many posts

so.... i've had a lot to 'record' on my blog over the last 2+ weeks... i was a crazy blogger today... make sure you read all the posts for some serious scoggins fun times!! there are 4 or so separate posts for today (other than this one).... i know you can hardly wait to scroll down!!!!!!! go ahead... catch up on our lives....

Stale

(this one is especially for my daddy)

a conversation Trip & I had today while discussing a doughnut:

Trip: What are you doing with that?

Me: I'm throwing it way because it is stale.

Trip: What is stale?

Me: It means it's old, it's not fresh anymore.

Trip: Grandpap is stale!

(he said it in all seriousness, but i caught him cracking up later & thought i'd post the pic here). i also got this video today, too:



daddy, think he pays attention when you talk about how old you are?????

Seriously... a MINIVAN....

so... we have been planning, researching, saving, etc. for a new car for the last 3 or 4 months. we decided that we needed a vehicle with more space. space for more people (since our families live out of state, we never have enough room for additional passengers when they are in town or if we go to visit them), space for more stuff when we travel, etc. so.... we bought a freakin' MINIVAN! am i serious??? Yes.I.Am.

for those of you who have known me for any length of time, you know that i said i would never drive a 'mommy mobile'. i thought i'd just buy bigger SUVs as the space was needed. well... for multiple reasons (notwithstanding the expense of purchasing & driving a large SUV), i didn't stay on that plan. but, at least i made it all the way to age 31 before i got mine. many of my friends were driving them in their mid 20s!


<--- here is my old cool car (montero sport)


we ended up getting a 2008 Honda Odyssey... the color is slate. we are going on vacation to florida in august. i'm sure that will be the point when i 'fall in love' with it as everyone tells me i am going to do!


here is the first ever 'brand new' car of mine--->

could i make a minivan look any cooler??? (agree or don't... i'm really just trying to convince myself here!!)

Shiner & Swim Class

Quinn woke up in the middle of the night last weekend crying. Chuck got up & met him in the hall way. He screamed, "I hult (interpret: hurt) myself!!". Chuck got him back in the bed & asleep. The next morning, after he got in his booster seat for breakfast, I noticed it. His first shiner!

I couldn't believe it! As any of you with youngchildren know, it is difficult to get the true story from a 2 1/2 year old. If you give Quinn choices, he tends to choose the last one most of the time. "Did you run into something or did you fall out of the bed & hurt it?" The story he now tells is, "I 'hult' it on my bed." We'll leave it that I guess.


Trip took swim lessons for the last 2 weeks at a local pool. Our sitter, Ms. Chris, took him every morning along with 2 of her kids. It was fairly elementary stuff, but more to get the kids comfortable in the water & learn the basics of kicking & moving their arms. They really didn't 'swim' at all, on their own, but it was just a beginners class. He had an absolute blast & is definitely our water bug. I can't wait until we go to the beach in 3 weeks so he can practice & maybe even put it altogether & actually swim on his own. Here are a few pics:
(trip on the far right) practicing their kicks




























practicing moving the water 'out of my way',
(trip is now on the left)
video of normal water play
trying to put it together on the noodle (the teacher was in the way of him doing good 'ice cream scoop' strokes):

4th of July

We had a busy 4th of July weekend! Chuck's parents came up to spend the holiday weekend with us. We had a great time with them. We started Independence day with bagels from St. Louis Bread Co (the best bagels EVER)... thanks to Chuck & Charles for running out to get those! We headed to O'Fallon for a parade. It was a really long parade (almost 2 hours) but it was a lot of fun. It was Trip & Quinn's first parade!! They had a blast watching all of the floats & people go by & especially LOVED when candy was tossed their way! We ended up with a lot of candy, 3 large flags, coupons, etc. A great time was had by all.

After lunch & naps, they boys put on swimsuits & played in their new "Water Park" that Mimi & Pawpaw brought for them. They both had a really fun time splashing around, running & jumping, sliding, etc. in the water.

After dinner, we ended up in downtown St. Charles for the fireworks show. It was WAY past Trip & Quinn's bedtime, but they did really well overall. After waiting in line for a LONG time, we finally ended up getting the Funnel Cakes I was salivating over and they were YUMMY! Trip wasn't so sure at first, but after the first warm bite, he was hooked!! Quinn was terrified of the fireworks (we were fairly close to where they were being set off). He wore ear muff hearing protection to protect his sensitive ears, but he still cried on & off throughout the firework display. Not sure if it was the noise, the fear of them "getting him" or just being up 3 hours past bedtime! The rest of us had fun, though!

On the 6th of July, we went to a Freedom Fest put on by a Christian organization. It wasn't all it was cracked up to be, but we did enjoy seeing the tethered hot air balloon. We watched them set it up from start to finish. I wanted to go for a quick ride (only about 30 feet off the ground), but we decided the line was too long & were ready to leave. Hope all of you had a fantastic 4th of July, too! May God continue to bless America!

Enjoy the slideshow (*disclaimer* if the pictures seem sideways & cut off, try to delete your cache, then refresh your page.... this should make it work):

Catch Up

well... lots going on around here the last month or so & i have been too lazy to post. my parents were here for 3 weeks in may to early june while our babysitter was in Russia adopting their 5th kid (the 2nd adoptee). She is 11 yrs old, her name is Maria (nickname is Masha). She is an adorable little girl... so bright eyed & sweet. She is starting to warm up to me now (before she wouldn't say anything even when I practiced the Russian phrases I learned online for her). Yesterday when I picked up the boys, she stood right by me as I climbed in my car & chatted with Miss Chris... literally, i couldn't shut my door b/c she was standing so close... it was really sweet!


my dad & i both celebrated our birthdays while they were here. that was a rare treat!! here are a couple of pics from each:











mom & dad kept they boys busy with trips to the Magic House (our children's museum) & Missouri Childrens Botanical Garden. They also visited our local park a couple of times. I am so thankful for their willingness to come up for 3 weeks to help out with the kids (& us) while Chris was gone to Russia.


while Mom & Dad were here, we took them to a River City Rascals game (a minor league baseball team that plays about 15 minutes away). When we walked in the gate, a girl who worked there asked Trip if he wanted to race Rascal (the mascot) around the bases. Trip, my shy cautious firstborn, said with head & eyes tilted to the ground, "nope". After we walked in a few steps, I kneeled down & asked him again if he wanted to go on the field & race Rascal. He said, "OK, I will". We talked about how he didn't have to if he didn't want to, but he walked back over to the girl & said, "I changed my mind. I want to race Rascal!" In the fourth inning, she came to our seats & took Trip to the dugout. We waited there for 1/2 an inning & then he walked out to 2nd base w/her & Rascal (they raced from 2nd base to home plate). I WAS SO PROUD!!! I really thought he would flip out 1/2 way to 2nd base, pitch a fit, & run back to me completely embarrassed... boy did he prove me wrong!


Here is the video...


So... he started a little early, but can you blame him??? ... that Rascal is HUGE!! As soon as he came off the field, he said, "Mom, I beat him even though his legs were a lot longer". And then when we got home, I showed him the video.... *duhn, duhn, duhn*.... he had no idea that the Hot Dog had knocked Rascal over during the race!! (OOPS) He said, "Mama, that was kind of cheating, wasn't it?" I agreed but reminded him that he was winning the race when it happened & probably would have won anyway!!

We also got to spend an evening with the Willis family in May when they came down to pick up their engine-troubled van. The kids played & had a blast while we chatted with Brenda & Jason. We went out to eat with them (like we often did before they moved back to Iowa) and had a good visit. Jason thrilled my kids with the extreme ketchup squirt trick (now they insist that I squirt their ketchup from as high above the plate as I can!! thanks for that one Jason :0)

i love this pic of the kids:
Quinn, Ally, Trip, & Drew


Trip & Quinn wrestled with Grandpap a lot and I think the old man had a blast with the boys.









last summer when my parents were here, my dad bought them a slip-n-slide. trip tried it a couple of times & did not like it at all. we got it out a couple of weeks ago & my-oh-my how a year can change things. that kid was AMAZING!! here are a couple of pics & a video!


no pics of quinn on said slip-n-slide. he reacted like trip did last year... not a fan AT all! maybe next year...




the video:



quinn is well on his way to being potty trained... pray for our patience. i'll post on that when the deed is done!!

God Bless America

Trip joined the kids choir at church a few months ago & has been going to practices each sunday in between services off & on. His 1st performance was at Easter & can be seen here.

For his 2nd performance, they learned "God Bless America". Here is a video of his performance:



Quinn learned the song with Trip (nice perk of having a big brother. at age 2, he is learning most things his 4 yr old brother is learning... including some math... basic addition). His performance for me is here:

Roller Skates, Bikes, & Scooters

as the boys get older, they are really beginning to experiment with other modes of transportation. trip is borrowing roller skates from Ms. Chris & can move ok on them now. he also has a Razor scooter that Santa brought him last year. he is pretty amazing on it for a 4 year old (wish i had video of him on it). he had a pretty bad wipe out the other day, but it didn't keep him from wanting to ride again.

last weekend, he kept asking me to take the training wheels of his bike. i was hesitant & referred him to his father for that request. after more than a day of asking us, chuck agreed to take off the training wheels & let him try. he was soooo shaky at first. i was nervous for him b/c our driveway is a hill & our street is a hill. our neighbors were loading their car for a picnic & offered their driveway for trip to practice riding since it is much flatter than ours. after they left, we took him over & within 10 minutes or so he was riding so much better. the next day, we took him to the church to ride in the carpeted gym. quinn fell coming in & skinned his knee. while i was trying to calm him, chuck started out walking by trip on the bike to catch him if he began to lose his balance. while quinn & i were out looking for a bandaid, trip became an expert bike rider. quinn & i walked back in the gym after being gone about 5 minutes & chuck was standing in the middle of the gym with trip doing laps around him without any assistance at all. the kid is superbly coordinated, balanced, & daring! i am so proud of him.

last, but not least.... we went to the gym again today to let trip ride his bike (it had stormed & the ground was still wet outside) & we brought quinn's plastic scooter. he usually just straddles & walks with it instead of riding. much to my suprise, he somehow learned to ride a scooter since the last time i saw him. he puts one foot on & pushes himself with the other foot. it will probably be a little while before he is balanced enough to put his other foot on & really ride, but this is a great start!

enjoy the movie montage.....

Kentucky Lakes

This post (among many) is LONG overdue. Several weeks ago, we met Chuck's parents in Kentucky (about 1/2 way between our houses) for a weekend. They rented a "bungalow" (ie. mini log cabin). The place we stayed at was super cool. In the summertime, they have lots of things to do including a zero entry pool, iceberg blob, paddle boats, putt putt, etc. We got to play putt putt , but it was too cold for anything else. They also have a marina where lots of boats were docked. Our bungalow was right on the lake, and we got to see some boats & barges go by. The boys loved throwing rocks into the lake with Mimi & Pawpaw. Trip especially loved DRIVING the golf cart that Pawpaw rented for 1/2 a day. (He sat in Pawpaw's lap & actually steered the golf cart all around the resort. We only went off the road a couple of times before Pawpaw straightened us back up.) Below are a few pictures from the weekend. I wish I had taken more. We had such a great time & look forward to going again soon! THANKS Charles & Sharon!

PAT

when i was pregnant with trip, we heard about a program called Parents As Teachers thru the public school system and signed up for it thru my labor/delivery class. the following was taken from their website:

The concept for Parents as Teachers was developed in the 1970s when Missouri educators noted that
children were beginning kindergarten with varying levels of learning readiness. Research showed that
greater family involvement in children's learning is a critical link in the child's development of academic
skills, including reading and writing. Early childhood professionals suggested that a program to help parents
understand their role in encouraging their child's development right from birth could help prepare children
for school and life success. Such a program, available to all families, would help level the playing field for all
children.

the program is free & is for parents with kids age 0-3 yrs. we have a parent educator who was assigned to us (who has an early childhood education degree as most of them do, but has decided not to teach while her children are young). she started coming to our house 4 times a year when trip was just 6 weeks old. she brings age appropriate games, activities, & books each time she comes. she gives us ideas of what we can work on with the kids & gives us handouts as to what they should be able to do at their age, why they do certain things, etc. there are also group meetings throughout the year, where they have fun themed activities at the early childhood center where you can come & let your kids play & learn new things. when trip was a baby, we went to an infant massage meeting. we've been to a "messy play" meeting where the kids got to play with things of all types of textures and most recently we went to a "garden" meeting. there are usually 25 families or so at each of them with tons of activities for them to do. at the garden one, they both got to make ladybug crafts, dig thru soil with shovels to find plastic bugs, see garden veggies up close with a magnifying glass, and plant marigold seeds in yogurt cups.

thru PAT, we also got assistance with trip's stuttering. we talked about it a lot with melanie, our parent educator, and she assured us that a lot of kids go thru a period of stuttering between age 2 & 4 (because their minds are working/learning much faster than their mouth can speak their words), but most grow out of it on their own after a few months. after 6+ months of his speech dysfluency (the proper term), she recommended us getting him tested. thru the school system, speech therapists tested him & his dysfluency was bad enough that he qualified for speech therapy. we have been going to speech therapy once a week for just over a year (FOR FREE... well actually, they pay us mileage to bring him! they do this as an incentive for parents to get treatment before the kids get into school, or as early as possible. we've probably made about $270 or so this last year just for taking him to free speech therapy!!!) trip has now been stutter free for about 3 months, so they are officially dismissing him from the program this week (YEA!). without PAT, and our parent educator taking a real interest in our family, i don't know what we would have done about getting trip the speech therapy he needed. PAT is a great program! i would recommend it to anyone who is pregnant or has kids under age 3.

below are some pics from the garden "meeting" we went to a few weeks ago.

t & q digging for plastic bugs

quinn looking at you up close!

trip checking out some real carrots

their ladybug crafts (the legs are actually tracings of their fingers)

planting marigold seeds in the yogurt cups they decorated

world's best MAMA!

so, i have been in a crazy emotional state for a while now, but it got much worse while chuck was on crutches for 3 weeks. i don't know if it stress related or what, but i have been really irritable & angry with my boys all the time. then, i'll end up in a puddle of tears feeling so guilty about how harsh i have been towards them. they really are great kids, but i just feel slightly out of control lately.

a couple of weeks ago, i had a really bad day. i called mama the next day & she immediately offered to fly up to help. seriously... who does that? i'll tell you who... my Mama! she is the greatest mom in the world!! (and i'm not just saying that b/c she is the only one i've ever had.) my life was way less stressful this week with her around. unfortunately she had to leave today after spending a week with us. she kept the boys every day & did really cool things with them (from making cookies & crafts, to a 'party at the park' and nature walk, etc.) and of course, she helped me a ton around the house, too! anyway... i just had to give a shout out to Mama!

HERE'S TO YOU MAMA! I LOVE YOU MORE THAN YOU WILL EVER KNOW! IT MEANT THE WORLD TO ME FOR YOU TO COME UP HERE AT THE FIRST SIGN OF MY DISTRESS. (and sorry there were tears when you left {from Trip} and a few welling up now {from me}.) YOU'RE THE BEST & I CAN'T WAIT UNTIL YOU COME BACK!

p.s. thanks to my daddy for letting her come! love you & see you in a few weeks daddy!

belated Happy Easter 2008

we had a fairly eventful Easter this year. i took the boys to an Egg Hunt at a neighboring church the weekend before. it was FREEZING outside as you'll notice in the pictures below... they are wearing winter coats & hat. they literally had 4,000 eggs just dumped out in a small section of the church yard & not too many kids because of the weather. we had lunch at the church afterwards! it was a great ministry to the town.

chuck's mom came in town easter weekend. we shopped for easter shirts for the boys & dyed eggs. chuck has been an invalid since spraining his ankle 2 weeks ago, so it was nice having her here to help. they had fun getting the Easter basket goodies (the Easter bunny opted not to bring candy this year, since they got so much at the egg hunt). we had the strangest weather day on Easter sunday. a couple of times throughout the day, it snowed really big snowflakes & several other times, we had some heavy sleeting.

trip joined the kids choir a few weeks ago & sang in the worship center on the big stage on Easter. he did a really great job. he actually sang the words for the most part & did some of the hand motions. he sang in 2 out of 4 services. he did better in the first one. there were a lot more kids in the 2nd one and i think he was too distracted to pay attention to the choir directors.
hope you enjoy the slideshow & video...

chuck shortened the video clip for me & sent it to google video so i could put it on this blog. because of the upload to google, it lost a lot of quality. trip is in the vest to the left of the choir leader in turquoise.