Update!

It is about time I got on here and gave you all an update as to what has been going on around here! I really thought things might slow down here after the holidays but once Christmas break came to an end we dove right back into school, swimming lessons, choir, dance, indoor soccer and the list goes on and on!

Isabella is still loving first grade!

Between doing science experiments at school and the tire swing, this girl is in heaven! She has been practicing for the last week on her first speaking part in this week's all school Mass. She is very excited but nervous all in one. I keep telling her to just imagine everyone else is in their underwear... she thinks I'm weird! Margaret almost dies laughing at this because, "Mom, why would people go to church in just their underwear?" Okay not the best vision to give my children in church, hoping she doesn't get up there and start laughing.

Think positive thoughts for her :)

Caroline is just loving life!

Poor thing gets toted to this place and that place to pickup, drop off, sit and watch for an hour here, play for a little bit there. It sometimes feels like a marathon getting all four in and out of the car. I recently sat and counted how many times I have to buckle or connect a car seat in one day...28 times today folks. And that was just between Caroline and Walter because, thank goodness, the other two can now do it themselves! I really shouldn't complain here because we have been blessed with some awesome weather this winter which has made getting around so much easier. Freezing temps, snow, and stuffing babies who have puffy coats into car seats is not my cup of tea.

Okay back to Miss C...

She kind of thinks she just runs things around here. Sometimes I just watch her interact with her siblings and in her own little language she tells them what to do... and they do it! I don't know how she pulls it off because I ask them to do things in simple English and they don't seem to understand. Something about this little girl has us all wrapped around her little finger.

Her (my) New Year's resolution was to give up her paci. Although she was only allowed to have it when she was sleeping she was still growing more and more attached to it each day. I knew that this needed to go, she had already had it longer than I allowed the others to have it and I just feel the longer you wait the harder it is for both mom and baby. I started out by snipping the end of the paci with the idea that each day I would snip a little more until it was gone. First day she put it in, took it out and said "boke". She then walked it to the trash can, threw it away, then asked for another one. I then realized that this was not going down how I imagined. Day six was our magical day, it finally clicked and she realized it was "boke" and no one was going to fix it! Six days of no nap, six nights of interrupted sleep, and we both survived... and I won this one :)

Congrats to my baby girl, she is paci free!

My next challenge is to get her to sit on my lap during Mass instead of behaving like a crazy orangutan. I look around at other children her age who just cuddle with their mom and fall asleep while Mass is being said. What am I doing wrong here? She is literally calm until we hit the pew and then for the next hour she is going bonkers!

Margaret is just plowing through Pre-K.

Kindergarten couldn't come soon enough in her eyes. Mine, on the other hand, will be shedding tears like crazy next fall as I send another one off into the big bad world. She has started a new dance class and is very excited! After her first class she asked me, "Mom, do you think I can be in the Nutcracker and still be a doctor?" Of course!!!! Yes, she is my one who has talked about being a doctor since she could basically talk. I am so thankful that we have sugarcoated this road of long, exhausting, expensive, and did I mention horrible hours that one must endure to become a doctor. She doesn't think twice when she says it. She wants to work at the same hospital as her daddy, fix hearts, and eat lunch with him everyday! She says I can stop by and eat too! Thanks :)

Little man is hanging in there with all of us girlies.

There are times in the afternoon when we are all being crazy and I notice that he has wondered up to his room. When I peek in he is usually on the floor with about 150 Hotwheels. He loves to line them all up in perfect rows. Each one has a strategic place, he knows when one has been taken. He names them, talks to them, and probably thinks they are his brothers! I am so thankful that his preschool class has five boys, two girls. Even though he has learned to karate chop people, burp and fart at the table, and tell me that only daddy's can fix things I know that he needs his boy time!

We are now all caught up!

Hopefully I can get back in the swing of things here... I have missed bragging about my kids:)