At least that is what Nikolai's expression looks like when he is sitting with big sis S. It is as if she just told him "Hey bro..one day, you too are going to have to pick up your own toys around here". And he said "You have got to be kidding me...that was not in my contract!!" ;)

Notice his little surfer shirt. We have about 10 of them. Gotta love it!. I had them listening to Jimmy Buffett in the car today on the way to pick up big sis S. Little M and Nikolai were both moving their heads side to side. M even tried to sing "Cheeseburger in Paradise". Her version was more like "bugers in dice" But, hey....what can I say...I have a Parrot Head baby crew!!

I love that little boy more than words can say. I cannot even imagine him not being in our lives. It is as if he has always been with us. I love to see him in the mornings...he greets us with a big smile and most of the time with a nice big poopie diaper to match. :) I love smelling his hair after his baths that he can splash all of the water out of the tub in an instant! I love watching him look at EVERYTHING with such awe. He is beautiful. He might not have been from my blood originally...but, he sure does have his blood running through my veins now. Right through my heart valves. Just like his sisters. S will be 6 in a few weeks and I still get butterflies everyday when I pick her up from school. Because I can't wait to see her little face. She talks a mile a minute, just like me. She is so much like me that it is scary at times. Then, our little M. Oh my!. She can look at you with those blue eyes and melt your heart in an instant. We have three blue eyed, blonde haired snuggle bunnies.

Now, don't let me paint a picture of perfection. Because there is no such word. For instance, today was N's first visit to the grocery store. He and M rode together in one of those race car looking things. They did great the first five minutes. Then, hands started coming out of the side and items started falling down to the ground. M started hugging N a little too tight, he started to scream. N found M's boo boo on her knee. He kept poking it and she screamed at the top of her lungs in the grocery store "MOMMY.....HE IS TOUCHING ME!!!" and she repeated that 150 times. S had a great day today. Usually, her and her sister get into some sort of brawl every day. "Mom....M just painted on the walls" or one or both of them will come out of the room with makeup on that isn't really makeup....it is magic markers on their face. Yesterday, after searching high and low for any and every kind of bug in the back yard to put in their bug "jar", they each managed to step in to a mile high pile of poo. I am sitting on the back porch with Nikolai and they coming running up with some sort of wiggly worm and both of their shoes are covered in dog poo. They are covered from head to toe in dirt and I prayed to God they hadn't gotten into the poison ivy. Oh, trust me...I was out back with them...this all happens when my back is turned for two seconds! :)

But, they point of all of that is....they are each beautiful to me even if they are covered in dirt, wearing dog poo on their shoes, magic markers on their faces, screaming in the grocery store, painting on the walls and bringing me bugs that make me scream and run and they do it just to see me act like a maniac! My hair may be falling out at the time it is all happening....but, I wouldn't trade them for the world.


Now here is Little M trying to tell Nikolai about the facts of life "Ok bro...big sis already told you about picking up toys. Now it is my turn to tell you about Mom making you eat vegetables....here is the deal....feed it to Lilly (our bulldog)....she'll eat anything"



And here is N's response "Vegetables, picking up toys? Ha! You guys got another thing coming!!"