More from thje midwest

I apologize now for any and all typos in my latest blogs. I am usually writing while trying to keep Nicolasfrom getting into naughty things so I don't have time for spell check, or even time to ensure that what I am writing makes any type of sense.

Yesterday was a fun day. In the morning we went downtown to the modern art center where there is a museum and an outdoor sculpture garden (which I just learned my mother had never been to in all their 13 years of living here.) Every first Saturday of the summer months everything is free and they have music and food and special activities for the children. The kids got to build a sculpture from reeds and pine cones and leaves, they danced to the fun music, played in and among the huge sculptures, and came home and took long naps!

Last night grandpa, Grant, and I took the older 3 boys fishing. I will post pics after I get home as they are on my phone and I can't get to them without special software and cables. But I will say that I caught the first and biggest fish of the night, a bull catfish! I was a bit taken aback, I will admit, it was hard to reel in and I know they can "sting" when you try to get them off. All three boys caught small sunfish and they had a really good time.

On another note, at supper time we say grace but in is actually quite an undertaking. My brother and his family start it out with the sign of the cross (which Stellan has to get just right before continuing on to the prayer), then they say their family prayer, then we say the prayer I grew up saying, and then Dom usually says his own little prayer thanking Jesus for his family, the food, and something random like his green elephant cup or his corn on the cob. It is really sweet.

That is it for this post. More later. Oh, by the way, Joe is officially on his way to Austin, TX for his trade show. Say a prayer for him and his group that they will have a successful time. They all put so much work into it and want it to go well.

Love to you all.

Just some stuf

So, we are still in MN visiting my family. It has been a lot of fun, a lot of work, and so worth it. The boys have gotten to spend a lot of time with their cousin Stellan who is Dom's age and also with their Auntie and Uncle. It has not been without it's meltdowns and nights where no one wants to go to bed when their are supposed to, but all the fun and watching the children play together has made up for every second of stress. The kids have of course said some adorable things and to keep up with my list of cute sayings I thought I would post a MN edition.

When we were swimming at the lake Dom kept wanting to swim out past the blue boobs (buoys). He kept yelling it as loud as he could. I think everyone got a kick out of it.

Nico is talking so much this trip, just repeating everything you say. He can say grandma and grandpa and even tries to say Auntie Grant and Uncle Meghan. He is blowing kisses and saying thank you all the time, sometimes even when he is supposed to!! One morning we were sitting eating breakfast thinking he was still fast asleep and all of a sudden he comes walking into the kitchen. My mom and I looked at each other quizzically and realized, there was no one up there to get him out of bed. It turns out he got out all by himself and climbed down the stairs. (I have watched him do it now a few times and he goes down on his belly and says "dow backa" which means down backwards. We had put an extra mattress in his pack n play but apparently it made it much easier for him to climb out, so, we took the mattress out and he hasn't been able to get out, yet. So just in case we put a baby gate at his door.

Anthony has been on and off homesick, which is normal for him. He is a homebody and every once in while just really wants to be back at his own house. Not to mention he misses his daddy terribly! But, he is doing much better now and tonight Uncle Grant made a wonderful chicken dinner with sauteed spinach. When Anthony sat down to eat he looked at my plate with the spinach on it and said "what is the murky stuff?"

To top off an already wonderful day, I put the older boys down after reading a book and asked them if they wanted me to sing to them. I don't usually do this but have done it a few times on this trip to help Dom quiet down and feel safe. I usually sing hyms or praise songs and tonight was no different. I started out small, Jesus Loves Me, and then got a little more into it and ended with "How Great Thou Art." Even though the boys had fallen asleep about three songs earlier I continued to sing quietly, enjoying the fact that my children had been lulled to sleep with words of love and promise. I sang the last verse a little louder and really tried to feel the words and pray them for myself and my kids. "Then I shall bow, in humble adoration, and there proclaim, my God, how Great Thou Art." Love you all.

Minnesota Fun - part 1

Hi all. Well, we are currently deep into our trip to MN. So far it has been really fun. We have played baseball, football, croquet, and soccer. We built a fort on the porch, we have visited great Grandma Mo-mo twice, we went to a county fair and did all kind of fair stuff, and today we went to a lake and went swimming! We still have a ways to go with our visit and today Uncle Grant, Auntie Meghan, and cousin Stellan arrive so we will be a really full house! We are so excited. It is fun to see the boys do MN type things like swim in lakes and play in the grass and get grass stains on their clothes. I don't think I have ever cleaned a grass stain from their clothes in my life until this trip!

Anyway, enjoy the photos, there will be many more to come.

Funny things our family does and says - 2

So, the boys have been especially funny lately. Here is the latest:

Dom, "Mommy, what does that big sign say."
Mommy, "Pomerado Business Park."
Dom, "Oh, that is where people go to get busy."

Dom, while playing with his dinosaur toys, "With great dinosaur power comes great dinosaur responisbility."

And my personal favorite as of late:

In Sunday school this week the boys learned about prayer. Anthony's class made a prayer box where they can write down their prayers on paper and place it in the box. So, he shows me his box, very cute, lots of glue, kind of sticky. I open it to see what's inside and it is his first prayer which says (hold the tears for later) "I pray my brother Dom won't get scared at night anymore." I could just eat him up!!!

Nico still doesn't say much but that doesn't mean he isn't funny. He learns new words everyday, his latest as of today are ball, thank you (di do), Anthony (AAAA-ti), Dom, (slsjkljdfjls-ic), mommy (bobby), daddy (said perfectly), up please (upee), bottle (beep beep, because he knows when the microwave beeps, the bottle is ready.) What a sweet heart!

Hope these made you smile.

Love you all!!

Cuteness times 3

So Meghan, you have inspired me to keep a better online record of the cute, funny, ridiculous, and sometimes nasty things my kids say. You never know what is going to come out of their mouths. After all, they are like sponges, constantly taking in information and not always processing it correctly, which can mean some pretty funny things, or processing it ways you would have never though, which can mean some pretty insightful things. Whatever the case may be, kids say the darndest things. For one, Dominic was eating ice cream yesterday, in a cone, and I kept reminding him (and yes, helping him as well) to keep it from dripping down the sides. At one point he says "look mommy, I made my ice cream handsome" which meant, he made it clean and tidy, no drips, no stickys. For your reference, when we get the boys" handsome" not being sticky is a very important part of that. You just never know with boys.

Of course Nico doesn't talk that much yet, but when he does it is chock full of cute. He loves phones and will put anything up to his ear and say "bye bye!" That is his favorite part of the call so far, even though he can say hi. He also loves to watch the microwave while his bottle warms up, I count down with him from about 5 and when I get to one he goes "beep". So cute.

Anthony is just amazing. The things he knows, the things he remembers, and now that he has his glasses and can actually see he has a whole new vigor for reading! I mean, even without them he loved to read, but now that he can actually see correctly life is just so much more beautiful to him. On the way home from the eye doctor he said that he couldn't wait to get his new eyes. I told him, glasses aren't new eyes, they just make your regular eyes see better. And I told him that some of the coolest people wear glasses, like Grandpa Bernie, Grandma Pat, Uncle Grant, Auntie Meghan, Mommy, Grandma Janis, Grandpa Gene (sometimes) and Grandma Nonna! He is just excited to have Spiderman glasses. And as AUntie Meghan commented, he is now a regular Harry Potter.

Let's not forget about Joe. While his cuteness factor isn't quite as high as his offspring, he is still pretty cute. One of his favorite things about the new house is the number of bathrooms. He has bathroom reader books and Calvin and Hobbes books stashed in all of them so he can have some alone time. His other favorite thing is having his own closet. The first few days he would say " I am going to go walk into my closet and pick something out to wear". For those of you who have seen our old closet, or what was supposed to pass for a closet, you can understand the novelty of not just having a walk in closet, but having his OWN walk in closet. He also like our "food room" or as most of you would call it, the pantry. It has a light and it is one of the best places to hide when he and the boys play hide and seek in the dark. Oh, and the other night he was reading a book about sharks with them and they were learning about how big certain sharks are. He got out his measuring tapes and laid them out to show how long a whale shark is (43 feet) and a great white (23 feet) etc. It was fun to see him teaching the kids and all of them getting excited about it.

That about sums it up. I haven't said anything cute in a while, I just look so darn cute I don't have too! Ha Ha. Hope you all are well. More to come...

Life as we know it

Well, we are moved and settled in to our new place. The boys love having their upstairs room and new bunkbeds (which I put together, by the way, and as Anthony would say, "she said dang it a lot"). But, I did it and they love their new beds. I am just loving having more space, not just for me, but for the kids too. They can literally run laps inside the house! There is a lake a bout a mile away and you can fish there. There is also a 5 mile trail around the lake for walking or biking. When it isn't too hot that is one of our new favorite places to go. Anthony will start school in Sept. and while we are so excited for him to start kindergarten, it is still hard to believe that we have a child old enough to start kindergarten, and another one not that far away!!!! At least I have Nico who, I am afraid, is a bit of a momma's boy. I am not fighting it, I am enjoying having him cling to me i new situations and cry when I leave him at the church nursery. My other two have always been so independent, which I love, but seeing as how Nico is my last I am kind of enjoying him being a baby for a little longer.

I have included a few more pics of the new house as well as some new ones of the kids. They are definitely becoming brothers more and more, sharing toys, helping each other. Anthony makes sure that every day daddy doesn't forget to give Nico a big hug and kiss when he leaves. It is so sweet to see them love each other.

New House

Hi all. Some people have ben asking for pics of the new house, so here they are. So far things are going well. There have been a few issues with the house, but since we are renting, the landlord has to take care of them. Still a pain, but not nearly as annoying as when it is your house. Our renters are all moved in to our old house and so far so good there. Luckily we have had no issues with our house, so keep that in your prayers.

OK, here are the pics.