Adventures in Self Feeding

Eating broccoli is just stinking cute!

2 raspberries + 1 baby = a really big mess!

Check me out, I'm a rockstar!

U want some?

Spoon optional.

After meal clean up.

Gobble, Gobble

Jarom is thankful for job security.

Layne is thankful for as much freedom as he can scrounge up.

Brik is thankful for a Mom that lets him talk her ear off.

Roxwell is thankful that his brothers are in bed so he can finally play with their trains.

I am thankful it is orange season.

Wrap It Up Already

Here is the rest of the pictures from our photo shoot. Roxwell was uncooperative as all he wanted was to be put down so that he could eat the rocks, in a few pictures that is what he is chewing on. When he was sitting on that rusty ladder I was freaking out that he was going to fall, but he didn't. Layne and Brik were great with posing for about 15 minutes, that is when all their best pictures were. The farmer whose farm we were trespassing on came to kick us out when we had barley started, but Jarom talked him into letting us finish and we promised to never come there again. Brik loved holding his acorn squash that he had selected at the market the day before, while Layne oogled over the lollipop that came and went with the photographer. A big thanks to Ashley and Marcus who gave of their time and talents, we love how they turned out.

Pics of Briks

Kiddo Portraits

Pic-a-Portrait

Just Eat It

A Closet Full With Nothing to Wear

Jarom had two shirts that were worthy of family pictures and neither went in the slightest with what I wanted to wear to match our living room. Ashley appeased me by taking a few of just me and the boys before the wardrobe change.

Quite the Character

Got some professional pictures taken by Betty Photography. They are great fun. I'll share a bit at a time as I don't seem to have the attention span needed to deal with blogger lately.

I Like the Way You Move

Two Week Rush

We only have to celebrate Roxwell’s birthday for about 15 minutes each year since he was born just before midnight (who keeps track of the exact time by the third) on the eve of October 22. It is fun to have a little dream just for him though.

Actually, we just turned everything fun that we did that week into a birthday celebration; like Layne’s fieldtrip to Superstition Farm, I bet you wish you spent your first birthday with the entire kindergarten! Or our dinner out to the swanky Scottsdale restaurant Arcadia Farms…too bad I forgot the camera on both of these occasions (and Layne’s fist day of school, and the science center and a dozen other important events).

So I redeemed myself slightly by taking home one of Arcadia Farm’s “baby cakes,” fitting, eh? Now all you mommies listen up because we discovered something that is going to change the universe. First we put the kids to bed, then we poked a candle in the cake, sang happy birthday, took pictures all in peace. We let the baby dive in with his hands while we civilized adults used forks and only occasionally picked piece off his face and shirt. Then it was off to bed for baby. Did you get that!? No kids, just baby. No tummy ache, just sleep. Peace. It was the best 3 day after birthday party EVER!

We leave the real spoiling up to my parents. Dad was here the week before Roxwell’s birthday and brought him this cute Hawkeye (the kids call it “hockey”) outfit with football that he has really taken a liking to. Here I think he was posing as a football player might.

Dad further dove in to the spoiling category when he bought all three boys Christmas bikes complete with new helmets lights, horns, bike locks and knee pads. Unfortunately Roxwell has tipped over a few times on his and now cries every time we put him on it so we are in the process of finding him an alternative Christmas gift. Dad’s visit was fun, be sure to ask him how he did in cribbage though.

Mom brought a lovely gift that Layne and Brik monopolized for the first couple days. She also bought us a generous amount of home décor which the kids and Jarom graciously accepted as their Christmas presents. I am so looking forward to Christmas; it is going to be so simple! Even Jarom’s family is taking about cutting back on their usually over-the-top gifting.

Since Jarom is a Halloween-pooper, Mom made the most of his costume and played Raggedy Andy to my Raggedy Ann. The boys costumes turned out really cute. Brik lived the face paint and was worried about it all night. Layne did really good dealing with the irritating eye patch – that he ended up just wearing on his head and uncomfortable earring – that found comfort inside his ear. Roxwell was not too fond of the big dragon hood that weighed down his head.

Growth Chart

No doctors. No percentile charts. No child to child comparison. Just good old healthy growth.

The Iowan Shopper

Dad wanted to "get back at" the kids for surprising him on his birthday in August. He arranged a surprise meet at the corner grocery store. They were pretty surprised to run into an Iowan shopper at Bashas.

I was so happy that Dad was able to bring us some more deer AND happy that we found freezer space for all of it! Thanks Dad, you're the best.

The kids got lots of fun stuff too; a Genetic's choice calendar (that the each have hung in their rooms), a framed picture of Papa (that they are taking turns displaying in their room's), a very educational book about pig farming (that we read at bedtime the past two nights) and University of Iowa Children's Hospital sweatshirts that are really quite nice (thanks Monica.) This is very typical for dad to unload company memorabilia for Christmas, birthdays and visits.

We haven't gotten to play cribbage yet, but next week--it's on!

Vegetable Treat

To increase excitement for vegetables the kids get to have whipped cream on them.

Great idea, right?
When my dad was annoyed with our table manners as kids he would ask "don't they teach you how to eat at school?" When my kids are playing with their food I say "Papa would freak if he saw you doing that." Tonight there were noodles swinging and Brik said "Papa is freaking out."

Go Away, Big Green Monster!

So they are not big, or green, but I do want them to go away. They are tormenting me, I hate to itch! Now they have gone too far. They are attacking the littlest Bagley and I am furious. Not just a bite here and there, 20 at one time, he looks diseased.

Roxwell is having a terrible reaction to mosquito bites. They get huge and inflamed, then bulge with a fluid-filled blister and finally a large open sore that heals to a lovely scar. Every day I am redressing his bandages to keep out infection. I have to keep him in pants day and night, otherwise he goes nuts with the itching and rips the Band-Aids to shreds. Poor guy, the itching, the sweating, the “ouch” of pulling 5 Band-Aids of in one sitting…
At least he is getting some teething out of the way through his misery. One top tooth is through and the other is close. They are big, this makes me happy, let’s dwell on the happy.