A little snippet from the other day:

So all morning I felt like I was repeating myself ad nauseum with everything I was telling Ammon, so when we finally got in the car to go to swim lessons I said, "Ammon, you really need to work on your listening." (Should I mention the fact I had to repeat that sentence a couple times too?) He said, "But Mom, it's so hard to listen. My ears are just little ones. I can't hear good yet."

Touche.

Parenting Advice

I've received a lot of unsolicited parenting advice in my day, haven't we all? But I never expected it from my own daughter! The other day I was sitting at the computer, kinda getting lost in my virtual world of Craigslist, emails, and such, kind of noticing a lot of laughter coming from the kitchen. Nice, kids are having fun, I think. Then I hear maybe some sliding?! Slip and sliding? Hmm. Should I go see? Nah.

Then Ammon and Shayla come chasing each other into the office, sopping wet. They both start blaming Liam after they see the fire in my eyes as I start imagining the mess I'm about to find. I walk in the kitchen and Liam is STILL pouring water on the floor from the water dispenser in the fridge, laughing and having a good old time. I start my ranting and raving as I grab dish towels and start mopping the pond covering my kitchen floor. After I calm down I sit with the kids and have a chat...

Me: You guys KNOW that putting water on the kitchen floor was a bad choice.

Shayla: Yes Mom. Did you hear us in there playing?

Me: Yes I did.

Shayla: Did you think maybe, that you should have gone in and checked on us? Did you think, "I should check on them?"

Ammon: speechless, awaiting my response, wide eyed.

Me: I shouldn't have to....um.... yeah... I guess I should have.

Booyah. Me=0 Kids=1

P.S. There are no pictures of the actual incident. That's probably a given though...right?

Is Awesomest a Word?

So I have to admit to all that I went to the midnight showing of New Moon with a bunch of my girlfriends on Thursday night/early Friday morning. I also have to say....LOVED IT!!! It was the awesomest!! Did you expect I'd report otherwise?

Josh was a sweetie and manned the house and kids while I went with my gals to Red Robin and then the movie theater. We had fun standing in line in the rain, looking for tickets to trade so we could all be in the same theater, and meeting new people who are just as insane as I am. I got the kids all excited that Friday morning would be "movie morning" since I knew I'd have New Moon hangover, and I was right. They LOVED hanging in their jammies and watching Cars. I didn't get to laze around for long unless I wanted to have my house look like a tsunami struck, but all in all recovery from my late night wasn't too bad. I'm planning on doing it again next June when Eclipse comes out. Who's with me?

A Whole Month Has Passed Already?!

SO..I realize it's been over a month since I posted anything. I'm terrible! Ok not terrible. Maybe lazy?! I will slowly catch things up with what we've been up to, but I think I'll start with most recent and go back from there. It's easier for me. Again. The laziness. I know. I'll work on it.

Liam doing his GQ pose for me. This literally lasted about 2 seconds.

Yesterday was a sunny day...ALL day. No, that's not a typo and no we didn't move. It was sunny for a whole day in Western Washington. Miracles happen. So we went outside and raked the leaves into a giant pile and the kids jumped in and had fun. Aria preferred sleeping in the warm house, and Ammon, Shayla, and Liam went hog wild. I got ambitious and grabbed the video camera AND took pictures with the other camera to document this rare and enjoyable November sunshine.

Ammon's smile just cracks me up. Has anyone seen Chandler smile on the tv show Friends? I love it!

Chasing and running all his energy out...he took a great nap after this!
Running, there was lots and lots of this.

The Matthew is Back

We went to my parent's house last week to welcome home my little brother Matthew from his mission in Albania. I can't believe two years went by already! Ammon and Shayla were excited to see Uncle Matt again, and Liam warmed up quickly to him. Ammon was glued to his side like best buddies. Hopefully Matt will be able to come over and visit for a bit and share some of his new recipes and stories (no BBQ sheep heads though please.)

I Tried...

So I tried to get a picture of all four kids yesterday, since I realized I didn't have one, and this is what happened. The kids did all get on the couch for me, but Liam tried to take off when Ammon wanted to hold him on his lap. Aria wasn't too happy about being held either.

Then I thought, how about on the ground? On a soft and cuddly blanket? Um. No. Ammon and Shayla thought it was HILARIOUS butting heads. Aria...still not entertained. And Liam? Don't even THINK about making him lie by those crazies. So I gave up. I'll try again another day.

Moving on though, here's a quick photo I snapped of Aria on a better day. Isn't she just adorable? :) Of course she is!

Two weeks out...Time is flying!

So it's been just over two weeks since Aria was born, and we are getting adjusted to having four kids. Josh and I are both a bit shy on sleep, me a bit shy on patience maybe (who me?), but we're trucking along.

Shayla's daily dose of Aria time

Aria has switched around to sleeping at night now instead of partying, she's great at eating and squeaking and making us all swoon. Shayla is her guardian for sure, always wanting to hold her and take care of her (even carrying her around...yikes!!! Noooo....) Ammon is a great babysitter while I'm taking a shower (keeping her safe from the carrying), and Liam loves sharing and stealing her binkies and giving her loves ALL day long.

Aria did not enjoy this bath...but normally she's loving it!

So all in all, we are enjoying this sweet little bundle of joy, and feel a bit closer to heaven, now that we have a little piece of it right here in our home.

All the cousins on the Kelley side