Our Hero Henri

We got an e-mail a few days ago from Henri's first grade teacher.  It made me tear up.  How could it not?

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Bauer,

At the Awards Assembly for this quarter Henri will be receiving the Citizenship Hero Award. He is always diligent in doing his work, consistently follows directions the first time, and is thoughtful and respectful of his teacher and his classmates. Henri is an amazing person. I hope you will be able to be there to share his special event.

Sincerely, Ms. Pietrzak

We went to the assembly today where he received his award.  He didn't know he was getting it and he was just so adorable.  Henri is such a special kid.  He is so kind and sensitive yet he loves guns and weapons of any kind.  He is always drawing bad guys and super heroes. He is pretty much the perfect kid. 

He got his award today during an assembly. 

One of these days when we are rich I am going to hire a professional photographer to follow us around full time so we actually have good pictures of our kids doing awesome stuff.  For now crappy pictures will have to do.

Oh and in case you didn't notice, Henri got glasses.  He picked them out all by himself.  Isn't he cute?  He only really needs them to see the board at school really.  He doesn't love wearing them but I'm sure he will get used to it.  I'm afraid my genes are running strongly though Henri.  The poor kids has my bad eyes and my wild hair.  His hair only looks combed for about two minutes and then the crazy hair genes take over.

Theater Room 'Bauer Kid Style'

 I cleaned out the car yesterday so I ended up with all the car-seats inside the house.  The kids are loving it.  This is how they watched a movie today.  Harriett isn't usually in a booster seat but she got Henri's booster from Micah's car so she could be part of the fun.  This is probably as close as we will ever get to an actual theater room.

Popcorn and a movie.  Life is good.

In case you were wondering, two years of food and toy buildup under two car-seats is pretty disgusting.  No pictures.  Believe me, you wouldn't want to see.

Luxury reclined seating.

I came home yesterday to this.  Each book is rock to step on so Pink Power Ranger Puppy (Hazel) didn't have to step in the mud.

I forget that I am aging.

In my mind I am still 20. In my mind I could go up to BYU and fit in with the college kids. It wasn't until I was looking through some old family photos that I realized that I am getting older. We are all getting older. Darn it. Yeah, I am 17 years older than a college freshman. How did that happen?



I have to say though that I think I looked better when I was pregnant with Henri than I did when I was pregnant with Harriett. Darn those really bad, really short haircuts.

Halloweeners

Let's just pretend we update our blog regularly.

Here are the kids at Halloween. We had a never ending Halloween weekend starting with watching Henri's kindergarten program, trick or treating at Micah's work, and trunk or treating on two different days. We didn't end up trick or treating around the neighbourhood because it was raining. The kids didn't really complain since they already had tonnes of candy.


Our little Candy Corn.


The cutest Jailbird ever.


Rock'n'Roll Henri. The battle axe shaped guitar was his idea.


Baby Harriett. She has been begging me for years for her very own pacifier. This was the only way I would let her have one. She was allowed to use it for Halloween and that was it. For some reason seeing Harriett with a pacifier totally creeped me out.

Blue Patrick's Day 2010

Sunday, Henri decided that yesterday was "Blue Patrick's Day." Our celebration consisted of wearing blue (and, of course, pinching people who aren't wearing blue), blueberries for lunch, blue punch with dinner and blue frosted cookies for dessert. Oh, and taking silly pictures on the computer (with our neighbor Tessa).



It was a good time.

Harriett got glasses.

Don't you think she looks adorable? Crooked half missing teeth and all.

I made bread....

and it was super tasty.

Hazel turns 2

Hazel had a birthday yesterday. It was a laid back family affair with a couple presents and a little cake decorating. She is so much fun right now. She is head strong and can throw a tantrum with the best of them but she is also soooo funny, loves to laugh and loves her brother and sisters. She loves to dance and sing and 'play' the piano. We just can't get enough of her.

The cake.

Hazel loading the cake up with sprinkles. She used the whole bottle.

This is what Hazel does when we ask her smile. Love that kid.

Try this recipe.

So easy, so simple, so tasty. I've had it for lunch three times in the last week and once for supper. It isn't helping get the baby weight off but I just don't care while I'm eating it. It's from Smitten Kitchen.

spaghetti with cheese + black pepper

Go make it.

Henri is Awesome

The other morning, as I was heading off to work I noticed a piece of paper on my desk. "VAMPIRE JET" was written on it in brown marker in Henri's unmistakable monospaced printing.

"Are you making a story called Vampire Jet?" I asked him.

"No, that's the game I'm making for you." He said.

"That's a great name." I said.

He responded, "I should have called it Battle Bats, huh?"

[photo by Kiera]

A week old and 36

This week has flown by. Maggie Jane is now a week old and adjusting quite well. All the kids are loving her to death. Hazel is doing much better than I thought she would she just seems a bit more clingy.


In the chaos of the first week of having Maggie home we celebrated (actually, didn't celebrate) Micah's 36th birthday. It was pretty anti-climactic. Sorry Micah.

Micah and his birthday dinner of popcorn and a movie. Who said having four kids would be hard? Nothing to it.

Micah and his three beautiful girls.

Outnumbered 2 to 1

Yesterday, Bess woke up at 5:30 having contractions, after packing and getting the kids dropped off with friends we arrived at the hospital at 8:40. She delivered the baby naturally at 9:25 after pushing twice. It went so fast that the new mother's first words to her newborn daughter were "Are you serious? Shut your face!"

Everyone is doing great. Bess is the happiest I've seen her in months. The baby is 8 lbs 15 ounces and 20 inches long, cute, purple and chubby. It took us all yesterday to finally decide, but her name is Maggie Jane Harvey Bauer (even though I was pushing heavily for Violet, to match her birth color).

This afternoon, I brought Bess home, where we are now easily outnumbered by our children.

Hot Family Pictures

Okay, maybe not really hot, but we did have family pics taken this year! Check out my friend Kiera's blog for some of the results. She got some great portraits of the kids.

Twilight + Mystery Science Theater =

Hi-freaking-larious.




And for more fun check out the reviews and photos on this fantastic Amazon product.

October Upate

Cowbaby


Wordgirl, Sheriff Henri, and Hazel.


Bess' belly.


Bess just finished knitting these for Hazy.


Holy cute.

Birthdays, Baptisms, Blessings and Back to School

Harriett got baptized.

We all stood in front of a tree.

Hazel got blessed.

Henri turned 4.

Hazel was happy.

Harriett started 3rd Grade.

A Donut Eaters Official Public Service Announcement

Bed Bugs




Cute? No.
Imaginary? No.
Make for an adorable goodnight rhyme? Not once you've had them.

Facts About Bed Bugs

• They are not a myth, actually they were nearly eradicated in the 50's and 60's by DDT.
  
• They have increased in number 50 fold in the last five years alone.
• You can get them from a hotel just by putting your luggage on the floor.
• Newly hatched bed bugs are tiny and transparent.
• Bedbugs get their reddish brown color after they feed on blood.
• They inject their hosts with a numbing agent so they don't feel the bite and and anticoagulant to increase the blood flow.
  
• Signs that you have bed bugs include tiny blood spots on your sheets and itchy red dots on your skin (sometimes in rows or clusters).
  
• Females lay up to 12 eggs a day.
• Poisons don't effect them.
• They can hide in a space as thin as a single piece of hair.
  
• IKEA furniture does not repel them (in fact they prefer wood and fabric).
• The only way to kill bed bugs is with heat (boiling water and steam work the best).
• If a hotel room is infested with bed bugs they strip and clean that room as well as the room above, below and on either side of it.
  

In short: Bed bugs are tiny, evil vampires that are practically indestructible. Be warned. We learned the hard way.

8 and Hair

So Harriett turned 8 yesterday. Craziness. We had a small party on Saturday. The kids went somewhere else to play (a bounce house), we bought a cake, bought pizza and she only had three friends. Best party ever.


In other news we shaved Henri's head. He has been wanting to shave his head just like dad for a while now. It was a little sad. Luckily he is still pretty cute.

11 Things I Love about Bess

1. Makes cute chubby kids.
2. No speako Spanishio.
3.
4. Closet Hippie.
5. Beautiful smile.
6. Canadian.
7. Best mom ever.
8. Lacks self control at all the right times.
9. "The Jazz need to start getting some boards."
10. Book obsession.
11. Thinks old men are cute.

Happy 11th Anniversary Bess. Thanks for sticking around.

Thunder Thighs

We've been crap bloggers lately. This chubbiness should make up for it.