Basically, November… so far.

Last Monday all three boys had their yearly well-check in the afternoon.  I’m very glad my mom was able to come with us because it ended up being a long afternoon. Everybody had shots and the babies had blood work.  I didn’t take any pictures, but here are their stats:

James, age 4
38.75” tall
32lbs 6.4oz heavy

Thomas, age 1
27.5” tall
19lbs 15.5oz heavy
19.02” head circumference

Michael, age 1
26.5” tall
15lbs heavy
18.9” head circumference

These measurements, combined with some developmental things, have earned Michael the “failure to thrive” label.  Personally, I think we need a new adorable label to replace that one.  It sounds so horrible!  We’re not really worried so much as we are curious if there's an underlying cause for he teeniness.  We’ve been referred to a general pediatric consult service downtown for more info and a second opinion/ set of eyes.  Of course, I actually need to mail the paperwork in for that to happen.  Last week sure went by in a blur.

It’s amazing the things I’ve seen him learn to do though in just the last couple of weeks.  I think he’s just a slow grower.  Joanna the Tiny was 16ish pounds at one year, and she leapt up onto the growth chart between 15 and 18 months.  I’m expecting the same from Sir Michael.  But I will happily pursue the consult to investigate if there’s anything else going on!

Really though, it’s a good thing he’s so tiny.  How else could his big sis do this?

Last Friday was enchilada night, and this is what that looks like these days:

Christiana and I sure did double the child population around here pretty quickly.  :)

Drew has pretty much surpassed Michael in weight and mobility.

Poor Michael.  Life is so stressful.

Isn’t this kid adorable?!  He loves to look at himself in the camera.

Right before we left for Grandma’s house, Joanna lost her very first tooth!!

She was sooooooooo excited!!

And, for the record, it was also the very first tooth she grew, just a little bit more than seven years ago.  Sniff… sniff…

Coincidentally, our dentist (who is a family friend) and his wife were at enchilada night.  Joanna was very excited to show the dentist her very first lost tooth.  :)

Back at home, we pulled out our first envelope for a tooth and put it inside.  Then the envelope went in the little pouch, and the pouch went under the pillow.  When she woke up the next day, Joanna was richer by one half dollar, and her tooth was gone!

She’d been waiting a LONG time for that milestone!

Yesterday was the girls’ first time to sing in church this fall with the children’s choir.

Natalie is on the front row, stage right.

Joanna is on the middle row, stage left, in a light brown sweater.

It was precious! I also took a video, which I may or may not upload.  I’m pushing it just getting these posts accomplished.  Hallelujah for naps!!

Sunday afternoon I attempted cutting James’ hair for the very first time!

Before:

And after!!

I learned a lot, and there are some things I will do differently next time and as I continue to teach myself how to do this.  BUT he no longer looks like a scraggle muffin, and with just this one haircut, the clippers have almost paid for themselves.  Sweet!

It surprised me how dark Mr. Blondie’s hair looked on the floor.

Somehow, I did it.  I caught up on blogging all of the things!!

Now back to life.

Halloween 2014

I edited some but not all of these pics because that’s how I roll.

One of our favorite fall traditions is to spend Halloween evening at Mamma and Pop’s house.  This year, Matt’s niece and her husband were in town visiting, so that was an extra bonus! (Sadly, I have no photographic evidence of this at all.  Bad mommy blogger.)

After dinner we got the kiddos all dressed and outside for a little photo op.

Here you can see James is worried about Thomas eating acorns.

Here you can see Matt fishing acorns out of Michael’s mouth.  Ha!

The money shot of the evening:

I decided at the last minute to accompany the kiddos as the wicked witch.

Michael as the Tin Man:

James as The Scarecrow:

Thomas as The Cowardly Lion:

Natalie as Glinda the Good Witch:

And Joanna as Dorothy.  Excuse the hat.  :)

Natalie and I had a little fun.

Are you a good witch or a bad witch?

We just couldn’t quite pull together a costume for Matt (but next year…), so here we are minus the Wizard.  :)

James cracks me up.  He’s sitting on Mamma and Pop’s hedges, waiting for the action.

We traipsed up and down the street, then the babies and I went inside for a snack while the big kids hit one more cul-du-sac.

It was pretty fun to see people’s faces as they put it together who we were.  So fun!

I’m loving the family themed costume – we’ll see how long they let us do it to them.  :)  I’ve already got some ideas brewing for next year!

Trunk or Treat and Fiesta on the Foundation

The Sunday before Halloween was Trunk or Treat at the church, followed by dinner on the foundation of our new building!

The big three:

The whole brood --

It was kinda hot.  Poor warm lion.

Without his hat, I thought Michael looked like a knight.

The girls:

The boys:

Look at those red cheeks!

After this picture, we stripped the babies down a bit, and Natalie and James took off their headwear.

We discovered there were games inside – A/C!!

I sat down and nursed the babes.

James discovered there was chocolate (and lots of it!) in his bag.

He’s saying “chocolate!!!”

After the games and finding friends to visit with, we went back to the car to change the kiddos out of their costumes.  Or as someone said, “Go back to Kansas.”  I thought that was pretty clever.  :)

By the time we got to the foundation, the tables were absolutely full.

It really worked out well though, because it would have been overwhelming to try and sit with our crew in that crowd.  There was a ton of empty space, and we just sat down to picnic with a couple of our favorite families.

Thomas reeeeeeally wanted down to play, and he ended up covered in cement dust.

Here’s his hand print on my jeans – ha!

I thought it was a pretty cool idea to fellowship on the foundation of our new building.  We also got to use silver sharpies to sign the beams.  I like that those prayers, words, and signatures will always be a part of the building.  And somebody let me know that my butt was sitting in the prayer chapel.  How nice.  :)