Such a happy little man!

Eli is getting so big so fast. It's such a cliche, but time really does fly! Eli is a really good baby. Cranky moods do not often take over, but he does get mad at his toys (Chandler did too.)

The poor little man gets dragged all over the place to his sibling's activities. Fortunately he's happy anywhere as long as Mommy is holding him.

A little ollie

Chandler has been taking skateboarding lessons since January and he LOVES it! He goes twice a week. He told me that he wants to go everyday, but wishes it was closer to our house (it's 20 minutes away.)
Chandler is learning lots of tricks (it would all terrify his Nana so it's a good thing she doesn't have to see it!)
On Monday I got some footage of him doing a little ollie. He doesn't fall Mom, so you can watch!

Sweet Madelyn

I just wanted to take some time to talk about my sweet Madelyn. She was the easiest baby of all my kids, and she is such a good girl! Mady loves to hold and play with Eli, and he enjoys it too. Olivia CANNOT wait until Mady gets home from school so she has someone to play with. Chandler and Madelyn have been great playmates since they were tiny, and the same is still true today. They have different interests, but they have always managed to come together and find some common ground.
Madelyn is excelling in kindergarten (we always knew she would). She has lots of friends, gets doted on by her teacher, and does so well on her school work. Mady LOVES to dance and she was also taking gymnastics until she hurt her ankle (she's taking a break while it gets strong again).
Madelyn is now and has always been very easy going (unless she's hungry-then watch out! She starts acting like a normal kid and we don't know what to do!) She is definitely a girly girl. She loves to dress up, put on makeup, play house, and play with Barbies. But, she is NOT afraid to get dirty. Mady is the first one out in the sprinklers or the mud puddles.
She is such a good girl. Unfortunately she doesn't always get the attention she deserves because she just entertains herself. I couldn't ask for a better kid! We love you Madelyn!

Quality Time

One of Chandler's favorite past times is playing video games. (I wonder where he gets it?) Anyway, Miss Olivia always wants to be one of the big kids.
Geez, Chandler, clean your room!

Going on a walk

I've been saying this a lot recently, but the temperature was so nice the other night. To take advantage of that quickly fleeting news, we went on a walk after dinner.

Elijah is such a big boy, so we decided to take the wagon. Olivia, who can't be trusted to walk without running away, rode with him.

Madelyn and Chandler walked, ran, and jumped on things.

Justin walked Durango and Dakota.

I pulled the wagon and monitored EVERYONE'S behavior.


We just went around the block, but that was enough. By the time we were half-way around, Olivia was falling asleep. When we got home, she was completely out! She was put directly from the wagon, to bed.

Everyone, even Justin who hates going on walks, had a good time. We have to do it while we can though. In a few weeks it will be too hot.

Tournament Weekend

Chandler had a soccer tournament this weekend in Phoenix, and we always enjoy them. His first game was at 9:30 on Saturday, and we had to leave the house by 7:45. That's not too much earlier than we usually get out of the house for the day, so we actually didn't have any problems getting anybody out of bed. Grandma Debi had stayed the night at our house and she made the trip with us.




Elijah behaved so well! He did have lots of hands to hold him though. We are the only family with a baby, so he gets lots of attention.












Mady and Libby had tons of fun playing with bubbles that Grandma Debi brought for them (such a good idea, thanks Grandma!) This is a picture of Madelyn, Olivia, and Natalie who's brother is also on the team.

We were home by 2:30 on Saturday and 12:00 on Sunday. That was by far the earliest we had ever made it home from one of these. We didn't know what to do for the rest of the day!

The Spray Park in April

Olivia had been telling me all day, "Mommy I want to go slide down park." That's how she tells you she wants to go to the park. I hear that at least 10 times a day. Sometimes she'll just come up to me, say it, then walk away.

So Thursday after school I took the kids to one of the many spray parks around town. It was around 85 degrees, so certainly not super hot. Chandler, of course, ran right into the water without hesitation. Madelyn followed pretty quickly, but Olivia was much more hesitant. It took her about 5 minutes of watching before she finally ventured away from me to go play in the water. All of the kids ended up having a great time.

Just covering her bases

This morning I put Eli on the floor in Olivia's room where she was playing with some toys, so I could do the laundry. I figured since he can sit up now by himself, he could watch her play for a minute. After switching out the laundry, I walked back to the room and Olivia met me in the hall. She ran up to me and said, "Mommy, Eli fell over and I didn't knock him down!"
Well, I'm glad we got that cleared up!

"Me? Push my brother down? Never!"

April Pools Day

On Saturday Justin and I took the kids swimming. For those of you who don't live in Arizona that may seem a little crazy. Fortunately, the temperature was in the 80s and the pool was heated. The kids LOVE swimming, so they were thrilled to get to go. Madelyn and Chandler jumped right in, but Olivia was a little tentative. She did not want to go anywhere near the giant mushrooms that splashed water everywhere. She did have fun splashing around eventually.

The night before, Eli took his first bath in the big bathtub and he HATED it. I have never heard him scream like that before. Needless to say I was hesitant to put him all the way in the water. I decided to only let his little feet get wet. That worked out well for me too, I really don't like cold water!


All the kids

Just my boys!

Just my girls!

Here is Chandler jumping off of the diving board

It's hard to see, but that is Madelyn sliding down the water slide

Look at my new trick

Eli is now 5 months old, and he can sit up by himself! I cannot believe how big he is getting. This morning he and I sat in his room and played with some toys and read a book. Then Olivia came in and took everything from him :)

Hi Everybody, I'm Eli

As I looked back over the posts I put up today I realized that Eli didn't have much written about him. Eli is the newest member of our family. Poor little guy, he gets dragged to all the events his crazy family attends. He's a pretty good sport about it all. He just doesn't like the car rides. If it weren't for his pacifier, he would scream from the minute he got in the car until the moment it stopped. Other than that little quirk, he's a great baby. He keeps us smiling through all the chaos.

Mady at the Zoo

Today was Madelyn's kindergarten trip to the Phoenix Zoo. I went too with Olivia and Elijah. We go to the zoo all the time because we have a membership, but the kids always enjoy it. The other mom and I only had a group of five kids, so it went pretty smoothly. The weather was really pretty. We left by noon, so it never got above 80 degrees, and there was a cool breeze.
Madelyn really liked seeing the little monkeys and Olivia liked to watch the otters swim. I think Mady's favorite part of the whole trip was getting to ride the bus. We live too close to the kid's school, so we take them everyday, so getting to ride a bus is a special treat. I always wished my parents would take me to school so I didn't have to ride the bus!

Olivia has never enjoyed sitting in a stroller, and being at the zoo only enhances her desire to be independent. She loved walking with the "big girls".

Skateboarding Demo!

Chandler had his first skateboarding demo on Saturday, April 12 at Desert Devils. He did such an awesome job. I can't believe how brave he is.

Chandler got another trophy for the shelf in his room. He was nervous to skate in front of so many people, but you couldn't tell. He pulled off tricks that were as good or even better than everyone else there.


We had our cousin (second cousin?) Mason with us. Olivia and Mason had a great time jumping on all the mats while we were waiting for the demo to begin.

Here is a shot of Chandler grinding on a rail.

It looks like he's just standing there, but he actually started at a ramp on the other side of the room, went up and down the rail, and up a ramp on the other side. I TRYING to learn the lingo, but it all makes me feel very old and un-cool.

My Girls

The weather has been AMAZING recently! In the evenings, the temperature is perfect. It's going to be unbearable soon, but I'd rather not think about that.
Anyway, Chandler has been having baseball games in the evening, and it's great sports watching weather.
Madelyn and Olivia play so well together. Olivia gets so excited when three o'clock rolls around and the kids get home from school. Madelyn plays with her until bed time. They are 4 years apart, but Madelyn loves having someone smaller so she can be the boss.

My Boys

I just had to post a picture of the boys. Chandler doesn't come up to me and ask to hold Eli, like Mady does. Sometimes I just have to set the baby down and say, "Chandler, please watch your brother for a minute." It's too bad they're 8 years apart. It will be awhile before they REALLY enjoy each other's company.

Opening Day

Chandler is playing baseball this year (we made him.) He thinks it's boring. Compared to soccer, it is pretty slow. He said he does like hitting and pitching. Too bad that's only a fraction of the game, and the rest is just waiting around.
It's too bad he doesn't really like it, because he's really good! It's kid pitch, and he is one of the only kids on the team who can hit the ball that a kid pitcher throws.

When I took the picture I was wondering what Chandler was thinking. Probably, "Dad, I know you know nothing about baseball."

Our First Post!

I am just going to jump right in and get started talking about what has been going on in our lives. I will only be able to go as far back as Easter, because that is when I got a new laptop. All of our other pictures are saved on Justin's computer. Because he is a touch possessive with it, I may not be able to access those pictures yet.
So here goes...
On Easter the kids got up early to see what the Easter bunny left for them. I'm not convinced that Chandler (turned 8 in January) really believes in the Easter bunny, but as long as there's candy involved, he'll go along for the ride. The kids followed the jelly bean trail from their bedrooms into the living room and found their baskets. They were full of candy and toys.
Next we went to breakfast at IHOP (certainly not our first choice, but the wait was more reasonable than at our first two choices). The kids behaved during breakfast, and about 2/3rds through the meal, a woman at the table behind us came over as she and her party were leaving. She leaned over my shoulder and said, "I just want to say your children are SO well behaved! They could not have been any better! I have five children so I know how it can be." Justin and I just looked at each other, we were speechless. Somehow I managed to thank her, and wish her a Happy Easter. We finished our meal, and when Justin requested the check, our waiter told us that it had already been paid. It was a great way to start the day!
For our Easter meal we went over to our friends' Jeff and Ginette's house. They have an enormous backyard, so we decided to have our Easter egg hunt there. Olivia LOVED hunting for eggs, and got angry if someone took one that she saw (even if she was across the yard.)