Bella's Turn

It will be a miracle if I ever get anything accomplished in the way of packing and preparing to move. I have a disorder that causes me the plan way too much on any given day. I think we can jam hours of fun into each day and still have energy to pack and organize at night. Oh well, what can I say I just love to have fun! And, fun is what we had this week-end. My brother Nicholas, his wife Natalie, and their adorable son Weston came for the week-end. I made a point to take lots of pictures of Bella since she seems to get "blogged" as much. It was not hard to find cute photo ops of her this week-end since her and Weston were attached at the hip and very cute playing together. The week-end fun started Saturday morning when we went swimming -So those of you reading this who were in Ohio on Saturday are thinking we're crazy about now since Saturday was only in the 60's, but don't worry it was indoor- Our neighbors have an indoor pool and keep inviting us to use it. I don't know what took us so long to go cause it was fabulous. It even has a water slide. I didn't take my camera and was too lazy to go across the steet to get it so sorry no pictures there. Not that anyone wants to see me in a swimsuit anyway so really I was just sparing you all. We ended the week-end with the Tribe. It was dollar hotdog night and fireworks! Whats not to love about that game. The game ended up being 12 innings long and we didn't get home to midnight. Katy's probably passed out on her desk right now, but she had a blast last night. Here is a slide of some of the pics from the week-end.

This morning Bella disappeared and the house was very quiet. When I made this realization my entire body tensed up and my heart filled with dread as scenes of past messes scrolled through my head. In a panic, I started searching the house wondering what disaster I would spend my morning fixing. I found her in her room, sitting on her chair, holding her baby. I was shocked and pleasantly surprised. We need to see more of this sweet darling Bella.

Crazy Busy Fun

I know I have not been very good at updating my blog lately, but spring is always a crazy busy time. I'll try my best to recap the happenings of the last few weeks.

Katy had a eventful week at school. Tuesday was Field Day. I was supposed to help with the event, but Jacob woke up with a bad fever and was too miserable to leave with a babysitter. I did manage to sneak up at the end to take a few pictures and bring her home thanks to Uncle Martin. Her class color was orange



Last night was her school concert. In addition to the children singing, students taking piano lessons can play a piece of music. Katy was really excited to play a song. Since I am teaching her to play she does not have the opportunity to play at a recital so last night was great for her. She even memorized the song. She did really well for the most part. She did mess up in the last line so she started all over again. It was cute. She wasn't as advanced most of the other students but thats because I'm a slacker of a teacher. I figure as long as were making some progress we are doing good. (I thought I had rotated and saved the video but apparently I'm not smart enough to figure out how to turn it. sorry!)






Dance recitals are quickly approaching. Alexandra and her friend Becca stopped to pose for the camera after having class pictures on Saturday. They are dancing to the Beauty and the Beast song.





I've been chastised for not having many posts about Bella, and once again I do not have any pictures of her. She'll have her turn when she starts participating in activities. For now she keeps herself busy making messes and playing in dirt. The highlight of her week was helping Uncle Martin move the load of topsoil around the yard. Unfortunately, I left my camera at home that night.

Its funny how parenting techniques change from child #1 to child #4. When Katy was little I could hardly wait for her to reach each milestone. I remember getting down on the floor and trying to teach her to crawl. My persistence paid off and she was crawling by 6 months. Each child crawled a little later as I learned that crawling is overrated from a parent's perspective. I enjoy being able to place my child on a blanket with toys and know the child will still be there when I'm down changing the load of laundry or sweeping the floor, or etc. With Jacob I was actually hoping he would not crawl until we moved. The steps to the basement are open at each step with concrete at the bottom. It makes me shudder to think of what could happen if he fell down. But, despite my refusal to help him, he has successfully mastered the forward scoot and is close to the full-out crawl. Last night, after placing him on his blanket and leaving to use the bathroom. Jared came out to find a glass of milk Jacob had spilled. So I guess my dreams of easy packing and sorting went flying out the window. Here comes trouble!

A fun filled week-end

Saturday was Alexandra's B-day party was Saturday. She had a garden fairy party. Jared and I didn't get home from our trip until 10:30 Friday night. I knew if I was going to decorate her cake the next day it needed to cool overnight. So, I stayed up until 12 making the cakes. Katy and Xandra both had a soccer games at 12. It is funny to see the difference in the two girls. Katy loves soccer and it shows when she plays. She is not the best player, but she tries hard and is decent. Xandra is in soccer purely for the social aspect. She trots around the field oblivious to the location of the ball and when the ball rolls ball her by chance she just looks at it and then continues on her way. After the games we came home and finished the party prep.


We took Jacob to his first Baseball game on Saturday. We forgot to take in account the fact that there was a Cavs playoff game also. We got stuck in horrible traffic and then there was no parking left. I mean absolutely no parking! We drove all the way down to CSU and still no parking. Jared ended up dropping me and all the kids off at Tower city so we could start walking and continued on to find parking. He ended up getting to the field first. Can you picture me walking through the crowded streets with FOUR kids in tow. People kept giving us the weirdest looks, but can you blame them? We were all decked out in our Indian apparel so it was obvious we were going to the game. I'm sure people were wondering why on earth that crazy mother was taking all those kids to the game herself. We missed the first hour which was also just the first inning. The Tribe scored SIX runs that inning that we missed. Fortunately the final score was 12-0 so we got to see six runs. Jacob was in awe of the whole experience. He even stayed awake for the fireworks that didn't end till 10:30. He was insulted that the guys behind us got nachos and fries and didn't give him any. But, I pulled out the cheerios and saved the day.

This is how Jacob fell asleep on Sunday. He was worn out from the trip, all of Saturday's events, and a busy Mother's day

A Lesson in Baseball

Yesterday we were over at Nikki's and Ian was trying to play baseball with Alexandra. The key word there is "trying". My girls like to go to Indians games, BUT to say they have an understanding of the game would be a gross overstatement. Ian came into the house to tell us the score was 4-0. He had 4 and Xandra of course had 0. Nikki suggested that he should let Alexandra score. He replied that he would except that she couldn't hit the ball. Nikki suggested that he let her use the tee. His reply was "but I want her to learn REAL baseball. He ended up taking his mom's advice and set up the tee for Alexandra. After several attempts she finally had a good hit. Ian beamed with pride that he had finally taught her and Xandra looked estatic that she had hit the ball. His pride quickly turned to frustration when he noticed she was still standing at the plate instead of running. It was hard not to laugh at his exasperation as he informed her that she was supposed to run.

Katy's school had a CAVS day during the first round of the playoffs. She was excited to dress in navy, wine, and gold. GO CAVS!


Jacob in his OSU attire. Go Buckeyes!
Jacob loves the evenings after his Dad comes home. Sometimes he will start giggling for no apparent reason which will encourage Dad to try to get more laughs.