Monday, December 16, 2013

My sweet cute babies!

 Lainey is such a happy big sister
 Playdate with our neighbor M 
M is in Lainey's pre-k class and the girls play so well together
they tend to spend 1-2 afternoons a week together as well.
M is going to be in daycare during the afternoon soon.
We will miss her!

 Oh how I love this sweet baby!

 Kyle does not lack for attention!
Sweet big kids were outside watching for 
a plane carrying buddies Madison, James, and Tyler

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Week in Review

What happened in the Chen house this week?

1)Kyle wore clothes instead of PJs a couple of days.  Ha!  He's so cute!


2)  We put the Christmas tree and decorations up!


3) Same tree, fell down at 6 AM on my workday after Victor had already left.  "All by itself," said 3 innocent children.  Haha!





4) Carson discovered the camera on my phone and took a LOT of photos, including one of me getting ready for the day, not yet dressed.  (Glad this was not on a role of film as I was unaware of the photo at the time it was being taken!)  Also includes the photos below...
5) Carson's been caught!

So much for being afraid of the potty chair.
After being bribed by one LARGE cookie he happily sat on his chair.
He's done so 3-4 times a day with a smile on his face (and my phone in his hand) ever since.
Not very successful endavours BUT I now at least have him sitting there.
Maybe by 3?!

"I not tired!"
That's Carson's favorite punch line.
I've shortened his naps significantly this past month(60-90 minutes only)
 and basically just told him who's boss.
The past three nights he's slept from 7:15 to 6:00
(instead of 8:30 to 6:00).  Let's hope that trend continues.

6)Kyle sleeps.  Kyle is such an amazing sleeper (compared to the trio).  He basically sleeps for 12 hours each night, usually just getting up once (sometimes twice).  Fantastic and amazing!
7) Erik and Lainey discovered the rainbow loom.  They love it, although assistance is still required at this point.  Lots of little rubber bands around my house.
8)  The kids were home for 1.5 days due to a forecast calling for up to 1 inch of snow.  (Eyeroll)  We did get about 10 minutes of flurries after 4 days of solid rain.  Being cooped indoors for 4.5 days of rain made me question how much I would enjoy being home and possibly indoors with all 4 kids during the 12 days of Christmas break. Figuring that might be less fun than being indoors in WI with grandparents and friends we decided, last minute, to book a trip home for a couple of days.  Wish us luck as traveling with 4 small kids is going to be quite an adventure (likely sleepless).  It most certainly won't be boring. Ha!  (It is forecast to be 60 for two days this week so no more snow days out here.  Yay!)
This photo was taken on one of the said snow days. (Lainey fell asleep!)


9)  This weekend was busy with holiday, birthday, and going away parties.  Our best buddies and neighbors are officially gone now.  Sad!  Victor was out of commission for 48 hours because he had a minor procedure (he's fine Grandma Chen - no worries).  I believe he slept for about 24 hours and basically lived in the basement for 2 days.  I just pretended like he wasn't home (so I didn't get annoyed) and went about the weekend like I do when he is gone for reserve duty.  I did a good job apparently because this morning around 9 AM Erik wanted me to help him with his rainbow loom.  I suggested he ask Victor for help (he is much more patient with craft-type projects).  Erik looked at me like I was dumb and said, " But Mom, Dad is on a work trip, remember?!"  Haha! 

 10)  My poor brother is back in the hospital fighting an infection again.  The last 2-3 months have been quite discouraging for them.  As Daron said, he's gone from bad to worse to "worser."  Please pray for him!

I hope you had a good week!


Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Snow Day?!

My kids have been home from school for the past 1.5 days.  Why?  No they are not sick.  No, we don't have bad weather.   In fact, it was 45 and sunny this afternoon.  Why were they home?  Well, you see there was a possibility of getting 1-2 inches of snow sometime today which shuts down everything 24 hours beforehand.  Of course, if we happen to get the predicted 1 inch of snow (we didn't) school would be closed the following day as well.   It's our 7th winter out in the DC area and I still can't decide if their snow phobia is funny or annoying.  (We did have on VERY snowy winter - 65 inches which caused the entire city to shut down for THREE weeks!  Every other winter has topped out at 4-5 inches over the course of the entire season.)

Here is a very funny post about snow phobia in DC...

http://www.buzzfeed.com/danoshinsky/washington-dc-is-the-worst-during-a-snowstorm