Zevon the entertainer

We were enjoying an evening with our friends the Kriegers and the kids decided to put on a show.  But Zevon pretty much stole the show:

New park!

 Guthrie and Zevon taking turns at the wheel

We explored a new park recently and the kids loved it!  It had places for the little boys to play as well as an awesome climbing area that Evie was all over.  And, it has a soft springy ground, so it's mom approved.  It is a little out of the way for us, but we will have to make many return trips.

 Guthrie and Zevon fighting over driving rights.  It's only going to get worse when they are 16!

 Guthrie trying out the see-saw

 We happened to run into our friends Avery and Jack at the park.  More fun on the see-saw!

 Evie climbing up high.

You can see the storm clouds behind Evie.  This was the start of many rainy days for us, but the rain was welcome and got us out of some drought danger. 

Happy Mother's Day!

Evie eats a jalepeno

Hanging out

Will was pretty excited to pull out his hammock when the weather got warm.  The kids were pretty excited too.  I think they have the 'hang' of this hammock thing.

 Guthrie

 Zevon (who I think wins the most natural hammock pose award)

Evie

Twin boy nonsense

Zevon (top) and Guthrie (bottom)

I am very thankful for when the boys get along, mostly because it is rare when they do.  They have started wrestling and playing a little rough with each other, something I never experienced with Evie.  But Zevon and Guthrie seem to both enjoy the roughhousing, at least until someone gets sat on or poked in the eye.  They also have gotten into hide and seek and love finding new places to crawl into.  The laundry hamper became the hiding place of choice for Guthrie one day this spring.  The stuffed animal bin is frequently a boat or a car.  It is so much fun to see my boys pretend up a storm...as long as they don't destroy the house and each other while they do their pretending!

 Zevon in his race car and Guthrie...not sure what he is doing but he loves it!

Peek-a-boo, I see you!

Early spring trip to the park

These pictures are from early March when we visited a nearby park.

 Zevon

 Evie

Guthrie

Easter fun

Zevon, Guthrie and Evie posing for an Easter portrait

Easter included a visit from Grandma Bev and Grandpa Wayne, an easter egg hunt in the backyard, blowing bubbles, decorating easter eggs, an easter dinner, and lots of low key hanging out.  Of course, low key in our house is usually high energy, but nothing like easter to keep you hopping!  (A pun that makes me groan, but I can't resist!)

 

 Guthrie dyes his egg yellow.  (Never though the egg in a whisk trick worked, but it does!)

 Zevon likes blue.

 Evie gets creative with her eggs, first going two-tone, then adding stickers after they dry.

 Grandpa Wayne helps the boys with their bubble juice.

 Evie shows how it's done!

Relaxing with Dad

Tooth fairy made a visit!

 The tooth was hanging sideways.  I had to resist just yanking it out on my own!

 I already lost my first tooth a long time ago!

Despite his best efforts, Gus still has all his teeth.

Back earlier this February, Evie lost her first tooth!  It had been hanging by a thread for a while, and all the coaxing in the world couldn't get her to make the final pull.  She went to bed one night, only to come back downstairs 20 minutes later with her tooth out!  She was pretty proud of herself and couldn't wait to share the news with her class (they sing a special song).  She was pretty excited to put her tooth under her pillow and find a dollar waiting for her the next morning.  As I write this, the adult tooth has finally made its appearance and a second tooth is soon on its way out. 

Stop copying me!

Evie is now fully understanding what it is like to have younger siblings.  Guthrie especially has started copying everything anybody says, falling only a beat or two behind.  ("Stop copying me!" "Op opying me!" "I mean it, Guthrie!" "I eeen it, utry!") It really bugs Evie, and I have a hard time scolding him because it sounds so funny.  I also wonder if he is simply trying out words and phrases he hears; he might not mean to bug Evie. Well, maybe he does get a little joy out of annoying his sister.

Perhaps one of the funniest incidents occurred between Evie and Zevon this February.  Evie was throwing a fit about something at the dinner table one night and Zevon decided to copy her behavior for humorous effect.  Just take a look:

What a punk.  Sorry, Evie.  Somehow you are going to find a way to cope because your brothers aren't going anywhere and they aren't going to make life easy for you.  Maybe some day you'll look back on this and laugh?

Evie the label maker, and other interesting tales

I'm sorry to say that the following stories don't include pictures, so if you are here only for new photos of the kids you'll have to wait another day.  But I encourage you to keep reading because while pictures are worth a thousand words, the mental image of these stories might be enough to get you through. 

Story #1: Evie the label maker
A week ago I was having a slow Saturday morning.  When Evie asked if she could use some post-it notes, I said sure.  As long as she was occupied and I got to sit in my pajamas a little longer, I was happy.  A while later, I noticed the house was covered in lime green and aqua sticky notes, each with handwritten notes by Evie.  For example, she labeled the dining room wall "Pictr Woll" because it has pictures of our family on it.  She labeled her brothers' beds "Zs sid" and "Gus sid" to indicate which bed (side) belong to which twin.  The closet door in the hallway was labeled "Secrt Door" for reasons I still don't know.  My favorite note by far was the one she delivered to me that said, "you are the best. Love Evie!"  Though, I felt a little slighted when she gave Will the note "you are the best ever."  She said it was because she had to make his note different that my note.  I'll try not to take it personally.  I continued to find notes throughout the house the rest of the day.  As I was tucking Zevon into bed that night, I noticed a note above his head the read "Slep". 

Story #2:  What is up your shirt, Zevon?
The boys were never good self-soothers.  But the only thing that has come close has been Zevon and his lovey, his little blanket (now he calls it 'waa-ee') I made for the boys a while back.  He will suck his tongue and rub waa-ee to calm down.  Waa-ee has to join him while he plays and at every meal.  (I'm not sure what it is about my cooking that he needs to be soothed during mealtime.)  Because you need your hands to eat and play, Zevon has found a handy way to 'hold' his waa-ee: stuff it up his shirt.  You'll see him walking around the house with a big poofy stomach.  I have to say, it is a brilliant idea.  But yesterday, I noticed him pulling a treat from Sunday School out of his shirt and I'm wondering what else he will try stuffing up his shirt.  Perhaps it is time to teach him about pockets.

Story #3:  Disappearing raisins and Guthries
The boys love raisins and at the moment I'm not sure if it is bananas or raisins that are their favorite snack.  Last week I was trying to find some tax documents at the computer while the boys were snacking in the next room.  Suddenly, Guthrie starts to say "Owwie!" and cries.  He informs me there is a raisin up his nose.  He did this a few days earlier and Will was able to pull it out with tweezers, but this time it was way up there.  He had a cold and kept on sniffing it up farther every time I asked him to blow it out.  After more extraction attempts and finally calling the nurse, we were on our way to the clinic.  We waited for 45 minutes for the doctor and I kept on looking at Guthrie hoping the raisin would come out each time he sneezed.  No luck.  We finally got in and the minute Gus sees the doctor he starts to cry.  I get him calmed down enough so that the doctor can look in his ears and listen to his chest (since he had a cold we might as well cover everything).  When we finally get to his nose, Guthrie starts wailing again and the raisin starts to shoot out his nose.  Why didn't he do that 2 hours earlier!

Just yesterday, Guthrie did a disappearing act of his own and went missing after church.  I had asked the kids to wash their hands before getting a treat downstairs and noticed Guthrie didn't follow me into the women's restroom.  After taking care of Evie and Zevon, I went looking for him, sure he would turn up.  A little while later, Gus still hadn't shown up and I had several women looking for him.  Several panicked minutes later, I finally found him in the MENS restroom washing his hands (or, mostly just getting his jacket soaked).  He could push the door open to get in, but couldn't reach the handle to get out.  The only reason I found him was because he was yelling 'mommy!' (not in a scared way but in a wow, I've got myself in a mess sort of way). 

Never a dull moment here.

Mardi Gras

Who are these masked children?

The church held a Mardi Gras pancake feed with live music a month ago.  They had activities for the kids including making masks.  Evie, Zevon, and Guthrie had fun making their own masks, but I think they had even more fun wearing them.  Zevon even slept with his!  Guthrie's was a little big for his face, so he has a goofy look no matter what picture we took of him.  Evie loves to dream up elaborate settings and dramas for her brothers to participate in, and the masks just added to that.

Superheroes!

I am Thor!  Look at my hammer!  And that isn't my evil brother Loki behind me.  That is the great Captain America and his unbreakable shield!

It's no secret that Will loves comic book heroes.   I think he has seen every superhero movie, he still owns his childhood comic books, and at one time had a Batman toothbrush holder.  It seems like he has passed this love onto his sons.  For Christmas from Evie, Zevon and Guthrie got little stuffed action figures of several Marvel characters.  I think they are the favorite toys of the moment.  They also got a couple of Marvel character themed Golden Books, so now they also know the back story of their superheroes.  "Nion Nan" (Iron Man) and "Gulk" (Hulk) frequently join them in every day activities, from naps, to potty training, to snack time.  I'm not sure if the picture above was them actually playing the parts of Thor and Captain America.  But Guthrie with his toy wooden hammer sure strikes a Thor-like pose.  He even tried throwing his hammer just like Thor (it was confiscated shortly after).  And Zevon certainly looks like he is holding Captain America's shield.  Though, considering it is a plastic hamper lid, I'm pretty sure it isn't unbreakable.

Evie's birthday brunch with friends

 Older and wiser!

In a moment of weakness, Will and I decided to throw a kid party for Evie.  We planned a low key party with a few friends and an easy brunch of waffles and fruit.  Add in a few fun games and activities and a couple of party favors and we thought we had a laid back kid party planned.  We even put up a few streamers and balloons and a banner.  They played pin the tail on the donkey, made marshmallow towers (a hit! who knew...), and played up a storm in Evie's room.  They had such a good time!  In fact, one girl cried when she had to go home.  Success!?  What we didn't plan for was the chaos that is 6 little girls and their 4 brothers.  Oof da.  Even my extrovert husband was overloaded on noise and joyful exuberance.  Seeing how much fun they had and how happy Evie was to show her friends her room and house made it worth it. 

 Coloring tails for pin the tail on the donkey

 Evie and her friends fill up the secret closet in her room.  If you turn up the radio and TV really loud while looking at this picture, you'll get an idea of what hosting this party was like.

Who knew that toothpicks and marshmallows could keep kids entertained!

 

 Happy birthday to our smart, happy, headstrong girl!  I can't believe how tall and strong you are, with long fingers and long hair.  You love to run circles around us, color masterpieces, and sing to your CDs.  You play with your brothers so well and I am so proud of how you have handled being the big sister of twins.  Your legos and books have become your latest joys, which speaks to your love of puzzles.  Keep up the good work, Evie!  You keep us on our toes (which is a good thing because your brothers aren't far behind!)

Minnesota holiday, part 1

 Evie and her new best friend, Noah.

In an attempt to reduce whining and crankiness during the drive, Will and I decided an overnight trek to Minnesota was the best way.  We packed up the van and kids when Will was done with services and headed out.  The weather was not the best and roads and visibility were pretty awful through much of Montana.  The kids slept fitfully through the drive but were very good.  We made it to the farm by Christmas morning greeted by two very thankful grandparents.  After a shower and a short rest, we headed out to my aunt and uncle's farm to see a houseful of aunts and uncles and cousins I haven't seen in a long time (or, in the case of one of my cousins' kids, meeting for the first time).  As a kid growing up, Christmas Eve was often spent with my dad's side of the family where I have many cousins ranging from my age to many years younger.  I can remember when my younger cousins were born.  Now, many of us are married with kids, in college, working full time, getting close to high school graduation, or in many other stages of growing up.  Now, it is our kids running wild in the house!  Evie became reacquainted with her second cousin Noah, who is only about a year younger.  They were inseparable the whole day.  It was a lot of fun catching up.  However, the long drive wore on us and we were TIRED by the end of the day.  Our first day in Minnesota was probably the busiest of the trip.

Cousins playing catch-phrase

Evie putting together a new puzzle with my cousin Kyle and Aunt Kaitlin

Minnesota holiday, part 2

 These presents are mine.  You can get your own.

Sometimes I think we celebrate a sort of Hanukkah: instead of one day of presents we get several crazy nights.  We celebrated our Christmas with my family after everyone was in town.  Kaitlin got in the same day we did; Megan and Chris a day later.  Great-grandma joined us and we enjoyed a Christmas brunch and gift opening.  That gave the whole day to play with new toys, read new books, and generally just hang out.

Evie picks out her first present

 Zevon posing

 Guthrie opens his tractor/flashlight.  Comes in handy for bedtime play!

 Evie shows off her new book from Great-grandma.  We have started reading it and she loves it!

 The boys got new Tonka trucks from Grandma and Grandpa.  They are not ride-on toys, but the boys thought otherwise.  Here Guthrie is proving that it works...

 ...or not.

 Evie snuggles up with Aunt Kaitlin in their new fleece blankets

 Evie and Guthrie play Elephun (sp?) with Uncle Chris.  

 One of the favorite gifts the boys got was homemade quilts from Great-Grandma.  She selected fabric with trucks, sports, dogs, tools, and other 'boy' fabric.  Zevon and Guthrie liked pointing and naming all the parts of their new quilts.  

Zevon and Guthrie with Great-grandma and their quilts.

 Evie listens to a bedtime story from Great-grandma.  I think she is just upset about bedtime, not the story itself.