USA

We are back in the USA! The border crossing guard told me that she thought that I was crazy or didn't know any better than to travel with 4 kids ages 3 and under! I think that it helped speed me across customs because they didn't check my vehicle at all! Maggie came home tonight too! She has been doing therapy for a week now and has convinced Keith to get a golden retriever puppy. He already has one picked out in Michigan that he will be bringing home over the 4th of July. The puppies sure are cute in the pictures from his breeder, but not quite as cute as this threesome!

Fun in Canada

We had a fun packed day today and hit Niagra Falls, Marine Land, and a park on Lake Ontario. We had tons of fun and got some great photos in the process.

I'm So there

Did you read this on CNN today?
KELSO, Wash. -- A 4-year-old boy's brief joyride in his family's minivan came to an abrupt end when he crashed into a ditch Friday afternoon, fire officials said.The boy's mother told police that the 4-year-old used a stool to retrieve the keys off a key rack in their apartment. He then unlocked the van, started the vehicle and put the vehicle into drive, the mother said. According to a witness, the boy accelerated the van and drove 100 feet before turning left into a ditch. The witness called 911 and helped the boy out of the van, fire officials said. When Cowlitz County firefighters arrived, they found the back of the minivan sticking into the air with the rear wheel off the ground, said Capt. Mike Zainfeld in a press release.The boy wasn't injured and the van sustained minimal damage, Zainfeld said. The crash occurred at about 3 p.m. on Corduroy Road.Police said there was no property damaged during the boy's drive.There will be no citations issued against the parents. Police said the embarrassment of the incident was punishment enough.
My thoughts....
I want to meet that kid! He seems vaguely familiar.....
Wyatt could have driven a lot farther than 100 feet before crashing
Wyatt would have walked home and pretended to have no knowledge of the incident Instead of embarrassment the punishment should have been drivers ed!

Sweet Shane

She has developed a really bad cough. It's a fake cough. He uses it to get attention from anybody that is in the room. I fell for it for a day or so, but the boys still don't realize that he is manipulating them even though he coughs with a big smile on his face. They race over to him and wipe his mouth or pat him until he stops. How is it possible that at fifteen weeks, Shane has already figured out how to trick his big brothers into showering him with attention?!?!?
Tomorrow we are heading to Canada for a trip to Marine Land with Bethany and Madison. Everyone is excited and we will have plenty of great stories to share so stay tuned!

Date Night #1

John and I are going out on a date night every three weeks. My friend Bethany comes over and watches my kids one night while John and I go out, and then the next night I go over to her house and watch her daughter while she goes out with her husband. Last night we went out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant just the two of us. The service was super fast and we were out of there in the blink of an eye so we decided to go to downtown Pittsburgh and see the Duquesne incline. It is ranked as the third most romantic spot in America and the second most beautiful view in America because it overlooks the Golden Triangle of Downtown Pittsburgh, and surrounding area including the upper Ohio River valley and lower Allegheny River Valley. It was a great view and the weather was perfect. Afterwards we went out for ice cream and enjoyed eating it outside. We finally got home around 10:30 pm and had such a good time that we are already planning our next date night...and we are open to suggestions!

Pet Therapy

Maggie is doing some volunteer work this week. She signed up to be a pet therapist for our friend Keith. Keith's dog Sidney bit him in the face yesterday morning. He called us at 7am and asked John to drive him to the hospital where he got 7 stitches under his right eye, a tetanus shot, and a prescription for antibiotics. He was upset about his face, but even more upset about the fact that he knew that Sidney couldn't be trusted and needed to be put to sleep. Keith made an appointment at the vet last night and John went with Sidney. John sat with him and he died peacefully. Keith was emotionally spent last night. He lives alone and has had Sidney for 11 years after rescuing him from the pound. Sidney has lived with Keith in three different states and sleeps in his bed with him every night. It was obvious to us that Keith didn't want to go home to an empty house last night so John and I volunteered to let him take Maggie home for a while and ease the loss a little. Maggie was thrilled to jump in Keith's car yesterday and get some one-on-one attention from him! I talked to Keith today and he said that Maggie slept in his bed with her face about 2 inches from his. He described her as very loving and we are happy that she is so comforting for him. Maggie is on vacation this week and loving life...I hope that she wants to come home again after Keith finishes spoiling her!

Mr Dimples

Check out this smile! He took a tumble at the park today and has a huge scrape and bump right in the middle of his forehead, so I am posting a picture that was taken a couple of weeks ago instead.

Corny v.2.0

Remember last fall when I visited Al and Sammy stuck a piece of corn up his nose and we had to extract it with tweezers? Today we had a repeat of that with an uncooked kernel of popcorn, but I didn't have Al to help me hold him down for the extraction. It was so far up in his sinus cavity that I could barely see it....and I didn't even know what it was until I got it out. Sammy was just in his high chair eating and stuck his finger up his nose and was crying so I looked and saw something WAY up there. He sneezed a million times and it moved down far enough for me to hold it with the tweezers and push down from above with my fingers and out popped a piece of popcorn! I feel like I should wear a Mom tool belt equipped with tools needed for any situation that arises...choking, nose extractions, blood, vomit, and of course poop! Am I the only Mom that would actually get a lot of use out of a tool belt like that?

Fishing Recap

Fish Tales

John took Wyatt fishing in the boat this afternoon. They both came home and said that they had a good time! John said that Wyatt was really into catching fish and wanted to reel and take them off the hook without any help. He even caught a 10 inch perch! It looks like we will have enough for a fish dinner later this week so we are excited!

Projects

John and I stayed home today and put a dent in a lot of our home improvement projects. We power washed the windows, painted the front door, painted some of the siding on the back of the house, power washed the deck, painted the deck, sorted out kids clothes that were outgrown, made a Costco run, and gave this little peanut a bath. Tomorrow John is going to take Wyatt fishing. I have a feeling that they will both come home with a lot of fish stories!

Bird Facts

The kids and I were eating lunch in the kitchen today and a bird flew into the window. It made a really loud thud but then flew away and the kids kept asking "what was that?" over and over again? I explained that a bird flew into the window by accident so they wanted to know why. I said that the bird probably didn't see the window and Wyatt said "why Mom, because his eyeballs fell out?". Ummmmm maybe......
p.s. John took the vin number for the van to the Honda dealership this morning and they made us a new key so we are back in business again.
p.p.s. Jonah has learned to climb out of his crib. I will write more about this exciting news later when I am not drunk!

Locksmith Anyone???

We made it back from Michigan on Monday night at about 12am! We were so tired. I was driving and had to trade with John because I was literally unable to keep my eyes open any longer! Yesterday John went to work and I stayed home with the kids to get them back on schedule and rested back up. It was a pretty rough day and I didn't even get all of the unpacking done! Today was a lot better! Wyatt went to camp for the morning while I went to my exercise group! Everything went well today until Wyatt locked both sets of keys in the van tonight! John spent hours trying to unlock the van without any luck, so we are going to have to call a locksmith tomorrow morning! Life is never dull around here that's for sure!

AVisit to Michigan

We are in Michigan for the Memorial Day weekend. This was our first trip to Michigan as a family of six and it went surprisingly well! We stopped three times before we got to Grand Haven....once to nurse Shane and feed the boys snacks, once to visit my parents, and one more potty and nursing break. Unfortunately, Wyatt and I are suffering big time from hay fever from all of the pollen in Michigan right now. I can actually see yellow pollen on the surfaces of the cars and patio furniture. Yesterday Wyatt's eyes were almost swollen shut! He is taking Zyrtec around the clock now and seems to be a little better. I can't take any allergy medicine since I am still nursing so I am taking a lot of showers and complaining a lot! Today I ran in a 5K run in a neighboring town. It was my first 5K since the Turkey Trot my sophomore year in college at Michigan State (16 years ago...gasp!!!!) and I finished 190th place out of 400 runners! I beat most of the children under age 8 and the people pushing strollers and finished in about 30 minutes so I was thrilled. I'd like to thank Kathie and Mari for watching the boys and my ipod for keeping me motivated...without them this wouldn't have been possible! In hindsight, I think that I actually could have done the 10K, but I wasn't sure how well I would do on "real roads" since I am usually running on the treadmill. Next time I might get brave and try the 10K as long as I can find somebody to watch the kids! Any volunteers?

A Quiz

Any guesses on whose baby pictures these are? (Click on it to embiggen it)

Graduation

Today Wyatt graduated from 3 year old preschool! It was bittersweet because he has really learned a lot in school this year and enjoys his teachers and the other kids and I will really miss having a little break from my chatterbox two days a week, but packing up 4 boys in the car for a 3 mile drive gets a little old after a while. I am hoping that by next school year the twins will be able to get dressed on their own and buckle themselves into their car seats so that we can get out the door a lot quicker! This week I am busy trying to plan some activities to fill up a couple of our mornings now that preschool is over. We need structure...and a schedule...and to get out of the house in the mornings to maintain any level of sanity in our house. I am starting to panic... when does preschool start again??????

A+ Weekend

This was one of the most fun weekends that we have had in a long time! On Saturday morning we took the kids to Akron Ohio to A Day Out With Thomas The Train. We went on a train ride, got Thomas tatoos, played in a maze, watched a model train village display, and played with some Thomas trains. By some miracle, the kids didn't fall asleep on the hour and a half trip home and still took naps when we got back! Yipee! Then John and I got a babysitter and went out to dinner just the TWO OF US! It was so nice talking without interruptions and completing all of our thoughts! We didn't get home until 10:30! It is definately going to become a regular thing!

TGIF

John has been out of town all week. I had the boys to myself from Monday until yesterday night! I was ready for a BREAK! I was ready TO BREAK! My patience has been tested to the limit (omg the poop!!!!!) and if it weren't for this guys little blue eyes and cute smile.....well let's just say that I might not have survived!

Sand Man

This is what I found when I changed Sammy's diaper after some playtime in a sandbox!

Shane Speaks

Little Mr. Talker always clams up when I try and get him on video, but this one isn't bad!

Tired

I'm tired so I'm just posting an outtake from yesterday's photo shoot.

Happy Mother's Day!!!!

Happy Mothers Day! Mom and Kathie, we are a little behind on the mailing of your gifts, so look for them some time next week! My favorite Mother's Day gift from John was a picture of me with all of my boys....the best part was that everyone was looking! Trust me that's hard work!
(p.s. Congratulations to Kelly and Ed on the birth of Lucy... she's beautiful!!!)

A Little Kindness

I took Wyatt to Madison's 4th birthday party today and John stayed home with the other 3 kids. Wyatt and I had a lot of fun at the party and left with a treat bag full of candy. On the way home he was preoccupied with talking about how much candy was in his bag and how he was going to eat all of his candy as soon as we got home. Unfortunately, I told him that he couldn't eat any of his candy in front of Jonah and Sammy because they didn't get any candy and they would be sad. We talked about how we were going to put the candy up and that he could have some after the twins went to bed for the night. Imagine my surprise when we got home and Wyatt charged into the house in from of me and yelled "Boys, WE got candy....do you want some?". He then proceeded to reach into his bag and give each of his brothers a matching piece of candy before helping himself! What a nice Mother's Day gift for his Mommy.... the gift of kindness!

My Little Helper

The biggest threat to Shane's survival are his big brothers. Lately Wyatt has started picking Shane up and carrying him around! Thankfully Shane has pretty much mastered holding his own head up because Wyatt usually grabs him around the waist. Wyatt tries to carry him over to me when Shane is crying or put him in or out of his car seat because "Mom, I'm such a big help aren't I?". Um yeah... not so much! So, now when I hear Shane cry I have to literally drop what I am doing and sprint over to him so that I beat Wyatt to the punch. I am hoping that this is just a phase that will pass soon because I am getting really jumpy. "What's that noise? Is it Shane? Where is he? I gotta go get him NOW! Ohmygosh Where's Wyatt? Is he already in there? Holy crap! Wyatt where are you? Did you open the gate? Wyatt! Wyatt! Wyatt! What? You are in the bathroom pooping. Excellent. I've got Shane now. No need to panic! Breathe...breathe." Repeat 25 times a day and you get a feel for how quickly things can escalate around here! My life is definately not boring these days!

Mother's Helper

Today I had a little 12 year old neighbor girl come and play with the kids downstairs while I did some organizing upstairs. I needed to switch out the winter clothes with all of the summer clothes in the boys bedrooms. I can't ever get this done because when the kids are sleeping, I can't be re-arranging their dressers or I would wake them up. So, I got 50% of it done today and Kristen is coming back next week so I can finish. She is going to come every Thursday from 4-530! I am so excited. The kids seemed to like her and the best part (besides the fact that she only charges $5 total) is that she is the oldest of five kids and has 4 younger brothers so she is seasoned enough to handle my boys!

Envy

We are back from our trip. It took me a couple of days to unload the van so I didn't have my camera until today to upload my pictures and I still have a lot of cute ones and a video to post but first a story... This morning I had a woman come up to me in the Walmart parking lot (while the kids were all sitting quietly in the shopping cart looking all cute in matching orange coats) and say “Well, I sure don’t envy you!” and then turn and walk away.

I didn’t even respond mostly out of shock, but when she walked away Wyatt said “Who was that?” and I said loudly “Just some nut job…don’t worry about it!”

What are people thinking??????? Wouldn’t it have been better to say nothing???? I mean my kids have ears and can hear negative comments!

So, this is a picture of my crew from this morning. What do I see when I look at them? Lots of brotherly love. Lots of Motherly love. Lots of joy. Lots of pride. Lots of beauty. Lots of happiness.

West Virginia Day #4

Our activities today consisted of swimming and another visit to the museum. We will be sad to leave tomorrow!

West Virginia Day #3

Let's take a sleep deprivation quiz....

1. Which kid ran into at least 4 walls head first today?

A. Sam B. Jonah C. Wyatt D. Shane

2. Which kid spent at least 50% of today in time out?

A. Jonah B. Wyatt C. Sam D. Shane

3. Which kid can roll with the punches with little or no sleep?

A. Wyatt B. Sam C. Jonah D. Shane

4. Which kid is never sleep deprived?

A. Sam B Shane C. Wyatt D. Jonah

If you answered B for all of the above questions, you were right! The quiz for tomorrow will be food deprivation!!! (Just kidding!) But seriously if we have another day like today we might be considering the option in the last picture!

West Virginia Day #2

We visited a farmers market, a childrens museum, a park, a shopping mall, and then back to the hotel today and Wyatt and Sammy still managed to fight off falling asleep until around 10 pm!!! They are going to be SUPER fun tomorrow....I can't wait!