Somewhat of a Catch-up & The Post about Dr Pepper

How can I talk about Christmas and Easter in the same post?
Because I'm BEHIND.

Christmas was great.
Made lots of gifts,
didn't take pictures of most of them.
WHAT WAS I THINKING?

Oh well.

We did our annual
cram-everyone-into-the-photobooth
picture.



Love it!

Don't know how much longer we'll all fit!

In other news....

Lent started yesterday.
I gave up pop.
Actually, I'm trying to decide if I gave up pop
or just Dr Pepper.
But all pop is the greater sacrifice
so that's probably what it should be
and OH MY, I'm having a hard time!
I'm shocked. Is it possible to go through pop withdrawal?
This is crazy.

But then I found this post
that talks about going without a different luxury
for one month at a time and instead giving the money for water.

This month's challenge is coffee. I like coffee but it's no big deal for me to give it up. Dr Pepper..... there you go! I bet I spend close to $20/month on Dr Pepper! That same $20 could buy water for 20 people for 20 years. Um, yes, SIGN ME UP FOR THAT!

I can choose to sacrifice for one month so that others can have water for 20 years.

And then can we pause for a moment
to consider the privilege of my life
that giving up Dr Pepper
is my "sacrifice"?


If you are interested,
here is the post that got me thinking.
They are building wells in Liberia, West Africa
through charity:water.

Sunday & Four's Baptism

Our church does the baptism
as part of the children's sermon:



All of my kids have worn my grandad's,
their great-grandad's, baptismal gown.


It's at least 100 years old
and made from the thinnest muslim
with lace and hand-embroidered daisies.
It's actually a dress and a lining
and has the eensiest little shell buttons in the back.

Love sentimental stuff like that.
None of my cousins wanted it
for their children.
I think they might be a bit crazy
but I really can't complain because
I am so happy to have it for my own babies.

Four did so good during the baptism,
she didn't cry and she even had
her very own hallelujah moment:

Love it!

Father's Day Sunday

Wolf Sunday

One became a Wolf
in Cub Scouts this weekend.

He's having a great time
and we're so proud!

Testing, Testing

We spent the day with Gran today.
It was her 18th birthday, according to Two.
Her 102nd, according to One.

We picked up $1 sundaes at Sonic
and headed to a park for some memories.

When we got there,
they were testing a new
water feature!

Gotta love it.
No one at the park was dressed for it.
It was barely 70 degrees outside.
But who was going to say no?




A sister encouraged.



A big brother taught.



And all were soaked by the end.


Good times!

Bath Time

Four did not love her first bath.


But the big kids were thrilled to be there!
They pulled up chairs to watch
and made sure all body parts got washed.

3 out of 4 were happy.....not bad!

Before & After

Before:

After:

#4 has arrived!
8lbs - 19 3/4"

Kidney Beans

We did something new today.

We went in for a routine kidney ultrasound,
and for the first time they looked at
Three's kidneys through his back:



It worked okay at first.
Much better actually.
He was cozy.
They had him covered
with warm towels.
He had a cracker.
But he was tired.
And when he sleeps on his tummy,
he always pulls his knees up
so his bum is in the air.

That doesn't work so well
when they want you to lay flat.
The lady kept pulling his legs
back down like they might actually
stay there.

Yeah right.

So there was a lot of crying.
And eventually they turned him
back over onto his back.
On his back, where he can actually
reach the little wand thing
and try to push it away.

They don't like that either.

But the news was fine.
His bad kidney is still bad.
It still has a huge sack of pee around it.
But it's slightly smaller.
And his good kidney is still good.
It's not having to do anything
to compensate for the bad kidney
which means the bad kidney
is still functioning fine.

I would love a really fabulous improvement
but I am so glad that this was enough
to, yet again, avoid surgery.

So.... we just sit and wait for
another six months!

Kid Achievements

One sewed on a button!

He visited a history museum
with the scouts.
DaddyMan was shocked
when they handed out
regular, sharp pointy needles
to a group of 5 & 6 yr old boys.
Seemed dangerous.

Don't know why.
They had them shooting guns
last summer.

I guess it's a matter of opinion
as to which one is more dangerous.

:o)

Sunday

An action shot this Sunday:

I especially love it because this
is what happened next:

(totally worth it to click on the picture to enlarge!)

One took off with the ball.
Check out that look on Three's face
and the attitude on Miss Two!
Oh my! I love it!

Baby Mucho #4

WAHOO!!!!!!
I couldn't be more thrilled!
Two will have a sister!
Which means she'll get a bunk bed,
her whole reason for even wanting a sister!
The division of rooms will be evenly split as opposed to
what would have been three teenage boys in one room!!!
It's a girl!

WAHOO!!!!!!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

One recently told his teacher that he "earned" a baby sister!

When she asked how he did it,
he scrunched up his nose and nodded his head
and very seriously said,

"I did a lot of chores."

No pigs allowed!

We got our swine flu vaccinations!
Hurray!

We got to the clinic held by the health department
THREE HOURS EARLY
(I even pulled One out of school early)
and we still weren't first in line!

We were, however, prepared to wait a looooong time!
Games, food, chalk, toys....
the mom next to us even brought a table!




Look how official this looks! It was so surreal! I mean, when does the doctor not have enough vaccinations?!? Here come the health officials:



Three was the only one of us who already had his shot so he was completely relaxed with the whole situation:



How we felt about getting sick:



After three hours of waiting outside in the cold and rain, they led us into the elementary school cafeteria to fill out some paperwork and then into the gym for our shots. This line went to the end of that hallway back there, around a corner, out the building, out to the sidewalk, down to the street corner, around that corner, and halfway down the block!


Did I mention that the line was that long and the clinic wasn't even due to start for another 30 minutes? Yeah, talk about people being desperate to get the vaccine!

But wahoo!!!!! We got 5 of those precious 1000 doses! And good thing too! After that clinic, the county canceled all future clinics due to lack of vaccine! Whew! You don't even know how relieved I feel!

Counting

One

Two

Three

FOUR!

Coming in April!

Birthday Recap

For One's party, we had a few contests to see
who else could be "first" on Three's first birthday.

Here is the final round of the thumb war competition
where One's cute friend RC.1 let Two win

A watermelon eatting contest:

Getting ready for cake time!

This is how Three plays Peekaboo! Great for a new hair-do!

Hurray!

We went to Red Robin after the party for a birthday dinner.

And when you are turning ONE and your mom is a bummer because she thinks you've already had more than enough dessert because of your birthday cake, your big brother and big sister get to eat your ice cream!

We did a "no gifts" party but my friend made this awesome card!

She's uses a brush lettering technique found in this book here. Love it!