Ahoy There

This weekend we were finally able to get together with Dominic's brother and his family to exchange Christmas gifts. Here are a few pictures of one of the gifts that they gave to the kids--a pirate ship.

All three of them can play in it together with plenty of room.

Brooke steering the ship.

Nathan steering it. His eyes are closed but this is the best picture I got of him. He wouldn't stop moving long enough to take a good picture.

Brooke trying to shoot the cannon.

Nathan took the cannon off of the ship to figure it out. He was so interested in it.

Lenny looking for land.

Lenny had so much fun. There is a map on the ship too and Lenny would say that he needed to check his map. And he would go look at it and give us three destinations just like they do on Dora. He was having a blast. This ship came complete with a telescope, cannon that fires, and music that is motion activated. How cool! Thank you Uncle Robbie, Aunt Tracey, Anthony and Catherine for the very cool pirate ship that you gave the kids. We all love it.

We've had a very busy week, lots of play groups and parties. It's been a lot of fun but it hasn't left me much time to update the blog.

Here are some pictures from the last week.

For some reason, all of our kids think that they are acrobats. Brooke and Nathan both try to stand up on their rocking horse.

Lenny enjoying some popcorn while watching a movie.

Nathan has really figured out this remote control thing.

The next few pictures were taken at a playground inside the mall. Lenny's playgroup was meeting there that day. All of my kids had a great time. Nathan is such a shy little boy though. It's so cute to see him. He stayed close to me for a while and then he finally started walking around but very cautiously. If it had been only my kids there, he would have been climbing all over everything.

Brooke on the other hand was visiting with every single person there. There is only one entrance to the playground and I was next to the door so I knew that she couldn't get out without me seeing her. I would look for her and she would be sitting with a group of women that I didn't even know. She was just socializing with them. It was so cute.

Lenny was having fun with his friends and running around all over. He always makes sure that he says something to Brooke and Nathan. He is very proud of them.



For this picture, it was one of the times when Lenny came to check on his babies. He came over and said, "Nathan! Is that Nathan?" And then laughed hysterically and ran off. He was acting very silly and loud too. It was funny, I'm sure everyone heard it.

From the Mouth of a Three Year Old

The other day Lenny was watching a movie. He was on the couch all covered with his blanket and looked very cozy. It was time to push the play button. He called in to me to ask if I would push play. I told him that I would. He said, "Thank you, mommy. I appreciate that."

We Love Snow

I am such a kid when it comes to snow. I love it! I was so excited to see that we finally were getting snow today. As soon as it started sticking to the ground, I knew that I had to get Lenny out in it. I bundled him up and sent him out. He had so much fun. Brooke and Nathan were taking a nap so I was able to sneak out a few times and play with Lenny and Daisy.

Plowing snow with his dump truck. He was also using his digger.

As soon as the babies woke up from their morning nap, I bundled them up and we headed outside to play. They didn't know what to think of the snow falling on them. They didn't smile too much or get overly excited because they had just woken up from their naps. I guess I did wake them up a little early too but I knew that the snow would eventually turn to rain and I didn't want to miss getting them all outside to play.

We're ready to go, Mommy.

Needless to say, I had a great time too! Lenny must have been outside for several hours and the babies and I were outside for 45 minutes. I'm so lucky to be able to be home with my kids all the time. I don't miss anything. Thanks Dominic for bringing home the bacon so that I can stay home with the kids. It's wonderful!

Life of a One Year Old

I've mentioned here before that Nathan is a crazy kid. Well now I have even more proof. This boy never ceases to amaze me. After we came in from playing outside, I called Dominic to talk to him. I looked over at Nathan (pants still wet from the snow) and he was standing on top of the end table. That silly boy. He uses the little people buses as a stool. He does these things and then looks at you with a cute little smile like, "What? Am I not supposed to do this?"

Bath Time is Fun Too

It's loads of fun when it's time for everyone to get a bath. It's probably more comical watching me try to keep the kids from standing up in the tub. I finally got rid of both of the bath seats so there is nothing to keep them sitting down anymore. I know I must be crazy for doing that but I didn't like keeping them in the bath seats. I never used one for Lenny because they are so restricting.

Lenny has become a nice helper for me at bath time. I get the tub ready and then get Brooke and Nathan undressed. I then carry Brooke to the bathroom and Lenny holds Nathan's hand and walks him to the bathroom. Otherwise, Nathan would be anywhere but the bathroom. It's very cute to see it. I'll get a picture soon and post it.

So tonight, while Dominic cleaned the kitchen, the babies got their bath. I feel like I'm constantly trying to get a baby to sit down the entire time. First one will stand up, then the next. And of course, they also crawl around in the tub too. I'm a nervous wreck before the bath is over.

Lenny was so ready to take a bath tonight that he got undressed before I even got the babies out of the tub and changed the water. So he was running around in his birthday suit. I got Nathan out of the tub and he and Lenny walked to Lenny's room. I then proceeded to get Brooke out. Since Lenny and Nathan were happy, I decided to go ahead and get Brooke ready for bed. I was in Nathan's room getting Brooke's pajamas on her and I asked Lenny what Nathan was doing. The next thing I see is Nathan running (naked mind you) down the hallway with one of Lenny's toys and he was laughing. Behind Nathan was Lenny (also naked) running and laughing saying "give me my toy". It was quite funny. Brooke and I just feel sorry for each other since we have to deal with all these boys in the house. Dominic came upstairs just in time to see the last of the streak through our hallway.

Yes, it's a barrel of laughs around here.

From the Mouth of a Three Year Old

Tonight we were having leftovers for dinner from the last few days because the refrigerator was full of them. Anyway, we were deciding who wanted what and I asked Lenny if he would like some mashed potatoes. He said, "No, I wouldn't. I like mashed potatoes but I wouldn't like some." He cracks me up because he is always so sure to answer questions precisely. He would never just say "no".

Overwhelmed With Clothes

Clothes that no longer fit the kids, that is. My goodness, we have so many boxes and boxes of clothes. I even sold a bunch in a yard sale over the summer and donated the rest. Then I sold some in a consignment sale and donated what was left. I am in the process of going through the tons of boxes now and deciding what will be donated and what of Lenny's clothes will be saved for Nathan. It's so sad in a way to look at all of these cute clothes and to just give them away and not know who is getting them. It takes me even longer to go through them because I remember the babies and Lenny wearing them and it's difficult to get rid of them but I really need to. If anyone needs any, please send me an e-mail to let me know. I would much rather give them to someone that I know. I will be donating them this weekend.

At least Brooke and Nathan aren't going through sizes as quickly now that they are getting older. Thank goodness!

Here are some more pictures of the kiddos.

This morning I was in the kitchen cleaning up breakfast and I noticed that the channel on the TV changed. I glanced in the family room and this is what I saw. No kidding.


Nathan had climbed up on the chair by himself and changed the channel. Silly boy. He gets on the couch and chair by himself all the time now. He is definitely a climber. The other day, I heard him making noises so that I would look at him. And this is what I found.


Mealtime is interesting in our house.



Where's Nathan?


Lenny with Daddy's ear warmers on. Daisy got these for him for Christmas.


From the Mouth of a Three Year Old

I actually have two stories and they are both from today. Lenny found my hair clip and put it on his finger like it was biting it. He said, "Mommy, say abre to open it." It took me by surprise. I didn't realize that he knows Spanish except for his numbers that Dominic taught him. He really does pay attention to Dora and Diego. He also has a book that teaches you Spanish. I always feel bad because he doesn't learn other languages at home like he would have in daycare.

The other story happened this evening. Dominic and I were playing with the kids in the family room after dinner. We were watching Sesame Street and they were showing different animals. A deer showed up on the screen. Lenny said, "Oh dear, it's a deer." And he started laughing. Dominic and I just looked at each other and started laughing.

Check Us Out

Check out Brooke and Nathan on their new four wheelers that Nunny and Papoo got them for Christmas. I'm sure it won't be long before they are chasing Daisy around the house with these. It should be cute when the weather is nice and they can ride them outside with Lenny and his John Deer tractor.

Frog

I think it's about time that I mention a very important member of this family in my blog. He simply goes by--Frog. He has been a part of this family for almost three years now. He sleeps with Lenny about every night and even wanders in to our room along with Lenny on occasion in the middle of the night.

By the time that Lenny was 14 months old, he loved to watch Thomas videos. Imagine that. He liked to lay on the floor in front of the TV and watch it. So my mom bought him a frog pillow. Lenny loved it. Here is a picture of Lenny when he was 14 1/2 months old with "Frog".



Just by looking at the pictures above, I can tell you that there are several similarities between him and the babies and several differences. At this age, Lenny was still using a bottle at night time and sippy cups the rest of the time. Brooke and Nathan do not use bottles at all anymore, they use sippy cups all the time. Another difference, Brooke and Nathan would NEVER sit still long enough to watch a movie. They don't care one bit about the TV except for the fact that they can turn the power off and really upset Lenny. A similarity is that Nathan also has bruises on his head all the time from bumping things.

I'm not sure if you can tell in the picture above but Lenny is squeezing (for lack of a better word) Frog with his one hand. Lenny has an obsession with squeezing things in his hand. I don't know a better way to describe it. When he lays down for a nap or to go to bed, he has to have something to squeeze. If it's not Frog then it is the end of a pillow. He has one favorite pillow and if the pillow case is on it, we have to make sure that Lenny can reach the side that is open so that he can squeeze the pillow. He can be in the middle of doing something, and he will stop, go over to Frog, squeeze his ear or foot, then go back to what he is doing. And he doesn't even act like anything just happened. He must like the feel of something pushed into the palm of his hand. It's very funny. He still does it today.

Anyway, Frog is still a part of the family. Dominic, Lenny, Frog and I played Thomas bingo tonight. We were getting ready to play and Lenny asked if Frog could play too. So he did and Lenny put the chips on Frog's card. He even won a game.

Here is Lenny and Frog right before we played bingo. Lenny is squeezing Frog's eye.


Brooke has some kind of silly obsession too. From the time she was about three months old or a little younger, she has loved to smoosh her blanket in her face when she sleeps. Really. You have to put the blanket on top of her face, then she pulls it close and smooshes it in her face. It's silly but she still does it. That's the routine. Lay her down for a nap or bedtime and throw the blanket up over her face. I remember being really nervous about it when she was younger but that's the only way she would go to sleep.

So I wasn't surprised at all to catch Brooke squeezing Frog the other day. I had to laugh. I was glad the camera was close by.


Believe it or not, Nathan doesn't have any kind of obsessions like the other two. I'm sure he'll come up with something someday.

While I am on the subject of crazy things my kids do, I thought I would include some pictures of them in the plastic drawer where we keep some toys. All three of them love to sit in it, on it, and under it.




I know that this post has been all over the place. I wanted to close with a picture of Lenny and Frog that I took just a little while ago. Not much has changed except that Frog is looking old and weathered and Lenny is much bigger. They are still watching Thomas movies to fall asleep and Lenny still has his milk for bed time.

Notice what Lenny is doing to Frog's leg.

Let the Deception Begin

With the new year, I'm on a new kick to make sure my family eats healthy. Of course, it's a much easier task for me to get the kids to eat healthy than it is me and Dominic. I always make sure that they eat at least one fruit and one vegetable for lunch and dinner and a fruit for breakfast. Lenny has always been a great eater until recently. He's at that stage where he doesn't like anything even if he has never tried it. This has been difficult for me to make sure he eats enough.

Mealtime has become a thorn in my side especially now that the babies eat what we do. I feel like I'm constantly having to figure out what we are going to eat. I know it would be easier to make a weekly menu and I plan to do that soon. I loved it when Lenny was in daycare and they made the menu, cooked the food, fed him, and cleaned up after him. And it was a well balanced healthy meal. Oh, to only dream about how much easier that was.

Now for the deception. I had heard about the new book called Deceptively Delicious. It is a book with recipes to help you get your kids to eat healthy food if they wouldn't otherwise eat it. It's all about adding fruit and vegetable purees to everyday food. So, I asked for it for Christmas and my mom got it for me. I love that book! I've read it from front to back several times. I've already tried it on the kids and it has worked. The first thing I tried was pancakes (with sweet potato puree). They loved it! I also made it in my pancake puff which made it even more fun for them since the pancakes are round and perfect for dunking. I even really liked the pancakes. I don't think I'll make them the normal way again. It had a wonderful taste to them. So yesterday I tried the banana bread (with cauliflower puree). I wasn't so thrilled with it because I could taste a hint of cauliflower. But Lenny, Brooke, and Nathan loved it. Lenny keeps asking for more. I'm not sure what I will try next but it has been great so far. Too bad it doesn't work on Dominic. He has seen the book. I need to be a little sneakier with him. I shall not reveal my secrets for him because I know he reads this. :-)

Here are a few random pictures from the last few days.

Where is Brookie?

More kisses from Nathan. He loves to give kisses!

Acting silly together.

Lenny playing on the computer. He doesn't need my help at all. I don't even need to sit with him anymore. It's great!

Nathan is the craziest kid out of all of them. He loves to climb in one end of this end table and come completely out the other end. Then he gets up, walks to the back of it and does it all over again. He's just silly, that's all there is to say about it.

They both love to play around on the couch. Someone just has to stand nearby to make sure they don't roll off. They seldom do.

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year's. We were thinking of going to the First Night in Fredericksburg but decided it would probably be easier and more fun to stay home especially since the babies go to bed at 7 p.m. So we rang in the new year with Dick Clark.

We had a wonderful Christmas! It was so much fun with Lenny this year since he understands more about Christmas. He was so excited to see what Santa brought for him. He made sure that we left cookies and milk out for Santa and some sugar for the reindeer. Lenny even made a card to leave for Santa. That was his idea.

On Christmas eve we went to Church and then headed back home for dinner. After dinner we let the kids open one gift. This is something that was always a tradition in my family. Mom always let us open one gift Christmas eve after we got home from my Grandma Viola's house. The gift was always pajamas that we would wear to bed that night. So, that's exactly what my kids got on Christmas eve.

Here they are in their new pajamas while I read The Night Before Christmas to them--another tradition in my family. Last year Dominic read it to Lenny.

Here they are opening presents Christmas morning.
Later in the day we went to my Mom's house for Christmas with my family. Here are my kids and my sister's kids.

I had to take a picture of the mice that mom made and set out with the cheese.
The next day (also my birthday) we went to Dominic's mom and dad's house to have Christmas with them. We had a great time. I brought my camera with me that day but left it in the van. I didn't even realize it until we were heading home.

With all three Christmas celebrations that we had, we went home with a lot of nice gifts. Our house looked like a toy store before but now it's even more like one. I finally got rid of some toys that are no longer played with so that we can make room for the new toys. Lenny even helped me reorganize the family room the other day so that we could put all of the new toys away. We decided that only Lenny and I are allowed to get in the drawers for the toys that we organized. Daddy and the babies aren't allowed to get them out.

Lenny got an Easy Link for Christmas (thanks Meemaw) so he likes to spend a lot of time on the computer. I love the Easy Link because Lenny can do it all by himself without accidentally getting on another Web site. He is very good with the mouse. What this means though is that I now have less time with the computer. I usually check blogs and update my blog while the babies take a nap, but now that's when Lenny gets on the computer. It's easier that way so that I can actually sit with him and pay attention without distractions from the babies. Geesh, these kids are taking over the entire house and now they are after our computer.

These pictures were taken yesterday. Lenny had just finished putting together one of his new puzzles. He is very good at puzzles and it takes him no time at all to put them together. He loves them.

Brooke and Nathan both LOVE this rocking horse. It was Lenny's when he was a baby. They also have a zebra that Aunt Kristi gave them. They love that too.

From the Mouth of a Three Year Old

When we were opening the gifts Christmas day at my mom's house, Lenny kept saying "We love all of these presents." He said it several times. And he also told mom as he was looking at her tree, "I love all of your ornaments."