Little Update

It's been a few days. I definitely just did not have the time or energy to sit down and write. I do have a few new pictures I will post tomorrow. The kids had their first day of playing in the rain. I laid Ty and Olivia in the middle of the grass and they just laid kicking their legs and flailing their arms, but they were cooing so I figured they were happy. ....ha, I'm-just-kidding! No, but seriously, I did let Maddox and Jaxon run around in it with the neighbors and they had a blast. They were very hesitant at first, "Are we supposed to be doing this????" But they quickly got the idea. They ran around, splashed in the puddles and rode their bikes through them. It was raining pretty hard, but no lightning. Of course when the thunder did boom, we had them come inside for a nice warm shower! Poor Jaxon is petrified of thunder. He came running and screaming up to us so fast.
So yesterday, the kids and I were in the play room. Olivia was laying on a new little area rug my mom got us and Maddox was jumping off the toy box onto his Styrofoam skim board. Next thing I know Maddox was running over to me yelling," AHH a spider a spider!!!" I looked over to the toy box and didn't see anything, whatever it was was gone. Jax thomped over to Maddox with a small Dr. Seuss book and bravely told him," I'll hit it with a book Mat. " ( which is what he calls Maddox ) They both laughed about the idea and ran back over to the toy box to brave the invisible spider. All of a sudden they rush me, Maddox screaming, "SPIDER!" and Jax, well just plain screaming. They both Jumped onto the couch next to me. I looked over again, unwilling to get up out of my comfy spot that I had just warmed up, but I decided I better go give it a look. Walking over I still did not see anything, so I figured we'd be in the clear, but all of a sudden IT appeared. The most MASSIVE .....I mean MASS-IVE wolf spider creeps out from behind the toy box. I jumped back a bit as chills went all down the right side of my body. I quickly formulated a plan of attack in my mind, but first things first. I had to move Livi off the ground in case thing went south and I ordered the boys to stay on the couch. They could witness the battle, but not to get involved,....not that they would anyways:) I ran to the kitchen and grabbed what I thought would be the most lethal spray with the sharpest squirter available. (You may remember from earlier posts that the boys had already used up of insecticide ) So flea and tick spray it was. I then pulled out the broom and took off the dustpan, I didn't need any additional equipment. I gently pulled out our black footstool and took my stance on top of it, broom in hand crouched down low, spray bottle in the other aimed and ready. Now, back to the spider....this thing was easy as big as my hand from one leg to another, brown and thick. no joke. It looked like it could kill a cat! I took the broom handle and started to pull the toy box away from the wall and there IT was. It had scurried to the base of the wall and was laying there waiting. 'SQUIRT....SQUIRT.....SQUIRT' and it was off! "Dang!!!...Did I connect??" I didn't have time to think about it because IT raced across the wall and towards the couch. The boys jumped off and ran out into the kitchen. "OH NO", it was head towards the strollers and bike stroller! I'd never find it if it got into that mess. And then it did what I'd only heard wolf spiders do. That thing took a HUGE leap from the wall to the stroller. It was a good foot of space and it was effortless. I decided the battle was over and I left the room in defeat, wondering how long it would be before I felt comfortable enough sitting in there again, or reaching into the toy box to grab a toy out. I'd say about an hour passed and I walked back in the playroom to get something and IT had returned, only this time it was clearly weakened. IT was struggling to crawl up the wall about 3 of it's legs crippled inward. I guess I did connect. Now was my chance. I finished it off with about five more sprays and he fell. HA, done. I fought back an itsy feeling of guilt and brushed it off, sorry Charlotte. I had to laugh a little thinking if Arik would have been in my shoes. Did I ever mention he is terrified of spiders??? Lesson learned though. My boys are old enough to know what they see and I need to start taking their word a little more serious in the future!!!

Go Olivia!!!

Big day for Olivia. She rolled from her belly to her back! She did it a couple times without any help. Both of them were trying to go from back to belly. Ty almost made it once, but gave in. However, he was actually giggling when Lara was talking to him today, even letting out a shrill little laugh. I have to admit, these moments are what makes it all worth it. Rocking Ty to sleep tonight I just couldn't stop staring at him. He was smiling in his sleep. The little corners of his mouth were turned up and his eyes were soft and underneath you could tell they were happy eyes. I, in turn couldn't help but smile.

Let's see, Jaxon, Jaxon, Jaxon...that little buddy. He got himself in trouble at Mc Donald's yesterday. We actually had to leave because he couldn't play nice. He was bullying a kid smaller and younger than him...pushing, kicking, yelling. I try to remind him, "gentle hands and gentle words." but it's almost like this fuels him further. He gets this glint in his eye like, " ha, my turn Maddox!" At the mall playing, he leaned his back against the log tunnel and glanced up to see if I was watching. There was a small baby standing in front of him with his back to him. He clearly was just learning to walk. Jaxon "smoothly" stuck his foot between his legs and attempted to lift him off the ground and knock him over. Lucky for the wee walker, I was there to quickly intervene! Oh, and not sure if I mentioned this in my last post, but Jax's new thing he likes to tell me is, " You a bad boy mom!!" wait let me change that, "YOU A BAD BOY MOM!!!" But let me tell you what, for all his smartness and roughness, that little guy has me wrapped around his pinky. You just can't help but love on him. He is at this point the most thoughtful and cuddly boy. He is extremely sensitive and wants to help. And he's inheireted my OCD for cleaning! ( well, atleast I got one!:)

Maddox is just so big. He is definately a whiner....whine-ER. He is growing up so fast though. He is almost completely self-sufficient. He hardly needs me to do anything for him. He is very curious and is at that , "what's a pillow?" ..."it's what you lay your head on." ...."what's your head?" ...."it's what's on top of your body." ..... "what's your body?" phase ( not exactly, but that idea ) It's good though. I usually repeat the question back to him and he perfectly well knows the answer! He's a good boy. Probably a better listener than Jaxon, I'd have to say. Slighlty ...ever so slightly less defiant.

Anyways, everythings good here! I am working tomorrow, so I will try and get more pics up Thursday!

Toddler Talk

Just thought I'd share a cute story since our day was pretty much the same as usual. The other day at home Maddox came up to me asking, " Mom, can I please have a pig noodle. " Now obviously, knowing I have no such thing as a pig noodle, I knew it had to be something else. "What buddy?" I asked. "A PIG noodle." This went on a few more times as I attempted to rack my mind for anything that it could mean. Finally I asked him to show me and he went to the fridge and pointed up. "OHHHH!!" I exclaimed as I proudly figured out what he was requesting, "A FIG newton." "Yeah" he said, equally as glad that the problem was solved. We had just bought a small package the day before and he had never had them prior to that. Anyways, just one of those things I thought was cute~

My Little Atoms

So, we went to a playground with my girlfriend and her two kids yesterday and she had a perfect anology for the boys. She said, " My gosh Nicole, all I can think of when I see them running around is that thay are like little atoms." She makes arm and hand motions at this point of scurrying little atoms that zip around and then Crash! and then bounce back again and zip around and Boom! Back up again. I laughed and thought how true. It was yesterday that I realized my kids are a force when they are playing in public. I truely have to have hawk eyes when I watch them play because they take no prisoners. If you're in their way, sorry bout your luck because they don't stop. They seem to be oblivious when they are with each other to the other kids around them. They get in their own little Maddox and Jaxon world giggling, sceaming and trucking anyone over that's in their path. This I realized when we went to the mall late in the afternoon. I remember when I used to take them boys to the play area and they could barely stand. Older kids would be running around and narrowly missing the little guys. Now my kids are those Big guys! I have to constantly remind them that there are smaller children. Jaxon came up to me and said, "I hit her mom." Just matter of factly like that. I asked the little girl and she shook her head no that he didn't really. I think he like to just get a reaction from me. So I tell him, we can give hugs to our friends, but not hitting. So what does he do? He runs away from me and proceeds to hug ....wait......lift up and hug the crawling baby on the other side. I jump up....while holding and feeding Ty...."No No Jax, not the baby!" Maddox on the other hand was making progress and learning how to approach and make new friends. He came running up to me angry that a little boy wanted to touch his truck. I told him maybe if he let him touch his truck that maybe the little boy would let him touch his curious George. It worked! They then proceded to find out what each others names were and how old they were. Oddly enough the kids name was Jackson and his birthday was Jue 16th. Maddox got this big grin when he told him his name. They actually played together the majority of the time. Very cute. I stayed out a little late last night to wear them out. they took a late nap so e got a late start. Maddox laied with me last night just based on what time it was and we were talking before we fell asleep. I asked him about making new friends today and wasn't it nice to make a new friend. He said, " Yeah and he let me touch his monkey." Hmm, maybe I need to explain to him that it was curious George! anyways, I took too many pics yesterday and can't post them all, so I'll send them out on Kodak!

Our Day Today

We got an early start this morning. My mind was racing as I waited for the twins to wake up. Hmmm, what would we do today. Well, I certainly knew it had to be somethig free b/c I'm broke!! :) I figured Island Park at Marina Jack's would be a good idea. They have nice shaded areas, the playground is cool in the morning and when it started to heat up, we'd jump in the fountains for a bit before nap time. Sounded pretty good. Amazingly, the twins didn't get up until 7:45. You know for all the complaining I do about the chaos, we are SO fortunate they they happen to have turned out to be good sleepers! Anyways, I have a beach diaper bag that is always packed, sunscreen, floaties, swimmies and hats that are strapped to the side. This cuts out a good five minutes when getting ready. I quickly made some "stand-by" bottles and when the twins got up, we were off. What a GORGEOUS morning. I hate to brag to all the "northeners" reading this, but that temp was perfect, not a cloud in the sky and a really nice breeze. A+ weather. I got a parking spot right up front which was nice and unloaded the kiddos. Jaxon has gotten to the point where I am no longer paranoid that he is going to run and jump off the edge into the water so walking with them around the park is pretty casual. We decided to have an adventure before we went and played and before we knew it we caught sight of a pretty cool boat out in the water. The picture doesn't really do it justice, but whoever made it must have put a little bit from everyones trash into making it. It had a mini crane on the fron to fit, a dumptruck back, the main part that you went down into looked like the cab to a tractor or something. It was just really cool, probably even better because it didn't look junky a lot of thought went into it. So we sat on the edge of the water and watched the man work on it for a while and then take off. The boys liked dangling their feet over the edge of the water ( it was only like a 2 foot drop into inches of water...so I wasn't too concerned ) . We had a rock throwing contest and I was trying to teach Maddox the art of skipping rocks.He was so funny, he would bend his knees and stick his bottom way out, bounce a few times and chuck it. It always clunked to the bottom, but he was so proud of himself. I held onto his hand and showed him how to loosen his wrist up a little and fling it. After doing this for a while, we decided to play on the playground. There were a few other parents and kids there already which was nice for me. I really enjoy meeting new people each day and alking to them. I met a woman this morning who lives in Holland and she visits each Summer. She was there with 2 small children maybe 18 months or so and she was pregnant. I asked her if they were all hers and she said, "Oh no, I'm not that crazy! " We got laughing later when she asked which were mine. She then told me she had a 3 and 5 year old at home in addition to the 18 month old....and being pregnant. I said to her, "See you're a little crazy too!!" The boys finally got tired of playing and waiting for the fountains to open, so we packed up and went walking again. We got to see a couple different kinds of fish in the water and we stopped at one area that had a nice little shallow area for the boys to cool off in. It was so beautiful. Our big bridge was in the background, that nice breeze blowing...and wait....the boys were getting along! I had a nice little cover over the twins and for the most part they were snoozing or just enjoying the walk. We played in/by the water for a while and then walked over to the trees. The boys played their version of hide and seek running through the roots and peeking out. What a perfect morning your thinking.....da-da-daaaa....In comes the MCM of the day award!!!! Olivia having a holy meltdown.....I stress the word meltdown, Boys getting cranky and hungry...me pushing the stroller as fast as I can, begging Jaxon to hurry along....and please Jax, stop throwing EVERY stick you see into the water......Olivia melt-ing down more.....could one more person pass me and tell me I have my hands full???? why don't you just tell me I'm tall while your at it, that would make my day.....approaching the car, breath a sigh of relief, A/C, gotta get the A/C cranking....key in ignition aaaaaannnnddddd ....... click click click.....you've got to be kidding me.....my battery was dead.......heat, heat, heat, where's that stinkin' beautiful breeze???? Call my Grandpa, jumper cables please????? Finally........110.00 dollars later, new battery...yay!!! let me shell out a couple hundred more on the new tires/breaks and oil change I also need......right before vacation!!! Yes, it took the award, hands down. But upside, I got to spend a nice afternoon with my Grandma when she picked me up from the shop, we had lunch and I mingled through a clothing store......not buying anything of course:) just soaking up the moment. By the time I picked up my car the boys were waking up from nap. I left the twins with Arik and we finished off the day at the Y Splash Park...yes again....I think the boys ask every day to go. I actually played pretty hard with them. Once again, Jaxon absolutely cracks me up. He loves being under water. He would drop his little toy then plop down under water to find it and wouldn't come up without it. Maddox made a big move today, he walked to the top of the big kid curly slide and looked down it. Stay tuned to see if he will actually go down soon! He's gotten much braver. I remember he used to be afraid of the little orange slide, now you can't get him off it! There were lingering rain clouds and one very short burst of pelting, cold rain, but all in all a great end to our day. The twins were out at nine and I just finished up my cleaning and now I'm off to sleep. I work tomorrow and I'll be catching up some time when I get back!!

Hola

I don't have a whole lot of time to update this evening. Ty is fake crying in the background, which has now triggered Olivia. Hey she can't be left out right? We went to church this am. I am so torn because I love my church that I have been going to, but it isn't the one my mom and Aunt go to. They also love their new church. Anyways, I end up going with them a lot b/c I really enjoy doing things as a family, but I miss my services and the friendliness of Hope. The kids like both, but as they get older of course their enjoyment of where we go will play the biggest role. This afternoon we went to the Splash Park...and guess what......Arik went too! Just the boys and us, the twins stayed at home with Sam and Lara. It was pretty overcast and the water was actually a little chilly, but we had fun. i think Arik enjoyed watching the kids go down the slide....and trying to sneak attack me with water squirters! Jax decided he didn't want to wear his floaties for the second half of the afternoon, which I was a little hesitant of even though he can pretty much touch everywhere.....but boy oh boy, that kid is a little fish! He loves diving under and popping back up and I have a feeling he'll be the first to swim, b/c he really gives it a good effort. yOU'LL ASK mADDOX TO TRY TO GO UNDER AND SWIM AND HE'LL TELL YOU HE WANTS TO WATCH jAXON! (Too lazy to fix type ) So we played for a while and then came home. I made some sweet pork chops with chipotle sauce and onions which actaully turned out pretty yummy we ate dinner and then now are all winding down. When I am sending my pics to my e-mail they are being sent differently and now to view them larger I actaully have to download them. I think that is why when I post them they are still thumbnail size. I didn't have time to try it tonight, but next time I will if I get a chance. Alright, well I 'll write more on Tuesday most likely, I work tomorrow.

Medication please??

Oh man, you know..I was realistic with my expectations of how having the four kids was going to be. I knew there would be crazy moments and I fully prepared myself for them. I knew Arik and I would manage, but sheeze!!! I'm telling you what! There are days that I honestly don't know how we get through them. I think I need to purchase a small pillow that I can stuff my face into and scream sometimes. Today was one of those days I would have used it for sure:) I didn't have a sitter for the twins so they made their first trip to the splash park with us. At the park everyone was great. The twins and I sat in a shaded area and the boys played. No meltdowns until we left. Then of course their life was SO tough! Anyways, we did the Splashpark this afternoon also, b/c it was a perfect day for it. Again, we had a good time. Lara went with us the second time. The boys are now in the kitchen inhaling the pizza I made for them, this is after devouring pieces of watermelon each! They are hungry buddies. The twins are relaxin' in the living room. Lara is feeding Livi her bottle. And I am scrambling to get the laundry caught up before I go to work tomorrow ( ahhhh, sweet beautiful work :) In between writing of course. I added two pics from the movie the other night. Which by the way went pretty good. We went to see Ice Age and we were literally the only two in the theater. maddox really liked the whole idea and didn't talk or anything, but by the time he was bored with the novelty of eating popcorn he decided it was time for us to leave. There was only 20 minutes left!! I actually wanted to see the ending:( But it was his special night and I caved and we left. But good initiation either way. Alright I hear the phone ringing....

More pics

Here are some more pictures that I couldn't get earlier. Don't forget you can click on these pics individualy to make them a little bigger. For some reason it isn't letting me make them as larger anymore.

Monday

Just a quickie. Arik's fishin' with a buddy of mine. He caught a little shark. Pretty cool.We went to the mall this am and played...boys each got a new ball cap. Twins are adorable. House is clean and I'm happy!