You might think that after the 4th kid, watching my son learning to walk is old news but it's not! Brandon is just learning to walk and for the past weekend he is feeling more and more comfortable on his wobbly legs. For me this does not get old. Instead, it brings back precious memories of watching Robbie, Connor and Jason go through the same thing. In fact. I might argue it's more special because he's so different and really proud and excited to discover a whole new world but more importantly, because it's the last time we will go through this.
It is so important to capture these memories either with pictures, videos, or stories because it is so easy to forget. Watching Brandon bring back memories but I must admit they are a little foggy and with the four boys, I sometimes get mixed up. Cherish all moments because you can find significance in so many things!
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
The holiday season - our family holiday update
With four boys under the age of 6, life gets pretty busy. In fact our lives revolve around our boys and their activities and their friends and special holidays. But amidst this business, we would wouldn't change a thing.
Robbie just turned 6 and he is in grade 1 loving school. In fact, just today we talked about his last day at school and he was sad that school was ending. He's got some great friends in the neighborhood and is just the perfect big brother. If there is one word to describe him it would be 'special'. He is caring and considerate, athletic and determined to succeed at whatever he does. We are very proud of Robbie and his accomplishments and he's only 6.
Connor has had an interesting year because his role in the family has shifted from Robbie's little brother to Jason and Brandon's best friend. Connor, now at the age of 4 has taken on the role of big brother and is doing a phenomenal job at it. The word to describe Connor is creative. He loves to play make-believe and create fun and interesting games with his brothers. He is very artistic and will color, draw, cut and create things any chance he gets. We built a craft room for Liz in our house but Connor has definitely assumed ownership of that room.
Jason is two and half but turning 10. Having two older brothers has definitely advanced our little JJ. Jason does not officially go to school but he often spends time in Connor's pre-school. All the kids love him and if it wasn't for his size, you would swear he was 4 like all the other kids. The word to describe Jason is 'sooooooooooo cute!" OK that's two words but we often look at each other as parents and giggle about how cute he is. In terms of activities, he is athletic like Robbie and loves crafts like Connor so it will be interesting to see where his passions develop as he gets a little older.
And then there's Brandon (aka Brando). But to the brother's he's known as Brandy. Brandon's word is 'perfect'. Truly perfect. God really was looking out for us when he gave us Brandon. From the day he was born, he came out smiling and giggling and is nothing but joy in our lives. When anyone is having a bad day, all they have to do is get near Brandon and he changes everything. Brandon is now just over a year old and he's starting to walk and talk and communicate in his own special way. He has truly made having four kids easier than we ever thought.
Liz is the mother of 4 boys and the princess in our house of testosterone. She is amazing in so many ways but everyone knows that she lives for her family. She is the calm voice in the house and she makes raising four kids look effortless. This past year, Liz has found a passion outside of her family - running. She ran a 10K race with Carmen and is planning to run a half marathon in the not too distant future. She's found some great running partners and takes any chance she can to strap on the shoes and hit the paths.
And then there's Jim. Everyone seems to be bewildered by what Jim is up to these days. Is he retired or retarded? Is he working or pretending to work? After taking some time off, he is back to work as a professional speaker talking about money, investing, retirement and life. He has been working hard on developing new products including books, software, DVDs, CDs and is excited about getting back to work (if you can call it that). You can check out his brand new website JimYih.com and see what he is up to these days. Drop him a line . . . he would love to hear from you.
All in all, 2009 was a great year. We moved into our new house and have settled into a really good routine. we love our house, we love our friends, we love the neighborhood and our neighbors and quite frankly we just love life! We hope you enjoy the pictures. We just put together a family calendar and these are the pictures we used to summarize our year.
From our hearts to yours,
love, peace and happiness
The Yihs
Jim, Liz, Robbie, Connor, Jason and Brandon
Monday, December 14, 2009
Robbie's Birthday
So Last Saturday we hosted Robbie's 6 year birthday party at home. We had 24 kids at our house which was everyone in Robbie's class plus a couple of extra friends. Here's a FAQ format of the event:
"What would ever compel you to have that many kids at any 'drop off' birthday party?"
(The most common question)
So when we started to talk to Robbie about his birthday and ask him about who he wanted to invite, his untainted response was that he wanted to invite the whole class because not everyone gets invited to all the birthdays in the class and sometimes people's feelings get hurt when they are not invited. Robbie did not want to hurt anyone's feelings so he wanted to invite the whole class. In my eyes, that's pretty special and I was not about to deny him that
"Was it mayhem?"
Actually it was not that bad. Liz and I talked about it afterwards and although we were tired aftwerwards it went pretty smooth. We had an activity or demonstration right at the beginning where we played with dry ice and made some home made pop with the dry ice. Then we had a magic show, followed by the cake and some snacks. The kids were awesome.
The only part that was a little crazy was the end where we decided to have a candy scramble in the backyard in the snow. Our secret plan was that all the kids would stay outside and play for 20 minutes until their parents came to pick them up. All the kids had to put on their snow gear and although many kids were independent, they were mostly 6 and needed some help. Thank goodness for our friend Yvonne who walked into our front door at the perfect time to help.
The scramble itself, went pretty well but the problem was that some of the kids were cold and wanted to come inside. This created the mayhem because anyone that wanted to come in needed help with taking off their boots and snow gear which meant someone had to be inside to help. But more than half the kids were outside which meant that someone had to be outside to stay with these kids. In retrospect, we would have just had them play inside in the basement which would have eliminated the issue of putting on and taking off coats.
In the end, everyone was happy and especially Robbie. Liz and I spent the rest of the weekend cleaning and I think a week later I was still recovering to a certain extent. Let's just hope Robbie or any of my other kids do not have a dose of morality and consideration in the future and we don't have to invite the whole class again (just kidding)!
"What would ever compel you to have that many kids at any 'drop off' birthday party?"
(The most common question)
So when we started to talk to Robbie about his birthday and ask him about who he wanted to invite, his untainted response was that he wanted to invite the whole class because not everyone gets invited to all the birthdays in the class and sometimes people's feelings get hurt when they are not invited. Robbie did not want to hurt anyone's feelings so he wanted to invite the whole class. In my eyes, that's pretty special and I was not about to deny him that
"Was it mayhem?"
Actually it was not that bad. Liz and I talked about it afterwards and although we were tired aftwerwards it went pretty smooth. We had an activity or demonstration right at the beginning where we played with dry ice and made some home made pop with the dry ice. Then we had a magic show, followed by the cake and some snacks. The kids were awesome.
The only part that was a little crazy was the end where we decided to have a candy scramble in the backyard in the snow. Our secret plan was that all the kids would stay outside and play for 20 minutes until their parents came to pick them up. All the kids had to put on their snow gear and although many kids were independent, they were mostly 6 and needed some help. Thank goodness for our friend Yvonne who walked into our front door at the perfect time to help.
The scramble itself, went pretty well but the problem was that some of the kids were cold and wanted to come inside. This created the mayhem because anyone that wanted to come in needed help with taking off their boots and snow gear which meant someone had to be inside to help. But more than half the kids were outside which meant that someone had to be outside to stay with these kids. In retrospect, we would have just had them play inside in the basement which would have eliminated the issue of putting on and taking off coats.
In the end, everyone was happy and especially Robbie. Liz and I spent the rest of the weekend cleaning and I think a week later I was still recovering to a certain extent. Let's just hope Robbie or any of my other kids do not have a dose of morality and consideration in the future and we don't have to invite the whole class again (just kidding)!
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
I cut my wife's hair
Yes, it's true but how did this happen?
Last night my wife was complaining about how she had cancelled 4 hair appointments because with 4 kids and working part time, something always came up. So in what I will now call a bizarre moment, she said, do you want to cut my hair for me. With little thought I said "SURE"
now, the preamble to all this is I cut my kids hair and for someone not professionally trained, I do an OK job and with 4 boys, that saves me a lot of money. I even trim my own hair from time to time. Yes, I know, there is a big difference between cutting little boys hair and my wifes beautiful long curly hair.
Back to the story, I asked Liz how much she wanted cut off. About an inch and a half. Great, that should be no problem. So i start cutting and feeling OK about the whole thing. I finish. Liz looks a the pile of hair on the ground and says you cut off a lot. She proceeds to pick up a few strands and while most of them are about an inch and a half, there are a few that are closer to 3 inches. I start to sweat! She starts to sweat. She says my hair is wet. When it dries, it curls up and will be much shorter. I start to panic. What have I done!!!
The next day, Liz makes a hair appointment to fix the fiasco I created. She hates her hair and will not cut it for a long time.
What did I learn from this experience?
Last night my wife was complaining about how she had cancelled 4 hair appointments because with 4 kids and working part time, something always came up. So in what I will now call a bizarre moment, she said, do you want to cut my hair for me. With little thought I said "SURE"
now, the preamble to all this is I cut my kids hair and for someone not professionally trained, I do an OK job and with 4 boys, that saves me a lot of money. I even trim my own hair from time to time. Yes, I know, there is a big difference between cutting little boys hair and my wifes beautiful long curly hair.
Back to the story, I asked Liz how much she wanted cut off. About an inch and a half. Great, that should be no problem. So i start cutting and feeling OK about the whole thing. I finish. Liz looks a the pile of hair on the ground and says you cut off a lot. She proceeds to pick up a few strands and while most of them are about an inch and a half, there are a few that are closer to 3 inches. I start to sweat! She starts to sweat. She says my hair is wet. When it dries, it curls up and will be much shorter. I start to panic. What have I done!!!
The next day, Liz makes a hair appointment to fix the fiasco I created. She hates her hair and will not cut it for a long time.
What did I learn from this experience?
- Yes, the obvious is never cut your wife's hair, even if she asks. You can't win no matter what!
- I truly love my wife . . . until she brings this up at our next fight to make me feel guilty
- I think she truly loves me. If out marriage survives this, then we should be able to survive anything!
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