post crazytown

Well, living through the eyes of children continues to be one of the most fascinating experiences ever. It's like reliving your childhood with a grownup brain. I do love Christmas time, even though I complain about being stressed out. I love the music, the Christmas lights, the fresh pine smell in our house and the focus on the birth of Jesus. 

I live under a rock because I don't have cable and only listen to positive uplifting podcasts and have unfollowed anyone on Instagram and Facebook that posts anything negative, controversial or angry, so I get to ignore all the bad things going on out in the real world and just focus on my little Christmas world filled with peace, love and wrapping paper. Dan thinks I'm oblivious and uninformed but I have lower blood pressure than he does. Just putting that out there.

Here's a pic we got from the Living Nativity at church. Everyone is kind of looking and smiling. 
A Christmas miracle.

They had pajama day at school Friday. Thanks again Auntie Wendy for the PJs! 

Winter turned 8 Friday! I found a cool locket at a thrift store and put this picture in it to remind Winter that even though she gets in trouble a lot, Mommy and Daddy still love her so so much. Dan took this. I had to train him in the art of selfie taking. I'm like, no higher, higher, like way up in the air. See how we don't have double chins now? Now he knows.

These are from Mya. The most sparkly shoes in all of Target. Perfect. 

Church Sunday... Dan loves Christmas so much. He suggested we dress up and get there even earlier than we usually do to make sure we were able to sit up front. We were the first people there besides a few greeters. He was super happy. So we sat up front with our four kids since there was no nursery or children's church. They did pretty well for the most part. They dropped their crayons and water bottles a gillion times but our friends sitting behind us returned them happily. It was a lovely service.

This is one of my favorite people, Darla. My kids love her too. I tried to get a pic of the 3 matching red dresses. They were serving free donuts at church. Addie agreed to take a pic as long as she could keep eating her donut.

Christmas Eve started out great. 

I got some pics of the kids... 

I dressed appropriately.

And they all went to bed on time, I cleaned up the dishes and waited 'till they were all asleep and took care of all the Christmas things like emptying the bowl of reindeer food that Addie left outside. She checked it first thing in the morning and was so excited that they ate their sparkly oats. Thanks Mrs. Kolby! I wrote the goodbye letter from the elves with a crayon with my left hand to make it look legit. I taped Christmas jokes all over the house from the elves that my awesome neighbor friend gave me. Thanks Melissa! Then I filled the stockings and put all the presents under the tree. I was done by 9:00 and feeling completely awesome and exhausted.

I got in bed around 10:30 after watching an episode of the best show ever, OUTLANDER! And started to drift off to sleep. Addie has a cold and was coughing around 11:00 so I put some baby vicks on her and turned on the humidifier. The neighbors were having a party and everyone was leaving around 11:30 so I wasn't able to get back to sleep.  

Around 12:00 Addie starting coughing again but couldn't stop and ended up puking all over the place. Awesome. (She has a strong gag reflex) She got it in her hair, on the sheets, on her bedside table, a couple of crafts on the floor and on the carpet. It was impressive for such a small amount to hit all those surfaces. So I bathed her, put the sheets in the washer, scrubbed the table and carpet, threw the crafts away and went back to bed around 1:00. Our washer does a great job washing but it's super loud and right next to my bedroom. It kept me up until 2:00. I think I slept until 4:00 when Angus started yelling at Mya in his sleep. The kids were up at 5:00 and that was that. I reminded myself many times before Dan came home that I wouldn't have too many Christmas mornings with them as little kids full of Christmas wonder and excitement. That helped me not yell at them... too much. 

Christmas was a success. I made cinnamon rolls from the can, which the kids love. I told them the night before that I bought some and was planning on making them. They all yelled, yaaaaaay!! And then I heard Winter say, "Oh man I drooled on myself." They really do love cinnamon rolls. 

We had to wait to open presents till Dan got home at 8:30AM which seemed like an eternity. I thought the presents under the tree would motivate them to be good and not fight but they pretty much fought until Dan got home. At one point Winter stomped upstairs and screamed, "WORST CHRISTMAS EVER!!!" But I knew she would change her mind once we started opening presents. 

Oh and I read them the story of the birth of Jesus from the toddler bible while they were eating their cinnamon rolls. No one was really listening but I felt super proud of myself. It's probably the first time I've done that. I always intend to but usually forget and remind the kids about baby Jesus somewhere during present opening which is pretty pointless. 

Dan made prime rib for Christmas dinner like he always does and we invited my vegan mom and aunt over to eat with us. My brother and his son came too. My mom, aunt and bro aren't big drinkers so they brought sparkling cider. They ate their salad and veggies and drank sparkling cider and we ate our prime rib and drank wine and we all had a great time. We make it work. Merry post Christmas to you all! Happy almost New Year! 2019 whaaaatt?

birthdays and bums

Well the big day is almost here. I've had a pretty mellow attitude these last few days. It's probably due to the cold medicine I've been taking. It makes me slightly lightheaded, but it knocks that cough right out.

We celebrated the middle childrens' birthdays together last week. They're both holiday babies, one near Thanksgiving and one near Christmas, poor girls. They didn't mind sharing the day though. We went to Chuck E. Cheese's as a family and then invited the neighborhood kids over for an explosion of noise and chaos, and cake and icecream. They loved it. Usually I'm so tired by the time it's Winter's birthday celebration that I just get some cupcakes and balloons and call it a day. This year I took it a step further and bought "Pin the Carrot Nose On the Snowman" on Amazon. It was a hit. And it made the "party" feel more like a real party. And I found a Barbie camper van that a mom was selling on Facebook for $12. That thing is like $100 new. They screamed when they opened it. Winter hurt my ears. 

This is the only picture I have from Chuck E. Cheese.

Sometimes I take these two to the park while we're waiting for the big girls to get out of school. They have the whole place to themselves usually and yet they always sit in this spinny thing together or they fight over who gets to sit in it alone. 

Angus has been falling asleep ON the dog lately. She is pretty soft and warm so I guess I understand... It helps that she's pretty lazy now that she's 10. She never would have let anyone sleep on her a few years ago.

Angus has been working on pulling his underwear and pants up by himself after he uses the bathroom. It's a bit tricky for him for some reason. The girls never had a problem, but he struggles. The other day, he came over to me after he went pee. His shirt and pants were missing but he did manage to pull up his underwear. He was super proud of himself and jumped in front of me with his hands up high and yelled, TADIIIIZE!! It's like tada and surprise, I think. He says it when he does anything amazing. It made me belly laugh because his little weenie was sticking out of the top of his underwear but he was so proud.

A few days ago I was at Target and needed to go to CVS afterward. I decided to walk because it was a lovely day and it was only about 100 feet away, or 100 yards. I don't know distance. When Siri tells me to turn right in 500 feet, I usually miss it. But that's not part of my story. So I walked to CVS and got what I needed. I had to wait for the metro to go by before I could cross the tracks and walk back to my car.

As I was waiting, I noticed a super sketchy looking homeless person standing on the other side of the metro tracks waiting to cross my way. He was arguing with himself. He was carrying what looked like a shiny blue roll of wrapping paper. I thought it was interesting that a homeless person on drugs would need wrapping paper but I thought, who am I to decide what homeless people should or shouldn't carry with them?

After the metro went by and we were able to cross, I noticed that the wrapping paper was actually not wrapping paper but a metal bat. I had to make a quick decision. Should I keep crossing and pass by the scary man with a bat or should I turn around and walk back to CVS and wait until he was far away?

I said a prayer and kept walking forward, way on the other side of the crosswalk, a good 10 feet away from the bat druggie. I kept my eye on him making sure he didn't turn around and come after me. He didn't. He just kept arguing with himself and walked down the street. I hate that the Metro has brought bat carrying homeless people to Azusa. We never used to see people like that. We do have one older homeless gentleman that looks like Santa living here. He's been here for decades I hear. He's nice. I like him. I tried to convince the girls that he was in fact Santa. They thought about it but decided that he was definitely not. I actually have a picture of him that I took a couple years ago. I love that he always has his flag up. Maybe he fought in Vietnam.

Dan has been taking elf responsibilities pretty seriously this year. I basically move the elves somewhere new and call it a night. He makes sure there is a story to be told behind the shenanigans. This was a good one. It made me slightly jealous that I couldn't zipline from the chandelier to the Christmas tree. 

It was festive hat day in Addie's class yesterday. My Texas BFF Annie made two of these several years ago for Mya and Winter and the kids still love to wear them. 

Also, Addie discovered that it doubles as a unicorn hat.

Merry almost Christmas! Thanks to those of you who have sent us Christmas cards. I so enjoy them. And one day, maybe I'll get it together and send you all one.

IG faves

I broke up with Instagram in December last year. I was getting a bit obsessed and it was kind of taking over my life. Every time anything remotely interesting happened I was recording it and adding it to my story. So, it's been about a year now and I feel like I can get back on without getting too crazy. I promised myself I will not go on Facebook or Instagram until after my kids go to bed. That seems doable. I need clear boundaries for myself. I'm not good at doing anything in moderation so I need the rules. 

Breaking up with Instagram gave me more pics for the blog so that's good. But I still have all these great pics on Instagram that aren't on the blog. I'd rather put them all in one place. And I kind of want to make a book or something one day of all the pics and stories on my blog. So I decided to make a post of my IG favorites. I feel more complete doing this and I think I may sleep better at night. 

So, if you don't have Instagram, here's the last few years in a nutshell. I've included the original captions so I didn't have to think of a caption for every single pic. This goes back to when Mya was 5 years old. 

"Mom can you paint a heart on my cheek so that Nolan knows I'm in love with him?"

When you want to show someone you love them, you give them a kiss on the bicep. 💓😊

This is how Winter falls asleep most nights.

Vacation Bible Adventure is here! Thanks for the awesome improved shirts mom! You're welcome girls.

You know you're a mom when you have a baby bjorn sunburn.

Angus loves to be held by his big sister.

What a waste of money that mattress and comforter were.

I do whatever I want cuz mommy's too tired to stop me. #daddydressedme #imaybepooping

"Mommy! This is what sweet looks like."

I used to think newborns were so hard. Now sometimes I wish they were all this age. 😊💙

Big baby.

Come on. The cuteness.

Couldn't figure out why she kept doing this when I said "say cheese." Then I realized she was eating cheese haha. Communication with a 1-yr-old.

Lunch and art in one!

I remember when there wasn't anything on this rug but a coffee table. #whathappened #kidshappened #poordogs

💗

You must learn to write your name by the time you're 5 in the Wag house. Practice practice day and night. Totally kidding. We don't care. 

💕

Don't tell anyone but I'm sitting in a pink bumbo.

Beach hair.

People ask me what it's like having babies so close together. Well I just changed three poopy diapers in 10 minutes... But they're not so bad. 💗

Had to document this little miracle. Daddy is at work and we are all in the car dressed, I think we all have our shoes on and no one is crying and mommy's not yelling. And we are on time to church...

Mya got her first "like" letter from a boy.

Good friends share their cheerios.

This is what I feel like most days. Drowning in a sea of laundry.

If you can't tell, this is Addie breastfeeding her baby "Angus." 

The most helpful 6 year old award goes to Mya. She got Addie out of her crib, changed her diaper, picked out her outfit complete with socks and shoes and dressed her from head to toe. So thankful for my little rockstar!

Embracing his role as a dad of 3 little ladies.

Girls will be girls. 💗

A mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do to get the dishes done. #makeonemesstocleananother

I keep forgetting to feed him when she's napping...

Had to document this fourth kid picture. Obviously he does not match. He has applesauce all over his shirt (hard to see in the picture) because I let Mya feed him before we left for the store. He's holding a marker for a toy. Where are his socks and shoes? It's raining outside... Who cares? He's not walking anywhere.

Dude what's up with your hair?

Ah the beast of potty training. This little lady has definitely set the record for number of times someone has peed on the floor in our house. We have high hopes for day two!

First gymnastics lesson! I hope they don't make fun of Winter's shorts under her leotard. I'm just happy she finally agreed to go.

I saw the forecast for next week and I was like... 

(this was when it was over 110 in SoCal)

Mya's baby barricade.

Because I have 3 sisters.

Winter finally found some little ones to return her affection. 💙

Toilet fishing. My least favorite sport. Such a cute bag too.

What a pleasant surprise it has been to see Winter step up and be such an awesome big sister 💖

Jackpot. 

#unbabyproofed

Hey ladies. I'm like almost a year and a half so...

Aaaaaaaaaand I'm an idiot. #distracted

Gonna be a long day.

The bromance is forming. These two have 7 sisters between them. Stick together boys.

"See mama he not biting me!" 

#fearless

Every day after school, Mya is greeted like this by her very aggressive, affectionate little sister. 💗Winter usually tries to greet me the same way but I jump out of the way just in time. 😀 #sisterlove #betteryouthanmemya 😄

Brushing daddy's "hair."

Dan dressed Addie. The shoes are only a few sizes too big. All in all, a good effort. 👍

Merry Christmas!!

Popsicle time just cuz. Just a brotha tryin to fit in. #oneofthesethingsisnotliketheothers

Killin time waiting for Mya to get out of school.

Me: Why are you naked again?

Addie: No I not naked! I have a purse!

When Angus goes in the living room, I head for the dishwasher and empty and put away as much as I can before he finds out that it's open. This morning I was able to empty and fill it and hand wash the pans and knives... that never happens. How did I not know what was going on in the living room? I didn't even know we owned a green sharpie. #5cushionsbothsides

Everybody look at mommy!!... Or nobody look at mommy, whatever. #ithinkthesnowmanslooking

Dude, girls be crazy.

People who love my children climb to the very top of the list of my favorites. 💗

Angus - lover or noise and chaos

Grace came over yesterday and Winter yelled, hey I have that shirt! Grace yelled back, and I have those pants!! Then Winter said, let's match! And Grace said ok!! Be right back! This is what happens when there's a Target half a mile from us.

These 6 year old troublemaker besties are going to do great things some day. In the meantime they're going to make us laugh. A lot. 💗

Boys fixin' stuff.

More fixing.

7AM Vacuum meltdown.

We worked through it and now we're ok 👍

#mondays

Off to the dentist for some me time! #momlife #iusedtohatethedentist

Taking sharing to a whole nother level.

This is Otter staring at the peanut butter filled pretzel on the princess table... torturing herself. And being impressively obedient. You can't tell but she's drooling. 😄

Winter came downstairs wearing this - purple tee, overalls, cat pants, blue socks and sparkly cat flats. And a sweatshirt tied around her waist just in case. Mya said, "Wow Winter you look kinda crazy... maybe change the socks?" 😄👍

There they go again, making me look like a good mom.

Scootin' with Dad. 💙

Taking a walk through the almond trees... Angus loves it. 💙

These are their goat faces.

Just love it when he wakes up early from his afternoon nap and helps me with the laundry... #butnotreally

We've been working on weening her off the paci... not going well. 

Matching missing teeth.

"I so sad Mya hold my hand."

Always making laundry more fun 💙💗

Addie: I'm mad at you mom!

Me: Why?

Addie: I don't know!!  

#three

I guess she'll open her applesauce more carefully next time!... I'm a horrible person 😂

She only drew one lane on the street...

Patiently waiting for the garbage truck.

Yep this'll work 👍

Too many french fries.

Somebody is not respecting the sign... Too bad she's the only one of the four who can read it 😄

Mommy gave up and the children have taken over.

They just cried 30 minutes ago when we told them to pick up their toys... what do they do afterward? Deep clean the back patio just cuz. Whatever. I'll take it.

#danskids

Can't believe this little man is gonna be two Monday... maybe I should get him a manly towel for his birthday.

Not a fan of the frosting 💙😂

Get it Ethan.

When I say, Winter make a face, this is what happens.

It was teacher appreciation week at school this week. Today was school supply gift day. I contributed Kleenex to both Mya and Winter's classrooms. Always a good idea since kids have endless snot and boogers aaaand we have a Costco supply at home. Mya and Winter were not impressed. Winter got to school and handed her teacher the "gift" and said (with lots of Winter attitude) "Here's your stinky old box of Kleenex!" Love that her teacher shares these things with me. 💗

Mya: Guess what day it is Winter. It starts with an F...

Winter: Fursday?? 

😂

Tailgaitin'

Sometimes we just hang out in the street like this.

Dan: Who broke my hose pot??!

Mya: I don't know

Winter: I have no idea

Me: You don't know it was them for sure...

Dan: Maybe Jesus came down and struck my hose pot and it broke?

Winter: Ummm Dad I don't think Jesus would break your pot.

Mya says this is "important" beer from Mexico. Dan and I agree.

Finding out he got the promotion he's been working so hard for. Congrats to my Engineer. Love to see this guy happy 😍

Thanks for the photo Mari!

Could not love them more 💗

Mya always steals Angus's diapers and I find them on her stuffed animals and baby dolls. She loves that they smell like real babies. She's been begging me for diapers of her own so I got her some at Target. I haven't seen her this happy since Christmas. #mylittleweirdo

Ethan: Grandma can I have ice in my agua?

Addie: It's not agua, it's WATER!

Mixed feelings about the end of the year. 😩😄

10Am costume party #whynot #itstuesday

Addie had a little cough attack this morning. When she was done she yelled, "WHOA are you okay Winter?!

Me: You know what your shirt says? It says best big sister!

Addie: No, it says I don't like mommy

#bitemeaddie

Descanso Gardens on this fine morning.

While changing Angus's poopie diaper Addie says, EEEEEEWWWE it's greeeeen! Hey that's my favorite color!! 💚😂

This is Winter's pet roly poly "Big Dude."

When anyone in my house suggests oatmeal I cringe because I know this guy's gonna want some. #bringinthedogs

Dan received some homemade gifts including a giant pink heart necklace, a puzzle from the game cabinet and lots of hugs. He couldn't be happier. 💗

#someonesalwaysnaked #someonesalwayscrying

Let's take a pic! Maybe if you guys just stand here Angus will come join you... aaaaand that's Angus walking away. #hesdonewithpicsforever

SO forth of July right now.

Winter took it upon herself to dress Angus for me.

#hessopretty

Mom it's ok. It was just a accident. Sometimes little people do accidents when they are looking for scissors k mom? 

Winter: Mya can you get me a fork?

Mya: No! You always ask me to get you stuff. You can get it!

Winter: Fine Mya. I just farted right next to you.

#sisterlove

I'm pretty sure these two have reached the peak of their cuteness... and hopefully the peak of their level of difficulty.

The end of summer has us moms like..

#iheartteachers

Thanks @marihigerd for capturing this awesome and not at all disgusting moment when Winter's tooth was dangling by a root thread. 😄

Whilst singing you are my sunshine to her barbies in the sweetest voice possible, Winter let one rip. #loveher

It's like at a wedding when the happy couple feeds each other cake... only it's graham crackers... in a box.

Praying he turns out okay.

"Dear Jesus, thank you for God and Jesus and Santa. Please help my birthday to get here. Amen.

#3yroldblessing

I said don't touch the baby powder. He touched.

This guy never lets me change him without a fight. This morning while finishing up a very poopie one, he kicked me in the stomach so I attempted a left handed underhand spanking which I rarely do. I missed his butt and smacked myself in the nose. Hard enough to generate tears. Angus laughed. #toddlersaretheworst

I wonder what she's gonna look like when she grows up... #illcallherminime

Sunday best... or Sunday pretty good. 👍

Just a girl tryin' to have some alone time 😄

A man of MANY talents. 

Two = endless mess

#wearesinners

#8yearoldsarethebest

Okay first of all, how talented is my 6 year old. And second, maybe they shouldn't give the kids the whole week of Thanksgiving off... 😀

💕besties

Fish tank science lesson.

Some kids like to bring dolls or blankets in the car with them. Angus likes to bring his Vitamix 5200. #totallynormal

Hanging with cousins...(I just realized that Angus is crying in like half of these IG pictures)

Baking with littles and losing my mind. One of our fave Christmas traditions 💗🎄

Mya's super excited about the matching hair towels. Addie... not as excited.

Well, that's it. We're all caught up. I miss those little stinkers. So, it's been a year now and things have definitely gotten easier. Angus still cries A LOT but not even half as much as he did as a 2 year old.