Talking & Peeing?

Nice title. It made me laugh. So I'll explain. Kenzie is 18 months now and over the last week or so she has started really talking. She is repeating everything. It is amazing the difference from just 2 weeks ago. I think my favorite age has to be when kids first start talking. It is incredible how fast they learn and adorable to hear them finally express themselves. And then last Tuesday were just playing around in the morning and Kenzie went to pull her pants down. I thought "What is she doing?" so on a whim I asked her if she wanted to go potty and she marched right to the bathroom. I helped her sit on the potty and a few seconds later she PEED. I could not believe it. Since then she has gone on the potty about once or twice a day usually she will pull on her pants. We are taking this slowly so she does not get discouraged (and so I don't get frustrated) But honestly I can not believe what an easy child she has been so far. I am sure she will show me different in those teen years but I am enjoying every easy minute of her now.
We continue to have crazy weeks and weekends around here. We are in the final stretch of the wrestling session. Cam wrestled last weekend at the Slinger tournament and ended in 2nd place. He was very disappointed but we were SOOOO proud of him. The boy he lost to was a state qualifier last year. Although the score was 10-2 Cameron wrestled his heart out and held off the pin. We were all very proud. He is working so hard this year and has made some huge improvements over past years. His record this year is 17 (wins) and 4 (losses). We are looking forward to the Waunakee tournament this Sunday, Chilton next Saturday and then Regionals on the 12th. Just hope all his tremendous work pays off with a visit to state! Either way a proud wrestling mom here!
We also got to enjoy all the new snow this week with a day off of school on Monday (planned day off for President's day). We took advantage of the day off played games, played outside and mom and the kids met dad at work for lunch. Then I took all four of the kids bowling on my own. It was a very good thing there was no one else at the bowling alley because the kids were running around like crazy. It was fun but I am not sure the twins really get the concept of bowling yet.
Wednesday was also a big day - I think I forgot to mention that Cameron won the Spelling Bee for the fourth grade and was the runner up for the whole school during Catholic Schools week. So on Wednesday Cameron and his classmate got the honor of going onto the regional spelling bee at St. Francis Cabrini. This was neat! Grandma Grace joined us and we took Cameron out for some lunch before the BEE. Cameron was one of 18 kids grade 4th to 8th who got to participate in the Spelling Bee. He made it through the first round of telling his name, school and an 'easy' word. The second round was not as nice. His word was dormant. He got it wrong but when he came to sit down had a very positive attitude about wanting to do this again next year. Again proud mommy!!!!
This should also be an exciting weekend for us. Tonight I will be rocking to the 80's at Big Brothers Big Sisters "Bowl for Kids Sake" Back to the 80's theme. Sometimes I love my job like when I get to dress up in 80's clothes and have a blast with great people who are supporting a great cause! Saturday we are planning to do some sledding over at Grandma Jane and Grandpa Gerald's house and of course Sunday is a day of Wrestling. Hope all of you also have a great weekend!!

The boys at bowling!

Kenzie being funny!

Cameron and his classmate Abby!

Way to go St. Peter's Spellers!

Cameron during the BEE!

Kenzie eating yogurt on her own.
If you remember my earlier picture of when I gave her yogurt it was everywhere.
This time she did much better!



Clayton also wanted his picture taken while he ate his yogurt.

Calvin just loves when you take his picture too.

Having a blast!

What a GREAT weekend!!!!
So we had a rare weekend of nothing planned and a break from wrestling too. Friday we took all the kids to Friday Night at the movies at St. Peters. The movie was Despicable Me. Ben and I had taken Cameron to see it for his birthday and really liked it and it was even funnier the second time. Cameron was off hanging out with his friends during the movie but the twins and Kenzie still like hanging out with us and they did pretty well. We even got to watch most of the movie!! Per Ben's GREAT idea we decided to take the boys tubing at Sunburst on Saturday. When we suggested going Clayton was thrilled and excited and Calvin said he did not want to go. Which was very out of character for both of them. Usually that would be reversed! Of course poor Kenzie got ditched by Gigi and Papa's but I don't think she minded as she practically jumped out of my arms to go by her Gigi the moment she saw her. Apparently we were not the only ones who had the idea of enjoying the warm up in the weather and go out tubing. It was packed. So we got our tubes and headed for the 'Magic Carpet', which in case you have not been there is like a big moving sidewalk that takes you up the hill. The twins were a little freaked out by this and Clayton even fell over on it which made him more nervous about it. But this is were their personalities came back to normal. Calvin already said he loved it (the magic carpet) and that it was so fun he wanted to do it again and we had not even did the tubing yet. We did make it to the top and then we were off. I took Calvin. Ben took Cameron and Clayton. At the bottom everyone said they liked it. Calvin was thrilled. He told me he never wanted to leave or go home and asked to do it again. Clayton said he liked it but that he did not want to do it again. We were able to get him to do it again with a little encouragement. It was an absolute blast. Clayton did need to take a Hot Chocolate break for a little bit and then it was tougher to get him back into it but Calvin and Cameron totally loved it. Overall a really great time. Then after tubing was over mom sent Dad home with all the kids and went out on the town for Ladies Night with some old friends. Dinner, a movie and then even a late evening of dancing.

Calvin and Clayton all geared up for tubing!

They boys are ready!!


Now we are set!! Maybe Clayton would have liked it more if he could have seen something instead of the inside of his hat!

Cameron even took our photo before the first trip down!!

Today was also a wonderful day. We all went to church together then donuts at the bakery and naps! Beautiful day to build a snow fort and some great packing snow. Here is the result so far. Dinner time got in the way of completing the fort. Maybe we will get to complete it yet this week!

Happy Valentine's day to you all!!!

FAILING!

OK so my expectations for myself of updating my blog once a week was to high. I will try again but maybe just for every other week. So the updates of the last month as brief as possible. (Which never happens with me)

Cameron is kicking butt in wrestling so far this season. Last post he had gotten 1st in West Bend. Since then he took 2nd in Hartford (1 match loss by 1 point). 1st place in Antigo and 1st place at Kettle Moraine. This past weekend he took 3rd at West Depere. Overall his record is 14 wins and 3 losses. We have this weekend off and then 4 weekends in a row leading up to Regionals and then hopefully his first trip to state! He is just doing great and seems to be very motivated and excited about it all this year.

The twins are doing great. They are learning a ton in school. They are learning to recognize their letters and counting. They are more and more creative lately. They are talking about making friends at school. They are growing up way to fast. They also fight each other to much. They can be so nice to each other but then two seconds later they are pushing each other and teasing each other. They both have been so sweet to their mommy lately. When I get home from work Calvin will come over to me and say "Mommy, I am so glad you are home, you look beautiful" or "Mommy I like your hair". They can also be very sweet to their little sister. Clayton told her he "loved her sweater and that she looked real cute". They can even by nice to their big brother sometimes and often when I pick the three boys up from school both Cal and Clay are asking Cameron if they can be his best friend and if they can play in his room or play DS with him. We have their 3K school conferences next week and am looking forward to getting more information on how they are doing.

As for Kenzie, she is the Princess!!! She has a very strong personality already. She just never stops cracking me. She is bossy with her brothers and assertive with us. She loves babies and that is also her favorite word. She is starting to talk more and more but still likes to point and grunt because it works for her to get what she wants. She got her first hair cut and could actually use a little more of a trim already. I love this age!! She is doing something new every day and learning all the time. Wow having a girl is sure different then the boys! I wonder what I will be in for in the future.

Ben and I - We have both been working more then usual and with alternating schedules to keep our need for babysitters low we don't see much of each other during the week. And our weekends have been pretty busy lately too with wrestling and working and such. It really makes us appreciate the time we do have all together. So we decided a little vacation was in order. We left this past Saturday and flew off to Vegas with Ben's family and came back Tuesday. It was amazing! Not much for relaxing or resting, but a ton of fun. We crammed a lot into 3 days including the Packers winning the SUPER BOWL. Overall the whole vacation was just SUPER. I did miss the kids but they had a great 'vacation' at Gigi and Papa's. Thanks guys. This week so far has been our recovery from vacation and trying to catch up at work and with the kids. I am going to try and share some pictures and hope to update more frequently next time!!!!

Clayton, Cameron, & Calvin

The boys giving the thumbs up!

Kenzie loves Yogurt! Mom thought it was funny that she wanted to feed it to herself until I had to clean up the mess it made!

Other cute PRINCESS PICTURES!

Trying to get a good shot of her hair after her first haircut.

It only gets that curly right after a bath!

Mom and Dad in Vegas!!