Birthdays and Misc.

We had two birthdays at the end of November.



The first was my Foxy husband, who turned 40!  His birthday fell on Thanksgiving this year, so we celebrated at my sister's house.  It was pretty relaxed, as far as birthdays go (and as far as 40th! birthdays go).  He didn't even get a cake-- he requested apple crisp instead.  Plus he'd cut his finger at work the day before (8 stitches...but he was back to work on Monday as if nothing happened...crazy guy) and was nursing that a bit.  But it was a lovely day anyhow.  Happy birthday, Love.

Next up was Monkey, who turned 4!! 

She requested a vanilla cake with strawberry frosting, in the shape of the number 4, pink, with butterflies on top : )  I loved her choice, because she wasn't afraid to ask for what she wanted and to be her own person.  Monkey is a little on the shy side, and I worry sometimes about her being overshadowed by some of her siblings (sometimes I worry about her being overshadowed by ALL of her siblings, for that matter)...so I love when she lets her personality shine.



For the cake I used this recipe, which was a little pickier to make than I usually do, but fantastic!  And this recipe for the frosting, which melted in your mouth and was very strawberry and very pink, despite being a small amount of strawberries (I used frozen strawberries rather than preserves).  Melted starburst candies for the butterflies.  Monkey loved it, and it was really delicious.

She got really awesome presents-- an Olivia doll and books from Fox and me, a doll house from Aunt Diana, a mermaid for the bathtub from Arizona, a matchbox car (red with stars; she's named it "Starry"...from Moose). And an umbrella and book from my parents who came to dinner (pizza, Monkey's choice).



(By the way, I did haircuts this weekend, and I'm happy to say that Monkey's hair is now LONGER than Moose's!)

She's been going through a phase...I guess since she was easy as a two-year-old it was her right to start being a little more "difficult" as a three-year-old...but anyhow, even with all that, she's still one of the sweetest little souls that I know.  She has a sweet little pixie face and aura.  (But I do hope that the phase will mellow out now that she's a four-year-old.)

She's always been the most naturally artistic of the kids, and now that she's learning her letters she LOVES to write them.  She does quite good, too.  She also loves screen time...starfall.com,  watching shows, playing games on the ipod, looking at people's pictures on their phones.... 
And she has a great sense of location.  I think because she's visual.  The other day we were driving somewhere and she told me five different things that we would get to if we turned on the streets that we were passing.  Some were places that we haven't been to for quite a while.

Anyhow, I'm so grateful for that spunky, sweet little girl!! 

Other news:
Owl and Otter got their ears pierced (a separate blog post to come).  Monkey was going to do it too, but chickened out (fine by me).

This was taken a week or two before the piercing.  Owl, Otter.

The baby girls are also are batting at toys and rolling over like pros.  Otter was first (within days of their five-month birthday), and Owl was about a week after that.  Monkey started crawling at five months (she was my earliest...the others were within a month after that), so it's kinda weird to have these girls be so different from their older siblings.  But adjusted for being early, they are 3.5 months, which is right on track for rolling over.  They are still very small, so people think that they are just super strong newborns : )  It's nice for me, since carrying two babies is a challenge enough...I don't want them to be too heavy!

Moose is coming into his own lately.  He's talking in more complex sentences, and is able to express his ideas now.  And of course, this is the age when the kids start to really crack me up.  He's hilarious.

A little while ago I was in the kitchen and he was in the living room with Mr. Fox.  He was standing on a stepstool and fell down.  I heard him start to cry-- the kind of cry that says, "I have suffered an injustice or indignity, and I want it acknowledged, but I'm not actually hurt."  So he comes in to me, and says in a cry sort of voice,
"Mama, I fell down... (throws himself to the ground dramatically)...like that!"

Another time the babies were crying and he came to me to say,
"The babies are crying.  Waaaaa (in a falsetto).  Like that."

He's switched from clinging to my leg as I drag him to nursery class at church, to bounding in on his own without a backward glance.  And at the ward Christmas party this past weekend he was Mr. Social going around to say hi and give hugs to all of the people he knows.

Chick is improving by LEAPS AND BOUNDS on her reading.  She has matured a lot since the babies were born, and she likes to help with them.  She still pretty headstrong...but that probably will never change.  She's been like that since birth.

Me.  Hmm.  I've finished my Christmas shopping, but still have things to sew and make. 

I got all of the Christmas decorations up, except for lights in the yard and a few more strands in the house. 

I spend a lot of my time sitting on the couch.  It's just easiest, since I have to feed babies fairly frequently, and if one or both of them are crying then I can't get anything else done anyhow.  But I need to find some new solutions because I've gained a couple of pounds lately. 

Anyhow, during feedings I've been watching Dr. Who.  I started with season 2, and am almost done with season 5.  I'm still mourning the regeneration...I really really liked David Tennant as the Doctor.  But it's still fun to watch, and the kids love it too.