Time for another "normal" post, I guess...

It's been busy here, but I'm going to do my best to update what's been going on around here lately.

Matthew is now almost 3 months old and is weighing in somewhere between 16-17 pounds by now. He was 15lb 6oz at his 2 1/2 month check-up. His older cousin Tyler has caught up to him, so now they're about the same size. He is usually pretty happy, but has been having crying fits where I can't get him to settle down for a while. This afternoon it was so bad that he still was doing the little sniffle thing for 1/2 hour after he stopped crying. It's unnerving when he's like that because I don't know what's bothering him and nothing helps. :( On the flip side, when he's happy, he constantly talking and smiling and such a joy. He is smothered with love from all the other kids and Patch loves to kiss his feet too. He loves his fingers and that helps him sleep through the night, which is great! :)

Kimberly will be 23 months this week. I can't believe she'll be 2 in just over a month! She continues to be happy, easy-going and funny. She's learning more and more words and it's so fun to hear her talk. Lately she's been a little obsessed with freckles. She knows what they are and shows me the one she has on her tummy quite often. She was sitting in church fine for a couple weeks, but was in nursery yesterday... didn't even make it until the minister walked in! Might've been the weather, but we'll keep trying with her until it's a permanent thing. She loves to have her purse in church and loves wearing dresses. I've been making a point of doing something with her hair every day so she gets used to it and with her hair being so fine, to keep the tangles at bay. She's a girly girl where that is concerned. She loves her pretties. :)

Lucas just celebrated his fourth birthday! He's loving being four now, and he got a bike helmet and now rarely goes outside without it on whether or not he rides his bike. He's really improving with his speech, but when he gets tired or hungry he gets lazy and it's harder to understand him again. We decided to hold him back for Sunday school for that reason, although he wants to learn the verses still. If he gets better, we may let him go at the end of the summer, but we'll be doing the wait and see thing with that. We're trying to get him to stop his shrieking.
He screams when he's playing,
He screams when he laying,
He screams when he's happy,
He screams when he sad,
its enough to drive me mad!

He screams when he fine,
He screams when he's hurt.
He screams when he's sleepy,
He screams when he's alert
Man oh man, do my ears hurt!

Sorry, just a poem that popped in my head, lol. I don't think I know of any boys that scream like mine do. You'd almost think I had a house full of girls! Lucas has also been cruising around on his little 2 wheeler bike, but is now out-growing it. We are going to have to do some bike shopping as Caleb's bike has no brakes and Lucas is too big for his... Thankfully Lucas isn't too phased by the size of his bike, but Caleb is sick of crashing. They have the bike arrangements all figured out for when Caleb gets his new one. They have had many discussions about the whole bike thing. :)

Daniel is our new 5 year old and is loving it! He thinks he can do so much more now that he's 5. He is obsessed with Alvin and the Chipmunks, it's funny. If I'd let him, he'd watch it over and over from sun-up to sun-down. I'm thankful it's going back to Movie Gallery tonight... lol he is very active and has been enjoying his school work. Not everything in the letters clicks, but he's getting there. He's definitely a numbers kind of kid. He does great at math stuff. We haven't even gotten to telling time yet, but he knows how to change my family room clock to 4PM so he can have snack time. Smarty pants, that one! He loves flying around on his bike. I don't know that either of my other 2 boys can ride as fast as he. He also has a new helmet, but is a dare devil and would rather not wear it.  :)

Caleb is dealing with some issues lately. We have had to cut back his allergy meds as they were making him VERY hyper. He's a very active kid to begin with, but it was getting really bad. So far he isn't doing too bad with the lower dose, but we're also really watching his sugar and artificial coloring and flavoring intake. Those seem to be triggers of super hyper behavior as well. It's been tough, but we're getting through it day by day. He loves to be outside, and riding his bike with his new helmet as well. He has also been doing well with his school work as long as I let him run outside first. He does well with both letters and numbers, but I think he leans more to the reader/ writer brain than the math brain. He's looking forward to starting his grade 1 books really soon! he's got to get through his short o's and u's and money and clocks then he's done his Kindergarten book! He and Daniel are still keeping up with each other. :)

I have been keeping quite busy, as can be expected with 5 kids. Laundry is a challenge, but I've been managing to get through everything at least once a week. It helps that I have a new dryer that actually shuts off when it's done, and Caleb has been doing some load switching for me. He knows how to start the dryer, but he has yet to learn how to start the washer... that'll probably happen next year. He also will take the wet clothes upstairs for me to hang outside on nice days. He's growing up, and can be such a help! I have also started cloth diapers. Some might think me crazy, but I figure I'm doing so much laundry already, whats another load or 2 a week... not much. Plus, we're no longer paying so much money just for our kids to poop! lol It's amazing once you add it all up how much money you spend on diapers! I'm thankful to have a couple friends who don't think I'm crazy to be doing this. :)

Peter has been VERY busy, for which we are thankful! God has blessed him with much work for his hands to do and his business is doing very well. He has jury duty this week, and he's a little worried that he'll get selected for a trial. He was in for selection this morning, but got excused for that trial. He may still get on another case, but he's hoping not. He had a trial 3 years ago, shortly after starting on his own, and he figures one is enough, especially when he's so busy. He left his phone home this morning and it was going crazy... He also celebrated his birthday yesterday, which is the anniversary of when we met. It's been 9 years and I am so thankful for every one. (Ok, we met a couple days before his birthday, but we didn't really start talking to each other until his birthday.) It's been a great 9 years and I pray he's blessed with many more!

That's the basic run-down of how we're all doing... I do have new pics posted on Facebook so if you're a friend of mine, you can check them out.