Daily Life at the White House

Not to be completely outdone by my marvelous husband (round of applause for the great update he gave!), I thought I'd go ahead and post a few pictures taken in the past couple of days.

As Todd mentioned, I'm back to babysitting, up from three days a week to five. These two weeks have been extra busy, as I've had not one, but two additional toddlers running around. (Think about it... that's five little people; four of them between 16-22 months, and one not quite three months old. And you wonder why I don't have time to write or call?)


Evan has discovered a new love (and talent, I think!). Put a bat in his hand and he's all smiles!

I said, "Let's go play outside." They interepreted, "Let's go swimming!" So, fully clothed, they hopped right in (and yes, I consider my kids fully clothed even without shorts. It's summer and cloth diapers are cute!)

Silly Joel!

Toddlers find pleasure in the simple things.

I think this is a cute picture (of the kids, not myself!) "Storytime" is each morning; we always sit on this blanket. This is what they did as soon as I got it out.

We made paper bag puppets yesterday. Mikayla chewed hers apart, which is why she doesn't have one. She took Evan's when he wasn't looking, though...

And he now realizes she has chewed his apart as well!


I thought this was adorable. It's a good example of why I don't get nicer curtains!

Buddies hanging out together in the twins' room.

Where's Luke, you ask? Honestly, he doesn't do a whole lot right now, so while I take plenty of pictures of him, I decided to wait to share until I get a really cute one. (Just scroll down to Todd's post showing Luke pics. Looking at those pretty much tells you what my pictures look like as well.)

So there you go, a bit of our daily life!

July 25th - Todd's Post

Well, it seems like everytime I talk to a relative on the phone they ask about the blog, and inquire about an update. We have been ultra busy with the arrival of Luke, and Sarah seems to have even less time than me ( Todd). So I decided that I would update this month being the super husband and father that I am :). I am not used to updating this, so I wanted to have it start with the beginning of the month and end with today, but instead it is the opposite, so bear with me.
This was from this past week, the twins love to use their kiddie pool and never miss an opportunity to get in, even if they are fully dressed! Their hair is getting lighter too!

Even though the house and yard are small it is a big world to Joel and Evan, and they are true explorers and investigate everything together ( including our neighbor Mr. Bart and his flowering hostas).

Luke is becoming an absolute doll. He has begun to smile and laugh, and lately he likes to babble an awful lot. But he is a good baby and sleeps much better than Joel and Evan ever did.

Joel was having a bad hair day.

Sarah took this picture of my three sons.

This Luke on vacation in Florida.

I still try to have the boys come to school and wear them out in the gym. On this day, they brought their friend George ( Blue ).

Sarah had taken Luke out with her, and the boys and I were all able to fall asleep in the recliner holding the big dog stuft animal.

Grandpa Wayne playing with Joel in the pool in Florida.

We went to the Tampa Zoo and as you can see Joel and Evan were able to feed a Giraffe, several times.

Luke got excited when he saw his older brothers in the pool, but doesn't enjoy it as much as they do. Grammy Margie is holding him.

Even though Luke is crying I still smile when I see this, he is just so cute.

Uncle Scott was fantastic with Joel and Evan, really banding with each of them and playing all the time.

Joel is still under the impression that Luke is his baby, he absolutley adores him.

Joel in the pool.

Evan in the pool.

Joel on the left, Evan on the right.

Joel and Evan were able to pet stingrays in the Tarpon Springs Aquarium.

Sarah was able to meet up with a friend ( Stephanie) she has in Florida.

This is Joel and Evan on July 4th waiting for Fireworks in Tampa. As it turned out, they were unable to make it and were too tired so we went back to the rental.

This is Luke in the beginning of July just relaxing in his bumbo seat.

Updates;

Sarah : She has started watching another toddler who is about 17 months old 5 days a week now. Amazingly enough, she had been able to handle it very well and schedules her day with lessons and a curriculum. At heart she is a teacher and she doesn't even know how talented she is. Her leaving the classroom impacted the students she worked with, but benefited our family.

Todd: I enjoyed the vacation to Florida, but it made me miss traveling. I have a fire burning inside me to start up again and visit Cambodia and Thailand, or head to Russia. I realize that won't happen for some time but I also look forward to taking the boys to visit destinations around the globe. School is going well, always busy. Sarah and I have frequent discussions about when I will be ready to job search for my own principalship, but for now I am still learning.

Joel : Ever the attention getter, he will mostly go against what you say with a smile on his face. It is a great game to him, but does cause us a couple headaches. He is very happy go lucky, and has a best friend in Evan. As I mentioned before, he adores Luke and cries when he is not allowed to have him on his lap ( monitored of course ).

Evan : He is starting to show a few signs of jealousy towards Luke and sometimes Conlin ( the boy that Sarah watches). He is going through the beginning of the terrible twos along with Joel, and tries to be independant. He is wanting to things his way, like after bath time he wants naked time to last forever and fights with all his will against the diaper and clothes. At the same time, is is also a lover and is always giving kisses and hugs.

Luke : Although Danger is his middle name, he has yet to live up to it. He sleeps well at night getting up once or twice. He stays awake a majority of the day, always looking forward to nursing. He is more of a momma's boy, but that has started to change with Daddy being around more lately. He likes his brothers and on several ocassions has laughed while they were trying to get him to. He is getting bigger all the time, wearing size 3 diapers and is already wearing 3-6 months clothing, but no girl friends yet.

In closing I will say that we will try harder to update the blog, but I am making no promises. :)

Pictures Galore!

I've got a new camera! Hurray! All the kids are asleep at this moment, so I thought, while I may not have all that much time to write, I certainly can put up a few photos to make everyone happy. I'm going to add quite a few, so forgive me if the page loads slowly. Enjoy!

P.S. For those who are waiting and wondering, I realize thank you cards and birth announcements haven't made it out yet. Thank you to everyone for the kind wishes and lovely gifts. I promise I haven't forgotten; it's just that it is a bit hard to find the time to address all the envelopes. The twins are up no later than 6:30 each morning, and don't go to bed until 8:30 at night. Add a baby that nurses every hour and a half, and it turns out time for anything becomes rather limited! We are very thankful to all of you, though, and I hope the cards will be out very soon.


Last weekend we took the boys to visit their Nonnie and Poppy. We went to visit a local children's museum, so here are some pictures from that day.

Aunt Jessi and Joel:



Evan and his baby brother:



Joel (Daddy painted a fish on his forehead):

I love this photo of Evan because it totally shows his personality. "I'm having fun with this! Hey, what's THAT?!"

Guess who's overtired? Wow, this nifty new camera even captures the bags under Evan's eyes.

Must.. make... noise...

Getting their faces painted. (As you can see from previous photos, Evan did NOT like his. Hence, the pink E instead looks like a strange cut on his cheek.)

Aunt Jessi's boyfriend Mark kindly held Luke so that I could play photographer.



Sunny Days! We've been enjoying some beautiful, hot weather lately. The boys love their pool!

Popsicle break. Joel is one happy kid!
Evan showing off his manly figure, I guess.

Luke loves the sun, too!

Seven weeks old

Daddy and Luke enjoying each other's company

Hope that will keep everyone happy for a bit! I've got a lot more to add, so stay tuned for some new picture posts, plus the highly anticipated "A Day in the Life" post! (Who knows, maybe I'm the only one anticipating it. Whatever.)

Settling In

Well, a big thanks to Todd for keeping things somewhat updated here! I finally have a moment, so thought I'd post a few pictures and say hi. Luke is going to be two weeks old tomorrow; I really am shocked to think that it's already been two weeks! I ended up with a c-section, so I'm on doctors orders not to do anything (no lifting, no carrying anything heavier than Luke, no cleaning, etc.) for six weeks in order for proper healing. That has been an absolute pain; how exactly do you parent toddlers when you can't do anything? We're trying to deal with it, after all, what can we do? But needless to say, it's been complete aggravation for both Todd and I. (Joel and Evan probably have mixed feelings regarding my inability to care for them; on the one hand, Mommy isn't picking them up when they want to be held. On the other hand, Mommy can't do much about them carrying meals into the living room, climbing all over furniture, and doing whatever else they'd normally be in trouble for.) Thank goodness for family and friends. My sister (Aunt Jessi) came into town for a few days and watched the boys while I was in the hospital. My stepmom (the boys Nonnie) came over for a few days last week to help out; she left exhausted, but it was wonderful having her! Then my mom (Grammy) came over for the weekend to help out as well; even with Todd at home, we still really, really needed and appreciated the help. She's coming back at the start of June, and I am really looking forward to seeing her again! We've got a few awesome friends filling in the gaps in the meantime, so Joel and Evan are able to hang out with some of their little friends instead of sitting around with boring ol' me. It's hard, but I'd say we're surviving!

Here are some pictures taken recently.

The big brothers holding their baby brother for the first time. Luke wasn't thrilled, but it went well.

Evan cuddling with his new brother. They really like him, sometimes a little too much! I've had to cut in on quite a few tickle sessions already!

My boys hanging out together!

Twin Power

The twins haven't missed a beat with the arrival of their brother. You might ask what they have been up to. Well they play and dance non stop, always keeping themselves entertained, as you can see.