pie baby

Dustin's birthday is coming up, and after I went to the grocery, he changed. his. mind. about what birthday delight he wanted this week (I think he was really just angling for 2 pies rather than 1).  So last night we used up some apples

 and tossed in some raspberries.

 It was Baby A's first foray into pie.  He was a fan!  This was his 'No, Daddy!  Don't take my pie!' face.

 He was very sad.

But no worries!  I gave him some for lunch today.  Happiness reigns.

lilac queen

She started as a princess

 But then she got a full-fledged crown...and queen just sounded better

two girls sleeping

She still naps.  It works out.  This summer might be her big break to quiet time, but whatever...why push it when naps make her happy?  Naps make me happy.

We took an excellent video of telling the kids, but it's too large for blogger and we don't have a video editing program.  Baby4 will be of the pink sort and S&P are excited about a baby sister!  Hopefully naps make her happy too.

kite festival

 We visited the Arvada Kite Festival last weekend (same place as last year).  It was fun!  Even more fun than 2011: less sun, more clouds = happier Dustin.

How could you not love seeing a sign like this?!  We still think we should invest in a shave ice machine.  If our kitchen were to have one frivolity. . .

Let's see.  S built a glider.

P joined in the drum circle.

And Baby A was all over the place, with a fist full of kettle corn the whole time.

 

He loved the kites.  Look, Daddy, look!

kitchen sink

So the little man had quite the sad tush.  We tried normal methods (Desitin, Vaseline, powder).  We tried abnormal methods (browned flour).  The browned flour nearly did the trick, but not quite.  So after weeks and weeks of sadness, I looked up some 'natural' diaper rash methods.  And here we are.  Baking soda baths in the smallest tub I could find (who wants to use a giant bathtub when you're doing this 4x a day?).  Cornstarch works too but cloudy bathtubs bother me.  I'm also discovering the many uses for tea tree essential oil (boy, does it smell good!).

Baby A really likes baths in the sink.  Dustin thinks it's because he gets to be up on our level.  I think it's because he gets to be in water without his rowdy siblings.  Either way, the tush is cleared up, A is happy, and we are happy.

 And afterwards I let him pull my stretchy drawstrings.  This makes him crazy happy.

spring

Trees are leafing.

All the apple trees are lovely.  We had a windy day yesterday and the peeps were convinced it was snowing in the front yard with all the petals flying around from our neighbor's tree.

These have been out for a few weeks.  Wild rose, or so I hear.

Interesting to have a close look at unfurling, yes?

The hydrangeas are getting an early start.

As are the lilacs.

And, of course, there are many of these in the backyard.  S&P think I love nothing more than a bowl full of beautiful dandelions, hand picked by them with love.

Spring here is usually lots of crazy weather, but this year it has been super beautiful, really tame.  I don't miss the snow, but when our grass all dies in June I think we'll wish we'd gotten more!  I've been getting ready for this 1/2 marathon; it happens on Sunday.  My training schedule looks like this - the yellow = all days I completed.  I'm feeling good, not looking for any sort of personal record, and think it will be a fun morning.  If nothing else I'm certain the new tech shirt will come in handy!

Ironically, after 3 weeks of weather in the 60s-70s, the forcast high is 45 and it's supposed to snow.  Oh, fickle Colorado.

hoodies

If you've been to our house, you might have noticed that we have 1 bathroom.  Now, this isn't really a problem.  Sure, it might be nice to have 2, but we're good to go for this point in our lives.  The real problem is that we don't have enough wall space for all the towel bars we need.  So I got a bunch of hooks and wheedled for Dustin to cut us a board.  When we had towel bars, S&P's were on the lower bars and even though they knew where their towel was, all of our towels often ended in a heap on the floor each night, everyone's wet even though only 2 rather small people had taken showers.  

I've decided to try out hooded towels for the peeps.  I got some ribbon to dither over, but they opened it all and turned the living room into a May Pole, so stripes it is!  They were very easy to make, and pretty darn inexpensive.  And hopefully, they can keep their colors straight.  Hopefully.

Guess I need to find one more color for New Baby.  Yellow!  Purple!  Orange!

cobbler gobblers

While we were waiting for this

 To turn into this

We admired these and talked about how flowers grow.

 Then they gobbled

 and gobbled

 and gobbled.

And this is from the park.  Cousin J is walking by.  That tricycle can turn some mean circles.