Miles's 1st birthday

Our baby's not such a baby anymore. Miles is now one year old and is acting more like a toddler than a baby these days.

We had a little party for him at home. He really liked opening his presents.

And of course, he enjoyed the traditional one-year-old gift of a box of tissues.

And, as is traditional with our kids, he didn't want to have anything to do with his birthday cake.

He's really turning into a fun little person. He's always happy and smiling (except when he's shrieking) and he loves to get into everything and climb climb climb. He likes to give short, violent hugs, chew on socks, suck on his tongue, and hit his parents in the face when they're holding him. I think we'll keep him around for at least another few years.

Miles walking

A few days before his first birthday, Miles woke up one morning and decided he would walk on his own, and he hasn't looked back. He's now toddling all over the house (looking for trouble).



He seems very pleased with himself.

Let It Go

Ever since Frozen came out on mp3/disc, the kids have been singing the songs from it pretty much non-stop. It's been a month and they're still going strong. Thankfully the songs have grown on me since I first saw the movie, so I haven't gone completely insane.

I don't seem to have a more recent video, so here's one from several weeks ago when they only knew the words to one part of the song and sang it over and over.



Olivia and Carmen know pretty much all the words now, and Damon can sing right along with them. It might take some time still for this fad to wear off.

Brothers

I took two pictures the other day that just happened to line up really well. A little Photoshopping lined them up better and I got this. If it weren't for their coloring, they might look like brothers.

Easter Weekend

As I was driving into work Good Friday morning, I thought to myself, "Why am I going to work today? The weather is perfect, the kids are out of school, I don't have anything important going on at work, and I haven't taken any vacation since Christmas." Then I remembered that I had a half-day of vacation left over from last year and when lunchtime rolled around I was headed home for an early weekend.

Olivia and Carmen are still very excited about knowing how to ride bikes, so I thought I'd show them what I used to do as a kid, and we rode to the neighborhood gas station to get some treats. It's not quite the 7-Eleven on Cloverdale, but it's pretty close. Here they are after eating some candy.

When we got back home the girls had had enough of bikes for the day (they also rode to the playground that morning) so we all watched My Little Pony together, then Damon helped me cut down our little weed tree, a fruit tree that died and grew back as a thorny weed.

On Saturday we took a trip to the nature park so the kids could ride their bikes (and trike). It turns out that park isn't very bike friendly, but we did find a path to ride on, and I took the three oldest on a hike to find the beach. I carried Damon most of the way, and Olivia gave up and went back with Amber, but Carmen stuck it out and we eventually did find it.

After we came home and had lunch, I persuaded everyone to get off their bikes long enough to "help" me wash the car.

Olivia picked weeds to earn some money and wanted me to take her to the dollar store, so off we went in our newly cleaned car. When we finally got the kids to bed, Amber worked on the girls' Easter dresses and I tried to (re)figure out the obscure video format required for a cheap generic video player I bought years ago. I don't ever use it anymore, so I figured I'd put My Little Pony videos on it and give it to Olivia for her birthday. I'm not sure it was worth it, but I finally got it figured out and I think she'll like it (especially since Amber gave Carmen her old phone to play with and Olivia's been jealous).

On Easter Sunday we went to church in the morning. After some sizing mishaps, Amber got the dresses finished just in time. (For the record, Olivia's hair got fixed later.)

While Miles napped after church, the older kids searched in the backyard for their Easter baskets.

We had beautiful weather, so we stayed outside and enjoyed it.

For dinner we got together with two other families. They had a good meal prepared and an Easter egg hunt for the kids and everyone had a good time.

Damon's chipped tooth

No, not that chipped tooth. I came home from work yesterday and was greeted as usual by a very excited Damon, except that he was sporting a smile that looked like this.

He had fallen at the splash pad and chipped his other front tooth to match the one he chipped a year and a half ago. Now we're not sure what to do. Thankfully he doesn't appear to be in pain, but while one chipped tooth can look cute and scrappy, having two chipped front teeth looks pretty bad. Amber's going to take him to the dentist next week to see what our options are. Worst case, he looks like a hockey player until his adult teeth grow in.

Olivia riding a bike

It happened a lot faster than I expected, but Olivia can now ride a bike too. We've had a string of perfect weather recently so for the last several days Olivia's had lots of time to practice and after some lessons from Amber, she can now do this.



She's pretty excited to be able to ride around with Carmen and all the other kids on our street and that's what they did all morning today.

Smart phone

I'm composing this post on my brand-new smart phone. Amber and I finally made the plunge and upgraded yesterday.

Since we already had two iPads (and an iPod that I paired with my old phone to make a franken-smart phone) with iOS and two Surfaces (and a desktop) with Windows 8 we decided to round out our collection and try out Android phones. So far I've liked the ecosystem, its definitely a lot more open than iOS. I love that I can just plug it in and drag files over without an iTunes equivalent,  or customize the keyboard.

And one of the greatest benefits is that we can now join modern society -- we have an unlimited texting plan. So feel free to send me a text. I'll probably respond with whole words and complete sentences, but I'll get the hang of it eventually.

Walking, for Miles

Miles continues to grow up, despite Amber's attempts to dissuade him. Here is a compilation video of two walking practices we had with him recently.

 

He hasn't tried it on his own yet (without our help), but it shouldn't be very long until he's toddling all over.