March 2023 - Tad the race car driver and Alexa the zebra

Tad turned 7 and we took him and his best friend Jimmy go kart racing for his birthday.  

https://youtu.be/YiTkpefAa1M

https://youtu.be/5VuMLJ5iPH8

Jimmy to Tad: When we grow up we should be racers!!

Tad: Yeah, and it's good that we already know how to drive for when we grow up and have our own cars. 

He got a fun sea animal painting kit from Grandma and Grandpa, a lego puzzle, and a set of Sonic puzzles.  We also got him a voice changing megaphone which he loves.  

Alexa had a really fun Medieval Feast at her school after they finished studying the dark ages.  All of the kids got really into it and a lot of them made their own costumes, including Griffin.  

Audrey hit the 3-month mark and suddenly refused to take a bottle.  She went 4 weeks hardly eating during the day so she went from sleeping through the night to waking up every 2-3 hours to nurse at night.  We met with her pediatrician and she was still nice and healthy in the 75th percentile for weight so we moved her out of our room and let her cry at night.  She cried for 2.5 hours the first night before I gave up and fed her, but by the third night she was sleeping much better and eating during the day again.  Those 4 weeks were very wearing on Kyle.  She took the bottle just fine when I went back to work at 7 weeks and then suddenly gagged every time we tried to bottle-feed her after 3 months.  

Audrey talking:

https://youtube.com/shorts/qmp_PeYTta0

https://youtube.com/shorts/xh8VFP4uLkY?feature=share

Alexa and Ian have been on a baking spree the past few months and we are all the beneficiaries.  They just made the most amazing homemade pretzels I've ever had in my life. 

The kids also made homemade armor out of cardboard and duct tape which was fun.

Misc photo dump: 

Liam hiding in the towels

Tad and Liam playing in the gym at Rich and Wendy's mission farewell

Daddy dog pile

We eat lunch at the Carl's Jr playpace every other week for family lunch most of the winter and generally have the entire large indoor playground to ourselves

Tad and Liam singing:

https://youtube.com/shorts/-bdY0fsg9kg?feature=share

Our favorite story this month was Nathan the Crazy jumping out of the bathtub and running downstairs in his birthday suit, riding his scooter across the living room, and smacking his bum laughing.  While Mom chased him screaming, and our neighbor Ian covered his eyes in embarrassment on the couch.  As I picked him up to drag him upstairs for jammies, Nathan reached out his hands to try and grab our picture of Jesus and yelled "Jesus Christ!" repeatedly, as in, "Jesus, rescue me from my mother! Help me!"

Alexa got fouled at her basketball game so she got 2 free throws.  She made both of them!  I wish I got a video of the first, it was a beautiful shot right into the net, but I did catch the second one on video--

https://youtu.be/JnvSHQ5VZEw

Alexa was a phenomenal zebra in the elementary school's production of the Lion King.  It was a lot of work and a lot of rehearsals, but the show was really fun.

Sadly, the Matrix died after 14 years (it was 19 years old) and 225,000 miles.  The engine seized on the freeway--

https://youtube.com/shorts/XDW_2Mng_QM?feature=share

Less than a week later, Kyle slid on some nasty ice in the truck and rear ended someone.  Not the best of weeks for us.  

Funny Stories / Things to Remember:

Nathan is obsessed with Halloween.  He loves to draw pictures (or ask others to draw) skeletons and pumpkins.  And he loves to listen to Nightmare Before Christmas and Spooky Scary Skeletons on repeat.

Liam: Maybe we should not have Nathan in our family. He screams too much. 

Haha.

Nathan never calls Audrey by her name, only "sweet girl" because that's what he hears Kyle and Liam say to her all the time.  💜

Nathan does this thing when we start to get after him where he will shush us.  So if we start to tell him not to do something he quietly puts his finger to his lips and says "shhh, it's ok.  Shhhh."