A Regular Picasso In the Making

We got Jared these great little Crayola animal markers for Christmas but he was too little then to use it. Now that he sits up and reaches for things in front of him we thought that it would be a great time to pull out the markers and see what he could do.

We got all of Jared's favorite colors, or at least the colors that he chose, which was black, blue and orange. I think that he liked working with the orange more than the other colors ... it seemed to be really bright! He had a hard time figuring out how to use these really cute markers but in no time at all he was coloring up a storm. And then he held up his master piece for me to take a picture. He calls this one "Ma- ma"!

Sweet boy!

Its been 10 months since our sweet little boy was born, but it feels like just yesterday that we brought him home. He was so tiny and so quiet! Now he seems to babble non-stop, he chews on anything that he can get his hands on. Before when Jared was really little we would just hold him and cuddle him and that was all that he needed, now that doesn't seem to be as interesting as before, Jared would much rather get down on the floor and play with his sisters or roll around in his walker and just hang out in the kitchen trying to get the cat!

Sometimes he likes to snuggle and sometimes he wants me to hold him, but he thinks that he is a toddler already and that he could run around with his sisters and play with their toys. It has been so much fun watching him grow up and get past another phase in life, I admit I didn't do this with the girls as much. I think at the time when they were this little I was just trying to survive and I didn't enjoy their little accomplishments as I do now with Jared.

It might be that because he is my only son I feel the need to take many pictures and date every accomplishment so that I can look back on it in the future. He might be my only son or he might not be.. but if he is he will be the baby boy of the family no matter what and Jared will always be my baby! ...

I just love the cute little faces he makes for me and I am glad that I can capture them on camera so that I never forget how sweet he is!

8AM DISASTER!!!

Jared Samuel and I both get up at around 6am almost every morning. Once we get up we get Jared fed and we start playing for a bit and then Mommy attempts to exercise a bit while watching the news. This all takes about an hour or so. Once that is done I start to get the kids' breakfast ready and start cleaning the kitchen. All while Jared keeps me company in his walker.

Once the girls get up ( and Jared leaves for work) we get them changed and then they use the potty, after which they bring out their blankets and settle down in the living room with their little couches. They watch the news in the morning with Little brother while mommy finishes breakfast!

As soon as Jared sees his sisters he starts getting all excited, kicking and screaming and laughing at them hoping that when they pass him on the way to the living room that they will stop and give him a Good Morning kiss and hug. He loves it!

Once the girls get settled after breakfast Jared usually shares Lizzy's couch and watches cartoons with his sisters. But my clean living room soon becomes a complete disaster and this is just what it looks like during the week.. almost no room to walk, blankets thrown all over the place along with Jared's toys. It looks worse during the weekend when Jared is home from work. He has his own blankets and pillows that he parks right in between the girls and their couches.

It is amazing how quickly a room fills up with people. But these people are little can you imagine what it would be like to have 5 adult bodies sharing this little living room? What a disaster! It is worse for me because I am really claustrophobic, so on Saturdays when there is a packed living room I spend it in bed sleeping.... at 10am!

CRABBY BOY!

Well our Little man is finally 10 months old, he is teething right now and he spends alot of time crying and chewing on his hands. But this morning he woke up with a fever and a cough. I think that he has a cold along with his teething problem. As soon as I changed him and brought him out to the living room, he was all smiles.

He loves playing in the morning, but he loves to take pictures too. Every time I bring out my bright red camera he starts laughing and giggling, I think that he is so photogenic.He knows that the camera takes pics of him so he smiles, the girls never did that when they were his age! So I got some great pics of him laughing and playing with me... This little boy who woke up Crabby is now nothing but all smiles!

PLAYTIME @ 6AM!

So how many mothers are sleep deprived other than me. It seems that my kids have some kind of internal alarm that wakes them up at exactly 6am. But lately the girls sleep in till about 8am. Little Jared would rather get up and play.

So one exhausting Saturday morning when everyone was sleeping except for me, I decided to wear the little monster out a bit with some playing and walking and tickling. It worked, because at around 630am... he started drifting of to Dreamland... The unfortunate part was that after all that playing I was awake and the dishes needed to be done and the house needed to be cleaned.... So while everyone in the family was in Dreamland... I was in Cleaning-your-house-before-the-kids-wake-up-and-you-have-no-time-to-clean-during-the-day-because-your-kids-are-constantly-making-messes- Land!

One day I will get that sleep back that I lost that early Saturday morning....One day!

My Little Old Navy Boy!

Not that I am a fan of Old Navy or anything but ever since Jared was on his mission I would see him in his flip flops on P-Days and he would tell me how comfy they were and how he got them for a great price at Old Navy, and how long they lasted him. Apparently he had them just before his mission started!

Anyways, about a year or so ago somehow his indestructible flip flops gave out and he was forced to buy some not so comfy ones at Walmart! He was so disappointed, he wanted to go back to Old Navy and buy some new ones but they were way too expensive. And then one day we saw that Old Navy was having a sale on his favorite flip flops... just a$1 a pair. I thought that we would go there and stock up for the next 10 years or so! I mean how many flip flops can you use at a time?

The store was jam- packed with ppl, buying clothes and flip flops, we got there just in time to get the last pair in Jared's size. But they were also having a sale on clothing and I needed some summer clothes so did Jared and the kids. After about an hour of shopping we checked out... we were so excited for all the new clothes that we got and we found this great little outfit for baby Jared and of course Jared was excited about his new flip flops.

We got home and tried on all our new clothes to see if they all fit and with all the comotion of new clothes and kids getting all excited to go to a party... we realised something ... We didnt get the flip flops! Oh well! At least we got this great little outfit for baby Jared and that was worth it! He looks great in Orange dont you think?

MY MOTHER'S DAY

The Saturday morning before Mother's Day, Jared asked me what I wanted for Mother's Day, even though I knew that Mother's day was the next day I never really thought about what I wanted, other than to sleep all day! After a few minutes of thinking, I decided that I wanted Jared to make me one of his special Chocolate cakes!.... The last time that he made me a cake was when he was a missionary and he made me this amazing chocolate cake for my 18th Birthday... It was really a great cake, so great that I tell ppl that it was one of the reasons why I married him.

So we started out on my Mother's day gift, he soon discovered that we didnt have a chocolate cake mix in the pantry, (that's because I usually dont have chocolate cake mix, I just have the brownie mix)! So he headed out to the store to get the chocolate cake mix and some groceries, it was about 11.30pm! Once he was home he put everything away before I could see it and started doing the dishes! I thought that was weird but I decided to stay on the couch, after all I was almost alseep anyways.

Soon after we went to bed. The next day I got up early and got ready for church and then Jared woke up soon after all by his self ( usually I have to wake him about ten time and threaten him, before he gets up) Jared got dressed and then started on the kids. We made it to church in a timely manner after decideding to walk instead of drive. I was a nice and sunny day, not too hot and not too cool!

Once we got home the kids started to get ready for lunch and Jared started to get ready to make the cake... I told him to hold off till after nap time so that the girls can help (the love to help bake). Jared let me sleep in for about 3 hrs and then he started working on the cake. Little Jared was helping too... but the girls decided that they wanted to watch a movie instead (oh well!)

I wanted chocolate cake that was filled with warm, melting milk chocolate chips, and so that was what Jared decided to make me. Soon after the cake was finished I realised that I couldnt and wouldnt eat all that cake at all...even with Jared and the kids helping it was just too much.

So Jared cut up some of the cake and delivered it to some of the mothers on our street and wished them a Happy Mother's day. The cake was great! But next year I think what I want is for Jared to do the dishes ... I will make the cake!