Mariah REALLY LOVES the Dishwasher

My apologies for so many videos lately...I know that some of you have slow(er) computers and it might be hard to download. But this is just another one of those hilarious videos that you have to watch!

Mariah is fascinated with the dishwasher. She is completely content to (try to) take out all of the dishes - clean or dirty. We now have to load/unload the dishwasher only when she isn't looking.

Before watching this - I promise, it was CLEAN...I had just finished emptying the diswasher out.

Oh My Goodness - We Have TWO NEW Babies!!!

Can you spell JEALOUSY!?!?! Here's what I have to put up with when Meghan and Caleb decide to play with Mariah's toys...

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Look Who's Walking...

I shot this video last night...but Mariah really figured this out late last week. I didn't get a GREAT shot of her walking, but at least you can get the idea. She's a big girl now!

Welcome to the (NO) Nuthouse

(This post isn't meant to offend anyone...especially the use of the term 'nuthouse')

This sign is hanging outside our door. We bought it a couple of years ago, when we had 2 children, and thought that our lives were already busy. (HA! Little did we know...)



Anyway, yesterday Mariah had an allergic reaction to the cereal that she ate at daycare, Honey Nut Cheerios. What a scary phone call to get! Mariah apparently started swelling up and turned "fire red" with a rash all over her body. Thankfully she could still breathe, or they would have (obviously) called 911. Keith works only a few blocks from daycare, so he rushed over there...and it was already starting to improve. PHEW!

ANYWAY...we believe the culprit is almonds. Mariah has never had anything with nuts in it before yesterday, and she has just experienced her LAST taste of nuts. No PB & J, no almond flavoring...in other words, time to be extremely vigilant on label-reading.

AW, NUTS!

Kris :)

Just some more family humor...

It's been very cold here recently. Caleb LOVES to wear earmuffs of all things!

.

Mariah got a hold of Keith's wallet recently. As you can tell, she had a very good idea of what to do with it. You go, girl!

Yes, we're changing the blog

Now that Caleb has been home almost a year, we've decided it's time to change around the blog a bit, to make it more focused on ALL of the children. We'll try to ease you into the changes...keeping the blog name the same, just changing everything else about it. We hope you enjoy the changes...but remember the main focus is still the same - the everyday happenings of our ordinary family.

Trying To Catch Up...

FINALLY!!! I have a spare moment to get caught up on Christmas pictures and recent happenings. You know...only 3 weeks late!

Before I start with anything, I have to show you this picture I took of Mariah last night. It is SO difficult to capture her smile on camera...because our camera is not fast AND I'm not a very good photographer. So I'm pretty proud of myself with this one! I'm bragging, I know, but she's beautiful, isn't she? (Just like the other kids)

Okay, on to Christmas pictures. Here are our 6 stockings hung up on Christmas Eve. It took us a long time and many routes to get to this...four beautiful children.

Much to the dismay of my husband, I was really pathetic when it came to baking Christmas cookies this year. There just wasn't time! So instead of his favorite - frosted sugar cookies - I was able to make M&M cookies and those store-bought cookies you only have to put in the oven! ANYWAY, it seemed to work for Santa. Here are his cookies (on the plate we only use for Santa) along with a glass of milk and, of course, sugar for the reindeer.

Christmas morning, before the kids were awake. Santa even managed to organize the gifts into piles for the kids this year. I wish I was that organized...

Here is Jared opening his presents...

And Meghan, with another one of her infamous cheesy grins...

Caleb was interesting to watch. The entire "opening presents" thing was new to him, he wasn't quite sure what to do at first. This changed soon enough...now he thinks that any wrapped present is for him!

And finally, Mariah. No, I didn't dress her up to open presents Christmas morning. Between the camera and video camera, I didn't get any still pictures of her with her presents. But I do have this shot from the family Christmas on Keith's side the day after Christmas. It pretty much sums it up, she was most interested in trying to eat the wrapping paper...

I was successful in catching Mariah with the video camera. Can you tell she's the youngest...she's not afraid of anything and is definitely not a wimp. Watch her try to beat her way into her gift!!!

Christmas vacation at home with the 4 kids is always CRAZY. Here's what happens when I allow Meghan to dress herself:

(PLEASE! Ignore what is under Caleb's nose)

Here is Caleb enjoying the outdoors. We are lucky, he is not affected by the cold or the snow AT ALL. The week he came home from Guatemala, it was -20 (without wind chill) and he was begging to go outside. He likes the cold a lot more than I do!

Just a typical pose for Meghan. I believe she WILL be famous someday...either a singer, an artist, or CEO of a major corporation. She certainly has personality!

Caleb didn't want his picture taken for some reason. First, he tried ignoring me:

And then, I got "THE LOOK." I can't help it, but I love "THE LOOK"!!! It cracks me up everytime, and I'm thrilled (again) to have it on camera.

I hesitated to show this picture...it is just so wrong. But it does show what a week of Christmas vacation will do to you! Meghan got a Hannah Montana dance set from Santa. Caleb is NOT a good blonde (although he liked the hair)!

Mariah obviously thought this was the worst idea ever. She is probably right...

Have a great week, everyone!

Prayers for Abby

If you've followed our blog for awhile, you've noticed I added a button on the right, "Praying for Abby." Abby is a beautiful little 4 year girl who has leukemia. Her prognosis is not good. She begins the most brutal part of her chemotherapy today, a period of chemo that could last up to 90 days. Abby almost didn't survive the first round of chemo, and this round is supposed to be even worse. So please, if you have a chance, please pray for Abby today. Obviously, I cannot begin to imagine what the Riggs family is going through, but I am confident that all of our prayers will help.

If you would like to learn more about Abby, click on the "Praying for Abby" link on the right of our blog.

Christmas Morning Funnies

UPDATE: FOR SOME REASON, THIS ISN'T LOADING. I HAVE CONTACTED ONETRUEMEDIA.COM TO FIND OUT WHAT THE DEAL IS! :)

I'm sorry it took so long to get this posted, our computer was acting up for a couple of weeks. I promise that more will follow...

Here is a video of Meghan and Jared, and their discoveries during Christmas morning. You may have to turn the sound up a bit to fully get what Meghan was saying. TOO funny!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com
">


Disclaimer - Meghan can count to 30 and above, really she can!

My Christmas Gift...

I have to apologize, our camera isn't the greatest so the quality is poor. Here is a picture of my Christmas present from Keith. It's a cool necklace with all of the kids' names engraved, along with their birthstones. I LOVE it!

Nice Glasses, Caleb!

Just Checking In!

Happy New Year!!!

I am having one heckuva time with the onetruemedia.com site. I have hilarious video from Christmas for you to see. If you know of a different (FREE) website for downloading video, please let me know!!!!

Pictures and more to follow. It's been a busy week, at home with the 4 kids. So far I've managed to keep the Christmas tree standing, though! :)

Kris