6 week comparisons, here we go again!

It is time again to compare the boy's 6 week pictures... Carter has joined the pack of brothers, can you guess who is who and see the resemblance? 

Hats!

If I had a nickel for every time that little J found a hat and put it on, then I could just about pay for his college!  He loves hats and surprises just about everyday with a new look...  Here is a sampling! 

Look mom, double hats!

 Working in the yard with us.

 Monkey breakfast hat!

 This one matches!

 He even found Carter's hat...

 This one is actually a mask style snow hat, but he wore it like a hat that whole day!

Carter 1 month old

The first month has come and gone so quickly!  Carter is a sweet, sweet baby with a calm demeanor and loves to cuddle.  He seems very alert for his age and was smiling at numerous occasions when he was 4 weeks (and no it was not gas!), go see for yourself :).  I think he is ahead of the curve because he was born late...  Hummm?!  Any how, I am his mother so I am allowed to think he is advanced for his young age ;).  We love you Carter!

Just a couple of weeks old... He looks so different already!

 Chunking up in just a few weeks.

 Bath time! Despite the serious face, he really enjoys his baths.

 Hanging with dad

 There is the cute smile!

 Lounging...

 ...And mimicking

 ...And looking around.

 The face wrinkles are disappearing...

 Big responsive smile!

What a Hoot!

Party time! J&K celebrated their turning of years together at a local jumping/climbing indoor playground. It was nice to leave all the work and clean up to someone else and the boys had a blast playing with all their friends!
Happy 5th birthday Joshie and Happy 3rd Kyle!

What better fun for Kyle- so many things that are OK to climb on!

Endless energy!

I could not get J to hold still for a moment to take a good picture, him and his other 4/5 year old friends ran around the whole time- thus the red faces & sweaty hair!

Adults were able to play on everything too! 

Little J spent most of the time at the inflatable basket ball game.

After a long playtime, the kids were ready for pizza and cake (maybe a good nap too!).

It got quiet in the room when the pizza came!

What an excited soon to be three year old!

He wasn't going to miss one drop of that juice!

Candle blowout! 

Jakey was thrilled to get his very own cup cake!

Happy St. Patty's day... Late post, I know!

Happy late St. Patty's Day- we had fun dressing in green compliments of Grandma Barker!

This was the first day that I had all four by myself, it was a good day and all the kids were so happy to not be sick!

 Twins, almost 5 years apart... They look so much alike!

 C is looking at the camera with his eyes open... Too bad the others are being goofy.

 The leprechauns playing outside, do you see how the grass is starting to turn green ;)?!

 Kiss me because I am Irish!... Well maybe not, but it seemed like a good theme for the day.

 We did a green scavenger hunt.

 Here is a green book! 

 Look what we found!

 We drank 'green' smoothies!  Spinach, avocado and pineapple- yum...

Flying solo!

I had the shopping done for the week, laundry caught up, meals planned out for the month, at home activities planned out for the kids and most of all the motivation to attempt it all by myself when one kid after another came down with more symptoms of being sick. Pink eyes, strep throats, throw up, high fevers, debilitating body aches, croupy coughs, runny noses- we had it ALL pass through our house the week that I was all set to fly solo with all four little guys.   Mike and the grandmas came to my rescue as our goal became to keep Carter healthy through it all.  Something worked, because C and myself were the only ones that weathered the storm without getting sick!  I guess I didn't know that we would be venturing into the life as a family of 6 with both feet forward- when it rains it pours!  As a family in a 2 week period, we made 10 visits to the doctor (a few of them were for C's well baby visits and PKU test)!  I had to keep a chart of all the medications to make sure each kid got the right dose at the right time and I suppose I will never again be caught up with laundry with all the towels and bedding that had to be washed over and over!  The hardest part was staying up at all hours of the night holding them and praying that their temperatures would go down and them looking at me pleading to make them feel better. 

Two weeks later, we are happy to report that everyone is mostly back to normal and I am flying solo again, this time around it is going much smoother even though I don't have my ducks in a row like I did the first time around! 

Here is to an exhausting 2 weeks that I am sure Mike and I will always remember as a time full of aches and pains as our family grows.  Taking care of 4 healthy kids should be easy now!  

Up, up and away!

In the spirit of spending time with my mom and taking advantage of the help that she provided while she took off of work a week after I had little Mr. C, we packed our day bags and got out of the house a few times to keep everyone from going stir crazy.  The weather was perfect, I was energetic & Carter pretty much just slept our day trips away!  Walks, parks, zoo and a special trip to the local small airport- all the boys are into airplanes lately and what a treat it was to go on a tour to see several small planes and even visit the lookout tower!

Some of our group inside the big hanger...

 K liked to look in the windows and feel the different textures.

 J thought the propellers were cool.

 We saw a helicopter take off

 We climbed the tower (the stairs!) to look out at the air traffic control tower. 

 Someone picked some interesting colors for their plane!

 On the runway watching one plane get all fueled up!