4-Year Pediatrician Visit

This morning Ben had his 4-year check-up at the doctor. He is doing really well - his hearing and eyesight are perfect, he spelled his name and knew all of the academic questions she asked him. He talked her ear off and his one area of concern - his speech - has seen drastic improvement with his private speech lessons so the doctor said that he is doing so well in that area. His stats are as follows:

Height 42-3/4 inches (92nd percentile)
Weight: 37 lbs. (60th percentile)

His Body Mass Index (BMI) is 8, which means he is on the very low end of being considered "normal weight." The doctor said his height and weight are fine for an active preschooler and there is no need for concern.

He needed 2 shots this morning - Chicken Pox and MMR - and took them like a man. He was brave and only cried for about 2 minutes. The lollipop he got afterwards seemed to instantly cure any pain or trauma from the shots :)

Garden

Tonight our friend Steve brought his John Deere tractor over and helped Andrew till the ground for our very first garden! Yes, we have grown a fair amount of vegetables in large pots and have had several herb gardens but this is the first time we will have a full-fledged garden in our yard. Andrew has plans for corn and all sorts of fruits and vegetables so we are eager to see how the harvest turns out!

I was watching the kids and putting Abigail to bed for the majority of their work time, when I finally remembered to take some pictures. So, I didn't get any of Andrew driving the tractor. But, here are pictures anyways of the guys preparing the ground. We will plant our crops in the ground very soon; they have been incubating in our house for several weeks now and are close to being ready to be moved outside.

New Rooms

We finally finished up the new rooms for all of the kids and have everyone moved in - Ben has his big boy room on our third level (formerly our attic). Nate has Ben's old room with new decor and, with this, he sleeps in a big bed now. Abby is in the nursery, which we have kept the same as before but added some girly touches to make it more feminine. She is doing really well in her own room and transitioned perfectly to the big crib. She has been sleeping for 12 hours straight at night, so this move has been great for all of us since she was still waking up beforehand.

I have pictures of Ben's new room on our Big Move blog since it documents an actual home improvement we did to the house by fixing up the attic, instead of merely redecorating. But, here is a photo of Ben enjoying his new room!


And here is Nate in his sports-themed room. Andrew used to have an All-Star room when he was younger so we were able to incorporate many of his old accessories, such as decorative Yankees baseballs, a sports lamp, a large picture and some book ends. We still need to hang some hooks up for Nate's towel and hats, etc. so those will go underneath the ball pictures that seem to be hanging too high!

Finally, Abby's room. We have a gender neutral nursery theme of gingham checks, animals and alphabets. To make it appear more feminine, I incorporated some flowers and trees and some girly bugs. We figure that all of these things go together in nature so why not in a nursery! I also incorporated some satin bows to give it some feminine flair.

Here are some pictures of her room, one of them with Miss Abby herself on her changing table!

I made the green frame for her myself with some pretty stickers I had in my scrapbooking supplies. If you cannot tell, it says Abigail in silver rhinestones. This helped to make the green linen mat seem much more feminine!

Here is another creation I made for her room, an abstract tree with the trunk being an outline of her actual little hand! My friend Julia found this idea on the Internet and forwarded it over to me. I just love it and what a nice reminder of how tiny her hand was at 5 months old :)

Sleeping

So this was how we found Benjamin when Andrew went upstairs a few minutes ago to bring him down to use the bathroom one last time tonight. He is like the Energizer Bunny and never wants to stop moving; this picture looks like he fell asleep mid-activity...when he should have been in his bed trying to go to sleep, not playing, anyways!

Easter 2010

Easter for us started the weekend before the actual holiday at a local Easter festival and egg hunt at a church around the corner from our house. So, we met up with our friends the Kriebels and headed over despite the freezing temperaures. Nothing like wearing your winter coat on Easter to really put a damper on the holiday! Even so, we had a fun time and the kids had a good time hunting for eggs.

Miss Abby all decked out in her pink fur coat for this springtime holiday :)

The hunt!

The whole gang after the egg hunt. Samantha was our little winner amongst our group, gathering more eggs than everyone else combined!

The best part: counting the loot!

Next up: face painting. Ben got a basketball and Nate got a baseball on their cheeks.

And so another week passes and we are now into the actual Easter weekend. Easter is a time to celebrate Jesus rising from the grave, a time to rejoice and relish in all of the splendour of the world that God has created for us. And what better way to do this than to be given a picture-perfect 75 degree weekend with blue skies, still winds and an overall reminder that spring really is here. Wow, what a change from last weekend!

We were at Pop and Nana's for the holiday weekend this year and on Saturday, we took the kids to a local Easter festival in their town. We had breakfast with the Easter bunny, saw an Easter show and went on another egg hunt.

Abby is happy to have nice weather for our second try at an egg hunt this year!

Mommy and Nate not paying attention during the Easter puppet show :)

The hunt is on! This church really hid the eggs for Ben's age group so he had fun trying to find them (and so did Daddy!)

Each child was given an empty egg carton so that they could gather 12 eggs and so that nobody was left without any eggs. Well, Nate was the one left without any eggs since more kids showed up for this age group than expected. But, luckily, a few nice moms asked their children to give Nate one or two of their eggs so, with a little help, he did wind up with some findings. Aww, poor little Natey! It was almost a true Charlie Brown moment :)

Nana helping Nate to collect his goodies out of the plastic eggs.

Our next Easter activity was dyeing eggs with Mommy, Daddy, Pop and Nana. This was the first year that this activity was really a lot of fun since both boys were really into it. We did wind up with some cracked eggs, but, hey - that's why they were hardboiled, right?

Our creations....

That night, Nana and Mommy were getting Abby bathed and ready for bed and the men were in charge of the boys. As if that isn't obvious, given the state of their unkempt hair!! But regardless, they were all ready for bed and came downstairs to each lay out one carrot for the Easter bunny to gnaw on (after Abby had "chosen" her carrot!).

The next morning. The Easter bunny has arrived! Anything not on the couch was the result of a last minute trip to the Christmas Tree Shops for Nana and Mommy the day before. Not at all intended, but don't you just love a bargain? :)

Benjamin, looking like an old man in his dark truck socks (new in his Easter basket!) and sandals, as he weed whacks the yard.

Nate in his "ockles" (aka goggles) as he leaf blows the yard on Easter Sunday. No, I will NOT smile for this picture, Mom....

...but I will smile for you! :)

The Martin gals :) Finally, I love this photo of Mom, Chang, me and Abby, all of the Caulfield women.

"Ockles"

We love Black and Decker play tools in our house, especially the ones that come with safety goggles, or "ockles," as Nate calls them. Here he is in his ockles today, upside down and twisted across his face!!

Photoshoot

Abby looked so cute today that I couldn't resist getting out the camera, making her smile and taking a few shots. Enjoy!