Sunday, March 29, 2009

Quickies

Okay, dirty minds, not that...

I am busily sorting, organizing, and pricing baby and toddler stuff that the boys have outgrown :( to sell at the Mom 2 Mom sale next weekend (more on that) and with all the other stuff that normally goes on around here , I have neglected my blogging duties!

So, here's the short version:

** Shameless plug - My mothers of Multiples mom 2 mom sale is this Saturday, April 4th 9am-1pm at Fenton High School. Lots of great stuff, i always find a ton there for the boys. Let me know if you need more details. Hey - the more people that are there, the better chance I have of selling all my stuff!!

** The last plug - actually plea for donations to the Marchof Dimes Walk for Babies. See my little purple box that keeps track ofmy doantions and has the cute pic of Jack and Quent, just to the right of this? If you have not donated, please consider doing so. This is the one cause that I really push, they do such important work. Help us make our goal!
Many Thanks to all our family and friends who have donated already!!

**The boys had gotten over a flu bug without major issue, had about 10 healthy days and are now fighting a cold. Poor guys. The crazy weather fluctuations don't help. 58 degrees and sunny on Friday - today 30 degrees (or less) and rain/sleet/snow. Michigan, need I say more.

**Potty training has been more successful lately! They both have done really well this past few days especially. The other night Quentin (maybe a little surprisingly to himself) pooped on his potty and that was cause for major excitement and celebration. Today, he told Tom he wanted to go potty and when he helped him on to the potty, Quent actually did pee!! Jack has been much more cooperative with the whole process, that has always been our obstacle with him , so yeah!

**On the subject of Quent - he needs to see an ENT for fluid in his ears that is not draining. He failed a hearing screening at playgroup and upon seeing the pediatritian, he saw lots of fluid behind his eardrums. Right now, it does not seem to be affecting his speech or even what he hears (he seems to hear most things), but it could develop into problems for him so we will be getting that checked out soon. More on that when I know more.

**The new glasses. Oh Blarg!
Gettng somewhat used to wearing them sucked. Tons of headaches and muscle spasms. Then I realized - the lens for the right eye (aka the bad eye) has no prescription in it!! Its just stinkin' plastic!! So my left eye is getting its adjustment and my right eye is still sucking big time!
Called the eye place and "oops, we don't know how that could have happened." Because I have never worn glasses before I thought that the blurriness would subside when I got used to them - NOT if there is nothing to get used to! A new right lens has been ordered and I should have it soon. (the sunglasses were correct and the comparison between the 2 is what tipped me off)

**The boys have moved up to bigger boy car seats (Jack was 1/2 pound over the weight mark and Quent was close to it too, so time to move up). They were some work to install, but now we will be riding in style in our new big boy seats thanks to Gramma and Papa's early Birthday gift. Thanks Gramma and Papa

In a nutshell, that's all the scoop I can think of right now. But its late and I'm tired...


Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Congrats Bryan!

Bryan at his Eagle Scout ceremony and celebration on Friday night.
He worked super hard to get his Eagle Scout and we were so happy and proud to be there to celebrate with him. It is really a major accomplishment!
Congratulations Bryan, Great Job!


The kids were all really excited about the cake - what kid is not excited about cake, right?!
Avery, Quent and Jack sitting with Gramma.


Mmmm cake. Just how big of a piece can I fit in here?


Tessa making silly faces while eating with Abby and Avery.

There was lots of family there (I wish I had taken more pics) and lots of people to run around and talk to. The kids had a good time chasing each other and climbing up onto the stage, probably fueled by all that cake sugar!
It was a really nice party, Congratulations again Bryan!

Saturday playing with the girls!

Saturday was playtime at our house this weekend. With Rob and Abby in town with the girls, we had everyone over to hang out and have dinner too. Len (Kyle was in Traverse City), Gramma, Papa, and Uncle Dan and Aunt Betty came over too. The kids - and the adults too - had a great time being silly and playing together!

Don't all girls wear tutus on their scooters?!
Tessa wearing the tutu that Abby had gotten her earlier that day, sweet.


Avery running around in her tutu - these were so cute!


Firefighter Avery 'squirting' policeman Quent, and Quent says, "NO, I do not want a shower!!"


Firefighters Jack and Avery putting out a fire by Uncle Lenny, crazy kids!



Jack doesn't want to wear the tutu, but he wants to have his picture taken!


Quent does want to try the tutu on, but he wants it on his head - beautiful!


The day also included a shopping trip to a mom2mom sale at GG's church (where the tutus were bought), shopping at Target for the ladies while the kids napped, and yummy Italia Gardens dinner. We were all worn out after our long, fun day!

Sunday in the Park

Spending Sunday morning in the park with Avery and Tessa, Rob and Abby, and Gramma. It was a little chilly and windy, but we had fun nonetheless!

Quent in the swing - love the shades and hat!


Uncle Rob helping Quent slide back and forth while holding in tight


Avery doing the big kid swinging, even pumping her legs to go faster!


Tessa enjoying the slide down!


Jack swing in the big kid swing too!


All 4 kids playing with a bell ringing toy. This was big fun , big noisy fun!





Monday, March 16, 2009

Makes my Monday

OH - it just Makes My Monday (or any day for that matter) that Jack and Quent are old enough to actually "play" outside and really enjoy themselves just playing in our yard!

Not too long ago I remember dragging the big blanket out there for them to play on with some toys and carrying them out one by one to the blanket - those days are SO over!! (which can be a good and bad thing!)

They had a blast today exploring the yard, digging in the dirt, climbing on their fort/slide, trying out the big boy swings, giggling like crazy at each other, playing baseball, basketball and golf, and helping Momma do some around the yard work, cleaning and filling the bird feeder, and cleaning out the van!
More than once i would hear one of them say, "what a beautiful, sunny day" (a phrase they no doubt picked up from Tom or I) or "I'm having fun!" then the other would say "No - I am having fun!" (we are in an argumentative phase right now, but even that seems way less annoying when you are out in the fresh air!)

Seeing my big boys be curious, playful big boys in the great outdoors really Makes My Monday!!

See who else has a Makes my Monday post over at Twinfatuation!

Sunday, March 15, 2009

What a week!

This has been a long week.

A really long week. Here's the highlights and lowlights...

We started our week with a stomach bug. Quentin got it first and started with the vomiting and diarrhea at my parents house on Sunday. He woke up at 5:30 Monday morning covered in poo. Poor guy, and poor Mom and Dad for having to clean up that smelly mess. Neither boy had much of an appetite for a few days, but played and seemed okay (other than the icky diapers, Jack joined in by late Tuesday).

So, we had to miss out on a play date with my mothers of multiples group which was a bummer, but it sounds like most of the families have had a similar experience lately so, we thought it not best to give it to some of them again. Luckily Tom and I never got any of it.

I spent Tuesday night doing the grocery shopping because even though it was rainy, it was about 50 degrees and Wed. the temp plummeted to 20 degrees. That's how the weather has been lately, warm and cold and warmer and colder - ugh.

Thursday, feeling much better, the boys got to spend some time at Aunt Jean and Uncle Jack's while Tom and I went for eye appointments. They had a really good time there, and thankfully they did not have to go with us and be bored and likely in trouble. Thanks Aunt Jean and Uncle Jack!
The crappy news from that appt. is that I will now be wearing glasses most of the time. I knew I had an astigmatism in my right eye (its a family thing that most in my Mom's family have) and it had not been too much trouble in the past. Lately, i have been squinting A LOT and that is causing major headaches and eye fatigue. So, I thought it was time to get the eyes checked again. Tom was due for new glasses and I thought I would probably be told that I would need glasses for certain times, but NO. The Dr. wants me to wear them pretty much all the time, my right eye is just that bad. Luckily my left eye is so good that I have been able to compensate a little so that I can see pretty well, just not when my left eye is closed!! I will post pics of the new glasses when they come in - but I am not happy about it - it will be a big adjustment for me!

Friday, Tom stayed home on Friday - that was a surprise - and went to playgroup with us! The boys loved that! We had a fun day together all day, running some errands and going to my parents' house for dinner. that was a great day with pretty nice weather.

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny, warm day! The boys stayed home with Daddy and went for a long walk around town with him. They told me about all the cool things they saw, including a train that was stopped and the engineer waved and tooted the horn at them. It was very exciting for them!
I spent the day with my Mom and Aunt Barb to 'Shipshewana on the Road' and shopping at the outlets. We had a really nice, relaxing day shopping and chatting, finding some good deals too!

Needless to say, today definitely needs to be the day of rest. I did some housework this morning and the boys just came in from playing outside with Daddy. Now we are all headed up for a little Sunday snooze.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Way Back When-esday - the High School Years!!

Like , Oh my God! I like totally cannot believe that I like found these bitchin' pictures of me from like high school, like they are like totally awesome!

I had the chance to meet up with some girls from high school for dinner last week. It was so fun! We all found each other on facebook (yep - I am now in its clutches!) and one o fthe girls suggested that we all get together. So, 8 of us ended up being able to go and we had a good time catching up and commenting on how old we feel!! Its funny, I was telling them, I know that I have grown up, gotten married, had kids, etc., but when I think of them I still think o fthem as their high school selves. Its weird.

So, I was going through some old pictures and decided to scan in few.
Have a good laugh at the hairdos and totally 80/90's styles, the pics are from my senior year, 1992!
Let the hilarity begin...


Me and some friends in what i think is some math class, not sure if its algebra or what.
I am the one, with the relatively small hairdo for me, 2nd from the right.


Here I am sporting a little taller 'do, but am pretty sure i am in physics class, not sure why everyone is watching what I am doing, or really what I am doing?!


My gosh - here is me, Sharon, and April bowling on our last day of school senior year (which happened to be my birthday!). We had gone out to celebrate and that included bowling! There were a bunch of us and I do remember it being pretty fun. Love the giant bows in our hair! Yep, I am wearing a Ren and Stimpy shirt (remember that show?), ever the fashionista!


This is Stephanie and me volunteering for Biking for Burns. It may or may not be my senior year, not sure, but golly that hair is BIG! I remember using a lot of hairspray back then. I had to periodically scrubthe hairspray buildup on my vanity in my room from the fallout of the vast amount I used every day! Not to mention the carpet would get stiff behind the vanity chair and that wold bnee dt be cleaned too. I do hold some personal responsibility for the breakdown of our ozone layer.


These are from Senior banquet, its me and my friend April, just in case you don;t know I am the one in the awesome floral patterned dress! And no I am not drinking alcohol in the bottom picture, it was some fruity drink they had, like punch. Oh no, I don't need alcohol to act goofy and silly! That still holds true!

So, head on over to Twinfatuation to see who else is feeling nostalgic tonight!

Monday, March 9, 2009

Baby Picture Sundays - At the park

Yep, its Monday, I know...

I had this post almost ready to go and then did not get to finish it in time to post it on Sunday - so better late than never - here is our installment of Debi at Who Says 8 is enough's Baby Picture Sundays.

Her theme this week was 'At the Park' and seeing that we got a taste of the beautiful weather on Friday, but could not actually visit our very muddy park, it was good time to remember the days that were nice enough to be at the park!

Here is our first park outing, for my Mom's family's reunion, August 2006. The boys were about 2 months old and pretty much slept in the stroller the whole time, but it was out first time to really take them out and show them off.

Can you tell who is who?


The next year, May 2007, we took our first real trip to the local park where we could actually play! Jack and Quent were 11 months old and were loving the nice weather, playing outside, and seeing lots of new things. Some of my favorite pictures of them came from our trip that day.

Cutie Quent


Happy Jack


Daddy helps us to pose on the slide, the slide was big fun!


Jack swinging, baby!


Quent, this is way more fun than our baby swings at home!


Just about a year later, in May 2008, we went back to our local park to play for our friends' birthday. What a difference a year makes, the boys could actually play and climb on their own - and run away from us too, which made way more work for us!!

Quent Climbing!


Smiley Jack, lovin' the swing!


Here's hoping for warmer, drier weather soon! We can't wait to start park trips again, this year will be even more fun for us all!

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Celebrating Dr.Seuss's Birthday at the Children's Museum

Our local Children's Museum was having Dr. Seuss events all week, and since the boys love his books so much we decided to take the day on Wednesday to go.

They have a submarine built in one of the rooms that was a lot of fun to play on. Lots of buttons to push and periscopes to look out of. We spent a long time in this underwater room.

This is Diver Dan in a 'Shark cage' with a stuffed shark attached to the outside, kinda neat. Jack was just amazed by it, but Quent did not like it and said that he "was afraid of the diver guy."
Quent is in the red/gray and Jack has on blue/yellow.


Through the portholes at the end of the sub - I thought it looked kind of cool!


Jack peeking out


Quent looking out at me



This music room is always a favorite when we are there.
You dance on the spots on the floor and it plays different notes.



Quent dressed up as a dinosaur


Firefighters to the rescue!!
This is a big favorite too, we always play here for a while.


Fireman Jack will show you the ropes. We have been playing fireman at home a lot lately too, so it seemed perfect to get to play it here too.


Quent is shopping for all his fruits and veggies.
He was especially excited about his watermelon.


Jack and Quent making their Dr. Seuss craft. They made the speck of dust from 'Horton hears a Who'. It was supposed to be 'Green Eggs and Ham' day, which is our favorite, but the craft for that book was meant for much older kids so we were given this ne to do insteasd/ They still had fun doing it and reading some of the book too.

After we left the museum, we went to GG's and took some lunch to eat and played the afternoon at her house. It was a long and very fun day for us all!