Fantastic Four!

Celebrated this little firecracker a week early... He was so excited to have a "birthday party".  Family came, loved on him a lot, ate and drank to their hearts content.

4 Things I love about you...
1. I love that you are so expressive - your face is a window inside your head and heart - you love to get a reaction from whatever facial expression you're providing!
2. I love that you look both ways before crossing the street - at 4 - every time.  The older boys still don't do this.  You are very conscientious about following that rule.
3. I love that you still enjoy sitting on my lap with a blanket.  You are my cuddle bug.
4. I love that you make me laugh - every day.  Along with #1 you can cut up like anyone older than you and know when things are funny.

We enjoy you so much Seth Patrick. 

double digits

Oh boy what a birthday!  Double digits!  I cannot hardly believe we have had this wonderful human being in our lives for 10 years.  That's how long it took me to pay off my college debt!  He was born the year I had my 10yr reunion from High School.  He had a good real birthday day - went to school, took Oreo's so all the kids in his class could enjoy (allergies) and even shared with his teacher, a past teacher and the school nurse!  He wanted pizza for supper so we ordered Pizza Hut and then had soccer practice.  He got to open his presents from us - a new Yeti cup and a pocket knife.  I can't hardly believe we bought him that, but so far he's been very responsible with it.  We had a wonderful birthday party with the rest of the family on Saturday - everyone came to celebrate him and enjoy spaghetti, salad and pineapple upside down cake!

10 things I love about you Noah:

1. You are so patient with me - all my yelling and demanding "put this here/ or why did you do that?" you take it in stride and are so so patient with me.
2. You always love to try new recipes for healthy dinners with me - cooking chili with quinoa and egg & veggie frittata.
3. You are getting so much better playing and including and enjoying your brothers - both of them - they are both so different from you personality wise and have different levels of experience, but you continue to amaze me with your patience and kindness towards them.
4. You worry about everyone - from the kids in class who can't have milk to the kids that have been affected by Hurricane Harvey and now Irma.  You are willing to do whatever it takes to make the other person feel included (having Oreos) to buying composition notebooks to donate to Houston kids.
5. You are still a wonderful sleeper and always allow me to enforce naps on you if I feel like they might be warranted.  I love that you love sleep!
6. You are trying to hard to grow into a responsible young man.  Trying to think about what you say and how you act before you do it - practice makes you better right?
7. You take such good care of me and my diabetes - you always can tell if I am low and can even check my blood sugar for me if I need help - the blood doesn't bother you and you know what all the numbers mean.
8.  You are becoming quite the soccer player - I can see the growth in your running steps that you are trying to hard to keep with the other kids and play hard and really think about where the ball is going to go and what is best for the game.
9. You love your quiet time.  You are already realizing that sometimes being by yourself and quiet - mindlessly watching TV or reading a book in your room is good for you to make sure you are relaxed.
10. You are quite the artist - you really love to let your creative juices flow and create new patterns and draw things you see.

# 7

He had a nice easy going day.  Filled with donuts for breakfast and lunch (because why not?) and burrito bar for dinner... but didn't even have his dessert because he was too busy playing with his new toys... the kid loves his dinosaurs / dragons / slugs... love you marky mark.

1. I love your sweet voice - you hardly ever raise it unless it's really really bad
2. I love your ability to sing and remember lyrics like no one else and really jam out to the music in the car with me
3. I love the way you ALWAYS give your dad a 'marky morning hug'...
4. You have a kind heart.  Even when you don't want to.  You have begun to let Seth be your tag-a-long... teaching him the ways of the dinosaurs / slugs / dragons and how to play
5. You are learning how to be reserved and keep your mouth shut when things are tense or I am upset.  You know to stop and think before you act.  Its so crazy to think at 7 you can do this and I at 38 still have loads of trouble with it.
6. You are so patient with everyone in the family - being in the middle you are easy going enough to let all of us just be the way we are and still give us hugs when you think we might need them.  You are very keen on people's emotions and tone.
7.  I love that you think you're going to get a toy with each food purchase / every time we go into the store.  You have an ease about your life that things are always ok... and never really a hard time.

when #3 turned 3...

oh boy.  my last little boy is 3.  he broke the mold.  has done zero like his older brothers.  into everything since he could crawl.  not afraid of climbing, jumping, falling.  loves all sorts of cars, trucks, anything motorized.  still likes to be held.  loves to be read to.  loves to read by himself.  loves anything his older brothers are doing (tablets, cartoons, playing outside, food!)
 

oh but one more... of all the things he loves... he HATEs the potty... happy 3rd birthday sweet boy!

maybe we'll try at 4... diapers til 4... eh.

3 things I love about you Seth!

1. you don't mind being silly and love to laugh.

2. you love being sneaky... like the song "shut up and dance with me"...has "shut up" in it...but it's okay to sing it because it's a song... ;)

3. you make me smile everyday.  every single day.  

Noah turns 9!

Noah had a pretty good birthday!  Long weekend, lots of family time, plenty of entertainment!

9 years ago seems like forever ago... i was a different person... different mom... 

it's almost the same amount of time to pay off a school loan... or paying off two cars... 

Nine things I love about you Noah:

1. Still tries most days to make someone laugh...usually it's me, but no complaints here.
2. He is becoming a young man in physical appearance.  He's tall, and loves to dress like it... jeans, belt, nice shoes, tuck in a shirt.
3. He still loves playing with his little brothers.  Mark I think will always be closest to him...for a long time it's been the two of them together, playing tablets, running outside with the buddies of the neighborhood...they are the best of friends and can fight and make up with minimal effort.
4. He is wanting to help more in the cooking department - likes making and is really good at eggs!  
5. He is finding more things aside from "playing" that he's interested in...such as music and learning lyrics and singing out loud.  He wants to know the group's name or who wrote the lyrics.  He likes to be in control of the radio and helps me pick out fun upbeat songs to listen to in the car.
6. He still doesn't like being the center of attention... he loves a supportive role and is really good at it - guiding his brothers and friends in a subtle way.
7.  He is becoming more vast in his subject matter while reading...it's not just make believe / fiction that he's interested in... he chooses all kinds of non-fiction books to learn how and why.
8. He's still a momma's boy - He still needs hugs and me touching him even if it's just his hand or his foot...
9.  He is learning how to deal with and handle his emotions and how he feels inside about things when they are difficult.  Trusting himself and knowing that he can make the right decision.

You are a joy to me - every day... no matter the day...

Mark turns 6!

Another year.  Another year to grow and mature and become more of who you are...  You are growing and changing each day - it's been an interesting year Mark Curtis... Kindergarten, learning to read, maturing your relationships, responsibility.

Six things I love about you:

1. You are becoming more patient with your words and understanding of others.
2. You are so easy going, even for your birthday dinner you didn't mind where we went or what we did - simply to pick out some Pokemon cards and you were over the moon!
3. You are still so willing to try new things... mom's new meals, la croix water...
4. Still our family comedian... 'jake from state farm!?'
5. The love you have for each of your brothers... the interest and eagerness to learn from Noah and the patience and goofiness you bring to play with Seth - you really are a match for them being in the middle.
6. Marky-morning hugs (your dad loves these too...)

We had two parties in one day - 1st was a 'friend party' at Cosmic Jump - loads of trampolines!  You bounced for almost 2 hours straight!  The second party was with family and again you wanted simple spaghetti, cup cakes and some friends to play with...

Such a sweet smile!

Your typical face when everyone was singing to you!

Flame!

Make it a good one!

the.best.picture!

goofballs!

catch up...

helloooo...  i hope one day the boys read these posts and laugh at my words...laugh at how long it takes me to post something of importance (to me)....  maybe one day i'll turn it into a book?

• halloween - almost 2 full months ago!
• we had a great time - bit of a neighborhood block party was had due to halloween, Royals in the World Series and of course candy/adult beverages...it was a pretty great time.  lots of kids running around - new neighbors / old neighbors meeting up, adding each other to facebook friends list, phone numbers for texting later :)  kind of neat really :)
• here were the boys - we had "Toothless" from How to Train Your Dragon (Mark); "a green dragon" (handmedown - poor kid - thirdbornproblems, Seth) and of course "Batman" (Noah).

They had a great time - not too much candy either!

• Seth's Birthday - wondered if I should give him his own post, but I am going to cram all of this together anyway... he won't mind:)
• We were all recovering from barf-o-rama 2015 during his real birthday day...apple crisp was all i could muster, but no one complained...and everyone kept it down ;)

• We tried again with the rest of the family a couple of weeks later...

• My mom made the cake - it was pretty amazing!  he loves LOVES LOVES trucks - like in order of importance in his world - its Dada, PAPA, PAPA's truck, and trucks...and dogs... dogs are always sprinkled in there in between.

• Not sure what is up with the 'squinting', but he's been doing this lately when we say "smile" or "cheese"... pretty darn cute!

• On to Thanksgiving...
• no pictures...lame to the l.a.m.e.  we were there - my brother - my parents...the boys (all of them) ate about a million crescent rolls... i took a huge nap... football, etc...

• Christmas decorating - ha!
• so we're trying one.more.year. with the almighty tree...the darn thing still is dying... 

1st light up:

l - to - the - a - to - the - m - to - the - e...sheesh

2nd lighting:

pretty excited!

• Last but not least... 
• helping with Noah's basketball team... assistant coach sort of... it's so awesome...the boys are crazy...8yrs old...don't pay attention longer than 2seconds... bounce the balls all over the place, but it's so fun... way more fun than soccer coaching... maybe because i know how to play basketball...LOL

so bossy!

• and tis the reason for the season!  

the big # 8

We got to celebrate Noah's 8th birthday the day before the actual day, but it was a long weekend so I don't think anyone minded - especially him!

This kid I tell ya is the easiest kid ever - easy to please, easy to get going, just a good go with the flow kind of guy!

He made my job super easy - "Momma let's have spaghetti for my birthday!  With bread and salad!"...um yeah - super easy - noodles and sauce and warm bread and Costco salad... so easy!

I love this boy so much...
1. I think he tries most days to make someone laugh...usually it's me, but no complaints here.
2. He is getting so tall.  He's almost to my shoulder... at 8... I'm 5' 8"...so that makes him almost 5ft right?
3. He still loves playing with his little brothers.  No matter how old he's getting he still likes getting down and pushing the trucks/trains around and fighting with stuffed animals and riding bikes in the cul-d-sac.
4. He is a great eater - he will try almost anything - including pesto (green stuff!) and said he actually likes it.
5. He's a great sleeper - this kid has reached the age of sleeping in... it's lovely for this momma...I can't wait until all his brothers are in the group.
6. He is so eager to learn and questions everything - how does that work, why did you do it that way, what about this way?
7.  School is easy for him... sure he gets into trouble occasionally for being off task or goofing around, but the actual school work is a breeze for him - he knows how to read, knows his math fundamentals...
8. He's still a momma's boy - I think he probably always will be.  He likes to be comforted and hugged and still cuddle on the couch with me...

Happy 8th birthday big guy!  We sure do love you!

that was the birthday boy's finger swipe!

Marky Mark turning 5!

I can't believe it's been 5 years since he came to join our family.  He was a go getter even from the very beginning - wanting to be out a tad earlier than anyone thought... then a fighter in the nursery getting those little lungs to grow stronger... and strong have they ever gotten!  

Happy 5th birthday to this little firecracker! 

Five things I love about this kid!

1. We love your spirit - you kind of remind me of an old man in some ways... thoughtful and wise, calculated in a careful manner, a heart that is full of love .
2. Your energy, you are more often than not excited about the day and eager to go, go, go
3. Your willingness to try - new foods, new ideas (tying shoes), meeting new friends.
4. I love your silly sense of humor!  Some of the things you tell me, ask me, talk about are more funny than any comedian on stage.
5. Your appreciation of animals.  You are curious and eager to learn about any and all - ALL THE TIME. 

May you always keep us on our toes!

Seth turned 1!

Look at me - posting the same day as the child's birthday!?  I know I can't believe it either... for once "third born problems" are turning into a positive if only because I know I'll do it now/tonight instead of 3 months from now...

We had a great day today - Seth woke up in a great mood to me singing Happy Birthday to him... he just smiled - I was hoping to get him used to the attention so he'd be excited/happy when the entire family/friend group did the same thing to him today...  Everyone came (family / friends) - we had a light lunch provided once again by my mom and dad and a cake that I made (zuchinni & greek yogurt -- it was pretty amazing if you ask me...and from the pictures of Seth he liked it too!)

Honestly he was a super easy baby... I mean his birth, him waking up in the middle of the night... teeth...everything really hasn't been too bad... Is that because I was somewhat confident in what I was doing?  Is it because nothing really phased me this time...I'd seen it, heard it, smelt it, dealt with it a million times before?  Probably... thankfully...

He is such a happy kid - like all the time... he's always interested in whatever the older boys are in to now and wants to be with them on the floor playing and getting into stuff...

I am excited to see what this next year holds for us together... I think it's going to be a FUN year... it's so neat to see him explore and find out things and me be a bit calmer about it than I was with the other two boys... I mean I'm not relaxed or fly by the seat of my pants or anything, but it is different the third time around... :)

I love this little blonde bombshell.  His smile seriously lights up the room.  He is getting his personality and it's so fun to experience.

 

"Wow!  This cake is amazing...I think I may need a 2nd piece!"

Do you see how good this cake looks on my face!?  You should try it!

The 3 Amigos!

Noah's Golden Birthday

Noah had his 7th birthday... on the 7th of September...it's the middle of October... better late than never right?  I should re-title the blog "better-late-than-never-blog..."

It was an awesome day.  Sunny, cool, still warm enough for shorts.  We had his party at a local park - because 1) it's huge and outside and I didn't have to clean my house or cram people inside, 2) we do easy food (cinnamon rolls, juice, etc) so very easy clean up... throw away pans anyone? and 3) a giant playground that entertains all the kids for the entire time... it's a win-win for all!

Oh Noah I know I write this every year, but how are you this old already?  I mean what happend... you are no longer in a car seat, but a booster... tying shoes is no big deal... you get up / get dressed / get your butt to school with little to no help...you are the sweetest to your little brothers and to you dad and I...always giving hugs and telling everyone that you love them.  I am so proud of you...I KNOW I say that every year, but I am.

Seven things I love about you:

1. your smile... losing teeth doesn't cause you to have any less of a beautiful smile!

2. you are so silly with your brothers and LOVE hearing them laugh at you!

3. you are STILL willing to try anything..food / sports / meeting new people / going to new places.

4. you still like when I pick out your clothes... you love to look nice and show off your style.

5. you are becoming an amazing reader; the words and sentences you can read without hesitation astounds me and makes me so happy you enjoy such a great activity.

6. you are willing to help... help if and when i ask... the "chores" don't seem so much like chores to you as you see the cause/effect it can have on people when you help.

7. even at 7...you still love to be tucked in at night... hope that lasts a little while longer :)

love you peanut.

Mark turns 4!

Oh my - another birthday happened.  4 years ago we had our little Mark and he's been our firecracker ever since!  Had a nice family birthday party at a park with a huge jungle gym for the kids to run around and play on... It was a nice breezy morning and not too hot.

Mark is so easy going for the most part - especially with food... he didn't mind that I suggested cinnamon rolls and blueberry muffins for his party... what's not to love about breakfast food!

He had a great time - smiles all day... took a nice long nap afterward.

Tuesday was his actual birthday - we took him to his almost always requested place - T-Rex restaurant... such a funny kid - actually was a little anxious about the giant dinosaurs this time...maybe holding onto little kid stuff one more night?  He got himself a little stuffed animal (of course he did - 1) toy that's an animal - check, 2) toy that is stuffed which = soft, sleeping companion - check!... woolly mammoth... giant tusks...loves the darn thing...

4 Things That I Love About You -->
1. I know I tease you and it drives me crazy, but I do love that you get up every morning ready to start the day with a huge smile...ready to eat... ready to have a good time!
2. I love that you care about your animals...I know this will carry you in the future to be a nurturing individual in your own way.
3. I am surprised that you've started singing since attending your new pre-school... you have the sweetest voice.
4. I love your little funny faces... you are my expressionist and don't mind making a face to get me to laugh!


Oh Marky mark - your funky bunch sure does love you!