04/18/2012 Time to Travel

It's been a long time since I last updated this blog! We've been so busy! We recently traveled back to Nebraska and Iowa to visit family and friends and take advantage of my maternity leave. We were able to stay about a week and a half and it was great to see everyone. We had a fabulous trip and lots of wonderful memories.

We left Ohio late on Thursday night and so after supper that evening, I took the kids out for a bike ride so they could burn off some energy.

There are tons more pictures from our trip coming soon! Keep checking back! I don't have much free time now with 4 children, no daycare, and did I mention- I started back to work already :(

Tysen chillin on a chair...

Tysen stuffing himself onto a bookshelf

4/18/2012

I can't believe that Baby Bowen is 2 weeks old now! He has really changed a lot. He is starting to look around more and he especially recognizes my voice.

His neck muscles are getting much stronger and he can turn his head side to side to look around.

Big yawn!

I took the kids on a walk today to wear off some energy. It was another beautiful day and the kids had fun running around the little park in our community.

Tysen saw Gavin and Alexa hugging and he came running! He wrapped his little arms around Alexa. It was adorable! I've never seen him hug Alexa or Gavin and when he hugs Mommy or Daddy, he usually just lays his head on our shoulder.

Melts my heart!

Silly boy! Why doesn't Mommy get hugs like that?

And as usual, Baby Bowen is sleeping in the shade of the stroller! I think he likes the fresh air.

My kids are still napping as I update this blog. It's been 3.5 hours! I guess spending an hour running around the park followed by a bath and snack makes for some tired kiddos!

4/17/2012 Park

Today after lunch, I decided to get the kids out of the house and go visit a park so they could get some exercise. We spent a couple hours there, just long enough to wear them out so they took 3 hour naps (way to go, Mommy!).

Alexa is our nature girl. She loves collecting flowers, leaves, pine cones, and acorns. She had a blast running around the grassy area finding pine cones. She put them on top of a big tree stump so that she could count them with her stick. She's so fun!

This is the toddler playground for kids ages 5 and under. Tysen had fun climbing and going down the slides.

Gavin is probably too big for this swing, but he was having fun.

Tysen LOVED the swing! He was laughing so hard! I have posted a video below of him cracking up.

After the park, we went home and Alexa, Gavin, and Tysen took a bath. While they were in the tub, I decided to let them eat their snack of oranges in the tub so I wouldn't have a sticky mess to clean up. It worked quite well! Then I checked them all for ticks and put them down for naps. They didn't wake up until supper time!

4/15/2012 Sunday at Easton

On Sunday, we took Bowen to church for the first time. Matt and I were so proud because all of the kids were very well behaved. (That doesn't happen very often.) After church, we decided to go to Easton for lunch and to run some errands. It was a gorgeous day and we all enjoyed the sunshine. It was also our first time going out to eat as a family of six! It went very well and Bowen did sleep while we were eating so that was helpful. After we ate, we took the kids to see the electric train display. I sat down to feed Bowen and Matt took some photos.

We try to give Bowen at least one bottle of breast milk a day so that when I have to return to work in a few weeks, he won't give Daddy a hard time with the bottle! Bowen loves to eat so I don't think it will be a problem!

(Look at his crazy hair! He had been wearing a hat earlier.)

Gavin loves the trains! He could watch them all day.

Alexa loves picking leaves and plants to make her own bird nests.

She was wearing her hat backwards and it was pretty cute!

4/14/2012

Baby All Star

Gavin is looking so cute in his pajamas.

My happy, drooley little guy.

Sweet Alexa

I put Bowen on the blanket so he could stretch out and Tysen came right over and laid down next to him. It was so cute! Soon Gavin saw Bowen and then he wanted to lay down next to him, too. Bowen is a popular little guy at our house!

Everyone keeps saying that Bowen is sleeping in all of my photos. Here's a picture to show off his eyes!

4/13/2012 Zoo

Today was a milestone for Mommy! It was the first time that I took all 4 kids out in public on my own. I'm not going to lie, it wasn't easy! My goal was to leave the house at 9:30am for the zoo. We didn't actually leave until 10:03am. It was so hard trying to remember everything that I might need. Four little jackets, four hats, sunglasses, sunscreen, diapers, wipes, snacks, zoo membership, camera........

It was a beautiful morning and it was so worth it to get out of the house! The kids were really well behaved. With the two little boys in the double stroller, I only had to keep track of Alexa and Gavin. I was able to push the stroller with one hand and hold Gavin's hand with my other. Then Alexa held Gavin's other hand and we slowly made our way around the zoo. It was nice to get some exercise, too.

Baby Bowen was an angel again and slept through the whole outing! He's spoiling me! I find that if I nurse him right before we leave the house, he'll fall asleep in the car seat and then sleep soundly for at least 3 hours. I'm so lucky!

That is Hank in the background, the zoo's newest elephant.

The little elephant on the right is the zoo's last baby that was born. His name is Beco and he's 3 years old. My kids didn't understand that a baby elephant would be so big! They were expecting an elephant that they could hold!

Flamingos!

We met up with my neighbor and good friend, Lauren and her sweet little boys. The kids had so much fun and it was great for me to have an adult to talk to (and also an extra set of eyes to help watch the kids!).

Alligators!

Gavin liked his teeth!

Lauren and I thought it would be fun for the kids to play on the zoo's playground. They had a blast and got some wonderful exercise climbing, however the playground was full of kids and Mommy had a hard time keeping track of everyone. That was pretty stressful and I'm glad that I didn't loose anyone!

There was even an area for younger tots. At first Tysen didn't want to play, but then he finally warmed up and had some fun.

He made a little friend in the tunnel.

Lauren waited with Baby Bowen and I took the older three on the carousel. Alexa and Gavin were so excited! They love, love, love the carousel! It was Tysen's first time and he was quite nervous.

Alexa loves horses.

Once the carousel started moving, Tysen decided that he liked it.

On Friday night after supper, we took a family walk and then had movie night. Life is good!