Jayden

Jayden will be 11 months next week. I told you how easy going Jenna is, well Jayden is just about the complete opposite. He is so into everything. We never really needed to worry about her getting into cupboards or drawers, Jayden on the other hand knows that everything opens and he wants it. Every drawer, cupboard, door, and lid. And once he opens something (or we open it for him) he starts to go through it. Like the bucket of matchbox cars, take the lid off and he will just sit there and pull everything out. I have had to go through the kitchen and make sure that all of the things in the bottom cupboards and drawers are things that he can play with.

He isn't walking yet, which surprises me. I thought that with how active he is, he would be walking by now. Melissa walked at ten months and Spencer and Jenna were 11 and 12 months. He will stand on his own for a bit, he will hang onto furniture and then when he wants to crawl somewhere, let go and let himself down slowly to the floor (if that makes sence). But won't walk without someone holding onto his hands.

He takes good naps during the day, but I think that it is because he completely wears himself out. And like Spencer he's got some pretty good ears. If he hears his favorite things, he will come crawling pretty fast. Loves to chase the vacuum, which is fun for him, but not fun for me because it ruins my vacuum lines (Michelle would understand). If he hears the ice dispencer in the kitchen he'll come crawling over and beg for a drink. Same thing if he hears the front door or the pantry door, he likes to go outside, but doesn't like the feel of grass. And he likes to get ahold of the package of napkins in the pantry and rip them up.

The most recent picture I have of him was taken not to long ago, but it is of him eating. So I have also included a picture that was taken in July. As far as his physical features people say he looks a lot like Spencer, his personality is more like Melissa, so I see her in him. I'm not sure what color his hair is going to be. When we first buzzed it as a baby it was orangy red, but now I am thinking that maybe it will be a darker red like Spencer. Who knows. It would be kind of funny to have four kids with four different colors of hair. Jayden is small for his age, only 25 % in height and not even on the charts in weight. Which he looks normal to me, but then when you get him next to other kids his age, or BJ and Ethan (his cousins), he looks tiny. All in all, he is a lot of fun, and makes me tired.

Jenna

What do you say about Jenna? She is a really easy going girl. Her biggest interest is miniatures. She loves anything that is smaller than the original. She's got miniature animals, purses, dishes, and even loves Polly pockets over Barbies because they are smaller. She even likes miniature food. Won't eat sandwiches all that well, but if I cut them into smaller triangles (like eigths not fourths) she'll eat them better.

She's pretty independent. Likes to play by herself more than any of the other kids. It is not uncommon for her to just go down to the basement and play. In fact the other day, she was kind of bugging me and so I said, "Why don't you go play in the basement?" And she goes, "But it's scary, I'm afraid of the dark." I told her, "No you're not." And she says, "I know." Our biggest worry though is sometimes when you think that she is just off playing quietly by herself, you'll go and check on her only to find that she's fallen asleep somewhere. Which is a huge bummer because if she takes any sort of nap, she can be up pretty late. So sometimes, we have to assign one of the other kids the job of keeping Jenna awake.

She started dance this year at the same place Melissa takes dance from. She calls the other girls in her class the "Tutu girls." Don't really know how she does, we carpool with the little girl next door, and I haven't ever gone in and watched. They don't really like you to, it seems to distract the girls. She seems to be learning stuff because I'll ask her what she does and she'll show me some moves, like her shuffle step and shuffle toe. I also saw her one day doing one of the dances she's learned standing on the fireplace hearth, using it like a stage.

She is more into dolls than Melissa ever was. And maybe again it is the miniature thing. It is nice because we bought Melissa doll stuff when she was little and she never used it much. Nice to see it getting some use. Jenna is also in a play group one day a week, and she really looks forward to playing with her friends. At church yesturday she spent quite a bit of time trying to scope them all out and see where they were all sitting.

Spencer

Spencer is our proud Kindergartener. He is a big-time boy, loves Star Wars, Ninja Turtles, video games and computer games. I have a hard time keeping him away from the TV and computer monitors. He does play soccer and has a new found interest in riding bikes. The other day he informed me that there were still two sports he wants to try, Basketball and Karate. Hmm... we'll have to see about that. He isn't exactly tall and the karate makes me nervous.

He is also into puzzles. We have a card table that slides under his bed that he can set up in his room and work on a puzzle for a few days without having to put it away. His favorite kind of puzzles to do are the really busy ones. We have one puzzle that we used to play with in my family when we were kids of a bunch of cars and people heading toward the Super Dome, for "Super Dome Sunday" (some of you may know what one that is). The thing that drives me crazy, is that usually he just dumps the pieces out on the table in a pile and then starts putting it together, that's right, a 500 piece puzzle and no sorting. When he asks me to do the puzzle with him I can't until I have turned all of the pieces over. He's also got a two-sided Darth Vader puzzle that he does the same way, just dumps it out and gets to work.

I just realized that this is starting to sound like a Christmas card, where my kids are these amazing, unrealistic people. Blah, blah, blah, well, I have to start out with all the good stuff, but as time goes by, I am sure that you will hear some of our less than stellar things. For example, Spencer has hair that is a beautiful shade of reddish brown that pictures just don't seem to do it justice, and there are times that his temper matches his hair, only it's not so beautiful.

One funny note about Spencer is he has this keen sence of hearing and smell. His ears kind of stick out a little bit and I think that he just catches everything. You have to be careful what you say even in the other room because he can hear it. The other night I was getting a treat out of the cupboard (he was supposed to be in bed) and he comes in and says, "I thought I heard you getting a treat!" I really was trying to be quiet. I am trying to think of an example of his sence of smell, but none of them are nice, so I guess we'll just leave that alone.

Sorry this is a long time coming. I tried last week, but couldn't upload the picture. And then I just got busy. But, here you go!

Melissa

Melissa is the oldest. She is now 9 years old, and if you were to ask her, sometimes it's great! and other times not. She is pretty much good at everything she does. She loves school, and really enjoys her teacher which I'm glad for. I was worried at first because all of her teacher's up until now have been the big time motherly type and this one, not so much. However, her teacher is big into the reward system. They have raffles (the teacher will pick a number out of the jar and if it's your number you get something like a treat or a pencil), they get C bucks (her teacher's last name is Cox) for answering questions right, or helping out, etc. and they have auctions once a month to purchase things with their C bucks. One day, Melissa came home with a giant sized tennis ball because she was one of four kids who had no missing assignments and had her planner signed every week.

Her biggest interest is dance. She is on a competition dance team and really enjoys it. She would be embarassed for me to say, but she is really good and even dances point (front and center). Two years ago, she did a trio at the competitions and last year was her first solo. She placed first at both competitions both years, but that isn't saying too much because she didn't compete against anyone. For some reason last year when she did the solo, in her age group there were 7 girls who all did Jazz dances and she was the only one to do a Lyrical dance. Which are two separate categories. This year she is doing a Jazz dance and we are hoping that she will actually have the chance to compete against someone. I think it would be a good experience for her.

Just to wrap up her other interests, she loves to read, play with friends and do crafts. She is very artistic and is always coming up with interesting creations. I'm sure as time goes on I will be sharing some of her creations with you. She is also really good at entertaining Spencer, Jenna and Jayden. This is all I have time for today, but I will do posts on the other kids later.

What can I say? It's a good idea...

I have been trying to decide if I wanted to join the blogging world, and then decided...why not? Although a quick disclaimer for anyone reading this, I don't claim to be ANY good at grammar, punctuation or spelling. So, no critics. I figure though, that this would be the best way to keep people posted on what we are up to since I don't email very regularly and don't do a very good job keeping up with people the way I should. I have really enjoyed checking up on other blogs that friends and family are doing, so here it goes.