Easter Tree

I bought a bunch of Easter eggs this past week intending to put some up on the tree with Adelyn at some point.  In all the craziness that idea was lost until Saturday when I saw the neighbors doing the same thing.  We had Sophia and Charlie for the day and I figured Sophia would love to help.  While everyone was sleeping I strung up the eggs and when Adelyn and Sophia got up, we went to work.

Getting started

My pretty little lady hanging up some eggs.

 

It takes a great amount of concentration to get that loop around the branch!

 

Pretty, silly girls.

Kisses!

FM Gardens and Children's Museum

We had an insanely busy week.  We filled it with lots of fun things but two of the highlights were Frederick Meijer Gardens and the Children's Museum.  We went on Wednesday, with playgroup, to FM Gardens and on a very rainy Friday we went to the Children's Museum with Tiff, Sophia and Charlie.

Sophia and Adelyn

 I think Fred Meijer missed the memo that it was 50 degrees and windy outside.  Oh well.  The kids had fun.

Jojo opening the little doors in the tree trunk to see who lives there.

They couldn't look any happier.

Loretta, Sophia, Henry and Adelyn in the butterfly garden.  Owen and Sydney came too but apparently they are MIA ;)

 

 The Children's Museum was ca-razy.  I think everyone knew that it was going to rain and decided to go to the Children's Museum.  These two pics are the only ones I got because it was mass chaos in there.

Shopping for groceries.  Those grocery carts are a hot commodity and they only have two.  I think they need to invest in more.

Let's all have a laugh..

at my dog's expense.

We all know how much I hate Lakota's hair.  So much so that she has been posted on CraigsList.  Then I feel really guilty that she'll go to a bad home and I'll see her on the next abused dog commercial.  I love her but the hair.  The hair drives.me.nuts.  She blew her coat again and it was getting long from when the lawn mower ate her I buzzed her.  I called up the groomers and made an appointment to get her buzzed.

This is Kota before I buzzed her.  Long, beautiful, obnoxious, shedding hair.

This is Lakota after the groomers today.  Go ahead and laugh.  You know you want too.

I laughed hysterically when she walked out at the groomers.  Hysterically.  And I love it.  Think of all the hair that is NOT going to be on my floors.

Eric?  Not so much.  When the sliding door opened on the van and he caught his first glimpse, he was horrified.  Absolutely horrified.  He told me never again.  He didn't care how much hair she shed.  He said she was the stupidest looking dog ever.  He said she looks like a Greyhound (and she does) and now we will have to teach her to walk funny like them.  I told him to calm down and let me know in a couple days.  After he doesn't have to lint roller his shirt 40 times and pick up furballs for children.

Adelyn?  Adelyn thought she was hilarious.  She said "Oohh look at the baby doggy Mommy!  We have a baby doggy!"  Later she asked me if we got a new doggie.  Not joking.  She thinks its so funny that Lakota is "little" now.  

So go ahead, friends.  Please.  Have a laugh.  At my dog's expense.

Outside fun

We have been having so much fun outside.  Still can't believe it's March and 80 degrees.  We had to extend the sandbox because when we put the slide in last year it was only 2 feet from the end.  It was a bit close for comfort.  When the kids went down the slide their feet would always run into it and I didn't like it.  So now we have even more of a beach in our backyard.

Pretty little lady playing in the sand

Trying out the elongated sandbox

Little B.  Yes he goes down by himself.  Jojo does too.

See?!  Sometimes a little tumbling is involved but it's cute.

We had a collision!  Normally Joelle takes her time getting ready to go down.  Not this time!  

We bought a bucket swing for B and J.  We weren't sure if they would use it when we bought the set last year.  They are definitely small enough for it and they love it!

It's been so warm I busted out the pool.  Adelyn wanted me to get a picture of her blowing bubbles in the water ;)

Pretty Jojo.  Why, oh why, can't it be cute for my stomach to hang out of a swimming suit like that?!

My three little loves.

Something was funny

Handsome, bruised and scraped little man.  The scrapes on his chin, under his nose and the big bruise by his hairline are from falling off the picnic table earlier in the day.  The bruise between his eyes (and he cut up his toes) is from taking his first tumble down the deck stairs.  It wasn't his day.

Cute babies.  Slightly out of focus but still adorable.

Makes me laugh.  Jojo looks so happy and Brecken looks so sad.  Like she stole his favorite toy.  Ha.

B and J::15 months

My sweet babies are turning into (kind of) lanky toddlers.  They are at such a fun age and I am loving their little personalities.  I am (finally) done nursing and we (finally) stopped bottles.  I stopped nursing them right at 14 months and we stopped bottles a couple weeks ago.  I was so sick of washing them, they were only drinking a couple ounces of regular milk and I was sick of washing them.  So I just stopped.  And they were totally ok with it.  Sadly, they were totally ok with me being done nursing as well.  Granted I dragged it out for quite a while so they were used to not getting the boob all the time.

Brecken::

-you weigh 24lb 10oz, 50th percentile

-you are 31in tall, 50th percentile

-your head is in the 90th percentile

-you wear size 18mo clothes and occasionally 18-24mo shirts

-you wear a size 4/5 shoe

-you wear a size 4/5 diaper

-you sleep 12-14 hours a night and take a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon.  you LOVE sleep.
-we put you down on your belly and you lay face down in the mattress.  sometimes you wave your arms like an upside down snow angel until we put your blanket on top.  ha.

-you eat (and eat) every.thing.

-you are constantly on the go.  always getting into trouble.  always climbing on things.

-you say quite a few words (mama, daddy, dada, dog, look, please, hot, hi, nana as well as quite a few animal sounds)
-you are the only person who I have cut with the nail clippers.  twice.  once when you were really sick when you were a newborn.  you were so lethargic it didn't phase you.  the second was just recently.  you were in my lap and jojo was climbing all over me and I was wondering why I couldn't get the clippers to cut your nail.  probably because there was a big hunk of your skin in there.  you just grunted at me and it was definitely a bleeder.
-nearly every time we put you in your car seat you flip out.  i think you think you are going outside to play and then someone straps you in a car seat and you get mad.  you quiet down as soon as the van is moving.

-your comprehension is absolutely unbelievable. you understand everything we say to you.

-you are one headstrong little boy.  you pitch a fit if you don't get your way.

-we just started going to church again and you do pretty good in the nursery.  you wail your fool head off when I drop you off but they say that you stop crying shortly after.

-you love to splash in the pool/bath tub

-you have 8 teeth and no signs of more

-you love to read.  you are constantly bringing people books and crawling in their lap.

-you love to clap your hands, do so big and give high fives

-you love to wave hi/bye and you wave with 3 fingers.  it is the cutest thing ever.

Adelyn at 15months

Joelle::

-you weigh 24lbs 12oz, 75th percentile

-you are 32in tall, 90th percentile

-your head is in the 90th percentile

-you wear 18mo and 18-24mo clothes

-you wear a size 5 shoe.  you love to curl your toes and it makes massive cracking calluses under your big toe.  we have you in a bigger shoe and you don't wear them that often and that seems to help.

-you wear a size 4 diaper during the day and a 5 at night.

-you love to sleep.  12-13 hours at night and 2-3 hour nap.  you have to (HAVE TO) be put down on your back.  sometimes you sleep on your back, sometimes you sleep on your stomach.

-you say a couple words (mama, dada, dog, uh-oh (so cute when you say uh-oh. you draw it out and say it anytime you drop something) you make a couple animal sounds)
-we have started going to church again and you wail like a banshee when I leave.  they say you are fine shortly after I leave but you do have to be held the whole time ;)
-changing your diaper is like wrestling an elephant.  you HATE it.  it generally helps to sing and blow kisses on your belly..but let me tell you.  it is frustrating.

-you are a pistol. if someone takes something from you, you squawk like there is no tomorrow.  you are so sassy, you don't let anyone get away with anything.

-you have been giggling all the time lately.  your little personality is starting to come out like crazy and I love it.

-you love to wave, clap your hands, do so big and give high fives

-you have 8 teeth and are cutting your two bottom molars

-you love to be held.  if I allowed it you would be held allll the time.

-your walking is getting better and better.  you are much better at falling now too ;)

-you are getting used to the slide.  you aren't so tentative around it anymore.

-you still love to ride in the car

-you love (LOVE) to carry baby dolls around.  you get sooo mad when Adelyn takes them from you.
-you love to give kisses.  open mouth kisses but they are still adorable.
-you have been OBSESSED with momma lately.  I love it.  you have always been the one that as long as mommy, daddy or nana are holding you, you are fine.  but right now, it generally has to be me.  and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

They seriously look so.old. in this picture.  They don't look anything like babies and it drives me nuts.  I sat Brecken down to take his picture and I got the first one of him when Jojo sat next to him and wanted hers taken too ;)

He discovered her headband.  Ugh.

Pretty little lady wanted her picture taken too :)

Kollen Park

We went to Kollen Park with some friends tonight for a picnic and so the kids could run off some energy.  All the kids had so much fun and it was so nice to be at a park in the middle of March!

Handsome boy being a monkey on the rock wall

Miss Adelyn looking too cute

Pretty little lady crawling up some stairs

Thinking about going down a slide.  Jojo is definitely the least daring of our children ;)

"Mister Mawk" pushing Adelyn and Sophia on the swings.

Very successful trip to the park.  Everyone came home, got a bath and went straight to bed.  Cheers to that!

Second to last Swimming Lesson

Eric and my Mom are taking Brecken and Joelle to Adelyn's swimming class next week so I knew I wouldn't get any pictures then.  Something about trying to keep two 15-month old's out of the pool.  They didn't use any flotation devices today and Adelyn was definitely leery of "walking" around the edge with nothing on.  She got it though and did great.  She is probably the slowest to pick up on things in her class, which I am ok with.  I want to take her to Zeeland and work on it one-on-one without any distractions before I move her up.  She's good but I feel like I could be more firm with her to get her to do things.

Whenever I tell her we are going to swimming class she gets all excited to see Chloe and Kelsey.  I'm not sure if she remembers which one Kelsey is but she sure was chatting it up with the little boy next to her today!

Practicing swimming on her back.

Jumping in

This is how the instructor brought them all back to the stairs.  Too cute.

Getting a high five at the end of class..I wasn't paying attention and the flash went off on the camera.  Blech.

John Ball Zoo

We went to the zoo last week Wednesday.  It was in the middle of the forever sickness aka RSV and I was going bonkers.  We went with our similarly sick friends and had a blast.  Side note::the ones who were sick the most were in strollers so we didn't spread too many germs.  What's a few boogers amongst friends?!  Humph.

The two cutest (big) girls at the zoo.

Today we went again and purchased a membership.  Let's face it.  2 adults and 3 children add up to a lot of money.  I got the household plus 1 membership and the plus 1 can be anyone I want.  So you should want to come to the zoo with me because you will get to go for free ;)  For $75 we only have to go a couple times to make it worth it and now we can go much more than that for free!  When Eric reads this he will promptly inform me that it wasn't free.  I digress.

It was super foggy on the way but wasn't to bad while we were walking at the zoo.  The kids all had a blast and Brecken and Joelle even got to try their hand at walking.  Yikes.  How can they be that big already?!  I said to Rachael that Adelyn was solely walking at 15 months.  I rarely used a stroller with her.   I guess having to look 3 different ways to watch 3 different kids kind of makes their chances of going stroller free pretty slim.  Too bad for them.

Adelyn's first pop-tart.  Ever.  I know, I know, I'm a terrible parent for not letting her have them sooner but if I bought pop-tarts she wouldn't get any because I would have already ate the whole box.  So I don't buy them.

Two cuties..with their pop-tarts ;)

Can I just tell you how much Kaylee makes me laugh?!  I think she makes more expressions than Adelyn does.

All the kiddos.  One lady asked me if I had a daycare and many others asked if they were triplets.  Oh the attention I get when I have this stroller in public.

The three babies..I guess when you have 2 bald boys and a girl people just assume they are triplets.

After some whining little B got out to stretch his legs.  I was afraid he wouldn't listen at all but I told Adelyn to hold his hand and they both did really well.  Apparently I can still be surprised.

These are Brecken's relatives.  I told him not to copy any of there tricks since he already has enough of his own.  We do call him the Monkey Man.  Not joking.  He was really cute around them.  I told him they were monkeys and made a monkey sound for him and he proceeded to make monkey sounds the whole time we looked at them.  He was communicating.  With his relatives.

Adelyn and Kaylee with the fish.  Don't you love how they are both holding their toes?!

I just realized I only have 1 picture of Jojo.  Whoops.  She actually got out and stretched her legs while we were in the aquarium.  No strollers were allowed.  All 3, or should I say 4 with Kaylee, were running loose.  We survived and didn't lose anyone.  Be impressed.

Bring it John Ball.  You better brace yourself because you will be seeing a lot of the Fitzgerald's this summer.