Christmas 2010

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Oaklen's very first band concert

This is Oaklen's Christmas concert from last night. It went really well and I was surprised to find he actually knew what he was doing as we have not heard him play at all. His band equipment is left at school so no practice at home. He played bells and snare. I did learn that next one I need to get there early to get good pictures as these were taken from about 50 yards away luckily I had my big lens with me to get these. :)

A few pictures

It was snowing when the kids got up and they said " Mommy it's snowing where is Santa?" I told them I did not know and asked where they thought Santa was and they replied "He works at the mall."

Oaklen was very upset I made him pose for this photo. He told me this was a baby pose. So I'm not telling him I am sharing online. haha

Happy 3rd Birthday Trio!

Wooohooo we made it to 3! Will we make it farther? I hear 3 is worse than 2. I know I am a day late here the kids turned three yesterday I do apologize. Everyday our lives get busier. These three are running me in circles I don't know how much longer I can keep up with them. :) They had an excellent birthday despite being sick the week before. Poor miss Addie had pneumonia in her left lung, Brock had an ear infection and Tyler had sinus infection. For the first time since they were born I said "I can't do this" and called in for reinforcements. Thank you Toni and Doreen for coming to help me! I was absolutely wore out!

It's always fun having a Birthday so close to Halloween! The kids got to dress up two days in a row, once for trick or treat and again for preschool. The third day Tyler was upset and could not understand why he could not be Woody everyday. :)

I asked Addison what she wanted for her Birthday and she told me "purpur checkastix" (purple chapstick) and "purpur unrings" (earrings). I asked Tyler what he wants and he said "panpates" (pancakes). I asked Brock what he wanted but he was interrupted by Addison who said "He wants purpur unrings for Addison".

Tyler now.....Tyler then

Brock now.....Brock then

Addie now....Addie then

At the grocery store today a lady stopped to tell me Addison had the prettiest hair color and said she could not decide if it was blonde or red. Haha the red is not completely coming out of her hair from Halloween but at least it's a pretty tint. :)

Happy 12th Birthday Oaklen!

12 years ago today Oaklen was born at 9lbs 9 1/2 oz. He was a big chunk. He chose to be two weeks late to pack on a little extra weight. He was the most laid back baby rarely ever cried.

Now Oaklen is getting close to the teen years and boy do we have the attitude around here. :) He loves his little brothers and sister and on the weekends I see him get antsy during their nap time because he wants to play. He helps out a lot around the house doing chores (although not without complaining first). He's a typical 12 year old. Hates school, loves to play and draw. He likes to write stories and can fill a whole notebook within days. He's into scary stuff so he will enjoy Halloween this year and already bought a scary mask to wear. He is very much looking forward to his party on Saturday. He keeps asking me what the plan is so I tell him. An hour later he will ask again and I will tell him the same plan. Apparently asking a million times helps with the anticipation. Haha.

Happy Birthday Oaklen! We all love you very much!

Busy busy

I know it seems as though I have abandoned the blog but I promise I'm just super busy. I've start back to college full time and I can't seem to fit everything in. I don't know what I was thinking four kids and school oh my! I'm a bit overwhelmed for sure.

The trio have started preschool with the 3 year old class. Their teacher approached me and said they were ahead of most of the 2 year olds so they would like to bump them up. Of course they look so tiny next to the 3 year olds. Little man still weighs close to what he did at age one so you can imagine how he looks compared to the other kids.

Conversation between Addison and I today

mommy "What did you have for lunch at school"
Addison "milk and ketchup"
mommy "what else?"
Addison "hotdogs"
mommy "you had hotdogs?"
Addison "no"
mommy "okay? what else"
Addison "chicken"
mommy "you had chicken?"
Addison "no"
mommy "um anything besides milk and ketchup?"
Addison "applesauce"
mommy "milk, ketchup and applesauce"
Addison "yea"

Oh the fun of trying to decipher a 2 year old.

Oaklen is still have a few problems in school, mainly just remembering to turn in his work. I asked him last night, after and email from his teacher, if he was hording work in his locker and he told me no. His teacher checked his locker today and low and behold his missing work! Why a child would take the time to do his work and just not turn it in is beyond me, but Oaklen walks to the beat of his own drum. :) He's enjoying band but seems to not enjoy all other subjects and I truly can not blame him there. I did not and am not enjoying school myself.

Oaklen went to his first school dance a few weeks ago. I asked him if he needed me to teach him how to slow dance. He said "no that's embarassing" I asked what was more embarassing not know ing how to dance when a girl asks or dancing with mom. :) A few hours later I caught Adam teaching Oaklen how to slow dance. haha. During the dance Oaklen just hung out with his friends so no dancing was involved. It was very odd to drop Oaklen off somewhere for a few hours on a friday night. I think this was the first time for me to ever do that.

I think I'm out of time. The kids are yelling from their rooms. I'll try to work on some updated pictures.

Pictures of the little ones

The upside (or downside) to being home with mommy all day is she is snap happy and makes up dress up for photo's.

The triplets are doing great. In fact they are ahead of schedule and were invited to attend the 3 year old preschool program. Normally they would have to wait another year since they are not yet 3. They start tomorrow 3 days a week 4 hrs a day. The preschool has given us a great price after I had researched many of them trying to find something we could afford the day care they were attending is giving us a price break.

Addison is completely potty trained day and night. The boys are doing so so through the day and I still put them in diapers at nap and bedtime. Not because I doubt they wont use the potty if I put one in their room but I am certain they would play in it.

Oaklen is having a tough time with 6th grade. We spent the weekend catching him up in math. Poor guy had to work on it for about 6 hours to get caught up with his class. We have had one meeting with his teachers and have another scheduled for the 14th with the district to get him set up on a 504 plan. For those of you who do not know what that is it's a contract with the school to get Oaklen extra help throughout the day when he needs it. I'll try to snap a few photos of him if I can get him to stay home long enough to do so. Although with all his homework more than likely that's what he will be doing. :)

First day of Middle School

Oh boy....I'm old enough to have a middle schooler. :( Oaklen first day of school went fine. He said it only took him half a day to get into his locker. Haha. We mentioned many times this summer getting him a practice lock and he kept saying "it won't be hard to figure out".

We had to work on getting his schedule changed to include band in which he will be playing the drums. Oaklen said he did NOT want to join the band he wanted to draw, watch tv and play video games. After getting his equipment I think he is excited. Are you seeing a pattern here? He's at that age where nothing mom and dad say can be right until he tests it himself.

These little ones below want to be just like bubby and had to have a "pack pack" too. Luckily I found these lunch boxes that were perfect size to pass as little back packs. :)

Cincinnati Zoo

We enjoyed a trip to Cincinnati to visit with my dad and brother at the zoo. Very proud to say Addison is completely potty trained all day all night. I even tried to put her in a diaper for the trip. She had a big fit and although I won, she wore it, she refused to pee in it the entire drive. This was a nice trip all around. The kids behaved nicely despite missing their nap and travelled to and from wonderfully.

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A new pet

He's borrowing in this spot because there is a heater posistion under him.

Oaklen went to the gun range with my dad and came home with a box turtle (named Tank). It was crossing the road and almost got hit. Instead of just picking him and moving him to the side of the road he found his way to my home via my 11 year old. We are a pet free home except for a beta and thought ok maybe this is something Oaklen can take care of on his own because I have enough to do. I mean it's free right? Surely they are low maintenance right? NO THEY ARE NOT! After a little research I found that there were many thing we needed for the survival of this turtle. After going to the pet store I found that there was even more needed. So this turtle has cost us a bundle but here are some pictures of the kids enjoying the turtle and his new home which somehow ended up in my room?

Water day at Nonni's

Oaklen is home!

Bubby got home really late so when the kids got up they jumped into O's bed. They were so excited to see him it's so nice to capture these sweet moments. Especially now that we have 3 terrible 2's and a preteen. These moments don't seem to happen daily.

O loved his new room. He came in that night and I told him to go peak in on the babies. He went to his room (formerly their room) and threw himself on the bed. He absolutely loved it!

Oaklen was baptized two sundays ago and it can be seen at the following site. It's at the end of the service and you can fast forward through.
http://www.truthcasting.com/player.aspx#showChannel=10000091

He came home a little more tan than he left and I think 2 inches taller. :)