March for Babies Walk

It started out a bit cold and wet, but we made it.  We were pretty covered in mud by the end of the walk, but the good news was about 3/4 of the way it did get a bit warmer….maybe 60 degrees.  Braeden walked all 6 miles like a trooper, not one complaint and having a great time. 

The little ones babble and sang as we strolled along.  Liam decided to sing a few Christmas songs for us, was a bit interesting maybe he was a bit confused by our Michigan weather, a few days ago we were in shorts and t-shirts and today the winter coats were back out.

When we got back to the pavilion the kids had a great time dancing and hanging out with their cousins.  Then the sun came out all bright and sunny and the kids were all able to go play on the playground which I think made their day.

Thanks to everyone who made donations, it was a great day with everyone there walking for babies.

A few pics….

My dad, me, Ed, Braeden, my mom with Brenna and Liam up front…oh yeah and Braeden’s religious education (CCD) teacher off to the right side, we didn’t know she was walking on my cousin’s team too, turns out my cousin is her son’s teacher.

 

Braeden crossing a bridge, we played a game where you got points for spotting fire hydrants, bridges, fire trucks, pushing the stroller up the hill, and picking up litter.  His total score at the end of the walk 2,224 points.  What does this mean?  It means we kept him busy enough that he had fun and didn’t realize he might have been tired or how or even ask “how much further?”  

About 1/2 mile from the finish, they fell asleep.  A nice 20 minute power nap.

Liam and Brenna dancing with Daddy

Brenna dancing with Kati and Jillian

Liam dancing with some older women!

Oh yeah, had to add a few others from the week…

I found my old Lite Brite and Braeden and I played with it this week.

Brenna is a bit obsessed with going “pee pee in the potty”” she wants to sit on it ALL the time, so far we had one successful day, but then back to square one the following day.  I’m sure we will get it eventually, I was planning on waiting until closer to summer, but she keeps initiating it.

 

And this week we went to Dora Live, the kids were a bit under the weather, but still loved it.  Liam was just in a daze and loving it, Brenna was a bit more animated and was jumping up and down.  It was a cute show and they are still talking about it.

Ramblings

On Saturday we celebrated Easter with the outlaws.  We had everyone over here (big family…about 40 people) for egg hunt and hanging out.  We even had the newest niece here who was only about a week old.

Liam and daddy show the family how to work Wii Fit.  Those of you familiar might be wondering where you get a little Wii.  Liam likes to exercise with me and so I got the bathroom scale out for him a few months ago and to this day when the Wii comes on, he does step aerobics and hula hoop with mommy.

Everyone got in on the action, even my mil.

Brenna with her uncle and newest cousin Liberty.

   Wonder what they are thinking???  Actually they were walking across the bridge of the sandbox singing London Bridge is Falling down.  I taught it to them that day…and am regretting it, esp when Liam wakes up at 4am saying “falling down, falling down”.

Playing peek-a-boo!

Oh crud!  They found the horses next door….been afraid of that moment, no fence in the back yard.  I feat they will sneak over there when my back is turned and get zapped on the fence or ate by a horse…okay maybe just stomped on.

On Easter Sunday we went to Mass and expected the worst.  The previous few weeks have been really rough with the kids and crowded longer services can get ugly.  We had an Easter Miracle and they were pretty good, Brenna did keep trying to kiss everyone around us and Liam just put stickers all over his body, but hey, we could listen and everyone around us could too!  Woo-hoo!

After church the kids found their Easter baskets in the basement.  The Easter Bunny was rather generous this year.  Later that day my parents and sister came over for a bbq which was fun.

Liam and his trike

Can wait to get them outside to try them out, hopefully better weather is heading our way, until then they are in the basement.

Nana Claus with her bag of goodies!

Football with Braeden, Brenna, and Daddy

Lochlan, Braeden, and Brenna having some bubble fun.

And the last pic I will leave you with is my lovely daughter who is having a bit of separation anxiety.  I left today to go to visit Braeden at school for young author’s and she threw a tantrum.  There is no calming her down, most kids you can get to come to you and calm them down.  Well she is madder than a hornet and will not be comforted.  I left and was gone for 40 minutes and came home to this…..she cried for about 15 minutes until she just fell asleep from exhaustion. 

Easter Bunny 2009

The kids loved the Easter Bunny, especially Brenna.  She followed him around our Multiples Party until she couldn’t find him anymore.  All the way home she said “Bye-bye Easter Bunny”.

Braeden was a bit indifferent towards him this year, didn’t want to sit on his lap or get his picture taken.  Once he sees what the bunny has brought for him, maybe he will change his mind.

In a few weeks we are doing the Walk for Babies for March of Dimes.  This will be our 5th year walking with my cousins team, we were doing it before we had our own preemies.  If anyone would like to donate there is a link on the side, my efforts so far have been pretty pathetic.

Tomorrow will be having dh’s huge family here for Easter with an Easter egg hunt for the twentysomething nieces and nephews.  On Sunday after church my family will come for  a cookout….right now the forecast is 50 degrees and sunny, keeping our fingers crossed that will hold, esp with what the Easter Bunny is bringing….any guesses???

Pics from the trip...post below

Our Road Trip Adventure

We just returned from a 10 day road trip with the kids.  Honestly, we expected the worst and they surprised us.  The 11 hour trip to Philly went well, a few stops, lots of snacks, and tons of Dora DVD's and they were happy. 

Philadelphia was a great city for kids.  I was able to meet up with my friend Kristin and the kids had a ball at the Please Touch Museum and we got a workout chasing the little ones.  Thankfully her husband came along to watch the big kids Braeden and Kourtney. That night Ed was able to get out of his conference for a few hours to do a duck tour of the city with all of us.  It was a crazy little tour, it toured the town on wheels, then took a dive into the Delaware River.  Braeden was a bit nervous, but loved it.

The following day I took the kids to the Aquarium, it was a nice place to go (keeping the little ones on lockdown in the stroller)...I was outnumbered and knew better.  They were very happy and loved the hippos, birds, and fishies.  Braeden loved the hippos, they were so close!

The next day we headed to my friend Kristin's house for a few days.  The kids had a blast, so many toys to play with...like Toysrus.  Braeden had fun playing with Kourt.  When the kids were sleeping Kristin and I snuck off (monitors in hand) to the jacuzzi and relaxed a bit.  So much fun, we were all sad to leave our friends...even Brenna was saying "bye bye Istin" for about 5 minutes after we left.

Back in Philly, Ed was almost done with his conference and headed up to the Franklin Institute and Museum of Arts and Sciences which were two great museums for older kids (about 5 yrs and up).  The little ones still had a bit of fun too.  We came back to discover a parking ticket....we missed the time on the meter less than 5 minutes...there were 3 parking people just sitting there waiting.  The ironic thing was what made us late was Braeden lost his museum map in the wind, and he said he didn't want it anyway.  We told him we couldn't litter, so we sat through a few lights at the intersection while Ed retrieved our litter.  The ticket...well no brotherly love was felt there. Our only negative experience in Philly.

On to NYC, new hotel, lots of luggage....that is the worst thing about this was all the gear and not knowing where things were.  Anyway, we did a double decker bus tour with mean bus lady. (long story!)

We headed up to FAO Schwartz and the kids looked at all the cool stuff and danced on the big piano.  I think this must have been Liam's favorite vacation experience.  Then back in for the night. The following morning we took the bus tour down to the pier and took a Waterfront Cruise which the kids loved, we were able to see the Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge, and NY Skyline which were nice.  The kids danced on the dance floor until they lost their balance.

Took the bus up to Central Park and spent the afternoon there.  Brenna LOVED it, all the dogs, ducks, and birds...she was just sooo excited!!! This girl LOVES animals.
Next we were off to TRU Time Square.  We rode the ferris wheel and headed back to the hotel for a bit...did baths and pjs on the little ones and strolled through Time Square at nightime and Brenna fell asleep on the way back.

We headed home through Canada...much nicer drive, we stayed the night halfway in Niagara.  After the little ones were sleeping, Braeden and I headed down to see the falls at night, Braeden loved the rainbow lights that were there as we left....and finally my camera battery ran dead.

The next morning we headed on home.  The trip was a lot of fun, a bit of work.  Naps and bedtime were bad, they are used to going to bed on their own in their own bed.  They learned how to escape the pack and plays. It was nice to get home....one unexpected surprise though...the first night home Brenna came running out of her room.  She escaped the crib.  We planned to convert next weekend, but last night she climbed from her crib to the diaper table and got stuck.  So we may be starting the conversion tonight...wish us luck!

Will the bugs go away…please!!!

Liam and Brenna were finally on the mend this week…hooray!  We were able to get out and do some fun things.  Braeden had a few days off of school for parent teacher conferences. (which we got a good report....yeah!!!)  I was able to help work the book fair for a few hours before the conference too which was nice.

We took off for the Children's Museum for a Dr Suess, Cat in the Hat event.  We arrived and the parking lot was crazy with a few buses, I should have turned around and left then.  Two 2 yr olds are hard to manage there on a slow day, thankfully we were meeting friends and had a bit of help!

          Braeden, Megan, and Anna in their Horton Hears a Who elephant hats and sticks with the puff.

I had Liam's 2 yr old well visit, been doing them separately.  The doctor wants him to have a hearing test, I have been concerned about his speech for a while now, the dr mentioned tubes which has me a bit freaked out.  We have an appt with the ENT next week.

        Had to throw a picture of our Friday Lent meal this past week!

                   Who knew this guy would be so dangerous in the hands of a 2 year old!

                He went to infinity and beyond!!!

This weekend we went to Detroit for my sister's birthday to a place called Java Jungle.  A big indoor playground for the kids, after being there for a bit Braeden says he doesn't feel good, he is burning up.  Gave him most of Liam and Brenna's Tylenol (geez that big kid dose is almost the whole sample bottle) and got them some lunch before starting the long ride home.  The kids did have fun there, would be nice to head back when everyone is well....and through the week, the place was a bit overrun with parties.

Two days later Braeden still has a fever and is sick, I KNEW I shouldn't have made the comment last week that he never gets sick!!!   Okay....back to bleaching the house down and washing bedding....AGAIN!    

Liam and Brenna’s b-day

The kiddos are still sick, actually Liam has broken out in a rash that my mom is convinced chicken pox. 

The morning they woke and we took them to the basement that we have been remodeling, the majority of the play area is done...FINALLY!  It has been going on since September.  We are still working on the other "end".

For their b-day we canceled our plans to go to the Children’s Museum, I didn't want them to spread their ickies to everyone else.  We ended up meeting my parents up at Red Robin, they share a birthday with my dad, so they all got the singing, etc.  Liam loved it, he was clapping his hands, Brenna didn't care and Braeden hid under the table to make sure nobody thought it was his birthday.

The following day my parents and my sister and nephew Lochlan came over for cake and ice cream.

Loving a "new" old toy...Braeden got it when he was 2.

A big cheesy smile after he scaled the superyard and snuck and ate cake without anyone noticing.

  Gotta love Elmo!

Brenna loving the Rose Petal Cottage

Playing a combination of "knock knock" and "peekaboo"

Brenna wasn't happy that she couldn't grab the candles and see the destruction of Liam's cake before we found him digging in it.

Braeden showing Liam how the clubhouse worked.

Brenna playing with the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.