Potty Patrol

Evie loves taking care of Parker.  Out of all of us, she is definitely the one most attached, giving him the most attention.  She enjoys chasing after him, playing fetch, and smothering him with hugs.

Parker would not have allowed that level of affection years ago; he would have ran away or growled to let us know he had enough.  He has just given up on avoiding the kids.  They invade his crate, walk him on a leash in the house, choke hug him, and lay on top of him.

Hey, if he isn't going to run or bark at them, then I am going to let the love fest continue!

In addition to Evie's job of feeding "her dog" 2 times a day, she also has taken over potty duty.  I found after I put Evie in "room time"  and Bray down for nap each day, I was wasting 10 precious minutes of alone time walking Parker.  Evie began asking to walk with me, which led to wanting to walk him.  Shockingly, the two are a good combo.  Somehow our petite 27 lb. four-year-old can handle our 35 lb overweight, not well trained dog.  So instead of walking him alone at 1:30, I have Evie walk Parker with me on poop duty.

Braylen was feeling left out in the mornings when Daddio and Evie walked Parker.  He happily took over poop bag duty.

If only we lived in a world where it was acceptable to let my four-year-old walk our dog alone...

Oh Happy Day

This makes me so happy

I am happy because I am with Liz.  I am happy because all 4 of our kids are not being turds having fun.  I am happy because Evie has learned how to swing on her own!!

My sister and I spent hours upon hours swinging together as little girls.  We brought out our boom box, which had a Tiffany or Belinda Carlisle cassette tape in it, and sang our hearts out while pumping our legs.  Swinging was my childhood.

It makes me sad that schools and parks are removing swings because they are a hazard.  C'mon people!  We all survived the 80's and 90's on swings.  Yeah, there were some cut lips and bumped heads, but we learned our lesson quickly.  I need to start a petition to keep swings at our playgrounds!  (Or we need to move to a house where we can put in our own swing set...)

I am loving you summer 2015: Braylen learns to ride his bike and Evie masters swinging alone.  Oh happy summer days!

Her Beautiful Curls

This happened today, August 6, 2015

A first at 4 years, 2.5 months

Evie got her first haircut.  I have been putting it off despite all the knots and split ends because I am afraid her beautiful curls will be gone forever.

All natural beauty

Perfect ringlets

A brushing nightmare, but so pretty

Women pay big bucks to get hair that looks like Evie's: blond highlights and bouncy curls.

Daddio has been threatening to buzz Evie's hair off if she didn't stop twirling it or putting it in her mouth.  Thankfully we stink at follow-through :)  I mentioned cutting it to Evie a few times recently and she wasn't opposed to it.

So today when Liz said she was going to IKEA and to get Jack's hair cut, I jumped on the opportunity to do this first for me and Evie with my best friend.  If anyone makes me brave, it is Liz.  To White March Hair Cuttery we went.

4 plus years in the making.

No tears, all business

 The hardest thing was keeping her thumb under the cape.  Where was her brother during all of this?  With his girl.

Cutest younger siblings EVER.
Jason asked when they can get married.

My heart still hurts seeing those blond curls

All done!

Liz and I laughed that the hair salon was probably one of our easiest "errands" with 4 kids.  Jack and Evie sat nicely while the ladies cut their hair and the littles were happy as can be watching Daniel Tiger on Liz's phone.  Everyone got a lollipop.  Everyone smiled.  Wow, what a great experience!

Evie loves her new hair-do.  She looks older and claims she now has hair "like Emily" (her BFF).  She told me she wants it to be that length forever.  (Insert disappointment on my part here).   It always grows back... I still see some signs of curl left.  A really humid day will show the truth.

Did I keep her hair?  Heck no.  I am not that attached and sentimental about her baby blond curls.  One less thing for my kids to find as they are cleaning out our house 45 years from now when we move to the "home".

I've Got Your Back

My kids love to play together.

Tea Party is a new favorite.
(Anything that involves water is high on their list)

They make each other laugh.

Amusement rides bring out the biggest smiles and giggles

Being silly together

That stuff happens every day.  

This week I noticed them looking after each other.

On Monday, we boarded the tram to take us to the zoo from the main gate.  When I looked over at the kids, they were holding hands, 100% unprompted by me

Monday night when we were at a friend's house for dinner, all the kids were playing upstairs while the moms were talking in the kitchen.  We rushed upstairs when we heard Braylen crying like he was hurt.  Evie quickly told us that the four-year-old boy pushed Braylen into the bed.  She was choked up telling me this 10 times, very loud, pointing fingers.  She was sincerely sticking up for her brother who also did some pushing himself.   Normally my two are the ones pushing so it was a nice change to see her worried about her brother.

On Tuesday, Braylen had a terrible time leaving me for Bible study.  He sobbed and sobbed.  Evie was assigned to a different room, but after hearing him not give up even for his favorite "lady friend", I sent in Evie to look after her brother.  When I asked how he was doing, our leader said "No crying.  Evie is hugging him tightly and he is sucking his thumb".  At pick up, the caregiver inquired how I got my kids to love each other so much.  Apparently they were quite huggy and kissy the entire time.  So proud of big sis for comforting her brother.

THEN today, not even an hour after we dropped Evie off at school, Braylen told me to go pick up Evie.  Cute boy, misses his sister when she isn't around.  I love hearing them WANT to be together all the time.

Sibling love is amazing.

Gene Pool

One of the first things my dad said when he saw Braylen for the first time was "wow, he has great coloring".   I didn't really notice because I was more focused on stuff like getting my newborn to eat and sleep.

Gez louise, this little guy is a tan hunk this summer.  He clearly has the easy-to-tan Stefany skin gene like Poppop and Aunite L while Evie has Jason's family gene of fair skin.  I am in awe of his perfectly tanned body.  He looks more like a Hettinger child than Evie's sibling.

Such cute buns.  The last time I can probably get away with
naked kids on the blog.

Between his super thick, long eyelashes and tanned body, we are in trouble later in life.