November

It looks like I've been negligent around here again...sorry!

November passed quickly this year - we had a visit from my parents early in the month, D's birthday in the middle, and a camping excursion at the end...some quicky updates and pics:

OP loved working with Gpa during his visit:

The boys are starting to really play well together:

E is loving school, making new friends this year, enjoying the new teacher, and getting ready to be SIX on Xmas Eve:

OP is busy-busy. He enjoys exploring the house, going up and down our single stair, escaping outside with his siblings, and eating like a teenager!

C is doing great at school - she produced a play for the talent show, is still a reading machine, and continues to be a fantastic helper at home, especially playing and helping with the babies.

Thanksgiving weekend we headed out East, near Safford, AZ, and stayed in a great little State Park cabin:

 

We had to break out our winter wear and fleece blankets for chilly mornings and nights

C seems to have warmer blood than some of us!

 

 

OP loved being outside so much!

There was a great playground, artesian spring (with minnows!) and kid-friendly hike nearby:

At the end of the hike was an interpretive Indian village, with examples of different houses used by local peoples over the years...our favorite was the pueblo:

 

...though the mud hut was fun, too!

Evidence that I was also on this trip...

 

Our cabin was nestled among the cattails, which provided hours of entertainment for the big kids:

What is a camping trip without marshmallows?

Our trip ended with a double rainbow to guide us home...(of course, that was nearly impossible to capture on camera):

...and that pretty much wraps up last month for the Bass gang!

Four in one!

Four kids, one picture, that is...

And for a change, mama!

If you want to see more, here you go :)






Happy November everyone!

Halloween 2009

A few pictures from tonight...hoping for some better pics in the morning (I know, I know). We went to the LDS church 2 streets up for the annual chili/fry bread/root beer dinner...got back just before 7, and kids were too excited or too tired to want to pose for me. I got nothing post-worthy of my skeleton boy, but here are my two bats and a witch:

Hope you all had a haunted Halloween!

This week

Monday
    not much happened - went for a walk to a nice park on the canal system...with a big new climbing structure for L

Tuesday
    L had his weekly playgroup, which was a little Halloween party. I dressed up both the boys in easy-travel costumes...

This super easy skeleton has also been worn and loved by both big sisters...

C, 2003

C, 2004

E, 2005

Wednesday
     Got called around 10 to pick up C from school, as she was feverish and lethargic. She and L watched movies most of the afternoon.

Thursday
     Never left the house!

Friday
     (a little ahead of myself)

The girls have a half day and the school Fall Festival, which we'll all attend. I made aprons to contribute to the money-raising raffle...

Side A1

Side B1

Side A2

Side B2

My smallest helper:

Halloween Dry Run

D took the Big Three to Boo at the Zoo this morning, while I stayed home with a very toasty and sad little OP.

After a dose of Tylenol, OP is doing slightly better, but he spent the morning dozing on my chest and whining :(

Now L appears to be hot and acting the same way, so it looks like another round of sick for the Bass Crew.

Pre-Halloween Boys

I embellished these overalls for L last year...




And realized with a little length addition, they would still fit this year! So I added Halloween fabric to the cuffs (you can just see the spider/bat fabric to the left of O), and decorated a matchy-matchy pair for O today...excuse the totally unmatching shirts (tie dye and Hanna PJs, anyone?), but here are my boys tonight:


(sorry, it was a cell phone pic)

And a few more...for good measure :)

O's back (note the opposite but similar decorations):


A slightly better shot at the newly extended O'alls from last year...



My sweetie smiley baby:


The Big Three:



Stay tuned for pumpkin patch pics of the whole crew soon :)

Labor Day camping pictures

We went to the Mogollon Rim camping for Labor Day weekend...had a ball! L keeps asking us, "more camping?" Soon!

Mid-October Catch-Up

Greetings, dear readers. Apologies for the lack of action once again...quick updates for now:

*chicken pox came and left rather uneventfully. C and L have had problems with picking, leaving scars and wounds...I'm giving them all Vitamin E orally and topically, hoping to minimize the longevity of said scars.

*we traveled to San Diego - me in a minivan with four kids for over six hours...and you know what? They were all fantastic! I moved seats around and ended up with E and O in the way back, C and L in the middle. E was incredible keeping the baby happy and fed...I loved watching her rise to the challenge and simply shine! D flew over on Friday night and we came home Monday.

*my mom took us to Legoland - it was PERFECT for my crew! We also had passes from a local friend and D and I took the kids to SeaLand...again, spent a lovely day - how can a sunny day in San Diego be bad?

*OP is crawling - not just army style anymore - eating everything he can, and having a "must be held" stage...good thing I have that tiny little babywearing collection (ha!).



*D and I got our passport applications submitted - the first step towards India!

*L is the most amazingly agile little kid...and a bit of a daredevil too. I will not be surprised if we end up with some ER trips with this one...

*E and C continue to love school; C's reading has not slowed, E is getting quite good herself. C has chess once a week after school, and it's really fun to see how excited she is about it.

*Our garage door died...one was DOA when we moved here, and we'd limped along with the other...they were the cheap-o aluminum, non-insulated hand-opening kind. Even the operational door was barely so - the hardware was long missing/broken, but doors weren't really high on our list. However, when the springs busted, leaving a guillotine that only D could actually lift to open, it was time to bit the bullet. We had both replaced, and couldn't be happier! I even have the little magic button in my car now, so I pull up to the house, and voila! Open door.



That's about it. Again, I sign off with promises to be better.

Pox Times Four

It all started with E, a few weeks ago. Just a single red spot on her side...the next morning, she was crowned our Polka-dot Princess. Fourteen days later, Princess Two had spots, and within days, both the boys joined the Spot Club! E is back at school, but I've been home all week with three poxed kids. Good times.

Fortunately, I know lots of wonderful mamas with kids hoping for pox exposure, so we've had lots of playdates here.

E's case was pretty mild; C has lots of spots (face and torso mainly), but not much itching or other symptoms...the boys are both running hot (102ish), and poor L has TONS of spots on his face, and lots on his torso. Baby OP fortunately only has ~20 spots, thanks in no small part I'm sure to the magic of mama's milk :) This is a long week, but I'm just thrilled that all four kids will have immunity now, and it will all be over relatively quickly!

Here's poor L, looking hazy-eyed, drowsy and poxy...



Next week: San Diego!

Glasses.

Yep, C is now officially a member of the four-eyes club (no shocker, looking at her mom and dad). The poor girl is quite near-sighted (as in, 20/200) at just seven years old. At least they came in her favorite color: purple.

Chicken pox!

Last Friday E came home from school with a few small red dots on her trunk...by Saturday, she had broken out in full-on chicken pox! She has been an absolute champ dealing with them - hardly any complaints, not too itchy, and really not that many spots altogether. She is mostly scabbing over today, so definitely this weekend will no longer be contagious...thank goodness, as this mama needs a break from the house!

Fortunately we have plenty of friends who are willing to expose their kids for natural immunity, so we have been completely isolated...however, when L and C get it (most likely after Sunday, based on the minimum incubation period of 10-20 days), I will officially go stir-crazy! :)

In other news, C is in chess lessons once a week after school - she LOVES it! It's fun to have her so happy about her activity this year.

Little OP is still a smiley, happy little guy...he army crawls all over the house, is finally sitting up (as of today!) and is working on tooth #3. He will be 7 months old next Wednesday.

L is two.

Oh, more than that? He's super busy, Mr. coordinated, jumping, skipping, running, trike-riding...and tends towards the naughty when he can get away with it (as in hitting brother, climbing on the counter...etc.). He is the best ever helper though, and charms us all with his expressions and beautiful eyes. He is also finally talking a ton, and his vocabulary has exploded over the last few weeks.

We are off to San Diego on the 2nd of October for nine days (catch that, D and N!?) while the girls are on Fall Break.

The last big news: D and I are going to New Delhi, India, for 10 days in February for my baby sister's wedding! Yep, alone. As in, NO KIDS. We owe it all to my parents for offering up the tickets, and my aunt in SD who called to say she would take the kids...eek! We will be missing OP's first bday, but there is always time to celebrate. I think we are all looking forward to it!

Monday's Child...

Remember this rhyme?

Monday's child is fair of face,

Tuesday's child is full of grace,

Wednesday's child is full of woe

Thursday's child has far to go,

Friday's child is loving and giving,

Saturday's child works hard for a living,

But the child who is born on the Sabbath Day

Is bonny and blithe and good and gay.

Well, according to that...

Oliver is fair of face; Clara is full of grace; Dan, Elfie and Liam are all full of woe; and I have far to go...

Don't remember what day of the week you were born? Enter your bday here, just for kicks ;)

A few more

This was the best of quite a few shots of the four kids all together...


OP had some frozen banana in a mesh feeder last night...I thought it might feel good on his gums - he LOVED it!



OP weighed in today at 17 lb 14 oz and 26 inches...surprisingly, quite average height and weight, despite what a look at his thighs might make you think :)

Toothage!

Master OP popped his first tooth today. It does help explain the horrible night we had last night, the extra grumpiness he exhibited all day, and the low-grade fever he has been running all day. All in all, a miserable little thing today :(

He is five days shy of six months, and did not follow the pattern his older sibs had set for first teeth:

C - 6 months on the dot
E - 6 months and one day
L - 6 months and two days

So he is our "early baby" so far with birth and teeth...will that trend continue? Hmmmm....

Fashion show (aka gratuitous kid pics)

New duds from Gma P arrived today for the girls...

Camping, round one.

Friday, D came home from work a bit early so we could head North for camping. Hoping to minimize traffic issues heading out of the city, we picked up the girls about 20 minutes early from school and headed on out.


This was our first camping trip with the four kids, and the first tent camping we've done with the boys. A friend and her four boys were going to the Flagstaff KOA, so we elected to join them and save the rougher style camping for a non-inaugural run.

We made great time getting there, set the big borrowed tent up


(thanks, Aunt B), and went exploring the campground. The kids had a ball on the playground, a seemingly silly destination for a camping trip, but a bit of a treat for our Phoenix kids, for whom playgrounds are currently off-limits (too hot!). We pulled in to a comfortable 79 degrees (proof courtesy of our van):





D and I treated ourselves to Late for the Train lattes, took the kids to the best toy store, and stopped by New Frontiers (in its fancy new digs) for yummy food...

All in all, an uneventful and pleasant weekend. We look forward to going again, to a little more secluded spot perhaps, up in the cool, tall pines...

Mama's Little Helper

Friday, while madly rushing around the house, trying to entertain the boys and pack for our camping trip, I momentarily lost track of L. Now, this was not a panic kind of lost, as the doors were securely latched, and he often plays in his room (or the girls' room) alone. However, I went looking around the corner for him, and much to my (very pleasant) surprise, found him busy at work in the laundry room, diligently emptying the clean and dry diapers from the dryer into a laundry basket!

He even remembered the lint trap:


...and then he closed the door behind him, and pushed the basket back to my room!


(what, don't you wear swim tops, underwear and fleece-lined Crocs all summer, too?)