Oh the wonderful things Mr.Brown can do . . .

That past few days have been crazy. Of course, with 4 kids should I expect anything less? :)
One day was spent trying to purge excess junk and rearrange things in order to find a spot to hide Christmas presents. Not any easy task in this house and we already have some gifts purchased. On Thursday I had my bible study class and since Drew had to work I got to take all 3 kids with me. The ladies in the nursery were VERY excited to see them. Especially DJ since they haven't seen him in about 6 months. 

The class also happened to coincide with the 1 yr anniversary of our leaving MN, so I decided to bake my grandma's Banana Crumb Muffins and her Breakfast Carrot Cake. Both were a huge hit. I'm quickly realizing that I not only LOVE to bake, but am pretty good at it! In fact, Drew's employees have started putting in requests for things they want me to make. :) On another happy note, Drew and I took the little ones to one of the big playgrounds and we ran into another stay-at-home mom with a total of 5 kids (her youngest 2 are close to DJ and Andrew's ages!). She moved here from Houston for her husband's job. Apparently she has run into a couple of other mom's with similar situations so she is starting a little meet-up at the playground once a week. I'm really excited as this is my first REAL chance to make some friends in similar situations!

Michael has made MAJOR strides at school. This past week he had his EQT's (End of Quarter Tests) and it sounds like he aced them all! I can't even put into words how proud I am of him for how far he has come! Especially in reading. He's also having a blast in his Hip-hop class. The teacher is trying to teach him a couple of moves for his "solo" in the recital. He started with some Pop n Lock moves, but quickly changed to a few robotic ones. Michael has a whole lot of Pop and not so much lock. LOL

Elli really enjoys her ballet class and now has times where she will start running around on her tippie-toes singing tippy-tippy-tippy and practice from class. Other times she will be sitting on the floor playing and will stretch her legs while pointing/flexing her toes. I'm beginning to think I've started something that will take me in over my head in a very big way! Although I'll admit I can't wait to see her in her costume and dancing on the stage at her recital!!!

DJ has started to talking more and more. And he is FINALLY starting to figure out that he has more mass than Elli . . . her "reign of terror" is about to come to a very abrupt end. Although, she can try and act like she doesn't like him all she wants . . . we know the truth:

 Where is Elli? Not in her crib, or on the floor . . .

She's having a sleepover with DJ! Too cute!

Although this is becoming a habit and we are now worried about moving Baby Andrew into their room in his big crib. She's already joining DJ who can at least "protect" himself when she hops in and we know she ADORES baby Andrew - she will curl up next to him and "read" to him, tell him stories or sing to him. VERY cute, but it leads me to worry that she would try and join him in his crib and squish him . . .

On an exciting note, Andrew is working very hard on rolling from back to stomach. His only hold up is his excitement to find his hands every time he's almost over. He's also moving into a routine that mirrors Elli & DJ's so were are FINALLY starting to find a rhythm! Unfortunately that means time is going to start flying by all too fast! Before I know it, I will have kids in Kindergarten, 1st grade, 2nd grade and 8th grade!! Hopefully this blog will give me a chance to look back once in a while and remember the humor that life is when you not only have 4 kids, but 3 of them so close together!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! 

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Lobster or Crab?

Today has been a roller-coaster of a ride . . . This morning was the appt for Michael. Originally we were only supposed to meet with the Nurse Practitioner to get some answers and to get the ball rolling on some tests the specialist would order anyway. Attempting to make a long story short - the Dr wound up leaving his testing to review Michael's case and meet with us for a few minutes. GOOD NEWS!! At this time all that we will be doing is keeping him on an antibiotic daily, having ultrasounds done every 6 months and a repeat VCUG every 12 months. The problem should fix itself within the next 1 - 2 yrs. (Please contact me if you have any questions or would like more details) During the appt we also got answers on a few problems Michael has had that we didn't realize could be answered. Yay!!

I had all the kids with me during the appointment and God was with us as EVERYONE behaved like little angels! After all the excitement, (and awesome behavior) it was a battle to get the little ones down for nap-time  Elli & DJ decided that it was a better idea to use DJ's crib as a trampoline. (It has never been so hard to keep a straight face in all my life!) Once they got up from nap-time  Elli decided to sit down with baby Andrew and read him a book (SOOOO cute!) and of course my cell phone was dead so I couldn't get a picture, let alone a video clip.

To counter the high level of cuteness, Elli apparently has taken to going potty in Michael's bedroom . . . Since when is potty training a child worse than housebreaking a dog?! I'm beginning to wonder if she's trying to mark her territory.

And to top of our day, I just spent about 20 minutes arguing with my daughter whether her bath toy is a crab or a lobster. (It's a lobster and now I'M a crab! lol) And to think we live less than an hour to multiple beaches and just 15 min from a NUMBER of seafood places that sit on the bay!

Guess it's time to hit a local seafood restaurant to teach our little girl the difference. After all, if she's going to be allowed to date someday, she better make it worth her while! ;)

Dance Night Comedy

So last night was our weekly trip to the dance studio for Elli's ballet class and Michael's Hip-hop class (still trying not to cringe when I say that . . .) On our way to the studio we drive pass a typical southern looking home that is for sale. Michael says "That's a cute little bungalow  Well, technically a bungalow anyway . . ." Shocked by the comment I ask him why he thinks it's a bungalow  (Apparently that was a stupid question based on his reaction) He proceeds to give me quite the definition and I nod and smile as I usually do, used to Michael's rantings based on a small piece of info he stumbled across and then expanded on in his own mind. Later, out of curiosity as to what the difference was, I Googled it . . . SERIOUSLY?? My 9 year old can state, almost verbatim, what defines a bungalow!

Later on,after classes were done, Michael begins to fill me in on how he really needs to find a flat surface without carpet or sharp-pointy tile so he can practice his "moves" . . . This brought back memories of my childhood when a piece of the linoleum, pulled up from the kitchen floor, was saved to put on the floor so my older siblings could practice THEIR "moves". Sadly, they're the SAME moves. I have a short clip of Michael doing the coffee grinder (kind of), but it will be a while before I will have the stomach to video him spinning on his back.

On our way home, I had the kids' CD "Free to Be You and Me" playing for the 12 billionth time. Though I had the sound turned strictly to the back speakers, Drew was going bonkers. Apparently he is not skilled at tuning kids' annoying sounds out. (As a side note, I personally LOVED this particular album so secretly enjoy that my kids love it so much. When Drew's not in the car, we all sing at the top of our lungs - JOY!) The part that made me laugh was that Drew attempted to start a "serious" conversation on where the heck they got the lyrics to one of my favorite songs . . . in particular: "So they made Ooey, gooey chocolate cake. Sticky, licky sugar top and they gobbled it and giggled." He wanted to know if there really were such things as ooey, gooey chocolate cake or sticky, licky sugar topping . . . REALLY? MAN, my husband needs a vacation!

I'm just glad we made the trip to and from the studio without any real incident. Not easy to do with 4 kids, one of which is really starting to discover his freedom, but doesn't have much to do while we are there.

Hopefully we will get a chance to post a couple of videos/pics of the kids dancing sometime tomorrow.

Welcome

Rather than posting a million things to Facebook, that I don't necessarily want the world to see, and praying that it posts to the pages of those we actually WANT to see it (OR making a dozen phone calls to share 1 piece of news) . . .
I decided to take the advice of my brother and start a blog. A significantly faster way to share with all of our family and friends the details of our lives down here. Given that we have 4 kids, 3 under the age of 3, there probably won't be posts every day, but I will do my best to get the significant details up.

Given our routine, what posts we have will go up at night after the little ones are asleep. Pictures or videos will probably go up on Sundays, as more often then not, Drew has off those days and he is WAY better at things like that then I am.

That being said, WELCOME to the southern land of the Arvidsons!!