The more the merrier!

We only do big birthday parties for our kids every other year. It was too much stress, time and money to do it every year for three kids and definitely now with four. This year is an "off" year. We do a small family gathering with dinner, cake and gifts. I will let the kids have a friend over, something small that doesn't require a lot of effort. For instance, Noah had two friends over when we had cake and then they all watched a movie. It didn't cost me anything and it made his day a little more special. This year Kai knew there wasn't going to be a huge party, but asked if two friends could meet us at the park. Sure, it was a simple request. Well...one of the mother's took it upon herself to invite half of their pre-k class! Really it wouldn't have mattered, but I had brought cupcakes and sidewalk chalk and with the increase in kids I almost didn't have enough. But Kai had fun, and everyone got a cupcake. We got home from the park and just as we were about to open gifts we had a very happy surprise. Our Sacramento cousins were at our door! They used to live next to us and the kids were close, but they moved back and we've missed them ever since. They opened gifts with us and we had a nice visit. They joined us for dinner, Kai's pick, Red Robin. There we were sitting in Red Robin, a big party of 15 and I just thought, everyone is here because it's Kai's birthday. It ended up much bigger than I thought, but it was just the kind of day Kai loves.

Park playdate turned birthday party


I even said "no gifts"!


Eager to open them.


Cousins :)


Last, but not least Kai's birthday cake. Isn't he sweet?!

Camp Bliss

This week Mia was in soccer camp and the boys went to vacation bible school. With the three big kids gone it was camp bliss for me! Eli had the quietest naps he's ever known and I may have joined him once or twice :). It was a win, win for everyone and there'll be one more week of camp for the oldest 3 in August, yay! Thank you First Baptist Church and AYSO for having coinciding summer camp dates.

Cry baby

Mother of four looking for advice. This baby is wearing me out! He needs to be held all the time. All the time! Not only does he need to be held all the time, but he prefers being held by me. When it's your first child and no one else needs your attention you might think that it's sweet, but when it's your fourth child it's exhausting. When I say held, I mean held while you are standing, sitting in your lap is not enough for him. Bonus, he hates riding in the car and in a stroller. Pretty much every evening the noise that accompanies me while I make dinner is a screaming baby. Mia can hold him for about 10 minutes before he wears her out. Then he is set down and instead of just babbling and playing with his toys or observing his surroundings he screams and cries. He doesn't give up either. He will scream and cry until he is picked up and when that happens he immediately ceases crying. Aaron holding him doesn't help either. He screams in Aaron's arms. I think it makes Aaron feel bad because he holds Eli less and less. What can I do about this? I have a baby carrier, but I can't wear him while I'm in front of a grill or boiling water or a hot oven. Not to mention that I love him, but I don't want to hold him all the time. I also want him to learn to be happy on his own, and not feel like he needs to be held all the time. Right now I feel like it's never going to end. What can I do? This is Eli last night while I was cooking and don't forget, he's fed, clean, safe, and rested. This is just what he does when he's not being held.

Fun, sun and farewells

Day 6: Pretty relaxing after our pedal to the metal day at Disneyland. The only thing we had "scheduled" was a bar-b-que at my friend Anie's and I messed that up. The whole week I was thinking Thursday the 6th. Oops, the 6th was Wednesday, so I stood them up on accident. Luckily we still were able to get together Thursday for a nice visit. The boys had a great time splashing and dancing with Sophie.
Day 7: Dad returns! We were so happy to have him back with us. He spent the day, can you guess? Sleeping. Still he was there. With everyone in tow we went miniature golfing which was crazy, confusing and fun. Afterwards we headed over to the bumper boats which was a HOOT! The boats have spray guns and it was all out war. We were screaming with laughter. Too bad nobody had their camera to capture the action.
Day 8: We spent the day swimming at Whitney and Adam's again. The boys swimming skills vastly improved in one week, it was awesome to watch. The rest of the day was naps and packing. We left that evening for home, hoping a night drive would be easier on the kids than an early morning. There was less crying and more sleeping and we made it home safe. Thanks so much to Nana and Papa Jeff for letting us wreck their house and keeping us entertained. Whitney and Adam were lots of fun and very hospitable. We were so happy to spend time with Auntie Sarah, Uncle Angelo, and little Luca. And I was thankful to Anie for being so understanding and glad we were able to hook up after my mistake. We had a great 8 days in socal!

The Happiest Place on Earth

Day 5: Oh yes, we went there! Disneyland was what the kids were waiting for. A little crazy to go there with a baby who hates being in a stroller, but luckily the willing and able Auntie Whitney was there all day with us. We also had Nana and Papa Jeff reinforcements mid-day so Eli only had to scream it out in the stroller when absolutely necessary. Each of the kids picked two rides they would be guaranteed to ride, anything else we did was icing on the cake. It worked great and fun was had by all (except maybe Eli).

Lefty

Happy Birthday to our little lefty. Kai is six today! We sure love this wirey, happy boy.

Nana's Birthday

Day 4: It's Nana Carol's birthday. We watched Luca in the morning and then went to the splash pad and got some relief from the heat. It's a great water play area and playground. Then we went to Farrell's Ice Cream parlour for dinner, ice cream and fun. It was the noisiest restaurant I've ever been in, the kids LOVED it! They could bang their silverware on the table, yell and sing all they wanted. It felt like Pinoccio's Pleasure Island. I recommend the ice cream nachos they were delicious and very sharable. Oh and to top off her birthday, Ryan and Maria welcomed their third baby that day. Nana now has a birthday buddy.

The 4th

I can't believe it's already been over a week since the 4th of July. What a great holiday. I love my independence and I'm so grateful to all the people who have made and continue to make the USA, land of the free.
Day 3: Beautiful Crescent Bay complete with tide pools and a picnic lunch. Yummy bar-b-qued teriyaki, a dinner I haven't had in so long. A great fireworks show in front of my parents house. I love that fireworks are legal where they live. What's 4th of July without some sparklers?!

Take a little trip with me...

We just got back from a lovely visit to Southern California. I thought it would be a kick back week, I could sleep in, contact a friend who had recently moved down there, go to the beach and just enjoy some lazy days. Not so much. We had somewhere to go every day. It was a lot of fun so of course there are a ton of pictures. Instead of a giant photo bomb I'll post a few pictures over the next couple of days.
Day 1: A loooooooong drive down to OC. We had a 5 hour detour. Noah had an "episode" at the gas station where we stopped. Not a tantrum. After a 45 minute ambulance ride and 4 hours in a Bakersfield ER we're still not sure if he had a seizure or fainted? All his tests were normal and he was feeling fine an hour after the initial episode. It was mom and dad who took longer to recover. We were very happy to make it to nana and papa Jeff's, have a bar-b-que and swim at Adam and Whitney's place.
Day 2: Went to church, watched movies and went to Downtown Disney to watch fireworks. Aaron had to go home and would miss 4th of July with us so we used this as our substitute.

Sleepy Sunday


Licking lemons from nana and papa Jeff's tree



Mia and Nana play a duet


Disneyland fireworks from the entry gate for the 3rd of July


Billen pride


Quality time with daddy before he left for the week

Baby blues

I was really hoping one of my kids got my blue eyes. They all kinda tricked me too. In their first months their eyes looked blue. After Mia I learned not to believe just because they were blue now they would be blue forever. Sure enough Kai and Noah's eyes also changed and their color became permanent between 12-18 months. So again, now with Eli I hear lots of people saying "He got your blue eyes!". I would love to believe it, but I'm a skeptic now. I would rather believe his eyes are going to change and then be happily surprised if they stay blue. This is a pretty cool eye color predictor tool HERE I have a one in six chance of having a blue or green eyed child and we definitely aren't going to have six kids to find out if it's right!

Eli's eyes at 4 1/2 months


Noah's eyes at 5 months


Kai's eyes at 4 1/2 months


Unfortunately I didn't have a digital camera when Mia was a baby so I can't compare hers here, but hers looked blue like the boys too.