PORTRAITS

I don’t think I’d be very good at taking portraits of the kids if they weren’t a Simpson Family requirement. Christian’s mother likes to have an updated picture of each of her grandchildren on a huge wall in their house. Here are the pictures I just took of the kids that will be making the wall. Sidenote: There are 30 grandchildren in the family. That makes for one HUGE wall.

ALANA THE ANGEL

Alana has changed SO much. She have always been beautiful, but also a challenge in the very beginning. She got really sick when we first brought her home because we were all getting over a REALLY BAD stomach bug. Sadly, she got it too and that kind of set the tone for the first 3 months of her life. Super fussiness. However, she has done a total 180 and is the sweetest easiest baby now. She really only fusses when she’s sleepy now. THAT I can handle.

*Alana smiles at everything. All of the time.

* She no longer screams the minute we put her in the car seat. She may not like it, but she’ll fall asleep in the car, which is a HUGE success

*Alana has learned to scoot when on her tummy around the bed. She is strictly a crib napper now.

*She has learned to LOVE her daddy. He’s learned to love her right back.

*She only wakes up once a night for a feeding. Now we’re just working on her sleeping straight through the night.

*She follows her brother and sisters with her eyes all of the time taking in all of what they do.

*She’s a bit of a night-owl… which is nice since we can spend time with her one on one.

LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT

We’ve had other play dates too. One rainy day I decided to brave 2 young children, terrible weather and trek it out to Wake Forest to visit my good friend Lisa and her little ones. On a side note, Lisa had a baby 5 weeks after me. Both of our babies have not been angels. Both love to fuss and be held. Alana’s calmed down a lot since, but this particular trip was a rough one on her. She screamed the whole 45 minutes there. It was a JOY! But once we got there it was just like being back at home. It felt weird to drive into Raleigh. It’s like I expected it to stand still while we’ve been gone. But, alas, it’s still trucking along like always. It’s kind of weird though because now I feel like a visitor when I go back. I got some good pictures of Landen and Katy together. They just LOVE each other and ask to play together all the time. It’s sad that they live so far apart now. Alana and Ally got to meet outside of the womb too! I mean, it was more of a reunion though… you know… since the knew each other in Heaven.

{It was meant-to-be. Look as these two cheesin’}

 

{My Personal Favorite - down below}

{These two don’t know it yet… but they’re BEST FRIENDS}

ASIANS

Christian likes to laugh that I haven’t made any friends except for the 85% of the Asians that live in Baity Hill. It’s true… they’re everywhere. The 1/8 of my genes feels right at home.

Mia’s made a friend named “Vanessa” (this is her name, but her American name). She is cute as can be and has a grandma who is just as cute. She laughs a lot, nervously. She flips her hair like a teenager (The Grandma, not Vanessa). She is all around sweet. When Mia goes over to play she has a great time. The other day Vanessa’s Grandma was walking Mia back from their apartment and brought food with her. Let me back up, so apparently after the first play date it is tradition to give a gift to the child. This is just a guess, but it has happened twice now with the kids when they have a play date at an Asian home. Anyways, I felt kind of bad so I sent cookies with Mia one day. I think this confused the grandma because the next week she brought over chive pancakes and “mystery meat”. We have NO idea what kind of meat it was. It LOOKED like sausage but for all we knew it could have been a domestic animal… you know where I’m going with this. (I can be stereotypical because of that 1/8th in me). Anyways, Christian and I were feeling daring one day so we fried it all up. It was actually pretty good… I’m not going to lie… I was surprised. And because of the weirdness of this event I snapped pictures for documentation purposes.

Ok, Now since the packaging was in Chinese I had to wing it.

Here is the finished pancake and the mystery meat.

AAAANNNNDD HERE WE GO!

ME LIKEY!

21 QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR KIDS

1. What is something Mommy always says to you?

Kalea – to say “Yes Ma’am and Yes Sir.”

Mia – to be good.       

Landen- noooo 

2. What makes Mommy happy?

Kalea – being great

Mia – when I’m a good listener

Landen – happy face

3. What makes Mommy sad?

Kalea – when Daddy loses that thing that you like (love)

Mia – when I’m a bad listener

Landen – landen cries in the tar (car)

4. How does Mommy make you laugh?

Kalea – when you say “get off my patooties” to daddy

Mia –by tickling us

Landen – (chomps at me)

5. What was Mommy like as a child?

Kalea – she was a child of God

Mia –you was like your mom

Landen – Mia!!

6. How old is Mommy?

Kalea - 28

Mia - 28

Landen – 1, 2, 3-eeee

7. How tall is Mommy?

Kalea (long pause) – taller than Alana

Mia – taller than a toy

Landen -heavy

8. What is Mommy’s favorite thing to do?

Kalea – um, nap.

Mia – to spend time with your friends (giggles)

Landen -guuummm

9. What does Mommy do when you’re not around?

Kalea – you crochet a lot

Mia – make dinner… sometimes?

Landen- you get tandy with grandma

10. If Mommy becomes famous, what will it be for?

Kalea – at making the most, um, delicious dinners in the whole wide world

Mia –crocheting hats, you are famous AT THAT!

Landen – Buzz Lightyear and fly up,,, you don’t fly up… no have any wings.

11. What is Mommy really good at?

Kalea – crocheting, and making dinners… the best dinners

Mia – feeding the baby.

Landen – happy

12. What is Mommy NOT very good at?

Kalea – you’re not good, um, aaaat (long pause)…making daddy upset.

Mia – not making wooden toys

Landen – (jumping and growls at me)

13. What does Mommy do for her job?

Kalea – you don’t have a job. second answer – feed the baby.

Mia (quietly) – you had a job for making food

Landen –get presents at your birthday time

14. What is Mommy’s favorite food?

Kalea – tacos

Mia – chicken pot pie.. I mean burritos!!

Landen – chicken tenders!!

15. What makes you proud of Mommy?

Kalea (raises hand) – everything!!

Mia – your food… it’s so delicious.

Landen – boots

16. If Mommy were a cartoon character, who would she be?

Kalea – you’d be a cowgirl, yeeee hawwww!!

Mia (squeeks out answers) – a sheep!! a sheep!!

Landen – MARIO

17. What do Mommy and you do together?

Kalea – we fold laundry together

Mia- help me crochet!

Landen –8, 7, 9 AND 10

18. How are you and Mommy the same?

Kalea (raises hand jumping up and down) – we both have boney heinies

Mia – we both have brown eyes

Landen – Mario Tark (Kart)

19. How are you and Mommy different?

Kalea – you like to paint your toes and I like to pain my finger nails

Mia – our hair is different

Landen – we play games

20. How do you know Mommy loves you?

Kalea – you give me a hug and kiss every night

Mia – because you got us markers

Landen – love you too

21. Where is Mommy’s favorite place to go?

Kalea – Michael’s… It has yarn, you go there a lot. Well, not a lot but sometimes.

Mia –the donut store… probably not.

Landen –the park place

“TRUST ME, I’M A DOCTOR.”

Well, not quite. But it is our favorite quote from the Dr Pepper commercials.

Funny story… Christian apparently had a “White Coat Ceremony” which I knew NOTHING about (not so funny). I had to basically puuuulll the information out of him to attend. If you know my husband, he’s not big into fru-fru events. He even thought the event was optional. So basically the week of the ceremony we got the “invite” (we, being the kids and I) and so Saturday we celebrated a special occasion. The donning of the white coat. We got all spiffied up and along with Christian’s parents attended the event in the Memorial building. We were one of the few people who had small children. It was quite a task at keeping them all quiet and well behaved, but they did great and even exceeded my expectations. We heard a few speakers and then the medical students went up in groups and each had their coat placed upon them by a doctor/mentor from UNC. Interesting fact… This year UNC had 4,000 applicants. They interviewed a little over 500 of them. There are currently 170 medical students attending their first year including my husband. Pretty awesome.

Waiting for it to begin. We arrived about 10 min early and got really good seats about 4 rows from the front and to the right.

And here HE comes!!

Afterwards we went outside and took a few pictures. The kids were happy to finally get out and run around. Christian is known for being the guy with 4 kids in med school. They all think we’re nuts… and they got to see it first hand.

 

LIFE AS WE KNOW IT

Here are a few updates:

THIS is where we live:

THIS is what we do most of the day (it’s Toy Story, if you can’t tell. Landen is OBSESSED):

THIS is where she wants to be all day:

ANY QUESTIONS?

OUR ATTEMPT AT A FAMILY PICTURE

We have NEVER been good at capturing that “perfect” family picture. My dear friend Christy was kind enough to capture one for us while taking pictures at my brother’s wedding reception. It’s always fun to see the ones that didn’t quite make the cut. Our blog picture up top is the one that turned out the best and I’m totally happy to have it… especially since we may not get another chance while Christian is in Medical School. Thank you Christy!!

Without further ado…

This picture is ALMOST perfect if Kalea had kept her head raised a bit higher.

Everyone was super cooperative again in the picture. But we definitely have a DIVA on our hands. Landen is also bear hugging himself.

My personal favorite. And would also be kind of hilarious to put up on a large canvas on our wall. This kid is an ANIMAL!!

THE EVOLUTION OF CHUB

AND TODAY…

BACK TO SCHOOL

It’s that time again. SCHOOL TIME!! I can honestly say I have been looking to this because it has a meaning. This time means stability, consistency, and regularity. All of which is something we haven’t had in months. I need this… we ALL need this. A little stability is a good thing. So back to school is a 3 part series. Thursday was Kalea’s first day but because Kindergarten has “staggered entry” Mia was not able to ride the bus with her big sister. She was a little bummed by this but she was okay the rest of the day.

Elementary School around here starts E.A.R.L.Y. We had to be out at the bus stop at 6:55am. Not an easy task when you’re up all night nursing a baby. However, it is nice that Landen is still asleep because I can take the girls to the bus stop and Landen and the baby can sleep (while Christian studies and gets ready for class at 8am). It’ll be a little bit of a challenge until the baby starts to sleep better, but I’m not holding my breath on that. And on the plus side, they get out of school at 2:30 which I love. Kalea has a good friend, Paulina, who lives 3 doors down and is also in her class this year. I have a feeling they are going to be GREAT friends.

Mia had her first day of school on Friday. It was a short day (mostly an orientation) and Mia was excited, then nervous, then excited again when I picked her up. She even showed me a cute little banana dance that the class learned. It was adorable and relieving to see her be such a big girl. She’s come a long way from that little girl who grabs my leg and screams anytime anyone came near her. She still can be a bit weary until she’s comfortable… baby steps.

Mia will go the full day on Monday with Kalea on the bus. She’s really excited about that part. I told Kalea she needed to sit with her sister (I think it kind of bummed her out, but that’s what siblings are for). Anyways, thus the 3 part series.

Can you tell Landen was rearin to go (he’s the one with the red hat)? He really wants to be big like his sisters and go to school. He REALLY wants to ride the bus. I have a feeling it’s going to be a challenge keeping him entertained while they’re gone. They are SO good with him and help me a ton. It’ll be lonely without them but I’m excited to hear about their day when they come home. And while they’re gone I have a feeling we’ll be HERE a lot.  It’s the playground in our apartment complex. It’s geared more towards littler kids so it’s perfect for him.