Here are some pictures I took of the kids today before going to Church. I just wanted to get some good ones of them in front of the Christmas decorations while they were dressed nice. There are also a couple in front of the new fireplace.






Here is one of Maddux and Nolan from the week before. This again was right before Church and shows them dressed like twins. We somehow got the exact same clothes for them and dressed them alike. I don't think we bought them at the same time but think it just worked out this way. Nolan loves to dress like a big boy and be like Maddux.

One Last Bike Ride

Well we have had pretty decent weather the last couple of days which enabled the kids to get outside for one last bike ride. It was also a good break for Jennie and I as the kids can tear apart a house and any time we can get them outside we do. It was still a little chilly, as you can see from their rosy red cheeks, but sunny with no rain or snow.
















Maddux still thinks it is summer as he is always wearing shorts no matter what it is like outside. I think Jennie finally went through his drawers and put all his shorts because he will wear them if he can find them. I think he was just happy to be out riding his bike that he really didn't think about what he was wearing.



























After they were tired of running around outside we started to put up the Christmas tree and other decorations. I started outside by hanging the lights and setting up the lawn decorations. I had some help for about 5 minutes and then it either wasn't fun any more or they got cold because they all went inside. I finally got everything set up and now just need to figure out how to get power to everything.














While I was outside the kids and Jennie were setting up the Christmas tree and decorations inside. I don't know how much help the kids actually were but everything did eventually get set up. I only with the house could smell this good all the time. We will now see how long everything stays where it is before Nolan tries to destroy everything. The bottom half of our tree may have nothing on it but the time Christmas comes around.

Bounce City and the Cleveland Browns.

Yesterday, Saturday, Maddux had another promotional test to advance to the next stage in his karate training. He had to show the skills that he has developed over the last couple of months to see if he was ready to advance. He did an amazing job and was rewarded for his hard work. He maintains the same blue striped belt but gets another stripe across it. His next step will be the yellow striped belt. He has really progressed with his karate and enjoys going on a weekly basis. His Shehan did mention that he thinks Maddux should move up to the advanced class. There are times when Maddux drifts off as he becomes bored and loses interest while the others do a lot of the stuff that he already knows. I am not sure how he will react to the advance class. There are a lot of people who are 3 and 4 belts above him and he would be the youngest by far. I think the youngest kid in that class right now is 8 or 9 and Maddux will turn 5 in a month and a half. There are also some adults in the class so I am skeptical about that. The teacher would also be different and he likes to yell loud so that could also affect him. I do think that it will be good for his progression and will help him develop a lot quicker than he would were he is at. I am suppose to talk to his current teacher, Shehan, next week and we will see. Maddux is excited about it now but I think once he gets in the class it could be different. Who knows, maybe I am wrong and he will love it. I guess there is only one way to find out.

After his karate we decided to try out a new place that had just opened for kids to go play. It is called Bounce City and I guess they have them around the US but nothing around here. It is a giant indoor play land with lots of inflatable slides and bouncers for the kids to play on. They also have an arcade inside with many different games. The have a similar type place in the city next to us that the kids love so we figured we would try this one out. The one that we went to yesterday is about three times the size of the other one and has many more things to do. It is owned by two players from the Cleveland Browns, Josh Cribbs and Darnell Dinkins. It was kind of cool because with it being the grand opening yesterday they had a bunch of their teammates come and help support them.

Here are the older kids with Darnell Dinkins who is a tight end for the Browns and one of the owners. It is amazing to see these athletes in real life as they are a lot bigger in person. I think it was very cool of them to hang out all day and have their teammates come out to sign autographs. The down side was the number of people that showed up just for autographs. There were a bunch of collectors who were just there to collect autographs and really clogged the place up. I am sure that they were taking all those items to sell on ebay and used the store to get their free autographs.

Here is Josh Cribbs taking some time out to sing autographs and take pictures for people. He is one of the premier return men in the NFL and the co-owner of the place. I know he had to have a long day as he was there the whole time. The other players would come for a little while, sign autographs and then leave. He seemed super nice and was willing to talk with people and probably signed hundreds of autographs. I did get a chance to meet him and talk with him a little bit about the place and he seemed really nice. A lot of athletes wouldn't do that and don't want to be bothered, which I can understand given all the attention they get when out, but he was not like that and was very down to earth.

Andre Davis and Steve Heiden also showed up to support their teammate. They are 2 of the better players for the Browns and big in the city of Cleveland. Steve was very nice and didn't mind talking to all the fans. Andre however spent most of the time on his cell phone. And that was funny because he actually had one of the bodyguards hold the phone to his ear while he signed with the other hand. He didn't do a lot of talking to the fans and didn't seem like he really cared about being there. I would thing that he could turn off the phone for the 15 minutes he was there and acknowledge his fans but that was not to be. Maybe it is just me but I think it is kind of sad that you show up to sing autographs and spend the majority of the time on your cell phone. I know that Braylon Edwards and Kellen Winslow also showed up but from what I heard they showed up pretty early and only stayed for a couple of minutes. They are probably the two biggest known Browns after Brady Quinn.

The rest of the pictures are of the kids playing on the various set ups.

First up we have Maddux on the rope ladder. The object is to keep your weight balanced and try to make it all the way to the top. It may look easy but anyone who has tried this knows it is anything but. Maddux and Cannon both tried it numerous times and made it to the last rung but fell off before touching the end. There were not many kids who actually made it without falling. It is funny to watch them get so close only to lose their balance and fall off.

Next we have Brooklyn and Addysen jousting it out in the octagon. They had a huge blowup octagon that two people could go into and joust with each other. They would give the kids padded helmets and padded jousts and then let them go at each other for 3 minutes. Then you just went at it and tried to knock each other down. It got pretty intense but no one got hurt and the kids had a lot of fun. Brooklyn ended up taking the brunt of the blows and just wasn't quite as aggressive as Addysen was but still had fun doing it. I think she wanted to be on the other end of the beating so she took Brynnley in later on. I did not witness any of this one but I hear that Brooklyn won that match up.

Next was Maddux and Cannon's turn. This was a little funner to watch as Cannon had his way with Maddux. Maddux would get knocked down and then would get whopped when he got back up and tried looking for Cannon. As you can see from this picture he did get a couple of good shots in but also took the majority of them and I don't think he even cared. He just liked being in there with his cousin fighting.

Here he is getting ready to take a shot to the face. He ended up taking a couple of these during the match. You could see them start to wear down a little towards the end. It is funny because they come out throwing and swinging all over the place and once their arms start to tire a little bit it is more about trying to move away and have the other person chase you. I think that if they would have had another five minutes Cannon would have wore himself out and Maddux may have had a chance.

They also had an arcade with lots of games for the kids to play. They had skeet ball, which I think is the kids favorite, as well as basketball, football, dancing, and an arm wrestling game. I think Nolan's favorites were the arm wrestling and the dancing. He didn't get to actually play either but every time I went back in there to find him, that is where he was.

The nice thing about this place was that they had a couple of things for the smaller kids to play on. The other ones where so crowed with bigger kids that Nolan and Mckenzie would have been stomped. They had one in particular that had a bunch of different safety vehicles that they could climb on and play with. They also had a bouncer filled with balls but the kids mainly played in the first one. They did manage to go down some of the bigger slides with the older kids and really liked those. It just took them awhile to climb up and I think the older kids just wanted to go and go and the younger ones where holding them back a little. The younger kids only stayed about 2 hours as they were in need of a nap and were getting a little out of control. The other kids got a good 4 hours of playing around and I know that my kids were wore out as they were in bed pretty early.


Here are Mckenzie and Nolan going down the slide headfirst. Of course as soon as Nolan did it Mckenzie had to follow. I don't think they were really suppose to do it but the kid watching didn't seem to care and didn't say anything. They probably did this continually for about 15 minutes before they lost interest and wanted to move on to something new.



Another one of Nolan going down headfirst with a great big smile on his face. Pay no attention to the gesture he is giving with his left hand. The little kids had so much fun, at least for the first hour, and had smiles on their faces the whole time.















Here is Brooklyn going thru the maze on one of the slides.





Here are the kids climbing up the ladder to get to the big slide. This is the one that they took the little kids up but lost interest and patience after a couple trips up. Nolan and Mckenzie did love the slide down so I do appreciate their willingness to help them up a couple of times. It was funny because the first time that Nolan went down he leaned forward a little to much and ended up somersaulting the whole way down.

We were grateful that Addysen, Cannon, Brynnley, and Mckenzie could come and hang out with their cousins. While I am sure that Tacie enjoyed not having them for a little bit I think Brooklyn, Maddux, and Nolan enjoyed being able to play with them more. I know they love it when they can play with their cousins and we are lucky that they are so close.

The Pains of Potty Training

Payton is getting so big and has discovered her fingers and thumb. We think she is going to be the second of the kids to suck their thumbs. Brooklyn and Maddux really never got into it but Nolan loved his. It is kind of funny because since Payton's surgery she will not take her binky anymore but is discovering that she likes fingers. She will stick it in her mouth and just wrap her other fingers around her nose and go to town. She is also quite the talker and noisemaker. Once she gets going she will keep it up for some time. She is starting to develop her personality and is going to be a social butterfly like her sister. They sure don't get that from their dad. It is amazing how fast they grow up. She is 4 months old today and has already been thought so much. She had a follow up visit with the cardiologist today and everything is doing fine. The holes haven't closed yet but they are not worried and seem to think that everything will be fine as she gets older. I guess that is a relief but still a little worrisome to know that they are there.

I debated on whether or not to put this part on or not but figured what the heck. Jennie has started to potty train Nolan to get him out of diapers and into big boys. Well with that Nolan has figured out how to take his diaper off. The problem is that he has no idea how to put one back on so his latest thing is to take his diaper off and then just put his pants back on. He really loves to do this when he goes down for a nap or goes to bed. He will take his diaper off, throw it on the floor, put his pants back on and then fall asleep. Jennie doesn't want to put the diaper on because it will wake him up, and sometimes he is a nightmare to get to sleep, so she will leave him as is. Well it never fails that he will go to the bathroom during his nap and soak his bed. Needless to say there has been even more laundry going on that before.

These are pictures from the other night. Jennie and I were watching TV with Payton in the back room and the other kids were in our room watching Alvin and the Chipmunks. Well Nolan comes out with no diaper or pants on. He turns around and all you see is poop all over his bum and down his legs. We thought that was bad but had no idea what we had in store for us in our room. I apologize before hand if these make anyone sick but here is a little bit of what Jennie had to clean up. He managed to get his diaper off and then looks like he wiped his bum with the wall. Thinking he did not get it all he climbed onto our bed and used the sheets and Brooklyn's jacket to finish wiping.



Of course he did this right before we were going to go to bed so we had to change the sheets, wash Brooklyn's jacket and disinfect the whole room before we could go to bed. Jennie did a very good job at getting the smell out. I tried to help but being around poop and throw up will make me throw up so she had to do it by herself, lucky her.



If it is not one thing it is another with Nolan. He is definitly the one who will try our patience and usually does it on a daily basis. When he is not taking off his diaper he is in to something or pulling something out to play with that he is not suppose to. He has taken a couple of dives off the top of the dresser but hasn't quite learned his lesson. Well we just wanted to share a little of what we, well Jennie mostly, get to deal with on a daily basis.

The Last Week.

Sorry it has been awhile since the last post but Jennie has had me out in the yard and doesn't give me breaks. Since the weather has been decent over the last week she had me rake up all the leaves, cut the grass one last time, get everything ready for the winter and plant our new bushes. Since we had to update the sewer pipes to the house and plant all new grass we really haven't done anything with the beds. I just cut them out this summer and put mulch around the house. Then we went and got all our bushes last weekend since they were 60% off and then I had to plant them all yesterday. That is how I spent my day off. It was a lot of work but well worth it as the yard looks a lot better and we now have some actual "curb appeal".

This is what happens when you leave Nolan in the house alone. I was out raking and blowing the leaves and Jennie had just put Payton down for a nap and came out to help with the leaves. She couldn't have been outside for more than 10 or 15 minutes and when she came back in this is what she found. Nolan had proceeded to take all the kitchen utensils out of the drawer and place them on the floor. He also started to get into the pots and pans. I think he is going to grow up to be a chef. He loves to play with everything in the kitchen and loves to help me make things from time to time. I made homemade chicken noodle soup the other week and let him help quite a bit. He absolutely loved it and now gets into everything.

Yesterday I got to go eat lunch with Brooklyn at school again. Due to Veteran's Day the banks were closed and I had the day off. Between all my yard work I took an hour off to go eat with Brooklyn at school. I stopped and got McDonald's, her request, and sat with her at her table. The tables are ridiculously small and I can't fit my legs under so I have to sit sideways in order to fit. It is so much fun to sit and eat lunch with first graders. They are in awe when a parent comes to eat and love to ask all sorts of questions. It is the second time I have been able to eat with her and will not be the last. I have to do it now before it becomes uncool.

The kids also started their swimming lessons again last night and love it. Maddux is in the same class, Advanced Preschool, because he is not old enough to move up and Brooklyn is now in Level II. It is amazing to see how much they have improved in a couple of months and now Jennie and I don't have to worry as much about them when they are around the pool. I am hoping to be able to get Nolan in next. He will have to do the class with a parent in the water but he needs to learn. He is the one that Jennie and I worry the most about since he doesn't seem to have any fear. He is actually very good in the water but needs to learn more. It is kind of funny to take him to the Pirate Pool and watch he get around. He has no problem going under the water and staying there until he wants to get up. It freaks other parents out when he stays under for 10 or 15 seconds but he is fine. When he is ready he will come back up without any problems.

This week Jennie also started to potty train Nolan. He is constantly taking his clothes off and has figured out how to remove his diaper now. You will be doing something and then go into another room and he is standing there naked as can be. He loves to sit on the potty and watch TV but hasn't got the hang of it yet.




Here he is sitting on the potty watching the Wiggels. They are still his favorite and one of the only shows that he will actually sit still for and watch. Jennie plopped him in front of the TV and pumped him full on juice and treats until he went. He did manage to go a couple of times and was very proud of himself for doing so. With any luck we will be down to one in diapers in a little bit. I will be the first one to admit that I have never changed many diapers but I will be happy when the day comes that we are out of the diaper stage, as I am sure Jennie will too.

Grandpa Beard Visit.

We were glad that my father could come up and spend some time with us on Saturday. He has been in Indiana looking after my grandfather as my grandmother is in San Francisco. He really can't be by himself for long so my dad went out to spend some time with him and make sure everything was ok. Were weren't sure if we were going to get to see each other, since things were pretty busy, but were glad that he could sneak away for the day and come visit us. He was only here for a couple of hours but I know the kids loved having him here. We have been very lucky in that this is the third time we have seen him this year. We have been lucky to see him once a year in the past. I guess we will just have to keep coming up with projects to get him out here.

The kids absolutely love it when he is here. He is really like a big kid and loves to play anything with them. Here he is with Maddux playing baseball in the front yard. Not to brag or anything but Maddux can really hit the ball. He hit a couple shots from our front yard over the street. That is probably an 80 foot shot in the air with a nerf ball. If you look at the picture you can see the ball at the top well on its way. He also has a pretty good arm but we need to teach him how to catch. I have a bucket of hard balls that I take him to the park to hit every once in awhile. We haven't been lately as Maddux is now a little hesitant to step in the batters box. I beaned him on the very first pitch the last time we went. Hopefully he will get over it soon. Next Spring will be the first time he will be able to play and I am hoping that they will see him play and let him go straight to coach pitch. I think he hits and throws a little too hard for tee ball. He can't wait to play. He loves being a part of "a team." I just don't know where we are going to find the time to play everything that he wants.

My dad also got a good workout throwing the kids while he was here. I don't know how it started but know every time he comes over they go and lay down in front of the couches and put their arms up for him to grab. He then is suppose to swing them around and throw them on the couch. It is funny because after every throw Nolan will pop up and say "one more time." It is funny because there is never one more. You will have to constantly throw him until your arms are tired and you can't pick him up.

Here are some good aerial shots of the boys flying to the couch. It doesn't like they go that high until you look at the pictures on the camera. What is even more amazing is that no one got hurt and that my dad could throw them as long as he did.

















We did manage to get a couple family pictures with him here. He was here the day after Payton was born but she is so much bigger now. Here he is with his only granddaughters.

We also did get a picture of him with all grand kids. Since these opportunities don't present themselves very often we have to take advantage whenever we can. We even managed to get one semi decent shot with all the kids paying attention.






The last thing that he did right before he left was to dance with the kids. This started in January when we had him working on the house for a couple of months. We would turn the radio on and he would dance all over with them. To this day they still talk about that and every time they hear that grandpa is coming over that is the one thing they want to do. I guess it just isn't the same as dancing with mom or dad because they don't get nearly excited to do that. I guess that is grandpa and their thing. It took Nolan a little while to get in there but eventually he did. He loves to dance but may have been a little intimidated by the bigger kids.


We are so grateful that grandpa was able to find some time to come up and visit us. It would had been a shame if we were that close and didn't get to see each other. We are going to try and get him out here again this winter and promise not to put him to work. He was able to go with us last January to Kalahari for Maddux's birthday and loved it. We are thinking of going them again and since he has a plane ticket that expires in April it may work out for all of us to do that again. I know the kids, as well as Jennie and I, would love to have him out again.

Trick-or-Treat

Here are some Halloween pictures from this year. We went over to Greg and Tacie's to trick-or-treat with their kids. They live in a nice development in North Ridgeville and it was nice and quiet. Not a lot of kids and nobody driving around so that was nice. It was kind of funny because we probably came to 3 or 4 houses that just had a bowl sitting out on the front porch for the kids to take a piece of candy. I know that in most neighborhoods that bowl would have been emptied right away. I know if I was trick-or-treating as a kid I would have took the whole thing.













Greg and I took the kids out around the neighborhood while Jennie stayed at home with Payton handing out candy. The kids had a blast collecting all their candy. The look on Nolan's face after each of the first couple of houses was priceless. He came running down the driveway waiving his bag with the biggest smile on his face. I guess he thought it was pretty cool that all you had to say was trick-or-treat and someone gave you candy. He was really not old enough last year to remember Halloween so this was his first official Halloween.

Here he is with all his loot. We are not quite sure how much of that he actually ate as he was constantly sneaking pieces when no one was looking. We had to take his costume off so he didn't get it covered with candy. You can imagine how excited a two year gets when they get all that candy and have it all sitting right in front of them.










The kids also loved all the decorations that people had outside their houses and at points might have been more excited about that than some of the candy. Here is a witch that Greg's neighbor had coming out of his front yard. They also saw a giant Frankenstein that someone had right in front of their door. You had to walk under it to get to the door. They were sad because by the time that we got to that side of the street it was too late and they missed it. It was very cute though because there was a little girl who lived at the house and couldn't have been more than 6. As we were walking by she came running up to us saying, "hey I haven't seen you before." She felt bad because they had put away their candy. She was very talkative and happy to see the kids. She told us she would look for us next year and that the kids were all very cute. It was one of the cutest things I have ever seen.

Here is Nolan in his Tiger costume right before going out. I think he only actually kept the head on for the first house. He got over it very quickly and wanted nothing to do with it. He does however have the roar down.







Here are Brooklyn, Addysen, Brynnley, and Maddux before heading out. Brooklyn was The Snow Queen (from Narnia), Addysen was Miley Cyrus, Brynnley was a princess, and Maddux was the black Spiderman (Venom). I was surprised that Maddux kept his mask on for most of the night. We were very lucky that the weather was very nice for the day and was in the 60's. It made for a pleasant walk around the neighborhoods. The kids were able to wear their costumes and we didn't have to worry about them freezing or getting wet. The weather couldn't have been better.










Here is Maddux doing his best impersonation of Nolan as a Tiger. This is the head that Nolan really didn't want to wear. Maddux even has the Tiger hands as the Wiggles do.


Here we have a Nolan Sandwich. Cannon and Kenzie love the Sweet Roll so much that they gave him a big hug.











Here is Maddux with some of his loot. It was funny because after we got back all the kids emptied out their bags and started trading. They were giving away all the candy that they didn't like. I think that Cannon walked away with the most as there wasn't much, if anything, that he didn't like so he got lots of rejects.


Here is Nolan at the end of the night. He made it about half way around the block before he started to wear out. He got tired and wanted to "hold me". Basically I ended up carrying him the last few houses. He didn't have any problems going up to the house and getting the candy, just going from house to house. We dropped Nolan and Kenzie off after hitting Greg's development and then took the older kids to the development just down the street so they could visit some of Cannon and Addysen's friends and get some more candy. We took a short cut and walked through Greg's backyard and some bushes and tall grass. It was really dark and you couldn't see much. I don't think Maddux was too into it as he was still scared from watching the Thriller video the night before. By the time we got back to Greg's, Grandma, Grandpa and Great Grandma had made it over so the kids got to spend some time with them. Overall they had a very fun time and, we got, I mean they got a lot of candy.