Finally Four!

Adam and Matthew - the boys that made me a Mommy and Alan a Daddy - turned 4 this month! I can't believe it!

4 is an age I've been looking forward to. More independent play, more sitting still, more creativity more back and forth conversation, more listening to Mom and Dad, etc. I do love the stage the boys are in now. They are getting so smart, and they say new, clever things all the time. 

Favorites:

Activities: Watercolors, reading with an adult, reading alone (looking at the pictures), writing letters on the computer, using the paint program on the computer, using a screwdriver

Colors: Adam - Red

            Matthew - Blue

             (They will not accept a sippy cup that is not their color!)

Foods: Milk in sippy cups, yogurt, fruit, eggs, bread with butter (Matthew) or honey (Adam), honey & lemon tea, dessert of all kids

Personalities:

Adam: He loves affection, and is always asking for hugs. However, he is in a stage where he does not want kisses at all. But he is very generous with his kisses to us :) He's our sensitive one, and we often hear "You made me sad" when we tell him no. He loves anything outdoors and active.

Matthew: He is our servant hearted boy. He is first to want to help out, and Adam will ask Matthew to do his chores for him. Matthew will help Adam out, but I've been trying to make sure Adam does his own chores (putting his dishes in the sink, clothes in the dirty clothes, etc.) Matthew can get frustrated and lash out, especially at Adam while playing Mario Bros! 

Both of our boys are so loving, and we give them lots of love in return!

A few months ago, Alan let them play the original Mario Bros. on the old NES system. It has become their favorite thing to do. "Can we play the Mario game? Please? We really want to." So of course they wanted a Mario and Luigi themed birthday party. Matthew loves Mario, and Adam's favorite is Luigi.

We put up stickers in the dining room. The boys were so cute describing the scene to us.

"The shoot (bullet) is going to kill Luigi."

"They need to get the flower so they can boom (with the fireballs) the shoot."

"What happens when Mario jumps on the white bad guy (Boo, the ghost)?"

"Mario's losing his lunch!" (The mushroom is falling into the hole)

"The big green thing (Yoshi) is going to save the day!"

They also got to help put Mario and Luigi stickers up in their room.

 They were so happy to finally be four! This year they had been focused on their birthday for months! (Matthew in blue, Adam in black/yellow.)

 My mom and I made Mario and Luigi cakes that the boys really loved!

I made an obstacle course with pipes, Goombas (made from balloons with paper plate feet) and Bowser (Daddy).

 The  participants got a "Question Mark Box" with goodies inside!

Opening presents. They love their watches from Daddy!

The books were some of their favorite presents! We actually had to pull them away from the books to open the rest of their presents.

The Kiddos! 

Our Family <3 td="">

Happy Birthday boys. We love you so much.

Descaling our Tankless Water Heater

This blog post is completely for me, unless any of you have an interest in descaling tankless water heaters. We have been meaning to do this for a while, but were hesitant to call an expensive plumber since all of the Youtube tutorials rave about how easy it is to do yourself!

I am writing this post so I remember how to do this next year when it's time again.

This is the youtube video we used. He explains it so well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4FaqGod3VU

Supplies:

4 Gallons Vinegar

5 Gallon Bucket

Submersible Pump 

2 Rubber Washer Hoses

Today I went for it, even though Alan and I are not at ALL "handymen". Alan was working from home, which turned out to be great, because even though I did all the research on how to do it, he seemed to know how to troubleshoot all the issues I encountered.

First make sure all water is shut off to the house, by turning all these red switches perpendicular. (They are on in this picture.) I didn't turn these off at first (I didn't hear it mentioned in the video :P), and got shot with cold water right in the stomach while trying to attach the washer hose to the cold water side. Alan mentioned it might be a good idea to turn the water off.

Turn off cold water coming into water heater, hot water going into house and gas. Leave electricity on.

Unscrew hose attachments and open up the valves directly underneath them. Let water from water heater run out. (Should not be very much. Unlike the first time I unscrewed them with the water still on...) Then take out pre filter and clean if dirty. (Our filter was stuck, I had to use a pair of scissors to grab it and get it out. Alan's idea.)

Pour vinegar into bucket and insert submersible pump. Attach rubber washer hose from pump to cold water side. Attach second hose to hot water side, and other side directly into vinegar. At first I couldn't get a seal, and vinegar was spraying across the garage from the cold water hose attachment. Of course I consulted Alan, and he added a second rubber sealer inside to fix it.) Do you see the pattern that Alan figured out all of the issues. Glad he worked from home today. :)

Turn on pump for 90 minutes, then close up everything in reverse (including washing the pre filter out again). And, done! Yay!

Did I mention 3 kids under 4 were all in the garage with me as I was trying to figure this out? I feel like I graduated to a real adult today :P

Gardening

This is the first year I've really been excited about our garden. Alan starts our garden every year, and every year I tell him I don't want one. (Because of the work involved!) This year though, the boys are really old enough to learn and understand the purpose of the garden, and (more importantly) to weed and water it. We make it an activity several times a week, sometimes during Olivia's nap time, and sometimes she crawls around and we have to stop her from picking the green tomatoes.

We have: (in bold are the plants producing the most)

1st Square Foot Garden

• 2 HUGE tomato plants 
• 5 Zucchini plants
• Green Ontions
• 2 small watermelon plants

2nd Square Foot Garden

• Red leaf lettuce
• Green lettuce
• Carrots
• Cucumbers (I think - they grew from the compost and we kept a few)

Containers

• Cilantro
• Strawberries

Other

• Corn
• 2 Peach Trees
• 1 Apple Tree
• 2 Blackberry bushes

The tomato plants are our stars right now. For the past week we have had 1 to 2 tomatoes getting ripe daily, and the boys are loving them:

The Zucchini plants are finally producing some good sized veggies for us! We have picked one big one so far, and cooked it for dinner.

The lettuce we planted later in the season, but it's coming along!

We've gotten around 15 strawberries, and our plants keep growing!

There's 1 to 2 corn on every stalk. I am not very good about knowing when to pick these. I've picked 3 and they have seemed just not quite ripe enough, so I'm letting these hang out longer. They are starting to blow around from the storms we've been having.

These 2 peach trees are pretty new and came with peaches on them. One tree is growing nicely, the other seems to be dying :(

We have been having fun with our gardening hobby. It gives me something to work on while the kiddos play outside. (They play really well when I am out there too, even if I am working on something else.)  Lately I have pruned the apple tree and the tomato plants, and trimmed the zucchini plants so they grow up instead of sideways (taking up less space!) We have had TONS of rain lately, helping out our garden a lot!

What a Difference a Year Makes (Olivia is 1!)

Our sweet, precious, wild Olivia Ruth turned 1 this month. We have been BUSY in the BEST way, and her first year is not as well documented as the boys' first year. Also her first year was so much less stressful for me as a second time parent of a good natured singleton, and so the anxiety that can inspire blog writing was not as much of a factor!

But there is SO much beauty in Olivia's life that needs to be remembered. She is the happiest baby I have ever known. She will smile at you just for looking at her, and if you play any little "peek a boo" or "hide and seek" game, it's over. She will laugh like you are the funniest, most entertaining person ever. She is very social, friendly and smiley. She has been very alert and perceptive from a young age, and she will pay close attention to anyone that is interacting with her. She absolutely LOVES to eat. She is still nursing 3-5 times a day, but I truly think she likes solid food better. She snatches it and shoves it in her tiny mouth with a "grunt."

Enjoying her birthday cupcake.

She is an awesome sleeper. She is sleeping through the night now (it's been off and on since 10 months.) But she has always fallen asleep fast, on her own in her own bassinet/pack and play/crib. So thankful for that! Sleep was the ONE thing I was hoping would be easy, since with the boys it was very stressful. She also sleeps in until around 9am (I didn't know babies did that??!), takes 1 or 2 naps, and is asleep for the night between 7-8:30, depending on nap time/wake time.

Olivia is a very outdoors-y girl and does not mind getting dirty AT ALL. It is common for her to be caked from hair to toe in mud and food when we get her to a bath tub. I'm pretty sure she doesn't realize she's a girl, but thinks she's a 3 year old boy like her brothers. She wants to do everything they do!

Notice the mud!!

 She started standing on her own just before her first birthday, and by her birthday could take about 8 steps in a row. She can turn mid way through and get back up again easily after she falls, but she still prefers crawling. She also walks with her hands straight above her head, like we are still holding on to them, it is adorable!

Photos from her 12 Day and 1 Year Photo Shoots. What a difference a year makes!!

She is "talking"up a storm now. She says a lot of "Da da, ga ga, ma ma," but it's really the vocal inflections and the non vocal communication make her seem so smart to me. She understands (and mostly follows) commands such as, "Stand up and walk to Daddy" and "Hand me that toy."

Adam and Matthew are very affectionate two towards Olivia. They call her "sweet girl,"beautiful, "princess" and tell her she's amazing when they see her walking. They kiss and hug her constantly. They can be slightly overbearing at times (2 almost 4 year olds vs one 1 year old..) It is hard/sad to discipline them for being "violently affectionate." For example, kissing her so roughly that she falls over. To them, they are just showing her love, but Olivia is still on the floor, crying. However, she is warming up to her brothers, and I often hear her laughing at their shenanigans and attention.

34 Weeks Pregnant

Instead of her thumb, she sucks on her ring & middle finger together. It is comforting to her when her teeth hurt, when she's sleepy and as she's falling asleep in her crib. I love when she lays her head down on my chest and sucks on those two fingers. Just melts my heart.

We just love our little Olivia Ruth. I tell Alan all the time I am SO glad we decided to have one more child. She is the perfect addition to our family, and we really feel like our family is complete now. And I enjoyed having the "singleton experience." We love you, Olivia. Happy Birthday!!

Simple things that made me happy today

Things that made me happy today:

1) Family yard work day. Love working with our hands together as a family. We trimmed the bushes,  added red mulch to the front flower beds, mowed the front yard, fertilized the new grass in front, built another square foot garden and planted carrots and two kinds of lettuce in it, added leaves to the big garden area to create a covered "walkway" between the 2 square foot gardens and the other plants and planted two blueberry shrubs. Felt great to be productive. When I am on a real computer I will post pics. I am so happy with our garden this year.
2) Strawberries, tomatoes and zucchini are growing in our garden. Yay!
3) All kids asleep by 6pm. (Apparently yard work wears them out.)
4) Alan had LAN game night with some of his guy friends, so I had alll evening to myself. I watched Avatar while I did laundry and sorted the lost socks that have been accumulating. (Yeah, sad, but I was just excited to have time to myself to do something without talking to anyone ;p) I also finished up my Pilates X workout from this morning, showered, and did other cleaning. Ahhh, quiet time. It has been desperately missing from my life since the boys have mostly stopped taking naps!

Good day :)

Quotes

Conversation between me and Alan I want to keep :)

Alan:      We’re coming up on the 7^th anniversary of eating at IHop in the middle of the night.

Me:        Oh yeah, after the Spring Dance. 

              I was so in love.

Alan:      And your love for me has only grown.

Krystal:  It has only grown. Some parts of it. Some parts are Dead.

Alan:      I like to keep mine pruned.

The fam minus Olivia at a recent costume party.