EMMA AND JAKE ARE 2!

Happy Birthday my little ones! Today, as every day, I feel especially blessed to have you in our lives.

A quick update...Jake is addicted to Thomas the Tank and Emma is addicted to Elmo. I absolutely believe there are subliminal messages these characters send to our children that we cannot hear...not unlike he high-pitched whistles dogs can hear that humans can not.

Here are a couple pics of what the look like now, and Olivia too. I know it's been a long time and you won't believe how much they've all grown. I certainly don't. Their 2 year checkups are tomorrow and I promise to give you the stats. I'm fairly sure that they are still mini-kids. Jake is so skinny and, though Emma looks a bit rounder, she is shorter and still pretty light. We'll see.

Everything But The Kitchen Sink

So I have a ton of stuff to catch up on.
It's been a little strange around here lately. I've been feeling really out of sorts, to say the least. Just crappy. I can't even put my finger on a reason why. On top of that, Max has gone on a little vacation from us. He was getting so uptight. We have kids in the yard a lot playing and he is always on guard, watching over the babies and Olivia. He feels the need to protect them - every minute. He never relaxes. Even at night, when we're all in the house together, he gets nervous and paces when we go in different directions. He can't sit still until we're all together in one room and he can see us all. By the time the kids go to bed, he is exhausted. It's just so unfair. I felt like he was miserable all the time. In lieu of putting him on heavy duty meds, we sent him to spend some time with Eleasha, his former trainer and current love of his life, and Gunner, her Rottie, Max's boyfriend. She lives on a huge piece of land in PA. Max has the run of the place and hangs with the horses. I'm sure he thinks they're his long lost cousins. She sends me pictures, but I miss him so much and OG keeps asking when he's coming home. Sadly, I don't know and we're just taking it one day at a time. I took this the morning we dropped him off.

I thought it was about time Emma and Jake learned to use a spoon. It's going as expected - messy. I should have tried mashed potatoes instead of cottage cheese.

Yes, Jake is man enough to eat with a pink spoon.

Jersey corn is perfect this time of year and they LOVED it.

They decided to walk around and chew on it a little more, and slowly made their way to the kitchen and...

the little scoundrels left us a surprise in the letter drawer.

Olivia and the other kids from vacation bible school gave a performance on the last night. Emma couldn't help but get in the action. I have a video of it, which I will attempt to download later.

OG loved her space scooter. We gave it to her the morning of her party.

The party was fun. I didn't take a lot of pix, but I got this one, which is so sweet. Jake spent hours on my brother's lap.

New Additions

This post is a little out of order, as I have soooooooo much to catch up on from the last 2 weeks. However, we've had 2 new additions to our little (HUGE) family and we are so proud of KJ and the kids for making such beautiful healthy boys. You can go to Roleplayingwithkids to see what I mean. But for now...

Our Little Girl is Growing Up

Today my darling Olivia turned 4. She is an amazing human being. Smart and creative, sensitive and kind, perceptive and funny, loving and compassionate. I often look at her in wonder, at a loss for why I was blessed with this incredible little girl. And I thank God every day that I was.
My love for her runs deep; it is beyond measure, without condition. I am so proud to be her mom.

This is the year in pictures. She has grown so much - physically, mentally, emotionally. I look back at who she was just one year ago and find her barely recognizable.

These last 2 were taken today. They are the 1st "professional" photos we've had taken of her since she was 4 months old. I thought it was about time.

"Here's to us..Fun diner"

Cindy, Olivia and I were relaxing in her pool yesterday after spending a tedious hour in very humid, 95 degree weather installing wheels on our huge, sagging driveway gate (pix to come of course). Cin and I popped open a couple brewskies, OG popped a straw in a juice box and Cindy and I toasted with her Grandma Taylor's famous toast - "Here's to us...none finer." Olivia wanted to learn it, so we repeated it a few times.
Cin: Here's to us.
Me: None finer.
OG: Again
Cin: Here's to us.
Me: None finer.
OG: Again
Cin: Here's to us.
Me: None finer.
Cin: OK, Olivia. Your turn.
Cin and Me: Here's to us.
OG: Fun diner!
LMAO! We couldn't stop laughing for at least five minutes and then intermittently throughout the day.
It was a funfilled week. One of Olivia's 1/2 sibs and her moms came out from Pittsburgh on Wednesday and stayed for 5 days. When they arrived, Callie and Olivia ran immediately upstairs to play without missing a beat. It was as if they see each other every day. I wish they did. I wish she could see all her 1/2 sibs every single day and they could all spend time and get to know each other inside and out from this young age. It makes me all warm and fuzzy inside to think about them growing up together.
Anyhoo...we had a lot of fun. We spent Thursday and Friday at our favorite beach, Avon-by-the-sea. On Thursday, we dumped the twins at Cin's sister's house, but we brought them on Friday. JAKE HATES THE BEACH! There, I've said it. He screamed and cried and clung to one person or another all day long. Needless to say, he will not be going back until next year.

SANDOPHOBIA
This is where he stayed the ENTIRE time - on someone's lap.

On Thursday night, Darcy and Mare watched all the kids while Cindy and I went to NYC to see Melissa Ether*dge. It was my birthday gift. What a fabulous show!
This was only a small part of my birthday gift, so I'll digress for a moment to tell you about it. Cindy secured our babysitter for Friday morning (the 4th) through Saturday night. She took off Friday July 4th and we were supposed to go to the beach. It rained, so we went to the movies instead. How strange to get in our little red 2-door coupe and drive down to the shore with no children. It felt a little like the twilight zone. After the movie it was clearing up a little, so we went to a beautiful new boardwalk that was built a couple years ago. There were vendors there for the holiday weekend and we walked up and down the boardwalk with no strollers to push, no hands to hold, no children crying or running away or asking for a balloon or food or drinks. Again - twilight zone. We stopped in at a restaurant on the water and had an appetizer and a couple drinks. When we got to her brother's house where we were staying for the night, we napped. That's right, you didn't read it wrong. WE napped! We got up, showered, dressed and went to a restaurant for lobster and filet mignon - my annual birthday meal. After dinner, we walked across the street and onto the beach to watch the fireworks. Then back to her brother's house and in bed by 10:30. Glorious! We came home the next afternoon, ate lunch and rested a while. Her plan was to go bowling then take me to dinner. I've been bugging her to go bowling with me for the 9 years since we met. When I walked in, I saw a bunch of our friends waiting there for me -a surprise bowling party - how fun! We ate pizza, drank beer and bowled. We had a blast. However, NO PICTURES - nobody brought a camera. UNBELIEVABLE!

Back to our company...

MaryLou and Darcy not only took care of Jake and Emma the entire time they were here, but they took Olivia home from the beach with them to go swimming in the hotel pool while we got ready for the concert. They were such generous and considerate guests. I'd have them here 20 times a year if they'd come.
Friday night we made a fire in the backyard and roasted marshmallows and just talked and talked and talked til we about passed out. Darcy and Mare took OG with them to their hotel for a sleepover.

snack time at the beach

We had lunch at our favorite restaurant in Avon - right across from the beach

Waiting on a wave to crash...

...and here it comes!

Emma was just chillin'-she's a beach baby

Fun painting on the outdoor easel

My little landlubber was much happier with his feet on the pavement.

Emma and Jake playing house when they were motherless on Thursday night

Saturday we left the babies with a sitter and took the girls canoeing, then came home and just chilled out for the rest of the day. The kids all ran around and played and swam and had so much fun together. They left yesterday and the tears flowed as they drove off.

It was a sullen day, but we had a wonderful family day just hanging in the yard. It was one of those days when I couldn't help but thank God for everything I have and all the people I love. I feel so blessed.

A Lot of Catching Up

I've been lazy - no posts in a couple weeks, but that time has flown by.
We've been spending all our time outside lately and really enjoying the weather. I've never had a green thumb, so I am so proud of our flowers this year because I've been trying so hard to take really good care of them.
Here are a couple of my favorites and a special little bug Olivia found and named June bug, though I really have no idea whether it is or not.

Emma and Jake have been really sick for about a week now. They started with fevers and it migrated into tons of gooey grossness pouring from their noses. Could be allergies, sinus infections or just nasty colds. Whatever it is, I'm, ready for it to be gone. They mope and whine most of every day. While Jake is content to just hang in his stroller while I do yardwork, Emma is still quite the little hyper child and is always looking for me to pick her up and flip her around and throw her in the air.

Here are a few pix from this past week...

Jake has finally learned to hug rather than push...

Emma has enough hair for her first pony tail and a new word...ball

Jake is content to just sit and let others do the work.

Olivia's VERY LAME soccer program is over and I realized I never posted her pix from the 1st day. BAD MAMA! here they are...

Dumb, Dumber and Dumbest

DUMB

Our first born, Max (the dog) is really dumb sometimes. He got spooked by the wind blowing a plastic toy on the driveway. It made a noise and he freaked, knocking over Jake as he fled to safety. Of course Jake fell flat on his face. Poor little man. Max felt bad about it and hung his head in shame.

DUMBER

I played my 1st outdoor soccer game in 16 years on Sunday. I joined the league couple months ago and in the time between then and Sunday, I did NOTHING to prepare. BIG MISTAKE. HUGE! After 2 grueling 45 minute halves in sweltering heat, I came home, showered, and we packed up the kids to go to Pride in Asbury Park for the rest of the day. I was EXHAUSTED. We got home and ate and I retired immediately to bed after taking several Al*ve for the pain I knew was coming.

This was me getting ready for a header that should have caused me to be in a neckbrace.

Yupper! That's me slidetackling on the right - what was I thinking?

I just made a great pass. The Amazon in blue was my mark. Much of my pain is due to collisions with her. I did pass the ball through her legs, however - gratification enough for all the pain I am currently enduring.

PS - I definitely held my own and kicked some ass myself, but our offense was hurting and it ended in a tie, 0-0. Go Big D!

DUMBEST
Before leaving for work on yesterday morning, my most thoughtful wife woke me to give me 3 more Al*ve for the pain she knew I'd be facing the moment I tried to get out of bed. I took them and went back to sleep. I woke and hour later to babies screaming and feeling a little woozy, but I got up and went into the bathroom. That's when it all started. I could barely walk. This was partially from the pain, but mostly because I couldn't focus and was dizzy and felt as though I was going to pass out. I managed to get the babies downstairs. Olivia followed. As soon as I closed the gate I fell to my knees. I called Cindy and told her what was going on. She said she'd catch the next bus home, as she was still in the bus terminal b/c she had just disembarked from the one that brought her into the city. I called my neighbor to come take care of the kids until Cindy got home and then I promptly passed out on the couch for the next 4 hours. I heard nothing and remember nothing. Cindy came home, got the kids dressed and took them all to Olivia's school for the day. For the rest of the day, I could barely move. "What could this be?", you ask. "SHEER STUPIDITY!", I answer.

When we went to Utah to see K and J, I put a few muscle relaxers in an Al*ve bottle (just in case Cindy started freaking on the flight) so I wouldn't have to deal with them asking to see my ID when we went through security to check that it matched the name on the Rx bottle. It didn't. I thought this was a good idea. The bottle was put away in the medicine cabinet when we got home and never used again. These were the only 3 pills in the bottle and now they were in me. WTF! Does it get any dumber than that? No need to answer. The thing is that these pills were white, not blue, and my wife gave them to me anyway. I thought she may have been trying to kill me, but then I realized that is just CRAZY. I don't have nearly enough life insurance for her to hire a nanny. I guess it really was just an honest mistake.

Thankfully, there are no pictures of me passed out on the couch.

I woke today feeling much better, except for all the pain from my 1st mistake on Sunday. So we all got up, got dressed, and went outside to enjoy the beautiful day. It's the 1st day hot enough for me to let the kids run around in bathing suits and swimmies and get soaking wet.