Visiting Grandma and Grandpa

The week before last David had to go to Atlanta for a week for some training for work. Instead of sitting around the apartment the entire week, the kids and I went home to see family. I really miss being around my brothers and sisters more, so I really enjoy the trips we get to take when we aren't going for a big holiday or something, but rather just to get to "hang out" with my family. Cailin got sick the last two days we were there, but overall it was a nice visit.

My parents have six chickens, and while I was there, my mom got a HUGE lot of day old bread (not good for people to eat) to dry and mix with the chicken food. The problem was, she needed a way to dry it all before it molded. So, she filled up both dehydrators, but still had way too much bread left over. It was going to take forever to dry that much bread. Her solution? Lay a bunch of bread out on the trampoline to dry. It was a bright sunny day, so the bread was going to dry pretty quickly. The problem? Kids+a trampoline covered in bread= this:

Never in my life have I been in a bread fight before, and it'll probably never happen again, but it was sure a lot of fun.

Also while we were there, we went to the lake to feed the ducks. Katie fed the ones that were on the grass...

...while Cailin fed the ones in the water and watched Sam fish.

Elijah was scared of the ducks at first, but warmed up to what we were doing after he figured out he was allowed to throw stuff. I can't believe how fast this guy is growing.

I'm not sure what happened here, but Elijah started yelling at the ducks "No, Ducks!" followed by a long jumbled sentence I didn't understand. Whatever he was yelling at them about, they better not do again.

Even with kids throwing bread in the water and all the noise we were making, Sam still had success fishing! Way to go Sammy!

Just F.Y.I., fish can pee. This one wet all over my hand when I was holding it so we could get the hook out to set it loose. Very, very gross.

Halloween and Snow!

Guess what? I'm updating our blog! It's about time. I guess I'll start off with a picture of how big my baby boy is getting. This is Cole about two weeks ago, at my parent's house. He's now 7 1/2 months old and over 14 pounds! He is a very happy and content baby that is loving the fact that he's learning how to crawl, but not loving his first teeth he's trying to cut. Next up, Halloween. These pictures in this post are in backwards order (time wise), but I don't feel like fixing them right now. I don't have any great pictures of the kids in their costumes, but Cailin went as a princess riding a unicorn, Katie went as a Monkey, Elijah went as a cowboy riding a horse (but the horse was hard to keep on, so he sort of just went as little boy wearing a cowboy hat), and Cole was a bat.

And then the snow! A few days before Halloween we had a crazy huge snow storm that brought 2+ feet of snow to our town. This is the "snow monster" that hung over our roof. The day it got hot enough for it to start to melt, I kept hearing snow bombs hit the bushes below us as this snow would fall off in chunks.

David plopped Elijah in the snow, but Elijah didn't like that much.

Cole wanted to join in on the fun.

The girls playing in the snow. Cailin would do these Rockettes-type kicks to try to walk through it. As far as house hunting stuff goes, we were outbid on a couple houses (they went for 15-45k over asking price), so we're still in an apartment for a while. We are hoping that we can start doing some more serious looking after the first of the year. We want to find something that is within a 20 minute drive for David to get to work. These apartments aren't so bad, and it'll be worth being in them for a bit longer if we find a house that can meet our needs, and that we are happy with.

Katie's map

A couple of days ago Katie drew a "map" for me. It's a bunch of squiggly lines with circles every now and then. The circles represent our apartment, Carrie's house, Grandma's house, and other places that we go often or that she likes going. Yesterday we were leaving the house to go to Carrie's house and once we were in the car, Katie got upset because she left the map in the apartment. I told her I'd be fine I think I could get to Carrie's without the map.

Well, I turned the wrong direction on one street (not sure why, I've been to Carrie's plenty of times). When I turned around, Katie asked what we were doing and I said "I turned the wrong way so I need to turn around."

Katie's response - "Ugh! See, Mom, THIS is why we needed the map!"

The Move

We live in a tiny town north of Denver, and David works in Lakewood (60 miles away). He got the job the same weekend that we closed on this house. So, David has been spending three hours a day commuting for almost a year and a half. For the last couple of months, we've been talking about putting the house on the market "just to see what happens." Then, at the beginning of last month we decided to just go for it. We put the house on the market on a Monday afternoon, and by Saturday our house was under contract. Yep, our house went under contract in five days. Here are some of the listing pictures.

We close on September 18th, less than two weeks away. We've been looking at homes in the Denver area, but we haven't found anything to put an offer in on. So, we decided to look for an apartment to stay in until we find the right house. One day a coworker of David's told us about a complex he liked living in that was around the corner from David's work. Within the next few days, and just casually looking at apartments on Craigslist, David found a lady who needed someone to take over her lease of her 3 bedroom apartment in that complex until her lease ends at the end of November. On top of that, she had negotiated for cheaper rent, which would carry over to us.

I can't help but feel like we must be doing what is right for us, or we wouldn't be blessed with everything running so smoothly for us to move. We still have to find our next house, and that makes me a bit nervous, but if things have been going so well for us so far, I think things will continue to work out. Until then, we'll just enjoy having David around more, thanks to his new three minute commute.

5 Months!

I am finally getting around to putting another post on here. Life has been busy, especially with the sell of our house (see next post). Last month David's little sister Marie got home from her mission, so we went home to Grand Junction to see her, and spend some time with his family. Leslie and her husband Chris live on the east coast now, and Jason and Jenny just moved to Florida last week, so we took advantage of being able to spend some time with them.
Yesterday Cole turned 5 months old. Here's a picture of my four growing kiddos.

And a couple pictures of Cole yesterday.

He's growing so fast! At his four month check up (two weeks late) he still measures under the fifth percentile for his size (according to other babies his age), but that's where he was when he was born, so he's growing well!

Cailin's pet

I had this conversation with Cailin today.

Cailin: "Mom, can we get a pet?"
Me: "You already have a pet, you have Mater" (our bunny)
Cailin: "But I want a different pet!"
Me: "What kind of pet do you want?"
Short pause while she thinks...
Cailin: "How about a baby elephant? It has to be a baby, though, so it won't eat us."


Sorry I haven't posted on this lately (if anyone ever even looks at this). I have been busy. It's strange, having a fourth baby doesn't seem like it's adding much more craziness to our lives, but at the same time, I feel like I have much less free time (as if any mom ever gets "free" time). So here's a quick update. David is having fun playing softball any chance he gets, Cailin and Katie are trying to keep themselves busy since preschool got out for the summer, Elijah is sort-of potty training, Cole is smiling ALL the time, and I am just busy being Mom. Oh, I did get a long overdue haircut! :-).

So there's our family in a paragraph. I'll try to sit down soon and update with more pictures of the kiddos, and of the trip I took to SLC last weekend. Right now, though, I'm going to bed. Good night.

I'm addicted...

...to taking pictures of my new baby, that is. Cole is doing great! He will be 6 weeks old tomorrow, and he has gained around 2.5 pounds. He is finally out of preemie clothes and into newborn size.

Here are my boys. Elijah loves to hold his baby brother.

This is my awesome family on David's birthday. Do you like Elijah's Zoolander face?

This picture is just silly. Cole smiled his first real smile today at David. This wasn't it :-) This is just a picture of him making a strange face that looks kind of like a smile. He always opens his eyes so big that his forehead wrinkles.

And one of my two baby boys again, taking a nap together.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU...

Although I doubt he looks at this much, I wanted to post on here to wish my wonderful husband a HAPPY BIRTHDAY! The kids and I love you!

My happy family

This past week and a half have been so much fun. Cailin, Katie and Elijah love their new little brother, and I've really enjoyed watching them help take care of him. I'm so blessed to have such wonder and fun little kids - and a great husband, too - I can't leave him out :-) Here are a couple more pictures I wanted to share from the last couple of days.

My four favorite kids in the world, all ready for bed:Cole next to a football, just to show how itty bitty my littlest man is:Cole wide awake. I just thought this picture was cute:

More Cole Pictures, Part 2

So many pictures I want to share....

Aunt Kari with baby Cole

Cailin, Katie, and Elijah meeting Cole for the first time:

Elijah, and his baby brother:
Cailin and Cole:
Katie and Cole:

David's wedding ring around Cole's hand:

More Cole Pictures, Part 1

More pictures of our little man:

Cole's eyes are dark, but I doubt they'll be any other color but blue.

Aunt Hannah holding Cole for the first time.

Itty Bitty Cole

It has taken me three months to post again on this blog, who knew it would be about another tiny baby.

Two weeks ago I had an ultrasound where they discovered that the baby was measuring small. I had another ultrasound yesterday morning, and the baby still hadn't grown in two weeks, so the doctor sent me right over to the hospital to be induced.

So, at 3:09pm yesterday, David and I met our newest son!

Cole Calvin Alder

4 lbs 15 oz
18 3/4" long

He is doing great, and we get to take him home tomorrow. The birth was awesome, and I am sore but doing well. Cailin, Katie, and Elijah came to see him last night, and Cailin was a little upset that he wasn't a girl, but got over that fast. I will put some more pictures of him on here later, but for now, these are the only two that I have on my computer.

Four Years Ago Today...

Four years ago today David and I became parents! Cailin Hazel and Katie Karen were born. Here are some pictures from that day.

Happy Daddy, looking a bit younger than he looks today:

Katie (born second):

Cailin (born first). That's my dad's class ring around her fingers. They were both so tiny, each under 5 pounds and their faces were smaller than my palm.
And here are my two crazy girls today. In the new Alvin and the Chipmunks, there's a scene where the chipmunks spill a big thing of cheese balls. Every time we go to Sam's Club the girls see the cheese balls and beg for me to buy them. Since today was their birthday, I let them get them. I don't think they care if they get any other presents, they are completely satisfied with getting cheese balls :-)

Happy Birthday Cailin and Katie! Daddy and I love you!