More Pictures than Anyone Could Possibly Care About

There are over 400 pictures here. Consider yourself warned.

Olivia at school:

Gretchen at school:

Kaitlyn at school:

Pictures at Grandma and Grandpa's:

A project done at the neighbor's house:

With Rudy and August:

Our basement work in progress:

Kids playing on the clubhouse:

Discovering a dinosaur unicorn bone:

Theodore:

A chilly bright week hike:

And a chilly bright week softball game:

Matching masks from Oma!

Gretchen made this dress. It's held together primarily with scotch tape, so durability might be an issue:

Gretchen at a friend's bowling birthday party:

This is not a current picture. Jillian, James, Johannah, fall 2005?

Olivia's piano recital. And with her friend, Elaine. May 2021.

At Bryan's cousin's wedding. June 2021.

Some friends spotted Kaitlyn and Bryan at the store:

The Smiths Visit:

The boys use the rug as a blanket:

New haircuts for the boys! Carrie cut the hair and took the pictures.

Theodore at grandma's house. Probably roaring.

Matthias's birthday:

Pool party at grandma's:

More pictures from grandma and grandpa's:

Dinner at the Met. Not pictured: Bryan. Or dinner.

I can't remember what this picture was supposed to prove.

Matthias's dream vacation with grandma and grandpa:

Baking for the cookie walk:

Kaitlyn and Matthias hold Samuel:

Gretchen reads to her brothers:

I told Bryan not to touch the dough before baking it. He has regrets.

Fancy dresses:

Someone thought our calendar would be better if all the magnets were flipped over.

And oil change:

Planting a forest of maple tresse:

Snow, two days after we planted the trees:

Migraine Johannah looks like a strung out celebrity:

He thinks he fits. He's wrong:

At least Theodore put on boots:

Gretchen's unicorn birthday cake, more pictures of the dinosaur unicorn bone discovery, and other birthday happenings:

A new lego table:

Miscellaneous family pictures:

This is how we discovered that Theodore could open jar lids.

Playing with buckets:

The Weys visit:

Everyone stores their colored pencils in a slice of bread:

Gymnastics awards:

Matthias is very proud of this dragon he got me:

Me: Take this Styrofoam directly to the trash can. Do not shred it all over the floor.

Girls:

Such helpful boys:

Pictures for grandma:

A new project -- extend the patio:

Grandma wanted more options:

Bryan spends a lot of time buried under toys:

Making faces:

Snug as a bug:

We made a dinner cake:

Theodore uses a fancy glass:

Gretchen's summer baseball experience:

Take 9 women to Ikea... Yes, all those carts are ours.

Preparing for a pillow fight:

Adding detail to reverse coloring pages:

More Keshia and Tyler's house pictures:

And more bucket pictures:

Someone got into the pantry:

Zoo pictures:

Twin dinosaurs:

Poor sick baby:

Matthias: Mom, I spy... A ball!

Gretchen's fashion statement:

Matthias got a punching dinosaur for his birthday:

A dinosaur cake:

Kaitlyn's inventinve spelling:

Theodore likes to pick one thing each shopping trip to be his favorite:

4 out of 5 down for the count:

This is life as the fifth:

Relaxing:

Packed to the brim for a week long series of trips:

A failed selfie of 9 people:

Me:

Art projects:

Counting cans:

Olivia is 10:

Kaitlyn and Kevin:

Walter is taller:

The finished patio. We did eventually get rid of the cage.

Picking up uniforms for Kaitlyn:

Theodore found a slug:

Playing in the sprinkler:

Watching a movie:

First (or maybe third?) day of school:

All pictures are growl worthy:

Baking a cake:

Theodore's birthday:

So much regret:

Gretchen took an art class:

Hiding from the video game police:

The gateway color. September 2021.

Mom and Theo:

Curious boys:

Theodore thought he'd improve the calendar:

Pockets!

Matthias shut Theodore in the cage so he could eat his lunch in peace:

I lost Matthias. When I followed the snores, he was rolled up in the rug.

Gretchen got a chance to play goalie:

School pictures:

Reading together:

The girls found dress up clothes from my childhood:

Making applesauce:

A new haircut:

She didn't buy these glasses, but they made her laugh:

Bryan's least favorite place to find children: In the doorway.

Us:

And me:

We rearranged to watch moveis:

Visiting the Bossards:

When Theo's seat faces the front he deals with the sun like this:

Out of batteries:

Organizing Qwirkle:

Playing with the boys:

Samuel at his baptism. Feb 6, 2021.

Olivia at school. May 2021. We need to work on that Aufdemberge slouch:

I fixed our clock to show Matthias's most import ant times of day. Purple is when his sisters come home. Green is when we have screen time. Pink is bedtime.

Enjoying the trampoline on a mild December day:

A roller skating dance party:

Our Christmas picture:

Presents at Grandma and Grandpa's:

Decorating sugar cookies:

Matthias thinks he looks like Uncle Tyler:

Video games:

Ticket to Ride:

A nap in the kitchen:

Full of Christmas spirit:

Thanksgiving with the cousins.

Theodore, Annemarie, and Joseph find a television:

They have their own beds...

Olivia at her November recital. And Matthias's shoes, because he was the photographer.

Theodore and mom:

A marble run:

Dinosaur life:

Joseph and Theodore play cars and piano:

Bryan didn't match the lightbulbs. Now we have a weird spotlight.

A trip to the zoo:

This is how Olivia's fourth grade teacher announces parent teacher conferences:

The boys liked this giant chair. Matthias liked the giant tires:

Gretch:

Cousins:

Christmas pajamas and pictures:

This is not who we expected to catch playing the wii:

Why are we making this face?

The boys leave their beds for a book-filled sleepover on the floor several times a month:

More cookie walk:

Kaitlyn was a sheep in the Christmas concert:

Slippers. Matthias, Kaitlyn, Theodore:

Ugly sweater day:

Someone found his Christmas gift early:

"We're a three headed monster!"

A potholder dinosaur and a backpack full of dinosaurs.

Hair dye adventures:

His mom bought him this shirt and he loves it. No one knows why on either count:

Applying hair chalk:

A cousin picture with hair chalk:

Kaitlyn visits Rudy:

Post bleach, pre pink dye:

Making fudge and reading a book:

Trying to get a Christmas cousin lineup:

Wrapping Things Up

A few notes to not forget:

Matthias: 41.8 pounds, 42 inches
Theodore: 29 pounds 3 ounces, 36 inches

Kaitlyn lost a tooth. Her third, I believe. Also another one.

Gretchen started guitar lessons.

Olivia and her friend, Elaine, won first place in their level for the Duettist Competition.

Gretchen sewed herself a skirt.

Theodore says "this is?" and "goes here." Obvious meaning, cute presentation.

Kaitlyn takes violin lessons with me. Most weeks.

Matthias and Theodore are into all the dinosaurs. The girls are into LEGO sets and American Girl knockoffs.

Our Alexa plays a surprising amount of late 90s music since Kaitlyn learned about "Backstreet's Back" and "Oops, I Did it Again."

I Found This

Sometimes I write blog posts while I'm waiting at gymnastics for the girls to be done. I have to write them in Google Docs (offline) and then transfer them at home. Here's one that I wrote back in mid-May and then forgot to transfer. Some of the information will be things you've already seen, but presented slightly differently. Some might be new. Enjoy.

Matthias calls blinking lights “beeping lights.”

On the Monday after Pascha, I managed to drop an entire pot of freshly made Mexican Chicken on the kitchen floor. To add insult to injury, the floor had been newly mopped only an hour before. On Wednesday the little kids and I were slightly late to a picnic lunch because I was busy packing our basket and didn’t get out the door on time. Somehow in the confusion of getting out the door I managed to step right over the basket and so we arrived at our picnic with no lunch. It’s been a good week.

Our fruit trees are old enough that they’re setting fruit! Bryan and I wandered around and located the beginnings of peaches, pears, plums, and apricots. Sadly, the internet tells us we have to prune most of the new fruit off so that our trees don’t break and to encourage more growth next year. Bryan went through our tiny orchard on Thursday and ruthlessly pinched off fruit until he deemed the crops thinned enough.

And since we’re discussing garden things… Bryan planted a bed full of beets this year. He decided to take the worst bed we have and is regretting it now that the weeds have arrived in full force. I started peas, which have come up, and Brussels sprouts, which have not. I also sprinkled lettuce seeds in one bed, very Parable of the Sower-esque, and have had unsatisfactory results. Guess I’ll just have to sprinkle some more. We split our rhubarb crowns last fall and now we have six good rhubarb plants coming up, which is very exciting. Rhubarb is my type of plant.

Ever since his maple syrup experiment, Bryan has been set on filling our front yard with maple trees. He mentioned this to our parks department friend, who brought over 15 saplings for us to plant. We got a few more from the girls’ school when they handed out trees for Earth Day, and now we have somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 tiny maple trees doing their best to survive in our heavy clay soil. A few got hit by rabbits and now they’re all safely fenced and I’m wondering if I need a hunting license to set out rabbit snares. Bryan is wondering if I’d actually go through with snares or butcher the animals should the snares work.

Olivia’s friend Isaiah has a golf cart that he is allowed to drive around his spacious backyard. When we were all over there for a cookout, Isaiah was giving rides to all the kids and got permission from the parents to let anyone 9 or older try driving. And that’s how an 11 year old taught Olivia to drive a golf cart. She did pretty well, actually, although I didn’t watch too long.

Theodore can jump. He’s been able to do a little toe bouncing “jump” for a while now, but in the last couple of weeks he’s perfected getting off the ground. He loves jumping and will demonstrate pretty much anytime. He also utilizes it when he’s mad, jumping in adorable little angry circles around the room. In his rage jumping he gets a little carried away, though, and generally ends up landing quite hard on his bottom before he calms down.

Gretchen decided she might be a conscientious vegetarian. She had a moment mid Lent when she realized that shrimp were animals and had an internal struggle because she likes shrimp but doesn’t want to eat animals. After that point, she informed us that she wasn’t going to eat animals anymore and very diligently checked with me about any food that she suspected of being an animal. Fortunately, during Lent those foods are relatively rare. Unfortunately, my brain doesn’t count shrimp or clams as animals because we can eat them even when we’re mostly vegan, so she had to pick around seafood several times. As soon as we entered into Eastertide, Gretchen hopped off the vegetarian train. I think that since the usual meats don’t resemble actual animals as much as their seafood counterparts, she didn’t realize what all she’d be giving up. For a day or two, she thought maybe she’d be vegetarian except for chicken, but now even that has fallen by the wayside. She’s grown annoyed by me asking if she’s eating this meat or that meat right now and has just resumed her normal eating habits. We’ll see what she does with her next shrimp experience.

Theodore is officially weaned. He made it 19.5 months before I cut him off. Now that he’s done, the neurologist has medications for me to try for my headaches. I’ve been started on amitriptyline, which is supposed to be preventative but also takes up to six weeks to begin working. We shall see. It’s also used as a sleep aid, an antidepressant, and an anxiety reducer, which I learned from the pharmacist when I picked it up. I think she was trying to be reassuring, but it was a little off putting when she kept naming things this might fix and none of them were headaches. When I mentioned that it was prescribed for headaches, she said, “Well, it has a lot of uses.” Perfect.

Theodore is our best hand and face cleaner, by which I mean he is most patient (sometimes even excited) during the after meal wipedown. He makes up for it by being our worst car seat buckler and diaper change endurer. Both of those have improved significantly in the past two weeks and he now suffers through them relatively gracefully, provided I let him do the buckles. He even willingly walks to his changing table in his room when I tell him it’s time for a new diaper. He does not willingly get in the carseat, as there are so many more exciting things to do both on the way to the car and once he’s inside.

Theodore has reached an annoying milestone: he must have a fork. He cannot use said fork, and so is much more frustrated during mealtimes because he knows the fork is important but can’t manage to use it to transfer food to his mouth. And since he’s been feeding himself (with his fingers) for months now, he doesn’t want to let me help him. Mealtimes are now a noisy battle during which Theodore alternately loves and hates his fork.

Bonus Post: Sound Bites 62

Olivia: When Matthias is very old, like in his 20s...

Matthias: This is a slobbery baby. Maybe the Miroglios got the wrong one?

Gretchen: I'm making an office. Do you have a box as tall as a refrigerator and as long as a piano? Maybe I could just order a refrigerator attached to a piano. OR I could order a refrigerator AND a piano! And get free shipping!

Matthias: When I am 100, church will be broken, because 100 is very big.

Matthias: One hundred and one, one hundred and two, one hundred and three, one hundred and four, one hundred and five, one hundred and six, one hundred and seven, one hundred and eight, one hundred and niiiine, infinity! Infinity and one, infinity and two, infinity and three, infinity and four, infinity and five, infinity and six, infinity and seven, infinity and eight, infinity and niiiiiine, a thousand! A thousand and one, a thousand and two, a thousand and three, a thousand and four, a thousand and five, a thousand and six, a thousand and seven, a thousand and eight, a thousand and niiiiiiiiiine, dun dun dun, bajillion! Bajillion and one, bajillion and two, bajillion and three, bajillion and four, bajillion and five, bajillion and six, bajillion and seven, bajillion and eight, bajillion and niiiiiine, miles! Miles and one, miles and two, miles and three, miles and four, miles and five, miles and six, miles and seven, miles and eight, miles and niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine, dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun, GOOGOL! Googol and one, googol and two, googol and three, googol and four, googol and five, googol and six, googol and seven, googol and eight, googol and niiiiiiine, done.

Matthias: ...

Matthias: Done and one, done and two, done and three, done and four, done and five, done and six, done and seven, done and eight, done and niiiiiiiine... I don't know any more numbers.

Matthias: I'm not even going to get dressed today because I want to wear pajamas tomorrow afternoon.

Kaitlyn: The Lord bless you, keep you, and give you peace. Why give you peace?

Me: Because it's nice to be peaceful.

Kaitlyn: Not for me. I like it to be crazy.

Matthias: Mom, I wish you were dead and the kids were still alive because then I would get to play the cat game all the time.

Our current pest control deterrent: Theodore opens the back door and yells "No bees!" at the ants.

Matthias: It's too comfy and I don't want to be warm.

Gretchen: Why don't we invent chicken nugget spoons?

Matthias: There are two ways I should be at grandma and grandpa's house. One is it's fun. Two is I poop there.