Etude

Here's our latest violin concert. I wish that I would've been more aggressive and gotten right in the front row, so I could've heard only her vioin and not the side noise that got in, but at least it's recorded. Ryanna did an excellent job. Our little performer. She never even gets nervous.

Talents, talents, talents

Each child has unique talents. Here is my little smorgasbord. I have to just grin from ear to ear when I watch this one:

Then I have to laugh at Owen for his decision of which number is the correct number to stop at. Why do we count to ten and stop anyway? And, of course, once you get your camera out, a child is never going to do exactly what you've seen them do a million times in a row.

Okay, take two:

Now, for the singing. Ryanna's teacher loves to teach them new songs and Ryanna loves to sing them to us. Sometimes we learn the words too. Sometimes we sing a verse or two and sometimes we leave in the middle. Either way, it's entertaining.

And, for those of you who just can't wait for the next installment of cuteness from my kids, wait till Saturday. There will be violin!

Ohhh-ohh...The Sweetest Thing(s)

I caught some cute photos of my handsome, little men the other day. This is my favorite shot:

Below is their Dad's favorite. Either way--I just can't stop kissing those cute, little faces.

New Weight Loss Plan!!

I lost two pounds yesterday. No joke--two whole pounds--aka 5,000 calories!!!!
How did I do it?
Well, I got a crazy raging case of strep throat that the doctor said showed up in about half a nanosecond after they ran the test. Then, seeing the incredible pain that I was in, the doctor prescribed me this nifty, little pill called Vicodin also known as: the weight loss solution!
So, I discovered that if you take one of these Vicodin, at first you feel awesome--seriously no pain at all. You might even run around cleaning your house because you have cooking group scheduled there the next day. However, after about 10 minutes, everything will start to spin a little bit and your head will feel a bit like it's filled with helium. Shortly after that you will vomit every little thing you've consumed---perhaps ever.
Don't take my word for it though, get your own case of incredibly terrible strep throat and enjoy your own magical weight loss experience.

Was It a Full Moon Last Night?

Or what was the real reason that all three of my kids were up at different times last night?

The baby--I expect to be up--especially since we're attempting to change him from sleeping in his car seat to sleeping in his bassinet. Yes, a bassinet. We're still debating the bedding situation and the solution.

We fell asleep close to midnight and at exactly midnight the baby decided to eat again. There's nothing like a 10 minute power nap to energize you for the next day.

Around 2 Ryanna woke up and walked in and told us she was scared. Normally Derek walks her back to her room and comforts her a bit and puts her back to sleep, but he must've been as exhausted as I was 'cause she joined me, Eli and Derek in the bed.

Really, we should've saved ourselves the trouble and woken up Owen and put him in bed with us too. Why not? The more the merrier right? I mean our bed is a queen after all. Only about three feet smaller than a king and really, don't you love to snuggle with your child on one side while your baby nurses the other side of you? Do we women ever stop multi-tasking?

Finally, around four, when I was about to begin another nursing session, I told Derek to carry Ryanna back to her bed. Shortly after her placement there and the nursing session ends, Owen wakes up. I sent Derek in to negotiate that situation.

Luckily, Derek got to sleep in till 6 am and I was able to eek out another 43 minutes after that. We're so spoiled. I mean, who really needs more than about 4 hours of sleep each night anyway? And it definitely doesn't have to be consecutive hours. That's so weak! Isn't this how the military trains our troops for tough missions?