Big boy beds make me cry...

At a little over 19 months, Luke started climbing out of his crib.  We tried a few different ideas that didn't work: the pack-n-play and even putting his mattress on the floor but still surrounded by his crib.  He could get out of both without a problem.  I thought for sure that the crib on the floor would work because as you can see in the picture below, his head is a few good inches below the top....not for this tiny monkey!!!!!  I was really skeptical of the freedom that a big boy bed brings and we tried for a few days of keeping him in his crib.  He got out a few times at the beginning of nap/bedtime, but over all he truly impressed me with staying put when I told him to.  The first day I had to put him back 3 times, and then only once the 2nd day and now not at all.  BUT he was still climbing out of his crib when he woke up in the morning or from his nap and I knew that it wasn't safe even with as skillful as he is! :)  SO, we went for it!!!!  Kai was my assistant and we had a good cry together! :)  AND HE STAYS...I really don't believe it!  He loves his bed and rarely objects to sleeptime!  We still keep a baby gate at his door when he's asleep because when he wakes at the crack of dawn, he wanders out...he woke Hailey up one morning at 5:30!!!  Grrrr!!!!  Kai was the one that thought of putting a baby gate at his door (smart girl!!)...I had just been closing the gate at the stairs at night.  If the big boy bed became a hassle and he wasn't staying put, my last resort option was to put him in a sleepsack so he couldn't hike his leg up!!!  Poor baby...thankfully, we didn't have to do that!  :)   

I went in to check on him one time and found him snuggling his Daddy doll!!!  I actually find him like this often...he loves his Daddy!!!!!

 The videos of him climbing out....first with the crib at it's lowest setting and then on the floor! 

And since I haven't done a post on just Luke lately, I'll add a bit of what he's been up to!  He isn't talking a ton but the words and sentences are definitely starting to come...he says all of the family member names, many animals sounds, he sings the 'clean up' song, and he's a big tattler :)  His famous line is "Hailey/Kailee did that!!!!" when one of the girls have bugged him somehow (messed up his hair, poked his belly).  It's too funny and really hard to keep a straight face!  And he's the absolute cleanest kid I've ever known!!!!  He cleans up his spills, he cleans up his toys when he's finished playing WITHOUT BEING TOLD, and he's beyond observant about where things go and where things are throughout the house.  He's definitely his father's son!!!!!  He "uh-oh"s me all day long when something isn't 'right' in the house! :)     

 

A walk and a snack with Leila...

He made himself a bowl of cereal one day...

 He's an amazing vacuum assistant and it only takes me twice as long to clean the floors! :)

He's still not the greatest eater, but occasionally he'll surprise me and be willing and ready for food!

'Gymnastics' with the sissys

The little man is up between 5:30-6 each day...groan!!!!  It's 50/50 as to whether or not he's grumpy from getting up so early!  I don't mind getting up that early if he'll let me get my morning chores done...get dressed, unload the dishwasher, pack Hailey's lunch...otherwise it's not a good start to my day! But how can this little face not put you in a good mood to start your day!?!

He's really really into the copy-cat stage and he'll definitely go along with whatever game the girls are playing...he's playing Hide and Seek here from Hailey (of course this is the exact spot that she had just hidden in!) 

 And some snippet fun!!! 

And I'm not sure if I ever uploaded these videos of Kai and Luke...

Random catch ups...

These pictures aren't even in order, but here's just a purge of my iPhone pics! 

This video is old, but I don't think I ever posted it....so cute! 

I took the girls ice skating again this year.  Luke and Leevi stayed home because there was no point in dragging Luke along.  They had fun and even tempted a few times without the penguin.

Some ice skating clips...

 

We taught the girls to play Mexican Train Dominos over the break...they really picked up on it quickly and can now play their own hand.  BUT we can only have this "family" game time when the monster is asleep! :)

Kai picked out her own New Years outfit!  The Greens came over for dinner, but left early to get the boys in bed.  The girls made it to midnight, but we all crashed immediately afterwards!

Sparklers...

We went to Yabadoo (indoor bounce house) twice in one week for two birthday parties.  The kids had a blast and Luke is old enough to definitely enjoy it. 

That's Luke climbing up the ladder to go down the big slide all by himself...such a big boy!!! 

They built a new roller coaster that is pretty fun!

Hailey and her friend, Victoria, from 1st grade

 Yabadoo video...

iPhone fun...

Coloring kits from Aunt Naomi and Uncle James

Movie night!

Dawna and I took the girls to see the play Cinderella...we had great front and center seats and the performance was really cute. 

In addition to the Boy at Play sign, our other Pinterest craft this break was a growth chart.  I can take credit for the majority of this one although Leevi did buy and cut the wood for me!  Other than waiting a day for the stain to dry, it was a pretty quick project...definitely easy.  This was the tutorial I followed to for how to get the numbers on the board.  I was surprised at how well it worked (you can see the before in the left picture) and I plan on using that method again for some other signs for the house.  You can see in the picture on the right that Luke was 'helping' me!  I finally had to shoo him inside when I started adding the lines to make sure I did the math correctly (it's measured for hanging 6 inches off the ground).  There are two board because I made one for the Greens also.  Considering this is the 5th house that Hailey has lived in, I wanted something we can take with us!  I'm going to looked up a few old heights in the girls' baby books and add them to the chart (birth, age 2 and age 5) 

My tiny assistant and a close up of the girls' heights...I thought it'd be neat to let them write their own names to see how their handwriting changes over the years! 

Heading to pick Hailey up from school with his new Christmas present.

We were babysitting Eli one day while the big kids were at school and on our scooter ride/walk we saw the firetruck.  One of the firemen asked if Kai and Eli wanted to see the inside!  Too cool!

My parents mailed Kailee a personalized doctor kit for her bday but it didn't get here until 2 months later!!!  It's pretty awesome though!!!!!!!!! 

This kid has always been able to sleep just about anywhere...on the left she made herself a bed out of a box that came in the mail.  She told me that she was going to take a nap and I never thought that she'd really fall asleep!!!!  Although it was after soccer practice that morning and Sebastian really has them doing quite a bit of cardio during the training!!!  And the pictures on the right are how I found her one night when I went to bed.  She had asked to pull this baby tent down from the attic for her dolls. 

 

Christmas 2013

We had a perfect Christmas with kids sleeping in, fun presents, the Greens over for dinner, and Facetime/Skyping with family.  We brought down Luke's train table that we have had in the attic for almost a year now that we practically stole from the Matthews.  The girls enjoy playing with it as much as Luke does.   

 Waiting patiently to go downstairs!!! 

I found a yummy casserole that will probably become a Christmas tradition breakfast...I prepped the eggs, ham and milk the night before so I only had to layer everything together (shredded hash browns, eggs, ham and cheese...too easy...and then it baked for an hour while we opened presents.  Last year I tried a yummy French toast casserole and it was just too sweet; much more like a dessert and not a slightly wholesome breakfast! :)  The link for the recipe

Present fun!!!! 

Kai opening her present from Hailey that she shopped for at the Secret Santa store at school!

Hailey opening her Ariel bed tent that she has seriously waited for for a year and a half!  I couldn't find a place to ship it here and finally did sometime in the fall! 

Checking out the tent!!!!  Ironically, she never sleeps in her bed and only sleeps in the tent on the ground with Leila or in bed with Kailee!  I think the girls have slept up there twice! 

More present fun...

My favorite present this year!  I, of course, found this idea on Pinterest and asked my parents for help in gathering the hardware and I'm glad I did because they had 75% of it in their garage...some of the items are from my great uncle's and grandparent's houses...too cool to have some history on the board!  We even have a new combination lock where my grandfather wrote the combo on the back of the package...we were able to incorporate his handwriting onto the board...LOVE!  It's a huge hit and definitely a forever toy!

The girls helped me rearrange Luke's room to accommodate the train table...and we also removed a good chunk of the tracks and extras and just made a basic loop for the trains until Luke gets older!  It's still awesome and has 4 noise sensors that sound as the trains pass.

 

Totally the old man from UP! :)

Leevi testing out his new Cowboys snuggie!!! 

We snapped a quick picture before the Greens came over for Christmas dinner (and then I didn't pick my camera up anymore!!!!)  The girls love their fashion glasses from Santa and they also had been asking for jean jackets...so fun!!!  Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!

Christmas morning fun...