Halloween

Hey, Look!  We have autumn leaves!

Not too much to report here.  We have been busy, as usual.  I feel like I'm starting off every single blog with that line.  I just know it's about to get even busier as we have guests coming into town, and I am usually less attentive to updating my blog when we have people visiting.  So I thought I should at least post some photos and give a little Hines update.

We are doing well.  Chloe, Owen & Eli continue to enjoy preschool.  To avoid spending my "free days" (which are Monday and Fridays from 8am-12pm...and include Ella) shopping, shopping, shopping, I have signed up for a music class with Ella.  So Friday mornings at 9am we now attend a "Music Together" class.  It helps (forces) me to actually spend time WITH Ella and not just drag her around shopping and running errands (we can do that on Mondays).  She's my last baby and I want to enjoy every minute of her baby-hood.  She's just the sweetest baby you could ever ask for!  So we did a trial class last Friday.  At first I wasn't too sure about the class.  She was the youngest child in the room.  The teacher kept pulling out different instruments and hands-on things (scarves, little toys, etc) and would have the kids come up, get one, and then return to their space on the circle rug to play with it.  Then, two minutes later when that song was over it was time to "clean up" the object and go put it back in the bucket by the teacher.  Well, Ella can't walk.  She's the only non-walker in the class. So, every single time we got something new or put it back, I had to get off my behind and get the item.  I'm too old for that up & down.  Plus, it got tiring fighting the 18-month-olds for the best drum or triangle!   However, Ella really seemed to love the class and the stimulation.  She "danced", clapped, and cooed the entire time....which was enough to have this mama writing a check and securing my baby a spot for the next month of music classes.

Halloween is tomorrow!  Yay!  I'm more excited than anyone else in the fam.  Not a surprise.  However, Chloë is really into Halloween this year.  She is GETTING it more.  So that makes it extra fun.  The boys are still not as verbal...so I'm not always sure WHAT they get when it comes to a variety of topics.  I ended up buying them both Thomas Train costumes to wear.  I didn't ask what they wanted to be or let them have any say...because at that point I don't think they would have been able to communicate what they wanted...if they understood the whole concept at all.  They're only 2, afterall.  We did a trial trick-or-treat session the other night where we got out their costumes and had them put them on, ring the doorbell (to our own house) and I gave out a couple candy corns.  Eli refused to put on his Thomas Train costume.  Even for a candy.  Owen & Chloe were all about it though. So we'l see how tomorrow pans out.  Eli may dress as himself.  Or a ladybug....   Today he told me he wanted to be a ladybug instead of Thomas Train.  The boys' verbal skills are WAY better than they were a month ago when I purchased their costumes.  So he may wear ladybug wings.  We'll see.  (The same wings you saw in a previous blog post about Eli in the ER).   So I have a daughter who will be a ninja and a son who will be a ladybug.  I'm fine with that :)

It's getting late...and Ella pulled a 2-feeding-night last night...so I better get some rest in case she does that again.

Owen & Ella

Halloween Baby!

Washing the car with dad

Date night!

pumpkin painting with friends

Owen

Elijah

Heading to "Red Toes":

A couple weeks ago the boys and I were taking a walk down our street when we came across a house with a bunch of Halloween decorations in their yard.  They have tombstones, a skeleton coming out of the ground, a huge spider on their house, various ghouls hanging from the garage, and a severed head and foot hanging from a tree.  I let the boys check it out (and prayed they wouldn't have nightmares for months on end).  They were really excited to see everything, OOOOing and AAAAAHHHing at all the decorations.  Then they saw the severed foot and just kind of stared at it.  The foot is hanging from a chain and has fake blood dripping down the ankle  I think it was Eli who pointed to it and said "red toes!".  So, anyways, we now have to go on a walk to see "Red Toes" at least 3-4 nights a week.  They get so excited to go see this yard...it's funny :)

Heading down to "Red Toes"

Looking up at "Red Toes"

Chloe lifting Eli to touch "Red Toes"

And two more photos from today:  

brotherly love

Ella-bella

We like velcro shoes here...

Let's see..what is going on with us?  Well, the dog has a UTI.  That's a lot of fun.  Poor Kyla.  Aren't you glad I started with that news?  We have 4 kids!  Now we have to be giving our dog anti-biotics and make sure she gets out to the bathroom like 8 times a day on top of that.  Like I said, poor Kyla!  She's our first baby.  I'm constantly feeling guilty that I don't give her enough attention/exercise...and that's on top of the constant "mom-guilt" that I have about not having enough quality time with each of my human children.

Anyways, Chloë started T-ball through the YMCA.  She had her first game this past Saturday.  It's really an hour long event and consists of 30 minutes of practice and a 30 minute game.  It's a 3 & 4 year-old team so they're all really just learning what to do.  She is one of two girls on the team.  The whole thing is cute to watch.  She seems to like it so far, so that's a relief.

Ella-bella (as we lovingly call her) turned 8 months this past weekend.  She's hungrier than ever and demanding 3 meals of solids per day lately....and making me pay for it if we give her any less -by waking up at 4am wanting to eat - just when I was getting used to the 6 or 7am wake-ups.  I was getting spoiled for a bit there!  She's an awesome baby.  I could not ask for an easier, more-relaxed, chill little baby.  Yes, I think it's partially due to being the youngest of four...but I more-so believe it's her inborn temperament.  She has been like that from day one.  In the hospital.  BEFORE she even know she was the youngest of four...:)  Before she knew what was about to hit her!  

Some of Chloë:

I need to get some more photos of the boys...with the good camera.  It's on my to-do list.  So are a lot of things.  We're starting to get swamped here.  The laundry pile on the couch is out of control.  It's insane the amount of folding and putting away of clothes we have to do.  It's non-stop.  If I could splurge and pay someone to come in and just do all the laundry stuff, I totally would do that. 

Some photos:  

Chloë and I headed to a wedding on Saturday afternoon.

Chloë in a dress!!  A rare sight!

At the wedding

Beautiful couple :)

Chloë & Kristy

When I first moved here I worked as a nanny for just under 2 years for this little girl (and eventually her baby brother).  She turned 1 when I first started as her nanny and she's 12 now!  

And literally as tall as me!  

Bath in the sink

It's a family affair

Aren't your sink baths?

Do we look alike or what? 

At least in this pic?

We all know Owen looks like Myke.

Fall Fun

It's FINALLY feeling like autumn weather!  I'm saying that on Tuesday...after we just had a 2 day super-warm weekend with Santa Ana (desert) winds and very dry air.  It felt like Las Vegas over the weekend.  Our house stays super-cool inside even without A/C...thank goodness for that!  I think it has something to do with the tile floors downstairs and the fact that no direct sun ever shines into our living areas.  The only exception is Owen & Eli's room which is located upstairs at the front of the house.  That room can get really warm.  It's also located over the garage, so I think that definitely doesn't help the situation.  We kept their shades lowered over the weekend and it actually stayed nice and cool.  The dry heat isn't the issue- it's the muggy weather that is unbearable.  We had a few muggy days in July this year but nothing too horrible.  Nothing that has us calling an A/C installation crew.  Not sure how I survived growing up with Virginia summers?!  Today is in the 60's with a nice breeze.  Feels the way autumn should feel!

It's a busy week here.  Today Eli had his stitches taken out at the ped's office this morning.  It was another opportunity to kill multiple birds with one stone.  (When I was trying to convince Myke of this wonderful "plan" in the car a few days before, Chloë chimed in from the backseat, "But Mommy, we don't kill birds!!")  Anyways, Myke and I took all four kids so we could have that done, get all the kids the flu vaccine (thank goodness for nasal spray option for kids over 2!!!  Poor Ella had to get the needle), and get the boys' preschool medical forms filled out and signed by their doctor.  So all six of us piled into this tiny patient exam room and waited for Dr. Dern.  She's awesome.  They did Eli's stitches removal first (which we were hoping they would do last so we could herd the other children out into the waiting room beforehand, but oh well).  Dr. Dern told Eli that it wouldn't hurt, but as she started the procedure she realized the stitches had been put in extra tight, which made them more challenging to remove...and made the cut bleed.  Poor Eli was on the table with Myke holding his head still and the Dr. trying to do her thing.  He was crying so hard they ended up having to call in a nurse to help hold him still and keep his arms down.  So now we have EIGHT people in this small room.  We had brought the iPad along and the Dr had me hold it up over Eli so he could maybe watch a little show during the procedure to distract him--which didn't help at all....AND I had been carrying Ella so to do that meant that I had to set her down on the exam room floor while I got out the iPad and held it up (Oh well, 4th child, right?...at least the floor was carpeted....or is that worse?!  Probably.).  I finally got myself together and held Ella on one hip while leaning over the Dr, nurse and Myke so the iPad could be above Eli for him to see.  And, like I mentioned, he couldn't have cared less about the iPad.  He just wanted the procedure over with.  Luckily, this entire scenario was done within about five minutes.  Then time for the flu vaccines.  That was quick and painless and then Myke herded the "big kids" out to the neighboring pharmacy to get lollipops while I stayed with Ella to get her shot in the thigh.  We figured them witnessing Eli's traumatic morning was enough for them for one day.  Chloë HATES hearing any of her siblings upset.  She was stressing out and covering her ears.  If Ella ever cries all three of them rush to her as fast as they can to make sure she's okay.  It's so sweet to see :)

After we were done at the doctor's office we dropped Myke back off at home and headed to a park to play.  We're in a little local playgroup that meets at different area parks on Tuesdays and we rarely are able to attend, so I figured this was as good of a chance as any.  The kids were able to run around,  Chloë got to play with some friends, and I got to talk to some other moms with kids close in age to my own.  So that was fun.  Now we're back home and it's rest time x4.  Ahhhh!  That has been occurring less and less since Ella usually takes a mega-nap in the mornings and then a teeny nap in the late afternoon.  Today, she obviously had no nap with all running around we did, so she is conked out now.    I NEED that break!  Just to sit down unwind for at least a few minutes.

On a side note, we found a website that keeps track of commercials on TV- we're of course curious as to how often the LUVS commercial that Chloë is in airs...especially since we rarely watch TV so it's highly doubtful that  we'll ever catch it live.  So far the commercial has aired 135 times!  It was only at 72 last Thursday so it's definitely airing a lot.  I'm not sure if Chloë will benefit from how often it airs (hello, college fund?!)  but pretty cool none-the-less.


Some photos:

Tuesday Playgroup visited the local fire station (last week)

This is how Eli likes to go to sleep.  Covered in stuffed animals...

and often his favorite pair of shoes.  And yesterday a step-stool from the bathroom (gross!)

He fills his crib with all sorts of things.  

I think he has hoarding tendencies.  

Bagels on Saturday morning

Eli likes the salty ones (Salt bagel, plain (gross! I tasted it and it was like licking a salt rock)

and Owen likes the sweet... (chocolate chip bagel with cream cheese..more my style)

At the park after stitches were removed.  Eli sat and fed Ella from the water bottle.  Such a good big brother!

Chloë loves dressing Ella up like a princess! 

Though she wouldn't be caught dead in this garb herself.  

Daddy's little princess!  

Me and my girls!  

Chloë the Actress!

Exciting news!  Chloë's commercial aired on national TV!  I posted a few months ago that a friend of ours in L.A. who works on commercial productions randomly called us on a Thursday morning saying that they were looking for a 3 or 4 year old blonde girl for a small non-speaking part of a LUVS diaper commercial...and would we be interested?   All the stars kind of aligned for it work out so we took her up the next day...after spending Thursday afternoon getting all last-minute "things needed to be a child actor in the state of California" taken care of.  Anyways, so here we are a few months later and the commercial actually got put on TV!   It played during a commercial break of the "Kathie Lee & Hoda" segment of The Today Show a couple days ago.  I have no idea if that was the only time it aired or if it will air again in the future...all we know is that it aired once!   My parents happened to have the TV on that morning and saw it.  So that's the only reason that we even know it got put on TV.  Anywho, it's a very small, non-speaking part...but it's Chloë on TV none-the-less, which is pretty dang cool...at least for us :)!

Here is a link to the website where her commercial is also posted:

Chloë's Commercial

I'm not sure how often they rotate them, but when I went to the site yesterday her video was the main one on display.

Elijah Thomas Hines

Since we had our first night in the ER with one of our kids last night,...ELI....I'm dedicating this post to him.  Oh wait, Eli has gone to the ER one other time.  When he got croup as a 3 month old and could barely breathe/was barking like a seal.  So here is the story of his SECOND time in the ER in his short 2 years:  Yesterday evening we were all playing outside and Eli has just gotten off the scooter.  He had his helmet on and I started to chase him.  He went no more than two feet, tripped going up a stair on our sidewalk and landed on his face.  I knew right away it wasn't going to be pretty.  I scooped him up and saw the blood pouring out.  At first I couldn't tell exactly where it was coming from (mouth?  teeth fall out?) but I quickly realized it was his chin.  Long story short, he busted a good size hole in his chin.  An ambulance and firetruck at our house and then a drive (in our car) to the ER to get stitches.  He has 6 stitches in his little chin.  The ER doctor assured me that Eli would still be on the cover of GQ one day.  

Me holding my baby boy after stitches.  We both needed lollipops!

Elijah also insisted on holding these ladybug wings from one of Chloë's old Halloween costumes.  He also has been sleeping with them the past two days.

More about Elijah:

Eli is in the midst of his "terrible twos".  He knows what he wants and when he wants it...and he has no patience for waiting for something he wants.  He wants it NOW.  If he doesn't get it NOW he can have a pretty epic tantrum....and he holds a grudge!  Does NOT get over it and forget it fast.  All that said, things may have been a little worse the past week as everyone has had colds.  It's interesting to see the different personalities get magnified when the kids aren't feeling good.   

All that said, Eli is a sweet little boy.  He has a great smile - totally contagious.  When he smiles his entire face smiles, mouth, cheeks, eyes...and now maybe his new scar will smile, too?  Anyways, he's learning to share...obviously a very challenging concept for any two-year-old.  He's adjusting (well) to preschool.  He and Owen both love preschool (thank GOD) and never fuss about going.  It probably helps that Chloë has been going there for awhile before them and also LOVES it.  Every morning she asks, "Do I have school today??" in the most hopeful tone....and on her off- days you can see her face drop when we tell her "not today".  I'm chopped liver here.  She has asked me to "sign her up" to go longer days, as well.  Oh well, I can't complain.  It would be horrific if I had to take the kids kicking and screaming to school.  

Eli's favorite things:  macaroni & cheese, the iPad, "choo-choo's", trucks, his new CareBear stuffed animal, going ANYWHERE in the car, pushing his stroller (though he isn't doing that quite as much lately, books, books, books.

Chloë & Eli walking home from preschool last week

Moonlight Park

Eli covered in sand - looks like he has a dark gray eyebrow...all sand