a post for archer

My goodness, we love this little boy!

So curious about everything now. He watches his brothers so closely.

It has been a while since we updated his progress.

Age 5 months 1 week
Weight 16 lbs 12 oz
Length 27 inches
Head girth 17 inches
Rolling over back to front all the time since 3 months
Rolling over front to back off and on since 5 weeks

Full time sitter since 5 months
Pushes up off chest 4.5 months
First biter biscuit 4.5 months
First cereal 5 months
No teeth
Sleeps through the night if you count only waking up when I accidentally wake him. Which happens three times a night or more depending on everything that happens at our house.
Still only laughs for Ronan, Odin and sometimes Daddy.
Wakes up happy in the morning, but please don't interrupt his nap-time.

At the lake for Mark's birthday, Archer caught something too.

Welcoming Uncle Joel home from New Zealand Auckland Mission

Learning to sit. That is biscuit on his face.

Like, I fell over on purpose, Mom. I love the fingers, so does he. Digits all the time!

more than any of our other boys ever did

Keeps him very busy. He has trouble when he tries to take them off and they don't go anywhere. Kinda gets him squackin'.

fabulous spring days

ah yes, edible playdoh


i often walk outside and see this little scene...

I come out to the following scene quite often too, though Odin is not always so pleased with what is going on as he appears to be here...

A make-shift slide, mark's truck bed liner works perfectly!

Fiddler on the Roof

Do you know this child actor?

Archer Pike shone like a true star in his debut as an actor in the role of Motel and Tzeitel's baby in Tollberry Theater production of Fiddler on the Roof,
directed by the talented Meredith A. Fowler

Young Archer played his part of the adorable baby perfectly without once missing a cue or fudging his lines, well maybe once he did (but not too many were at the matinee on Saturday to know that)

It was clear that his performance rallied the cast together in the production of a lifetime

The music, dancing, acting and overall spirit of the play drove the audience to extensive and appreciative clapping throughout the entire performance

Thank you Tollberry Theater for two wonderful weeks of spiritual and emotional evenings filled with such wonderful talent from all the cast!

we had a happy one too!

This

is what I got to hear, but with even more perfection on Sunday at church! While all the other primary children sang to their mothers from the stand I got my own personal serenade in the foyer where I was tending Archer. Mark sent Odin out to sing to me and I about died it was so sweet. In fact I couldn't hold back the happy mom tears!

The best Mother's day ever. How do even very small children know how to have a good and happy day at church on Mother's Day? Ronan actually sat in a chair for a length of time during the meeting!

Mark and the boys made breakfast for me too, letting me sleep in till 6:45! Blessed day! (no sarcasm)

So much more lovely stuff happened but for now I have to stop because my little ones need some intervention. Mother's Day is over, after all.

It's an "I don't want to make dinner night", so now what?

The other night Mark asked for Senfeier, a German dish which is basically boiled eggs with a mustard sauce over potatoes. We had them over egg noodles last time. It is actually quite delicious but I was totally surprised when Mark not only liked them the first time I made them for him, but has repeatedly asked for them. It is a great quick and filling meal, especially when served with speedy mashed potatoes.

Our other quick and easy is SPAM sandwiches. I know, but we love them. As my mom so rightly said to niece Liffy's wrinkled nose, "honey, the green things are the least of your worries".

I wonder what YOU all eat (besides mac n cheese or fried ramen) when it is that kind of night. At our house we often end up with stupid dinners when I feel like that and we all end up going to bed still hungry.

So here is the request: inexpensive, quick, kid-friendly, and put-in-lunchable. With or without recipe link.

This post is for me so that I can wish for these days again..

Happy Easter baby!

He already has the dreamy look. What a hunk.

The two cutest boys in the world! Happy Easter!

For the sweetest boys in the world! I love you kids!

This post is for me so I can remember that it is OK for my kids to grow older and out of this...

I was looking at a friend's blog and this girl blogs every day even though she has two kids, and she sews and gardens and economizes and has church callings. She is busy girl. How does one get so much done? Upon reading Nichole's last blog, I think I am beginning to understand how she manages to do it...well if one starts by blogging at 6:00 in the morning and sewing until 1:30 at night... there is WAAAAY more time in the day! Nichole, you're great, and I love the skirt you just made. So if I were to operate my day by beginning activity at 6:00 am and at times not stopping until after midnight... my dear, it looks like I am missing 9 hours of my day by not doing it that way!

But alas, at my house it is sooo bedtime for me at 10:30 or I get a little bit nutso. I think my late nights and die-till-dawn days are over. Typically I don't leave the bedroom cabin until all the boys wake up, often not till 8:00, even though Odin is getting really good at not becoming distressed when he wakes up and I am not there. Because sometimes the bathroom or a bowl of cereal calls way too loudly to ignore. But if you have never been a fly on the wall at our place, maybe your life is not yet complete . And maybe you might see why I stay quietly in bed as long as I can in the morning.

These boys can be a COMPLETE (is disaster too big a word?) when they are hungry and freshly awake and just had to be moved from a warm bedroom cabin to a cold kitchen cabin when they didn't really want to move in the first place and I just literally forced them to "MOVE"! because remember that bathroom and bowl of cereal? Right.

So now I am really tempted to describe a fly on the wall scenario but since you are all aware of the fact that we have a nearly four year old, a nearly two year old, an infant, a tired and frazzled mom, live in separated housing, have frequent snow storms in winter-which don't seem to want to quit, despite the fact that it is spring!- that it may not be neccessary to describe it at all. I think imagination does the trick just fine.

As much fun as this cabin life is, it is time to be done. Consider just the time lost in tromping back and forth from cabin to cabin with at least two kids in tow every stinkin time! That is like already an hour or more of my day! Now add in not having to reconcile the kids to each other and the new room every single time. That is just the beginning. Not an hour goes by where I don't dream of blissful single unit housing.

So this is really an I-can't-wait-until-our-little-house-is-done post. Way to go Mark for working so hard on our house. We are getting really close to putting on the siding and roofing material. For those keeping track of our progress, he has put in the beams for our bedroom's vaulted ceiling. Hooray!