Turnin' 2 & Joining the Church

Ethan doing his own thing on the alter

Jack being thrown by grandma.

All the kids playing with the very cool bubble train given by Nonna.

Jack eating fruit

Jack wearing the number 2 shirt for his second birthday. By the way that was not done on purpose. Eric realized it after the fact and was like that was a cute idea. I was like yeah...I had no idea.


Sorry for the delay in blogging. Our internet was down then we made a trip to Youngstown to visit grandma and papa.

We've had a busy two weeks.

1. Jack had tubes put in his ears...Yay! He's doing wonderful. Except now he has 4 teeth coming in. By the time that's over he'll be ready for cleft surgery.

2. After tubes Jack learned how to say grandma (andma), come here, slide (ide), flower (ower), okay so you have to understand Jack, but he's getting the idea.

3. Highlights from grandma's:

• children's museum
• Wagon Trails: Very cool tractor ride with lots of animals that you can feed. Jack was a bit concerned about all the animals being so close especially the water buffelo.
• Dinner out
• Riding papa's tractor
• Playing with the lionel trains: Jack loved being the tunnel. Everytime the train went through he said "ooo" His wow.
• Playing in the pond
• Watching the thunderstorm on the porch, with flashlights.

Thanks mom and dad for a great week. The kids had a ball!

4. Jack's 2nd birthday:

We had a birthday party in the backyard. Full of grilled foods, family, friends and fun. Jack loved the ice cream cake. He had no idea what was going on, but after opening one or two gifts he got the idea. He kept saying OOO. Later in the evening the kids watched a movie we projected up on the garage. We let them stay up late. Mine had a ball catching lightening bugs. Ethan called them butterflies and Cam called them bees. Our little neighbor kept explaining that they were lightening bugs. At one point she stood on a chair and said those are not bees, butterflies, beetles, or flies...They are lightening bugs. To which Cam said Yah...I'm catching bees. Fun was had by all.

5. Jack's Baptism: On Sunday Jack was baptised into our church. He did very well and didn't cry even when he got water poured on his head. In fact he wanted to play in it. I brought Ethan up with us. He's usually very quiet and shy. He was dancing on the alter. Then when they lit the candle he said "yah" nice and loud. Cam from the front pew said, "I want the candle"...Sigh. Thank God our priest likes children.

Summer Fun!

Really was this the same kid that screamed his head off for baths? Now I can't get him out.

Ethan soaked and in Heaven from a hose fight.

Jack having some water table fun

HOSE FIGHT! What's summer without these?


That is one big worm.

This week was a fun filled week. Have I ever mentioned how much I love summer! Here's a short list of our week activities:

1. Played in the water tables full of bubbles.

2. Went on a worm hunt.

3. Got in a hose fight with the neighbors

4. Jack's first tumbling class (he was a pro...of course)

5. Baked Banana bread.

6. Drank Kool -Aid

7. Got Ice Cream (pink, yellow, and fattening) those were our requests. I dared Eric to order them that way. We ended up with strawberry, butterscotch, and peanut butter.

8. Family Night at our pool. Jack loves the water...my other two not so much. At least they like tether-ball.

9. A visit from my out of town cousin and family.

10. Cleaning the fish tank (this was quite an activity with 3 little helpers). They really, really loved netting the fish. It was a bit of a challenge to get them to put them back into the water!

No sleep for us!

Jack's first Red's game!

Ethan getting buff. (notice his shirt says" I get my muscles from my daddy) By the way we are getting rid of this weight set. Know anybody that wants it?

Ethan and Cam helping daddy fix his baby.

Ethan and Jack "helping wash the car" Notice they are wet and no where near the car!

We had a fun filled week filled with everything, but sleep. Jack's ears are bugging him so much that when the Motrin exceeds its 6 hours he is up. He's up for a while. Poor Eric had a rough week of Jack being up, then having to get up for work. I at least could sleep in a bit. On Saturday we woke him at 8:30, only let him nap an hour and a half, then didn't put hime to bed until 10:30 (yes we were that desperate!). He finally slept through the night, but guess what? Cam got up! Cam never wakes up. Let's just say there were some four letter words that came out that night! God sure has a sense of humor! Anyway, we see the ENT tomorrow. Let's hope he can help us out.

Exciting things:

1. We had our pictures taken. Ethan was less than cooperative. Okay, that's an understatement. I kind of wanted to strangle him. Luckily we had company. I did have a nice stiff drink after. Amazingly we did get some great pictures. I will post them when I can.

2. We went to the Farmer's Market. Again Ethan was not cooperative, but I did get some good vegetables.

3. Found out Ethan probably had a virus when he broke out in a viral rash. Ahh, explanation for uncoopertiveness (is this a word?)

4. Went to dinner and actually had a really good time. Yes, that's right we made it out with 3 kids under 4! I think it's slightly amazing!

5. Three boys "helped" daddy with the car wash.

6. We went to the Red's Game as a family...Well, we made it through 6 innings. Not too bad. It only took a couple snow cones and a bag of popcorn.

7. The boys helped me make my zucchini bread, and we ate out with the neighbors. Always a great time.

Summer Fun!

Jack sporting his Lower Teakwood shirt! Look at that muscle man!

Ethan's smiley face!

Ethan writing his name. You can see the Ethaaaaaaaan (he couldn't get that "a" perfect!) He got it on the next one though!

No major news this week. Just a few pictures with captions of us enjoying our summer!

Memorial Day and more!

This week was crazy...Hence the late and short update.

1. Ethan and I are done with school for the year!

2. Jack is doing awesome. Getting more mobile and energetic everyday.

3. All 3 children have ear infections. Yah.. a trifecta.

4. Ethan is finally riding a bike...It's a small miracle.

5. Nonna's for Memorial Day was lots of fun!

Happy Birthday Ethan

Cam: scared to death of the inflatables at Ethan's party

Jack, not scared at all!

Ethan...loving it!

Ethan's Special Day at School

This week, my little Ethan turned 4! I don't believe it. He's growing up so fast. Since it was his birthday week he had a special day at school. He got a crown, which he wore for 13 seconds, but I did get a picture. He also got to be the line leader. We brought in cupcakes for a treat. It was fish day, so I thought we'd do blue icing with sweedish fish. He explained that the icing should be brown because the water in the river (Ohio) is muddy. We compromised and made both. On Thursday (his actual birthday) we went to Chuckie Cheese (compliments of a nice gift card given to us) for the first time. Ethan loved it. He absolutely loved getting tickets that he could exchange for prizes. Cam loved throwing the balls for skeet ball. The problem was getting him not to wing it over hand! Jack jsut kind of roamed around, but he did really like the fruit punch! On Friday, we had a small birthday party for Ethan at Bananas, which is one of those places with all the inflatables. We only invited family and our neighbors, but we all had a ball. Well, except Cam who was scared to death of all of it. He just clung to grandma and mommy the whole time. He sure perked up for cake though!

I just wanted to take a few lines just to explain what a great kid Ethan is. He can be very quiet and reserved, but he has such a wonderful heart. When we brought Jack home many people felt that Ethan would be jealous or upset. He was soooo excited, and still is. He is the best big brother. He loves Cam and Jack more than anything. He goes around announcing these are my brothers. He is so proud of them. The other day all three of the boys were bouncing in the crib and my mom saw Cam pull down a little decoration and it broke. When my mom asked who did it Ethan said, "I did. I'm sorry grandma". What 4 year old does that? I know it's a mom brag, but he deserves it. He also picks up even when Cam and Jack won't. He tells me if Jack is standing on a chair, so that he won't get hurt. He is a really great kid.

Doctor's appointments, haircuts, and more

Ethan at his first field trip to Parky's farm.

Ethan and Cam totally engrossed in Scooby Doo (oh the classics). Jack doesn't know what he's missing.

This is Eric's mom's house. Notice the huge tree. This was an Arbor Day twig that Eric planted as a child. Mental note..don not plant trees next to the house. No matter how small they seem.

Have you ever tried to get three little boys in one picture?..don't. I have about 12 more shots just like these. Oh well, we tried.

Jack is an official U.S. Citizen!

This week was crazy. I went back to my normal work schedule, we had two doctor's appointments, a field trip, haircuts, tumbling, and lord knows what else!

Jack went to his IA checkup. He has gained almost two pounds, about an inch, and his head has grown. All his blood tests came back normal. He does need a few vaccine boosters. Everyone was pleased. We also met with the surgical team. We have decided that Jack will have his surgery on July 30th. He will have his palate closed, a lip touch up, and ear tubes put in. It's a lot at once, but we figured we minds well get it done in one shot. He shouldn't need any other surgeries until a bit later.

Jack also got his first haircut. We took all 3 boys, with the help of grandma to get their hair clipped! Let me tell you we won't be doing that without 3 adults anytime soon! We had them keep Jack's a bit longer because of his lumpy, bumpy head. Let's just say there are no crew cuts in our near future. All the boys look adorable (not that I'm partial).

Jack is an official US Citizen. We applied in O' hara airport and we just got his certificate.

Today, Mother's Day my hausband (the saint) took the 3 boys to visit nonna. So I could relax. However, I'm not good at that so I cleaned the house, mowed the grass, sorted clothes, grocery shopped, and baked cupcakes. However, it was oh so peaceful.

Happy Mother's Day!