Ainsley Marin is 15 weeks old!  She is drooling up a storm, maybe getting ready to pop her first tooth (the others did at about 4-5 months).  She has the cutest little giggle and is very ticklish under her arms and chin.  She loves all the attention she gets from her big brother and sisters (they often argue about who is going to help with doing things for her).  She's getting bigger by the day and is at the stage where she's beginning to use some toys without assistance (like the ultrafun saucer that was a favorite of the rest of the clan).   Her Auntie Kelly spoils her rotten when she stays with us, Ainsley isn't out of her arms for more than a few minutes.  Ainsley holds her head and upper body very steady and is probably close to being able to sit up on her own with little help.  Still not liking tummy time, it might be a while before she wants to roll over!  She loves "standing" and putting weight on her legs.  And, we're still lucky in the sleep department with her.  She happy all day, without ever a cry, but gets a little fussy around 7 or 8pm (while we are putting the other three kids to bed).  She's overly tired at that point. She has a feeding, then dozes offer for two or three hours, then wakes up for a feeding and a laugh session with Daddy and then usually has a nice long night's sleep until 7:30am.  What a joy of a baby!  We are so in love with our little one!

Aidan Kane is 21 months old.  He's such a ham, loves to play hide and go seek and duck duck goose these days.  He also loves to be nibbled on and tickled.  At night, after putting him to bed, he'll wait a few minutes then scream "Mommy more tickle me", then when we go in his room he'll point to under his arm and say "tickle me dear". He has a bit of a temper and has a mean "monster" voice that he uses when he wants to get his way (luckily he doesn't bring it out too often...).  He had his first nightmare a couple of weeks ago--waking up screaming. When we went in his room, he pointed to the window and kept saying "wicked witch" (bad idea to have let him watch The Wizard of Oz with the girls!).  He must be getting some back teeth because he is putting everything in his mouth these days and never did that before.  Unfortunately, he had a very bad rash for several days earlier this week (see picture), luckily it didn't itch or bother him and is now clearing up.  It might have been caused by his exploring everything with his mouth....

Kaelin Avery is looking forward to her 3rd birthday in a couple of weeks.  She loves the bug vacuum we brought out from storage this week. We have ladybugs creep in the front door to our house and she had fun catching a few and holding them all day in her container (see picture).  Kaelin loves working on the computer and is getting great at using the mouse.  She's getting great a coloring and staying in the lines. It's so fun to listen to her make up her own little stories or listen to she and Keeley pretend play and feed off of each others stories.  Wish we had more time to video tape all the hysterical moments we hear!

Keeley Shea is 4 years and 3 months old. When the other kids are down for a nap, it gives Keeley a great chance to have some quiet time and read books or pretend play. We love listening to her during these times.  Keeley loves puzzles, but after completing them, does NOT like anyone taking them apart. Same goes for her LEGO buildings. She loves to build things but when it comes to taking it down and packing it up, she has a hard time destroying what she's built and gets extremely upset.  Jeff thinks this is an inherited trait since he remembers feeling the same way when he was a kid and people took apart his Legos.

We're all looking forward to the next couple of weeks--Easter, Grandma and Grandpa's visit, and Kaelin's Birthday!

Upcoming birthdays & events include:

• April 13th Kaelin's 3rd Birthday
• April 25th Mommy's 36th Birthday
• June 13th Aidan's 2nd Birthday
• June 22nd Auntie Amy and Uncle Cary's Wedding Anniversary

Ainsley Marin is almost 14 weeks old!   She's grabbing on to everything in sight (especially other people's hair when they go to kiss her!).  She's enjoying all of her surroundings, music and listening to her brother and sisters play.  When she makes a peep, they always make time to stop what they are doing, touch her gently and kiss her.  Still no luck with getting her to like tummy time, but we know we need to practice more if she's to get strong enough to push up and roll over one of these days!  Her favorite toy is a tiny stuffed bunny that she manipulates with her hands.  She loves to chew on it's ears.

Aidan Kane is 20 months old.  He's continuing to improve upon his vocabulary and his sentences are getting to 3 and 4 words ("Mommy git dat peaz"), he is also starting to insist on doing much for himself "Me do!".  He loves playing ball and catches really well.  He thinks a football is called "football game", that's what he yells every time he picks one up.  He recognizes the green and yellow nerf football as being the Green Bay Packers football "geen bay packa" (Kaelin was calling it the Green Bean Packers for a while!).  He loves following "Key-ee" and "Kay-yin" around all day and getting them to chase after him. 

Kaelin Avery will be 3 years old next month.  She loves the new gymnastics class we enrolled her in. She and Keeley are in the same group.  She didn't much like the ballet class that just ended.  She and Keeley had a mini recital on Saturday and Kaelin didn't want to participate.  She was the youngest one in the group of mostly 4 to 6 year olds and the steps were too boring for her, she likes the fact that she can run around like crazy and jump and tumble in the gymnastics class.  She's bustin' to get outside and run around when the weather warms up more. Kaelin plays board games very well (Candyland, Chutes and Ladders) and beats everyone at Memory too!  Kaelin is quite the story teller these days, it's great to eavesdrop on her playing with her dolls.  It's funny to hear grown up statements coming from her now, she likes to exaggerate when seeing something and says "Oh...my...God."

Keeley Shea is 4 years and 2 months old. She really enjoyed being out in the snow during the last two times it actually accumulated on the ground this year.  She too loves gymnastics. She's now enrolled in two different programs.  On these cold winter days, she's been perfecting staying in the lines while coloring and also drawing her own pictures. She's become really good (for a 4 year old that is...) at drawing people. It's amazing how much she misses California still and talks about it almost daily.  Yesterday when we asked her why she loves California so much she said "because of Disneyland and Arthur" (Arthur was her best friend at her old school since she was just a couple months old.)