Listening Hearts

Ethan: "Mom...why can't I hear Jesus?"
Me: "You can...you just have to listen with your heart."
*Extended silence
Ethan: "Nope...still can't hear him...".

Cross-dresser

Do you know who this is? According to Ethan, it's Lightening THE Queen. Mike said that he dresses like a Ford, but is actually a Honda.

Growling for Bread

At the dinner table tonight, Ethan ate up his bread but left his veggies and chicken untouched. He had to eat some of each to get some more garlic bread...
After much deliberation on the subject, he finally said exasperatedly "But Dad...my tummy is growling for bread!"

Mourning the loss

Looking over the comparative pictures of Danissa (a few blogs below this one) has gotten me thinking about Danissa's long hair. I miss that baby look and I guess I didn't realize how much it would age her,... letting her decide to get a hair cut. Take the below pictures for example...they were taken only 1 week apart. *sigh* My little girl...I want to give her hair extensions and cut her bangs back into existence....

Paperless

Chezney got ahold of a pen and since she didn't have any paper...
I'm just glad he still has two eyeballs....

Insomnia-Screamtosis

Chezney doesn't sleep anymore. Nap time, she might sleep 20 minutes or so, and then screams...if I hold her, she'll sleep maybe another hour and a half but I can't put her down or she wakes up and screams. Which...doesn't work at daycare, so she only gets about a 20 minute nap.
At bedtime, she's exhausted,...she sleeps about 2 hours and then the screaming begins, again. She might sleep in 20-30 minute intervals and then has to be held, rocked, etc. to go back to sleep.
Last night I let her just cry and cry...which then made Cohen cry and cry...which then made Ethan get in our bed to escape the screaming.
Only Danissa had a decent night.
Mike let me sleep in this morning and Chezney was so exhausted that she ended up "sleeping in" in my bed, which is the only place she DOES sleep anymore....grrr!

You Smell What?

As we were driving to daycare this morning, we came across one of those smelly spots this city randomly has. Normally it might be rotting apples or a sewer plant...this time...I have no idea. It smelled like musty dirt. Very earthy....
Right about the time I noticed the smell, Danissa shouts from the back seat:
"MOM! I smell ladybugs!"
"You smell what?"
"Ladybugs!"
"So...you've actually smelled a ladybug before...?"
"Ya! Mom...why would it smell like ladybugs?"
No reply.

Reading my blogs

Just an FYI...if you have the feature on the right side of your blog that shows you who has posted recent blogs and what the title is...
-if you click on the persons name, you will go to their blog site
-if you click on the name of the new blog, you will only see THAT blog and might miss others that could have been posted that day...

Nason Creek

These two pictures were taken in the same location only 2 years apart...one was in '06 and the other in '08. The earlier one was actually taken only days after we found out we were expecting the twins...before we knew we were expecting twins...

Flashback

Around the age of three, Danissa started being responsible for picking up her toys that she got out of the playroom. She knew that if she didn't respect her toys and take care of them appropriately, then I would come in with a garbage bag and throw them away. One especially messy day, Danissa went in to clean the playroom- as requested- and then came out just a few minutes later. She looked at me very skeptically and said "Mom....I think this time, you better just get the garbage bag..." and walked off to NOT clean up the playroom...

Rooster Tales

People are always commenting about how they love reading my blog and how our home seems to be very fun and active, which is very true and I love the comments. However, in the back of my mind I'm thinking...well...it couldn't get much stranger...*LOL*

Today marks the second time that some type of fowl has wandered into our yard. The first was a lonely quail that we mistook for a baby hawk until it laid an egg in it's makeshift home. Today...it was a rooster. I allowed the kids to give it a little exercise while they chased it around, and then it was entertaining to watch them trying to get it on it's way home. Oh, the excitement!
I think Ethans hat was rather fitting, don't you? (if you can't tell...it has a rooster comb all along the top!)

This Is What Happens....

when we try to do arts-and-crafts at our house....unless I sit there every second. Ethan got the brilliant idea to take off the glue cap and then Cohen decided this was a finger painting opportunity.

W-o-o ... h-o-o ...

at least it was on the paper...

for the most part...

Dad's Shirt

You'll have to excuse the evening lighting in our house...black and white with the max ISO is the best I can do in here...but I just had to take this picture...Danissa- proudly swallowed up in her daddy's work shirt.

Comfy Sunday

We're having one of those Sundays.....the kids and I are in pajamas till tomorrow morning....we've watched three movies and read books in the tents set up in the living room...had oatmeal for lunch *LOL* and somewhat reluctantly- we are watching the snow fall. Pretty, peaceful...but obnoxious.

Great Sunday though!

The Childrens Museum

We headed over to Seattle yesterday to see The Childrens Museum. The website made it look very hands on and like something that would be educational and fun for all four kids. I have to say that we had a great time, after getting over the initial disappointment that it wasn't exactly what I had thought. It was more "make believe" type exhibits than actually scientific educational exhibits. SOME of them were very educational (like the one explaining how all the pumbing in your house works), but I was also disappointed that we were so busy keeping the twins in one place that we never really were able to explain the way the plumbing display worked or other things that could have been very educational- had we the time to explain them.
What I did like...the twins were able to be stroller free which is very rare for us. It was VERY child friendly...despite the crowd. There was an exhibit that was ONLY for the smaller ones that was all toddler friendly and there was only one exit so there wasn't much supervision required. It was also fun to see the twins pushing buttons and watch their eyes light up when they realized that when you push a button, something neat will happen....something might light up, or water will shoot out of something, etc. They weren't learning they "whys" of it, but the understanding of pushing the button and getting an effect was fascinating for them.
The older kids got a chance to paint, which doesn't happen in our house anymore, so that was fun, too. They got to play on a pretend stage set with backdrops they could change, lighting they could adjust, and dress up clothes. There was a city trolley (miniature) that they could sit on and pretend to pay tolls, and lots of mini-homes that showed how other cultures homes might look.
All in all, it was a fun trip! I think next time we go, we'll hit the real Museum and maybe learn a little bit more...
*FYI...I left my battery in the charger at home, so we don't have one picture to show for the entire trip...*sniff*

"I Have the Same Problem..."

My nephew came to stay the night tonight. As the kids were going to bed, Danissa in her tent and Ethan and Brandon in the other, I was teasing Brandon and told him that Ethan was going to pee on him in the middle of the night. Brandon looks at me and says "No...I'm going to pee on him!", and then continues, completely serious, "That's okay...I have the same problem..."
They are so funny!

Baby Proofing...With Toddlers

I have finally broken down and bought all new covers for my door handles, outlet covers, faceplate's for the outlets that lost them during painting, and these neat foam things that go on the door jam to keep the doors I want to keep open- from closing. We have had WAY too many pinched fingers lately, or a toddler stuck downstairs with a door shut, or playing in the bathroom sink, or climbing in the older kids closet and UNhanging ALL of the hung up clothes...
Now if I can just get Cohen to stop falling down the stairs, we would be set!

S.P.O.R.T.

I took the kids to S.P.O.R.T. Gymnastics today. It's the first time we've been to gymnastics since I was SUPER HUGE prego with the twins. Let me just say that I think all three (Danissa was at school) did sooo well and I had a lot of fun taking turns playing individually with all of them.
Chezney was jumping on the trampoline as high as her little legs could carry her and she was making her mom a little nervous.
Ethan found a rope swing and pretended to be Tarzan pretty much the whole time, but took a few time outs to go bounce on the tramp with his little sister.
Cohen had a really hard time at first. I think it was just a lot to process and the different types of floor styles (bouncy, fluffy, hard,...all different types of padding plus trampolines and blow up things) were difficult for him and he eventually was just happy being carried and not having to deal with the instability....but after about 20 minutes, he warmed up and decided to venture down from his perch and started participating bit by bit. The poor kid fell so many times and just skidded on the side of his face every time, but he kept getting up and got more excited as the day when on. By the time we left he was stumbling as fast as he could down the runway trampoline and said "no" when I told him it was time to go. I think this will become a weekly routine for us!

Peek-A-Boo Dryer Style

I wish I had the cord to put my videos from my camcorder onto the computer...this would soooo be worth it! However, I'll have to give you the play-by-play picture style instead. I apologize for the amount of pictures and the poor color (it took A LOT of editing just to make them not golden yellow....but the lighting was horrible!) Anyway, I stumbled across them doing this...so funny, I just HAD to take pics (and tape record!)
What are you doing Chez?.....
Oh!!!! That's what your doing!!!!

(And for those of you that will freak out about this.....the dryer door is broken...the only way it stays shut is for me to prop something heavy against it while it runs....so no babies were harmed in the filming (or picture taking) of this event...)

Baby Book Worms

It's a rare day in our home when you can't find all of our kids reading a book (or looking at the pictures...) at some point in the day. It's one of my favorite moments in a day...noticing the quiet stillness settling in our home and realizing that all four of my kids have just hunkered down with a book and are temporarily content right where they are.

Bathtime Bubbles

Chezney has recently learned that washing Cohens hair is one of her favorite things to do...

Picture Saturday

Vroom Vacuum

Since I have been out of the Internet loop for awhile, I'd like to take a moment to catch up on the happenings around the Farr household, which may take....a bit longer than a moment.
First, lets start with what happens when Ethan gets a chance to vacuum. I tell ya....it was so much fun spending my day searching for the right tools just to be able to dissect my vacuum and find this....

Ordering Sea Turtles

I still don't have my computer back but had to sneak on to post this cute thing that Ethan did last night.
We receive the Childrens National Geographic Magazine. The kids LOVE getting magazines and they will sit for hours when they get a new one. Last night, Ethan was looking through it and he must have gotten it confused with a Catalog because he suddenly looked really excited and looked up at me and said "Wow! I'm going to order this sea turtle!".