Couch trains and sleeping dad's

Robert has been working a ton of overtime, and it's brain work. I have been telling him for YEARS that brain work is harder than labor work, but now I think he's finally getting that - even if he wont admit it.


Last night we tried to wear the kids out by playing lots of soccer, baseball, tennis, basketball, catch, scooters, bikes, etc... hoping they would go down early. After awhile of doing that I engulfed myself in reorganizing and cleaning toys through out the house, while the kids played nicely together and Robert caught up on his Paranormal State and Ghost Hunters shows. He snuck into bed about 8:45, right when I realized it was Monday night and I was missing football - so I set the kids up with a movie and caught the last 2 minutes and the OT of the game. As soon as the game was over, I walked in the playroom to find this;

I don't know if you can tell or not, but they took the cushions off of the couch, put their wooden chairs on the cushionless couch, then used the cushions for dividers and doors for their "train" I thought it was so creative I had to get some pictures!

Ok, these are pictures to just document their ever changing personalities.... Kyla was happy at first, then she was irritated - Jack was THRILLED to have his picture taken and kept saying CHEESE, and Kade - well, Kade likes nothing.






ISN'T THIS ONE FUNNY!?!

He smiles and cuddles and laughs with me, I promise!!!

What I didn't find so "creative" was this is where Robert was while my kids were making their train. I also walked in to find them walking along the back of the couch, on to the table between the couch and the chaise and then jumping onto the chaise lounge.

proof they love each other.........

My kids are starting this type of banter: "Mom, Kyla is standing by me!" "Mom, Kade called me a baby!" "Kade! Don't walk next to me!" "Kyla, I'm sitting here and you aren't, nanananana!"

Fun stuff.

However, I did walk out of the bathroom this morning to find this:

I know - go ahead and say it together: "aaaaaaaawwwwwwwwhhhhhhhh" hehehe

( moments like this keep me going )

Look how big he's gotten!

Everytime I see him which isn't nearly often enough, he has gotten so much bigger! I've almost forgotten how fast the early months fly by. As you'll see in these pictures, All the boys are very in love with their Papa Jack!

Look at how big and gorgeous Gavin's eyes are!!

I really hope I don't jinx it.

BUT.................

Bedtime doesn't TOTALLY suck anymore.

I've been waiting to post so I didn't get ahead of myself, but I can safely say that I am 1.5 kids down and 1.5 kids to go. Let me explain...

Kyla is 99.99999% of the time perfect at bedtime. I give her kisses, some cuddles, read a story, or rub her back whatever suits her mood for the evening and I'm out with the door shut behind me in 5 minutes flat! She doesn't even leave the room anymore and if she ever does she tells us why and goes right back in by herself and shuts the door and goes to sleep. * long sigh *

The boys are still up at this point - and this brings me to my .5 kid. Kade is 50/50. He will lay in his bed with a little rub and some reminders and it takes about 10-15 minutes sometimes. Other times he falls asleep on Robert on the couch or in our bed.

Jack needs to be layed with still, but I kind of don't mind. I get some serious cuddling time and he likes to lean against me and rub my arm or play with my hair. He will go get in his bed by himself, but he doesn't stay there. The total process for him takes about 20-25 minutes depending on when I start.

My boys don't like to fall asleep until 10 p.m. so if I start the process at 9, it can take until 9:45, if I start at 9:30 it can take until 9:50, if I start at 9:50, I'm done by 10. That part however, IS still frustrating. So I tend to not start until after 9:30 to lessen the time it takes. ( is that cheating? )

Last night however - all 5 of us were in bed, lights out by 9:30. It was magical.

Growing up

I was laying with Kade last night and he was talking about how he's growing up and not a baby anymore. We talked for a few minutes about all the ways he is and will grow up, until I couldn't resist and asked the big question of the year:
"if you are so grown up, why can't you pee in the toilet? Big boys only pee in the toilet, they don't wear diapers."
His response - I kid you not: " Mom, I need you to stop talking to me about that please. I just don't want to, so please stop talking about it to me. "

At the advise of my dear friend Jeana, I think I'll drop it for awhile. He seemed pretty secure in his thoughts.

Jack on the other hand can't wait to not wear a diaper anymore. He will sit on the toilet for 20 minutes and freaks out when I take him off because I don't have a random 20 minutes to stand in the bathroom 20 times a day. I just can't win can I.

St. Joseph's Carnival!

We took the kids to the carnival at St. Joseph's High School on Saturday night. They've had that carnival for 1000 years I think, but this was the first time we had gone. Not sure why actually. But we met my "nanny" Sydney & her mom there, as well as Jeff, Ang, & Lorien and Lorien's PaPa Kenny ( one of my dad's oldest friends ) and Mike and Sharon were working the "beer booth" How could we go wrong!? Beer, funnel cake, junk food, rides and prizes!

Kyla tagged along with Syndey and Mollie and went on all of the rides with them, Dad and I took turns pulling Jack in the wagon and Kade made it on one ride ( that bruised his back and gave him whiplash ) and went down one slide with Robert ( which hit his head on the side ) before he declared his desire to go home! Which was fine with Robert because he worked all day getting in some O.T. and was exhausted to begin with.

We went back the next day for more funnel cake and to let Kyla use up the tickets. Kade was anxious to go back, but he changed his mind once we actually got there because his shoes hurt his feet and the roller coaster wasn't what he thought. He is so high maintenance! lol. I took the boys home after lunch and Kyla stayed with my mom to use up the tickets and do some shopping afterwards. Good thing because she kept her for me while I met 3 sets of sisters at East Side Mario's ( ANG... where were you, I was solo! we could have pretended we were sisters! ) Kim & Kelly, Jeana and Jessica, and Stacy & Jenny. It was so much fun - 3 hours flew by like nothing! My mom kept Kyla overnight ( because she refused to come home with me even though I promised her the world! ) and oddly enough, my dad stopped by at 9:20 to tell me the people at the carnival found his phone ( and would I activate it ) and Jack wouldn't stop crying when it was time for him to leave, so he took him too!

Here are LOTS of pictures!






This is where Robert and Kade hurt themselves! Can you tell it didn't work out so well!?

Kyla, Syndey and Mollie going down the big slide


Anjie and Lorien, and my 2 Jack's going down the slide!








Syndey won this poodle for Kyla - which she named: Cinderella of course!

Jackie dancing on the dance floor

He got around the roller coaster 2 times before he totally freaked out!

This is the bat he won "fishing" for floating ducks!

Happy Birthday Cheryl!

You know your getting old when you go out for coffee for your birthday! Cheryl, Becky, Amber, Nicole and I try to go out at least once a month for margaritas or something.. we skipped a month ( or two? ) and spontaneously decided that last week would work for 4 out of 5 of us.... ( thank goodness for Nicole reminding us that it's Cheryl's birthday otherwise we wouldn't have known - which I personally blame Cheryl for because she didn't fill out my birthday alarm request!! ) Anyway - since we forgot of course the generous thing to do was to have her pick where she wanted to go, and how thrilled we all were that she picked Starbucks... ( sad huh? )

It was the start of my migraine from hell but the girls as usual still made me laugh the whole time, even though I was squinting at them as they talked. We found a new drink: A Green Tea latte.... word of advise though, if you order it: DO NOT LOOK AT IT. Becky strangely popped her lid off on accident then spilled some on the table ( we have no idea how that happened ) but it was BRIGHT FLUORESCENT GREEN - seriously, like radioactive color.

I did my standard: "I blog, so I have to take pictures" and we thought we could pull it off with one of us holding the camera. 4 pictures later and we still weren't happy but we gave up. You would have thought that someone watching the mockery we were making of ourselves would have offered to snap a photo for us, but nope! Here are the 4 attempts. We couldn't stop laughing because the first one Cheryl's head looked like beetlejuice because it was like squeezed in-between Becky and I!

My mini me!

I found these pictures on my mom's fridge... we are both 4 in them.

Something about this got to me today.

I Believe... That just because two people argue, it doesn't mean they don't love each other. And just because they don't argue, it doesn't mean they do love each other.

I Believe...That we don't have to change friends if we understand that friends change.

I Believe...That no matter how good a friend is, they're going to hurt you every once in a while and you must forgive them for that.

I Believe...That true friendship continues to grow, even over the longest distance. Same goes for true love.

I Believe... That you can do something in an instant that will give you heartache for life.

I Believe...That it's taking me a long time to become the person I want to be.

I Believe..That you should always leave loved ones with loving words. It may be the last time you see them.

I Believe... That you can keep going long after you think you can't.

I Believe...That we are responsible for what we do, no matter how we feel.

I Believe...That either you control your attitude or it controls you.

I Believe...That heroes are the people who do what has to be done when it needs to be done, regardless of the consequences.

I Believe... That money is a lousy way of keeping score.

I Believe...That my best friend and I, can do anything, or nothing and have the best time.

I Believe...That sometimes the people you expect to kick you when you're down, will be the ones to help you get back up.

I Believe...That sometimes when I'm angry I have the right to be angry, but that doesn't give me the right to be cruel.

I Believe...That maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you've had and what you've learned from them and less to do with how many birthdays you've celebrated.

I Believe...That it isn't always enough, to be forgiven by others. sometimes, you have to learn to forgive yourself.

I Believe..That no matter how bad your heart is broken the world doesn't stop for your grief.

I Believe...That our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are, but, we are responsible for who we become.

I Believe...That you shouldn't be so eager to find out a secret. It could change your life Forever.

I Believe...Two people can look at the exact same thing and see something totally different.

I Believe...That your life can be changed in a matter of hours by people who don't even know you.

I Believe...That even when you think you have no more to give , when a friend cries out to you - you will find the strength to help.

I Believe...That credentials on the wall do not make you a decent human being.

I Believe...That the people you care about most in life are taken from you too soon.

'The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything.'

Tinkertoys!!!!!

Remember these?

The kids had so much fun playing with Tinkertoys at Meme & Papa's house yesterday, and I got some great pictures! ( that was not fun to pick up though, let me tell you! The kids all declared: "this is boring to pick stuff up!" Tell me about it!)

Jack took a few short breaks to suck his thumb with the tag from his blanket - I'm sorry I know I shouldn't but I just love it and think that it's the cutest thing for my manly little man to do!

Too bad my moms garage wasn't closed, I would have loved this picture!

Sorry... couldn't resist these of Kyla~ I love her freckles!

We can't decide if we are going to grow his hair out to see if it's curly like Kades or keep shaving it????????? I hate inbetween stages though!