ON MY OWN AGAIN?

Well here I am blogging again about yet another weekend of freedom. Everyone is going to think I am spoiled. Well I am. Ben took the boys up north again. They left at 4 this morning and they will be back tomorrow evening. He wants to help work on getting the addition done up there and I want to get things ready here so we had to compromise again. I remembered shoes this time so everything is going smoothly thus far.

As for our week since my last post we have been busy again. Last friday we went swimming by GG & Papa's and then when we got home we got a call from Ben's brother Andy and our newest neice Elsa is here. She was born Friday evening and all was well. Saturday we ran around shopping with all the boys in the morning. We then stopped at the hospital to meet Elsa and Andy and Sue asked me to be her Godmother. I of course said yes and am thrilled to have another Goddaughter. She is adorable and it makes me even more excited to meet our new little one. After all of this we dropped Cam off for a Birthday Party and then when we picked him up we had a 10 year anniversary party for some friends and it was at a park in West Bend. The party was a big hit for all of us. As you can see from the pictures we all had a blast.

Cam's BIG Catch at the party at the park!
He really wanted to keep this!

Clayton hanging out at the park party (w/uncle Wes)!

Calvin's "funny face"!

The following day was Father's day and we planned to host this small gathering for both of our families at our house. Ben made beer can Chicken and it turned out GREAT. The weather was super and somehow we pulled this off too. It looked to us like everyone enjoyed themselves and all the little kids got along without to many fights, which is not easy when you consider there is a 7 year old, 4 year old, 2 - 2 year olds, 2 almost 2 year olds, and a one year old (Sue and Elsa were still in the hospital and did not make it).

Ben celebrating Father's Day by cooking up some Chicken's!!

The remainder of the week was pretty calm in comparison to the weekend. We spent most of our time trying to stay cool. The kids love to be outside and seem uneffected by the extremely warm weather. They did enjoy their little pool and we made it over to my parents big pool a couple of times too.

Now we are on the next adventure. This week!

The boys enjoying their little backyard pool.

Calvin & Clayton taking a dip!

Too cute not to post - They worked up an appetite in the pool.

Cal on the left & Clay on the right -- cooking in their outside kitchen.

Gross motor issues again

Today was a crazy day but it was really fun. I did not have Kaylee today so out of fear that I would be bored I set up to watch my friends three kids for a couple hours this morning. Her and her husband are in Hawaii and the kids are staying with her parents who live very close to us. I offered to take the kids from 10 till 1:30 and it went GREAT. Honestly! She has a 8 year old girl and 2 boys that are 6 and 2. I do watch the 2 year old about once a week so the twins already know him but having the two older ones was a blast. They were so good and really helpful with the three little ones. Cameron also really enjoyed having some playmates too. I hope it works out that we can do that again.

After everyone cleared out and the twins went down for a nap I made a million phone calls. We have been discussing some concerns with Cal's walking and tripping along with his somewhat awkward gait for quite some time and at our last doctor's appointment discussion was had on weather or not there is a discrepancy in the length of his legs. After much thought I have decided that I want to find out more about what is going on with his and so I made a bunch of calls to Birth to Three and to the Doctor's office trying to find out how to proceed. Finally today we got it figured out and we have an appointment scheduled for July 30th with Dr. Tassone (this was his old Scoliosis doctor). Funny how things come full circle. Now that the appointment is made I already feel better that I am being more pro-active and doing something about these little concern that have been bugging me. With some luck we will get some answers on the 30th, now I just have to have wait for 5 weeks.

Other then that we are trucking along. Busy weekend. Happy Father's day to all.

Lil Drummies

Well I thought I would do updates all weekend with my free time but I was so busy with all the things that I have been wanting to work on that the weekend flew right by. Per Ben's report up north went very well. He had lots of help with the boys from family and other then the shoe issue all went smoothly. He even survived Clayton's routine car sickness (puking) which occurred both on the way up and on the way to church on Sunday morning. It went so well that now Ben is talking about doing this again! I actually had a very nice weekend as well. I got a lot of cleaning stuff done and spent a lot of time organizing pictures. I got to take time to do things at my pace which is something that has not happened in years. It was relaxing and still got to feel like I accomplished something. I did miss the boys a lot but then I appreciate my time with them more too.

As for this week we are trucking along again and trying to get into a new summer routine. Today we went on a field trip to Cabala's. The weather was rainy and we needed to get out of the house. Everyone loved it. Cameron of course wants everything, Calvin gets so excited about all the animals and the fish that he can't even talk and Clayton just looks around and of course notices all the "waller" (water). Kaylee had a really good time too and she thought all the animals were "gogs" (dogs). Overall it was a very fun and inexpensive trip.

Cameron starts summer school tomorrow, he is excited and I am thrilled. He definitely needs something to do during the days that entertains him more then me and the little boys do. He is taking an Aerospace class and a Reading is Fun class. He is also going to be riding the bus for the first time. I was very nervous about this but I am getting over that and I do know that he is old enough I am just a little over protective. (who knew?)

Well I better get to bed but I just wanted to share a couple of fun pictures from yesterday. Dad had baseball and the boys and I went grocery shopping. Of course we had to get a fun treat and it was Little Drummies Ice Cream drumsticks my mom told me about. It was bath night so I let the little boys eat them by themselves. It was very fun. Cameron and I were laughing the entire time. The boys also enjoyed it.

Clayton, Cameron, & Calvin

Calvin enjoying his Vanilla Drummie!

Clayton's is chocolate and he even got it in his hair!

Clayton, Cameron, Calvin when they were done.

Cameron is grossed out by how sticky the boys are and they are trying to touch him.

WHERE ARE THE SHOES?

This is going to be a big weekend for us. Today is Saturday at 9:45 a.m. and at 4 am this morning Ben took the twins up north till Sunday. Cam is on a 4 wheeling trip with his Dad. So Mom gets a weekend to herself. Totally alone. Just me in the house for all of Saturday & Sunday. Kinda of a weird feeling. I have not been in the house without all the kids since the twins were born so it is very quiet. I have thousands of things I have wanted to get working on but now that I actually have some time I am not sure where to start. It is harder to get motivated to do things when you have time verse when you are limited to getting it done during a 2 hour nap.

Prior to Ben and the boys leaving we had a super busy week. Cameron was on his last week of school and Cousin Kaylee is in New York so I thought that it would be a calm week around here. Not the case. Monday was the Ultrasound - and the Doctor did call - Baby is doing great, placenta is still 'low lying' and so I still have some restrictions for lifting, which always makes me laugh seeing as the boys are both over 20 pounds. The Doctor may have to do another ultrasound to monitor location prior to my C-section but we are not sure when.
Tuesday and Wednesday during the day I had Adam (my friends son, who is 10). He is a great help with the little boys but I am afraid he was a little bored with me at times. I watched him a couple days last summer and will do so again this summer but usually Cameron is around to play with so I think this was a little tougher without a playmate. Thursday I was thrilled for it to be just me and the twins so of course I thought I could get a million things done and we did but it is never as much as you planned to do. I took the boys grocery shopping which is never fun with a huge list so Cal sat in the front and Clayton had to sit in the basket and got buried under a ton of food. He did not even whine when I placed a watermelon in the basket with him. They are such good boys!!! When we got back and the boys napped I finished packing for them to go up north. Thursday evening Grandma Grace watched all three of the boys and I went to a really fun Pampered Chef party while Ben mowed the lawn by his parents house.
In addition to all of my busy things I really should not fail to mention that Ben has been working his tail off both at work and at home. This whole week once the kids are in bed he has been working on finishing up the new window stuff and redoing the drywall in the room that will be Cameron's new room soon. It is really coming along and I sure did not realize the amount of work that would go into that.
By Friday I was exhausted but I had scheduled for Josh (friend of ours) to come out and do two year pictures for the twins. Cameron had a half day of school and then a couple hours to kill before he would be leaving to go up north also. Needless to say we got through pictures with lots of fruit snack bribing and even some help from Cameron and then sent Cam off on his weekend of 4 wheeling with his dad. The little boys napped and I finished getting everything ready for the trip up north. Then, as if we had not booked enough for this week/weekend Ben and I were going to the Brewers game with some family and so my sister and brother in law watched the twins last night. The Brewers won, we had a blast, but I think I planned to much for one week.

So this morning at 3:30 a.m Ben wakes me up and we pack up the van with everything (and I mean everything) I thought he might need for the little boys up north and then we get them from their beds and put them in the van and away they go. I will admit it, I cried a little. Then I did try to go back to bed for a while. I talked to Ben a couple times on his 4 hour trip up north and he said the boys did go back to sleep and they were both good on the way so it made me feel a little better. Clayton on threw up a little bit and we had planned for that so Ben handled it like a champ. I got up around 8:30 and started wandering around and was not sure what to do. At a little after 9 Ben calls. Guess what we forgot to send. SHOES. I was so upset, I cried, again. I forgot to send their shoes. Normally they would wear them so I did not pack them. OOPS. Ben is much more laid back then me (surprise), so he was not as upset as I was. I was so mad at myself. Now an hour later I realize that it is not the end of the world and that the boys will survive with or without shoes. Blogging must be therapeutic for me. So that is the start to my kid free weekend! I am sure I will do many updates this weekend and get pictures up as soon as Ben gets home. Hope everyone enjoys their weekends too.

29 Week Ultrasound

Ultra sound went great yesterday - we have to wait for the doctor to call with offical results but it looked good to me. It is always amazing to me to see how big the baby is getting and how developed it is. Only 10 more weeks and counting.

Baby is licking it's leg.

We already think it looks a lot like Calvin!

Busy, Busy, Busy

We had a fun but very busy weekend. Actually it began Thursday. Cameron had a school field trip to the zoo so Ben took the day off and we took the twins and cousin Kaylee to the zoo for the day Thursday. I will attach a few pictures with this post. We had fun, and I can honestly say that EVERYONE did great. Ben and I met Cam's school down at the zoo and followed along with him and some of his classmates. It was a nice chance for us to see how he behaves with his friends and as always he loves to see all the animals at the zoo, especially the fish. Clayton was thrilled with all the "waller" (water) that he was seeing and seemed to like the animals too. Calvin was thrilled with everything and got so excited each time an animal would move he kept wanting to get out of the stroller and get closer. Overall it was just a really nice day and a blast to watch how the little boys reacted to seeing all of the cool things at the zoo. It makes me want to go again, very soon.

Clayton at the zoo playground!

Calvin & Clayton

Calvin at the zoo playground!

Cameron also enjoys the zoo!



Ben and the boys!!

That was the first fun part of our busy weekend. Then came the work part. Early Friday morning my cousin Billy came over and began the work on putting in the Egress window for Cameron's new downstairs room! This proved to be a lot of work for Billy and for Ben who came home from work early Friday to help. The two of them worked hard till about 6 p.m. and got that window in. I had no idea the amount of work that would have to be done just to put in a window. Nor did I know the amount of mess it would make. Mind you this window is completely underground! If that makes sense. I have no idea how to explain but again I am attaching some pictures.

Billy peeks out the hole he made in my house!



From the inside looking out!

Window is in - Now what?

And the window well is set in place also!

So after all of the hard work they still had to get up early on Saturday and were back at it. They finished off putting in the window well and back filled with stone so I will still have to take a picture of what it looks like now. By noon Saturday the window was secure and the well in. Now Ben has to do some finish work to fix the drywall inside the room around the window and then some yard work stuff around the outside of the window and we will be set. Progress but it still seems that brings more work with it!!!

We finished off our Saturday by going to cousin Xavier's 4th Batman Birthday Party. All three of the boys were very good at the party and the little boys even got to swing a stick at the Pinata, unfortunately I did not have my camera handy for this fun moment. They looked like little pros with swinging that stick!!!!

Sunday we took it easy and stayed at home trying to get things cleaned up.

Tomorrow should be an exciting day - at least for me. I have a 30 week ultrasound to see how everything is going and hopefully I will get some more pictures of the new little one. The count down continues. Good night all!!!!!

Clayton - A little unsure.

Calvin - Really liked it!

Cameron - Loved it!

Ok, so this blog thing is new and still seems fun, we will see how long it lasts. Thought I would share some more very recent pictures of the boys on the new toy a friend of mine gave to us, as if we don't have enough toys around. Cameron and Calvin LOVED it and Clayton is still not sure what he thinks. He had a really hard time getting on it and then he is too little to petal yet. I think this toy will be a big hit all summer!!! It is also coming in handy because Cameron likes to go get the mail with it!


As you can also see these pictures are after their Daddy buzzed their hair this past weekend. It actually went better then I thought it would.