Rainbow

There was some really pretty light coming in our front window tonight, so I went out to take some pictures and the kids followed. It was a very pretty sunset.


Then the kids headed back to the trampoline and we discovered that there was also a beautiful rainbow!

Spring pretties

In keeping with the last post about Kola, here's a cutie boy picture of him.

We got to go play outside last week, barefoot even. Kole sat in his little chair in the only shade we could find. Isabella (who was studiously doing her math, distracted of course) traced the shadow of his little feet.

Sophia arranged a bouquet, so we had to take a picture for Grammy. She did a good job, with the tall grass in the back and everything. Then Isabella found a piece of raffia to tie it up with. Then they played wedding.

love this one.

Sophia and I sat in front of the tulips and drew them with chalk. I didn't get to Sophia's drawing fast enough to get a good picture though, cause in the end her chalk drawings always turn into a big pile of chalk for her to rub her hands in so she can make chalk hand prints. There is no art medium that she doesn't enjoy coating her hands with.
Here's my cool frog, sitting by my cool tulip
Super Xan came outside with us too. Today, he was protecting us from Crabapples, I guess.




We had a discussion about how this was the only tree he can do this to, cause all our other flowering trees produce food we want, we'll see how that works. He did have a good time though.


ahhh spring.

Nikolas Update

Aunt Lora requested a Nikolas update so here we go. Nikolas is 5 months old today! He is changing a lot right now. Nikolas is definitely the most "babyish" of all our babies, no physical over achieving going on with this one. But he's pretty content with his state of being, hold me, love me, feed me, change me, we're good.

Nikolas is however, using his hands more and more now. Here he's playing with Max the Monkey, which has been played with by all the hopper children before him. Always a favorite.
He's chewing like crazy on anything that comes in his path. He bites really hard too, as Sophia has discovered. She no longer lets him grab her fingers while she is holding him.
Kole (or Kola as we call him around here) is very alert and aware of everything going on. He loves to watch the other kids. He responds when you call his name and is very quick with his smiles.
This is a rare moment of floor playing. I try to put him on the floor or in his playpen to play several times a day, but he is very against being put down, so it doesn't last long. I did get him to play on the floor for about 45 minutes this weekend which was amazing. It happened only because I was making lesson plans, so I sat beside him the whole time. He played as long as I was there, but if I tried to walk away he cried. It was progress though:)
When he's done he's done. He has a fast temper, he can go from smiling to screeching screaming in a matter of seconds if he's unhappy.
Kole is starting to move around a little. He can roll from front to back, but not the other way yet. He's just this week started schooching a little. When he lays on his back he can work his way around like hands on a clock, especially if he's after a toy. He's starting to do this a little on his tummy too now.
Alexander and Nikolas like each other quite a lot. Alexander is constant motion so it is a lot for Nikolas to watch, and Nikolas is the promise of a male playmate, so Alexander is thrilled. He's also very impatient for him to grow up.
This is where Nikolas would perfer to spend most of his time. He does like the baby carriers that I use, but when we are at home I usually just use my arms :) He really would like it if I just carried him 24/7.
He's kind of a snuggly boy, he likes to grab blankets and mush them up into his face when he's going to sleep. He just got this blankey/puppy and really likes it to snuggle with and chew on.

We'll end on a gross note. These pictures are gross, but funny. Faron likes to turn Nikolas upside down so that they are face to face with Nikolas' legs up above Faron's head. They both laugh and seem to enjoy this, but yesterday while they were doing it, Kola spit up, and when you spit up upside down...
You look like this!

Easter

This is a very long lots of Easter pictures blog update! On Good Friday we dyed our eggs. It's amazing that it only takes about 10 minutes to do the actual dying, but it was anticipated all day.
Xander and Ari were very into it.


Arianna was able to do it all herself. She watched how the other kids were using the egg wand thing and then she did it, no help please.




As soon as Xander and Ari dyed thier last eggs they dyed thier hands. I was looking at one of the girl's eggs and turned my head to see Xander's hands fully emersed in the green dye. Of course Ari's hands were next. So then we were off to the bath.


SATURDAY
The day before Easter was Gabe and Angie's Anniversary, so they dropped off the boys at our house while they went out for the night.
The older boys go immediatly to the basement/play room as soon as they walk in my door, so the big girls stayed upstairs with the babies for a while.

Eating dinner.



At one point Nikolas and Kaleb were both tired, and they both only wanted me. Kaleb was screaming at me for holding Nikolas, and Nikolas would not be satisfied with Faron, so we ended up like this. They both fell asleep though.
After Grammy got off work she and Pop came down to help corral all the kids.

Angie told us not to pick out Isaiah's hair or it would turn into a 'fro, so Grammy really wanted to. It didn't get very big though, just kind of puffy.

Grammy got pounced first thing in the morning. Pop got pounced to, but I have no picture of that.

Kaleb really liked the piano, he spent alot of time playing it.

All the kids after Church. Pay no attention to the screaming boys...

Isabella's Easter dress...

Easter Dinner
Easter egg hut time. We wanted to do it outside, but it started raining so we had to move it into the basement. Which means it took more time to get the eggs ready than it did for them to hunt them, but they got the candy and that's really what it's all about anyway.


Ari found her first egg and immediatly opened it, then she felt no need to keep moving and searching for more eggs when she could just stay in this spot and eat chocolate.





cracking the eggs and dumping out the candy




Now that they were on a sugar high we turned on some music and they danced. Pop got Isabella her first Beatles Album for her birthday, so here they are dancing to that.

Isaiah is always more than happy to dance with the girls, and they are thrilled to have a boy partner who is as tall as they are.


Reading time with Uncle Gabe. Miah found once of our school books all about animals so all the boys gathered round that book for a good half hour.


Very fun Easter!