Brotherly Love

I know it needs some cropping, but these photos were just too cute to wait until we got home. It took me this long to get their two-year-old photos taken because we need so many extra hands to make it work. Our only option is getting them done with the grandmas around!

It's a ...

BOY!

Yes, boy #4 is on the way. We didn't know the gender, but we had the ultrasound tech write it down on a piece of paper which we sealed in an envelope. Scott's Christmas present was receiving the envelope Christmas morning. So now we know.

Tony came around

For those of you familiar with the prayer, "Tony, Tony come around, something's lost and must be found" said to St. Anthony, the patron saint of lost items, I must have prayed that a hundred times while looking for this camera. He usually comes through when we find the item in a VERY obvious place or in a place we had already looked several times. Again, Scott found the camera in the back of his car under some things that were placed there in mid-November (not October when we lost the camera) I honestly thought it had been stolen.
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Joe shows off some of his goodies.
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Luke and Patrick stand on our tree stump in their little dalmation costumes. I think they were playing "King of the Hill"

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Puppy Luke climbs into the fire truck. His little tail was so cute.
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Daddy holding his boys after a long day of trick-or-treating.

Tidbits

For months now, we have been missing the cardboard jacket for a VeggieTales VHS tape. I figured it got gnawed to death or tossed inadvertently. Well, while trying to put in a tape this afternoon, I noticed that there was a DVD in the VHS slot in the player. When I bent down to peer into the slot, I also noticed some cardboard – yes, "Rack, Shack and Benny" had been hiding out INSIDE of our VCR for months. Certainly it was a fire hazard, I would think. Just another way our boys’ three little guardian angels have been hard at work.
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It seems that whenever we are in the car for more than 10 minutes, the kids all think we are on our way to Kansas City. We went to the pizza store (see post from the archives in May 2007) last night which is about 30 minutes from our house. When we pulled into the driveway that night, bawling and crying ensued as each boy strongly protested not being at Grammie and Granddad’s house and Grandma and Papa’s house. Getting those upset little boys inside for baths and bed was quite a challenge.
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Overheard:
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Joe on his breakfast order Sunday morning: “I want pancakes, mommy, but no onions on them” (Mommy: “I’ll make sure and tell the waitress”)
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Daddy: (singing) “Life is a highway…” Patrick and Luke: “No! Don’t do that!” (Take heart, an artist is never appreciated in his own day.)
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Mommy: (patting tummy) “Who wants to give the baby kisses?”
Joe: “Me!” Patrick: “Me!” Luke: “No!”
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Scott got some ribbing at work for wearing sweater vests (see above photo from last Christmas.) For Christmas this year, his boss bought him a pink sweater vest as a joke (which, of course, Scott wore to work today.) When Joe saw the vest, he said. “Ooo, pretty vest. It's pink like mommy wears”

Only one

We are happy to report with medical certainty that we are expecting only one baby. So far everything looks normal from the ultrasound.
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This morning, I was explaining to Joseph how mommy and daddy were going to the doctor's office and we were going to get to "see" the baby. I told him they used a special instrument that let us look into my tummy to see the baby inside moving around. "Oh," Joe said, "is it a trumpet?" Totally bewildered, I said, "no, silly goose, it's a baby in there, not a trumpet!" Joe looked confused. "Is it another instrument?" I forgot that I had used that word to explain the ultrasound. What a clever guy.
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This ultrasound was something like my 50th one. Four with Joe and one every two weeks with the twins, but every time I see it, it's SO amazing. The baby is about the size of a soda can. They could see different parts of the brain - the two hemispheres were totally obvious, and they could even see all four chambers of the heart. The baby is pretty fully developed. It was covering its face with its forearm for a while, then it gave us a great profile shot that looked like the hand was headed right for its mouth. It even waved its little hand at one point. It was so fun to see the movements on screen that I could feel in my tummy. They could detect the stomach and kidneys, and, of course, all of the skeleton. Beautiful and amazing.
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For those of you wondering, no we don't know the gender. I had the tech write it down and seal it in an envelope in case we got really curious, but for now, I would like it to be a surprise. Notice I said "I," Scott's not to excited about waiting to know. I gotta play my trump card on this one, though. He doesn't have to get his stomach sliced open in front of him. :)

Halloween in December?

Firedog Patrick, Fireman Joe, and Firedog Luke

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I was tempted to put this post back in October, but that would just be deceitful. We lost our camera on our Trick-or-Treat Day, a few days before Halloween. We had pictures of all of the kids dressed up, the beautiful day and my (only) crafty creation of the "firetruck" triple-stroller. It really was cute, complete with felt ladder and felt hose. Alas, those photos are gone with the camera. I'm still holding out a little hope that St. Anthony will pull through for me like he has every other time, but it's been almost 2 months now. We dressed the kids up and took some pictures. I forgot how hard it was to try to get all three of them smiling at once. Heck, forget smiling, it's tough to get them to sit all together at one time.

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Patrick

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Luke

Fireman Joe

I forgot to mention before: Joe had fun seeing all of the other kids trick-or-treating. He loved giving out candy and would give from his own bucket sometimes (fine by me!) Anyway, a kid just about his size came up dressed like Batman. Joe got so excited to see Batman, he went up and gave the kid a hug. The kid didn't seem to mind, but the parents were a little creeped out.

The other thing that happened that day was that Luke fell down our basement stairs. He pretty much log-rolled it, but it scared us to death. He was fine with another piece of candy to calm him down. So far, Joe has 2 trips down, Luke one and Patrick none, which is surprising because Patrick is usually our more adventurous one.

Breakfast with Santa

A few weeks ago, we had the company kiddie breakfast with Santa. Joe was very excited to meet Santa and almost remembered to thank him for the gifts from last year. He was much happier to sit on his lap than the first time we tried…
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Joe at 18 months.

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Joe at 3 1/2

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One little boy about 15 months old, who had been sitting near us, had a similar reaction to sitting on Santa's lap as Joe had had. When Joe saw him come back to his table still upset, he asked me to pick him up (the little boy was being held by his mom) and wanted to go over to see him. He patted the crying boy's shoulder and said with much concern and empathy, "It's alright, little boy! Don't be sad. Santa is nice!"

The twins weren’t quite sure what they thought of Santa, but they appreciated their new dump trucks.

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They breakfast was pretty darn good, but Joe only had three (yes, three) donuts and snagged a bran muffin on the way out the door. Hey, the bran muffin was healthy! Of course the twins couldn’t eat much since I didn’t know how it was made, but we did manage to try bacon. Luke loved it. I hope that doesn't end up being like Homer in the Simpson’s when he first introduces his friend Barney to beer.

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Another handy little “gift” for the families is a digital picture in a Christmassy setting – just some wingback chairs in front of a Christmas tree, but it was a godsend for us – if you’re on our card list, you’ll see why! Even though no one was smiling, they were basically looking in the same direction, and, really, it was as good as it was going to get for our family picture. Whew! One last thing to think about this season.

Big Boy Beds

Today was a big day for us. The twins moved out of their baby beds and into toddler beds! Five minutes after I put on the brand new sheets this morning, I came back into the room to discover this:

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The boys obviously thought that white sheets were too boring for them. I only hope that it's washable crayon...

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Patrick showing off the artwork and modeling how he will be sleeping on his new bed. Yes, he's backward, but that is how he fell asleep tonight, too.

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I was so afraid that I would have to spend hours putting them back into bed over and over again. This was the case today at naptime, but at bedtime, they were both so anxious to go to sleep that they actually started to pray all by themselves. Lately, they've really resisted this part of the bedtime routine because it is the very end. They will actually pull apart my (or Scott's) hands that are folded as if this will stop us from continuing to pray. Clever. When we were done (by the way, Luke pretty much recited the Angel of God prayer) they both hopped into bed, asked for their binkies and stuffed animals, and that was the last I heard from them. Woo Hoo!!

We Elfed Ourselves

Click HERE for a special message from your little friends

Overheard

Luke (sings): “Jingle all the way…” Patrick, who thought he was singing it first: “No, I say that!”

Luke: “Somebody pooped” after letting out a little squeaker at the dinner table. Nice pass off.

Patrick imitating me: “Joe Joe, go room!”

Patrick and Joe when they saw daddy coming home: “I’m so excited! I’m so excited!” Luke: “I’m so cute!”

Joe: “Let me take my shoes off because I had a long day”

Patrick: “I’m a wiggle” as he rolls his arms

Joseph: “Zucandy bread” (instead of zucchini bread – too much sugar in that recipe, I’d say.)

KC Wuff

The boys got to meet "KC Wuff" and Slugger at Crown Center when we were home for Thanksgiving. They weren't so excited then, but they LOVE looking at the picture now.

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We met up with our friends Anna and Doug, her nephew Andrew and niece Marianna. Their son Luke is in the middle. We had lunch at the diner in Union Station. There was a huge model train display set up in the foyer that was so fun for the little ones to look at.

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Anna, John Paul (just a month or so older than the twins - doesn't he look like our Luke?) and Doug, who is doubtlessly listening to something very witty, as he is facing the spot where I was sitting at the table.
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Luke saw a fuzzy bear and he couldn't help but give it a little hug.
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Granddad, Luke, Grammie and Luke in the front row. Various renditions of St. Nick and Santa in the back row.

Scott's cousin Matt's kids came over to play with ours one evening at Grammie and Granddad's house. Since it was nearing bath time, I put the twins in the tub. When she realized what was going on, little Gabrielle (our Goddaughter, by the way) yanked off her socks and was ready to hop in. They all had fun together. Patrick apparently thought the bathwater vintage was just perfect. Yum.

Late Thanksgiving Photos

We began Thanksgiving Day very early in the morning. We drove Parsons, KS to see my dad's dad in the nursing home. Notice Patrick asleep on Great-Grandpa's shoulder... He had just had a bad allergic reaction and is a little drugged on Benadryl. We were so glad to be able to see Great-Grandpa. It had been a few years since we were able to make the trip with all of the kids.

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Joe and Great-Grandpa got to be good buddies.
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Thanksgiving dinner was at my Aunt Cathy (my dad's sister) and Uncle Mike's house. The older kids got to eat on the famous Papa-made picnic table.
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Of course, Joe isn't paying a bit of attention to his dinner. We're wondering if he really does belong to our family...

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The twins really ate! My Aunt Cathy even made them special food without butter and milk so they could enjoy the big meal, too. Thanks, Aunt Cathy!
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All of the second cousins - starting front row l-r: Cooper, Patrick, Luke. Libby, Jamie. Back row l-r: Joseph, Kolbe, Abby, Conner, Gabby and Jordan. And really, this was by far my best picture of this brood... I only took nine shots.

. The first cousins, Joseph, Kolbe, Luke Libby and Patrick in the front.

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Our whole family.

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Joe and my cousin Casey's little girl Abby are only a few months apart in age. They found a mic and a drum and went to town. Joe drummed while Abby belted out kid favorites like "Ten Little Indians" and "You Are My Sunshine." Doesn't she look like she could be on American Idol?

Baby update

In case you were wondering, I'm now 18 weeks along (pregnancy is 40 weeks total). My belly is now big enough to hold up "panel pants" - those favorite pregnancy duds! Also, this morning, I felt the baby kicking from outside. I tried to get Scott to feel it, but I think he just wanted to go back to sleep.
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We babysat for a friend's baby the other day. Her name was Isabella, but Joe kept calling her "Cabela." He wanted to hold her and play peek-a-boo with her. He also insisted on feeding her her bottle. He did okay with that task, but I think she prefered a steadier hand. He kept saying "Ooo, what a cute baby!" This gives me some encouragement that he will make a great big brother. The twins thought she was cute, too, but lost interest much more quickly. They're still pretty young.

Longing for Fall

This morning, it is snowing and will be sleeting soon. The past few days have been super cold so we haven't gotten out much. I'm already anxious for spring. The boys are going stir crazy and running around the house just to get out some energy. With that in mind, I'm posting some pictures from the beautiful days that we were home for Thanksgiving. Sigh..

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We went to Loose Park to feed the ducks. Cousin Libby was the pro showing everyone how it's done. Patrick (in orange) and Luke had to wear their special backpacks so mom could keep them from taking a little swim.

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Luke (and everyone else, really) had a little taste of the duck food - Cheerios and Ritz.

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Joe and Libby enjoyed a walk together.

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The next day, we headed to a different park. Joe did a great job navigating the "SpiderMan Web"
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Kolbe climbed up the big rock by himself and Uncle Scott followed. Joe got a little help, but everyone was proud of their big accomplishment.

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The kids found a pile of leaves created by a small retaining wall and a few windy days. They had a great time jumping off the wall and into the pile. This was all fine and good until Patrick joined in - he couldn't jump far enough out and was dangerously close to banging his head on the stone wall many times. Game over.

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Luke looks like he's drowning in the sea of leaves.

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Libby and Patrick enjoy a little drink break.

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After the park, we ended up at Aunt Shannon's house to play in their enormous pile of leaves. This is our only shot of all five, but poor Libby has just been injured.

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Patrick: "Hey, mom, do I have something in the back of my pants?"