Outnumbered Mommy...My Adventures with My Four Little Boys

Stars...

2011-11-29T20:52:00.001-06:00

Ben, Jack, Drew and I went to the planetarium tonight with Cub Scouts. I always like the planetarium and the planetarium lady did an excellent job presenting to the kids. The boys all seemed to be very interested and enjoyed the presentation.

When we got home, Ben and Jack took out their binoculars and using the sky map that they received from the planetarium, they went out to find the stars.

Charlie never likes to be left out so, he gathered the equipment that he deemed necessary for star gazing...his Cars sun glasses and owl hat. Then he set out to join his brothers.

Ben and Jack seemed to do pretty well using what they learned. According to them, they saw the big dipper, the north star, Jupiter, and several other less known constellations that they were able to find on their sky map. It was 35 degrees and super windy so, I took their word for it. Charlie took notes about what they found.

"The planat" (the planet)

"great "

"Drewpader" (this one cracked me up...he meant Jupiter, but it was hilarious when he was running around the house all excited about Drew-Pa-Der. Drew thought it was pretty funny too.)

Then he continued with the big & little dippers and Dal(?)...

And, finally, in seemingly unrelated news...Tonight, Charlie declared himself "too old for Thomas the Train". This is a huge deal because Charlie has been OBSESSED with Thomas & Friends since he's been two. It has been, by far, his favorite thing in the world. It's true that over the last 6 months, he has not played with his trains as often and he hasn't watched the video in quite a while, but tonight was the first time that he has actually said that he is too old for Thomas.

Awwwww...no more "Mom, now we play trains?" over and over and over again.

While "playing trains" has not always been my favorite thing to do, I'll admit that I'm a little sad that the train stage is officially over. Wow, just like everyone says, it really does go fast.

I did find it quite amusing that on the same night that Charlie made such a big important proclamation, a few minutes later, he was wearing Cars sunglasses at night and an owl hat to go in the backyard to look at the stars.

That's right Charlie...you are such a cool big boy! Love it!

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-27T21:42:00.001-06:00

Vegetable Turkey (on the right)

Made by Me and Jack. Don't eat the blueberry eyes, we super-glued them on.

Turkey Bowl I

Grandpa's Birthday Celebration

I think this picture will be better in a few years.

And, in a few years, I think I will be the top of this pyramid.

Cool.

I somehow missed getting a picture of the Grandmas. I guess even if you cook a fabulous Turkey Dinner and do all of the work, you are still not guaranteed a picture on my blog unless you partake in the football game. You'll have to take my word for it, the Grandmas looked fabulous!

A weekend of 7 boys...

2011-11-23T22:58:00.001-06:00

Jen and Craig had a family wedding in Florida so, we volunteered to watch Liam, Aidan and Connor for the weekend. It sounded like a good idea last January when we volunteered.. ;-) Kidding...but I will admit that I did get a little nervous as the big weekend approached. The thought that all of the kids that I was responsible for did not all fit in my car scared me a bit. Thankfully, Spencer was ready to roll up his sleeves and dig in.

lunch for many...

Turns out, I really did not have anything to be nervous about.

It was just a weekend with lots and lots of playing...

Aidan cheats a little at hide-n-seek.

to the park we go...

how many kids can fit in the slide???

It was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be. LA&C did awesome. They were very excited to spend the weekend with their big cousins. Ben, Jack, Drew and Charlie all had a great time too. All of them said that it was a fun weekend and we should do it again, maybe next year. Jack did mention though that if we had 7 boys in our family, it would really cut down his "leisure time". He was not kidding.

That everyone survived. Yay us!!

Isn't he cute....

2011-11-21T21:46:00.001-06:00

I did try to get his haircut a few days before picture day, but our fancy-schmancy haircut place (Hair Cuttery) couldn't fit us in. The result is a very Charlie-ish hair day for his Kindergarten picture.

In other "adorable" kindergarten news, I found this masterpiece on Charlie's table when I was cleaning his room.

It's so great when they learn to spell...yes, it does say "Charlie's Poop".

Doh.

Wow.

2011-11-19T22:26:00.003-06:00

I got this email from Ben's speech therapist last month. It made my day/week/month/year...

Subject: Sweet Boy

Hi Mrs. ####,

Thought you'd enjoy hearing one of Ben's comments in speech today. We were playing a conversational game, and he got the question, "What is the best gift you've ever received?" to which he answered, "Charlie". I knew I had to share! :)

I wish that we could take credit for how sweet and loving Ben is. But, he was born that way. He is a special person. We're just lucky he's ours. :)

Christmas 2006

(BJ&D - 4yrs old. Charlie 5mos.)

I can guarantee that at this point of trying to get a picture, my face did not look anywhere near as loving and patient as Ben's.

Christmas already!!

2011-11-19T21:51:00.003-06:00

I can't believe that we are getting into Christmas season already. And, I really can't believe that it has been 9 years since Christmas looked like this in our family.

Regardless, Thanksgiving is less than a week away, Christmas ornaments are being crafted and little minds have begun to think about a visit from the "Big Guy".

Drew: "Mom, for Christmas, I am going to ask Santa for a Rubik's Cube and a utoobmembaship"

Me: "Huh?!?! A Rubik's Cube and a WHAT?"

Drew: "A Rubik's Cube and a YOU-TUBE MEMBERSHIP!!"

Me: "What? Seriously, you want a You Tube Membership for Christmas? What are you going to do with a You Tube Membership?"

Drew: "Wey'llllll....I want a You Tube membership so that I can vote for who is getting voted off of 'Battle for Dream Island' and so that I can post videos."

Me: "Ummmmm....I see. But, Drew, how are you going to post videos? You don't have a video camera."

Drew: "Oh yeah....."

Drew: "For Christmas, I want a Rubik's Cube, a membership to You Tube and a VIDEO CAMERA!!"

Oye...Poor Santa.

Halloween 2011

2011-10-31T22:44:00.007-05:00

Halloween has changed quite a bit over the last few years. Somehow we went from adorable bumblebees, that were very happy sitting on our own driveway, playing with our own candy.

To a not-so-cute Cobra, Spiderman, BMX Rider and Bloody Skeleton, rushing from house to house, collecting as much candy as possible, with a whole herd of kids.

It's all good. I actually like this stage better...tons of fun!!! But, I will admit to missing those adorable costumes just a little.

Thank Heaven for little nephews...

Kindergarten Soccer...

2011-10-15T21:52:00.009-05:00

Charlie just finished his first season of soccer. Spencer also just finished his first season of "coaching" soccer. He actually just volunteered to HELP the real coach this season. Basically, he volunteered to wrangle kids. But, the coach's schedule ended up filling up so, Spencer was "promoted" to head-coach for most of the games. Coaching kindergarten soccer does not look easy, but he did great. Most of the kids kicked the right way...most of the time. And, I think that he was happy that none of the kids needed help from "Coach Spencer" in getting their pony tails through their hat holes, like when he coached kindergarten t-ball a few years ago.

Go Coach!
Charlie enjoyed his soccer season very much.

He really liked the socializing part of soccer and the running around (bouncing around would be more accurate for Charlie) part of soccer.

Now, I do not believe that kindergarten soccer is any indicator of what kind of soccer player/athlete these kids will turn out to be. Therefore, it is, with love, that I will post the rest of my pictures of Charlie's kindergarten soccer experience...

Sometimes, when you are five, it is hard to remember that the soccer "ready pose" is quite a bit different than the baseball "ready pose". It just complicates things to be a 2 sport athlete.Charlie...where is the ball???Once again, Charlie....WHERE IS THE BALL?!?! It's also hard to be an all-star soccer player with only one shoe.Charlie's turn in the goal.

He wasn't as excited as you might imagine.

And, didn't know what to think of the gloves.

For the last game of the season, I offered a bribe for Charlie to keep Charlie focused on the game, and the ball. It didn't work. :( But, we'll be sure to send this picture in to the newspaper when you are a professional soccer player.

If nothing else, Kindergarten soccer is definitely entertaining to watch.

The Summer of Charlie...

2011-08-23T21:14:00.015-05:00

Summer wouldn't be summer without Baseball.

Charlie turned FIVE years old!!

And, had his first "kid birthday party".
Do you think Charlie liked the helmet that he got from his Grandmom Adelaide for his birthday?!?!

A very important job, on a very important day...
Party Time!

Silly Charlie.Fireworks at the Indians Game...

Fireworks at the White Sox Game.

According to Charlie, his favorite part of the White Sox game was the fireworks. Can you tell???

Vacation Time...

Vacation Bible School. Look at our little guy singing and dancing. :) I love VBS! On the way home one day, Jack was picking on Charlie. Charlie looked right at Jack and said "JACK! YOU CAN'T SCARE ME BECAUSE GOD MADE ME!!". You go Charlie!

Charlie riding the Demon at Great America. Amazing that he wanted to ride it...the Demon goes upside-down 4 times! Charlie Rocks!

And, this post wouldn't be complete without a picture of Charlie RUNNING into school on his first real day of kindergarten.

Luckily, I got Ben to grab him for a picture before he went in the building.

His first day went very well. The only minor problem was that it started storming about 10 minutes after school started and stormed all. day. long. Charlie feels the same way about thunder that he feels about fireworks (see above). Yep, the kid will ride upside-down roller coasters, but is afraid of thunder and fireworks. Regardless, I'm fairly certain that he walked around his first day of kindergarten with his hands over his ears, but his teacher never called and according to Charlie, there were no tears. I'll call that a successful day. And, a nice way to end a great summer.

I must interrupt my summer posts...

2011-08-22T20:55:00.009-05:00

(Yesterday)

...to send the kids back to school. Yikes!

Getting ready to walk to school with some friends...
And, some more friends.

Welcome to 4th Grade!

And, look out Kindergarten!!!

The first day was successful. Everyone seems very happy with their teachers and class. Charlie's real first day is tomorrow. Today it was just a quick orientation with parents. Tomorrow is our first experience with ALL DAY kindergarten! Wish us all luck!

The Summer of Jack!

2011-08-21T21:16:00.011-05:00

Last Day of School/9th Birthday Party with 9 of Jack's "nearest and dearest"...and 9 of Drew's...and 9 of Ben's. It was quite a party. You'll have to take my word for it since I didn't take many pictures.

Fun with the cousins. Gotcha Jack!

The #1 Cubs Fan, taking a spot at the inteview table of the Phillies.

And, the #1 Cubs Fan racing against Scotty Podsednik. He definitely looks determined to not be out-raced by a White Sock.

And, here is probably the highlight of Jack's summer.

Jack loves, loves, loves baseball. He watches baseball, talks baseball and plays baseball at every opportunity. This summer, Jack started out the baseball season asking to pitch. Unfortunately, at this level, the mound was located 5 feet further back from where it was last year, which is a REALLY big jump for a guy with a skinny little arm. Everytime Jack asked, he was told that if he wanted to pitch, he would need to practice more. So, Jack would go out in the back yard and throw pitch after pitch into the pitch-back. His hard work finally paid off and he was put in to pitch for an inning in the last game of the season.

Apparently, he wasn't nervous, but *I* was!! I'm fairly certain that "Coach Dad" was a bit nervous too. It wasn't that we didn't think he would do a good job, (of course we thought he would do a good job) it was just that this was soooooo important to him. One good inning would "make the season" for him.

And, that is exactly what we got. No hits, 2 walks, no hit batters, resulting in three outs and no runs scored for Mr. Calm-Cool-Collected. It was a fabulous moment for all of us. :)

Jack also had a very successful swimming season. I'm convinced that it was those daily morning practices that really made a difference in building up his muscles and making him a stronger baseball player...which is what he really wanted anyway.
Silly Boy!

Cha-Cha sliding at Michael & Heather's Wedding (more pics will follow from this special event)

And, then, finally, VACATION!!

Ending the summer with a week of VBS for my nice Catholic boy.

The Summer of Drew

2011-08-18T22:19:00.011-05:00

Summer is not summer, without Drew relaxing and having a good time...

Drew was able to march on the field of his favorite MLB team. Go White Sox...doesn't Drew look thrilled?!?!

Racing Scotty Podsednik at US Cellular Field.

Giving an "interview" at Citizens Bank Park...

Proud of our "Rookie".
Yay Drew!!!
Chillin' at a Swim Meet, waiting for his race. Go Torpedoes!

That boy cleans up quite well!

A little football at the beach. :)

And, finally, chillin' at the beach.

Summer of Ben...

2011-08-16T21:54:00.011-05:00

I have so much to post about from this summer and tons, and tons of pictures. In case you were wondering what Ben has been up to this summer, here you go. Don't worry, more pictures and stories will follow.

"Summer" officially began with a Ben/Jack/Drew Birthday Blowout on the last day of school.
Ben's spring soccer season didn't end until almost July...

And, started up again in August.

Ben's favorite position in baseball was "catcher" this year. He also got quite a bit of pitching experience and rotated around a lot of other prime positions.

And, we can't forget swimming. Early morning practices and late night swim meets kept Ben busy.

Our handsome boy at Michael and Heather's wedding. More will come about that fabulous day.

And, then of course, vacation. Lots of time to play wiffle ball on the beach.

And, boogie boarding.

In his spare time, Ben toured Citizens Bank Park...and gave a press conference. :)After vacation, it was back to work...feeding all of the starving children.

Sorry Jack...

2011-08-13T21:13:00.005-05:00

...but it's too funny not to post.

Charlie was riding in the car with Aunt Jen the other day and decided to show off his reading skills...

Charlie - "Hey, That sign says OLD NAVY......

...just like Jack's UNDERWEAR!!"

Best of Bros...

2011-07-07T23:57:00.012-05:00

Ben has adored Charlie since the day he was born.

Whether Charlie needed someone to look out for him,

or play with him,

or comfort him,

or decorate him,

or teach him,

or share a treat with him,

Ben was ready and willing to do the job.

Last week, Charlie celebrated his 5th birthday. Ben wanted to do something special for Charlie so he decided to give Charlie a birthday present. We've had a busy couple of weeks (months, years, whatever) so, I didn't really pay too much attention to what Ben was doing.

As soon as Charlie got up on is birthday, Ben ran into his room and presented him with his gift...

The special gift that Ben put together for Charlie was a printout of 3 of his favorite Thomas Trains, a printout of his favorite Webkinz, a little ball game trinket, a GoGo and 5 cents.

It was the perfect gift and Charlie was THRILLED! Charlie has been carrying around the printouts all week and he has been thinking hard about what he wants to buy with his "money".

Ben and "Super Charlie"... I love those guys!!

So, how is our summer going...

2011-07-07T22:25:00.005-05:00

My standard answer has become "oh my goodness...we have been sooooo busy".

Now that I think about it, that has been my standard answer for about the last....ummmmmm.... 9 years.

I think that I neeed a new "standard answer", something more creative and interesting.

So, what is keeping us busy this summer??? Actually, it is a lot of things that are keeping us busy...sports, outings, parties, holidays. Since I can't fit that all in one post, I'll just talk about sports tonight.

Swimming...

Every weekday morning, the boys get up and go to swimming practice for an hour. I give them credit. Some mornings it is hard to get going, and although they don't always want to get out of bed, there have been zero complaints about going to swimming practice.

It is Drew's 3rd season swimming. He has knocked 1.5 minutes off of his time from his first season...Seriously! His technique looks so much better and he is getting faster and faster. His favorite stroke is breast stroke and the kick for the breast stroke seems to come surprisingly natural to him. Drew is still probably one of the least competitive kids in the world, but I'm starting to catch little glimpses of something that could be a competitive spirit.

Actually, at the last swim meet, he was scheduled to swim the breast stroke in the medley relay and then later in the meet, he was scheduled to swim breast stroke in an individual event. When he finished the medley relay, he told me that he was really excited to move on to the individual event where he "didn't have anyone else slowing him down"....says the boy that once took 2 minutes to swim 25 yards. ;-)

Drew swimming his little heart out, not sure what stroke, but he is giving it his all.

Jack has also improved quite a bit over the last year. Quite the oppostive of Drew, "Competitive" is Jack's middle name. He jumps out of the pool and asks for his time right away. He remembers his best times to the 1/100th of a second. And, he is probably the only kid at the whole meet that asks constantly if "we're winning". Jack's favorite sport is butterfly. Can you imagine that 49 lb. little guy swimming butterfly? What he lacks in muscle and meat, he makes up for with heart and somehow manages to get those skinny arms and legs to drag his body across the pool.

And, finally Ben. I think Ben is going to turn out to be a pretty good athlete. Ben has not swim since last summer, whereas Jack and Drew did a winter swimming practice program, but that did not hold Ben back. He just jumped back in the water and started swimming. I think that if he was interested in making swimming his sport, he could be very good. But, right now, soccer is Ben's love.

And, then on nights that we don't have swimming, we have baseball.

It really has been a great start to the summer. When I say that we have been busy, I don't mean busy, in a bad way. Really, I love this stuff!! This is 95% *good* busy!!! The only reason that it is not 100% is because being this busy makes it hard to grocery shop, and cook, and clean, and do laundry. And, playing all these sports makes a LOT of really dirty laundry, and also makes those boys want to eat all. of. the. time.... 2 breakfasts (one before swim practice and one after), lunch, snack, dinner, snack from sport, and then they want another snack when we get home at 9pm! My kitchen is always a disaster, as is my laundry room, the basement, and all of my drawers and cabinets.

So, all in all, we are doing very well. We might be a little worn out, but life is good. :)

Bye Bye Preschool. :(

2011-06-12T21:51:00.009-05:00

Charlie is an official "preschool graduate".

Last day of preschool with his friend/carpool buddy, Allison.

Charlie and his teacher on the last day of school.

Charlie was really, really lucky with his first teacher. She is fabulous. Charlie loves her. Even though he apparently didn't really like getting his picture taken with her.

Thankfully, for the last day of school picture, I was able to get him to stand still for 1/2 second longer than I got him on the 1st day of school picture when he was 3.

Wow, that time went fast!!

Charlie's first day August, 2009..

He was so little.

He didn't know how to zip his backpack. Heck, he didn't even have any curls. ;-)

Now, he is a preschool graduate and one of the "big kids".

Speaking of "Big Kids", it wasn't so long ago that they were starting preschool...

Awww....even though Ben looks a little uncertain leaving the car on his first day, I loved that place!

Charlie is ready for kindergarten, he knows his numbers, he knows his letters, he plays with friends, he even learned how to open his Capri Sun. I'm ready for him to go to kindergarten too. He will be one of their little guys with that July birthday, but I know that he is ready and will do well. I'm excited for his new adventure. But, I am really going to miss that preschool. What a special place with amazing people. We will be eternally grateful for all that they did for our boys.

I hope they let *me* come visit. :)

Computer Parental Controls...

2011-06-11T20:09:00.002-05:00

Who needs them???

Not me!! One of these goofballs would surely blab.

Kidding Dad, just kidding. ;-)

The Rookie...

2011-06-02T21:36:00.005-05:00

Baseball season officially started tonight. All of the boys had their first games of the season...

...and Charlie had his first baseball (t-ball) game ever.

Since Spencer is coaching the "big" boys' team, I took Charlie to his game.

The game was going really well... until the 2nd batter, when Charlie started yelling to me from left field. "Mom, I've gotta go POTTY!!".

Shortly after that picture was taken, he came running in, mid-inning, because he had to go "NOW!". So, we took a quick potty break at a friend's house and then got back to the game...

There were some common rookie mistakes...like not noticing the inning was over when playing 3rd base.

Where did everyone go???

Once again not noticing the inning was over after making it to 1st base.

Once again, where is everyone???

And sometimes it is hard for a rookie to stay focused for the whole 4 innings...

Overall, it was a great game!

And after 4 years, Charlie finally got his OWN snack. He didn't even have to mooch off of his brothers or their teammates.

Go Charlie!!!

Nine. Years. Old...

2011-05-30T22:04:00.008-05:00

Can you believe it??? Wow, time has gone fast!

July 2002

Today...

So, today we celebrated...

Notice the odd-ly placed baseball. For the first time in 9 birthdays, they could not agree on a cake. And actually, it was only Jack and Drew that were with me. Jack wanted the sports cookie-cake and Drew DIDN'T! I try to be sensitive to the whole triplet-sharing-a-birthday thing, but we already had 20 left-over cupcakes at home and I was not about to buy 3 cakes. To further complicate the matter, this all took place **this** morning, as in 4 hours before the party. Fortunately, the nice lady at Jewel added a baseball and everyone was happy enough. Whew.

Having a birthday around Memorial Day in Chicago means that you never know what you are going to get. But, today, we switched the "heat" over to "air-conditioning" and enjoyed 90 degree weather for the party, which seemed to make everyone happy.

Charlie looks happy.

Aidan and Liam look happy.

Connor too...

Ben definitely looks happy hanging in the hammock after a long weekend of soccer.

I know that Grandpa was surely happy, but that was because he beat us all at Pentago, after getting "humiliated" on Mother's Day.

Happy Grandma's...

And, a Happy Charlie at the "Little Kid's Table", where the little cousins hang on his every word.

And, here is a funny story to hopefully make you happy too...

Here are the boys looking so excited about opening the ping-pong paddles and balls that they got from Grandma and Grandpa. I'm sure they are thinking "but, we don't have a ping-pong table!". They were good sports as everyone was suggesting how they could play with them, even though they don't have a table.

Since it was strongly suggested that they give them a try in the garage, they did. And, since that nice big box was leaning against the wall in the garage, they decided to use it as a ping-pong back board.

Apparently, "observant" is not a skill that kicks in until past 9 years old...at least I hope so. There is a new ping-pong table in the box. It was finally pointed out to Ben, Jack and Drew, because they never noticed.

Ok, after re-reading that funny little story, I realize that it does not translate very well for people that were not actually here. But, I'm leaving it in because it makes me chuckle. Sorry for those of you that missed it. It was really funny in real life. :)

Happy Birthday to my favorite NINE year olds, in the WHOLE WORLD!!

Love ya!!

Same Class for My Triplets...NO WAY!!!

2011-05-24T21:34:00.004-05:00

Whether or not to place multiples in the same class at school is probably one of the most debated topics within the "multiples community". While we've always felt that our triplets needed to be in separate classrooms, I still enjoy listening to people's reasons for the placements that they choose for their children.

One of the reasons that many people choose to keep their multiples together is because they figure it is easier on the family to have the same homework, on the same night, for as many kids as possible.

I used to think that made sense.

Then.... we had 3 dioramas due on the same day.

Yikes!

That's a lot of shoeboxes, paper, dirt, string, balloons, clay, cutting, drawing and glueing.

In spite of the cute smiles that they are faking in the pictures, 8 year old boys do NOT want to make dioramas. Oddly enough, 4 year old boys DO want to make dioramas. So the whole time we were hunting down three shoe boxes and researching, and painting, and cutting, and glueing the habitats of a beluga whale, a beetle and an aardvark, Charlie was following us around yelling "WHEN ARE WE GOING TO MAKE MY CAMEL?!?!?"

But, we survived and I think they turned out pretty well.

Ben's Beetle in the Rainforest
Jack's Beluga Whale

Drew's Aardvark

And, if life wasn't "fun" enough, the Cub Scout Cake Bake Contest was the same day that the dioramas were due. Supervising the creation of three dioramas AND three cakes must qualify me for some sort of raise, or bonus, or something.

So after school that day, we quickly threw together three GoGo Crazy Bones cakes. They didn't win any awards, but Drew said his cake ROCKED because it was the first cake to be completely eaten. by the scouts ;)

And, although we never got to that camel diorama, Charlie did manage to design his own GoGo's cake. Whew!

Now it is back to the world that I know, where the same math homework comes home on 3 different days. Lovin' life again!!!

What happens when Mom is away....

2011-05-22T22:00:00.004-05:00

I went to a lovely wedding shower this weekend in Michigan. I had a very nice time at the shower and had a great time with my mom and sister. I did not bring my camera and it is not really a great blog-able event. Soooo, I will blog about what Daddy took Ben, Jack and Drew to do while I was away.

Isn't that nice, they are going to be in a race.

On your mark, get set....

Go Ben!!

Hmmmm....now this is a different kind of race.

Go Jack!!!

Jack still in the mud pit.

Drew in the mud pit.

Ben in the mud.

Post Race Picture

(Ben, Jack, Drew)

"I wanted to go faster so I swam in the mud."

(Jack)

Drew is ready to go for next year!

Next year, Daddy and Charlie want to join in the fun. Me??? Not so much!!

A Trip to the Zoo...

2011-04-06T22:27:00.005-05:00

Charlie..."Look Mom, Baby Geese!!!"

I guess Charlie wouldn't really qualify as a "city boy".

Apparently, a trip to the zoo was in order...

But first, we can't take a trip up to the North Side without a stop at Yak-Zees for a Tangy-Chicken Pizza. Yumm!!

Then we did make our way over to the zoo...and not a moment too soon...

"Hey Guys...there is an ELEPHANT!"

Seriously Ben, that is a ZEBRA!! Good thing we decided to spend the afternoon at the zoo!

"We'll call that one Joe, and that one Mary, and.... that one BEER."

What!?!? Who are these kids??

And, this hairy guy brought the best entertainment for the little boys in our family.

To quote Charlie..."That big monkey is picking his nose and eating his SNOT!! Ewwwww!!"

The boys thought it was absolutely hilarious, Spencer about passed out.

Even though we are no longer an "attraction" at the zoo (you triplet moms know what I'm talking about), I thought I would include this picture, because I like it.

Hmmmm.....

2011-04-05T21:14:00.006-05:00

Drew lost a tooth the other day. It's a bottom side tooth that isn't real photogenic. Since my blog posts aren't any good without pictures, I'll use this picture from last spring. There are several teeth missing to go with my "story".

Anyway, back to the story. Drew lost a tooth. I wasn't even home. The first I heard of it was at 4am when Drew was yelling that he couldn't sleep. I went in there to figure out what was going on. He was talking about the tooth fairy and how she hadn't been there yet, and how that surprised him and the rambling went on and on.

Whew...as much as I don't like being woken up at 4am, it was nice to be given the opportunity to shoot the tooth fairy a quick reminder.

The tooth fairy apparently got the reminder because Drew was a happy camper the next morning with a new $1 to his name.

Then, we had an interesting conversation...

Drew: "Mom, I saw the tooth fairy last night."

Me: "huh?"

Drew: "Yeah, she wasn't at all what I had imagined."

Me: "Uuuuhhh....why not?"

Drew: "Wey'lllll, she was BIG....like human sized! And, she didn't even have any wings!!!"

Me: "Huh."

Drew: "Yeah."

That was the whole conversation. No further questions, no connection of the dots. Too funny for a smart little guy.

Saturday Night Movies...

2011-03-26T23:23:00.003-05:00

I spent several hours organizing my pictures today. In doing that, I found some cool pictures and videos that I had completely forgotten about.

September 2009, Charlie 26 months

Charlie was really speech delayed so, this was exciting.

(Kiy means "yes" to Charlie at this age....shortenend from Okay.)

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

This is how we do "speech therapy" in our family...

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

And, in case you did not get your fill of PIE...

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Flashback Friday...I'm ready for summer!!!

2011-03-25T22:30:00.003-05:00

"Spring" Break started today. High of 37 degrees for this weekend and next week doesn't look much better.

Here's to looking forward to summer!!!

2009

SHUT UP!!!

2011-03-24T22:29:00.008-05:00

Have you met Mr. Competitive??

Jack is one of the most competitive people that I have ever met. I'm beginning to think that Jack brings "competitiveness" to a whole new level.

A couple of weeks ago, we attempted to go on a Cub Scout "hike". Unfortunately, we had the wrong day so, nobody was there except for our neighbors that strangely enough made the same mistake that we did. Since it was a nice afternoon, we decided to do our own hike with our 4 boys, and our neighbor's 2 boys.

While we were on our hike, we came across a baseball field. It was a really nice little league field with real dugouts. The 6 little boys were in heaven!! There was a lot of running around, and pretend baseball being played. Ben was happy practicing his form pitching and running around the bases. Drew was having a great time pretending he was a real baseball player on tv. Charlie was beyond excited that he was on the "Red Team". All he really did was sit in the dugout, the red dugout, and shout about 5,000 times that "I am on the RED TEAM...my favorite color!!".

And, then we have Jack. Now remember that we had no bats or balls on this particular day. This minor fact did not stop Jack. He was very, very into this pretend game of baseball.

At one point, Jack was "pitching" and Ben was "batting". Ben apparently hit Jack's pretend pitch deep into right field. Jack was NOT happy. He seriously could not believe that Ben hit his perfect pitch so far. Then, he really became irate when he realized that nobody was playing right field and Ben was surely going to score a homerun. I'm sure that in his head, he was mathematically calculating how this was going to damage his ERA in the pretend baseball league.

So, his arms started flailing, and his feet started stomping, and then in his most exasperated voice, he started shouting at all of his brothers and friends"HEEEEYYYYY!!!! WHERE ARE ALL MY OUTFIELDERS?!?!?!". It was like he was a crazy person.

He was actually so mad that Spencer had to yell in to remind Jack that they were playing a PRETEND game of baseball...that was supposed to be fun....and, that there wasn't actually a BALL!!

***In other news...

There was recently a contest at school for the "best authors". Strangely enough, this story is not about Jack, who, obviously, loves contests...whatever kind of contest it might be.

2005

Even more strange, this story is not about Drew, who actually WON the contest!! Before people start yelling at me, I promise that I'll blog his winning story another time. I just need the author's permission. ;)

2005

Nope, this particular story is about Ben... sweet, innocent, peaceful, gentle Ben.

2005

Most people do not realize this, but Ben is quite the comedian. He is very much into shouting, singing, dancing, goofball faces, silly humor.

Needless to say, Ben's story for the contest was a bit silly and crazy. The story was basically about a boy taking a vacation/road trip with his family and a few strange things that happened to him while on the trip. He worked very hard on his story and did a great job. I was very proud of Ben. His story was perfect.... except for one little thing.

A few pages into the story he wrote "3 hours later we were there. "Ohio" I screamed so loud that my mom and dad told me to "SHUT UP!". "

Why would he write that?!? And, more importantly, do all of the school people that read Ben's story think that we talk to like that to our kids. Hmmmm....no wonder those boys are so well behaved, their parents are evil!! I'm fairly certain that as much as my kids like to talk/shout/sing, I have never yelled at them to SHUT UP!

***Are you wondering why I decided to post these two unrelated stories together??? It's actually midnight now and I'm wondering the same thing myself. I'm worried that this might be a little weak, but here goes...

Last night, we had a Cub Scout Den Meeting. Toward the end of the meeting, we had a few extra minutes so the boys were playing Paper/Scissors/Rock in a sort of Star Wars themed tournament style. Everyone was having fun and were still talking about it as they were leaving.

I should re-phrase.... Everyone was talking about the fun as they were leaving and everyone (except JACK!!) was having fun. Jack was going on and on about how he was "wronged" in the P/S/R tournament. He was really worked up over a silly game that could not even have a winner. As we were walking out to the car, I got frustrated with his attitude and yelled at him about how he was being silly, and it was just paper/scissors/rock, and it was supposed to be for FUN...and that it didn't matter who won.

I then started the car and Abba's "Winner Takes it All" came BLASTING through the car radio. OMG, SERIOUSLY?!?! Now, Spencer is out of town, I'm exhausted, I just spent an hour with 8 - 8year olds and a 4 year old playing games, I just spent the last 5 minutes arguing/lecturing Jack about who won a stupid game with no winners and now, some dumb lady from Abba jumped all over me about how "winning is everything". And, at that point, I may have yelled "SHUT UP YOU CRAZY LADY!!" at the radio.

Hmmm.....

The Extreme Supermoon!!!

2011-03-19T20:18:00.005-05:00

Did you hear that tonight there was supposed to be an "Extreme Supermoon"? We were ready!! 7:26pm the moon was supposed to rise in Chicago and it was supposed to be HUGE...something about it being unusually close to the earth coinciding with a full moon. It hasn't happened since 1993 and isn't happening again until 2029.

The boys were ready...Charlie even got out his Owl Hat for the occasion.

Everyone was running around the yard, in the dark like a bunch of crazies. Maybe the "full moon" contributed to their behavior. Hmmm....

So, here it is....

In case you missed it, it is that blur behind the trees. Such a bummer...after a beautiful clear day, it got cloudy after the sun went down. So, that's it. Maybe we'll catch it again in 28 years. :(

How is this for ironic...my mother-in-law asked me TODAY if I wanted a tripod.

I'm not a photographer at all, so I told her that I didn't think that I would have a use for one.

HA!! I think that I'll re-consider. And, for what it's worth, these are the "best" of my bad shots. You can't even tell those are trees in my other pictures.

Finally, I'm just looking for a reason to use these pictures so, I'll tie them in with the "full-moon craziness" theme.
At the Cub Scout Pack Meeting last night, the boys earned their Bear Badge. For a fun ceremony, the scouts got their faces painted. The colors and marks represented "stuff" for their rank.
BTW, I don't know why I look tan in the picture. The only thing that I can figure out is that my face is flushed from the craziness of the Pack Meeting. All the chaos kind of stresses me out.

I guess the full-moon got to me too because after the Pack Meeting, I took the boys to McDonald's for treats at almost 9:00 at night.

Charlie especially deserved a treat for being soooo good at the crazy meeting. He sat quietly on the floor and played with his Magnadoodle. Daddy couldn't make the Pack Meeting this month and I was busy painting faces and trying to control some of the chaos. He did so good!

Flashback Friday...love those baby blues!!

2011-03-18T22:19:00.004-05:00

Charlie, May 2007 (10 months)

I know his face is a mess, but the color of his eyes are gorgeous!!

Drew, April 2004 (almost 2)

He was not feeling well, but look at those beautiful eyes and lashes.

St. Paddy's Day Randomness...

2011-03-17T22:01:00.003-05:00

Hmmmmm.....

Charlie had no problem with his cookie. And, for the record, Mom didn't have any problem with the 2...or 10, that she ate either. Shhhhh....don't tell the kids.Yup Drew, you're still cool!

I learned of a new Irish tradition today from the kids. If someone is not wearing green, you are allowed to pinch them. Look out!!!

Although he was bad for putting on a RED shirt after work on St. Patrick's day, Daddy earned some brownie points back for working with Ben on his homework. Ben read his weekly story to Dad in order to review for the test tomorrow. The story was about cowboys. (I guess it was a good week for me to miss.) Anyway, they were going over the questions at the end of the chapter. One of the questions was about how cowboys today would be different from cowboys a long time ago. Ben said "Well, if you wanted to watch cowboys a long time ago on tv, they would be black and white. Cowboys today would be in color." Yeah, ummm....good luck on the test tomorrow Ben.

Family Feud

2011-03-15T20:07:00.004-05:00

Have you seen the "Name something you pass around". Family Feud clip? If you didn't catch it floating around Facebook, you should really check it out. Steve Harvey is hilarious. Here is the link.

Jack and I were playing Family Feud the other night on Wii....finally a Wii game that *I* can win. Woo Hoo!! It was really a lot of fun playing with him and some of his answers cracked me up.

During the bonus round part of the show, I played first while Jack went and hid and then he came back and played the 2nd guy. Toward the end of the game, Ben and Drew came down to watch.

A question came up asking for "An occasion that you dress in formal wear".

I answered "a wedding". Ben and Drew were not impressed, and were really surprised when it came up as the "number one answer". I believe their direct quote was "huh?"

When that question came up for Jack, he quickly and confidently answered "First Communion". Drew got very excited and shouted "that was MY answer!!!". Ben agreed too.

These boys were TICKED OFF when it showed up as ZERO points. They absolutely could not believe it!!

Now that I think about it, I can't believe they didn't get any points either...

And, if you are in the mood for another Family Feud Funny, you HAVE to see this one!! We laughed and lauged about this. Watch both contestants...hilarious. Here is the link.

I've been FIRED!!

2011-03-10T20:51:00.005-06:00

I've never been fired before in my life. Until today.... when I received an official "Notice of Termination" from the Amazon Associates Program.

I'm crushed because in the last 3 years, I have earned a whole $1.47. I earned that big money by advertising books from Amazon on my blog. Now what am I supposed to do....we've got all these kids to support???

So, do you want to know what horrible thing I did to get fired from my $1.47/3 year salary???

I got fired because I live in the state of Illinois. Really! Our Governor has been so busy....between raising our income tax 66% and eliminating the Death Penalty since the 1st of the year and he still had time to pass a law requiring internet companies to start collecting sales tax from customers in Illinois if the internet company has an "affiliate" in the state of Illinois. My $1.47 in earnings qualifies me as an "affiliate" of Amazon so, they had to fire me unless they wanted to collect sales tax on ALL of their sales in Illinios.

Here are the details of my firing, if you a tax geek, like me...

http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2011/03/10/Illinois-Governor-Signs-Internet-Sales-Tax-Law.aspx

So, as of April 15, 2011 you can no longer fund our retirement by buying my "recommended" books. I thought I would help Amazon out (and screw Illinois in the process) by selling as many books as I can in the next month. Let's see if we can get me all the way up to $2.00.

Here goes:

This is the best book that I've read in a long time. First of all, I've enjoyed most all of Jodi Picoult's books. This one is about a kid that has Aspergers Syndrome. Each chapter is written in the voice of a character in the book. I found the chapters written by the kid with Aspergers really, really interesting. It was an excellent book and I highly recommend it if you like that type of book. I do want to add that I was disappointed in the end. It wasn't so much that it was a bad ending, it was just a little too abrupt for me. I would have been happy with another chapter to get the reactions from all of the characters.

I read this one a while ago, but it left a big impression with me and gave me a lot to think about. It is written by a guy that is out to solve the problems of Afghanistan and Pakistan by building schools. Hmmm....too bad some other people didn't think of that, like 25 years ago...before the Radical Muslims got a jump-start on it. Anyway, very interesting book!!

This is a "big" kids book. I read the first one to the boys and I LOVED it!! I think that the boys were a bit too young for it so, I haven't read the next one yet. But, I hope they are ready soon. The book incorporates a lot of history, and mystery, and travel/culture. Each book in the series is written by a different famous author, which I think will be fun to follow.

Finally, The Shack is a book that I would like to re-read every couple of years. The author did a great job explaining his perception of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. But, don't let that "scare" you. It is a relatively easy to read book that gave me a lot to think about/sort out in my head. Trust me, read it. :)

And, finally for complete mindless entertainment, I've been reading the Twilight series. It is good, but I don't love it as much as most people. I just finished the 2nd book and bought the 3rd. I was disappointed to discover that Bella doesn't get her love life sorted out in this one. I just want to get it finished and find out how it ends. But, it is entertaining.

So, that concludes the final edition of my book reviews. I was really just kidding about buying them from my links. I don't even know if Amazon will send me a check for $2. They will probably charge me a $5 processing fee for my check. I just took the opportunity to make my recommendations.

Happy Reading...and let me know what I should read next. :)

Out to lunch...

2011-03-08T21:36:00.007-06:00

In the last month, Jack has called me twice from school. The conversations went something like this....

"Hi Mom, I really thought I was really being careful this morning to bring everything to school, but I think that I kind of, accidentally, might have forgotten my lunch in the car... or maybe at home. I don't know. So, will you bring it to me?"

I've only said "hello".

That is not actually the interesting/not-exactly-funny part of this story. The interesting/not-exactly-funny part of the story is that HE DIDN'T ACTUALLY FORGET HIS LUNCH EITHER TIME!!! Both times, I checked the car, the kitchen and the hallway, and both times, there was no lunch. So, both times, I told Jack that I didn't have it. His response has been "Oh whoops, ok, bye.". So, TWICE, in the last month, Jack has misplaced his lunch in his classroom. I don't even want to know what his desk looks like that he keeps managing to misplace his lunchbox. Not to mention the fact that last week he also forgot to bring his lunchbox home TWICE!!

Great idea Jack, maybe we'll just attach the lunchbox to your head.

It really amazed me that he worked up enough nerve to tell his teacher that he forgot his lunch...twice and then called *me*...twice. I'm not exactly one of those nicey-nice "Oh that's ok Sweetie...I'll bring it right over" moms. Honestly, I actually wouldn't mind bringing it to school, I like going to their school. But since I'm supposed to be teaching him "responsibility" I act mad.

I'm sorry Jack, but back in *my* day, kid's didn't forget their lunches.

(must of been because of the uniforms)

So, I had been trying to think of a way to teach Jack that he needs to be more responsible with his lunch when I remembered something.

Several weeks ago, I sent Charlie to school with his carpool. A little while later, I went in the kitchen and noticed that his snack bag was still sitting on the counter. Now, Charlie's snack bag is my responsibility. It's true that I probably should shift the responsibility to him, but I haven't done it yet. It blew my mind that his snack bag was sitting on the counter because I could have sworn that I put it in his backpack. Regardless, the fact that the snack bag was sitting on the counter and not in his backpack was completely my fault. So, of course, I decided to bring it over to school. Imagine my surprise when the teachers laughed at me when I came in and then proceeded to show me the "snack bag" that I had actually sent with Charlie. I had sent Charlie in with a "snack" of a CapriSun, some Leapster Games and a bunch of batteries. Maybe I really am losing my mind.

Which brings us back to Jack. Since I am apparently not qualified to "punish" this particular offence, this is the best I could come up with.

Surprisingly, he was actually mortified that I did this to his lunch bag, It did not "mortify" him to have to admit to his teacher and his mom that he couldn't find his lunch twice, but a silly picture on the lunchbag did the trick.

Now, if we could just get Drew to remember to bring his math homework home every night...

Baseball Season's Under Way.....

2011-03-06T22:04:00.005-06:00

I dropped off a check for $435 last week to register 4 boys for baseball. It's going to be a busy summer!!

So, Spring Training has officially begun at our house... Not because we are a "crazy baseball" family. More, because of this...

and this...

Just kidding (sort of)...

It is going to be an interesting year. For the first time, everyone is playing baseball. Ben and Jack have played the last playing for the 3 years. They have both gotten better every year and are very excited about the new season!!

Drew played t-ball when he was 6, but he took the last 2 seasons off. He has had zero interest in baseball until about 2 weeks ago, when he decided that he definitely wants to be on the baseball team. Now, when I said that he has had zero interest, I mean ZERO interest. He has a lot of work to do to catch up with the other kids, but he has convinced us that he is committed. We are really happy that he wants to play, so Baseball 101 is in session every afternoon on the driveway, or in the livingroom.

Which brings us to Charlie. Charlie also needs to start with Baseball 101. You would think that with the number of hours that he has spent at the ballpark that he would have some clue about how to play the game. But he doesn't. He will definitelty be the one picking the grass and chasing the butterflies out in center field.
It is definitely going to be an "interesting" baseball season.

Flashback Friday....

2011-03-04T21:43:00.006-06:00

June 2004...almost 2 years old.

Ben

I love you Ernie....Jack.

Ernie, you are cool, but excuse me while I obsess over all these numbers and letters!!

So Drew @ 2 years old.

This weekend, we pretended it was summer...

2011-03-01T22:06:00.010-06:00

For Christmas, Uncle Craig, Aunt Jen, "Huey, Dewey and Louie" got us a great family present of an overnight at a Waterpark. They definitely know what we like!!

(these people)

All of the boys had a long weekend off from school so, we decided to use our big gift this past weekend. Since we've been doing this parenting thing the last few years, we've learned that it is often works better not to give too much notice of an upcoming exciting adventure to little kids. Like last year when we told the boys we were going to Disney about 6 weeks before our trip, Charlie went to bed crying because he "thought we were going on an airplane TONIGHT!" and Jack probably spent 1/2 the night figuring out how many hours until we were leaving.

So, we decided to wait until Wednesday night to tell the boys where we were going for the weekend. Needless to say, they were beyond excited. Drew kept saying that he needed to pack a brown bag. He was quite adamant about it. I finally asked him why he was going to pack a brown bag and he said he would need it because he is "just so excited!!". LOL...I wonder where he got that from. So, all 4 of them did, in fact, end up bringing brown bags. None of them quite knew what they were supposed to do with them, but they did all pack them.

We stayed at Kalihari and had a fabulous time. I did not do a great job taking pictures, but I will pass along what I have.

My #1, #2 and #3 fans of Wipeout loved this "obstacle course".

The #4 Wipeout fan was not tall enough to reach the ropes on the obstacle course, but he LOVED the slides. The yellow and green ones behind him were his favorite and he was happy to do them by himself...as long as I was at the bottom watching. He "visited" me for a kiss after each ride. Awwwww....

This was the favorite ride at Kalihari. I've never seen anything like it. Ben, Jack and Drew each rode it a couple of time and Daddy even got in on the action.

Drew

Jack

Ben

He did get a good ride in, I just missed it with the photo. I have a video that I will have to upload to show Ben's great ride...since here all I got was Ben's great wipeout.

Other than me not riding the surf ride, everyone rode everything that they were tall enough for. Charlie even got in on a few rides that he was not quite tall enough for. Some of the nicer lifeguards included his curls when measuring him. :)

All tuckered out???

Well, not exactly...no time to rest when there is so much to do. In addition to the Water Park, the boys were also able to do a climbing wall, a ropes course, laser tag, and bowling...

Foot foul???

Well, not exactly, Daddy had to hurry up and give Charlie's ball an extra push otherwise it would not have made it to the pins. Oops.

Drew being Drew at the really nice bowling alley.

Thanks Jen & Craig...we had a great time!!

Now, back to winter. Blah.

Some days it would be nice to go back in time...

2011-02-27T21:32:00.003-06:00

to this...

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

This was the day Charlie was born. The boys were quietly singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" to Charlie. Charlie ended up scaring away Ben and Jack, but Jack came back and sang it again by himself. It was very sweet.

Now 4 and 1/2 years later, some day we still catch glimpses of that brotherly love....but other days, not so much.

One day last week, Jack and Charlie were not showing eachother a lot of "brotherly love". In fact, they were being borderline nasty to eachother. I was DONE and made them sit on the stairs together (our version of a naughty chair).

After *I* cooled down, I gave them the "mom lecture" that they had earned. I then told them that they could get off the stairs after they said something nice about their brother.

Jack, in his best mumbley voice, said: "ummm....I'm glad you're my LITTLE brother".

Charlie sat silently thinking for a minute. Then he looked at Jack and said "I like your SOCKS!!!"

Then they both ran off.

Lovely.

And, just for the record, they were white socks, plain white socks, with Hanes written on the bottom...just like the rest of the socks in the house.

Strange kids...

Flashback Friday...What's in Your Wallet

2011-02-18T21:04:00.004-06:00

I was digging through my wallet yesterday looking for a Frequent Buyer card for a store that I rarely use and I came across my "brag pictures". I don't know if it is because of my smartphone, or Facebook, or the fact that I shove pictures down everyone's throat on my blog, but I haven't pulled these pictures out of my wallet forever.

So, here you go....

June 2006
JBD, just turned 4

January 2007

Charlie, 6 months

Summer 2009 Drew...aka "Waterbug"

Summer 2009

Ben & Jack

Summer 2009

Ocean City, NJ

Drew, Jack, Charlie, Ben

Freaky, Weird, Why do we live here, Weather

2011-02-17T19:59:00.005-06:00

Remember 2 weeks ago, when our neighborhood looked like this...

and this...

I didn't post about our lovely weather 1 week ago, when it was -17F.

Well today, it was 57F. How does the weather shift by 74 degrees in 1 week???

So, now instead of doing this...

The boys are now doing this...

and this...

See the big tree on the right. That is the same tree that Ben and Charlie are posing next to in the first 2 pictures above.

Why do we live here???

My Valentines...

2011-02-16T09:34:00.003-06:00

Jack's Card

I should have taken a picture instead of a scan because the "suprise" is the hear that pops out. You just can't tell in the scan.

Charlie's card

We have a Charlie Heart and a Mom Heart.

Not sure what the rest of it says.

It always gets a little sticky when Charlie writes something because he doesn't always put his letters in the right order, or even use all of the letters. Sometimes, he just writes the first letter of all of the words...which makes it really difficult to figure out. Then, he won't tell me what it says because he wants me to read it like I read everyone elses. LOL...it's hard being the youngest, I guess. Anyway, we never did get to the bottom of what else he wrote on the card. But, I do love the card, and he used my favorite color paper. :)

Ben's Card:

I feel so loved. :)

{Front}

{Back} Drew's cards are always interesting...you never quite know what he is going to say. Like when he was in kindergarten, this is what his card said...

"To: Mom
From: Drew
I love you because you are my Valentine.
I love you when
I'm sad
I will love you whatever
time
like
2:19
5:28
or
7:06"

LOL...I think Drew may be a future card writer for Hallmark, this is what he gave me this year...

"Dear Mom,

You are a great mom. I would never prefer a mom more than you.

-Drew"

My Head Valentine, got me an awesome card too. I'm a lucky lady with my 5 Valentines. :)

Valentines Day...The Morning After

2011-02-15T09:21:00.003-06:00

He is currently procrastinating taking a bath because he doesn't want the heart on his cheek to come off.

I also love this picture because for a kid that does not usually care what he is wearing, he has declared these his "favorite pajamas". He asks me every day if his "brown doggie pajama shirt is clean". And, for the record, we do have the matching pants, he just prefers these red pj pants to go with his brown doggie shirt.

I decided to include my favorite Valentine's Day picture ever...

2003 (j, d, b)

I miss overalls....and Jack's "dandelion hair"...and them not being able to move from this position. Just kidding about the last one...sort of. :)

Unfortunately, these pictures are 2 weeks old...

2011-02-06T15:53:00.002-06:00

It was fun while it lasted...

I think this is Drew's

"I'm really concerned about this game...and I don't think orange and blue hair is going to help" face.

Superbowl 2011

Steelers (with a creep for a QB) vs. The Packers

Goooooo NOBODY...too bad Charles Martin doesn't play for GB anymore!

I'm going to the party for the company, the food, and the commercials.

The Groundhog Dump (Blizzard 2011)

2011-02-05T20:56:00.007-06:00

Fun in the Snow..

I don't think the plow is showing up any time soon...

This snow is DEEP...

The "little kid" in the back is DADDY!

Not a good place to lose your boot Ben!!

The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

Party time!!

The drop off the deck is typically about 3 ft.

Go Drew!!

Hey Ben...how about another snow day tomorrow!!

Charlie
Look, Daddy's in the fort.
Yay...the plow (3:30pm)!!! Not ready to do our cul-du-sac yet, but getting closer.

50 mph winds....

20 inches of snow.....

waking up to -11 degrees the next morning....

It was fun, (well, except for the -11 degrees) but now, we are soooo ready for spring!!

Blizzard 2011

2011-02-01T21:15:00.006-06:00

Snowmageddon

Snowcalypse

Blizzaster

The Groundhog Dump

SnOMG

Tsnowami

This storm is cracking me up!!

I hate winter...I am so done with it. It is so cold, and gray, and yucky, and blah. But, this storm has brought some excitement into a cold, gray, dark winter. Snow days all around tomorrow. No work, no school, no activites...no where to be at all! It's a nice change.

Since we had nothing to do tonight, after dinner, we went outside to experience "Blizzard 2011" first hand. This was about 4 hours into the expected 24 hour long blizzard.

Actually, the snow hasn't been that bad at all...it is the wind that is making it crazy. I don't think that I've ever felt wind that strong...it was hard to stand up. So, we decided to walk to the park.

The slide was extra slippery!! It was pretty funny watching all 5 of my guys come shooting out of the bottom of the slide one at a time. It's too bad that I couldn't get the timing right on my camera.

The walk home was a little more difficult than the walk to the park. Charlie struggled with his short legs in the growing drifts. I wouldn't call him a fan of the blizzard, but he did like the extra slippery slide.

Stay safe...and warm...and off of Lake Shore Drive!!

3rd Grade Concert Night...

2011-01-30T21:07:00.005-06:00

Big night for the 3rd graders last week. It was the 3rd Grade Music Concert. There was singing, and dancing, and instrument playing. I'm sure it was not an easy feet to organize 150+ third graders to do all of those things.

Ben...can you find him??

Drew...looking cool, as usual.

Jack is all ready to go.

And, just for the record, I took those pictures, from my seat, over the span of about 10 seconds. If you were there, you know what I'm talking about.... after the kids came in, about 50 crazy parents rushed up to the front of the gym to get pictures and stood there for a long enough to take about 100 pictures. The vice-principal finally had to make them all sit down. She even gave them a count down...like the kind I give to Charlie when his time is up "playing trains". "Ok (freaky) parents, you are all going to have to sit down when I get to five...1-2-3-4-5. Time to sit down now so that we can get started." It was craziness. I really regret not getting a picture of that mad scene!

Back to the singing and dancing...and cute 3rd graders...

...and instrument playing too.

The classes came down 2 at a time to "star" in a couple of songs. I don't think Ben liked being front and center. He was adorable, but see how he is looking off to the side. He did that the entire time that he was up front. After 30 seconds or so, he would smile a little and slowly move his head to the other side.

Quite a different story from the last time he was on stage singing...at VBS last summer.
Yup, during that concert, he directed one of these faces at me, right from the middle of the stage while singing his sweet Bible songs.

These concerts are always a good show.

Pinewood Derby #3

2011-01-29T20:36:00.009-06:00

I just realized that if Charlie stays in Cub Scouts for the full 5 years, we are going to participate in 9 Pinewood Derbys. That is a lot of Pinewood Derbys. We ought to win it at some point...after making 20 cars, plus the extra "little brother car" that Charlie has been requesting the last couple of years. Lots of practice...

Last weekend was our Pinewood Derby #3.

I included this picture of the track. Spencer has been talking about how "high tech" it is compared to what he raced his cars on when he was a Cub Scout. Now, in 30 years, the boys can show their kids the old-fashioned track that they used to race on.

Ready to go...

Ben's car is the blue one. It was a very cool car with shiny silver windows and a cool tail.

Jack's car is the green one. Jack did not care what it looked like, he just wanted it to be FAST! "Jack, what shape do you want your car?" "I don't care, I just want it to be fast". "Jack, what color are you going to paint your car?"..."I don't care, I just want it to be fast".

"Jack, do you think you should sand your car some more?"..."No, I just want it to be fast! I just want to WIN!!!"

The yellow and red car is Drew's car. It also has green sides. Drew wanted it to look like a skateboard.

Ben was the "starter" for their first race. All 3 brothers raced together in their first heat. Unfortunately, Ben's car ended up getting disqualified in the first heat. He had a lot of weight in the back of the car, which apparently caused his car to jump the track. He was a trooper by keeping his chin up when he had to be the starter for the re-do race that did not include his car. He was really disappointed, but he felt a bit better when he placed 1st in the remaining 3 heats.

Watching their first race.

Jack's car did pretty well, but Mr. "I just want a fast car" also put a lot of weight in the back of his car. His car ended up spinning out at the end of the 3rd heat and didn't cross the finish line. That 9 sec. penalty time ruined his chances for finishing well. He also was disappointed, but managed to keep a smile on his disappointed face.

Drew, on the other hand, managed to keep his car in his lane, for all 4 heats. It resulted in him placing 9th in the Pack of 55 cars, and he got 1st for his Den. Although we often question whether Drew even has a competitive bone in his body, he does really enjoy winning when it comes his way!!

Here is Drew...before the Cubmaster even called his name.

I guess he knew it was coming...

So proud...

Den 8 Rocks!!

The discussions have already begun for Pinewood Derby #4. Look out!!!

Is this even the same kid?!?!

2011-01-15T15:43:00.004-06:00

Charlie, 4 years old

July 2010

Charlie, 4.5 years old

January 2011

Is it just me, or does Charlie look CRAZY different?!?! I cannot believe how much older he looks in just 6 months. I have to admit that I was kind of hoping that he would hang on to that super-soft head of blondie-blonde hair. I knew it was a long-shot, but I was still hoping. The new curls were completely unexpected and a sweet "consolation prize"...but the baby hair is gone forever.

And, YES, that blonde hair really was as soft as it looked.

I'm not doing a Picture of the Day...

2011-01-13T21:00:00.004-06:00

...but, if I was, I'd use these pictures.

I worked for a couple of hours the other day attaching the most recent patches to the boys' Cub Scout vests. Every time I do that particular task, I find myself feeling proud for all of *my* accomplishments. How sad is that?!?

But, seriously, the boys have done a nice job. They have gone on all of the field trips that *I* coordinated, they have attended all of the Den meetings that *I* planned, they have earned all of the achievements that *I* researched and taught. And, they proudly wear the vest that to show off all of the patches that *I* glued-on...with love of course.

I did pretty well as a Girl Scout. I earned the highest award that you could earn as a Girl Scout. It was an accomplishment that I was always pretty proud of...until a couple of years ago when I my kids joined Cub Scouts and I learned the truth.

Now, the only thing that I have to say is Thanks Mom!! :)

I hope your New Years Resolutions last longer than mine...

2011-01-10T22:26:00.004-06:00

This is the last edition of my stupid "Picture A Day" blog project. I've come to the realization that the whole thing is just "not me".

Why?, you might ask...

First of all, I can tell right now that I would have a really hard time working this type of project into my routine. Hmmmmm....I started a week late, then used the same day twice and then had nothing for the next 2 days. I won't say that I'm not organized, but it is safe to say that I am not organized enough for this type of project.

Second of all, I am not a photographer. I think that the blogs that are able to be successful with doing a Picture A Day are able to do so because they are photographers. A great photgrapher can tell a whole story with one picture. I need a whole bunch of pictures, lots and lots of words...and even a few :)'s to tell a story. And, before you tell me that I am a "pretty good photographer", just look at today's pictures...especially Jack's picture. You will notice that I've focused the camera perfectly... on the house across the street. That is also why I had to use a picture of Charlie not looking at the camera. In the 2nd picture taht one I took of him, I AGAIN focused on the house across the street. So, I am not really a "good photographer", I just take A LOT of pictures. :)

Please enjoy Outnumbered Mommy's final edition of "A Picture (or so) a Day (or so)". :)

My morning....

I thought when you had all of your kids on the same day, they were *supposed* to do things together and at the same time! It definitely did not work that way this morning...everyone had to be at school at a different time for different activities. After school was worse...way worse! A babysitter even needed to be hired, and Daddy had to take a carpool to make sure that everyone got to where they needed to be at the right time.

Our relaxing Christmas vacation is now a distant memory...

7/375

2011-01-09T22:02:00.003-06:00

This "Picture a Day" is working out swimmingly...not. It is now the 9th day of January. I sat down tonight and looked through my pictures from the last week to figure out what to post. I decided to go with these cute ones that I found from Friday night. After I uploaded the pictures, I realized that they were taken on the same day as the one that I used yesterday. So, here is another version of 7/365...

This was from the closing ceremony of the Pack Meeting. The Cubmaster was pretending that he couldn't find Drew. It was funny because Drew was trying hard to be found. Drew's expressions were so cute, IMO.

A Picture a Day...

2011-01-08T22:51:00.004-06:00

It is a great idea in theory. A few blogs that I follow did "A Picture a Day" in their blogs last year. I thought it was a great idea and I had a every intention of starting in on January 1, 2011.

Unfortuantely, I forgot until about January 3rd, and then I remembered, but, well, you know...

So, here is my official start...when we got home from Cub Scouts on Friday night, this is what we walked into....a "mean" game of Hedbanz between Charlie and Daddy.

7/365

The Best Thing About the Zoo in January...

2011-01-07T22:00:00.007-06:00

...is the animals!!!

No joke, it was really cool to see the animals...up close...without crowding 4 kids into a small spot to see.They were right there...coming to see us!!

I must admit that typically, my favorite part of going to the zoo is the ice cream. I know that is terrible, and please don't tell my kids, but as much as I try to play the role of "animal cheerleader" for the kids...it's just a facade. I'm just really looking forward to the Dove Bar that I reward myself with at the end of the trip.

Going in January is so different. First of all, the ice cream stands are closed. Which is honestly ok, because the animals are beautiful, and fun, and easy to see.

Instead of the ice cream, I have to say that my favorite part of this trip to the zoo was when the seal waved to us. And, there was no mistaken that he was waving to us because we were the only ones there!!The boys and their friends had a good time too.

Yeah, a good time playing "hat-ball", which is a lot like football.

And, climbing everything they could find.

It turned out to be a really nice way to spend a day of Christmas Break...who would have thought.

Nippy's Last Hurrah...

2011-01-06T20:59:00.006-06:00

Before Nippy left us, he did one more thing that, in my opinion, was one of his top tricks.

About a week before Christmas, Nippy left each of the boys an envelope with $20 and the name of another brother. They were each deputized as an "Elf"...actually a secret elf. They were to buy something with the $20 for the brother whose name was in their envelope.

The "secret" part turned out to be a little more challenging than I thought it would be. Nippy was smart enough to leave the envelopes in my room so that I could make sure that nobody peeked at a brother's name. Ben, Jack and Drew luckily came in individually and we were able to read the letter from Nippy and look in the envelope. They then put the name back in the envelope and put them away. Charlie on the other hand didn't really "get it".

I sat down with Charlie and we talked out Nippy's note and how it was a secret and he couldn't tell anyone. We quietly looked in the envelope and read the name...which was Jack. We talked again about how it was a secret and not to say anything to anyone about whose name he had. As we finished, Jack walked into the room, Charlie pointed at him and said "HIM!!".

OMG, seriously, he had the secret for like, a half a second.

Jack, who apparently, in the previous 5 minutes, had been rating the possiblities of which brother had him shouts..."I KNEW IT!!! I KNEW CHARLIE HAD ME!!! I knew I had Ben and so, I figured Ben couldn't have me....blah, blah, blah"

Seriously, could this have gone any worse?!?!

Luckily, my new found ability to LIE (really well!!!) kicked in. I immediately threw in a "Nooooo, Charlie, you don't understand, you don't get to PICK who you get to buy a gift for, you have to buy a present for the brother's whose name is in your envelope." And, then I quickly followed it up with "The envelope that....WE HAVEN'T OPENED YET!!"

Jack: "Really?????"

I think Jack "bought it". He did ask me a few more times over the next few days whether or not Charlie opened his envelope yet, which I obviously, always answered "NO!".

So, Spencer and I survived 5 extra shopping trips the week before Christmas (thanks Nippy). Oh, and it was FIVE because Jack couldn't find just the right present for Drew after going to Toys R Us...and the mall with Daddy so, I had to take him out for a 2nd trip the following night. Jack really racked his brain to find just the right gift for Drew. When Spencer suggested a Wii game, Jack said no because he 'really wanted to get something special for Drew that he wouldn't have to share'. How sweet is that.

All of the boys really put a lot of thought into their gifts. Charlie bought Jack a very cool sled. Ben really wanted to get Charlie some Webkinz so that he could helpl him adopt them on the computer. He found a good deal at Costco for 2 Webkinz, a Littlekinz and some clothes. He even had a little bit of extra cash to get Charlie some Gogo's. Drew got Ben a Sonic stuffed toy, inserts for the Wii remotes to decorate them like Mario and some Gogo's. And, Jack got Drew a book...I think it was the Guardians of Gahoul and a puzzle of The Diary of a Whimpy Kid. Jack got Drew the book because they had just finished reading it in his class and he really liked it and he thought Drew would like it too.The boys ended up exchanging their gifts on Christmas Eve. We thought of it about 10 minutes after they went to bed. Luckily, nobody had fallen asleep yet and they were all thrilled to come open presents...and give presents.

It was a crazy "event" to try to take pictures of, but I was at least able to capture the idea of what was going on.

I'm very proud of my little elves. I'm sure they will do excellent in future years when they are promoted to a more permanent position in a world of elves. :)

All that great hair....

2010-12-23T21:17:00.003-06:00

...wasted on a BOY!!

And, since he is a BOY, we got it all cut off.

Thankfully, the curls are still there.

Now, we just need a week at the beach to get it really blonde again.

More Nippy...

2010-12-22T17:34:00.004-06:00

So Nippy, about what you did to my room...
...I like it!!

I'm also pretty fond of what you did to Mommy's car!!

Christmas Picture 2010

2010-12-22T16:41:00.002-06:00

Hey Mom...

2010-12-21T21:37:00.006-06:00

"Hey Mom, why does Nippy have a tag???"

Me: "uh, uh, uh"

A lot of people have been asking me where the boys are with Santa.

Well, in our house, Santa is the coolest!!

And, Nippy is right there at #2

The boys have really been enjoying Nippy's visit.

He's been leaving treats and making messes.

We never know what we are going to wake up to when Nippy is around..

Sometimes we find that he has had a problem that needs fixing.

And other times, he is just making our ordinary life a little sillier.

...or tastier

or, messier...again.

(story time, Nippy style)

Life with Nippy in the house is never dull...not that we need an elf to make sure our life is never dull.

And for what it is worth, I did pretty good with the tag question.

"Of course Nippy has a tag...those are his pants! Don't you have a tag on your pants, and don't you quite often put them on inside out, with the tag sticking out?!?!"

My smart boys had nothing to say to that. :) We're all good here...

Flashback Friday...More Christmas Rejects

2010-12-10T22:27:00.007-06:00

2003

Great picture idea...I just should have checked to see if they liked bubbles...

....they DIDN'T!!!

Ummmm....Kleenex please.

And, Drew was a little obsessed wtih the hats.

It was a fun night...notice their hair is still wet from the tub photo shoot.

Cheerios on the carpet to bribe the boys to sit still.

Ben didn't make that too obvious.

Charlie thought the bow was a bad idea.

Drew was still having "hat issues" 3 years later.

Are we done yet??

My "brilliant idea"....Charlie wrapping all of his brothers up with Christmas lights.

Boys, look surprised.

Never mind.

Christmas Card Reject...

2010-12-09T21:58:00.004-06:00

Today we worked on getting the picture for our 2010 Christmas card done. Oh joy...

Here is a picture that we will *NOT* be using...

Makes My Monday...

2010-12-06T09:05:00.002-06:00

Aren't they cute!?!

(picture stolen from fb...I hope that is ok)?

This is my cousin, Mike and his fiancee, Heather. They are excitedly planning their wedding for July 16, 2011. We are all really looking forward to it. We have not had a family wedding for a long time and they are such a sweet, energetic, young couple. It is really going to be a special and fun day!

"Crazy Hair Charlie" is even going to be their ring bearer. I hope they don't change their mind...we will cut his hair before the wedding. ;-)

But, that is not officially what "Makes My Monday" for this week. You see, July 16, 2011 is the day that I turn 40 (Yikes!). A few months ago, Heather started periodically updating her Facebook status with the number of days until the big wedding. Yesterday, Michael got in on the action and sent me a nice reminder on Facebook.

So, what officially "Makes My Monday" this week is knowing that I have 222 days left until my 30's are history. Thanks Mike...I guess!! ;-)

He's Back...

2010-12-03T20:56:00.005-06:00

Much to the joy...and RELIEF of the little boys in our house, Nippy finally arrived tonight. He surprised us all by showing up with the pizza that we ordered. When we opened up the pizza box, there he was snacking on a little piece. Yikes! Jack said that he was so suprised to see Nippy in the pizza box, that he jumped right out of his seat.

We are very excited that Nippy will be spending a few weeks with us. Here is a link to some of stories about his prior visits. We can't wait to see what he is going to do this year!

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-12-02T21:21:00.006-06:00

A week late, but at least I'm getting to it...

"Standard Holiday Pictures"

A little fun with the camera...

I think I need a ladder for this to work.

Jack and Grandpa...

just a friendly game...yeah righ!!

Aidan & Connor are budding artists.

Liam, the Engineer

Not the greatest picture, but a good Thanksgiving-ey picture to complete the post

...and Ben actually has his eyes open. ;-)

The Story of a Budding Engineer...

2010-12-01T21:09:00.009-06:00

This is fun!!!

Oh no...

So sad...

Trying again...with a little help from Dad
not so bad... Not again...

My Thinker...

2010-11-30T13:18:00.007-06:00

Well, I started to gather pictures to write a post about Drew's goofy Christmas list. The post would have gone something like this....

Spencer had the boys sit down last week to work on writing a list of things that they wanted to as Santa to get them for Christmas. There is nothing too exciting on there, a few DS and Wii games, a few regular games, some sports memorabelia, a few stuffed animals/characters, even a book or two...regular 8 year old boy stuff. Except upon closer look at Drew's list, we noticed that he was very specific about some of the things that he wanted, things we have never seen before....

"Ummmm....Drew, have you ever actually seen any of these things that you put on your Christmas list?"

Drew: "Wey'llllll no"

"Well Drew, don't you want to put things on your Christmas list that you are sure actually exist? You know, so Santa doesn't get confused?"

Drew: "Wey'llllll.....maybe they exist....and, you know, maybe the elves could...."

....OMG!! #2 of the week....

those poor elves...

Anyway, that was what my post was going to be about. But, in the search for Christmas-sey Drew pictures, I found this old video that was taken Christmas Day 2004. Drew was 2 years, 6 months...and 27 days to be exact. ;-)

Isn't he amazing!!

I could smack myself every day for not video taping him more when he was this age...reading signs that we drove by; writing whatever words popped into his head on his Magnadoodle at church on Sundays (much to the shock of the people sitting behind us, I'm sure); playing on the computer keyboard; reading his books; hanging over his crib teaching his brothers how to spell words during the bedtime-talktime...he would make them repeat the letters...funniest thing ever!!

So, Drew, if the things on your Christmas list don't actually exist and those elves can't figure out how to make them, then I'm sorry. The world is really looking forward to you growing up and using that fabulous brain to invent all of the things that you realize are missing in the world.

We love you and I'm sure Santa and his elves will do their best.

Separation of Church and School

2010-11-29T11:56:00.004-06:00

Charlie has been working on rhyming at school. He's been rhyming for a while.... thank you LeapFrog Company, but since they have been working on it at school, he is really "into" it now. He is forever throwing words out there and asking for rhymes, or just listing off things that rhyme, or sometimes, his brothers get in on the action and things get really interesting...like the Bears vs. Eagles rhymes/poems/songs/chants/taunts that were flying around our house yesterday.

Anyway, last week, we were invited to see a play in which our neighbor's son was performing. The play was the "Birth and Resurrection of Jesus Christ" and it was at the local Mormon Church. I knew that a lot of work has gone into the play and they had been practicing for months. We had tickets to Friday night's play and it was 1 of 4 showings. It was a big deal and there were probably a few hundred people there. Our neighbor had managed to get seats in the first and second row, right in the center.

We arrived a few minutes early so, the kids were sitting in the first row, talking to their friends and we were sitting in the second row talking and answering an occasional question from the kids.

At one point, Charlie turns around, gets up on his knees and loudly starts the "rhyming game" with Spencer....

Charlie (in his very loud 4 year old voice)- "Hey Daddy, Daddy, DADDY...ummmmm....What rhymes with......BOILET?!?!"

Daddy (whispering)- "uhhhhmmmm..... charlie....shhhhh......"

Charlie (still loud and now very excited!) - "DADDY.... it's TOILET!!! TOILET rhymes with BOILET!!!

OMG....and that folks, is the last time the Mormons invite a bunch of Catholics to sit in the front row of their beautiful play.

Our little Catholic boy...gotta love him...

Weekend Window...Halloween Preview

2010-10-24T00:20:00.002-05:00

I don't have anything to say...

2010-10-19T21:37:00.005-05:00

...but, I was just looking at my pictures from the summer and thought I'd upload a few.

Forgive the randomness of them.

OCNJ

Surrey ride on the Boardwalk.

Some of us worked harder than others...

My Rock Stars at the

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Cleveland, Ohio

Drew trying out his birthday present

Jack

Ben

Drew and Charlie being "boys" with a bunch of ants.

Guess who is FOUR!!

First day of 3rd Grade

Swim Team Summer 2010

Meet the newest member...

2010-10-18T11:42:00.005-05:00

...of our school's E*Action Club.

Oddly enough, the "E" stands for "Environmental". Jack joined the "Environmental Action Club". I guess he didn't get the family memo that we are Republicans!! ;-) As someone on Facebook was nice enough to point out to me...Republicans care about the earth too. We just don't make movies about it. Whew!! :-)

Anyway, one Friday a few weeks ago, Ben and Drew brought home a letter from school about an "exciting opportunity" to join the E*Action club...now that they are big, bad THIRD graders. Ben immediately told me he wasn't interested. Drew himmed and hawed about it for a little while. He looked like he was making a huge lifetime decision. Since the meetings are scheduled for Monday mornings....an hour before school starts, I definitely wasn't pushing. But, if it was something that he was interested in and wanted to join, I was all for it. He finally told me what he was thinking.

Drew: "Wey'llllll, (Drew starts out explaining all of his deep thoughts with a drawn out "well") I was thinking, this is not something that I really *want* to do, but I don't want to be the only brother *not* doing it."

Me: "That's fine Drew, Ben has already decided that he doesn't want to do it".

Drew: "ok, cool, me neither. bye."

Drew throwing rocks into the pond.
I just thought it was a good picture to use because it looks like he hates the environment. ;-)

So, the bad news was that I was really hoping that we were raising our boys to be strong, independent young men that didn't rely on their brothers or friends to make decisions about what they wanted to do. But, then again, the good news was nobody wanted me to have to take them to school an hour early every other Monday morning. Yay me...

Until the following school day, when Jack brought home the letter about joining the E*Action Club. He was sooooo excited!! He was even happy to sit down and write about why he wanted to be in the E*Action club...and what new ideas he could bring to the club. He wrote a nice little blurb about wanting to pick up trash around the "school yard" and how he was really curious about where the school's recycling went after it went away on the truck. He did so good, he was accepted into the club.

So, the good news is that Jack is part of a club that he is very excited about. More good news is that my worrying about Drew being afraid to be an independent was not necessary. Last week, all of the boys brought home notes to join a "Books and Breakfast Club". Drew was really, REALLY excited about it and had me sign the paper before he even asked if his brothers were joining (which they aren't). Yay Drew!!

Which leaves us to the only bad news...Now I have to get up an hour early on school mornings for 2 different clubs. I guess that I can handle that.

Look at those cute, little, independent, environmentally conscious, Republicans.

We've been so busy...

2010-10-17T21:31:00.005-05:00

...we have to make leaf piles in the middle of the night.

Well, not really. We've been busy, but not *that* busy. What happened is that someone promised the littlest member of our family a leaf pile last Monday (Columbus Day).

(This guy)

The littlest member of our family has a great memory...when it comes to important things like leaf piles, NOT when it comes to boring things like putting shoes away. So, after being gone all afternoon on Monday and then going out to dinner, Daddy was reminded of his promise.

And, being the cool daddy that he is....

A good time was had by all. :)

Weekend Window...

2010-10-10T21:48:00.003-05:00

I've changed my mind....I like fall!!

It was an amazing weekend weather-wise considering it is the pretty much the middle of October. Saturday morning, "we" ran the race at our church festival. In addition to the 5k that they do every year, this year they added some smaller races for the kids.

My running "dudes"

Ben, Jack and Drew ran in the 8 and 9 year old, 600 yards race. They all did great...they paced themselves and ran the entire time. Ben even "medal-ed"...he got 3rd place. Jack came in right behind him in 4th. Drew came in 1st for "best style"...at least if you ask me. :-)

Charlie ran the 200 yard race for 3 and 4 year olds. He had his own style....

Then we did hit the carnival for a bit...

Unfortunately, I did not have my camera for Cathy's 40th Birthday Celebration at Dave and Busters, our visit with Rick and Elaine and Ben's 2 soccer games.

Have a good week!!

Weekend Window...

2010-09-25T19:50:00.004-05:00

I always thought I was patient, but I would never attempt this...

I really dislike Monopoly.

People get mean when they play Monopoly.

Thankfully, the boys are not "mature" enough to be "mean" when they play Monopoly. But, they do wear on your patience....dice everywhere, bent cards, money everywhere, singing, dancing, chanting...and whining. Actually, the whining is just Spencer.

Yes, I think I'll just stare at my computer and pretend to blog a little bit longer....

Flashback Friday...Mascot Day

2010-09-24T21:33:00.003-05:00

After posting Charlie in his owl shirt the other day, I couldn't let this Friday go by without including pictures from when Ben, Jack & Drew were in preschool and dressed up as their "Mascots". Thanks for the reminder Jen!!

Looking back, I'm kind of embarassed that I sent them to school like this. I was a newbie mom and had been told that a lot of families get really into this and all of the notes sent home made it seem like a big deal. I remember the note came home just before Spring Break and recommended working on a costume with your child over Spring Break for this extra special "Spirit Day" at school.

I couldn't come up with a "great idea" so, I just bought pillow cases and a bunch of paint. I cut head and arm holes in the pillow cases and then "let them at it" with the paint. I can't believe my kitchen survived the mess. Three 3 year olds full of paint...YUCK!

I wonder if the boys even remember doing this. After re-living the memory in my own mind and looking at these pictures....I'm kind of hoping that for their own sake, they don't remember a thing. ;-)

BTW, just for the record (in case you couldn't tell), Drew was an Ant, Jack was a Bear and Ben was a Snail.

I'm all over this preschool stuff...

2010-09-22T23:18:00.003-05:00

This is how Charlie looked when I picked him up from preschool today. How cute is that!?!?!

He cracked me up with the owl shirt, the owl hat and the noodle necklace...it's like he's "Mr. Preschool"!!

Today was "Dress like your mascot day" at preschool. (As a side note, I'm liking this "mascot day" thing a lot better now that I don't have to dress a bear, an ant AND a snail...that was HARD and at the time, I wasn't very good at it). So anyway, Charlie and I made this shirt last year. Actually, Charlie and I made the shirt...like, bought the materials, looked for a picture of an owl to copy, drew an owl on the felt, cut it all out, made some eyes, cut them out, and then glued it all on the shirt... and then Charlie and Daddy finished it off by gluing on a few feathers when I had to leave to teach RE. It turned out very cute and when it was done, I was feeling pretty good about my creativity. The "funny" part of that story is that the next day, whenever anyone commented on his shirt, Charlie proudly told them "My **DADDY** made this shirt for me!!!".

Nice.

Well, until today, Charlie hadn't seen the shirt for a year...not too many occasions have come up where we needed a homemade owl shirt, I guess. And, well, too bad for "Daddy" Charlie didn't remember the part of the story where Daddy did all of the work. So, I was able to re-write history (the way it should have been written to begin with) and I take some of my credit back. :-)

Jamie Lee Curtis is Cool!!!

2010-09-21T10:57:00.005-05:00

Last week, Jamie Lee Curtis came to our elementary school. How cool is that?!?! Of course, it was for the kids...not the parents. And, since our school is sort of "overcrowded"... 850 Kindy-5th graders with a classroom trailer in front of the school, it *really* wasn't for the parents...because we wouldn't all fit in the gym. :-( So, all of the *coolness* of meeting Jamie Lee Curtis was lost on my 8 year olds, who had no idea who she was.

Thankfully, Ms. Curtis (as the kids called her) give us moms a "booby prize". To go along with her book, My Mommy Hung the Moon, all of the kids came out of school at the end of the day wearing a sticker. The sticker said "My mommy's name is _______________" and, "My mommy is good at _______________________________". Yay Me...I love Jamie Lee Curtis. ;-)

"My mommy's name is Kelly.
My mommy is good at taking care of me!"

Awww....isn't he the sweetest boy ever!!

"My mommy is Kelly.
My mommy is good at blogging and driving!"
Yippee...this is fun. Ben, make sure to tell Daddy about the driving part!!

"My mommy is Kelly.
My mommy is good at giving advice!"
Oh yeah...everyone should listen to ME!!! I hope Jack still feels that way when he is 13, and 17....and 35!!

That is why Jamie Lee Curtis is my new favorite actress!! :-)

P.S. And, if you notice something a little bit different about Jamie Lee Curtis, the next time you see her, it is because one of *my* Cub Scouts gave her the "cheese touch". Too funny!!

Here comes trouble...

2010-09-18T14:17:00.005-05:00

Can't you tell?!?!

We went to the local high school football game last night. As we were walking in, the Greeter Lady at the gate to the stadium said (directly to US!) "Welcome to the Home of the Mustangs...please control YOUR children!!"

What's with that?!?! I bet that mean lady was a mom of all sissy girls. Grrr.....Boys can be sweet and well behaved too. Blah!

Funny thing happened while I haven't been blogging....

2010-09-15T21:06:00.007-05:00

...the kids all got older. Specifically, Ben, Jack & Drew turned 8 on May 28th.

Of course we had to have a birthday party. Remember the party that we had when they turned 7? Well, it doesn't matter if *you* remember because *they* remembered. "Hey Mom, this year, can we have a real Wipeout Party??", "Hey Mom, how about a Super Mario Bros. Party??" (and yes, they actually pronounce it "Broz"...I've corrected them many times, but they still say "Broz". Now, they've got me saying "Broz" too. Oh well, you win some, you lose some) As hard as I tried, I could not figure out a way to make the "Big Balls" and all of the ideas that they boys had for a Mario party were kind of "out there". So, in the end, we decided to take advantage of the great summer weather and our neighborhood pool.

So, the boys and 22 of their "nearest and dearest" friends came to our neighborhood pool on a beautiful Friday night and we called it a party!

There was lots of swimming....and sliding....
and a very little bit of "games".
There was pizza and cake....lots of pizza!

Eight year old swimming boys eat A LOT of pizza!!!

There was also this cool undershirt game. The night before the party, I wrote a whole bunch of silly sayings on undershirts. Then I folded the shirts up so nobody could see what they said and then Spencer dunked them in a bucket of water and put them in the freezer overnight. I re-dunked them and re-froze them again in the morning so they would be good and frozen. Then, the "contest" was for each kid to take a frozen shirt and try to un-freeze it. The first kid to put the very cold t-shirt on would win the game.

Good and frozen....

The "winner"...wait, does your shirt say that you "want to be a ballerina when you grow up"??!!

Yup, I did my best to get in the mind of an 8 year old to think of things that they would think would be funny and/or embarassing. We had...

...Girl Rule, Boys Drool

...Is this Party almost over, I miss my MOM!

...I've got the Cheese-Touch

...I love my princess underwear

...oops, I just tooted

And, the winner got a Silly Band. Actually, any kid that was willing to put their shirt on got to pick out a Silly Band.

Most of the boys were very willing to wear their silly shirt. There was also a lot of shirt trading going on and I'm sure a lot of confused moms at laundry time. It worked out to be a perfect game...easy and the boys sure got a lot of laughs.

Happy Birthday Ben, Jack & Drew...a bit late. :)

I Love Separate Classes...

2010-09-14T22:18:00.005-05:00

Separating twins/triplets in school is always a huge debate in the "multiples community". We decided to separate the boys when they went to 3 year old preschool and never looked back.

First Day of 3rd grade

August 2010

Giving them their own class and teacher just seemed like the right thing to do for us and it has worked out very well. Even the "challenges" of having different classes haven't been bad for us. The separate and different homework doesn't bother me. The majorly different spelling lists from last year made me laugh, but didn't really bother me. The different "specials" schedule doesn't bother me...heck, I don't even know what their "specials" schedule is...they wear gym shoes every day, just to be safe. Dealing with different teachers doesn't bother me.

For 364 days and 22 hours a year, I love that they have their own class.

Today, was 1 hour and 40 minutes of it being not such a great thing....

Tonight was "curriculum night". There are 2 sessions of curriculum night at our school... I have 3 classes to hit. Which means that I either miss one of the classes entirely, or I bounce from class to class...and miss bits of each of them. What made this "curriculum night" even *better* was the fact that the preschool...our district's preschool...as in the same DISTRICT as our elementary school decided to have their "curriculum night" on the exact same night. Hmmmm... 4 places at the same time.

Lovely.

Charlie...first day of 4 year old preschool.

August 2010 And, Spencer was in New York today. And, I had to attend another curriculum night meeting before real "curriculum night" because I have one extra smart kid. AND...Ben had soccer practice.

So, I just did the best I could...

Picked up Mickey D's For dinner.

Dropped Ben off at soccer.

Brought Jack, Drew and Charlie back home for the "best sitter ever!"

Skipped Curriculum night at the Preschool...sorry Charlie.

I'm sure he'll be just fine. ;-)

Then, I just went to curriculum night and took in as much as I could. Spencer came in from NY in the middle of it so, he was able to cover one of the classes. So, it all worked out really, really well. Except for afterwards when I asked him about what he learned about Ben's class, he said "nothing, pretty much regular 3rd grade stuff...he does spelling, math, reading...". LOL, as a side note, that is why MOMS go to Curriculum Night!! ;-)

We survived. Tomorrow, I'll go back to being very happy that they are in different classes, but for now, I'm tired. Good night. :)

Just don't tell me I look like "Kate"...

2010-09-13T21:18:00.003-05:00

...'cause I hate Kate.

Now that I've gotten that off my chest, do you like my new haircut??

Spencer is in NY for work so, I had to enlist my "backup" photographers to show off my new "do".

If you notice, I purposely posed with Drew since I missed a good picture of him this weekend...not that a picture of him, in his pajamas, 15 minutes after "lights out", by 2nd rate photographers constitues good pictures. But, Drew's always cute and, hey, at least he made the blog.

Drew also wanted to "take a picture". So, I posed with Ben, but he was trying to do "bunny ears on me. So, I got even...I thought.

Window into our weekend... 09/11/10 and 09/12/10

2010-09-12T22:57:00.003-05:00

September 11th...Mom told us to dress "patriotic".

Hmmmm.....

09/12/10...

I think this is going to be a view into our "window" every weekend for awhile.

This is so cool, Mom wants to take my picture while I'm sitting on the table instead of yelling at me. Sure, I'll smile.
I swear that Drew was around this weekend. I just missed him with the camera. I'll make sure to catch him extra this week.

Have a good week!!

I'm Stylin' Now!!!

2010-09-12T22:44:00.004-05:00

Hey...don't you like my fancy-shmancy new header!?!?!? Well, another Triplet ++ Mom made it for me...for FREE!! This talented mama is starting a new business and is "practicing" by making free blog headers for other blogs. So, click on her button to get to her blog, admire her adorable kids, check out her headers and send her an email to request one for your blog.

Thanks Deb!!!!

Flashback Friday...Are you ready for some football??

2010-09-10T10:34:00.006-05:00

First Penn State Nittany Lions Shirts from Grandmom Adelaide

(Jack, Ben, Drew)

August 2002

More Penn State Shirts from Grandmom

Christmas 2007

Superbowl Sunday 2005
Strangely enough, I can't find any pictures of the boys wearing their Chicago Bears shirts. Weird! But, for the record, at least 1/2 of the people in this house are Bears Fans!!!

All Good Stuff Here!!

2010-09-09T20:51:00.008-05:00

After months going by of not checking, I worked up enough courage to take a peek at the "site tracker" on my blog. Site tracker is a widget, or whatever you call it, that is on the side bar of my blog. It tracks information about visits to my blog. Really it doesn't tell me very much...how many people have reached my blog, how they found my it, how much time they spent here. Pretty basic stuff. I like it for the feature that tells me how many "hits" I get. A couple of years ago, when I was really really good about blogging, I would usually get about 50-60 hits a day...which was a nice boost to my ego.

So, I have been avoiding clicking on my site tracker because it makes me sad to think about how I have let down all of my loyal readers. Since I have managed to throw together 2 new posts, with pictures, over the last 2 days (Woohoo!!), I thought that it was time to see how sad my numbers actually were.

Imagine my surprise when I clicked on the box and discovered that I already had 52 hits today!!! I was soooo excited that my peeps were still here and paitently waiting for another exciting edition of "Outnumbered Mommy". WooHoo, I was feeling soooo loved and "cool"!! I know, I'm a complete dork.

Well, it turns out that it is not a joke and I really am a complete dork. After a bit of digging, I discovered that most of my hits came from a Google Search for "outnumbered mommy". But, they weren't really looking for me, they were looking for some goof-ball blogger that steals material from other Mom Blogs and goes by the name "Mom Outnumbered". Mom Outnumbered got busted and the real blogging moms are mad, mad, mad. They are now tracking her down and letting her have it...kinda ugly. Fortunately, although some got misdirected to my blog, I guess it was obvious that my material was definitely not stolen material. Should I be insulted???

Now, I guess that I'll have to wait until tomorrow to see if I'll be able to count my remaining peeps on one hand or two. ;-(

Meanwhile, for your reading pleasure, while doing my research about that CRAZY Mom Outnumbered, I found a listing of "Google Searches" that have brought other people to *my* site. It is crazy...I wonder if any of these people stuck around. How did *you* find me???

Here goes...

"wearing a swimskirt dumb"...I definitely never said that. I love, love, love the "mom skirt" on a swimsuit.

"strange child's gift"...I wonder which of my children is the "strange" one.

"my baby just ate moonsand"...bummer for you, I hope my post was helpful?

"ate little boys"...yikes, try the Moonsand.

"arranged marriage"...nope, I picked Spencer out all by myself.

"raising neat kids"...If this is what brought you to my blog, sorry to disappoint, but you are soooo in the wrong place. Much to my dismay, my kids are slobs. :-(

"zero birthday"...That one is for you, Jen.

"nice and fluffy escape"...I have FOUR BOYS! There is no "nice and fluffy" here. Weird that you got sent here.

And, my favorite "Triplet Mom's Rock"...I'm honored that Google sent you to my blog. :-)

This blog has the "Charlie Seal of Approval"!!

Moving on to baseball...

2010-09-08T21:20:00.006-05:00

Ben and Jack played another year with the same group of kids that they played with last year.

This is their "mean" team picture. They weren't really mean. ;-)

Jack still loves, Loves, LOVES baseball. He kept track of his batting average in his head and could always give all of the details of the game. He was a consistent hitter and a natural at 2nd base. He had a great year.

Ben also had a great year. He enjoyed playing a lot of different positions. He also got a lot stronger as the season went on. If he made good contact with his bat to the ball....LOOK OUT!

This was the first year that it was "kid pitch". Ben really like pitching and got quite a few opportunities to show his stuff. It was a lot of fun watching Ben pitch. He was able to get a lot of batters out and his "style" was...ummmm...interesting. ;-)

Drew and Charlie were #1 fans!!
In addition to a great baseball season, it was also a very fun baseball season!! The highlight of the "fun" part of the season was the First Annual Mom's vs. Kids baseball game.

Everyone took the game very seriously.

Extra coaches were even called in...

Both teams fought very hard and the game ended up with a tie. It was a real "tie" too. I was shocked, I really thought the moms were going to kick some 8 year old bootie, but the kids played really well. It was actually a lot harder than it looks when we are yelling instructions to our kids from the stands.

Just wait until next year....

Soccer

2010-09-07T21:20:00.010-05:00

I was going through my pictures tonight. It makes me sad that I have so many really good pictures, but haven't taken the time to throw them into my blog. So, I am going to make an real attempt over the next couple of weeks to get these pictures onto this blog. Because the pictures are covering about the last 6 months, some of the groupings might be kind of weird, but if it gets the pics on my blog, I'm happy.

We'll call this post "soccer". Over the last 6 months, the boys have all played soccer. The big boys played on a soccer team and Charlie took a few classes at the Park District. Some of the boys liked it more than others, some were more focused than others, some were more "gifted" than others, but all of them were very photogenic playing soccer. ;-)

We'll start with Charlie...

Charlie seemed very comfortable in his soccer class...

He learned a lot.

And, has shown a lot of improvement since he stopped crying everytime another kid kicked "his ball".

Ben, Jack and Drew played for the "sometimes green, sometimes yellow" team in our local rec league last spring.
They each learned quite a bit about soccer.

Drew is not particularly competitive (impossible, I know), but he found his own ways to focus on the game. "Mom, when I find myself getting distracted and thinking about Wipeout, I just start knocking myself in the head until I start thinking about soccer again."

Nice.

Jack happened to get a turn at goalie on the day that I brought my camera.

Isn't he a cute goalie?!?!

Ok, one of you needs to KICK THE BALL!!!

Ben really likes soccer a lot and decided that he would like to play on a more competitive, year-round team that started this fall. We were just going to sign him up for the rec. league again, but he convinced us that he wanted to try-out for this new team. He was very nervous and a little intimidated because the kids were a lot better than what he was used to, but, he showed the coaches that he had some descent soccer skills, a lot of potential and is an excellent listener and learner. He made the team, got fitted with a cool new uniform, got an awesome soccer bag and has already competed in a couple of tournaments. He likes to play defense and seems to be doing very well with it. Here is his "new" team. Pretty intimidating, eh? When he gets his soccer scholarship, we can all say that we knew him when...(click here for a funny Ben soccer story)

Flashback Friday..."Lounging Drew"

2010-08-06T21:52:00.008-05:00

Everyone that knows Drew, loved the picture of Drew doing his homework in his last post.

It is such a "Drew pose". We always laugh because he can make himself comfortable anywhere.
Here are a couple of "flashback" pictures to prove my point...

"Yup, I was just born. I guess I'll just hang out here for a while"

Bili lights...just like the beach

"oops, I tipped...no problem"

"Hi Mom! Ooops, I'm supposed to be napping."
"I love a good 4th of July concert"

Homeschooling...Beach Style

2010-08-04T14:23:00.005-05:00

(Just for the record....we are no longer on vacation. I am just still catching up my blog.)

The boys all placed into "Accelerated Math" for next year. That means they are going to be "skipping" 3rd grade math and going right into 4th grade math.

At the end of the school year, the school sent home 3 pages of math for the kids going into accelerated math to work on over the summer. I paniced a little thinking that there must be more to 3rd grade math than 3 pages. So, being the "mean mom" that I am, I ordered three, 3rd grade math books...and, brought them on vacation.

Mr. Math...Jack

Ben is working hard.
Doesn't he look smart (and CUTE!!) in his new glasses?!?!?

Math...Drew style...

Charlie has also been doing "schoolwork". He's been working hard on his letters. Charlie is actually the first of the kids that I had to teach how to write. Drew taught the rest of them. ;-)

BTW, Spencer said he wrote this himself. I don't know if I entirely believe him. When he writes on paper, it never looks this good.

Favorite Night of the Year...

2010-08-01T23:09:00.011-05:00

In making conversation with the boys, I'm always asking them about their favorite part of things. Like their favorite ride on the boardwalk, or favorite part of a movie, etc. It always makes an interesting conversation and I am often surprised by what they say. Like, in the middle of our trip, when I asked Charlie what his favorite part of the vacation was so far, and he told me "swimming at the pool in the Super 8". I was surprised by that answer... in not such a good way. It was funny, but really, the Super 8...in PawPaw, Michigan?!?!?! We weren't even on vacation yet. It was the weekend before we went on vacation when we were up visiting cousins. We did have a really fun weekend that weekend, but the Super 8 was definitely not the best part of it!!

Swimming with the cousins in the BEAUTIFUL(?) pool

at the Super 8!!

Charlie's goof-ball answer made me start to think about *my* favorite part of our annual vacation. I have to say, hands down, that other than the people that we visit, my favorite part of our vacation is the food that we eat.

I guess some people might think that my answer is as goofy as Charlie's, but who cares. Everything down there tastes so good. I love the beach, and the rides, and the little adventures that we take, but everyday, I find myself thinking and dreaming about what we are going to eat for lunch or dinner as soon as I wake up in the morning. The seafood is amazing....clams, mussels, crab....YUM! I also love the cheesesteaks and the buffalo chicken cheesesteak from Blitzes is soooo good (until my lips get sunburned...then it's just painful). And, every good vacation night ends with an ice cream cone from Kohr's Bros. The crazy "boardwalk pizza" is even growing on this Chicago Girl.

So, my favorite night of the year has to be the night of Crab Fest. Every year it is getting bigger and better. This year had something special for everyone!!!

The kids had their own section of the backyard....

...with really yummy food...

...and even provided FIVE swimming pools!!
Can you believe that?!?! The boys' "Other Uncle Craig" ROCKS!!

As if all that isn't enough, there was also a special trip for ice cream with Aunt Colette!!

Then, for the "grown ups"... we all got fun hats to start with...
And, then there was the clams, and the crab...
as much as you could eat...
It was AMAZING!!!

Then, after completely stuffing ourselves, the poker chips came out.
Could it get any better?!?!?!