Taurin Turns 4!

Taurin's Birthday was on February 15th... she turned 4!

 Had some fun with balloons, the siblings, and the cousins.... 

The party wasn't quite exciting enough for Uncle Brian....

Yes... she got a lizard from Aspyn and Tearony.  She loves it! Shaw hates it! (SEE VIDEO HERE!)

 She blew out the candles after about the second line of the Birthday Song.

Now for a few highlights / Birthday girl interview.... 

"I uh O bot"

Today in the van as we were taking Marinn to school Shaw started saying a phrase over and over in a funny voice.   It went something like this....
"Ma Ma... I uh O bot Ma Ma.... Ma Ma... I uh O bot Ma Ma.... Ma Ma... I uh O bot Ma Ma.... "
I was sitting there listening trying to figure out what he was saying and when I realized I couldn't help but laugh out loud.  He was trying to say, "Momma, I'm a robot."  The girls say this on occasion and I guess he was feeling robotty in the van.  The best part was his perfect robot voice!

The Lip

I L-O-V-E when Blaize makes this face.... Not the best angle but he moves like a panther. 

Chili's Coma

The other night we went to Chili's with a few friends, it was a busy night there and we waited for awhile and the kids were really hungry by the time they got their food.  

Shaw had a corn dog kids meal and 3 glasses of chocolate milk, he was a happy camper.  We were all visiting and Marinn leans over to Melissa and says, "SHHHHhhhh, Shaw is sleeping." And she looks over to see this....

 Shaw was totally out, in a Chili's coma.  This is very uncommon for any of my kids but it was soo hilarious.  How could we not take a picture??

Shortly after this we headed home and as we were walking to the car, Taurin says to Shaw, "Shaw Boy,  you looked so cute when you were sleeping in the rest-R-ant.  You looked sooo cute!"

Blaize & Bath Time

Being the fourth child in a land of little children some photo opportunities often get overlooked... I realized the other day that I had never taking pics of Blaize in the bath.  He LOVES the bath, if he hears you turn on the water he will head straight for the tub.  If it's not his turn for a bath he will gladly stand by the tub and watch, get splashed, reach his hand in an give the water a pat, drum on the side of the tub, and just enjoy himself being close to a bath. 

I often describe Blaize as a pleasant baby. He knows how to communicate vocally with words like "Yeah!" and loud shouts.  He crawls around looking for adventure and loves finding any object resembling a sword.  How I love my baby boy.

Healthy Eating.... Kid Style

Over the past few weeks we have been transitioning our eating habits to a much healthier way of living, more veggies and fruit and less sugar and dairy.  Anyhow, even though it is extremely challenging we are enforcing healthy eating not just for us but our entire family including a 5 year old, 3 year old, and 2 year old.  Have they complained at most of the dinners I have made in the last few weeks? YES! But they have eaten it and sometimes even enjoyed what I served.

Tonight I made hamburger patties with a tomato and cucumber salad and some sweet potato fries.  I thought the kids were going to be ecstatic at the idea of fries as part of our meal, but to my surprise they weren't interested in the fries and were asking for seconds of the tomato and cucumber salad.  I think I might be winning over their healthy taste buds!  Could it be?!

After dinner they were rewarded with a delicious healthy dessert:

1/3 sliced banana
1/8 C. blueberries
handfull of sliced almonds, large flake coconut, raisins
1/4 C. of Almond Milk

They really enjoyed their dessert, but asking Marinn what she thought she said it was good but it would have tasted even better with a large scoop of chocolate ice cream in the middle.  Ahhh glad to see they are still kids at heart.  ; )

Some perspective from a 3 year old...

The other morning Taurin was awake while Andrew was getting ready for work.  We had a conversation on one end of the couch while Andrew put his boots on at the other end.  It went something like this....

Taurin: "Dad is a cop mom."

Me: "Yeah, he is.  A cop is also called a police officer."

Taurin: With full confidence in her voice. "Yeah, and he saves us."

Me: "Yes he does, and he helps save other people too, and protect them from the bad guys."

Taurin: "Who are the bad guys mom?  What are their names?"

Me: "Well, I don't know their names but they are people who break the law, and hurt other people... stuff like that."

Taurin: "Yeah!  He is soo amazing!"

Me: "Yeah... he's kind of like a hero.  Like a super hero."

Taurin:  "Yeah! He IS a super hero!"

Andrew: "Taurin, mommy is silly."

Me: "Daddy is just trying to be humble Taurin."

Taurin: "Yeah Dad, you are being a humble."


How I love that she believes that he is the strongest, most amazing man in the world.  That's a good dad.