K's photo shoot- almost 4 years old!

Always practicing her dance moves!

Being silly

What we have been working on....

Mike packed up his entire workshop ( which is no small feat considering how many tools he owns). We packed the entire second floor minus the kids beds, enough clothes for the next few weeks and a few books they like to read before bed. And we tackled the shed.... We are about 75% packed at this point. The kitchen can't really been done until we get closer to move in day. We have 26 days till we move.... or 3 weekends. Its probably a good idea to move every few years. When you are forced to put everything you own in a cardboard box it makes you think twice about keeping stuff.

And its offically spring! Mike mowed the lawn for the first time this year. Love all the green everywhere and the fact that the kids are living in the backyard all day long. They are tired out at bedtime and taking longer naps! :o)

And this is why the laundry never ends...

This is Keira after a morning of playing in our backyard. She was making " ice cream" out of mud, sand, water, and bubbles. By noon she was on her second outfit and Israel his third and they had both already had bath number 1 of the day. ( since they both take naps I wont let them get in bed all sandy and dirty so they usually get 2 rinse offs a day in the spring/ summer. My kids like to get dirty thats for sure!!

Bruiser

It actually looked alot worse a few days ago. The swelling has gone down. Israel slipped walking down the stairs in his footed pj's.. while I was holding his hand. I was half asleep and he insisted on walking down himself and he slipped on the wood stair and hit his eye/cheek. Poor kid. He is always covered in scraps and bruises. The weather has warmed up and for 2 days now the kids have been wearing shorts and tee shirts and already he has 2 scraped knees and 2 scraped elbows.

Nairi 3 1/2 weeks old

Nairi is 3.5 weeks old now! That is pretty crazy and time is flying. She is growing fast. She is staying awake for extended periods of time. But she definitely likes to be near mama and is barracuda for nursing.

She has a super strong neck and back and likes to hold herself up.

Her brother and sister are used to her, but we parents need to always be on the look out because children don't know how to express themselves :)

Surprise! That last picture is actually of Keira when she was a baby.

Some pics from the past week.

I'm not good at blogging one handed so the blog is suffering some neglect these days. Life with 3 young kids is insanely busy ( for now while Nairi is so young at least). Mike is holding the snoozing Nairi so I have a few min to catch up. Keira seems to love her sister and hasn't shown any jealousy yet which we are thankful for. Israel has warmed up to her as well and anytime she crys he says " Utt ohhh! Blanket Blanket!" And goes and gets any blanket of hers and throws it on her face.....

Play dough never seems to get old... especially when you get to use butter knives while playing with it.

Ooops. Wrong kid in the swing!

Anytime we tell Israel he is naughty he goes and stands in the time out spot.

snuggling with daddy.

Easter 2011

Sad excuse for a lamb cake.....

Keira looks so grown up! Almost 4 years old!

Cinnamon rolls. An Easter tradition! We had Mikes family over for brunch and had homemade cinn rolls, egg/ ham/ hashbrown cassarole and fruit. It was delicious! And despite a rainy forecast it was gloriously sunny and warm and we were able to eat on the deck!

Nairi - 3 weeks old!

The bruiser.....

Enjoying his new book!

The Easter bunny shopped over the internet this year and bought some all natural / organic / dye free cotton candy, gummy bears, and fruit twists. Keira got some new shoes and books and Israel got books and bubbles.

And so the craziness begins...

Mike has gone back to work and I'm still trying to find my groove with 3 kids. The biggest challenge is that technically Israel and Nairi are both still babies and both nursing and I feel like I always having someone asking to nurse which doesn't allow me to get a whole lot done other than sit on the couch and well... nurse.
Nairi is doing well though and sleeps alot during the day and fusses a bit more at night. All in all though so far she is a pretty content baby and surprise of all surprises she barely spits up. After having 2 kids that spit up 3+ times after every feeding its so NICE to not to have to worry about all the spit up getting everywhere!!!! :o)
In between all the recovering from childbirth and resting up we have been busy with housing details. Signing this paper and that paper and dropping them off at the Realtor's office. Gathering this and that for the mortgage company. Gathering boxes, tape, bubble wrap and other various moving supplies. Thankfully we were able to get most of this stuff done while Mike was home last week so that I didn't have to run all these errands with 3 kids in tow. We also decided that we better get a move on packing since its pretty much impossible to get anything done during the day with the kids. We have been packing an hour or so a night after they go to bed and now have packed up probably 50% of the house already.
We have hired a moving company to do the actual move of stuff and they are booked for May 27th! Since we are moving within the same city they will load the truck, drive the 15-20ish min to our new house and unload all in the same day.
The last glitch in the whole buying and selling process is the appraisal on the house we are selling. It is happening today and we are hoping that the house appraises for the selling price or higher. so the whole deal can go through!!
As far as the new house, we are getting the carpets cleaned and the air ducts cleaned and moving in. The slow process of replacing carpeting with hardwood and removing wallpaper and updating the kitchen and bathrooms will happen as funds allow over the next 10+ years. First things first we are fencing in the backyard. Israel is an active boy and I can't be outside with the kids all day with the baby so we are fencing in the backyard so Keira and Israel can safely play outside without me running to get Israel from the street. Second project is the get the insanely over grown bushes in the front of the house cut down and third project is to get the massive swing set we bought last year put together in the backyard so the kids can start playing on it!

Some Videos

I took these videos over the past week and a half while I was home with the family after the birth of Nairi.

Nair's growth

Birth- 7 lbs 10 oz 10 days old- 8 lbs 1 oz

Israel hits the 20 lb mark! :o)

Birth- 7 lbs 9 oz (19.5 inches) 12 days - 8 lbs 3 oz 6 weeks- 10 lbs 5 oz 2 months- 11 lbs 4 months 13 lbs 9 oz 5 months 13 lbs 14 oz 5 months + 3 weeks- 14 lbs 11 oz 6 months + 6 days 15 lbs 2 oz (26 inches) 12 months- 17 lbs 8 oz ( 28 inches)That's 1 % for weight, 5% for height and 69% for head. 18 months- 20 lbs 1 0z As far as I can tell he isn't even on the growth chart... Although Keira was also around 20 lbs at 18 months.

Nairi and Eli Hippert

They are 3 days apart ( Nairi was born first). Eli has about 2.5 inches and almost 2 lbs on Nairi though.

Nairi's first dress

Thin Mint deliciousness