Happy Birthday Kari!

Today is my first full day back at home.  In some ways, I just want to go back to the hospital and hide there for another week.  Life is so busy here with kids and kids activities galore.  The kids are out of school for two weeks so I'm challenged trying to entertain them and feed a new baby and generally recover myself.  

Here is little Thomas completely unaware of his change of environment.  This swing is a life saver!

Kari's birthday is today so I wanted to do something a little special.  She loves German chocolate cake so that's what we made.  After I decorated it, I realized that it looked kind of like a generic grocery store cake.  But it tasted much better!

My grocery store looking cake.

Happy Birthday Kari!

"Mmmm.  I yike it!"

Introducing Thomas Robert Woolley

We are thrilled to announce the birth of 

Thomas Robert Woolley

Born: March 28, 2013, 5:12 p.m.

Lausanne, Switzerland

Weight: 4 kg (8 pds, 13 oz)

Length: 52 cm (20.5 in)

We feel extremely blessed by the arrival of our fifth child and we are so glad he is here.  Thomas is the name of his 6th great grandfather, the first Woolley ancestor that we can trace, and the great grandfather of Edwin D. Woolley.  Robert comes from Rob, of course, but also from Rob's grandfather, Grandpa Bob Madden.  Also, one may say that the name Robert comes from me too.  After all, I was named after my Aunt Roberta who was named after my grandfather's twin brother Robert.  It all comes full circle!

The kids are so excited to have a new little brother.  Natasha has been running around singing the Dora song, "I'm gonna be a BIG sister!"  Tyler is ecstatic to have another boy in the family.  Anna Claire and Mariah are turning out to be big helpers.  Best quotes of the kids regarding the new baby:

Natasha: "Ooooh! His skin is so soft!"

Tyler: "I still don't understand why he wasn't born with his clothes on! 

Maybe because of all that blood."

Mariah: "Mom, it looks like you still have another baby in your tummy."

Natasha: "His eyes are funny. They look like this. . ." She scrunches her eyes up.

Tyler, after Mommy explained that Natasha should not hit the baby, but protect him: "Natasha is going to be the Protector and I'm going to be the Saver.  I have my sword."

Here are lots of photos to look through:

 Baby Thomas' first picture.

Thomas and Mom are exhausted after a long labor and birth.  I was induced and I thought everything would be nice once the epidural kicked in.  Unfortunately, the epidural did not work even after multiple attempts by the anesthesiologist.  (Why didn't someone tell me that could happen?)  I ended up giving birth without anesthesia, but NOT by choice.  Why people actually choose that is beyond my comprehension.

Thomas poses for a picture.  We think he looks like a cross between Anna Claire and Tyler at birth.

A proud daddy with his son.

"Let me see!" "Me too!"  The kids crowd in to get a glimpse of their new brother.

"I'm a BIG sister now!"

Mariah is thrilled to hold Baby Thomas while Tyler tries to shush him.

Anna Claire, the biggest sister and my big helper.

Mariah's a big helper too!

"Yes!  I've finally got a brother!"

"I can hold the baby too, Mommy!"

It's boy time!

Kari with little Thomas.

  I couldn't do without her.  She has been an ENORMOUS help during this pregnancy and it was so nice to have someone I could trust to watch the kids during the birth.  (Especially because my mom is not here this time.  Margaret is due with her fifth child any day now so she is needed there.)

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Today is Rob's birthday.  Happy Birthday to a wonderful husband and father!  What better way to spend a birthday than biking and playing on the beach in Spain?  Because we weren't at home, Rob didn't get a fancy cake this year.  But we found a yummy chocolate cake at the little grocery store below our apartment.

Happy Birthday Tyler!

Tyler's birthday is now here.  We celebrated with Tyler's first big party.  I tried to minimize by hosting it at the bouncy castle place that my kids love.  It was easy.  All I had to do was bring a cake and snacks and all the entertainment was there.  What a relief!  Tyler's two neighbor friends, Robbie and Tyler, joined us along with our Nyon neighbor, Diogo, and lots of friends from church.

Originally I had planned to make a complex dinosaur cake for Tyler.  But then he told me he wanted a construction cake.  It was so much easier to make this.  Just take a chocolate cake, cut a hole in it and pile the leftover cake on top, then pour crushed oreos over the hole.  I bought a construction set and put the digger on top of the cae.  I used Toblerone pieces to make the construction cones and frosted them with orange royal icing -- but these were more complex than I had originally thought.

 Ever the enthusiastic Mariah!

Tyler with his little sister Natasha. 

Jakob, one of Mariah's and Tyler's friends. 

Tyler's friend Yumi was having a birthday party at the same time, so they blew out the candles together.

Lots of party fun!

Happy Birthday Mariah!

Our little Mariah is 6 years old.  I can't believe how quickly time has gone.  She is growing up too fast! Mariah wanted a "Brodie" cake -- a cake that looks like her grandparents' Westie.  I was a little intimidated to do such a cake, but I found a sample of a Scottie cake online so I just transformed it into a Westie.  Here it is!  

We did not do a party for Mariah this year.  (I alternate years with the kids and Tyler and Mariah are on different years so I don't get overwhelmed in the month of January.)  But we took all the kids to a fun bouncy castle place which they love.  Mariah did not get the real dog that she has been begging for.  No pets for now -- I already have to clean up after my kids, I'm not cleaning up after a dog.  But she did  get one of those barking, walking, tailwagging mechanical dogs and she seems happy with that!

 Mariah, we love you!

 The kids are ready to eat the cake!

Sisters.

Happy Birthday Anna!

Today we had a big birthday bash for our 5-year-old Anna Claire. We decided to do a Spring Garden Party theme. Here is my happy Anna Claire. I can't believe I've got a 5 year-old now! She is a wonderful, responsible big sister and we love her tons!

Of course, in line with the them, I had to make a flower pot cake. But I was cursing myself that I caved in and used chocolate cake. I have to goop on tons of frosting in order to avoid mixing chocolate crumbs everywhere. Fortunately, the crumbs make this cake look more like a real dirty flower pot! (And yes, this cake is three layers -- the top layer is slightly larger than the rest to form the lip of the pot.)

Our little garden spread. Oh, how I love spring birthdays.

Here is the birthday girl getting ready to blow out her candles.

Hmmmm. What should I wish for? New rollerblades?

Stuffing herself with cake. . .

We did lots of fun garden activities, mostly thanks to Chelsi. (Hooray! Chelsi is here for the summer. We are so excited to have her.) She is a fabulous artist. She did face painting on all the kids and helped them to paint flower pots. I just used garbage bags to cover the kids' clothes -- it was the cheapest thing. While the flower pots dried during the party, we planted flowers in each one so that the kids had a memory to take home. Chelsi also helped us paint goody boxes where we added flower straws, lip gloss, bubbles and magnifying bug viewers. We also played a bunch of spring games like Pin the Spot on the Ladybug and Bumblebee Musical Chairs (to flight of the bumblebee). Overall, I think the party was a success. Anna Claire loved it and so did the other kids.