyed the time together. After relaxing at the hotel for a while, we went to Dairy Keen for some fries and shakes to go. We slept in until 7:30am. It was so nice to not have to get up in the middle of the night. We so appreciate Joey's parents being willing to stay with the kiddos so we could enjoy this much needed time together. I seriously lucked out when it come to a husband. Joey is the best man I know. He works so hard for all of us. He is so fun and makes me laugh all the time. I am truly grateful for him and look forward to blogging about many anniversaries to come.

Harlee's Preschool Spotlight

On Tuesday Harlee was spotlighted in her preschool class for her birthday. What this means is that it is her special day and they focus a little bit of the class time on her. What this also means is that mom gets to spend hours making a cute poster and treats for the class! That's OK, I will do it for her! So we asked Harlee some of her favorites and here is what she said:

Favorite Food: Pizza
Favorite Treat: Candy canes and chocolate
Favorite Color: Pink
Favorite Princess: Belle
Favorite Movie: Beauty and the Beast
Favorite things to do: Hold Gray, Dance and Paint

I love her answers. It is so funny because I would have never guessed she liked candy canes. She is such a beautiful and sweet girl. I hope she had a great birthday and that she enjoys a great year. Love you Har!

Here are her two teachers with her!