A Year of Viva (and some Evan)

I am a disorganized blog writer.  I keep a folder on my desktop where I throw copies of pictures that I think I might want to post, but I don't clean out my picture folder very often.  For some reason I have quite the collection of Viva left in there, going back more than a year to when Evan was a tiny guy.  So, I present, a year of Viva the great. :)

Cuddling baby brother:

More recently, practicing her needle position on the balance beam:

Sleeping.  I never grow tired of pictures of sleeping kids.  They always look so sweet!

With a slightly older Evan (I also never grow tired of pictures of kids cuddling!):

Reading.  Always!

Love this expression.

 Planting her strawberries in our earth box (last summer!):

Jake Boy

A lovely winter wonderland and a good looking boy in it!  We live in a beautiful place!

P.S. - This kid is in need of a hair cut in this picture... his fault, not mine.  His older brother asked for a hair cut but Jake told me he was enjoying his hairy state and refused to be shorn.  Ah well.  Cute either way!

Some Dogs Do

Lincoln enjoys his books in a particular way - the same ones read over and over and over.  Until suddenly we're done with one and a new favorite is picked up.  A recent favorite of his (which I enjoyed too!) is Some Dogs Do - it's about Sid, a dog who can fly.  Other recent favorites are the Brown Bear Brown Bear collection, and We're Going on a Bear Hunt.

Recent favorites that are NOT favorites of mine?  Curious George.  And more Curious George.  Some of the George books aren't bad, but others leave me confused.  Why does George get praised for getting into trouble and then helping to fix a small part of the mess he created?  I don't get it.  But I won't get started on a George rant.... :)

The Lego Room

No inventory of toys in our home would be complete until the Legos have been accounted for. Over the past five years tens of thousands of Legos have been brought into our home. So where are they? 

The newest Chima set is on display on the top of the toy shelves in the main family room. There is a file box filled with Monster Fighter sets in the game closet downstairs. In Bentley, Jake and Viva's bedroom there is a large plastic storage bin of Star Wars sets in the closet and seven to ten completed Lego sets on display on the bookshelf. My bedroom closet is home to the Death Star, my minifigure collection, and opa's Creator and Architecture sets as well as his stockpile of new sets. We have a shelving unit in our bedroom filled with bins containing the bulk of opa's Lego sets and Viva's Friends sets. 

This however does not account for the bulk of the Lego collection in our home. No way. We haven't gotten to Matt's Lego collection (the biggest in the house), Jake and Bentley's Lego sets, and the Craig's' List bonanza from two years ago. All of these treasures are in the upstairs family room.  

At first glance you might not believe that there are tens of thousands of Legos stored here. I'm pretty amazed at how little space they take up! Kara thinks they take up way too much space--and they do--but it's still surprising to me that they fit in two bookshelves, two Nilo storage bins, a Nilo table, three large containers, and a shelf above the fireplace! 

The Nilo table with its Lego/Duplo plates. I recently changed the plates from the Lego side to the Duplo side. Lincoln is a good builder, but Jake built the large structure you can see in this photo. Under the table are two large bins. At the top of the bins are trays with dividers filled with Legos (people, animals, car parts, arches, trees, fences, etc.) and under the trays are stored dozens of Lego sets. To the left of the table are two large shallow storage containers overflowing with the Duplo collection.

Above the fireplace are a few completed Lego sets. Until recently the two larger buildings were on the floor where Lincoln enjoyed playing with them.

The two bookcases are mainly filled with Legos. 30+ containers store sorted and unsorted Legos. One shelf holds six large notebooks containing Lego instruction manuals. On top of the shelves are a few new Lego sets (Matt's). On the bottom shelf is a small drawer cabinet that stores smaller Lego pieces. In addition there are three flip top divided bin clear storage units for small pieces. Next to the shelves is a large container filled with some of the Legos from Kara's Craig's List score. The rest of the Craig's List purchase are on the bookshelves in bins and bags. 

Littered on the floor (and the Nilo table) are Lego structures that have been recently built. Every few months I help the boys take apart their structures so they have room to build new ones. Jake remains the number one Lego builder in the house!

It's Good to Have a Bro

Yes, I'll admit it... posts with titles such as this are common on my blog.  But with 4 boys it's to be expected, right?  The Evan-Lincoln relationship is shaping up nicely.  I'm sure Lincoln didn't believe me, back when Evan was tiny and new, that he would turn into a great playmate.  But time worked its magic and now they are great buddies!  If you define best buddies as the type that sometimes clobber you on the head with drumsticks or pull your hair for you when you're strapped into your highchair and can't escape.  Which, according to the books I've read, is a boy's definition of love.  Sometimes... sometimes they play quietly:

The Three Amigos

Opa took this picture of the children via the rearview mirror of the truck, while driving (he says he was at a stop light.... !).  Aren't they cute?  They were reciting the "Going on a Bear Hunt" book while on the road.

The kids saw the Lego Movie with their father a few weeks ago, and declared it so amazing that they thought Opa should see it in the theater.  So he graciously took them with him to see it last night!

I think he sent me this picture because he is auditioning for role of child chauffeur.  If he's not careful he'll be hired.  The benefits aren't tangible but they are, nonetheless, many and awesome.  :)

Large Toy Domain

The downstairs family room is where the children build forts. They move the couches (they are on plastic sliders) and rearrange anything else they can move. They get the play tunnels out of the toy closet, pull the couch cushions from the couch, and use all the TV blankets in the room to create their fort. They spend more time building their forts than they do playing in them. Besides being a perfect location for forts, the downstairs family room is home to the children's larger toys such as the mini-trampoline, the stand alone punching bag, the fabric playhouse, the oversized doll house, the play kitchen, and Lincoln and Evan's battery operated ride on cycle. 

Other toys in this room include a Fisher Price toddler piano, a LeapFrog learning Table, the majority of the children's stuffed animal collection (stuffed into three orange bean bags and on top of the corner fireplace), two bins of wooden blocks, a large container of Mega Bloks, and a few puzzles.

Also located downstairs is the toy and game overflow closet. It contains toys and puzzles being rotated out of use for a few months, the children's dress-up clothes, our household's game collection, and other items that need to be stored somewhere out of sight. (I love big closets. If I designed a house, a quarter of it would be closets.)

Here Be Toys

Our home has many toys and games. The children are blessed to have two parents, five grandparents, and four great-grandparents all of whom have contributed toys and games to our home. We have children from one year to eight years, so we have infant toys, toddler toys, preschool toys, and older children toys. Soon we will give away the infant toys. In just a few years the preschool toys will find new homes. I wanted to record what our home is like at this stage in our family life.  

The main floor family room contains the majority of the children's toys, games and puzzles because the main floor is where they spend most of their waking hours. We have a wall of shelving units half of which are open and half of which contain bins. The bins contain such treasures as small balls, big balls, Little People toys, dinosaurs, stuffed animals, dolls, vehicles, musical instruments, and so on. The open shelves are filled with games, puzzles, and larger toys that don't fit well in the bins.

The back wall of the family room has built in book shelves and cupboards. The cupboards are filled with...can you guess?... toys and games. 

There is a Nilo table which has two bins under it filled with construction toys (Magformers, Zoobs, and Citiblocs). 

Not photographed are Lincoln and Evan's ride on cars. The cars are currently found on the main floor (sometimes they are stored downstairs) because they are quite popular right now with the two little ones. Vroom! Vroom!

More Fun From Vegas!

Matt is a vacation over-achiever.  I don't think he knows you're supposed to sit around and stare off into space while on vacation.  :)  

They checked out some cool parks.  Like this one:

Tyler showed up and Bentley talked him into playing some games with him!

They went to some museums:

NASCAR!  Apparently there was an exciting race when Dale Earnhardt Jr ran out of fuel 4 seconds before the end of the race and someone beat him by 1 second.  Ouch!

Ball with Tyler.

Another museum shot!

Kid in the aquarium display.

Yet more play time!  Apparently Bentley got up at 6:30 a few mornings so he could go on a walk with Grandpa Tim.  Grandpa walked and he rode his scooter.

Vegas night life!

Cool dinosaur bones.

Bumper cars!

Another ride!

Golf.  Good times.

Off they go!  Hoover Dam.

Bentley baked Tyler's cake.

They went to see a basketball game.  Gonzaga won.

Headphones for NASCAR.  :)

Eating Tyler's cake!

More blue skies and green grass.

And a cute kid.

Another game of golf!

Coming home!

Wow!  That was a busy seven days.  Glad they had fun!