Lake living

One of the benefits of living on a lake AND having a great Daddy is a nice long wagon ride with no one to get in your way...

The kids had a blast and for anyone who is worried about the ice, it is VERY thick. We watched a minivan drive by on it the other day. I am beyond a worrier and was fine with them being out there, well maybe not as far out as they were in the last picture, but I was okay with the rest of it.

On another note, I am going to try to post a picture every day during the month of February. We will see if I can keep it up. I think I will be able to get the picture taken but uploading and posting it will be a whole other story. I was also thinking of trying to add in a new accomplishment or something cute they have said or done too. Not so much for the people who read here but for me :). There are a million things that happen in the day that I always hope to remember but know I will forget a month from now. I think I better end this post before I make any more creative commitments that I won't be able to keep. Stay tuned for our first pic of the month tomorrow!

Boys, boys, boys

Apparently clothing is not necessary when you are a two year old boy.
Neither are diapers.

If I am not involved in the constant entertainment of my toddlers there is bound to be clothes and diapers flying. This would not be so bad if a)the flying diaper was dry b)the diaper flinger decided to go in the potty once the diaper has been launched c)the little streaker would nap first and then take off his clothes rather than the other way around which results in NO nap for anyone.

I am learning quickly that just because he leaves behind a dry diaper that does not mean that you have avoided disaster it just means that you have to start searching for what should never have made it out of the diaper in the first place. Yuck, I am having flashbacks of all of my cleaning episodes as I type.

Is this what little boys do or just mine? If so how long is it going to last AND has anyone found a good way to keep everything from flying at least during nap time?

Good thing he is so cute.

The P's

I mentioned in a recent post that I would have to explain the P words around our house so here is goes...

Ever since Parker and McKenna started talking they have had their own series of names for each other.
First is was Parper and Parper (no one's name was McKenna)
Next it was Parker and Parker (still no McKenna). This phase went on for a long time, so long that Mark and I were wondering if they would be the first set of multiples to head to kindergarten insisting that they had the same name.
We have now graduated to Parker and Penna. So at least the girl has her own name plus every once in a while we get lucky and Parker will squeeze in an M, calling her MaPenna. We are on our way, identity crisis in kindergarten avoided.
So lately we have been working on clapping their hands while I say the letters of their names. McKenna is catching on quickly, clapping with each letter and can often be seen walking around the house practicing. Parker, on the other hand, when left unassisted, claps his hands like a wild man saying "P-A-R-P-A-R" and any other letters that he decides to throw in and of course cheers for himself immediately. All of McKenna's practicing is paying off though because she can now do it on her own. She comes up to me very proudly and claps while she says "M-C-K-E-N-N-P" and there is that P again. It is always somewhere. No matter how many times I do it with her she puts the P in every single time.

I had to blog about the P phenomenon because it is one of those little things that I hope to always remember, especially when they are big and grown and not so inseparable anymore.

Polar Plunge

My brother Kyle and his fiance are doing the Polar Plunge to benefit the Special Olympics (think freezing water + January weather in your bathing suit+ a bunch of other crazy people willing to do the same for a great cause). We are in love with Special Olympics in our house, Ashlyn participates in every program she possibly can. She plays soccer, just started swimming, is anxiously awaiting track and field and counting the days until she is old enough to play basketball. Special Olympics is an amazing organization that gives so many kids and adults the chance to participate in programs that they may otherwise never be a part of. Please think of donating if you can. Click here to visit his donation page.

Thanks so much for doing this Kyle and Aubrey, we love you!!!

Arts and Crafts

I feel like I never have time to do all of the crafty little projects I imagined I would be doing with 2 year-olds so yesterday I was determined to fit in something that resembled a project. I had big visions of a handprint project until the baby woke up early from nap. So, trying to salvage some sort of craft while entertaining a fussy baby, I threw some crayons their way and let them at it a stack of paper plates. I did manage to trace their hands and write their names and dates on the plates so we had something to show for our work.

They sat at their little table and McKenna colored so softly you could barely see the marks on her plate. Parker scribbled like crazy and then broke each and every crayon. I tried everything to get him to stop, taking the crayons away, giving him one at a time, only letting him use the ones he broke but ultimately he wasn't satisfied until every crayon in sight was in at least two pieces. I finally asked him why we was breaking the crayons and he said "one for Parker one for Penna." My sweet boy. (Penna= McKenna, everything has a "P" in it with these two, another post for another day)

So after dinner, feeling overconfident because we managed to do one semi-craft today I decided to break out the pudding for some finger painting. Ashlyn managed doling out the pudding and the kids had a blast. They actually made much less of a mess than I thought they would. There is no food-flinging when pudding is involved. Every glop that is not on paper goes directly in the mouth. I think Ashlyn was getting nervous as the pudding supply diminished because they were very clear in their demands for "more, more, more!"

I won't be winning an award anytime soon for being the worlds most creative Mommy but I did manage to get almost everyone involved in the same activity... no one whined, no one asked to head back to their computer and Sawyer just sat happily on my hip waiting to get big like everyone else.

Ashlyn spooning out the goods

McKenna hard at work

My favorite, such a look of concentration for someone who has been obviously eating his supplies

Memoir of a Teenager

Ashlyn had to create a memoir for her Language Arts class at school. Her assignment was to select a memorable event in her life and I have to say I was a bit worried when she chose the birth of the triplets and losing Hadley. Picking this topic meant that we were going to be doing a lot of talking about what happened during my pregnancy and after and I wasn't sure if I was up for that.

Ultimately, it ended up being a great experience for us both. It gave Ashlyn a chance to ask me questions about things that are not always easy to talk about and it gave me a chance to share with her all of my memories, the good and the bad. Her memoir turned out beautifully and we decided to work together on summarizing it and turning it into a slide show. She did an amazing job.

I love you Ashlyn and am so proud of you!!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

7 months already

My amazing little rainbow baby is 7 months old today.

Now if I could only find a way to slow down time so that I can make this precious time of having a baby in the house last a little longer. Except for on those days when no one will nap and I'm lucky to even brush my teeth... time could go a little faster on those days :)
Love you little man!

Thinking of Ari

One year ago today a woman who has given me an amazing amount of support and grown to be a very close friend, found out she had lost her little boy. If you have a minute (and some kleenex) read Ari's story, hug your kids and honor his memory today.

Wordless Wednesday

Back to just Mommy

Today is my first day back with the kids on my own after having Mark home for two weeks. I am always amazed that it is still wild around here even with two of us managing the crazies but I did get spoiled by the little things like nursing the baby without toddlers climbing on my head and running errands at nap time, oh and having someone over the age of two to talk to during the day, that was nice too.

So this morning I woke up feeling great, full of patience and ready to get back to our old schedule that I was completely tired of before the Christmas break. My kids are loving each other today since they had time apart more often the last few weeks and when things start going down hill I just break out another new toy. So I am feeling totally on top of things right now which is good because I am taking everyone to the doctors ON MY OWN after nap time. I will take any good thoughts, prayers, luck that you can send my way. Last time we went McKenna was so petrified she kept her head in the cabinet the whole time and Parker turned the lights off in the place.

My new favorite picture of my littlest man (cousin Nina is the cutie in the background)