First week at home

Wingman has to be the most excited big brother!  She tolerates his constant hugging and kissing very well.

 We were so thankful to have my mom here.  She kept the boys while we were at the hospital and was generally very helpful after we were home.  Here's a little smile from Baby K while Nana holds her.

I am now a mama to 4 kids!  I am one blessed lady.

Grandave came down as well.  He cooked/grilled some amazing food, ran errands, and played with the boys.  We were all so sad to see Nana and Grandave leave.

Our first family portrait.

Baby Kate

She's finally here.  Katherine Leisa Apel was born Tuesday, April 17 at 2:21pm.  She weighed 8lbs and 15oz, 21 inches long.  We are going to call her "Kate."  She was pretty calm until anyone tried to mess with her then she wails.

Baby Kate with mom and dad.

The brothers have been so excited to meet their new sister.  Crash was at school so he got to meet her later in the day.

The boys have kissed her head about a thousand times.  They wonder why she sleeps so much.  They have asked a lot of funny questions.  We are glad to be home with our new baby Kate.

Sick day 3 amigo style

We affectionately refer to the boys as the 3 amigos.  They would go everywhere and do everything together.  

One day Crash woke up with a fever and not feeling very well.  I got him set up on the couch with all the necessary items (gatorade, blanket, pillow, movie) for his sick day.  

I returned to the living room a little while later to discover that the other brothers had declared they should have a sick day too.  They had camped out with their provisions.

Even when you are sick, you have to have all 3 amigos together.

Ready for baby girl

Well, the baby bedding finally arrived.  It turned out great.  It's a mix of lavender toile with polka dots and stripes.

There's some of her ballerina prints hanging over the crib.  It's hard to tell from the pictures, but her walls are painted a light lavender.

The Captain and I made coordinating grommet curtains.  Ok, I have a big confession- The Captain did probably 2/3 of the work.  After cutting them out, I was too tired to care.  And truthfully, sewing just isn't my thing.  As much as I would like it to be, it just isn't.  Oh well!  Now you know, my husband is truly amazing.

And now, we are just waiting for the baby...

The benefit of legos

Lest anyone thinks that the countless legos in my house and the untold hours those boys have spent playing with them have gone to waste...

Crash won first prize at Kindergarten for building the tallest marshmallow tower!

I wish I had a picture.  The teacher said his was 5 and 3/8 inches tall.  It wasn't just a tower.  They had to do some engineering with toothpicks which was totally self-directed.

Crash and Daddy were very proud!

He's been discharged!!!!

As of this week, Crash has been officially discharged from speech therapy!  We have been going for 3 years almost to the week.  This is momentous.  He started when he was 3 years old with a 2 year delay, so his language was like a 1 year old.  He has finished at 6 years old, with totally age appropriate language and some areas scoring at a 7 year old.

We have gone twice a week for so many years, we won't know what to do with the extra time.  We have spent countless dollars, but it was so worth it.  I can communicate with my boy!

He still has some trouble with understanding abstract concepts.  He is a concrete thinker, but we have also learned that his learning style is much more tactile and visual than verbal.  That will benefit as we go forward in schooling.

I cried with tears of joy!

Crash actually cried, but in tears of sadness.  Miss Krista and I told him that it was to be his last visit and he was really disappointed.  To Miss Krista's credit, I don't think he realized he was having speech therapy twice a week for 3 years.  He thought he was going to play one on one with a really nice lady and her toys.  He is sad to be leaving his friend.

I tried to make a big deal out of "graduating".  The family all went out for Culver's frozen custard that night to celebrate.  I did get a little smile, which was quickly followed by "but I just like Miss Krista."

I am a little sad too.  She has been such a huge part of our lives for a long time.  She has walked us through all sorts of communication issues throughout the years.  I can't recommend Miss Krista enough.  We will always be grateful for the help she gave to our family.

Happy Easter!

Here's a shot of all my handsome men on Easter morning!

Pictures always turn out better (more smiles) when daddy is behind me making all sorts of silly faces.

It dawned on me that I might get more shots of the Captain and I if we taught the Test Pilot to use the camera.  He did pretty good for his first attempt.

So I was diligent trying to teach my boys about the true meaning of Easter.  We read scripture, used Resurrection eggs, and read some books.  What do I hear all during the Easter sermon on Sunday morning from Wingman?  "I want to go home and hunt eggs," was repeated about 200 times during the lesson.  Oh well!  That boy.

Here he is doing a victory dance after finding an egg.  

We had to make life a little more challenging for the Test Pilot.  A lot of his eggs made their up trees, walls, and the house.

Crash was so enthralled to find a "golden" egg.  I never would have guessed it would be so special.

They had fun eating their spoils and trading the spoils.  They are picky candy eaters.  We broke a couple dozen of confetti eggs and enjoyed the afternoon as a family.

Spring soccer

It's that time of year again- spring soccer.  All 3 boys are playing this season.  We have been fortunate to have great coaches and so far everyone is having lots of fun.

Crash is on the same team as in the fall.  The coach is so patient and encouraging with him.

Wingman is positively giddy to be playing.  He has literally been on the soccer fields since he was 7 weeks old.  I have enjoyed watching his practices and hear him giggle out there.  Not surprising, he is pretty good for a 1st timer.

There's another red headed boy on his team, who looks nothing like him but coach keeps mixing up their names.

I don't have any pictures of Test Pilot's game, because all 3 boys played at the same time and there were only 2 parents.  We will watch his game next week.  He has been playing lots of goalie and some defense.  He seems to be enjoying himself.  

QU Wedding

Last week Crash's class had a QU wedding.  They had been learning about how the letter "u" always follows the letter "q" in words.  The week culminated in a wedding between "q" and "u" as they now will never be separated.  It was the cutest thing and I am sure those kids will never forget it.

All the boys dressed up as quarterbacks and the girls dressed as queens.  Here's Crash escorting his queen down the aisle.

Here's all the queens.  Those girls were dolled up and so excited!

Here's all the quarterbacks.  Crash was really excited for this day to come.  He liked wearing the helmet we borrowed even though it was 3 sizes too big.

They had a wedding reception to follow.  Just one more reason we love Mrs. C.  It was a great day!