!Leo is 1!

Four months later and I'm finally posting that Leo, did in fact, turn 1 this past June. 

Behold the cuteness and the end of babyness and the emergence into toddlerhood. 

The weekend of his birthday we had a little family party here at the house.

Henry had to get in on making a decoration or two.

Birthday boy with his presents and some blowup animals since any balloon he sees he tries to pop with his teeth.

We had some pizza before the party because it was Henry's end of the season party for soccer so once we got home we were able to get right to it.

My nephew Apollo being a ham/mad scientist.

Between Henry, Thea and Apollo's help, Leo made short work of getting through his presents and then it was time for cupcakes and happy birthday. I need to upload the video of us singing to him because he has such a confused, "I should be happy right?" look on his face the whole time. 

I'd say 1/4 ended up in his mouth, 1/2 on the floor and 1/4 all over his body.

A little bit about Leo since he's been 1. He started walking maybe two or three weeks before his first birthday but wasn't really super stable doing it until a little after. He says 'mama' 'dada' 'nah nah' for night night, bye, hi and his favorite is 'shoes' which sounds like 'sszzzzhhhhhooooosssss' but it's the word he says most consistently and distinctly.
It makes sense he loves to say shoes because he wants to be outside all the time. He also likes getting in the van to go pretty much anywhere, as long as it's before nightfall. He still gets upset about driving at night. Half the time he'll fall asleep, the other half he'll just scream and I have to sit back with him and sometimes nurse him.
Yup, he's still nursing. I have tried to night time ween him with no success, partially due to no diligence on my part. I tried to sleep train him to go down in his crib and sleep there and he screamed and gagged himself into throwing up four times, for two and a half hours. So he's still in our bed for half of the night/morning. Basically what I'm saying is he is the typical indulged youngest. I'm hoping once the kitchen remodel is done at the end of October I can work with him to get him sleeping the night in the crib so we can eventually move him out of our room.
He's gotten a lot better about screaming in the last month or so. It use to be every second he was unhappy or not getting what he wanted he screamed until I nursed him or he got what he wanted. Now he's more easily engaged in a toy or something else but we still have our days. He'll even go around the house and play with toys or look for something to get into.He's still a good little cuddler and has not slowed down on sprouting teeth. Henry had maybe 4 at his age. He likes eating, especially whatever we have, and eggs are probably his favorite. He also loves climbing on the table, sigh. He loves the chickens, Daniel Tiger, getting scared, scribble scrabbling and following his siblings around and occasionally harassing them. Kid definitely goes for what he wants, no matter who has it. Still loves mommy the most but he will actually stay with daddy or grammy if there is some distraction. He's finally coming into a little personality and it's mostly mischievous, silly and inquisitive. Should be interesting to see how the three very different personalities work together.

While I like to say "three broke me," and I mean, it did in a lot of lacking sanity ways, it has also humbled me and made me realize how special each individual is and how much I love each and every one of these kiddos for who they are. I'm so glad we have our little Leo lion in our family. It wouldn't be nearly as full of fun or love without him.

And lest I forget, Thea wore the birthday hat the rest of the party after Leo because whooooo's birthday was next but this little girl!

A New School Year

Summer was so much shorter than it's ever been for us. I still gotta work on posting all of that but I figure I should just start where I am.
I can't believe it's a new school year already. I especially can't believe it's a new school year because I'm in charge of it.

We have a new Educational Specialist through Sky Mountain this year since our former one started a new job at a different school. I wasn't thrilled to hear we'd have to start fresh with someone who didn't know us already but she seems nice and has been very helpful so far. She's also planning on coming to the house for meetings which will make things a lot easier for me with Thea and Leo. I'm hoping it'll be a good change overall.

It'll be interesting to see what our second year of homeschool brings and how the kids like it. I'll be able to do more actual teaching for both instead of scrambling and Henry will get to take piano lessons. Maybe at some point things will slow down and I'll get to process the first year!

Now what better way to rub in the advantages of homeschool than being able to begin your first day in your PJs with waffles. The kids loved helping stir and opening and closing the waffle iron.

Apparently there is now "Pre-school," "Pre-K," and then "Kindergarten." Yeesh. She loved feeling important today though too. Twas worth it.

Henry the second grader. Oh, Henry. Years go by so quickly.

Couldn't get Leo to stay up for a picture but this cracked me and the kids up so we named him our school's mascot.

While I didn't have a chance to get as much planning and organization done this summer as I hoped, I did at least get their new desks assembled. Hoping to keep everything centralized in the home school room instead of spread out everywhere, especially on the dinning room table.

I was so worried about getting back into the groove of schooling and sure there would be tons of problems or issues but it was incredibly smooth and I honestly felt more gratitude to God than anything else today. It reminded me why we decided to do homeschooling in the first place. I'm still not sure we'll do it forever but for now it's a blessing. Not one without challenges, but it definitely has it's rewards as well.


In addition to the first day of school, we had the first tiny tots practice for Thea. After having such on and mostly off luck with Henry's soccer coaches I decided I couldn't keep complaining if I wasn't going to do anything about it. Hence, I am now the coach of some of the cutest ever tiny tot soccer kids. Thea has been so excited talking about soccer and me coaching but then when she realized it was me coaching lots of the kids and not just her, she didn't exactly do well. She took off for Henry and wherever else *not* on the practice field. So, I'm going to have to think of how to help her out with all of that and still give attention to the rest of the kids. Wish me luck.
Henry was also a little grumpy because I had said he could help me and he didn't feel I was utilizing him to the best of his ability. In the car on the way over he asked, "So what exactly am I for the soccer team?" Thinking fast, "Uhm, you're the junior assistant!" "Is that even real? I feel like maybe you made it up." Caught. Don't worry about him though he's still sure he needs a shirt with his name and a bouncing soccer ball to do his made up job...

I love these kids. And while I never saw myself as the homeschooling, soccer coaching mom per-say, I'm grateful I can do these things for my kids. They really are the lights in life. 

A day at Huntington Library

One of the Saturdays in May we signed Henry up for a class through the Huntington Library. The class was on greek myths and the teacher took them around the statues and told them stories from Perseus to Athena and gave a little information on architecture. Henry's favorite architectural term he learned was 'dentils,' "because they look like teeth!" 

Henry loved the class and had no problem engaging in the material and class despite being the youngest one there. I'm glad he loved it so much. 

 Sketching ideas for his own myth

Working on his own tympanum for his myth.

The myth he came up with was how we got water. There was a giant serpent that was taking over and fighting against Zeus. When Zeus finally killed him his blood fell in spots on the earth then spread across turning into streams and rivers because this serpent's blood was water. 

Explanation of a natural phenomenon-check

Really graphic-check

Greek myth-check! 

While Henry and Johann were at the class, I had Thea and Leo with me in the greenhouse and children's garden. It was a little cool and overcast which was actually perfect for the three of us and didn't keep either of them away from the fountains.

 The green bean teepee sending out 'smoke' 

We headed back towards Henry and Johann and stopped by the drop-in craft table where the kids (and some adults) were painting sticks.

Once we met up we worked our way over to the Japanese garden for a little then had to head back home for Johann to go with the new converts for a baptism trip to the temple. It was a good Saturday!

Henry turns 7

Last month we celebrated Henry's 7th birthday. Someone on facebook pointed out it should be impossible for me to have a 7 year old when we hadn't been out of high school 10 years yet. haha! Henry is the best surprise we've ever been blessed to have! 

Henry's birthday morning he woke up to a few decorations in the living room and some balloons in the hall. We had pancakes per his request then did a few normal school things. 

After lunch I took the kids to Barnes and Noble to get Henry his free cookie and let him pick out a birthday book.

That night when Johann came home we went out to dinner at Red Robin for Henry's birthday dinner.

Back at home Henry had some little helpers with opening his gifts from Grammy, Abuela and Grandpa and Uncle Aaron. Our gift to him was going to Knott's Berry Farm the following week.

Then cupcakes and "Happy Birthday!"

Henry is definitely our most sensitive kid. He reminds me of me when I was young except without having been trained by three brothers (ie crying will get you teased and make your life worse so DO NOT SHOW EMOTION). That night after cupcakes while he was getting into jammies he just started crying and saying, "I'm so grateful for my birthday and everybody who loves me! I'm just so happy!" And probably exhausted and coming off a sugar high (cookie, ice cream, cupcake...). Either way, I'm glad he is remembering to be thankful!

We love you, Henry Dean!

Leo 11 Months

Leo was in the middle of having roseola when he turned 11 months and was too miserable to do anything other than cling to me 24/7. I wish I was exaggerating. My poor, poor wrists. So these pictures are from 11 months and one week. 

So far this month the biggest news is he has taken up to five independent steps but still no walking on his own really. You have to stand him up and he'll do his little toddle towards you. It's so adorable. I've yet to catch it on camera yet since he'll only give it a couple tries before he's done. Hopefully going vertical will spare his jammie knees which keep getting holes and allow him more outside time.

It's hard to realize the little baby time is about to be all but gone. Thankfully he's still quite the most 'baby baby' I've ever had. He loves to cuddle and is just goofy all around. He loves, loves mommy which can be a plus and minus.

 I'm looking forward to being able to give him milk in the hopes that Johann and I can get a trip to the temple in since I haven't been able to be away from him for more than 2 to 3 hours at a time. We'll see if he'll abide it.

What else is there to say except little Leo, how you are loved!

8 Years

  

We celebrated 8 years of marriage this past week.

Glad that the quality of our engagement pictures was not commensurate to the last 8 years, haha!

Love you!

Leo 10 Months

 Alright, I'm done with this...

The biggest change Leo made during 10 months was climbing. 

It began by finding out he could get on top of the lincoln log bin. 

Then the playroom couch.

The trunk in the kids' room

And the next morning, Dorothea's bed.

He is so proud of himself when he climbs up something. He can get on some other couches in the house if someone is sitting there and he can grab on to their leg and scramble up.

In addition to climbing it seems he might be getting ready to head towards walking.

He'll stand solo for up to 10 or 15 seconds before plopping down on his tush.

As far as eating, we try to just share whatever we have with him. He loves tomatoes, cheese and rice more than most other things. He's not really that excited by fruit yet and that makes breakfast more difficult, which is how Henry was (sans bananas) except Henry hated most food now that I think about it... Leo's favorite way to eat his food, however, is throwing it down then signing 'all done' and eating it off the floor. I know, I should prevent this somehow. But. Third child.

He still throws a fit to go outside any time anyone else is outside. Whenever he hears my brother come in he knows he's going to the back yard to work on his garden and positions himself to the side of the door in hopes of sneaking out. It's pretty funny.

But since he still puts everything in his mouth and isn't walking, he doesn't get to go out as much as the other two since I'll have work to do while they're outside. I still take him out daily though and while he use to love swinging, he'll now do it for about five minutes and then insist on getting out to play somewhere else and after about 15-20 minutes of keeping him out of trouble, I'm ready to take him in.

And that's Leo at 10 months!

Leo 7-9 Months

Seven Months

Signage became increasingly problematic. 

Eight Months

 Attempted remedy to previous month's problem. 

Nine Months 

 So sad

 Wait, happy 

Who doesn't shove dirt up their nose then sneeze it out? 

Leo is definitely the family baby. We just love, love that little cuddle man!