Trip to the Museum of Natural Science

We got a family membership to the Museum of Natural Science for Christmas, and we were excited to try it out!

We walked in and saw this lady holding a critter.

Pretty quickly we headed for the giant bones.

James was a little wary.

I think the girls were looking at insects in amber in this case.

I asked James to pick a dinosaur to take a picture in front of.  He liked this guy.

The babies were kind of a HOT MESS in the stroller in there, so we went back out to the lobby for a snack.

And sister pictures!

After everyone was as fed as they could be, we went upstairs to an exhibit about Texas wildlife.  It must have felt enough like actually being outside because the boys cheered up considerably.  Michael LOOOOOVED this animatronic woodpecker.  He has this new trick where he whines and holds his hand out to get whoever is holding him headed in the direction he wants to go, and he motioned me over there several times.  It was adorable. He was so happy to watch the woodpecker peck.

After that Joanna brought us downstairs to where they have homeschooling classes so she could show James a rattlesnake that she’d seen the last time she was there with some friends. (I really apologize for that unbelievable run-on sentence.)

Then we went upstairs to check out the exhibit on Ancient Egypt.  Gran took Michael and tried to snuggle him down for a nap while I took Thomas and the bigs into the exhibit.

Toddlers are really not my favorite age of kiddo.  It was easier to let him wander a bit than hold his screaming self.  Isn’t he cute?!

Then I realized he had completely soaked his diaper so we quickly hit some high points and I wrangled wet, hollering Thomas out to the diaper bag.  :)

I tried to get them all in the picture.

Toddlers.

So basically we hit just the very high points of the museum before heading out to the park to eat lunch.  I am sooooooo looking forward to going back without the babies.  I love ‘em, but they weren’t museum fun.

A boy and his sandwich:

Joanna and a ladybug:

Managed a group shot of the kiddos!

Sweet Natalie and a reflection pond:

Joanna remembered the cool stick sculpture and made sure we all stopped by.

James was very excited to throw rocks into the pond.

And so was Joanna.

Then we got to see a man catch a huge fish before walking over to ride the train.

This is Gran (with the boys) taking a picture of me taking a picture of her.

And here’s our train selfie.

This is what the babies did while we rode the train.

Here we come!

Apparently this is how I wave.  Not sure why.

The kids ran up and then down a hill on the way back to the car.

The babies stayed asleep, and Thomas even slept through the transfer to his car seat.  Holla!

It was a very lovely day!

A Day in the Life in March

I hate Daylight Savings Time, and both the time changes that go along with it.  I think it’s stupid and ridiculous and it messes with everyone’s life for no good reason I can see.  So there.

Before I was a mother I always loved the fall time change – gain an hour – yay!! But now I like the spring one much better.  And here’s why.

7:40 (that’s SEVEN FORTY): Michael woke up

By 8:10 both boys were up and Matt had changed them while I got myself situated to nurse them.

The big kids slept in as well, even not accounting for the time change.  At 9:03 I was having snuggles with my big girl; she and her sister had just gotten up.

I finally realized James wasn’t up (the kid is the first one up 97% of the time) and woke him up at around NINE.

Here he is with his adorable bed head at 9:20.

Matt fiiiiiiiiiiinally got around to getting rid of his not-running old car this week.  Hallelujah!  And he made a couple bucks on it!

They came and hauled it off at 9:45 (which is one of the reasons we missed church, the others are rain, time change, and grouchy one year olds).

I love this front window.  The kids loved watching the car go away.

At 10:03 I was sorting dirty laundry to begin washing. (Twelve hours later and it’s still not quite done.)

At 11:04 I found myself in the pantry, frustrated at all the mess so I organized the pantry and the kids’ closet that’s also in there.

It apparently took about an hour.  :)  It looks so good!  The kids were even excited about it, and at least one of them promised to keep it that way.  Ha!

At 12:07 we finally got Thomas up from the nap he wouldn’t take.  Can you tell he loves me the most?

I got started on lunch and was getting close to serving by 1:00.  We had French toast, bacon, and smoothies.

After lunch Thomas went down for a make-up nap, Matt took James and Michael to run a few errands, and the girls and I cleaned up the kitchen and dining room.

Thomas woke up at 2:30, having only slept about 30 minutes I think.  Ew. But we snuggled (well, wrestled, played, rolled, whatever) on my bed while the girls watched a movie in the living room.

At 3:46 I took this adorable picture.  Thomas was tickling Michael!

The babies continued to play in my room while I watched a little Friends on Netflix and edited some pics.  James joined the girls with their movie.

At 5:03 I was making dinner – loaded tostadas.  It’s one meal that everyone loves!

Matt’s plate:

5:46 – My plate was the last one I made, and I ended up having chips and “dip” since we were out of tostadas.  Super good though!

The kids unloaded the dishwasher after dinner then had applesauce for “dessert.” It was 6:04.

After that I cleaned up the kitchen and did laundry while Matt wrangled the veeeeeeery grouchy babies.  Actually Michael wasn’t that grouchy but Thomas was a mess.  The big kids cleaned up toys and got ready for bed.

The babies went down about 7:30, and the big kids followed a little before 8:00.

Natalie is my sweep helper.  She always picks up my piles as I go.  :) This was 7:43.

After the kids went to bed I took a muuuuuuuch needed shower.  All clean!

I then got into bed for some more television, picture editing, and milk and cookies.  :)

By 9:40 I was writing these notes and eating a bowl of leftover noodles. (I got hungry!)

Now it’s 10:20, I’m almost finished on the computer, and I just made Matt stop snoring to go transfer laundry.  :)  I’m going to load a few dishes into the dishwasher and then run it before coming back to bed, hopefully for the night.

The Last Half of February!

There’s this corner of my bedroom by the window that has great light in the afternoons.  I try to keep it cleared out so I can take pictures whenever I see something really adorable.  Like this:

The baby gate ended up propped on a tray, and the boys enjoyed climbing the ramp.

Toddlers get bruises and bumps a lot.

On Ash Wednesday we were able to get our ashes imposed after Young Mom’s Bible Study.

Aren’t they adorable. :)

I’ve actually started to enjoy a little time at the library with all FIVE! I know we create more work for the librarians with all the reshelving of books that Thomas pulls off.  BUT the big kids especially enjoy it. And we’ve gone at times that it’s pretty quiet in the back of the children’s section.

The tables and chairs are just the right height for toddlers climbing.

Joanna got to spend the night and next day with some friends (who also homeschool). They went to the Science Museum and the Zoo.

So fun!

It was one of the longest times I’d gone without seeing her though.  I missed her!!

Aren’t they just the most adorable snack buddies ever?!!

These two can play make-believe with anything.  And they do.  Here, they’re using sandwiches and fruit to pretend something about a boat and some animals. It was adorable.  I’m getting rid of all their toys.

Under crib fort! (Remind me to look here if I can’t find a baby.)

It looks like he’s kissing the flag, but I think he was just putting his face on it.

Please note that this training potty hasn’t been used in a very long time and was very clean.  It ended up in the babies’ room for whatever reason, and Michael really enjoys putting in and taking out toys.

Again with the dress-up.  I just love it!

I called him something like super spider fire man.

On Wednesday mornings my kiddos all spend time in the nursery while I attend Bible Study (with NO CHILDREN). It’s rather lovely.  And I’m just so so so thankful to the amazing women who care for my children, even my big ol’ school aged ones. The teachers worked with them on a mission project this semester.  They collected toiletries and brought them to Mission Northeast.  While there, they got to see how it all worked. My girls loved it!

Joanna is such my little bookworm.  This particular shot was obviously staged, but I find her reading in just about every spot you can think of.

From another trip to the library:

Those boys:

One afternoon last week the sun came out and the temp was lovely so we all went to the backyard. Michael doesn’t love the backyard yet.  He’ll like it better once he’s walking.

I thought this exchange was rather adorable:

Michael has managed to cruise around the house from over by the side window but now can’t open the door.

Thomas, seeing his distress, goes over to help.

Isn’t that precious?!

Later, he locked him in.

I decided to trim the hedges while we were out there.  They needed it!

Michael got wet and grouchy before I was finished, but his sweet biggest sister took him inside and got him changed into dry clothes.  Then she carried him around for a few more minutes so I could trim the last few stragglers.  It would have really bothered my OCD to not get it all done. :)

In the front yard I saw some pretty shadows so I grabbed a kiddo to pose for me.  It had been a few days since the sun caused any shadows around.

I saw this guy yesterday and needed to take a picture.

Natalie had made a swing for him.

I took James out to the deck to grab a picture of his ensemble.  He was being a turkey and kept sliding out of the frame.  He’s adorable.

And now we’re caught up on the goings on around here! Goodbye February!