First Lost Tooth, Finally

At 6 1/2, Caleb finally lost his first tooth! We seriously thought it might never happen! And the big one is already growing in! We hadn't even noticed!

Congrats big guy! Now, lets see how diligent the tooth fairy assigned to our house will prove to be.

If you need to keep a 14 month old occupied...

may I suggest this toy?





He discovered it in the toy cabinet on Wednesday, and played with it for 20 minutes. Then I needed to run upstairs, so I placed it with him in the playpen for another 15 minutes. Then he cried when daddy took him out of the playpen because he had to leave the toy as we were off to run errands. Later in the afternoon, I placed him back in there with it, and he played in focused concentration for 45 minutes.

And he is playing with it now, still determinedly trying to work those locks as I type.

I'm Just Sayin...

that our Quinn is quite the cutie.

Aidan turns 5 today!

Happy Birthday Aidan!

We celebrated last Saturday with a Lego Indiana Jones themed party. A buddy got him hooked on this video game, and then he got it for Christmas, and now plays it whenever he is fortunate enough to get permission.

His interest in Indiana Jones provides a little insight into this little man. He does enjoy Star Wars, and will play imaginative games with his brothers, but this guy likes play that is much more grounded in real life than fantasy. Hmmm... Must have gotten that from his mommy.

Anyways, his much anticipated party was a blast, and he had so much fun with his best buds. Daddy even planned an incredible adventure quest that even included dodging a giant earth ball that came rolling at them down a narrow hallway.

Gotta love bowling...

We took the kids to a small, but fun bowling alley last week to ward off the winter blues, and to celebrate the last day of a very long winter break. It was tons of fun, and we were in awe that they can basically do everything on their own now, and we can just enjoy ourselves and bowl also! (We did leave Quinn with someone.)

Ethan definitely had the most pizazz, style, and maybe even skill. Although he and Aidan ended up tying. :)

Get-Away

We visited an indoor waterpark 2 summers ago in the Chicago area, and had such a blast we knew we had to do it again. When we couldn't quite squeeze it in last summer, we realized it would be much more appreciated in the winter anyways.
Especially after Daddy was gone for 4 days at SnowBlast. And extra-especially since the school district determined the students needed a 4 week Christmas Break this year. (I understand their reasoning, and applaud their thinking outside-the-box to save money (cutting major heating costs this way), but c'mon, 4 weeks is a long time to be holed up in the dead of winter with 5 little boys...)

So last weekend we headed up to the Starved Rock area and tried out Grizzly Jack's Grand Bear Resort. The one night hotel stay included our admission to their indoor waterpark (which we did on Friday afternoon), and their indoor amusement park, which we did on Saturday after driving around Starved Rock a bit looking at Bald Eagles (awesome). It was a very fun trip... aside from the all day vomiting from the twins on Saturday. But we pushed through it and still had a good time.
There is something so exciting about the anticipation of a trip like this for the boys, and the sense of adventure that bonds them and us together during it. I absolutely love it. Of course, we would have absolutely loved it more if 5 little boys were easy to get to sleep while sharing a hotel room.







































And what is cuter than this, really?

Budding Photographer

Caleb very much wanted a digital camera for his last birthday, and when he didn't get one, he promptly decided to use all his birthday money towards it. He's had a lot of fun with it, when he remembers.

Sadly though, I recently transferred his pics onto the computer... for the first time. Slacker mom, I know.

Here are a few that made me snicker. And don't worry, we deleted the one of his brother's bare hindquarters. (after a serious talk, mind you)






Boys. Seriously. They have just recently gotten into the whole "burps are funny, gas is hilarious, and any other potty humor is to be celebrated" stage. And I know it's only the beginning of a lifetime of their "boyness". Gulp. I should be thankful I was spared for this long.

This one I actually thought was pretty cool.

New Year's Eve

Weston was away with the High Schoolers at Snowblast. So the boys and I decided to repeat the tradition we started last year of a "Mock New Year's Eve Party".

We played a new family game, decorated gingerbread houses (we never seemed to find time to fit that in December, so we've started buying a kit on clearance afterwards), and watched the ball drop on You Tube (so it was from last year, they don't know the difference).







We had hats, noisemakers, and a toast. Not a bad way to welcome in 2011.

And he thinks he is sneaky...

Whenever Weston is out of town, I try to buy a few special snacks, easy dinners, etc., to make things easier on me and a little more fun for the boys who are missing their daddy.

So, we had these donuts one morning when Weston was away at Snowblast. There were 3 left, so they were just sitting on the counter, most likely waiting to be eaten by me later :). I walked through the kitchen that evening, and, look what I found?



I thought it was pretty funny, how just a little had been taken from each, and then they'd been placed carefully back. Like maybe I wouldn't notice.

The food snatcher had even thought to wipe his mouth off (and I was so sure the white powder around the mouth would be a dead give-away). Luckily, when I gathered the boys to confront them with the evidence, the culprit was quick to sheepishly confess. It was not who I would have guessed to be stealthily sneaking goodies. However,when I talked to Weston later, he guessed right away who it was because of how carefully this child put the donuts back.

Snow Very Fun