The Big Update

Andrew is still loving school. He is quite the social butterfly and loves going to see all of his friends. He is taking piano lessons once a week and Miss Linda says he is doing great. It has definately helped with his attention span. Right now we are working on reading music. He struggles most with trying to not look at his hands while playing but has made great improvements. He is growing like a weed. There are days he wakes up and I swear he has grown inches overnight. He is a great big brother. He has definately embraced the role. He loves to sing for Noodle and tickle her. He lights up when she laughs at him. He loves his tools that Papa sent for Christmas and is constantly trying to "fix" the house. I call him my little man, he is growing up so fast. Andrew is my sensitive child and I often refer to him as the lover.
Joseph is quite a character. I don't think I have ever seen so much personality in such a little body! Joseph loves to entertain people. He also thinks he is adorable. He thinks he can smile his way out of anything. He is very strong willed. We have to tell ourselves a lot that one day this will be such a great trait. It is very frustrating at times though. He still loves trains, sometimes I think he may never grow out of that one. He is also quite funny and many times we find ourselves trying to hold back laughter so we don't encourage him when he is trying to get out of trouble. He is not growing quite like Andrew did and I think he will be our little short and stout boy; it definately fits his personality!
Elizabeth, well that little girl is something else all together. At seven months she already has an opinion about everything. She loves to sit in her exersaucer and watch the boys. As they run by her she screams and laughs at them. She is also compeltely in love with her Dad. Her face lights up when she sees him. She is definately a Simon; she loves to stick out her tongue and play with it; just like her Papa and brothers. She is growing a lot like Andrew did and is very long but has features just like Mo. She seems to almost be a perfect cross between the two boys. She is a lover like Andrew but has a temper like Mo. She has said Mamma, but stopped as soon as she knew I liked it! She is eating so well, her favorites are yogurt and pears. We recently discovered she is just like her dad and the boys and she loves Chipotle guacamole. She isn't crawling yet, but I think she is just being lazy! If we aren't looking she is up on her knees trying to move, but the minute she sees us she gives up and starts flailing. I think she just thinks she doesn't need to crawl becasue she can get anywhere she wants by rolling!
Scott has been busy at work. He has been working from home a lot. He just returned from his first business trip. He spent 4 days in Chicago, in a hotel room with no children or dogs. He is so lucky. The kids really missed him while he was gone but were so happy when he came home with presents for them.
I have been busy with work and the kids. We struggle trying to find things to do to try and fight off the cabin fever. We are looking forward to spring and being able to get out of the house. We have lots of plans for our yard this year and I really want to get the kids involved with the vegetable garden again. We finally got Noodle's door painted and the trim up on the door frame; just a couple of cosmetic things to do and the nursery will be done! Hopefully before her first birthday! We are updating the fireplace in February and are so excited to see the final results. One more thing we can check off the never ending list! We are so lucky to have found a great babysitter. Lexie has been with us since I went back to work after Noodle was born. The kids absolutely love her. It has been such a load off of our shoulders to be able to go to work and have someone we trust with our kids. She is great with the kids and they all light up when she comes in the door. It is so nice that she comes to our house, no wasted time packing them all up in the morning and driving them to daycare. That's more time I get to spend with them the days I work!
I hope this satisfies everyone's curiosity about us! We hope everyone is doing well!
Love
The Mom

they think they are fixing, but really they are destroying the house

papa sent tools for christmas

happy gang christmas morning, notice daddy sleeping in the background, we were all up way to early that day

she likes to eat

smiling happy baby

We're here!

Sorry it's been so long since we posted; we didn't fall off of the face of the earth, promise! Mommy has become crazy addicted to facebook, it's sad really, but has left little time for blogging. We had a busy holiday. Everyone got sick for Christmas, but had a great holiday none the less. Mom wants to do an overhaul of the blog so soon you should be seeing some changes (if she can figure out how to do it!) and lots more pictures of us, especially Noodle, mom knows she has been lacking there; they have been taken, just not posted. It's on the mile long list of things to do, so she's hoping to get to it all soon. It seems there are not enough hours in her day and it doesn't help that we get up so early in the morning. We have been waking around 530 every morning so mom has been going to bed pretty early to try to keep up with us! We still haven't figured out how dad does it, staying up till 1am and then getting up with us some days so mom can actually get some sleep. He's quite the amazing father some days! We hope everyone had a great holiday, keep checking back with us! Love you all; stay safe!
Love Ya!
Andrew, Mo and Noodle

Saturday we took a trip down to Cincinnati to visit Union Terminal. We had a great time looking through the museum of natural history--ohh the bones!--and the museum of Cincinnati history with all of its models and trains! There was also a display in the rotunda where we got to pet some snakes!!!

We went through the ice cave and had a wonderful time in the children's museum downstairs. We played with all the toys and the tree house was a blast!!!

EnterTrainment Junction

Pics from our trip to EnterTrainment Junction with daddy, grammy and grampy. The spaces are pretty narrow and the displays tall; and, the lighting is very low in most of the exhibits. None of this adds up to great photography. The Christmas area was open and well lit, so those pics are okay.

Happy Halloween!

Mo with candy before it even began! We had to bribe him into his costume with lollipops

There aren't words!

Who knew pink could be soo cute!

Like father, like son....

Quite the poser when he sees a camera!

Oak Openings '09

Photo op with Gram; she has 14 great grandchildren, 18 grandchildren and 7 children of her own, she is amazing

God put trees on this earth for little children to climb, you can't convince them any differently

Such a poser

Happy, happy boy! That's what 5 donuts gets you with Mo

There aren't words.....

If you ever want to test yourself try this out: get up at 4am to feed a hungry baby b/c you worked all day so she refused to eat while you were gone, realize there is cold air coming out of the vents and it is 60 degrees in the house! wake your ever joyful husband (please note sarcasm here, as if it isn't obvious) to relight the pilot, then feign excitement when said husband tells you that it keeps going out. pray while husband calls heating and air serviceman (henceforth to be known as my hero) to come out at 530 in the morning to fix the stupid pilot light. meanwhile small children start waking when they hear all the commotion. begin to dress them for the very cold day ahead. breathe a huge sigh of relief when the hero arrives at 6am, fixes the furnace and tells you that it is only about 60% efficient but does not need to be replaced this year, next year when it must be done it will cost $3500! who has that kind of money sitting around! not me! get on the road around 715 to go to oak openings. fight with tired, cranky kids who don't want to sit in the car for 2.5 hours and can't hold their bladders for more than 20 minutes at a time. arrive at oak openings, enjoy wonderful family time and eat delicious food prepared over the fire. let the middle child eat as many donuts as he wants b/c it is easier than fighting with him, and what the hell, it's a special occaision. pack up and head back to dayton. now the children are more tired and more cranky. thankfully the oldest two fall asleep, as is daddy, while driving the car. take over the drive and let daddy deal with the screaming baby who just wants to be out of her seat. arrive home around 330, start dinner, feed the fam, daddy goes to bed at 530pm, bathe the kids while straightening up the pig sty and mopping the disgusting floors and scrubbing the bathroom that looks like a high school boys locker room, do 5 loads of laundry and get the kids to bed. lay down to sleep, sleep? what's that? make daddy get up with the baby at 6am, it's his turn and he slept a long time. get up and do it all over again, this time substitute the furnace with the dryer and the drive to toledo with preschool and piano lessons. some days i amaze myself. i know so many people have real problems, but this is enough for me. what did i do with all of my time before a house and kids?

love ya!

the mom

As promised, pictures!

Mo walking away, typical, Mo does what Mo wants

The water is calling!

Mo wanted to pose

Yum! Monster cookies

Daddy and Noodle, not her best picture ever but still soo cute

So many pumpkins, so few hands...

Forced photo op with Mommy

Who doesn't love a donkey?!

She'll never say she isn't loved

She loves the exersaucer!

First Field Trip

Today was Andrew's first field trip. He visited Young's Jersey Dairy Farm in Yellow Springs.

He got to feed the goats--sticky tongues!--and he saw cows, chickens, and piggies.

He learned how the farm makes its oh-so-yummy ice cream and indulged in some vanilla after lunch.

He also took a tractor ride to the pumpkin patch to pick out yet another little orange gourd for Halloween.

The trip was fun for all and daddy took lots of pictures!

Getting off the bus

Milkin' away

Feeding the goats

'Nough said

700lb pumpkin

Moo

Nothing runs like a Deere

In the patch

Miss Us?

Sorry for the lack in posting. We've been crazy busy, and honestly I couldn't even tell you why! I just know there are not enough hours in the days! Noodle had her 4 month check up today; all is going well. She's growing like a weed. Doctor was a bit concerned about her refusal to eat much other than nursing. She HATES the bottle and when she has to take it will only take what she has to so she isn't starving. Then when I return it's on like donkey kong. We have had many nights with her nursing every 2 hours to make up for the day! Doctor was ok for now since she is growing well. We are going to start cereal this week and see if that helps at all. Gearing up to start making our own baby food!! Got a new food processor to make it a little easier. Wish us luck! Andrew is thriving in school. Our little social butterfly is having the time of his life. They have been learning about water and can't say enough about the experiments they do in class! Mo is Mo. He still struggles being the middle child but we are gonna make it through! He will be getting some much needed one on one time with Mommy this week so that should help. Lots in store for October so we should be able to get some good pictures posted. Saturday working on a landscaping project; Sunday to the pumpkin patch and sunflower field, next weekend a party and the saurkraut (not sure how to spell that one) festival, the following weekend Oak Openings, the next weekend Mommy and Daddy are getting a sitter and doing the haunted house thing, then the next weekend is Halloween! Andrew wants to be a ninja, Mo can't decide and Noodle will be a butterfly. It's going to fly by! Pray for good pictures possibilities! It's been raining a lot here and we're trying to work everything around that! What fun! Hope everyone is having a great time. We are looking forward to the next couple of months! We'll talk at you soon!
Love
The Mom

Seems like yesterday.....

Still don't know how to rotate pictures.....

There are no words......

Cute, Cute, Cute.....Sooooo Cute!

It seems like it was just yesterday when our sweet little Andrew was born.....then today he had to grow up and go to school! Initially he was very excited about starting preschool but then we got there and he said...."mommy how bout you stay in the parking lot in the car". It broke my heart. But then he saw Mrs Wolf and all the kids that are in his class and he walked down the hall away from me and didn't look back. That shattered my heart. My baby boy all grown up. I maintained and I didn't cry. I had to choke it back but I was able to keep it in. Maybe I will be better at this next year when Mo starts...probably not, but I'll try.....

Noodle is growing fast...she is such a momma's girl. She is not a big fan of the bottle and while I am at work she only eats enough so she isn't painfully starving. When I get home she eats and eats and eats....it has been a rough adjustment but one we both need. She is a perfect angel when she is with me but when I am gone she makes it clear to whomever she is with that she is not happy that her mom is not at her beck and call. Kind of makes me feel good but sucks at the same time. We definitely have a different kind of bond than I have with the boys. Who knew it would be like this!

Mo is kind of caught in the middle right now and is struggling a bit. His temper has become quite a lot to handle lately. He is madly in love with Noodle, and she is with him. The minute she sees him she smiles. He sits with me and sings to her while she is rocking to sleep...so cute. But....he has become very clingy. He wants what he wants when he wants it and does not hesitate to make it clear to everyone within the general vicinity. Today he was so upset b/c he couldn't go to school with Andrew. It was very cute, but nothing that couldn't be fixed with a new train. I know bribery isn't great, but sometimes it is just what the doctor ordered.

Scott has been busy at his new job. Very challenging and it keeps him busy. It has helped a lot that he can work from home two days a week and is only commuting to Cincinnati three days a week. He will have to start doing some traveling in the near future and we're going to have to figure out how that is going to work.

I am sooo glad to be back to work! I feel guilty because I want to go and not be at home with my kids. So torn... I am miserable at home every day. I love what I do and it is very fulfilling, but I worry b/c much of society says what my children need is for me to be at home with them. I think we really have the best of both worlds, I am gone 3 days a week, enough time for me to get away and them and interact with adults, basically maintain my sanity. And it gives them different perspectives to spend time with someone else, and nobody can ever say my kids aren't social. I think the time away from me has helped that. Still I wonder....in twenty years they will let me know if I screwed up or not.....
Hope everyone is doing well! We're thinking of you all!

Love

The Mom