Aging fast

Dominic, to random person at the mall:

"I'm three and they're one (referring to the twins) and she's forty (referring, of course, to me)"

Co-conspirators

Dominic loves helping me cook, so his little stool was pulled up to the stove this particular day. After all the kiddos ate lunch, I left the kitchen for a little bit, with the leftover mac n' cheese sitting on the (cool) stove. When I came back in, I found Patrick helping himself to some big handfuls. And, he thought he was hilarious.

About a half an hour later, when I went upstairs, I found little bits of the noodles all the way up the stairs and the wooden spoon sitting on the landing, courtesy of Jackson. I think I'm in for a very wild ride.

Summer Lovin'

I have been loving this summer so, so much. We have been having a blast. This is the first summer in about 21 years that I haven't been a little depressed after July fourth, knowing that I only had a few more weeks until I went back to school. It is a great feeling. Much of the summer has been spent in the water. Dominic has become quite a little fish. He loves being in the water. Patrick and Jackson are still a little bit more timid, but they have both grown more and more comfortable in the water as the summer has progressed.

We've taken the kids swimming in the lake a few times. It's fun getting to meet up with the rest of our family, not to mention how great it is to have a little extra help!

Hot mama, Jena with baby Joseph.

There's a strict life jacket policy around the lake at all times. Luke and I are pretty nervous around bodies of water....and I think the kiddos are so stinkin' cute in giant life jackets that they can hardly walk around in.

G and G Deaver have a sweet kayak and Jess and D loving taking rides.

I've also been taking them to the pool a few times a week. Thankfully, the baby pool is fenced in. Even when Jackson and Patrick have no desire to swim, I can let them wander around the pool while watching D swim.

We often meet up with our BFF, Grady (and his mom comes, too.)

My kids seriously think that pool time = snack time. I feel like I spend at least half of my time at the pool feeding them all.

Yeah, I get about twice as many pictures of Jackson as Patrick. I can't get Patrick to sit still long enough to take any pictures of him!

And, an exchange between Jackson and Grady. Grady is so lovey. He is always going for hugs and kisses from the other kids. And, one of about a million pictures I have of Jackson crying. Poor, poor Jackson :)

NebraskaLand Days

The littles got to go to their first NebraskaLand Days parade a few weeks ago (or maybe more like a month ago...). Dominic took a little while to figure out the whole "getting candy" thing. He watched it drop to the ground and stood there for a few seconds while the big kids snatched the candy up near him. By the end of the 2+ hour parade, he was getting a few things. Mom was a little glad he didn't come home with a full bag of candy, though! :)

Here's the twinies eating hotdogs before the parade began.

Jackson sat on Luke's lap for the first hour of the parade without moving.

And my four favorite boys--well, minus the one in utero! It doesn't look like it, but they did all enjoy themselves!

Finally!

We have a walker. Little Jackson finally gave into peer pressure and started walking last week. We knew he had the ability, but for some reason he could not be convinced that walking would be faster, not to mention, much easier on his knees, than crawling. Crawling on the hot pavement in the backyard probably helped him change his mind, though!

Memorial Day Weekend '10

Memorial Day weekend has become a big weekend for us in recent years. We've been blessed to have friends ordained Priest and Deacon and we love going to all the first Masses and Ordination Masses. This year we jam packed the weekend with lots of outings and fun.

Playing with my family. Jackson has begun making the funniest faces.

Patrick enjoyed holding the kite. Dominic, however, was insistent that we play with the kite inside. After an unfortunate incident involving very high winds and losing a helium balloon, Dominic has a crazy phobia of the wind.

The newly ordained Father Matt Rolling. Congrats, Father! We are so happy and are so thankful for the gift of your vocation.

Monday morning involved getting all the "Normal" girls together for brunch. We haven't all gotten together for years and it was a really great time! Three pregnant mommas in thie photo and one new momma!

I stayed for the week to take in some of the Lincoln sites. First up, the Lincoln children's museum. Even with a one to one ratio of kids vs. adults (Emily and Lucas helped) I was exhausted after the fun morning.

And a day at the Lincoln Children's Zoo with my familia.

Here D and Packa are being bald eagles in the giant nest.

The best picture I've gotten of the three of them since the twins were infants! :)

And we topped it off with a ride on the train. None of the kids loved it, but we got a few smiles.