And we have a 5-year-old!

Happy 5th birthday, Brennan!

Brennan has had a good year. We still have our moments, and he is still very physical, but he is doing much better. He loves to run, jump, kick and hit. I like to think we are all managing it a bit better than when he was younger, and I think we really are. When he spazzes, he's sent to his room. When I remember him as a two and three year old, I cringe. Poor Brennan... Poor me!

Brennan is learning to ride a two-wheeler. He has the balancing part down perfectly, but he sometimes forgets to pedal. I'm sure he'll have it perfectly by summertime, which will be awesome for going to school with Collin in the fall. 

This year, he is LOVING his preschool and teacher. He goes Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. She says he is doing great, and that all the kids consider him their friend. He loves snack time, recess and all the crafts and art projects.

His preschool and primary teachers just love him. They say he always knows the answers to all the questions, and all the kids really look up to him. I hope he can use all that emulation to be a great leader. When I see other kids his age, they frequently only come up to his shoulder (he's tall), and certainly don't speak or articulate as well. He's a smart kiddo.

He loves to tell jokes. He has an amazing memory and knows many, many jokes. To and from preschool I hear joke after joke that he has learned. I don't know how he remembers them all. And he totally gets all the plays on words and double meanings. It's amazing.

He still loves crafting and creating. Not a day goes by that I'm not cleaning up scraps of paper, foam, stickers, markers, etc. He loves cutting and gluing too. He is very specific: It is art if it is flat, and it is a craft if it can stand up on its own. 

He also loves letters and numbers. He is starting some pre-reading books too. He is very good with a pencil, and his projects are often covered in letters and numbers. 

He is a pretty picky eater, and very few dinners don't begin with him declaring "This is disgusting!" Of course, very few dinners end with him not eating quite a bit of it too, so there you have it. His favorite meal one week is almost certainly to be declared disgusting the following week. I rarely win when it comes to feeding him. He does absolutely love sliced cheddar cheese, salami and Wheat Thin crackers. He also loves peanut butter, honey and banana sandwiches. When he makes them for himself, he calls them "art sandwiches."

He is napping less and less lately. I'd say he is pretty much done, except when Mom has just had it and makes him lay down for a while anyway. He was napping every day until about November, and then every other day until December, so that was pretty cool. I enjoyed it, especially with Katelyn's erratic sleeping schedule.

My plan is to put him in half-day kindergarten in the fall. He would really thrive in the full-day class, but I just can't stomach throwing away all that cash to pay for it. Sorry Buddy. If only you didn't have so many siblings. 

He got a matching Transformer to Collin's, but in purple. He loves it about as much as Collin loves his!

Happy birthday, B! Love you!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! 

With Love, 

The Williams Crew 

And he's seven!

Happy 7th birthday, Collin! 

For birthdays, I decided I wanted to try to simplify my life and only do one every other year. But since his birthday was the first day of Christmas Break, I told him he could invite two friends over for a play date. I asked if he wanted to do an activity with them, and he chose decorating gingerbread men. After making all the icing, baking a multitude of shapes, buying all the candy decorations, and setting everything at each one's place with little bowls of all the choices, I realized I DID throw him a party. Sigh. I can't seem to take the easy street. He did have a ton of fun, and his friends were super well-behaved, so I guess it is all good.

Collin loves first grade. September was rough as he adjusted to full-day school, but he is doing great now. I still really miss having him around though. He is a good friend and a hard worker. He has a tendency to be too much of a perfectionist and unable to complete his work on time, but he's trying to manage his time better.

Collin is becoming a self-taught piano player. He took lessons from our neighbor January through May, but then she had a baby. I've been on a waiting list with another lady ever since. I could take him somewhere else, but this new teacher lives close by and would be far more convenient. He is getting really good at figuring out the melody of primary songs he knows. Sometimes I buy music for songs online he really wants (Gethsemane), but other times he figures them out on his own (I Know My Savior Loves Me). We also have all the "I Can Play It" songs printed from the Friend magazine and easy Christmas songs too. The new teacher says we are the top name on her list now, so he should be able to get in sometime next year.

He is becoming a very good reader. He still tires easily with chapter books, but he can decode Boxcar Children and Magic Tree House. Now to just work on his stamina. His comprehension is off the charts. He is also good at understanding math concepts, but he needs to work on his math facts.

He played soccer last Spring and again in the Fall. He loved his Spring team (super noncompetitive and just plain fun), but his coach in the Fall was very into drills and skills and winning games. Collin hated it. He learned a ton though, and he really got good at being in the right place at the right time. He just isn't a competitive kid by nature and always seemed a little afraid of the ball and the other kids. At the last game, at the last second, he scored his first goal! It really was the end, because they didn't even line up for another kickoff afterwards. Then, of course, he decided he wanted to play again in the Spring. Silly boy. We'll see.

Collin loves to ride his bike. He mastered the two-wheeler this summer, and now he rides all the time. He rides every day to and from school, and he always wants to ride after school too. We got a lot of snow last week and it still hasn't melted, and it's killing him to have to walk everywhere. He loves his bike!

When I pointed out he would be getting baptized next year, he said he didn't want to. When asked why, he told me he didn't want to go all the way under water, even though he does want to follow Jesus' example. Here's hoping we can work on that this coming year.

He lost his first two baby teeth (the bottom ones) the summer before kindergarten, and then he didn't lose any more for a LONG time. Then while we were driving home from Utah after Thanksgiving weekend, he pulled out one of his top ones all on his own. Tough kid. Unfortunately, he has a MASSIVE gap, and I know we are now headed into the goofy years of not-cute pictures.

He loves to play with Brennan. They have elaborate games of pretend: ninjas, spies, cowboys. They love to dress up the most. I have a hard time getting them to school on time because they don't want to stop to get ready. They particularly like to climb under our basement stairs where all our moving boxes are; they call it the "box cave."

Who couldn't love this girl? Even without a cute outfit and no bow, don't you just want to smother her in kisses? 

Collin still couldn't really care less about Katelyn. I did hear him ONE time say "it's okay" to her when she was crying in the car, but just that once. He is also pretty much only ever annoyed with Ethan. All he ever says to him is, "No, Eefie. No!" He just finds kids generally pretty annoying. And lest he appear almost perfect (though he really almost is), he is developing a bit of a mouth, especially with his dad. He loses "screen time" regularly for talking back to his parents.

Okay, back to the good stuff. He has become an adventurous eater. His favorite meal is steak, mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli. I don't know many seven year-olds begging for steak! He also likes to use chopsticks when we have stir fry.

For his birthday, he got a Optimus Prime transformer. He's in heaven. Truly a perfect gift for him.
Here's a funny side story: So Ryan took Brennan shopping for a gift for Collin a few Saturdays ago. Brennan picked out this Transformer for him. He was SOOO excited about it. He kept saying he was going to tell Collin what he got him, and we kept telling him not to. Then one morning on the way to preschool, Brennan told me he had told Collin that morning what he had got him. Ryan and I didn't know what to do. So, we decided they'd both still be surprised if Collin got it for his birthday instead of for Christmas. Brennan's face when Collin opened it was CLASSIC. He was so confused. Anyway, the gift we wanted to give Collin for his birthday will just wait until Christmas morning now. Gotcha!

Happy birthday, Biggest Boy! Love you!

Happy birthday, Eefie! (plus one month)

Yikes! Ethan turned two a month ago, and I never said a thing about him. Whew. I just can't keep up with the break-neck pace life is coming at me.

So here's to Ethan and his second birthday...

I think he is in my absolute favorite stage. He has the most kissable, pudgy, smooth cheeks, and he's always asking us to "ha-choo" (sounds like a sneeze but means "hold you"). His hair is soft (yes, he has hair finally!) and smooth too, and I just love holding and cuddly with him. At bedtime, he asks for "baby" which means "hold me like a baby," which I willingly oblige if I'm not holding my OTHER baby. I also like when he gets a stool and says "wash," which means he wants to watch what I'm doing. He loves "ta-ta" (tractors and all construction equipment), so we got him two new ones for his birthday.

He is a talking machine now too. He has a word for just about everything. My favorite is "tee" for television. His favorite movie is "E," which is the only letter he's learned from watching Letter Factory every MWF morning when Brennan is at school. (I feel less guilty letting him watching tv all morning if it's "educational.") He has learned "mine" too, but he also likes to remind us of what belongs to everyone else. He calls himself "E-E." It's adorable.

He helped me make his birthday cake the morning of his birthday. I wanted pumpkin sheet cake with cream cheese frosting, so that's what he got. :-) He loved it! Of course, he loves "cha" (chocolate) and all junk food, so this was no surprise.

He absolutely loves his little sister. He likes to hold her and kiss the top of her head. He gives her her "ba-ba" (his word for blankie) when she cries. He even tries to give her her binky, but she doesn't really take it from anyone anymore. He is truly the most affectionate little man in our house.

He is a mess-maker. Even though I do really love this stage, I also really wish he was less into everything. He is constantly pulling every book off the shelves and every pan and its lid out of the drawers. Everywhere I turn he's dumped something. Today he took the top of Ryan's deodorant and LICKED it. Gross. He draws on everything, lots of circles around and around. He also likes to turn on the faucet and fill and dump cups. It's a big mess, but he loves his "wa-wa."

He is a great eater. He definitely goes through phases (teething, colds) of not being hungry, but all in all, he'll try just about everything. He still loves pasta, yogurt and hot dogs best.

He sleeps from 7pm-6:15am, and he naps every day from 12:30-3:30pm. I am learning that I have really good sleepers for kids. I think they've inherited the need for lots of sleep from their mom. I love my sleep too!

He unfortunately has a cough and runny nose right now. It is making for some rough days and rougher nights. He gave it to me and Katelyn too, so that sucks.

He loves sharing a room with his brothers, and he really doesn't know he isn't a big kid too. He wants to ride his bike in the street and go to preschool too. He jumps on the trampoline with them and splashes in the bathtub. (Yes, we still put all three boys in together. Kate goes first by herself.) He refuses to hold my hand in the preschool parking lot, and he's constantly in trouble for running ahead.

He is still quite the escape-artist, and I keep all the doors out of the house locked, especially the one out to the garage. He loves to play in the driver's seat of the van. He knows how to eject all the cds from the player, turn on the hazards and mess with the interior lights. He's trouble, and the most adorably cute and fun little boy in the world!

We are headed to Utah in the morning for Thanksgiving. Wish us luck with an 8-hr drive plus stops for pottying, nursing, burping and screaming. I'm terrified. And there's no saying how well the kids will all sleep once we get there. Sigh. The things we do to see family.

Halloween 2015

So our newborn sleep-deprivation sapped all our creative energy this Halloween. We decided we'd just re-purpose old costumes this year. Lame, I know.

I'm actually pretty impressed with what we came up with, since we threw it all together the day of our ward trunk-or-treat. Katelyn is supposed to be my udder, hence the pink fabric on the pack.

Here's a cute pic of our cowboys. Yes, Ethan did have a hat; we just couldn't get him to keep it on. Real life, I guess.

Here's our pumpkin for the year. The boys are really into Transformers lately, and Ryan liked that everything was straight cuts. Simple.

We always carve our pumpkin the Monday night before Halloween for family home evening. Unfortunately, with treat-or-treat on Saturday this year, it was pretty shriveled by the big night.

And here are the big boys up way past their bedtime in order to see the finished product. Happy Halloween! 

October Overload

I just plugged in our camera card, and we have 525 pictures on our primary camera. That doesn't include whatever pictures Collin has taken on his camera lately (and I'm sure there are plenty there), and mine and Ryan's phones. Yikes, I'm behind.

Okay, so here's what we've been up to according to the camera card in age-order (youngest to oldest)...

KATELYN

Katelyn has some of the cutest little outfits. Between the tubs and tubs of fun things from my sister (who has three girls), a shipment from Ryan's sister (who also has three girls), and her seamstress Nana, this girl is decked out at all times!

We think she is just beautiful!

She is sleeping very well too. She particularly loves being in her swing, sleeping from 8pm- ish until 4am-ish (with a quick feeding) and then again until 8am-ish. She eats good and fast, which is a major blessing in our busy home.

You can't tell in pictures, but she actually has dark blue eyes.

She loves to smile, and it makes my heart melt. I think God has babies smile right when Mom thinks she can't take any more; the adrenaline wears off at six weeks, you get a smile, and you can keep on trucking!

She was screaming a lot in her car seat, but now with the velcro-swaddler, she is doing much better. She also was squirming and grunting and needing to be held all night, but without the velcro-swaddler (but with a blanket-swaddling instead), she is doing perfect. This baby didn't come with a user manual, so trial and error is the story of our lives. Can anybody relate?!

ETHAN
Eefie is a little parent. He does everything he sees his mom and dad do, including taking pictures. He is pretty much the cutest thing in the world.

He also loves to hold the baby, rock the baby, give the baby her pacifier, and give her kisses on the top of her head. It is the most adorable thing in the world! He is my first child to ever care about babies. He is very nurturing and gets quite concerned when "baby kies."

Ethan still can't make it more than an hour without his precious "ba-ba." He sucks on one corner, while sniffing another. Gross, I know. He takes it in the car, watches tv with it, and drags it around the house. I usually can get it away from him once a week to "give it a bath." It's gross, but our lives are crazy enough right now without taking away his comfort object.

BRENNAN
Brennan has really turned into a pretty wonderful little guy. Here he is ready to go on a daddy-date nature walk one day.

I think the sun was in his eyes.

He is still pretty physical and silly, and he often hits, slide-tackles and kicks people. I spend a lot of time trying to re-channel his energy or putting him in time-out.

Other the other hand, though, I am starting to see an entirely different boy when Collin is away at school. He helps me with the baby and Ethan, and he and Ethan play really well together. I can often find him quietly drawing at the kitchen table too.

He plays soccer on Mondays after preschool gets out, and he LOVES it! He is still our crafter too, creating page after page after page of art work each day. He still naps almost every day too, which I love. 

Everyone says that these are my two kids that look the most alike

COLLIN
Collin is slowly but surely adjusting to full-day school. At my parent-teacher conference last week, I learned he's at the top of his class and far ahead of age-expectations. He can read pages in the Boxcar Children books (with me alternating pages with him) which is super fun. He has the ability but not the stamina to do more yet. I am super proud of him.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, he is only home a couple minutes after school to have a snack and put on his soccer gear before returning to school for soccer practice. His coach is hard-core and very competitive, and he isn't enjoying it at all.

We'll finish out this season (two more weeks), and then we'll pursue his interests in running and piano instead. 

Collin doesn't like babies. He's never liked any of his brothers until they are walking and talking a little bit. Ethan still kinda annoys him. The other day Collin referred to Katelyn as "the new one." He just doesn't view them as people. It's sad. He isn't mean to her, but he just doesn't care about her.

LINDSEY 

And then there's me. I am doing pretty well. Now that I am getting a bit more sleep and getting my elliptical-time in every day, I am handling all the craziness as well as can be expected. 

These pictures are the best we could do before church last Sunday for the baby blessing. 

I turned 34 at the beginning of the month. (Apparently we didn't take any pictures though.) We had two families over for our birthday bonfire (much smaller than our usual bash). It also rained on and off during the party, so we grilled the hot dogs and roasted the marshmallows under the oven broiler. Gotta keep things simple when you have a newborn and three other children!

RYAN
Ryan is the most amazing help around the house. He's super patient with our sucky dinners, and he does almost all of the boy-care in the evenings. He is super patient with Katelyn when she is inexplicably cranky when I want to go to bed at night. And he holds the house together so I can get my twenty minutes on the elliptical each morning.

Ryan turned 34 too at the end of September. Katelyn had turned one month the day before. He's still as skinny and active (road and mountain biking, running, and strength-training) as ever.

He was called as Sunday School President in our new ward, and he's been handling the calling of all the teachers and his counselors really well. He loves being on ward council again and being in the information loop.

And that's October up to today. But we still have Ethan's birthday this Friday and Halloween next week, so get ready for more posts soon. :-)

Katelyn's Baby Blessing

Katelyn - 3 weeks

Pretty in pink

Big yawn

Don't let this serenity fool you

Getting chubby

Holding that big head up

Peaceful little princess

Grumpy face

Little smile

Stubborn Little Miss

And the face we really see most of the time!