Baby Picture Sundays - I Scream, You Scream...

Yummmm....
Ice Cream in the summertime!
I could not resist joining in on Debi's Baby Picture Sunday
this week when the subject was Babies and Ice Cream!


Here are Quentin and Jackson in September of 2007,
(15 months old)
we were on our first trip to the zoo and
it was so hot that we shared their 1st ice cream cone!

Quentin seemed to like it more than Jackson,
but they both asked for more and more!

Next pictures are from 4th of July 2008.
The boys are just over 2 years old this time and
very much enjoying a kid-sized come of their own!

With how much was on them,
its hard to imagine very much actually got IN them!
Yum, Yum!!

Check out Debi's blog to see more Ice Cream Babies!

Rainy, rainy days

It has been raining for the past 2 days here, so we have been staying in and that makes for not too happy boys - which makes for not too happy mom and dad.

Yesterday, we escaped the house and went to Gramma and Papa's to play and have dinner. That was a welcomed and fun time away. I probably don't have to say how much Jack and Quent LOVE to go to Gramma and Papa's. So much so, that I don't tell them we are going until we are getting shoes on and ready to leave, otherwise they go nuts waiting to go (can you blame 'em - they are only 2 and don't really get the concept of 'later' or 'tomorrow especially when you're talking about something fun!)

Today, Momma got to sleep in - Oh, Thank You Tom! (it's his day tomorrow) and then we just puttered around at home and played here. This evening Tom wanted to go and have dinner at Thompson Creek Turkey Farm. Its a local place that has the best turkey meals, they also have to-die-for turkey jerky and I don't like the beef stuff, this is totally different and yummy.

So, we took the boys out for dinner on a rainy night. They had so much fun flirting with one of the girls who was working there. She would walk out and they would both wave and yell, "Hi, Hi, Hi!" They do love the ladies! With their meals they got a cookie and boy was that the highlight of their meal (I had kept them hidden under a napkin so they would be more likely to eat the turkey and veggies) We all had a good dinner and after bath and stories for the boys, all is quiet. Except for the snoring from Tom and maybe even from Quent :)

































More rain is expected tomorrow, so we will have to come up with something to do that will keep us all from cabin fever. What will we do when winter comes?!

Pictures to catch up on and what Quent's been up to

Here are some cute ones we took for Tom and my Dad's birthday:

Happy Birthday TOM!

Mmmmmm...
Daddy asked for chocolate cream pie for his birthday

As you can see, Quent likes his pie.
That boy wears everything he eats! Silly Baby!

Jack is helping Papa with his candles on his favorite cake, fruit cocktail cake!

Quentie giving Papa a Birthday hug.

On Friday, while Jack was home with me recovering, Quent got to go with Gramma to a party for her boss. He loves a party! Gramma says he was really good and he charmed everyone. No surprise there! He brought back balloons from the party for himself and Jack and they had a ball running around and batting them all over. Here they are the next day, still playing with them.

Of course, Quent's was orange. His favorite color.

Jack having one of his more energetic moments swinging the balloon all over.

Here are some pics of the shiner Quent gave himself just before we came home with Jack after surgery. He was playing and ran into the door handle - ouch! But Lenny and Ky-Ky were there to make it better!

Today - Sunday - was my Mom's family's reunion. I took Quent and went for a picnic in the park. Jack was still not quite up to that kind of outing, but he got to stay with Daddy have some fun of his own. Daddy took him in the wagon for ice cream downtown. They also napped and had lunch too.
Here is some of the fun we had today:

Quent was playing a golf ball toss game. He thought it was much easier to just walk up to the bucket rather than try to throw it.

Quent and his 5th cousin (?), Brianna, playing a popcorn scooping game.
He kept saying, "it's not food, don't eat it, it's not food."
You think he may have heard that 1 or 2 times before?

Playing with a punching balloon after Uncle Lenny blew it up for him. That was loads of fun!

Uncle Lenny helped him climb up on a big rock,
although Momma did not get the big rock in the picture :)

Len, Gramma (my Mom), and GG (my Grandma) hanging out at the picnic.

GG is playing BINGO, no Polish reunion would be compete without cabbage rolls and BINGO!

Quent, Kyle, and Brad playing with BINGO chips. Quent was the BINGO number echo, after each of the numbers was called out he would repeat them. It was cute.

And lastly, here is the Lightning McQueen Pez dispenser that Brad had given to Quent. (Luckily Brad had eaten the Pez first.) Quent loved this thing and carried it around the rest of the day. We had to put it in a special place and say goodnight to it when we went up for bath so that it would be waiting for Quent tomorrow morning. It's the little things, you know.

Here's what happens when a guy just didn't get good sleep!

After we ate most of our (early) lunch...

"Momma, Jackie seeping"
"Yes, I know Quent"

Poor guy just couldn't hold out. He has never fallen asleep while eating before, he was just so wiped from last night's sleep study that he was just out.
It was cute though because he would take a bite and close his eyes while he chewed and then he finally just gave up on the eating and cuddled to his side and he was gone. Needless to say, we all took an early nap today :)

(if you look close you can see some of the blue marker from the test above his ear, most of the rest I got out earlier in the morning)

Jack and Quent's Birthday: Celebration #1

Jack and Quent got to spend the night at Gramma and Papa's house on Friday night and wake up there on their birthday. (My Dad has some cute pictures of them just awake as they are singing Happy Birthday along with Elmo) Tom and I were at Tom's Dad's wedding out of town that night.
We picked up balloons and cupcakes and celebrated at my Mom and Dad's with Len, Kyle, Rob, Abby, Avery, Tessa, Gramma and Papa. They were really cute eating their cupcakes, so true to their personalities!

Quent loves him some cupcake - green frosting and all.
He ate almost the entire thing and was very green to show for it!
This boy does not turn down food, especially if its sweet.

Jack, on the other hand, chose the yellow cupcake and after he ate most of the frosting was pretty disinterested in whole thing and wanted to be "cyeen up" (cleaned up).
After he was clean he moved onto buckling the strap on his chair, after I would unbuckle it.
over and over and over...

And here's little miss Avery. Do you not just love the little pigtails in ribbons?!
She was the most organized eater of all. She ate most of her pink cupcake, but was fairly clean in doing so. Is it that she is a girl or is it that she is 5 months older that makes the difference?

A shot of the 3 all rowed up

Don't forget Tessa!
Although she was too little for the cupcakes , she found ways to have fun too!
She is such a happy, smiley baby girl!

Later, after all the kids (and some of the grown-ups) had naps, we all packed up and went to my cousin Jeff's open house for his High School Graduation.
Congratulations Jeff!

When we got home that night, the boys got to open their presents from Momma and Daddy. There were outside toys, sandbox toys and the best thing of all: a train set!
You can see from the pictures below that it was the big hit, we waited to open presents until after we fed them dinner because we worried we would not be able to get them to eat, but then it was very hard to get them to leave the train to go to bed. But it was so much fun watching them enjoy it!

Happy Birthday Big Boys!

Celebrating Mother's Day

My Mother's Day celebrations actually began on Saturday, yep 2 whole days of celebrating me and moms like me - WooHoo!

On Saturday morning, I attended a Mother's Day brunch at my neighbor Charlotte's house. I got to take my time to get ready to go and do a little pampering for myself. Loved it.
(Tom had the boys out and about shopping for Momma's Mother's Day gift)
The brunch was a good time drinking mimosas, eating yummy brunch goodies, and chatting it up with Charlotte and some of the Moms in her family. It was really nice. It was a great opportunity for me to brag about Jack and Quent, what Mom doesn't love doing that! And since I was just next door, it was the perfect amount of travel time :)

Later, after the boys got up from nap we loaded up and went delivering our Mother's Day gifts to my Aunt Jean (my Godmother) and GG (my Grandma).

The boys had a blast running around Aunt Jean and Uncle Jack's huge backyard and seeing the pond full big "fishies". Both Jack and Quent got crazy dirty, but they loved it. It was a nice visit. The truck they are each pulling for ended up coming home with us, Aunt Jean spoils us again!

Me and the boys with Aunt Jean

Next we went to GG's house for a visit to deliver her gifts. The boys love to go to GG's, there is always fun stuff to play with and get into! Again, the boys ended up coming home with some Mickey Mouse toys from GG, I teased that we were supposed to be giving gifts not coming home with gifts! But we had to drag them away, literally, after our visit so that we could get them some dinner! Next time we will have to plan a longer visit to GG's.

Me and my Grandma

As you can see, the hunger is making us not so cooperative for pictures with GG

We then went to Bob Evans for dinner, not usually my first choice, but being a Saturday night we thought it would be a surer bet that we would get in without a wait and find some decently good kid-friendly items. The boys did great, even though Tom and I had to eat so fast that I barely tasted my blueberry cream pancakes. Form what I did taste, they were pretty good. Then it was off for home, bath, then bed for everyone.

My first Mother's Day gift came in that Jack and Quent slept in until 8:00am. Its only an hour later than they usually sleep, but it felt super good! Then we got up and ready for my Mom, Dad, Len and Kyle to come over for lunch. Tom, Jack and Quent gave me my gifts, sweet cards that the boys made (with a little Daddy help), a beautiful plant for the front porch, and a gift certificate for a mani and pedi! I am so excited - I have never had a pedicure before!

The guys worked on putting together the boys new swingset together (due to the torrential rains, its almost done) then we had a lunch of BBQ chicken, a family classic and corn on the cob and potato salad. It was yummy. For dessert, I had made Oreo Truffles (thanks for the idea Monica!) The boys enjoyed getting to play with everyone and being outside for a while before the rain started. And, I got a Mother's day/ early birthday gift from Len and Kyle too, a gift certificate for a facial! Wow, so nice. I will pretty much be getting the whole makeover!

Kyle tickling Jack

Quent and Len playing in the 'house'

Me, my Mom, Quent and Jack
Happy Mother's Day MOM!!

It was great Mother's Day and now I am beat and ready to have my PB and banana and off to bed. Hope everyone had a great day too!

I am sure my kids are geniuses!

Okay, so don't all parents think that, right?! Aren't we supposed to? If so, then the above statement doesn't sound quite so annoying!

Anyway, just thought I would share Quent's latest brilliant outburst.

At lunch yesterday he starts screaming, " U,U,U,U. Momma, U,U,U"
This is what he was so excited about:

Yes, it is a piece if broccoli in the shape of a "U"
Brilliant, I tell ya!

(disclaimer: Both my boys are smart and creative, just because this one is focused on Quent does not mean I do not think Jack is just as wonderful. He is! :-)