Is that a Mohawk?

Grandparents Meeting

Nana & Papa came and visited in the afternoon to meet Gavin (before his name) and then my mom brought the kids, so they all got to meet him on his first day! I don't know if they are all ready for 4 of these kiddos at a time! Ha, ha!

And then there were FOUR!

Best Picture of all Four!

Madeline came back the 2nd night all by herself

and got lots of Gavin time!

The kids came and met Gavin the night he was born and the girls fell in love with him instantly! Holden was not impressed by the hospital room and was a little freaked out at first, but he warmed up towards the end. It is awesome and overwhelming to see them all together! We are so blessed to have this little guy complete our family!

Welcome, Gavin Louis Schrader!

We welcomed Gavin Louis Schrader to our family on Monday, November 14, 2011. I was so ready to meet this little guy and he made us wait it out, but he finally decided to join us at 7:45 that morning. He surprised us by weighing in at 8 pounds 3 ounces! He was actually 21 1/2 inches long. The other shock was how much hair he has. It has to be brushed and it looks best in a mohawk! He is our biggest baby by a long way! He didn' get his name until the evening! We are not quick with boy names! Gavin came out so quiet and stayed quiet as he slept away throughout everything at the hospital. He even slept through his hospital bath! The only time he made much noise was when they took the blood from his heel and when they took his temperature! I even said to the nurse after he was born, "Is he ok? He is not making any noise?" He is a beautiful baby boy and we are loving having a new bundle to snuggle. The reality is that we just did this 15 months ago!

Have we been in Kalona too long?

Every so often Madeline likes to pretend to be Amish. She always dresses like this. Today she decided to get Caroline and Holden in on the action. She even made Holden some yarn suspenders and gave him the hat from my decorations in the entryway. The only problem is that they wanted to continually go out the the "well" and drag water back and forth. This was supposed to be our drinking water, they were washing dishes and even tried to wash kitchen towels and bibs with it! It looked like a flood. Not good for a pregnant mommy who is a neat freak! I was finding myself continually saying, "Madeline, we are not really Amish. We don't have to do it that way!" I also played the, "Do you think Amish children ignore their parents when they are given a direction?" Have we been in Kalona too long?

Daddy's Boy

Denny is sick so last night he was laying on the couch. Holden wanted his jammies and then he wanted to go snuggle with his blanket and Daddy. He almost fell asleep, but his noisy sisters were just too interesting! He is such a sweet boy!

All Gone!

Holden decided to drink the milk out of his cereal like Daddy the other morning! He must eat like everyone else in our house, so I guess I should have expected this. When he is done he sits his dishes on the counter and says "all gone!" He is just so big!

Arf! Arf!

The girls are always playing puppy and owner. Now Holden has to be a puppy. He comes to me with a leash and says "arf, arf!" It is the funniest thing I have ever seen. Many days you might find me walking two children on leashes around my house.

Marnie's About to POP!

Thanks a million for this one!

My sister gave the cutest baby shower to celebrate the coming of this little miracle. Her theme was POP! and so she decorated, made invitations, had goodies and even an 80s pop CD with a very nice picture of me. It was so nice of a few of my close neighbors and friends to come and spend a couple hours just celebrating baby boy! It was fun and I so appreciated the work that Mallory put into it! Thanks Mallory! These are some of the very few pictures that exist of me in this pregnancy so I guess I'm glad we took them!

Bath Boy

Holden loves to take a bath! He pours water everywhere, splashes, swims, and puts his face in every chance he gets. His sisters barely ever want to take a bath with him because he is soooo crazy! The only problem comes when he as to get out! We love this little man!

Our Biggest Girl

Madeline really is a big girl! Sometimes she seems so much bigger than she really is and we even have to be careful of our expectations of her. She now has all of her big teeth in place of the holes and today I finally gave in and got her a turquoise feather in her hair. I struggled and struggled with worrying that I was letting her do something too big girl, but I finally decided it would be ok. This kid has been helping iwith dinner, loading and unloading the dishwasher, entertaining her brother and sister when I am just exhausted, and picking up whenever I ask her. She is one awesome and amazing 7 year old and I feel truly blessed that God picked me to be her mommy.

Princess and the Popstar Dinner Theatre

My mom was nice enough to take the girls to the dinner theatre at Our Redeemer. the girls had fun and loved seeing their friends! Madeline was too funny as she described how whe would dress. She wanted to dress up but not like "you know, DRESS-UP, you hit a certain age where that just seems silly, Mom!" Caroline just wanted to be a princess as always! I just love these two! Thanks Gramma Judy for making sure they didn't miss out on Sunday School, Church, or this fun event at church! You are the best Gramma they could have!