Lake Ontario

My mom and I took the kids to the lake and they had so much fun throwing stones in the water and the water was ice cold so I thought surely these southern beauties won't go in and then minutes later Christopher is sitting in the lake chest deep. Great idea thought Jack. Ella was the only one who cautiously waded up to her knees. too cold for me, I watched from a distance...

Being buried in the sand. Jack thought it tickled so he didn't get as buried as Christopher.

Always a lady, never wanting to get really really dirty. Although in the shower that night, I thought they were completely immersed in sand. I remember that I hate sand...

Going the lake is such a highlight here so plently more of these photos to come!

Forgetful!

The Doctors Office where the fun story all began!

So we arrived in Canada on Tuesday. On Wednesday we had to drive back to the USA to take John to the airport. So we stayed over night in Buffalo and had a great time. The kids love hotels and sleeping in sleeping bags. We left to come home Thursday late afternoon. At night I get these messages that Christophers prescription isn't the right one and it must be changed. So I call the Dr. back on Friday morning and they say they can call a new one into Buffalo. So Saturday we pack the kids up again and drive 100 miles back across the border to get the medicine. I arrive at Walgreens to find that effective June 27 (today) the pharmacy will be closed. Right I say, so I ask for help to find another one. The manager gives me directions to another one. We get there and they say they have no record of a prescription. So its Saturday and I call the on call doctor who feels sorry for us but does think its kind of amusing... Needless to say he called it in and a couple hours later we were back home! Fun times.

Packing

Here are the kids getting ready for our summer vacation. It was such a last minute trip that I couldn't do much editing of their packing. When we arrived in Canada I was surprised at how much Ella crammed in her bag. They absolutely without a doubt have too much stuff.

West Virginia

On our road trip we stopped for a break in Morgantown, West Virginia. Home to University of West Virginia and JFK memorial park... This park was great the kids loved the playstructure.

Where's Waldo (Jack)

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

We are off to Canada to enjoy some summer holidays with the kids. Taking them to our old stomping grounds. I will post some pictures this weekend....

Happy Birthday Boys

Three years ago today our life changed drastically when 5 and a half weeks early Jack and Christopher which at the time was Jack and Nicholas made their grand entrance. We were having a terrible rain storm and I was suppose to go to Kim's baby shower and she called and said Don't come the roads are so bad. I said Oh please, its no big deal. We had a great time, and she kept saying that she thought Zoe would be born because of the weather. I laughed and said the boys will never come. Jade had taken Sophia to the movie Cars and Kim was locked out of her house, so her and I went for a Shaggy Dog. Sushi rolls. This will come back to bite me! I dropped her off and came home. I walked in the house and told John that I was going to lie down since I was so tired. He said OK and was packing his bags since he was going out of town for the week. As I walked up the stairs, I said, Um John I don't think you should go away tomorrow. He said Why? Because my water just broke! We very nonchalantly go to the hospital and if in doubt ask Erin B who stills laughs at me going to her house to drop off a key and her saying seriously, go to the hospital. We get there and because the boys were premature we got some attention from nurses, doctors and NICU staff which at the time I couldn't fathom they would need a NICU. Wimpy white boys is a common term in hospital settings. An ultrasound revealed good weights but bad positioning. Jack was transverse which means lying sideways. They will absolutely not deliver a transverse baby's which could mean brain damage or death to the baby. Because Jack was baby B if he was breech they would deliver but no he decided to be the 1 in 2500 babies that are sideways. This guaranteed a c section which in the end was fantastic. My sweet boys were ushered into the world with 23 observers... We were selling tickets, NO it was just busy in the room. The boys were taken with John to the NICU and I looked around and the room was completely quiet. Everyone was somewhere else and that's when the shaggy dog decided to come back to visit me. I threw my guts up for 24 hours.... Oh so fun. I should have told them that I had eaten. That night with all the lovely drugs in my body I announced Christopher and Jacks arrival. C before J so I remember their birth order... John questioned the name Jack but he has always allowed me to make the name choice so he passed on the info. Well 25 hours later when I got to see those sweet babies I was like who named him JACK? That is not his name. So the nurses unnamed him and the boys bed stayed labelled baby A and baby B. I would sit by them and call him different names and in the end my Dr. said I love Jack - its a fighters name and he seems tough. Well he was named appropriately and I am so madly in love with my boys. I am so glad they turned my world upside down. Who wants boring!

I feel like we have been celebrating theirs and Ella's birthday for months, actually I guess we have. Tyler played here with them today and wore them out. The boys slept for 4 and 1/5 hours. Yes that's right. 4.5 hours.... When John came home we took them to Lupes for dinner and they got people Popsicles as they affectionately call Dora and Spiderman. The staff at Lupes sang happy birthday to them in Spanish and scared the boys half to death. They got to go to Target and pick out a present. When we pushed the kids in the cart through the store their were some employees putting things away and Jack says or more yells "Hello Ladies," hes so funny. No more mister shy guy. The boys picked some HotWheels tracks and Ella got a lip gloss. A great end to a very long birthday celebration.

It has been hot in Texas and this heat is wearing me out, the kids to actually. They have been napping so much that I have had to wake them up. We start our days outside early and then finish the day up outside eating plenty of freeze pops or Popsicles. During the day we play inside doing puzzles. Let me tell you something about Jack and puzzles. He can do puzzles like nobodies business. We have had to move him up from the 24 pieces to 48 or 60.

Ella had her follow up today and is all clear, she should get her voice back in 2 weeks when the healing will be complete. Christopher my sweet baby who is just the best little patient. Every time he gets sick I do always thank God that its him since he is so good about this stuff. Well the poor sugar was treated with prednisone for his lungs and now as a result he has BOILS. ouch that sweet boy.

Speaking of kids and parenting I have some issues that have been cleared up now that I am the parent. In my house growing up we always prayed before meals and we held hands. I thought this was because my parents were promoting a bonding experience but have since learned that it was because they were making sure our hands were kept away from the table and each other.

The other rule was only water to drink at dinner. I thought my mom was teaching us good healthy habits, but after dinner tonight I realized that no this to was when we spilled our drinks at EVERY meal it wasn't a sticky mess on us or the floor.
Lesson learned, these are now the new rules at my house too.

Here are my kids doing their typical thing before bed. Its cute when Sam stops running with them and Christopher looks over and says Come on Sam!

Ghosts

Getting dressed can sometimes prove to be an event - today when Christpher was putting his shirt on it got a bit stuck and he realized that with his shirt over his head he resembled a ghost so the other 2 quickly got in on the fun and here they are being "Ghostis"

There are days where honestly for a brief second i think maybe just maybe today is the day the dishwasher will empty itself. It's strange but I actually open it up with anticipation of a miracle but alas no I have to do it myself. Today was that day. For my Texan friends all i have to say is that I took the kids blueberry picking in June in Texas. Sweat was pouring from the kids and they drank so much water to keep cool. Naturally every few minutes it seemed someone was having to go to the bathroom. We spend a good amount of time in public restrooms. We had a great time and finished off with yummy slushies. There is something about the heat that just takes it out of you. The kids came home and all 3 curled up in my bed and had a fantastic nap. Well I didn't nap, wanted to but no, I thought I will tidy up and empty the dishwasher and it was in this moment, I realized my dream had not come true so I shut the door and I am hoping that maybe tomorrow my dishes will magically appear upon my shelf in the morning, OHHH or better yet on the table with breakfast already in them and kids that sleep till 9. A girl can dream!

We got a slip n slide and its been so fun. The kids are thoroughly enjoying it. They crash into each other at the end and laugh hysterically as if they haven't done it for the last 1/2 hour. Fun times.

Christopher loves to pose for the camera. He will say to me numerous times throughout the day, Mommy get your camera take a picture of me doing this, wearing this, holding this and he just loves it... Hes so cute!

Focus

We have been having a quiet couple days recouping. Ella is feeling better and we are starting to get back into the swing of things. We were getting low on the Popsicle and ice cream stash so we went to the grocery store to stock back up. We have all enjoyed the ice cream breakfasts this week. At the store Christoper asks me, mommy can you get my special ice cream since the poor sugar knows he can't have the real stuff. I say of course so we swing by the dairy free, soy ice cream and buy him his treat. I tell them if them when we get home we can have bowl of it. Its been hot here and nothing tastes better than ice cream in this heat! We get home and John and the kids are at the table patiently waiting and I am telling John the ins and outs of the day and Christoper is getting concerned that I am getting distracted. He gets off his chair and comes over to me and is glued to my leg talking about they color bowl he needs and where is his polka dotted spoon and I am still talking to John. He then says Mommy, Mommy, so I say Yes Christopher and he so sweetly say FOCUS MOM FOCUS. OK he got me. I couldn't help but laugh and focus on his treat. I feel like I am always saying to distractable jack, Focus, you need to put your shoes on or we will be late, OK Jack Focus on the toilet bowl when he hears Ella and Christopher talking and keeps peeing as he turns his body and his attention. So it felt good to know they listen sometimes.

Here they are playing... and Ella is doing crafts. We have done plenty this week. She is in heaven, well almost, if we could get rid of that pesky sore throat and the mickey mouse voice.

Let them be Little

We have had such a busy couple of weeks and emotional to say the least that I put some of the pictures from the party, end of school and ballet receital in a video. There were just too many cute pictures. Today was the last day of school for the summer. When Ella and I went to pick up the boys the Director said to her, No more preschool Ella - you're off to Kindergarten! I can't believe it.
Jack and I were playing on the floor and he is climbing all over me, and he pauses and with deep thought says Mommy why you got wires? I say what Jack? and he says "Mommy you got wires in you? Red and blue wires and all of a sudden I realize he means veins. I say yes Jack, thanks to you and your brother I have wires in the back of my legs! So worth it. I told Erin, and she said some of us have wires and others have cables! So funny!

TONSILS

We are home and Ella is doing great tonsil-less... We were there at the crack of dawn and I picked her up out of bed and she slept until we got there and then asked me where we were. I said we are going to get your throat fixed. She was real quiet but was absolutely perfect. I got her in a gown and they gave her some Happy Juice (their name not mine) and within 5 minutes she was babbling and out to lunch. They came and got her and the Dr's and nurses were awesome. John and I waited and 45 mins later the Dr. came out and told me her adenoids were HUGE so the removed everything and she should feel a lot better now. What a trooper she was.

Heaven

We had the best birthday party this weekend with my parents and today with our friends at pump it up. I have so many pictures and I will get those up soon. Tomorrow bright and early we have our tonsillectomy.... Yikes. I said this has been such a crazy time. My parents were suppose to be here but unfortunately my uncle passed away and they had to get home. This morning we had to take Sam to the Vet and I just wasn't sure how it was going to go. I told Jack and Christopher since they were asking about him, that he might have to go to heaven and Jack says "No Mommy, Sam no go heaven - its too big. He might get lost." Christopher then added "Yeah Sammy be scared." I just wanted to cry my eyes out, OH wait no i was already doing that! Sam was spared - some medicine to help him out. I will be glad to get off my crazy roller coaster, its almost humorous our life lately!