St. Patrick's Day

The kids had no school on Monday and since Tuesday was St. Patrick's Day, we decided to get crafty. The older 3 made some fun rainbow art with pots of gold at the end. And we made some mint truffles for their teachers.

 Gwen was totally annoyed when she realized her picture looked nothing like a rainbow.

 Caleb played happily and watched his big brother and sisters do their thing.

They decorated their treasure box for the Leprechaun to leave his treasure. Tessa even left him a note on the box.

 Our Leprechaun was super sneaky this year and hid the treasure box in the washing machine. 

 But he filled it with lots of fun things!

 He also left a big, green maze of ribbon all over the house.

 Adam and Tessa were up bright and early to see what had happened while they slept. They found their treasure box rather quickly!

 They went through all of their loot and then put it away so Gwen would be surprised when she woke up. 

 Caleb's first St. Patrick's Day was a pretty lame one. Mommy didn't even have anything green to dress him in. But he liked chomping on the green frisbee they got.

 We had rainbow pancakes for breakfast.

 We had yummy Ruben Sandwiches for dinner with green drinks. They kids tried out their silly straws they got from the Leprechaun.

Missionaries and March Madness

On Sunday evening, we had the Missionaries over for dinner. These Elders were from Mexico and Chile. We had fun talking to them about their countries and families. They told us after dinner that they liked being at our house because our kids were so well behaved. (They came on a good night!) They both wanted to hold Caleb so badly and they loved Gwen's nonsensical stories. 

 Since neither the kids or the Elders could go play soccer in the backyard, they opted for a game of Chess. 

 Monday night for our FHE activity, we filled out our March Madness brackets. Adam knew this was our activity and could hardly wait. I love him in this picture. He is so intense about his sports!

Daddy printed off all the team logo's for Tessa to make her bracket. She loved cutting and pasting her chart together. They are all being displayed on Adam's bedroom wall so he can keep track for everyone. He is not at all happy that we no longer have cable. He is dying to watch these games!

7 Months Old

On Wednesday, Caleb turned 7 months old. Time is just flying with this little guy. 

We were surprised to find a tooth on Tuesday night! I had no idea he was teething. He wasn't unusually fussy or anything. And normally, our kids don't get teeth for like 4 more months. He also has way more hair than our kids have at this age. Adam says he has Alfalfa hair. 

Caleb is finally eating better. Still not a lot, but every feeding is no longer a battle where I have to man handle him to get a bottle in his mouth. He likes his solid foods for the most part. Some days are better than others with his eating. I have never met a kid who didn't like eating. He confuses me!

He is also going through that fun phase of wanting to be held constantly and Mom can't leave his sight or he freaks out! Taking a shower is becoming difficult with him screaming if I go into the bathroom. 

He is sitting on his own now and loves that. He still loves to play with his feet and recently discovered that he can take off his socks, so he loves doing that. He is getting close to getting up on his knees. It won't be long before he is crawling all over the place. He also recently discovered remote controls. If he sees one (or a cell phone) he dives for it and screams bloody murder if we take them away. So, he got his very own remote from the Dollar Store, which he happily chomps on most of the day. 

He brings such happiness to our family and we sure love him!

Gwen's Photoshoot

This week we had Gwen's 3 year old pictures taken. We haven't been able to stop looking at them. The pictures all turned out so adorable and Gwen had such a fun time taking them! Our baby girl suddenly grew up! We usually get 70-80 pictures when we do these photo sessions, but this time the photographer sent us home with 109 pictures. I don't know how we will ever decide which ones to print! Aunt Katy suggested using them all as wallpaper. We may just have to do that.

Gwendolyn Marie Nielson 

3 years old