Fire Station Tour

A couple of weeks ago we went on a field trip with our Mom's Club to the local  fire station.  The boys had a lot of fun meeting the firefighters, stop/dropping/rolling under the "smoke" from the fog machine, climbing in the trucks and trying on the gear.  Thanks Station #27 for sharing with us! 

Some of the group proudly standing with one of the firefighters.

Heavy helmet!

J was so excited to try on a real ff jacket and hold the door crusher- aka an "ax".

Little J, was content to stay with me... the big trucks and outfits were a bit much for him.

K could have spent all day inside the trucks exploring the many buttons and equipment!

There must have been something really interesting in this truck!

By the way, my prego scatter brain forgot my camera-  Thanks for the pictures Martha! 

Showered with Girlie fun!

In just a few short weeks, 5 to 1 will be the ratio of guys to girls in our house...  Lucky for me I have some great girlie friends who took me out to a tea cafe for a girls only brunch/baby shower.  We sipped  tea, ate scones and egg sandwiches & enjoyed several hours of girlie company.  What a blessing this group of gals have been over the years of baby rearing!  When we first met there were 9 little ones among us (I am counting J, who could not make it because she was out of town) & now we have 20 little ones... that is 2-3 babies being born a year since we met! 

The serious picture & you can see my huge bump...

The fun pose, this how we usually are!

Can't forget L, the photographer and M, the little mommy helper!

 Lots of diapers and cutesy shower gifts.

 This gift wins for Best Presentation!  I love getting baskets, thanks Mitra!

 I couldn't ask for a better group of friends!  Thanks Megan & Eileen for putting together such a special day! 

Mike and his boys

Almost every evening at about 4:30, the craziness begins... The afternoon snack has worn off, the house looks like a tornado ran through it, I am scrambling in the kitchen to get dinner started, the sun is going down and the cold sets in.  That is when my boys decide to magically turn the bored hyper switch on and the whining, pestering & crying begins.  That is why the winter is so long... No sending them outside to run off their energy and all of the sudden when it is dark outside ALL their toys are suddenly boring!  So while I can temporarily distract them with markers, stickers, play dough, etc for a few minutes at a time, they pretty much remain in this feisty state until they are nice and cozy in their beds for the night.  Mike has really stepped up lately and it has become a team effort to get this crazy crew of kids from dinner to rough housing to bath to book to bed.  After dinner he tackles, wrestles, tickles and plays superheros with them to get their hyper energy expelled (maybe his too!).  The loud action packed playtime migrates to the bath and the four of them have lots of loud splashy pirate fun while I clean the kitchen, get their pjs, vitamins, toothbrushes, etc ready.  One by one I get them dried off and dressed as he continues to entertain them in the tub... Straight to couch for a book with dad as I gather up the blankets and binkies.  Several cuddles, one on one talks about their days, bedtime prayers and off to bed, our exercise session is over :)!  They sure love their dad & I love you too... Thanks for all your help, you are an amazing father! 

Climbing

The boys certainly got blessed with many gifts this Christmas, but one unexpected (yet very appropriate for a household of active little boys!) gift came from Mike's cousin Carl and soon to be wife.  It is a climbing dome and fits perfectly into our yard full of toys and boys.  Mike and the kids had fun building it last weekend and even more fun playing on it... When the weather gets nicer, they are excited to make a fort dome out of it.

Big J helped Mike during the whole 2+ hour building process... His determination and hard work amazes me!

 K helped too!

 Counting, unwrapping, building- it was a team effort!

 This toy is solid!

 Little J had a bird's eye view of the building from his swing.

 Finally it is playtime- "Look Mom, what I can do!"

 They all can play with this one :).

 I had to throw in the "I am almost 3 and am getting an attitude look!". 

Suprise visitors

It has been awhile, I know, I have been busy getting organized with the anticipation of our newest little guy to make his appearance- I will get to some of those projects in later blogs... For now, I will catch up with our everyday life.

A few days after Christmas, we had a pleasant surprise visit from Mike's uncle and cousins from California.  His two local cousins joined the fun too as we enjoyed a evening of dinner and catching up.  When Mike and I were dating in high school, I remember each one of these kiddos as a little baby- where did the time go?  Ironically they are just about the same age difference as our four kids... It was kind of a fast forward look at what times will be like in about 12 years!  It also goes to show how much our grocery bill will be going up as I didn't nearly plan a big enough dinner for our house full of teenagers- sorry kids and your bottomless bellies! 

Kyle felt like such a big boy sitting with his older cousins!  He also totally hammed up the attention they gave him.  

 He is still our tactile kid and was obsessed with Uncle Donnie's curly hair... He was so thrilled that Donnie let him touch it.

 What great teenagers these are... They played with our kids all night.

 They were also super polite and interacted with the adults a lot.

 Not one of them spent any time texting or being preoccupied with anything... They were an absolute pleasure to be around the whole time!

It is strange how the circle goes, we were just there as teenagers at Mike's family functions playing with these kids when they were toddlers, who knows what will happen in the next round of 12 years or so... 

 We truly enjoyed your company and the boys are still talking about each of you.  Come visit more often and stay longer, I promise I will have more food!