Temporary format change

I've decided that for the foreseeable future this blog will consist solely of photos from our day to day lives - a slice of life graphic novel if you will.  I'm sick of starting to write a post, finding that I have insurmountable writers block and (surprise) zero time to edit/be witty and then giving up.  So photos it is.  It will have to do for now.  

Maybe I'll start a caption contest a la The New Yorker? 

Happy Birthday Hank!

Hard to believe that 5 years have passed since Hank entered the world!  In some ways it feels like yesterday and in others it feels like we've lived many lifetimes since then.  Hank arrived in dramatic style, in between the two biggest back to back snowstorms in DC's history and the drama hasn't stopped since!  He has a big personality, an insatiable thirst for knowledge and the energy to go along with both.

Hank moments after being born...

"Snowmageddon" - our view from the hospital window

This has been a big year for Hank and we've proudly watched him grow into an independent, well spoken and delightful 5 year old boy.  He's proven to be an excellent big brother to Gus, who worships the ground he walks on, and to his new little sisters.  Hank's favorite things at this moment include: winter (the best season of all, said like the true Canadian he is!), Wild Kratts, Legos, washing machines and Bryce.  When he grows up, Hank is going to be a "garbage engineer".  Gus is going to drive the garbage truck and Hank is going to ride on the back.  He has expressed a desire to marry Mommy.  When we explained that Mommy is already married to Daddy, he said that was okay, he would just marry Gus. He has an amazing imagination that gets put to regular use with his Lego creations, ranging from helicopters to prisons to air traffic control towers and gas stations. He got a badass SpiderMan Lego helicopter as a birthday gift and pretends that Spidey is hunting turkeys with it for dinner.  Dontcha just love innocence!

For the past couple of years we kept the birthday parties simple and small, but this year we didn't hold back.  Our gift to Hank was tickets to the Monster Jam two weeks ago.  His school friend Matthew came along for the ride and they had a great time watching the trucks do their thing.

Guess what?  Monster trucks are really loud.  Not sure why Matt looks like that in the background...

Getting psyched! 

Gravedigger in action. 

And then last weekend we threw a birthday party for Hank at a bowling alley and invited his class to celebrate with him. Auntie Alice and Uncle Brian were in town as well.  The kids had a great time "bowling" (rolling the ball down a ramp towards the pins...most of the time they didn't quite make it) and Gus held his own with all the big kids.  He was even chasing them around trying to give them kisses!

Alice, Brian, Hank, Gus and some of Hank's classmates at the lanes

Hank making his weird photo face

Delightful store bought cupcakes - who are we kidding?  I'm not making them!

Hank and Theodore goofing around

Hmmm, chocolate

We can't wait to see what Hank has in store for us this year - he just keeps getting better and better!  Happy Birthday Hank!

Imagine you're drowning...and someone hands you a baby

My genius plan of never having to be alone with all 4 of my kids at once experienced an epic fail last week.  Our much relied upon nanny Mona was out sick with a stomach virus Monday through Wednesday and then slipped and fell on ice Thursday evening, injuring her shoulder badly enough to be in an emergency room until 3am Friday morning getting treatment.  The poor woman couldn't catch a break!

I have to say that I was surprised at how well I managed with the kids, even if I was counting down the minutes until Heidi showed up at 4pm to take two of them off my hands!  The past 5 years of parenting have taught me a priceless lesson:  it will all be okay if you keep your expectations low, very, very low.  Once I let go of any hope of achieving anything beyond feeding and cleaning the children, everything was fine.  Taking a bathroom break and choking down a granola bar between diaper changes and bottle cleanings were major victories.

Comedian Jim Gaffigan does a good job of summing it all up here:  http://fascinately.com/funny/2015/01/whats-it-like-having-4-kids-imagine-youre-drowning-and-someone-hands-you-a-baby/

Now I know that the world won't end if I'm on my own with the kiddies, but I also know that I can't wait for Mona to be back at 100% :)