Oh the Insanity!

What a few weeks we've had. After spending a week at home due to snow and no power, we found out that the storm had caused major damage to the house we're supposed to move into on January 31 (yes, tomorrow). Some of the large trees around the house were damaged and branches fell on the roof causing a number of leaks. As of right now, there is no ceiling on the top floor and the carpets are all pulled up. We were hoping that repairs might be done by tomorrow, but this morning the painter found another leak in the roof! So, we are still planning on stashing all of our things in the house, but it will be a bit of an adventure for the first few days. I just hope that we have a ceiling by the weekend.


Then, because he didn't think we had enough excitement, Conor took a dive off the changing table. We thought he seemed okay, but then he vomited and got very groggy so we spent Sunday morning at Children's Hospital monitoring him. He has a mild concussion and we've been watching him very closely. As of today, I think he's back to himself, but it was a very scary experience. I won't be turning my back on him EVER again. Only took 4 kids to learn that lesson.

On a more fun note, we took a break from packing to take the kids down to Safeco Field and go to the Mariners' Fan Fest. We had so much fun touring the stadium and I think Ian had a blast seeing everything up close. He also discovered that they host birthday parties so I have a feeling I know where we'll be celebrating the big 7. :)

The pictures below are from our day at the ball field.

Delaney and Ian trying out some seats.


In front of his Hernandez's locker. Felix is one of Ian's favorites.

Smoak's locker. He's another favorite of Ian's. Ian has his poster up in his room.Waiting to run the bases. Conor and I walked. :)

Standing in the outfield.

Waiting their turn to play catch.

The boys and Laney out playing catch.

Pretending to jump for a fly ball in front of King's Court (where Felix Hernandez fans sit).

We will update again soon after we get settled into our new place. We are looking forward to having more space and just hoping for a ceiling soon. I know, we're so picky...

Snow Days...

We had a long week of snow and ice, power outages and no school. The kids have had some fun in the snow and they thought the cold, dark house was quite an adventure. Turns out all they need is a flashlight and a dark room to have a great time. After two nights of camping out in one room (6 people and 2 dogs in a small enough space can actually stay pretty warm), Mike and I were more than excited to wake up to electricity on Saturday morning after a long 48 hours. After a week of no school and barely leaving the house, we're hoping for a normal week ahead.


Watching it come down.

Our Seattle snowman. :)
Snow angels!

Fallen trees by our house. This was Thursday following the ice storm. There were tons of trees down, roads closed and last estimate I heard had over 200,000 people without power by the end of the day. Very glad that we are all safe and warm now!

Christmas Morning (and Happy New Year)

A look at our completely over the top Christmas. Santa needs to scale back a bit next year, but of course the kids probably don't agree. We had a loud, crazy and fun Christmas day. The kids had a blast and I have a few pictures to prove it. The mess just got bigger as the day went on...

New bikes for the big boys!

Conor watching the action with his new teether.

Pirate William. Arghhh!

Ian surveying his loot.

Trying out his new high chair.

Delaney was a little overwhelmed by the chaos. She found the necklaces (in her hair) and bracelets and carried them around all morning. She also carried around her new frog ("Ribbit").

Ian setting up his baseball guys.
Christmas cuddles.

A princess in the mess. Laney Beth in her new tutu.

First taste of real food...some pears. Santa filled his stocking with baby food. He wasn't too sure about them, but he is warming up to solids now.
Followed by a dessert of a Baby Mum Mum. Yum!

A very proud Ian after the completion of his Star Wars ship. Over 1,000 pieces with minimal help from us. He did a great job and finished the whole thing in a day! So much for our expected week off from parenting. :) :) Luckily he had a few other things to keep him occupied.

Trying out their new bikes and helmets. It was cold and rainy, but we wanted them to at least get a test drive.

Delaney's "new" big girl bed. The bedding is new anyway. She is doing great and made the switch with no problems. There's a first time for everything.

Everybody needs help from Papa!
And, for the finish, rock out with Will's New Year's Eve show. Happy 2012 everyone!

Christmas Card Out-takes

No explanation needed, just my attempts at getting everyone in their holiday garb. It is quite an adventure to get 4 looking at the camera...and not crying. :)

Catching up...

I'm using the break to catch up on our holiday fun. We had a pretty quiet December in terms of picture worthy activities, but not in terms of actual volume. The kids have been very excited for Christmas and I think they all had a great day yesterday. I will post our Christmas pictures soon.

In the mean time, here are pictures from our post-Thanksgiving weekend traditions. We went downtown on Black Friday to do a little shopping and enjoy the fireworks and tree lighting. Then on Saturday we picked out and cut down a Christmas tree. It is probably one of my favorite weekends of the year. I love the start of the Christmas season.

The boys waiting for the tree lighting. We bought them light sabers from a street vendor to pass the time. I'm sure the people around us really appreciated the sword fights in the middle of a huge crowd. Lucky for us, they were both broken by the end of the next day.

Trying to pick out a tree and coral the kids. It felt like they were constantly running different directions!

"The" tree. I think we're blocking it, but its the one behind us. :)

Headed to the car...
Mmmm...hot chocolate!
Laney Beth decorating the tree. This was her first time to help. She took a lot of decorations off the tree too, but she had fun.

I will post more pictures in the next few days. I have some good outtakes from my attempt to get a picture for the Christmas card! Happy Holidays!

Just playing around...

I just wanted to share some recent pics of the kids playing around. They're getting so big!

Doing a little shopping for dinosaurs. The "middles". They are always together and usually in trouble.

Candy!
Happy kiddo! We finally found a place he likes to be and I can get 10 mins without tears!
She's ready to go!
Will helping Laney Beth change her dolls.
Delaney carries her babies everywhere--even to play with cars.