Life in cell phone pictures

It's been awhile....not that we've been busy or anything. I'm trying to catch up with some post-dated stories, but here's a little peek at what we've been up to according to the random pictures on our phones.

 We started out 2015 with a ferry ride to Bainbridge to celebrate Auntie Laura's birthday.

 Even though this winter has been pretty warm for us, ferries in January are still pretty cold!

 Our little Seahawk fans had a great time cheering this season. They were pretty upset about the end of the Super Bowl, but they're all still proud of the team.

 Daniel's cub scout troop took a trip to see a Blanchet High School women's varsity basketball game. They loved watching the game and were particularly interested in the cheerleaders. ("Who are these people? What are they doing?")

 Matthew had a great time.

 Aaron got pretty into the game.

 Valentines day was spent with our lovely friends, Brynn and Casey.

The next night, we lined up one of the boys' favorite babysitters so that the four of us could go out to eat together. Hiep is a rockstar. 

We've had a bit of a graffiti problem in our back yard. Luckily, it's not too hard to figure out who the culprit is.

Apparently Daniel can still fit in the crib. And it's so sweet to see him spending quality book time with his littlest brother.

The boys are big into jokes right now. This was shoved into the kitchen, and when I opened it...

 Ha! Joke's on me, it's filled with the most disgusting things they can think of. [Clean] socks, diapers, and underwear. Bwahahahaha!

 Baby keeps growing and growing. We have just three weeks left till the due date (though each baby has come later and later, so I'm expecting to still be pregnant in four weeks).

 Aaron's hair one day looked like we had put it in curlers the night before. A perfect barrel-type curl.

 Daniel's drawer for his lego creations and other special items has attracted the younger brothers lately. Too bad they can't read.

 Aaron likes to make trips to the mail box. He likes to run because "running gives me good exercise."

 Daniel's school took a trip up to Burlington to volunteer at a food bank. Chris took Daniel and Matthew, and they had a great time learning about the food bank, sorting food, and then distributing food to patrons of the food bank.

 Meanwhile, Aaron stayed at home with me and we had "potty training camp." He did a great job...it's really about time.

 Matthew has been loving on his god-sister Mercy. She doesn't seem to mind. :)

 Aaron's been really good at the photo-bomb.

 These guys have been taking some park-outings with daddy so that I can have a break.

 I had a terrible cold a little while ago that included a lost voice for a couple of days. While I was still in the throes of the cold, we had a weekday off school for teacher meetings, and Chris was out of town for work. These sweet boys decided to take care of me and made me breakfast in bed all by themselves. They were so proud of themselves (and I was proud, too--there were no messes and nothing broke in the process). I can't believe how grown up they are!

There are plenty of shenanigans going on here. We are never bored.

Fire station visit

We had a chance to visit a fire station with Daniel's cub scout troop. The firefighters were all very nice--the boys had a great time learning all about the fire station, the trucks, and how fire fighters do their job.

Aaron gets a lift down from the driver's seat of the fire engine.

 Matthew loved driving.

 Daniel had lots of good questions. 

 The kids learned all about what equipment is kept in the truck...

...and what kind of gear the fire fighters use to stay safe.

Our tour was cut a little short because the fire alarm went off! Here go our brave fire fighters!

Time with Dad, time with Mom

Daniel was invited to a birthday party recently. It took place at Stone Gardens rock climbing gym in Ballard. Since it was a "big kid only" party, Chris took Daniel there and I took the little brothers on our own adventure nearby.

Daniel really took to the climbing.

 There he goes!

 On the way back down.

 Meanwhile, Matthew, Aaron and I found ourselves at Fred Meyer (thrilling, I know). They always ask to eat there in the upper level area near the deli. We go to Fred Meyer to shop, not to eat, so this was a real special treat for them. They picked out donuts, chocolate milk and applesauce, and we had a great time looking down over the store together.

 There was some goofiness, too.

 After our donuts (and a bathroom break) we drove over to the locks. It's the wrong time of year to see salmon in the fish ladder, but we still had fun exploring.

They love these funny sculptures. 

What a fun time out!

Sneak Peak of Baby 4

We got to "meet" the new baby this week at our anatomy ultrasound! This baby was doing barrel rolls and kicking and punching so much that the ultrasound tech had a really hard time getting the measurements that he needed. He often didn't know where to look next because baby would just move out of the way anyhow. After awhile, he was able to see everything he needed to see and we were all set to go. Baby Hanzeli 4 is measuring perfectly (to the day, exactly!) and is hanging in the perfectly average 51st percentile for his/her size. Everything looks good and we're all set to meet him/her in April!

 Perfect little right foot.

What appears to be a bear paw next to his/her head, is actually baby's left hand (as we were assured by the ultrasound tech).

 After many, many tries, baby finally behaved so that we could get a glimpse of his/her profile. Cute like the brothers, can't wait till April!

A haircut for Aaron

 It was time. He made it past his third birthday with not even a trim. We love his awesome curly hair, but with the weather cooling (freezing) off, his beautiful curls turned into a mess of long uncontrollable wisps. And, he started getting comments referencing him as "her" or "she," which is where Chris draws the line. Of course, if he was a girl, we could've tamed that hair with some cute clips or something and none of this would've had to happen.

 Before.

Oh boy, hair all wet and ready to go.

 Chris is the resident barber in our house (and believe me, it is a super stressful job around here), but Aaron insisted that it was Mommy cut his hair. So, after looking through several tutorials online on cutting boys hair, we decided to give it a go. Matthew got his hair cut at the same time, and it was a real time saver to have two haircuts being performed at once.

 Sniff. I hoped those curls wouldn't disappear altogether.

 Post-haircut bath to get all those itchy hair clippings off.

 All dry, and surprise! Hair is still curly!

 So, I didn't cut everything, just tidied it up a bit. (Which is also nice because it hides my amateur hair cutting skills.)

Which is good. I don't think we could've handled an Aaron without his signature hair. :)

Happy Birthday, Aaron!

Aaron turned three on the 16th. 

I think this was the most fun birthday to witness so far (although, I may be forgetting Daniel and Matthew's earlier birthdays...). 

Aaron was so excited to have a birthday, and he just LOVED having people sing the birthday song to him. 

 

 We sang and lit candles many times in the days surrounding his birthday, and every time he just sat there beaming as if having us all there celebrating him made this the best day of his life. Which makes sense (because he is three, after all)...

...but there was just something different about him than other birthday boys who have been a little uncomfortable with the attention (which also makes sense...they are their mother's sons, after all).

 Aaron had a fun birthday, especially because Auntie Laura had literally just gotten back from China.

 And of course, there were presents.

 Like bath toys.

And airplanes.

 And books. (His exact words were "Yes! A book!")

 And olives.

 And Dick's cheeseburgers and milkshakes for dinner!

 

 And let's not forget about the cake.

 A few days later we celebrated with the rest of the family...which meant more presents...

 ...and more cake!

Three-year-old Aaron's Top Ten Favorite Things (in no particular order)

1. His brothers
2. The Swedish Chef from the Muppets
3. Airplanes...especially the P51 Mustang
4. Baths
5. Olives. All kinds
6. Auntie Laura (or LaLa, as he calls her)
7. Cats, especially Auntie Laura's cat, Finn. (We play a lot of pretend games where he is Finn and I am LaLa)
8. Cake (this was also one of his first words)
9. Mom (because she makes the food)
10. Dad (because he plays the rough, tickling games)


Three-year-old Aaron is:

1. Passionate. There is no medium with Aaron. He is either really happy (and he'll tell you "I so happy!") or really mad. He has a fair amount of rage in him that shows itself anytime he is even slightly disappointed. This earned him the nickname "Angry Aaron" early on, and though we don't really call him that now, he still fits the bill.

2. Polite. When he isn't raging mad at you, he is very polite. He rarely ever asks for something without politely using "please," and is the one kid who most often says "thank you for the ______" without being prompted. (This is especially nice at mealtime).

3. Athletic. This kid is the most athletic toddler I've seen. He is super agile and has incredible balance. He will jump fearlessly off of anything (so watch out if you're within arms reach), and climbs as high as he can on any play structure we meet. He flips over in one fluid motion if you hold him by his hands in the air, and also learned to do this on the rings on our play structure. He flies down our sidewalk on his scooter, which makes anyone who doesn't know him nervous, but manages to stay upright and in control 99% of the time.

4. Independent. He takes after big brother Daniel in this department--usually saying "I do it myself" if you offer to help him with anything. Putting shoes on, buckling himself into the car seat, getting dressed, you name it and Aaron will want to do it himself. Or at least try for 10 minutes before accepting your help.

5. Helpful. Anything we do, Aaron is asking to help. Chores are now taking quite a bit longer to complete with all the "help" we're getting, but at least he's learning how to do things...right?

6. Sweet. If you say "I love you" or "I missed you" to Aaron, he usually replies in his very cute little voice "I love you, too" or "I missed you, too." Melt my heart.

Happy birthday, buddy! We love you oh so much. :)