West Virginia Day #1

We made it to West Virginia in one piece. The kids were great and didn't make a peep (well at least not loud enough that I could hear over my ipod anyway). We are looking forward to spending a fun filled day with everone tomorrow.

All Packed Up

We are all packed up and ready to go! Al is bringing her computer so hopefully I will still be able to provide updates, but you never know....
In other news, Shane sat in the Bumbo seat for the first time today and loved it!

Up To My Eyeballs!!!!!

I started packing today for our trip on Thursday. I am taking the kids to West Virginia to meet Allison and her kids and stay at a hotel together for the weekend (john is not coming). This is my first overnight trip with Shane and I am going crazy trying to pack for 4 kids!!!! The clothes....the food....the toys!!!!!!!!!!!!! It will be a miracle if I remember everything. The upside is that I am compiling a list of everything that I am bringing so it will be a lot easier to pack the next time....
In other news, Jonah called 911 the other day from a friends house. We didn't even know it either until they called back and said "This is 911, what is your emergency?". He is the first one of my kids to place a call to 911 and I'm sure that he won't be the last, but I am just happy that we didn't really need them! I am posting one last picture from our hike since I didn't take any pictures today.

Boy Buds

A pictorial tour of the joys and sorrows of having all of these brothers....

McConnels Mills State Park

I have been researching state parks in Pennsylvania with hiking trails that are appropriate for kids, so this morning we packed everyone up bright and early and checked out the Hell's Hollow hiking trail at McConnels Mills State Park. It was a half mile trail with a waterfall at the end that was perfect for kids that are new to hiking! We had a couple of meltdowns and sailed through the snacks that I packed for everyone, but we completed the 1 mile in about 70 minutes! With practice I think that we could shave about 30 minutes off that time and have more time to visit the other sites at the park including 2 covered bridges from the 1800's, the old grain mill, the playground area, and the white water rafting rapids.

My New Hands

Shane just found out that he has TWO HANDS and they are fabulous! It is really sad though when they go away! If they were only attached to his body so that he could enjoy them all of the time... Meanwhile, the look of surprise that he gets on his face when his hands appear out of nowhere is incredibly entertaining for the rest of us!

The Proud Fisherman

This is the fish that I found staring at me when I opened the basement refrigerator Monday morning.
This is the fisherman that caught the fish that I found staring at me when I opened the basement refrigerator Monday morning.
This is the picture that I was asked to take of the fisherman that caught the fish that I found staring at me when I opened the basement refrigerator Monday morning.
This is my blog post about the picture that I was asked to take of the fisherman that caught the fish that I found staring at me when I opened the basement refrigerator Monday morning.
So there it is sweetheart, just like you asked.....posted on MY blog (which is not a fishing blog in case you were wondering...but if it were, John would play Norman).

One Crazy Dad

It's official...the kids have finally driven John right off the deep end. Tonight he vacuumed the entire house and afterward decided that the vacuum sounded a little funny. Upon closer inspection he realized that he had emptied the bag from the vacuum several days earlier and forgot to put a new one in! So, all of the junk that usually gets captured in the vacuum bag was just getting sucked into the main vacuum compartment. Luckily for us it still works after being filled with dust and dirt. Then John decided to tackle the garbage. We cleaned the garage the other day and had a TON of stuff to throw away so John got all of the stuff together, put it all in
the garbage cans, and hauled it out to the curb. When I saw what he was doing I yelled out the window "you know that today is only Wednesday right?". He didn't! So John had to bring all of the garbage cans back up to the house for the garbage pickup...which is really on Friday! And I thought that I would be the first one committed to a mental institution......

Getting Big!

It is scary to see how fast these boys are growing up! Shane is already getting long for his car seat! His legs are almost hanging off of the end! His baby acne is finally almost gone! We can start taking pictures of him again. If I weren't so tired I would write about how much I am enjoying Shane right now and how I never enjoyed the other kids this much when they were so young, but that post will have to wait for another day!

Three Cool Cats

Wild Place

John took the day off to take a trip to the zoo with everybody today. We had perfect weather and got some exercise while enjoying the animals before it got crowded. It was a perfect day to spend outside! It was also Shane's first trip to the zoo, but unfortunately he didn't end up in any of our pictures today....whoops! Maybe next time buddy!

Out-take

Here is a sample of one of my outtakes from the pictures on Sunday. I can't begin to tell you how many I have like this!

Special Talent

The boys managed to disable the van again this week so that I couldn't go anywhere yesterday! They jumped in the front seat for 5 seconds and activated some anti-theft mechanism so that I couldn't turn the key in the ignition, the steering wheel was locked, and the lock and unlock function on the keyless remote was disabled. I ended up throwing the kids into the truck without carseats and driving up to the neighbors house down the street for exercising instead! John came home at lunch and managed to figure out how to get everything working again. Then at breakfast this morning Wyatt said "Mom, hopefully the van will start this morning....maybe"!

Exercise Program

This morning I started exercising with a personal trainer. Some girls in my subdivision and I hired a personal trainer to work with us 2 days a week for the next 6 weeks. We meet at somebody's house and bring all of our kids and the personal trainer works with the moms while the kids all play together. Today was our first day and it went really well with the kids! I am another story...I have a long ways to go before I am in the shape that I was in last summer, but I am ready to start getting serious! The idea of exercising with my kids there was sort of a scary thought! However, I figured that I wouldn't ever try to exercise with them by myself so maybe the distraction of another house and more playmates would give me some time to actually get a real workout done...an it worked! Go Mom!
John liked these pictures of the boys swinging better than the ones that I posted yesterday...so here are the Easter pictures version 2.0. (If you click on it you can see it bigger)

Happy Easter 2009!!!

What a blessing to celebrate Easter with these little guys!

A Frown

My baby Shane is heartbroken that Wyatt walked away from him....poor guy!

Bedtime Stories

This morning Wyatt got up and went downstairs before coming into our room. We didn't even know that he was up yet and I woke up when I heard him coming back up the stairs. I called to him and asked him what he was doing downstairs and he said "smell my mouth Mom...it doesn't smell like jellybeans at all"!
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I am fairly certain that Sammy is double jointed. I am still trying to get him to do some funky hand stuff so that I can get a picture of it. He can cross his index finger at a 90 degree angle across all of his other fingers without touching it! Freaky!
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Yesterday the boys left some interior lights on in the van and I had to jump start it. All four kids were loaded in their carseats and I managed to start the van in less than 5 minutes! If that's not impressive....then I don't know what is!

Coloring

Toddler Talk

We had a funny conversation at our house today...

Me: (talking to Shane) "Are you tired buddy? Are you ready for a nap?"
Shane: Smiles
Wyatt: Looking at me funny
Me: "Are you sleepy?"
Shane: Staring at me
Me: "Shane, are you sleepy?"
Wyatt: (Looking at me like I have gone off the deep end) "Mom, he can't talk...his face is too little!"

Spartan Time

Michigan State won their final 4 game and will be playing in the National Championship game on Monday! We are so proud of them, but wow the game was so close that we were stressed out all night tonight! They will be playing with a major home court advantage so anything can happen!
Pictures of some more Easter decorations from yesterday!

Easter Decorations

Check out these Easter decorations!

Blanket Hoarding

Wyatt loves blankets. He sleeps with at least 10 different blankets every night and he knows if any of them are missing. Check out all of the different blankets in this picture!

Tired Troops

We spent the morning at Phipps with my friends Bethany and Erin and all of our kids. There were 8 kids total....7 boys and 1 girl! We had a great time and got lots of cute pictures! My boys were SO TIRED by the time that we got home...it was great!