Halloween

Halloween pictures up less than a week after the fact! Hurray!

The oldest three were ninjas, and Brandon put their costumes together. Hurray for a creative dad. I sure don't enjoy doing stuff like this, so I'm glad he does. I love their intense poses.

Liam


Andrew


Colin
(So maybe his pose is more cool then intense?)


Aidan got it into his head somehow that he wanted to be a bird. Never mind the fact that we had a cool dinosaur, skeleton, Power Rangers, or multiple other costumes to choose from. Luckily our next door neighbors saved the day with this get-up. He insisted on carrying a sword while trick-or-treating, so we called him a Bird of Prey.

Logan was the usual blue dinosaur. He loved finding Nerds boxes. He didn't want to eat them, just carry them around and shake them.

We had a fun day, with dinner and trunk-or-treating at our church, then dinner and trick-or-treating with cousins (notice TWO dinners there? Put with all the candy, I'm off to a bad start for holiday weight gain!!).

The Big Toe Year

Liam had a birthday, and can no longer show his age using just fingers. He got creative to add that extra digit.

Festivities were dampened a little by the fact that three of his brothers (Aidan, Andrew, and as of today, Colin) have what is most likely swine flu. But I allowed him to play the Wii this afternoon, usually a no-no on a school night, and he beat a game he's been at for months. So there were some perks.

He chose artichokes for dinner, a family favorite. Our second course was fondue-style hot dogs, which was a big hit. Both were traditions in Brandon's family while growing up.

Presents and cake rounded it all off (in that order--it drives me crazy! I grew up with cake then presents). He is such a great kid, and we love having him in our family. Hopefully his brothers haven't given him a present that oinks and lasts about a week!


UPDATE: Liam did come down with the flu the day after his birthday. How kind of it to wait!

Books Have Saved Me!!

We have had some gorgeous weather over the past few days. The boys have been able to get outside and jump on the trampoline and ride bikes. However, the winter weeks leading up to this were rough. The boys have been (literally at times) bouncing off the walls. And the noise. The noise! Do you know how loud five little boys can be when they're all playing and wrestling at the same time? Logan has already learned that he has to be very loud to get any attention. The thing that has saved my sanity at times has been books. Both Liam and Andrew love to read, Colin is becoming a very good little reader, Aidan loves to look at picture books, and Logan loves to chew on them. So when things get too crazy, I holler, "Go read something!" In a few minutes, blissful silence...for awhile.

Last week: Brandon and Colin are listening to Harry Potter together, while Andrew and Liam enjoy their own books. Ah, sweet silence!

Thoughts on Parenting

Logan's not crawling yet, but he's sure trying hard!

Today I took Logan in for his 6-month checkup. He's doing great, coming in at 14 lb 4 oz, 26" long, and his head is in the 25th percentile (very small for our family--we're usually in the 90s!). He had gone from 25th to 5th % for weight, which is the norm for my kids. As long as he's a good eater, the pediatrician says it is just a sign of how active he is. I couldn't help but compare both my attitude and the doctor's to my experience with Liam as a baby. He also dropped in his growth curve significantly over the first year, but by the time he was 1 yr old the (different) doctor had him on a high-fat, high-calorie diet, he was going in for weight checks every week, and they were running all sorts of blood tests to see what was wrong. They didn't turn up anything. Eventually, Brandon's mom found his baby records, which turned out to be almost identical to Liam's. Now we know that "travel-size kids" just run in our family. I love being a mom for the 5th time around instead of the 1st!

Our high school marching band at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade last year

But at the same time, I'm still hitting all the firsts with Liam. This week he had the opportunity to sign up for 5th grade band as an after-school program. He wasn't interested at all, even after our fabulous high school marching band came and played for their school and he thought it was very cool. I would love to provide him with the chance to belong to a group like that. I think his reticence is mainly because he doesn't like the unknown, but how far do I push him? He did sign up for chorus instead, which is also great. And, of course, he's taking piano from a fabulous teacher (hee hee), in Cub Scouts, and playing soccer. Maybe Andrew will want to be in band in a few years...(oh no, am I just trying to live through my children?!).

And my last thought for today: 2-yr olds will be 2-yr olds, especially when all their entertaining brothers are away at school. I heard, "See my rainbow!" several times before I went to see it, and it was a beautiful pink one, indeed.

Luckily it washed off without any problems, and he got to draw circles on paper afterwards.

First Day of School!

Liam and Andrew started school today. I can't believe how fast the summer went by. I'm not totally ready to say good bye to them every morning! We've actually had a great summer together, and I know for certain that Aidan especially will be missing them a lot. Poor kid, once Colin starts kindergarten next week, Aidan's going to have to rely on mommy for entertainment, at least until Logan's ready to play.

We made slushies after school, so Liam and Andrew could cool down after their hot walk home (Colin had some friends over):

I can't believe that Liam is already in 5th grade, and Andrew is in 2nd. You always hear that kids grow up so fast, and I guess it must be because it is true!

King of Dessert

Liam eating an ice cream cone in 2005

Liam eating an ice cream cone in 2008: I think he's gotten messier!

Grandpa Dave reminded me of a story about Liam when we were at a restaurant. The waitress asked if anyone would like dessert, and Liam's hand shot up in the air, "I do!" He's still like that today: ruled by his sweet tooth. I have to say, he comes by it naturally.