Yes, my hands are full! (and so is my heart)

I have kindergarteners?!

2011-09-28T19:49:00.000-04:00

Poor, poor neglected blog.

I have the best of intentions and often plan to sit and share some of the fun and wonderful moments in our family's life, but then I get distracted or busy or in general lose the ambition that I had to write. So, here I am - MONTHS after I lasted blogged and once again I will try to do better :)

My "babies" started kindergarten this month. Yep, I said kindergarten.

I knew it would happen eventually, but I was SO not prepared. They got to full day kindergarten and they love it. They love taking their lunch, they love 2 recesses, they love playing with their friends, they love their teachers, they love riding the bus home - all of it - they LOVE all of it!

Quent and Jack on their first day!

Jack is on his seat and ready!

Can you tell how happy Quent is to be there?

Having Lunch with Momma

The first day was just a 1/2 day, so we went out for a special lunch with Momma, and where did they want to go for a special lunch? McDonald's, I guess "special" means different things to kindergarteners than it does to moms.

Hopefully you will be seeing more of us around here, we had a super fun and busy summer and I would love to share some of that too. Lots of special times and toms of pictures!

Happy 5th to my Boys! & Baby Picture Sundays is back!

2011-06-12T21:36:00.000-04:00

I have fallen terribly behind on our blog! We have been busy with the end of the school year and now summer has started full swing - and with Facebook, I end up writing little bits here and there and posting pics on there that I kind of just don't do it here. I just need to be better about scheduling time to sit and blog - oh well, I'll keep trying!

My babies have turned 5!! I can't hardly believe it. It seems like yesterday when we first saw their little faces...

Momma holding Jack for the first time.

Daddy holding Quent for the first time.

And now they are 5, my sweet little babies are becoming my sweet little men right before our eyes. They just finished their preschool year and will be going to kindergarten in the fall, this has really been an amazing year of growth for them! Not only are they crazy tall, but they have learned so much this year it just blows my mind! It's also been a big year of change for Momma too - having to let go a little and get used to them being away at school. Next year school is all day and that will be a huge adjustment for us all - but it will be a good one - they are already excited!

So, yesterday at Jack and Quent's Birthday party these are the boys that I see...

Happy boys, posing with their cake.

Having a little conversation with each other.

And being super heroes (all day yesterday and most of the day today!)

I Love You So Much My Jackson and Quentin!

*******

And here is my Baby Picture Sunday contribution for this week's theme:

Sleeping Baby (or sleeping babies in this case!)

Sleeping in their car seats after their first ride home.

(Jack on left, Quent on the right)

Sleeping in their little burrito wraps, so tiny that they fit in the bassinet together ♥

(Jack on left, Quent on the right)

*you can click here to play along or see some more sleeping babies!

My Joshua...

2011-04-19T03:39:00.009-04:00

Today is your day.
You would have turned 8 years old today. That is amazing for me to think about and so overwhelming to imagine. I watch your brothers and I see all that you have missed out on, all that we missed out on with you. It breaks my heart and I miss you so very much.
How can I begin to express the joy of your birth and your life, and also the pain of losing you and missing you? Sometimes the words do not come easily. Sometimes the tears come too easily.
I think of you everyday, I dream of you often, and I live everyday knowing that you are loved beyond belief. Always.

Happy Heavenly Birthday My Sweet Joshua Thomas♥

Click here to visit Joshua's beautiful Name in the Sand page.

Really I am still here!

2011-04-04T15:41:00.000-04:00

Oh my goodness!
I can't believe that I have not been on here in so long. Between rotating illnesses amongst us all and everything else, life has just been a lot to handle and this blog has suffered horribly! We are still here and still plugging away and I am coming back to write more soon, and post Part 4 - the exciting conclusion of "The Story of Us". For right now I am going to blow my nose and take a little rest before the boys get up from their rest.
In the meantime, please visit our March of Dimes webpage and donate if you can. We LOVE the March of Dimes and each year we try our hardest to make our walk a big fundraiser! Thank you for your support on that♥

In the Good Old Summertime...

2011-01-09T22:02:00.001-05:00

Especially on these very cold days of winter, I enjoy looking back on pictures of a time when it was warm and pleasant to be outside. It helps that I also am ridiculously behind on posting photos to the blog and summer just happens to be where I have left off :)

So, after we got back from the trip to the beach we dove right into another busy part of the summer including birthdays, reunions and fun play dates with our friends!

Celebrating Tom and my Dad's shared birthday in July:

The story behind the blue dolphin pens - the boys saw these pens in a Hallmark store and they wanted so badly to get them for Papa and Daddy for their birthdays. We had seen dolphins on vacation and they were so excited to find these. So, they wrapped them up and were very proud to give them to Papa and Daddy!

My Mom's family's reunion:

At the beginning of August every year, my Mom's family has a family reunion at a local park. The kids have a fun time playing games and on the playground stuff, we have good food, and its a nice time to catch up with the rest of the family.

Not to mention the wicked BINGO games that are held each year!

Aunt Anne and Aunt Jean playing with Jack, Brad, Quent and Alex on the swings.

We guessed the correct amount in the candy jar and we won a whole lot of life savers! Quent was so sweet and shared our winnings with everyone at the reunion - he walked around with Gramma and asked each person what "color" they wanted and handed them out. Sweet Boy!

Oh, the annual family pictures!

The evolution of it can be pretty funny...

First - its just My Grandma and her kids.

(that were there, 5 out of the 11)

Then they add in the spouses...

...and evidently my Jack got in there too!

I though for sure that we took one with ALL of us in there, but I don't seem to have one, so I am not sure what happened there. Bummer, those are always fun too!

Concert in the Park:

One of our friends from Mother of Multiples has a park close to her house that has a children's concert each summer. She hosted dinner at her house for a bunch of us multiples' families and

then we all walked down to the park for a music and dancing filled evening!

It was SO HOT, but that did not stop the kids from dancing and having a good time with their friends!

Jack and Quent in the center there, amongst a bunch of kids we did not know.

The musician played all kinds of kids songs and rock/dance songs, he was pretty cool, despite the heat :)

Daddy joined in too for a few dances!

Some of our friends and their Moms and Dads dancing !

Jack and Teddy taking a break from all that dancing!

Super fun summer night, we will be looking forward to this again next summer!

Scavenger Hunt!

(just for us grown -ups)

We were invited to do a Road Rally/Scavenger hunt with some friends, Mel and Ken. We had never done one before and were very excited to try it out!

We had a team - Tom and me and Tabitha - we had a car, and we had a list.

The team that made it back by the deadline with the most points for all the stuff they collected would be the winner!

Here is just some of the silly stuff we did:

Tom posing in a dress and me posing with a horse.

Tabitha sitting at a table of strangers, and Tom holding a watermelon over his head.

Tom climbing in a kids playscape, and me walking through a drive-thru to buy a drink.

Me being scared of the newspaper headline ^

and posing on a riding lawnmower >

< Tom posing by a park sign and

taking a self-portrait in a hat ^^

And even though we did not win, we had a blast running around and being crazy!

(YES - we got points for the pic together and the mohawk!)

Play date at the Splash Pad!

We met up for some cooling off on a hot day with some of my Mothers of Multiples group at a splash pad nearby. What fun!

All the kids were loving it - especially getting to squirt each other!!

Quent gettin' splashed!

Hi friends - Adam, Sarah, and Jacob!

Jack's not sure if he should run through or not.

Playing in the Pirate Boat - Arg!

So much fun!

Jack's big smile >

Silly - J and S getting their

hair wet in the spray (below)

Adam using the squirting toy...

Big brother Jacob joins in...

Poor Adam gets the wrong end of that deal!

Definitely a place we will be visiting again!

My sweet boys:

Just having themselves a picnic on the floor at home ♥

Watching Thomas chug on by:

We sure did a lot of fun stuff with my M.O.M.'s group this year!

Here's another one - going for a picnic lunch and to watch Thomas the train drive by.

Here he comes!

And there's the kids holding their ears - my Jack right in the middle there - at least most of them were holding their ears!

And here is our attempts to get a bunch of twins, triplets and siblings to take a group picture!

HA!

Funny!

We got to see him come down the track a few times while we were there and had a good lunch with our friends - next year I think we will buy tickets and actually RIDE the Thomas train!

Spending the day on the boat:

Uncle Dan and Aunt Betty's boat to be specific. They were out at the campground for a week and we joined them for a day of playing at the beach, having lunch, and riding on their new boat.

Oh, you are just giving me these keys Uncle Dan?

Hmmm, let's figure out how to start this thing.

Jack is ready to drive that boat!

And he got his turn!
Oh how he loved "driving" the boat with Uncle Dan! He was so happy and had a permanent grin on his face the whole time. Actually he was pretty good at steering where he was told to go and he thoroughly enjoyed using the throttle to go faster.

Tyler, Christina, and Aleah on the starboard side.
Me, Quent,Sydney, Briana, and Alexis on the port side.
(behind us were Tasha and Aunt Betty)

The bigger kids taking a swim out in the middle of the lake.

There's that great big smile again!

Quent and Aunt Tasha laughing and enjoying the ride on that beautiful day!

Quent took a turn at driving - he was having fun, but did not want to do it for very long.

Jack was fascinated watching the water as it rushed past the boat - and he even got a little spray in the face

Everyone relaxing, enjoying the ride on our way back to the campsite after the beach. We were all playing in the water at the beach, so I have no beach pictures!

Jack driving the boat into the canal to get back to the site, with some help navigating from Uncle Dan, of course!

GG's Birthday Bash:

For GG's birthday this year, the boys knew that they wanted to make a birdhouse for her. We went shopping to look for birdhouses and they each chose the exact, perfect one. And then we painted them and decorated them one afternoon.

Quentin's birdhouse masterpiece.

Jackson's beautiful Butterfly House.

They both did such a wonderful job on these houses for GG, I was so proud!

Quent taking my picture as I was taking his!

Everyone in the pool swimming on the day of the party at
Aunt Margaret and Uncle Eldon's house -

GG opening her presents with the kids all around her!

Uncle Andrew helps with a stubborn box.

Aunt Barb, Aunt Anne, Aunt Sue, Uncle Jim and Gramma watch what she opens too.

Oh! Now she is opening the boys' gift to her, the boys were so excited - they kept telling her what it was and what they made for her, it was too funny!
"Open it GG, it's a birdhouse that I made for you, c'mon let's open it!"

Sweet Tessa helping GG read her Birthday cards, isn't that just precious?!

The Mothers of Multiples Summer Picnic:

The summer picnic is always a good time, but this year was a carnival! It was a scorcher of a day, but that did not stop everyone from having a good time. There was a family scavenger hunt that we all really liked, prizes for the games, hot dogs, popcorn, and lots of yummy treats that everyone brought to share. Our social director is pretty awesome!
And mostly - there was lots of fun and lots of twins and triplets!

We played all kinds of carnival games:

And the boys had their faces painted - well - Quentin did!

He wanted to be Batman - although he looks way to cute to be Batman, I think!
What an adorable smile that boy has!

And we got to have balloon animals:

Jack and Daddy waiting for his animal and snacking on a popsicle.
He chose a turtle - looked just like Squirt from Finding Nemo - it was very cool!

And he liked it a whole bunch...

Just in case you could not tell by the sweet smile on his face!

Quentin chose a red dog on an orange leash - is this clown the coolest or what?!
She could make anything!

Sadly, the first set of balloons went POP!
So, we had to get back in line to get more and this time they chose...

Quent - An Alien (complete with a clear space helmet) and
Jack - A red "Clifford" dog with a yellow leash.
Another set of very cool balloon creations!

The 2 clowns that were there were so awesome, the kids all loved their balloons (and there were lots of really cute ones). And the face paintings were so perfect - from superheroes to butterflies - they were all just wonderful works of art! Again, thanks to our fabulous social directors and all the hard work that goes into a big event like this, it was another huge success and a wonderful way to end our summer activities!

Ah, I am so ready for this very cold winter to be done, seeing all these photos makes me ready for more summer fun!

North Carolina Vacation - part 2

2011-01-01T23:03:00.000-05:00

In my attempt to get lots more photos and memories captured on here, I hope that this will be the first of many in a marathon of posts!

Let's hope I can do it!!

Now - back to North Carolina - right where I left off, on our wonderfully warm and sunny summer vacation to the Outer Banks and the Atlantic Ocean.

Our Family, written in the sand...

Tom and the boys in the surf,

Woo Hoo that water was cold!

Quentin's drawing in the sand, I love the little hand prints♥

J is for Jack

by Jack

Q is for Quent

by Quent

Happy Family at the Beach!

More Happy Family pictures!

One of the kids favorite places to be was the hammock on the back porch. I hear tell that the hammock has been a favorite among many in the many years of the beach cottage.

Well, Jack was absolutely in love with the hammock!

Here he is being silly with Roxie, both of them wearing swimming goggles!

Goofy Kids!

Did I mention that the beach was just over the dune from the house?

On top of the dune was a lookout spot that was super cool to check out the beach and the water. Here are my 3 guys with Tony checking out the view.

Roxie and Quent beating the heat in the little pool up by the house. Not sure how all this started out, but I am thinking I was at the store or something and came back to find the kids (mine in their undies) wet and having a blast!

We spent one day visiting the North Carolina Aquarium, a really cool place!! (meaning it was both a very neat aquarium and it was air conditioned too)

Quent checking out the turtles.

And telling Momma some awesome stuff about the turtles!

They had some absolutely gorgeous, very kid-friendly exhibits that my camera just did not do justice in photographing. It could not get the flash/no flash thing right, so some of the pics are a little blurry and lit funny and if I was better at editing I could get them better. Still I want to remember some of the great stuff we saw and did.

The boys were looking at a tank that they could look down in and match up what they saw to what was on the wall - you could practically crawl right onto the tank to see all the stuff inside.

The stingray tanks were a huge hit with our kids and all the kids there!

It just felt like you were so close to them, and they would just drift right on by.

Little did we know that later, we would get even closer to them!

Yikes - we are in a shark cage!

Silly, but the boys thought it was hilarious!

Here's where we actually get to touch the stingrays - boy was that cool!

That's Roxie with her arm in, along with Aunt Mindy behind her.

Quent was willing to give it a try!

We tried and tried with Jack, but he was not wanting to touch them. But he was content on watching them swim around, oh well.

Mindy, Quent, Roxie, Tom, and Jack watching the stingrays.

At a different touch tank, we were looking at sea urchins, starfishes, and lots of other small sea creatures.

Momma was touching trying to get the boys to join in, it was a very cool experience!

Then there was the ginormous shark tanks!!

Whoa - were these things huge and so fascinating to watch!

We had to peel the boys away form the glass after a while to get through the rest of the place. They probably could have stayed there with the sharks all afternoon asking questions and talking about their eyes, fins, gills, teeth, what they might eat, how do they sleep, why don't they eat each other, and so on, and so on.

It was very adorable how interested they were!

This was a globe that had a movie projected onto it about the oceans and water on the earth. Jack was mesmerized! It was kinda cool how it was done.

Another day we took a trip to the Wright Brothers National Memorial which in Kill Devil Hill, on the Outer Banks. How could you not visit this national Park and Monument?!

Maybe my boys were getting some inspiration for a little inventing of their own!

Models of the first planes flown, amazing, just amazing!

The park rangers do a presentation every hour which was really good and has some neat info in it, but is a lot of sitting and listening for a couple of 4 year olds. So, even though Tom and I were intently listening and marveling on all the facts, the boys were not quite as into it.

Jack fell asleep with his head buried under my arm, and Quent laid across Tom having a snack.

Oh, if only they coudl get in there and play on those cool things - don't think they did not try!!

Quent playing dress up in the souvenir store.

Such a cute boy!

The massive monument up on the hill that the Wright Brothers flew from.

We did not climb the hill up to it, because of the heat (about 100+ degrees that day!), but there is loop drive around it, it really is quite a sight.

Our last day on the beach :(

We spent the day playing in the water, making sand castles and watching the ghost crabs run up and down the beach! They were so cool to watch beacuse they did not get into the water, but chase the water down to get all the goodies that they eat, then run back up to their holes away from the tide. We sat and laughed, I mean Jack was belly-laughing at these things, as they went back and forth!

I wish we had been able to get pictures of the dolphins we saw. They are just so fast that its very hard to capture, especially when you are marveling at them with your kids making sure they see the dolphins! The pictures become kinda secondary at that point. The boys did so love seeing them jumping through the water, it was definitely a highlight for us all!

Quent and Jack, showing off the sandcastle they built with Momma.

Oh No! Do you think the water will come up here?!

Whew - our castle is safe right now.

AHHH! The water got us!

Wait for it...its coming...

Oh man, its washing our sand castle away!

There it goes.

And here comes the tide again!

Hey - stop stealing our castle!

So, we explained the tide thing to the boys and that we had plenty of shells to take home to remember our beach time and that we can make a new one next time.

It was an incredible new adventure for our family, our first big family vacation!

An amazing time for us all, we were sad to see it ever end, but we had lots of driving to do to get home! So, we packed up the van again, said our goodbyes to our friends and their amazing beach house, and headed out on Saturday morning to start the trip back home.

Blech - just a little hot on our way through the D.C. area!

Thank goodness for DVD players in he car during this trip with LONG rides in the car - it truly saved us sometimes !!

Along the way we spent 2 nights in hotel-ahs (remember why I call them that? no, read here.)

and they had to have a pool so that we could burn off some energy and have a little fun after such long times sitting in the car! One we stayed at even had an indoor jungle gym/ swing set on a cushiony floor - very cool and just what we needed to see!

12 days,

4 hotel-ahs,

thousands of miles,

lots of sand and water,

lots more laughs,

and millions of memories

we came home from our super summer vacation ready to go back again next year!!

North Carolina Vacation -part 1

2010-11-15T23:30:00.000-05:00

Okay - so this is going to be an extrememly heavy blog post!

(as will part 2 of this little series)

I want to remember every bit of fun and cherish every single memory of our first big family vacation. We traveled to the Outer Banks in North Carolina to stay with an awesome friend, Mindy, and her Tony and AJ. We stayed at her family's beach cottage, "Small World" is what they call it. Her great-grandfather (I believe) built it in 1954 and it sits just over the sand dune from the Atlantic Ocean. It is on the northern end of the Outer Banks,but it's in a town called Southern Shores :)

We chose to drive the 14+ hours there, so that we could travel to some familiar places along the way and visit good friends. We took 3 days to drive down and 3 days to drive back, and really it allowed for us to enjoy some 'out of the car' time, swim at the hotels (or as Jack calls them "hotel-ahs" - it is hilarious and we love it and this is how I will be referring to them from now on!)

Having some fun at one of the service plazas along the Ohio turnpike.

Our second night we stayed in Grantsville, Pennsylvania - very close to a YMCA camp that Tom's friend runs. Todd lives there with his family and is the director of the camp.

Its a beautiful camp, surrounded by Amish farmland, the drive there was gorgeous.

It would have been a far more enjoyable ride if the van's rear brakes were not acting up and causing problems. More on that later...

We arrived just in time for a BBQ dinner, but had to stop by the large stuffed bear in the dining hall!

Quent thought it was cool, and wanted his picture with it.

Jack wanted nothing to do with it so he went and laid on a bench.

After Dinner, the boys had some play time with Todd and Sarah's girls - that was a much needed break from just Mom and Dad. The boys had a blast with them!

Both families got together for a group shot before heading out to the campfire and talent show.

Todd, Sarah, and their girls, Fern and Rose with the 4 of us.

While we waited for the Talent show, we checked out the lake and the playground.

Playtime out of the car - HOORAY!!

Jack's GQ pose on the lifeguard stand.

How can you NOT have fun in so much sand?!

So, we come to the campfire to watch for a little bit and the campers take turns getting up and doing songs, skits, whatever they want for the audience (the rest of the campers!)

It was quite entertaining and very funny!

Quentin very much wanted to go up on the stage and tell his jokes. He was very upset that we did not have time to stay and that he was not going to get to have a turn. So, we convinced him that he should tell his jokes to Todd. And when Todd laughed his big laugh, Quent was happy and ready to go. Thanks Todd for helping a little guy out!

Back to the brake problems, we had gone back to the hotel-ah that night and still smelled a hot brake smell (don't ask me, I had no idea what the smell was). The van was not accelerating well and the brakes were touchy, so it was a slow ride back to the hotel-ah, but we made ti safe and sound. We swam in the pool and headed off to bed. The next morning, Saturday morning, we had planned on leaving early so that we would get into NC while it was still daylight, but Tom got up early to take the van to get looked at instead. It was a brake caliper problem and basically the rear brake was staying on when it shouldn't. Therefore making it kinda hard to speed up.

Well, we got that fixed (Yay Tom!) and off we headed!

After a long,rainy drive, here is how we were greeted coming into NC:

B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!

(actually it was a double rainbow, but that is hard to see)

Should say "Welcome to North Carolina" but you get the gist...

By the time we got to the cottage, it was late and dark, but we were so happy to be there!!

We got settled in, visited a little and let the boys burn off some energy before we all hit the hay.

This is how the boys entertained themselves in the lazy part of the early morning while they were waiting for breakfast. These boys love their Toy Story and Cars.

Quent on the left, AJ and Jack on the right.

Soon we were headed out for some fun at the beach!

I mean - geez - we are staying AT the beach!!

Up the dune...

"Hi Mom!"

...Down the dune.

And when I say the house sits just over the sand dune, literally you walk over a small dune and you are on the ocean! You can hear the waves all the time, especially at night, and the breeze is wonderful and pretty much constant. And even though the days we were pretty warm (90-95 degrees everyday we were there) the nights would cool down and the breeze was fantastic!

The boys took to the ocean pretty slowly, first they just wanted to play in the sand.

And we watched Daddy take a big swim into the water.

Very cool water on a very hot day!

Then Quentin decides he is going to try it out a little with Daddy.

Jack decides he would rather not go into the water today.

Look how cute he is in his little beach hat, just playing in the warm sand!

Quent and Daddy are now braving the waves and sitting in the surf!

WHEW! That's cold!

"Momma, there is a lizard out here on the porch!"

"Ummm...don't think so, babe!"

Mindy leans over and says, "Actually we do get little skinks here sometimes."

AH - the hammock...

hours of swinging fun on the back porch!

We SO need one of these, as you can tell all the kids had so much fun swinging in that hammock together!

AJ, Roxie (AJ's cousin that could be his twin, that look that much alike and are very close in age) Quent and Jack are laughing like crazy - having the BEST time!!

Since the ocean was just so cold (winds coming in from the west, pushing the warm water out to sea), Mindy had a plan for us to go to the sound (on the other side island - its the water that separates the mainland and the island) for a swim. It is much warmer and the waves are gentler.

This is Roxie (borrowing one of AJ's swimsuits) and she just jumps right in - she lives very near this beach and is totally a beach baby!

Jack and AJ still are not too sure about this whole thing. But this is major progress from both boys. You see AJ would bot even go near the water since he was a baby. He will not even go over the dune to look at the water, so to get his feet in is MAJOR!

Holding my hand he is braver still!

His Momma was so excited!

All 4 of them finding shells and running in the water.

Don't worry, Lifeguard Tom was out in the water about thigh-deep making sure the chillens were not going out to deep and that they were staying safe. Us mommas, me and Mindy, were playing right there too and taking pictures of it all!

See - there he is - Lifeguard Tom!

They had little scratches ontheir bellies and chests from laying on the shells that are in the sand, but does it look like they care?! No way! It was way too much fun!

The sunset was amazing on the water!

Maybe the only picture of Tom and I (sort of) together taken on the whole trip- Thanks Mindy!

Awesome, Awesome FUN!!!

Probably the BEST beach picture ever!

Happy Halloween 2010!

2010-10-31T20:49:00.000-04:00

We have thoroughly enjoyed this Halloween season, attending parties, dressing up and trick or treating have all been super-fun this year!

Hope Everyone had a Happy and Safe Halloween!

Heading out to Trick or Treat in our neighborhood:

Jack was the Fed Ex Delivery Man - complete with a dolly full of packages and

Quent was a Scary Dinosaur (though I think he was mostly adorable, he swears he was scary!)

At one house - (just love that tail on the dinosaur) aren't they quite the cute pair!

And then they were showing off their jack-o-lanterns -

which they drew themselves and Mom and Dad helped to carve.

They both did a great job!

Happy Halloween from our handsome Fed Ex Guy and adorable Dinosaur!

P is for Preschool

2010-10-05T22:55:00.000-04:00

So, we are coming to the end of our 3rd week in Preschool, and Momma is still standing!! Actually it was pretty hard those first few days, for me - not them, but we have all adjusted pretty well to our new school schedule.

Of course we took lots of pictures of that momentous first day!

They are ready to go!

Momma, can we go now?

Okay, but this is the last one, right?

They were so ready to get there!

At the doors of the school, sporting identical backpacks, rarely do they pick out exactly the same thing, but they HAD to have these!

At their lockers - yes, my preschoolers have their own lockers!

Sitting down and signing in for the day!

Do you think he is happy to be there?!

Jack is very happy too!

So, then Momma begs the boys for a hug and a kiss before she leaves and they can barely stand still long enough to do that!

"Okay Mom, Bye! See you later!" - My Big Boys!

Momma leaves and saves her tears for the car and drives home :(

After what felt like far more than 3 hours, finally it was time to go out to wait for the bus.

"Here comes their bus!"

(Papa came over to see the boys come home on their first day and take pictures of them getting off the bus, that way Momma could just give hugs!)

They are loving getting to ride the school bus!

Momma is so happy to see her hot, tired boys after a long morning of preschool!

They had so much to tell me and absolutely loved preschool and have been loving it everyday since. Everyday they ask if they are going to preschool. They have made friends that they regularly talk about. They come home with new songs and new skills and so much to share! And everyday they remind us that they get to ride the bus home - that is still the best part for them!

And Momma has slowly eased into letting them go and grow and learn away from me, and enjoy the time that I have to do other things by myself.

♥

Missing Sarah and Jacob

2010-09-23T09:54:00.001-04:00

I thought of you and closed my eyes,
And prayed to God today.
I asked what makes a Mother,
And I know I heard him say:
A mother has a baby,
This we know is true.
But, God, can you be a mother,
When your baby's not with you?
Yes, you can he replied,
With confidence in his voice.
I give many women babies,
When they leave is not their choice.
Some I send for a lifetime,
And others for a day.
And some I send to feel your womb,
But there's no need to stay.
I just don't understand this God,
I want my baby here.
He took a breath and cleared his throat,
And then I saw a tear.
I wish that I could show you,
What your child is doing today,
If you could see your child smile,
With other children who say:
We go to earth and learn our lessons,
Of love and life and fear.
My mommy loved me oh so much,
I got to come straight here.
I feel so lucky to have a mom,
Who had so much love for me.
I learned my lessons very quickly,
My mommy set me free.
I miss my mommy oh so much,
But I visit her each day.
When she goes to sleep,
On her pillow's where I lay.
I stroke her hair and kiss her cheek,
And whisper in her ear.
"Mommy don't be sad today, I'm your baby and I'm here."
So you see my dear sweet one,
Your children are okay.
Your babies are here in My home,
They'll be at heavens gate for you.
So now you see what makes a mother.
It's the feeling in your heart.
It's the love you had so much of,
Right from the very start.
-Author Unknown

Our Sweet Angels Sarah Jane and Jacob Robert,

Today would have been your 6th birthday, we hope you know how much we love you and miss you today and everyday ♥

I'll get there...

2010-09-18T00:07:00.003-04:00

How did we get from this -

To this -

Here are some facts that just cannot be ignored:

My babies are 4 years old.

They are starting preschool next week.

They are super-excited about this.

They have never been in a non-family caregiver situation in their lives.

I am freaking out.

Don't get me wrong, they are going to school. I am not going to keep them home just because I am nervous. We have been preparing them ( and honestly, preparing me too) for this upcoming major milestone and transition. We have talked about how much fun it will be, how many friends they will have, how much they will learn, AND how Momma does not stay when they go to class, that school is just for the kids and that Momma will be waiting for you when you are done at the end of the day. And I think that they are okay with the fact that I will be leaving them at preschool 4 days a week for 1/2 a day and that I will be waiting for them to get home on the bus.

I think THEY are okay with this - but I am feeling doubtful about ME! I am counting on that I can hold it together until I am out of their sight and then I can go cry like a sissy in the car all I want - just not in front of them. I am not going to taint what will be an awesome experience for my guys with my fears and worries.

It's weird because the intense love and need to protect my boys I feel is what makes me worry about them going off without me, but that same love and protectiveness is why I want them to have a great time away from me. They need this, I know. I need this, so I am told.

I'll get there. I will learn to enjoy their time in school as much as they do. I will worry less, I will cry less, and I will get there too. I have come this far as an overprotective Momma. It was not all that long ago that I would not be able to breathe (physically, literally) when considering the thought of leaving my babies to go back to work. Leaving them with someone else that was not Gramma or Aunt/Uncle.

And here we are at the threshold of Preschool. I have been able to home with them for more than 4 years and what a blessing that has been. I know how lucky I am. So, through every tear that I shed (including some as I write this) I will be grateful my boys are getting older and smarter and stronger and more independent. Grateful, that they are mine and will be home by lunch.

Jack and Quent are going to have an amazing, awesome time in preschool.

And Momma will get there too ☺

Meanwhile, between birthday and vacation...

2010-08-16T12:39:00.000-04:00

We have really kept busy this summer, and sometimes I just am enjoying the things we are doing and then later remember that I was not taking pictures! Luckily, I have been pretty good at getting photos of most of the fun stuff we have been doing - so here goes the installment of the happenings before we went on our Big Vacation!

Touch a Truck Event!

Literally one of our most favorite things to do!

The boys absolutely love getting to get into all these vehicles and explore. Most of them are completely disabled, so they can climb in, look around, pretend to drive - although Jack will often find the buttons that do make noise or honk the horns! That's my boy!

Jack and Tom in an Army vehicle

Jack LOVES the buses - just wait until he can ride one for school!

Quent on a John Deere tractor

Jack daydreamin' on that same tractor

Quent is learning how to fix the utilities in the consumers energy truck

Waiting for the Army Helicopter to take off -

the cool part was when it did take off it circled round the field over and over. It made me a little nervous to have them sweeping by that close, but the boys thought it was so cool!

That same day we went to Alex's Birthday party (one of those times I was not taking pictures but just enjoying myself) and then went to a skating party with Uncle Dan and Aunt Betty.

Jack, skating with Daddy and the lady from the rink.

This was the boys first time on skates. They each made it around the rink once, then they were done with the skates. Quent was done before we got Jack's skates on so I did not even get a picture of him on his skates.

Gramma lends a hand with Jack on his skates but he is done - can you tell by the look on his face!

Tom then enjoys some skating time!

Playing catch

Aunt Kyle teaching Quent how to catch and throw.

They were using the ball and mitts that the boys got for their birthday.

Quent making the catch!

Now Jack is giving it a try and making a catch!

Oops, missed it, but good try!

Daddy and Quent practice a little too.

Reading fair at the Zoo

We went to this fun event at the children's zoo with some twin friends of ours and had a great time! Got lots of freebies, did some fun activities, had a picnic lunch, rode the train and carousel, and saw the zoo animals too!

Quent, Teddy, Amelia, and Jack pose with Cat in the Hat

The boys eating suckers and watching the big crow

High five Giant Cardinal!

Jack was trying to show me his zebra tattoo, but he was trying to figure out if it really was a zebra!

Quent got a turtle and was pretty proud!

That pencil he was carrying was his most prized find of the day and bonus that it had an orange eraser!

4th of July

Spent a very hot and humid 4th out at Uncle Dan and Aunt Betty's, chatting with the family, eating some good food, and having a good time!

Going through the kid wash - the coolest pvc pipe invention that ever was!

It was a pvc pipes with holes strategically placed and attached together to make a 'car wash' like sprinkler for the kids to ride and run through.

Is that the coolest?!

My guys riding in the water while the grown up kids play kickball in the background

That is one serious game of kickball!

Jack gets Gramma to go through with him!

Its fun for all the kids -really this was an all day activity that they all played at for hours! There would be a food break or bathroom break, but all the kids stayed in suits the whole time and kept coming back to this!

Oops - sprung a leak!

My guys staying cool on a hot day

Okay! So they got me to go through it once too!

Splash Pad!

A trip with the Mothers of Multiples group to the Splash Pad in our area, very cute and fun place to cool off on a hot day. Quent loved it right from the start, it took Jack a little bit to get used to the idea, but once he got in, he was having fun too!

Go Quent!

Quent coming back to the bench to convince Jack to go in too.

Hey, this is not so bad!

Cute and Happy wet boy!

My next big post will be about our Vacation to the Outer Banks at the end of July! I am so excited to share those photos we had so much fun on our first big family trip!

"On our actual birthday"

2010-08-11T21:49:00.000-04:00

(OMG - 2 posts in 2 days! What is going on?!)

The "actual birthday" was the way that I had described their birthday once, which is on the 7th of June, trying to differentiate it from the 5th, which was the day of their party. We had a countdown calendar and both days were on it, and after I had referred to the 7th as the "actual birthday" the one time - that was from then on what Quentin called their birthday - their"actual birthday". Soon enough Jack caught on too.

We spent the day doing what the boys loved the most and luckily the weather was perfect, so our first stop was to take the bikes to the park to ride in the outdoor hockey rink.

First - they love it.

Second - they can't just take off riding out of your reach, they are confined to a safe spot with no cars. Its perfect for learners!

Just look how cute they are in their little helmets!

They are both getting really good at the bikes, we probably won't attempt to lose the training wheels until next year and they have lots more practice. They are doing great just the way they are now!

Then, of course we had to play and swing at the park.

Daddy was pushing them higher and higher - they were loving it - as you can see by the ginormous smiles!

I convinced the boys to let me take some pictures of them together for their birthday and thery were a little more than reluctant and quite silly and distracted, but we did manage to get a few really good ones of the two of them on their 4th birthday!

My ABSOLUTE favorite one of the bunch that we took and it was the 1st one that we took! This really does capture them perfectly and against the green, green grass - I just LOVE it!

*love this one too


*another favorite

*love the laugh from Quent

And for their birthday dinner?

They chose Red Robin, of course! Where else can you get just what you like (Quent=corndog, Jack=Mac&cheese) and get ice cream along with a song from the servers (that was big fun!) and a balloon to go with it!

Pretty great 4 year old birthday dinner, we think!

An an ice cream sundae to top off the big 4 year old birthday meal!

Yum!

Jack's not a big ice cream eater, he will eat some, but is not into having a lot and did not finish his sundae.

Quent, on the other hand ate every last bite!

Yummy - his favorite part is the whipped cream on top!

Neither one of them liked the cherry though.

Daddy and a very silly 4 year old Jackson!

Momma posing with her 4 year old Quentin!

What an amazing gift these 4 years have been for us, our boys have brought us more joy and love then we ever thought was possible. We could not love them more! These two very different, very special, twin brothers are the perfect dream come true for their Momma and Daddy!

Happy 4th Birthday Jackson and Quentin!

Ain't no party like a Toy Story party....

2010-08-10T21:54:00.001-04:00

Be Warned:

This post contains lots and lots of pictures from the party for 2 very adorable birthday boys and the people that love them!

You may want to get a snack and settle in for this one ☺

The party tent

The cake was "Andy's room" from Toy Story

"OOOoooOOOooOooo!"
The Alien cupcakes turned out so cute!

Joel and Aunt Kyle chillin' in the shade - it was a hot one that day.

♪ Happy Birthday Dear Quentin... ♪

♪ Happy Birthday Dear Jackson...♪

Time for cake and Jack is diving right in!

Yummy - Tessa Bean is lovin' that alien cupcake!

(its amazing what a tiny amount of black frosting can do!)

Quent and Jack enjoying the chocolate letter blocks from the cake

Avery is cooling off with some Superman ice cream, mmmm...

GG and Aunt Sue

Gramma, Aunt Tasha, and Alexis having some cake too.

Jack is covered in blue ice cream and sweating like crazy,
those are both sure signs of an awesome party!

Uncle Lenny filling up the squirt bottle for Avery - watch out!

There's Tessa peeking out from the pool rings :)

Nattie G having a nice, cool drink.

Uh Oh! Here she comes!

Abby and Tom hoping some of the kids water play just happens to splash their way ☺

And the present opening begins!

They got so many super nice gifts -
and a lot of Toy Story stuff for sure!

Awww, twins unwrapping side by side.

The crowd looks on.

GG helping Quent try on his awesome gift from Aunt Barbie (sitting behind GG)...

...His very own Sheriff Quent outfit!
These are so cute (Jack has one too, that he refused to put on right then, but since has played with many, many times) She made these for them and they have their names the vest and even a badge! They love them!

Joel, Georgianne, Gramma, Abby, Aunt Barbie, and GG

"When are we gonna break that piñata?"

Everyone is ready - lets do it!

Len, Grandma, and Rob (doing his 'crazy' eyes)

Even the big kids got gift bags!

Jack and Quent "riding" on Joel's motorcycle -

Do you think they love it or what?!

It is even cooler when you are wearing the helmets too!

Tessa and Rayven and Alex got to have a seat on it too!

So it was a super fun birthday party for us all!
This was one year where we did not have storms and rain for their birthday party - amazing, but true. So, that made our party even more of a success!

Lots of good times with our family and friends helping us to celebrate!

*Special Thanks to Papa, Uncle Lenny and Aunt Kyle for taking awesome pictures of the party and giving them to me to share - thank you!

It happened in May! (yes, I know its almost August!)

2010-07-30T18:34:00.099-04:00

Brad earned his Eagle Scout rank!

Uncle Tom (also an Eagle Scout) presented Brad with his honors.

Aunt Barb and Uncle Don look on proudly!

Brad and Bryan

Quent wanted to do a speech after the ceremony was over.

Brad, Uncle Tom and Bryan pose for a handsome picture.

Mid-May is always the big Railroad celebration on our town. Its a carnival downtown, lots of activities and a big parade. We always have fun at the parade and enjoying all the fun festivities! This year Momma, that's me, was on a "Mom's Day Out" trip to IKEA with some Mothers of Multiples friends and visiting with Amy and Natalie, so I was not at the parade and such this year. But the fun went on without me and Daddy took lots of pictures too!

Alex, Quent, Gramma, GG and Aunt Barb (Jack and Daddy too) were all there for the parade.

Hmmm, there must be something loud passing by.

You'll see Jack like this often during a parade, he does not like the sirens and horns.

Ooooh - where's the candy, where's the candy?!

The crowd looks on.

The parade choo-choo (it is a Railroad Days celebration!)

Aunt Margaret was walking her dog in the parade with the vet clinic she works at.

Alex (L), Quent (UP), and Jack (R)

on the race cars!

Quent, Alex, Jack and Gramma on the Dragon-go-rounds,

I hear that they got that thing spinning pretty fast!

AND, just because its so darn cute...

He just might want to kill me one day when he sees this,

but how can you resist an adorable shot like this -

a boy on the throne wearing a birthday cake hat!

(what? - everyone doesn't do their business this way?)

MOD walk April 2010

2010-07-29T22:01:00.001-04:00

In looking back on what I have not yet posted before I get into posting out vacation pictures, I realized I was much farther behind in my documentation process that I thought! So, here are the shots from our super -successful March of Dimes walk this year. The weather held out and despite being windy, it was not too bad. Len, Kyle, and Laverne came to walk with us and celebrate the cause with us!

As always we walk in Memory of our Angels:

Joshua Thomas

Sarah Jane

Jacob Robert

Special Thanks to all our family and friends who supported us with donations to our walk this year and every year - you are there with us every step of the way!

Happy 10th Anniversary to us!

2010-07-08T21:19:00.001-04:00

The (STILL) Happily Married Couple!!

And here's a couple of songs we love, the first was sung before and during our ceremony and the second was played as our first dance ♥ Oh the memories...

HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY JACK AND QUENT!!

2010-06-07T21:14:00.001-04:00

Happy Birthday to my Adorable, Amazing, Smart, Funny, Lovable, Creative, Playful, Silly, Wonderful Boys!!

My world is so much richer with you in it,

I love ♥ you more than you could ever know

Jackson David and Quentin Ashtan!

*much more birthday stuff to post later!☺

My funny birthday boys!

2010-05-27T23:07:00.001-04:00

I have to write this down so that I will always remember the cute, smart, funny stuff that Jack and Quent have said about their upcoming birthday!

The boys' birthday is about 10 days away, and their party is a week from Saturday. So, in all the preparations - sending out invitations, planning the cake, etc. - we have been talking about their birthday A LOT. We made a countdown calendar, so that they knew when it was getting closer and cross out the days everyday. Lately I have been asking them what they might want for their birthday and they minimally answer me, "I want Toy Story 3" (the movie comes out a week after their b-day and we do plan to see it), but they really don't have concrete ideas. But with all this talk:

The boys have now just realized that they will be getting presents for their birthday.

So, last night Jack was saying, "Fank you so much Momma for letting us have some presents on our birthday!"

When I told him that most of his presents would be from other people (not me and Daddy) he gave me a {thumbs-up} and yelled, "That's Awesome, I will love that!"

He is such a cute, little grateful boy!

Tonight, after reading Toot and Puddle: A Present for Toot , we were all talking about the book and how silly the little pigs and the bird in the story were. Then Quent gets an idea, "Momma I REALLY want to have a pet too, for my birthday! Like a big pet, like a big DOG!"
I say, "Well, that would be nice to have a big dog, but we can't have a dog at our house because Momma is allergic. I am so sorry, but we can visit Bessie* and Laverne*."

Quent's face drops, then he brightens and says, "I know! I want a Yak! Wouldn't that be a great idea for my pet!" (yes the child said YAK)
My eyes grow wide and I laugh a little, but then seriously say, "A yak is a very big animal and would not fit in our house. Our yard is too small for a yak to be happy in our yard, they like to live in big open fields where they have lots of room. Also, yak poop is huge- whew - can you imagine if a yak would go poop in our house! Ewwww, what a stinky mess!"
{Jack and Quent are now laughing like crazy and talking about big, giant poops, no way do they want that!}

Quent gets up to go get his drink before he lays down and he stops at the door. "Whoa, now this is a great pet for me - how about a dinosaur - a REAL dinosaur! Wouldn't that be great?!"
Now you have to imagine his little face, so happy and pleased with all these "great ideas" he has had. He's so cute it just breaks your heart to have to tell him that he cannot have a real dinosaur.
"Oh, Quentie, real dinosaurs are not alive anymore for us to have as pets. That would have been a cool pet though. You know what, when you lay down you can think about and dream about all kinds of good ideas for a pet and we will talk some more about them tomorrow." (like how I switch back to the 'go to bed' mode)

Tomorrow should be one exciting talk!

* Bess is my parents' dog and Laverne is my brother and his wife's dog

Egg Hunts, New Bikes and Easter!

2010-05-24T21:33:00.001-04:00

Okay, since it is now May - like getting close to the end of May - I thought I should post these pictures that have been sitting in here unpublished, Better late than never, right :)

First off , some pics from the Mothers of Multiples Easter Party and Egg Hunt.

This is a BIG, fun event. I mean BIG because there are always lots of twins and triplet families that come and obviously with all those kids its bound to be a good time!

Jack (yellow) and Quent (blue) had a blast finding hidden eggs.

We even had a one of the older girls share some of her eggs with Jack and Quent because she did not think they found enough and "she does not really like candy all that much anyway."

She was very sweet!

But the best part of all was opening the eggs to find all the treats inside.

We had to have a little tutorial about taking the foil OFF the chocolate eggs before biting into them. Just cuz the foils pretty doesn't mean it is edible!

Me and my beautiful boys on a warm, sunny spring day

Quentin wanted to sit and have a picture with the Easter Bunny, but Jack was less than thrilled that the bunny showed up. He was hiding behind my leg in this picture.

After our multiples party, we went to GG's to color eggs with some of our cousins.

Here's Brad, Joe, Ravyn, Caleb, Jack, Alex, and Quent posing with some of their creations.

The next day we were invited to Our friends' house for another Easter Egg Hunt. Despite a little drizzle here and there, it was a fun time and we got to bring along Avery and Tessa too!

Here's the cousins trying to all get a turn sitting in this very cool John Deere and honking the super annoying horn it had. Big fun while we waited for the first "heat" of the hunt.

(the hunt was broken up into age groups - wonderful idea!)

Tessa wearing her loot bag like a purse!

The girl is such a little diva!

The Fabulous 4

Tom and I could not wait until their birthday to give them their bikes, the weather was too nice and honestly - we were too excited for them!

So, here they are opening the giant bag containing their new big boy bikes!

What could be in this big giant bag??

BIKES!!

Daddy helping Quent get started (Papa in the background)

We were at Gramma and Papa's house.

Jack was a little unsteady, but he was getting the hang of it...

He kept trying...

And Trying....

Oh, he could finally get going pretty fast!

He was calling it his "Jet X motorcycle" - not sure where that came from,but my best guess was that it was similar to 'Fed Ex Jet' that we had seen at the airport the day before.

It was cute whatever it came from.

He worked and rode on that bike after everyone else had wanted to go in (Daddy stayed out with him). Quent kind of gave up after a few tries and was more interested in running and playing with the girls that day.

Thumbs up - cute Jack!!

Easter Morning...

Checking out their baskets of goodies

Jack and his football (he looks so much older in this one!)

Silly Quent wanted to pose with his chocolate bunny!

Cute boy with the big blue eyes!

Jack, Alex, and Avery hunting for eggs in our yard.

Just LOVED Avery in her beautiful green dress!

Pretty Tessa is finding some eggs too.

Quent looking handsome in his shirt and tie!

Jack so handsome in his shirt and tie too.

Did we get them all? Are there any left?

Okay, Everyone show us what you got!!

I think these group pictures are a hilarious progression!!

Rob, Abby, Avery and Tessa pose for a family shot,

turned out wonderful!

Jack and Quent don't want to leave the swings to have more pictures...

Our Family Easter Picture!

Baby Picture Sunday - Have their cake and wear it too!

2010-05-02T21:56:00.000-04:00

Oh - this week's theme had me tearing up looking at and remembering my little guys' first birthday *sniff sniff*

We saved their first taste of cake until their first birthday and they were so ADORABLE tasting and playing in their cake!

These pictures are from when we celebrated, just the 4 of us, on their actual birthday (we had the party a couple days later and I am sure I have shared those pics before) These were so cute because they really got to just squish around and explore the cake on their own time and have lots of fun with it!

It was a really fun 1st Birthday for my Jack and Quent!

(and Momma and Daddy too!)

(Quent on the left, Jack on the right)

Oh, they are the cutest babies ever - those big, blue eyes!

Don't you just want to kiss and squeeze those chubby little cheeks!

*Check out Debi's blog for who else is playing along with Baby Picture Sunday!

A very busy weekend!

2010-05-02T21:21:00.000-04:00

Okay, so here i am again behind in my posts! Luckily the pictures were all loaded onto blogger I just need to caption them and get them published!

I just had to share pictures from our super busy (and pretty fun) weekend before Easter!

Friday and Saturday were spent getting ready for the Mom2Mom sale for my multiples group and having the sale. What a lot of work and what a HUGE success! It was our 2nd highest attendance!

It is such an awesome way to get rid of those baby/kid things that we are no longer using and to make some money to buy the NEW clothes and things that our kids need!

I gotta give it up to my fellows moms of multiples who really help to make the sale organized, successful, and fun!

******

On Sunday, we took the boys "real bowling" (that's what they call it) for the first time. My good friends Amy and Nancy host a March of Dimes fundraiser each year in memory of their dear Angel Babies - Nathaniel and Madison. They work so hard and it each year their hard work really pays off.

This year they did a bowling fundraiser and it was a big success! We had a blast and I think everyone else did too!

Daddy helping Jack throw the first ball!

WooHoo - I knocked down the pins!!

This was the ball that rolled so slow and stopped in the middle of the lane :) we had to wait for it to be saved by the "bowling ball guy"!

Daddy and Quent getting ready to make a big throw!

Just look at my handsome men!

All 4 of us together - turned out to be a great picture :)

Momma and my little men (yep, forcing them to take a picture with Mom - they look so thrilled!)

Jack and Momma made a strike!

...AND NOW THE SCORES...

(pay special attention that I beat Tom - love you Honey)

Amy and Greg with Natalie (in the pink) and their friends' little girl.

*******

After bowling, we headed back north to celebrate Sierra's Birthday.

It was quite and eventful hour and a half ride.

And I don't mean that in a good way.

It was pouring rain.
The boys were very tired and hoping to watch a show on the DVD. Well, Jack's headrest monitor would not turn on and so we told them that we would not be watching a show.
Tom and I got to listen to a screaming, crying fit from 2 boys about not watching a show.
Did I mention they were tired?
Quent decides he need to poop. (hopefully what follows is not TMI)
We got off the highway and were no where near somewhere to go poop.
I had taken all emergency potty supplies out of the van to make room for sale stuff (see above)
Along a secluded part of the highway on-ramp, I had to have Quentin poop outside. On the ground.
It was pouring rain.
Poor Quent spent the rest of the ride in disbelief, repeating, "Momma, why did you make me poop outside?!" With Jack often answering, "It was an emergency Quentin, Momma said it was an emergency. Its okay!" What a good brother.

We arrived at Julie and Mike's house and luckily everything went much smoother there!

We celebrated with pizza and ice cream cake (yummy) for Sierra's 15th birthday. I can't believe she is 15! Wow, I am sure Mike and Julie can't either!

Playing under a glass table is fun!

Sierra - The Birthday Girl and her Dad, Mike.

Brendan watching Sierra make a wish and blow out her candles.

Happy Birthday Sierra!

PS - I was sure Quent would run into the house and tell everyone that he had pooped on the side of the road (cuz that's usually the kind of kid he is) but he did not tell anyone! In fact, he has NEVER told anyone about it at all. Poor kid - and now his Mom goes and shares it on the blog.

Dear Joshua...

2010-04-19T11:48:00.001-04:00

Dear Joshua,

You live in my heart always, my love for you is immense and will never fade. Everyday I miss you. I remember how it felt to hold you, smell your sweet scent, and stroke your soft skin. My memories are vivid and strong and they always will be. My memories are what I have left to hold onto you. Joshua - my sweet angel, my first born. You changed my life and made me a better woman, a better mom, and a better human being.

Your birthday is one of the best days of my life and even though now it is so hard to get through the day because I miss you so much, I still am so glad that are such an important part of my life. I am forever grateful for the opportunity to have you, to love you, and to be your Momma.

I Love You and Miss You Forever and Always my Sweet baby Joshua,

Happy 7th Birthday from your Momma ♥

March and Giant food = giant fun!

2010-04-10T21:03:00.001-04:00

First here are some pictures of the boys helping us to make apple crisp at Gramma and Papa's house back in March. They love to help and were very eager to measure, scoop, pour and stir. It turned out delish!

Hmmmm...let's check the recipe...

They are good little helpers!

On St. Patty's Day we headed out to meet Uncle Lenny and Aunt Kyle at the big mall. We had a fun time hanging out and playing with Len and Kyle for the day. And there was some pretty GIANT food to play on in that mall, too! For 2 boys who are OBSESSED (especially Jack) with Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs - this play area was GIANT FUN!

The watermelon made a great slide!

Hopping on a mushroom.

They very much enjoyed dancing around on the watermelon slice. They had a whole game they were playing with each other and singing along to a song they made up. It was pretty cute!

My little cupcakes on the big cupcake!

We had dinner at Rainforest Cafe and as always were amazed by the sights and sounds...

Trying to get jack to pose with Uncle Lenny for a picture but Jack is just way too distracted by the big stuffed frog that was walking around, the Rainforest Cafe mascot frog.

Although he was willing to take a balloon from the frog just as long as he did not have to get too close!

Aunt Kyle trying to get Quent to look for a picture too.

(notice we were all wearing our green for St. Patrick's Day

even though there is not photographic proof, I too was wearing my green!)

The best part of dinner was the end when a diver got into the big fish tanks to clean the glass.

This was really cool!

She even stopped and waved and gave the boys a high five through the glass, they were very impressed. It was a highlight when they told everyone about eating dinner there.

(and just because I want to remember it later, I am including this little story)

On the way out of the restaurant, my darling little Jackson tried to get the five finger discount on a "cadiddlehopper" (what you or I may call a grasshopper). Luckily, Uncle Lenny saw the plastic bug going out with Jack and asked if I had bought it.

Um, no.

So, that was the day we started our discussions - "you cannot take it if you do not pay for it"

Ah, milestones.

Na Na Na Na, hey hey hey - goodbye long hair!

2010-04-09T23:22:00.000-04:00

Your 2009 donation made this possible...

2010-04-05T21:39:00.000-04:00

I earned this 3rd place plaque for being the 3rd highest individual fundraiser for the March for Babies 2009 walk! And those of you who donated to our walk can share this award with me because not only did we raise an awesome amount of money, we helped support the March of Dimes in its efforts to help all babies be born full term and healthy.

I think that's pretty awesome.

So, Thank You to all of our 2009 sponsors!

Thank you for helping us to honor the memory of our Joshua, Sarah, and Jacob and to celebrate the healthy, happy lives of our Jackson and Quentin!

Let's make the 2010 March for Babies Walk just as successful!

What is happening here?! - UPDATED

2010-03-22T20:55:00.002-04:00

So, can YOU guess what silly stuff is going on in this photo?

**If you guessed that my Mom is blowdrying the back of Jack's wet undies - then you guessed right! He had a milk spill at lunch and it had pooled in his booster seat and his one little butt cheek was soaked. This was how Gramma got him to calm down and save the beloved Wall*E underpants!

Just some of the funny stuff happening here lately.

Just that...

AND going to our Gym playgroup, storytime at the library, playing at the mall and eating at Rainforest Cafe, spending the day at GG's, playing at Castaway Cafe with friends, attending my Mothers of Multiples meetings, going to a Mary Kay party, getting ready for this weekend's Mom2Mom sale (major work!), ripping out a cupboard and painting the kitchen, and preparing for Easter brunch at our house.

Nah, not too much going on around here!