The Terrible "Two's"

Well today was Nolan's 2nd birthday and we will be celebrating tomorrow with Jennie's family. Her parents, brother (Greg) and his family, both her grandmothers, and her Aunt and Uncle (Suzie and Chuck) will be coming over to our house for a birthday / Labor Day cookout. They say that when a child turns 2 they are considered to be in the "terrible two" phase but I think Nolan got a jump start on that phase of his life. That kid gets into absolutely everything and does most of it with a smile. I don't know if he just thinks it is funny or if he knows he shouldn't be doing it and is just mocking us. Personally I think it is the later of the two. Although, if this is as bad as it gets I will take this (that might just be wishful thinking). He is going to be the one who pushes us to our wits end and tries every bit of our patience. It is just amazing to see the stuff that he does and the things that he gets into. The other kids had there little things and would do small stuff but nothing compared to what Nolan does.
Jennie and I took the kids to a park yesterday and had a picnic because it was such a nice day and we think Nolan may finally be getting the throwing thing down. At 2 Maddux was throwing everything that he could get his hands on. Anything that was round was going to be thrown. Nolan is a little bit of a late bloomer and hasn't got that into throwing. Yesterday the kids were throwing rocks into a river to see who could make a bigger splash. Nolan started showing some promise as he picked up rocks with them and started throwing them in the water. The form needs a little bit of work but we think he is well on his way. Brooklyn has also gotten a lot better with throwing and Jennie thinks she is on her way. Hopefully Grandma will still be coaching and can get her on her team.

It is just amazing at how fast these kids are growing up. Payton is 6 weeks old today and already holds her head up and is attentive. Brooklyn is going to school all day now and has become very independent. Maddux is doing karate and soccer and is a very smart boy. And now Nolan is 2 and likes to do lots of things for himself. Where has the time went? I hope to have some pictures up tomorrow after the big party, so until next time.......

"I had the awesomest first day of school".

Today was Brooklyn's first day of full time school. Her Kindergarten was only half day and today was First Grade. She is growing up so fast. I took the morning off to make her breakfast and walk her to school. When we got to the school she didn't even say goodbye or give me a kiss. She just kept walking and went right in to her class without saying a word. So independent at such a young age. She loves to go to school and already can't wait to go back tomorrow. We will see how long that lasts. She managed to get in the same class as some of her friends from last year as well as one of the girls on her soccer team so I think that helped a little bit.

She read "Frog Goes to School" and "Bear Snores On" and if anyone would like a little book report all you have to do is ask. She is also very excited to have recess and be able to play outside with the other kids. She is mastering the monkey bars and has made it to the second bar without falling off (she said it was raining so they were slick). She got to eat lunch in the cafeteria with her friends and all the other kids. She is also very excited about her sticker star and the chance to get different prizes and awards. She also knows not to get checks or else they take away half of recess. She also got to go the Principals office on the first day of school. It wasn't because she did something wrong but because she didn't know that she was to walk home after school. The school called Jennie and told her Brooklyn was standing there and wasn't sure what to do. I guess with her walking right into school and not saying anything we forgot to tell her to walk home after. There is nothing like getting a call on the first day of school telling you that your kid was waiting for you. It is funny because when I got home from work and asked her what she did in school she said "I don't know" but when I asked her what she wanted me to list on the blog she has been talking for the last 45 minutes. I guess we should be thankful that she likes school so much. As I said earlier, we will see how long that last.

Maddux and Brooklyn had their first soccer games of the year this Saturday and had a blast. It is amazing to see the improvement in Brooklyn's game from a year ago. She is still no Pele but I think she is still gaining some of her coordination. She is so tall and it is funny to watch her run down the field sometimes. She started in goalie which I thinks she kind of likes, not sure why but maybe it is because she doesn't have to run as much and it doesn't make her "sweaty". For those of you who have not heard that story, she played last Spring and when we asked her if she wanted to play in the Fall as well she said no because it made her "sweaty". However, once Maddux told us he wanted to play so did she. She did get to run up and down a couple of times and kick the ball but we need to teach her to stay on her side of the filed and in her zone so she doesn't get called for offsides. I don't think they would call it but her coach is trying to teach them the proper placement. She really likes to run all over the field and chase the ball. She is not all that aggressive when she gets to the ball and really likes to run at the end of the pack and watch what is going on.

Now Maddux on the other hand is going to be a beast. He doesn't care who has the ball because he is going to try and get it. He has a little girl on his team and they are by far the best and most aggressive players. They constantly fight each other for the ball and like to take it away from each other. She played in the Spring and has a leg up on him and gets a lot of the balls before he does. But if he is close he is going to get it. He had two goals in his first game and the second one was right in front of the net and both him and the girl were right there. She had the ball and was going to kick it in and he cut right in and kicked the ball into the goal. I have some video that I hope to figure out how to post and get it on because there is some good footage of him tracking the ball down (you will have to ignore my constant yelling throughout the video as I may be one of those crazy parents). There are a couple shots where the other kid is running down the field with the ball and Maddux is half a field behind him and ends up catching the kid and kicking the ball away. He has some amazing speed and the coach now calls him the kid with the "rocket boots". He did have one moment where he threw the ball in front out of bounds and then stood there while the other team got the ball and went all the way down the field and scored. I looked for him after the score and he was still standing where he threw the ball in. I don't think he had any idea what to do so we will be working on that this week. Maddux absolutely loaves soccer and has been waiting a whole year to be able to play. Brooklyn on the other hand just plays it because Maddux is. You will often see her dancing on the field or picking flowers while the game is going on. I have been told that Jennie was the same way and picked up the aggression later so there is still hope. Maddux already has it.


This final picture is Maddux at the end of the day. He was so tired and wore out from all the running that he didn't even change out of his uniform. He just fell asleep on the couch and was done for the rest of the day. I hope to be able to figure the video thing out and put that up shortly. Well I have to get to bed as Brooklyn's first day of school is tomorrow and she has requested French Toast and bacon for breakfast so I need to get up early.

Oh, What a Mess!!

Before:
Tonight we are watching Allison and Ty's little boy, Tristan. He is the same age as Nolan although quite different in size. What he lacks in size he makes up for in heart as he doesn't take anything from Nolan. Anyways, his mom loaded us up with dinner and the boys love pasta. I think they got more on them than they actually got in their mouth. I think we have a picture similar to this with each of our kids. For some reason they love pasta and love to make a mess with it.

After:
This is Nolan after most dinners. He goes straight from the table to the backyard for a shake off and then is deposited straight into the bath tub to clean up. You would think that he would be hungry with all the food he gets on him and drops on the floor but I guess when you have 4 bowls of something you are bound to get some in your stomach. Anyways, just thought we would put some of these pictures up so you can see what dinner time is like at our house each night.

Grandma Wendy, Aunt Crystal, Blake & Ashlynn

This past week we were able to spend some time with my mom, my sister (Crystal) and my niece and nephew (Ashlynn and Blake) as they were out to visit and see Payton. I know the kids loved having their cousins around to play with especially since they are fairly close in age. It was kind of funny to see the 4 of them share the bunk beds. Brooklyn and Maddux were on the top, Blake and Ashlynn were on the bottom, and Sweet Roll was sleeping on the floor in the port-a-crib. Five kids in one room, it is amazing that any one got any sleep. We were able to go to the park, Jennie took the kids swimming at the rec, and they got to spend lots of time outside playing. I think they had a lot of fun and enjoyed their visit. I just felt bad that I had to work the whole time they were here and didn't get to spend a lot of time with them. We usually only get to see them once a year so we really enjoy that time we do get.

We did get some good family pictures of all the kids and then some with Grandma and most of the grandkids. We were just missing Kristian and Michael who are Dawn's boys. One of these days we will get that picture. Hopefully before they are all grown up. As usual Grandma Wendy spoiled the kids while they were here and brought them lots of little gifts from their trip to Georgia, which is where they were before coming to our place. We do love to spend time with family so if anyone else wants to come visit us feel free.

This last picture is one of Nolan holding his baby sister. It is one of the few pictures where Payton's eyes are open. Nolan loves to hold his little sister and has even picked her up a couple of times out of her bassinet. We now have to lock our bedroom door when she is sleeping otherwise he will try to get her out.

Anyways, we hope that everyone is doing fine and we love to hear from you all.

Very Busy Day.

Yesterday was a very busy day for us as we had a lot to do. My mom, sister (Crystal), and niece and nephew (Ashlynn & Blake)are here visiting and spending some time with Payton and the rest of the grandkids. It is nice to have them visiting and I think they are having a good time. We took all the kids to the park next to our library. They have built a huge wooden course which has slides, swings, poles, and lots of room to run around. It is always busy when we are there but they had a good time. Nolan did take a bit of a fall as he was swinging on the regular swings and Jennie gave him a little push. Turns our he wasn't holding on all that tight and fell backwards on his head and back. That was the end of the park and the fun for him. However, a couple hours and 1 nap later and he was back to his normal self. We then grabbed some McDonald's for lunch and headed back to the house.

Jennie and I then had to head with Payton to her cardiology appointment. I don't know if Jennie was nervous or not but I was. Even though the doctors didn't seem to be worried too much I was. They did an EKG and ECG on her and those two test probably took an hour to an hour and a half. The worst part was that both the doctor and the nurse didn't really say anything during the tests so we are sitting there waiting for something and they just keep looking and taking different pictures. We didn't know if this was just part of the procedure or if they found something that they were really looking at. About an hour after we had been there the cardiologist finally told us that she has VSD. This is when there is a little hole in the muscle between the left and right ventricle of the heart. He said it is fairly common and is seen in about 50% of all newborns. Out of that 50%, 88% of those will close and heal by themselves within the first 2 years. There is really nothing else that they can do at this time and they seemed optimistic that everything was fine. We will have to have regular checkups during the first 2 years to make sure that everything heals up fine. There doesn't appear to be any long term effects as long as it heals and closes on its own. It is still a little nerve-racking knowing that she has it. I guess we shouldn't worry about it too much as there is not a lot that we can do about it.




Then last night we went to the Indians game with Spencer, Greg and Tacie, and Cannon & Addysen. The played the Orioles, which is Greg's favorite team, who are in town for a three game series. We got really good tickets off of Ebay and were only two rows from the field in right field. The fours kids sat in one row and the four adults sat across from them in the next row. I think the kids had a blast. Brooklyn was dancing all night long in the middle of the aisle. Cannon and Maddux were having little fights throughout the game and playing games to try and get Spencer's Sour Patch Kids. If they guessed the color then they got five of them; if they didn't then they got whichever one he pulled. Somehow they ended up getting all his Sour Patch Kids and I know they didn't guess all the right colors. I think he just figured that they weren't going to stop asking so he might as well give them all of them.



I think the highlight of the night was when we got a couple things of cotton candy for the kids to share. It was funny watching them as the boys took huge chunks and ate it as fast as they could while the girls took there time and ate little bites. The Indians did come back and won the game in the eighth inning to give them a 5 game winning streak. They are still dead last in their division but are on a little of a streak. They have been trading some of their players getting young prospects in return. I think they realize that they are out of it for the year and are starting to do a little rebuilding. Anyways we got home a little after 11:00 and the kids were spent. Brooklyn did manage to stay awake the whole way home but was out as soon as she hit the pillow. Well we just wanted to update you on our day and how Payton's appointment went.

Our day today.

Today we went to Kiddie Kandids and had some pictures of the kids taken as well as one of the family for our front room. They both turned out pretty good although we couldn't get a real smile out of Maddux. He use to have the best smile and now everything is fake. He looks like Fire Marshall Bill. For those of you who don't know who that is, it was a character that Jim Carrey use to play on In Living Color.




This was the family picture which turned out pretty good. Sorry it is a little fuzy but I scanned it from a wallet size and then blew it up. The kids were really good considering we were there for about 45 minutes for the whole thing. Outside of trying to get Maddux to smile we had no issues. Maybe it was the fact that we bribed them with treats but I guess you have to do what you have to do.


We then went to a karate party that Maddux's dojo was having. They had some pizza, some Cold Stone Creamery ice cream, some face painting, games, and a dunk tank filled with water. They had a lot of fun and dunked some girls quite a few times. Brooklyn and Jennie then went and bought Brooklyn a bunch of new clothes for school, which starts in a couple of weeks. It is hard to believe that Summer is almost over and Brooklyn will be in school all day now. She is growing up way to fast.

This picture was taken at Bill and Connie's last weekend when everyone was over for dinner. It is nice to have family so close and willing to cook for us. We are also lucky that both of Jennie's grandmothers are here right now and they enjoy being around the baby.

Sorry for the delay in postings but our computer was infected and Greg took it to one of "his guys" to fix. I don't know if the kids picked something up but it has been giving us problems for some time now. We are hoping to get it back in the next week and then I can get back to some regular posting.

Payton is doing fine. She was scheduled to have her surgery tomorrow, Wednesday, but she had a regular appointment with her pediatrician on Monday and she thinks Payton has a minor heart murmur. She was not too concerned about it but wanted to have a cardiologist look at it before they do the surgery. So we have an appointment next Tuesday for the cardiologist and then will reschedule the surgery for the following week. This doesn't appear to be anything serious but they just want to take the necessary precautions since she is so young. We will keep everyone up to date on her health.

Lastly, we want to thank everyone who has sent gifts, clothing, and brought us dinner. It is nice to have such a close family and good friends that look out for us. We are truly blessed. The other kids also seem to be making out as they have been getting little presents with those packages. They are going to think that this is what happens when you have new brothers and sisters and are not going to want Jennie and I to stop. Thank you again for all your love and support and stay tuned for more pictures.