Magic Man

Matt must have seen some magic tricks recently because when he was playing with some cards today he came over to do a trick.

Bringing 4 cards over to me he said, "blow on this mom, blow on this Kayla, blow on this Julie". He backed up, tapped the cards and continued, "okay, and.... awww man, it didn't work".

4 year olds crack me up!

Won't you be my neighbor?

Today we were invited over to the Cole's house for a back to school lunch (Julie and Sasha aren't headed back to school, or even to school... but they were okay with an excuse to party).

We first played in the front (trying our best to share the little kid bikes) then took a walk around the block. We got to tour the Cole household, something Matt has wanted to do for a long time (he's nosey like that), and then "helped" make mini-pizza's. Matt splattered sauce on one and was done (typical) and Kayla took her time saucing the rest (also, typical).

After our pizza and fruit (I'm pretty sure my kids consumed about $10 of grapes while we were there), Heidi had special homemade ice cream sandwiches to enjoy. It was a great day, and we all had so much fun. I'm not sure I can top the invitations, fun meal, decorations and the goody bags, but we'll have to try sometime in the future. Thanks again Heidi and Sasha!


We're invited...
The party decorations...
The band...

And the 4 Cutest kids on the block.

Lesson Learned

It was three years ago, almost to the day (labor day weekend) that Kayla made her big attempt at escape from her crib resulting in a broken arm. I felt especially bad, because I had the crib tent that would have prevented this fall, but we had decided not to zip it until she was better rested and not freaking out about it. Our decision = Kayla's fractured arm.

Sunday night, we put a tired Julie to bed with a wide awake Kayla. They chatted back and forth then I heard the crash... Julie was inspired to join Kayla and managed to jump from her crib (honestly, what do I do in my parenting to encourage such acrobatic feats?). I had a mini-panic attack being brought back to the day that Kayla broke her arm. Julie was fine (just as Kayla was the first time she jumped... it was the second leap that lead to injury)... but my heart was beating a million miles a minute. I held Julie, then we made the trip downstairs to retrieve the crib tent that we saved "because if we get rid of it, we'll need it in the future" and put it up immediately. This time, we zipped it the first time, and now have a very contained peanut in a crib.

Aunt Jenn is AWESOME!

Aunt Jenn did some headshots of Kayla. Her amazing photography skills are obvious! Enjoy pics of my cutie pie. Thanks again Aunt Jenn!!!

Thanks, Aunt Sanny

Aunt Sandy has found the way to our hearts by bringing a Chocolate Bumpy Cake for all to enjoy after lunch. With comments like "that was SOOO nice of aunt Sanny to give us cake" to "dis is de-yi-cious" excitedly chatted about, we thought this needed a thank you of it's own.


So, thanks Aunt Sandy!

*Jacob and Kayla enjoyed it too, but were too busy eating to pose for pictures!

Cutest Cereal Eater Ever, Promise

Quick Week

Since I have a minute (I have 4 SLEEPING kids, and one self entertaining Kayla), I thought I'd blog.

This week has gone by really fast! Monday, all 5 of us headed to the zoo to enjoy the cooler summer day and see all the "am-mi-mals" as Julie says. The kids were pretty good (if they do say so themselves), and we all had fun. Jacob hitched a ride in the front of Anna's double towards the end, but other wise all the "big kids" walked with little complaining.

From L to R-- Mr. "I'm not gonna smile if I'm not on the Tiger" Matt, Jacob, Keely, Kayla, Alayna (trying her best to eat a rock), Julie replugging herself, and Brendan. Not pictured: Angie's baby bump... guess she didn't feel like snuggling the metal tiger.

We've been watching a lot of the olympics (I've been staying up late while Peter's sleeping on the couch). One night while gasping at a fall in Gymnastics (I get really into *most* of the sports) Peter (who was deep asleep) thought that Julie fell or something?!? and shot up off the couch. It was pretty darn funny... wish I had some video of that one. The kids really like the Olympics too, and they're learning quite a bit about different sports (volleyballs need to land in the box, stick the landing etc). It's pretty funny, and I'm super excited for when they get to start participating in sports (soon!).



I've been trying to slowly get us back towards a school schedule with earlier bedtimes and such. It's not working out great, but we have a few more weeks to perfect the routine. We've also been doing a TON of reading, and continue to work on writing our letters, playing fun 'learning' games and just enjoying new things every day. I'm a little sad that Matt and Kayla will be starting their school career (with a pretty intensive preschool, probably), but I'm excited for the fun they'll have. I'm gonna miss my little munchkins while they're gone.



I've also been having the twins try on their fall/winter clothes... most of which don't fit. Can you believe Kayla's in a size 6 (SLIM) pant and shirt now?!? I was counting on a lot of her clothes still fitting, but it seems I was mistaken. I'm doing Matt's tonight, but I think he's gonna be a 5 still (he just hit a 5 at the beginning of summer)... speaking of which, boys clothes already run about a size bigger than girls at this age.



Aunt Sandy, Carrie (not sure of the spelling of Carrie though, sorry!), Grandma Sue and Aunt Jillian came by today. We all played with them, indoors and out (afterwards our company went to laurel park to shop-- hopefully they still had some energy left), we had lunch, and now they're all napping :) After naps we're gonna head up to one of the "school" parks in our neighborhood. Should be a fun, and quick afternoon.


Anyway, that's what we've been up to.

When Five Come To Play

I'm watching Jacob and Alayna 3 days a week now- and we have a great time... and we make a great mess! Every once in awhile I'll look around while we're playing and realize I'm surrounded by a million and one toys... :)

The reason my kids don't choose their own outfits.

Matt, this morning.

Port Hope

All three "things" (from left to right, Thing 2, Thing 3, Thing 1).
"Power Ranger" pose.
On the dock with Grandma.

"Yook Dad".

Please fly!

One of the highlights of the weekend... the motorbike.


In front of the lake.

Going fast!

Somehow I didn't get many pictures other than just my kids... good thing Jenn was there-- I'll have to steal some of her shots. We had a great time with Grandpa and Grandman, Nana, and most of our Webber aunts and uncles and Bo (We missed uncle Dave though!).