Little brother antics

I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but I'll say it again. I don't know exactly what it's like to have twins, but I'm pretty sure Matthew and Aaron are almost there. These two have really grown close this past year while Daniel has been in school and they are at home together all morning before Matthew goes to preschool. It can get pretty frustrating sometimes, as they feed off of each other and it's hard to break up the craziness, but it is really sweet how well they get along with each other.

 Our new neighbors decided they didn't like the old hot tub and huge wood deck off the back of the house next door. These two had a great time watching out their window as the construction equipment remove all the debris.

 Then they moved to the play structure out back for a better view over the fence.

 Lollipops in the bathtub? What is this, Mardi Gras? 

(Actually, yes, it was)

Taking care of  Auntie Laura's cat, Finn, while she is out of town is always fun. They like to play a little indoor football before we go.

 A little shopping trip to Crate and Barrel for a wedding gift turned into "let's try out all the beds and couches!"

Matchers. Most days, these two plan their outfits together.

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. :)