Get well soon John!

I just found out my brother John had knee surgery yesterday--how did I get out of the loop on that news?? He sounds great this evening and said the surgery went perfectly. I know it's hard for him to stay couch-bound for a couple of days, especially with my sweet nieces running around. GET WELL SOON, BROTHER!!!

Our condolences to Uncle Leroy, Aunt Judy, and cousins Matt & LeAnn on Slim's death--his funeral was today and I know it was a hard day for them. LeAnn said the funeral was beautiful, but they played Vince Gill's "Go Rest High on That Mountain" and it was all over for her. That song makes me cry when it plays on the radio, so I completely understood.

Here's a cute picture--hopefully it brings a smile!

BACK to the doctor

I swear, will we ever feel better?? Brent spent last night throwing up, but felt a little better this morning so he went to work. Graham's eyes look pretty bad, so I took the kids BACK to the doctor this morning. I got a prescription for eye ointment, which I gave him his first dose of. [By the way, my friend Erin has a great tip for putting ointment in baby/toddler's eyes: Put it along their upper eyelid lash line, and body heat will cause it to melt into the eye. She swears by this technique--thought I'd pass it along to anyone in need! :-) ]

I am very lucky to have a job that allows me to work Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays so that I can be home more with the kids while they're so little. I just wish we didn't spend every Tuesday and Thursday in the doctor's office!! No MAPS again for us this morning...
:-(

Jessica brought dinner over last night--cashew chicken, rice and homemade banana bread. Deeeelish!

Speaking of food, here's a recipe we had this week that was SOOO good. Stephanie brought it to our frozen supper club (I'll post more about that another day), and the recipe is worth sharing! I'll share more recipes on future posts:

Chicken Casserole

1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
3 cups chicken broth
2 cups chopped cooked chicken
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups uncooked ziti noodles (yes...uncooked!)

Preheat oven to 350. Combine all ingredients and pour into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake covered for 45 minutes, then bake uncovered for 45 minutes.

Simple and wonderful!!

Fun time in the exersaucers

Happy Tuesday! As promised, here are some cute pictures of the boys playing in their exersaucers. Both of these were Sophie's toys, and she loves walking around them playing with the toys while the boys are bouncing.



The first one is Graham and Sophie, the second is Blake, and the third is Blake asleep in the Jumperoo. He loves that Jumperoo! He plays until he wears himself out...this is him catching a quick cat nap between play sessions.

A lady asked me yesterday at church how long it takes me to do Sophie's hair in the morning. I wasn't sure what she meant, but as the conversation went on I realized she assumed I curled her hair with rollers or a curling iron every morning. HA!! Obviously I don't (and wouldn't even if I HAD the time to devote to that), but do moms really do that?? I'm not trying to be a pageant mom or something!! :-) I consider it a huge success if I have a hairbow that matches her outfit!

Happy Wednesday to everyone!

We're ALMOST there...

My goodness...that respiratory bug that's going around is awful! Brent and I are finally feeling somewhat better, and the kids are at the tail-end of the bug, too. I went to work yesterday, and Brent made it to work today. We figured that this past weekend would mark a big turning point for us, but we were pretty miserable all weekend. The worst part for us now is the non-stop coughing when we lay down. Our counter looks like a medicine cabinet--Mucinex, Delsym, Sophie's antibiotics, Graham's ear drops, Baby Vicks, ibuprofen, PediaCare wateress vaporizers (we love these)...it's getting pretty crowded! Please let this be over soon!!

The kids and I had Mom's Carelink this morning at church, and our speaker was a chiropractor talking about things they can do to help families with things like ear infections, colic, autism, etc. Pretty interesting! The best part was they gave chair massages afterwards...awesome!!

We broke out the Jumperoo this weekend to help entertain our cabin-fever crew. Pictures soon!

We are sooooo sick.....

Just a quick post to update you on the week's happenings. Sorry I haven't posted--I've been getting some grief from some of you about it.
:-)

We are one sick little family. We all have either a bad cold or the respiratory flu. Sore throats, fever, sore muscles, bad coughs, stuffy heads...poor little Sophie's eyes are bright pink and she has an ear infection. She's on antibiotics for her ears and eyes.

Brent is home for the third day in a row today. The first day he had to stay home because I was too sick to take care of the kids alone, and then he came down with it later that day. I worked from home yesterday, and will probably have to tomorrow.

We missed out on such fun things this week! My dad was going to come down one day to spend the day, my friend Mary was bringing Sophie and I lunch one day, MAPS had a movie night, and this morning the kids and I are missing MAPS. Bummer!! The highlight of the week has been my friend Jessica bringing us dinner last night. She's such a blessing to us.

I'm off to make hot spiced Tang tea (have you had this before? Yummy!). Brent said his mom used to make it for him, and he promises me that our throats will feel better. I'm game!!

Our 4th Wedding Anniversary

Today is our 4th wedding anniversary! Happy anniversary to us!! Four years ago today we were on the beaches of Montego Bay, Jamaica with Dad, Louise, Jerry and Pat. Here are a couple of pictures of that day:

There wasn't any music playing, so Dad hummed "Here Comes the Bride" as we walked down the path. It was also SUPER windy that day, so he's holding my skirt closed on the side! Funny memories! We loved that trip--Brent and I hope to win the lottery and go back someday. :-)

Tonight we're going to dinner and a movie! HEAVEN! Melissa and Kelly are coming over to watch the kids, and we're going to Timberline or Outback for dinner, then to see "The Bucket List." We are so excited!! "Date nights" are a special (but rare!) occasion around here!

Get well soon, Ryan!!

Ryan, who I posted pictures of in the last couple of days, is in the hospital tonight with the respiratory flu (Influenza A, for anyone who knows the difference...if you know, please fill me in!). He's been running a high fever and is really dehydrated. They started an IV after several attempts and they'll keep him there overnight. His mommy Caryn and daddy Josh will stay with him. I'll keep you posted on him. Get well soon little Ryan!

My friend Christy sent me this next thing, and I thought some of you might get a kick out of it. Pay special attention to #9--I sincerely laughed until I cried!!

True preparation for parenthood at any age....

• Lesson 1: Go to the supermarket. Arrange to have your salary paid directly to their head office. Go home. Pick up the paper. Read it for the last time. Watch all your favorite TV shows one last time.
• Lesson 2: Before you finally have children, find a couple who already are parents. Berate them about their...1. Methods of discipline. 2. Lack of patience. 3. Appallingly low tolerance levels. 4. Allowing their children to run wild. Suggest ways in which they might improve their child's sleeping habits, toilet training, table manners and overall behavior. Enjoy it. It will be the last time in your life that you will have all the answers.
• Lesson 3: To discover how the nights will feel...1. Walk around the living room from 5PM to 10PM carrying a wet bag weighing approximately 8-12 pounds, with a radio turned to static (or some other obnoxious sound) playing loudly. 2. At 10PM, put the bag down, set the alarm for midnight, and go to sleep. 3. Get up at 12 and walk around the living room again, with the bag, until 1AM. 4. Set the alarm for 3 AM. 5. As you can't get back to sleep, get up at 2AM and make a drink. 6. Go to bed at 2:45AM. 7. Get up at 3AM when the alarm goes off. 8. Sing songs in the dark until 4AM. 9. Get up. Make breakfast. Keep this up for 5 years. Look cheerful.
• Lesson 4: Can you stand the mess children make? To find out...1. Smear peanut butter onto the sofa and jam onto the curtains. 2. Hide a piece of raw chicken behind the stereo and leave it there all summer. Walk around, asking, "What is that smell? Do you smell that?" 3. Stick your fingers in the flower bed. 4. Then rub them on the clean walls. 5. Cover the stains with crayons. How does that look?
• Lesson 5: Dressing small children is not as easy as it seems. 1. Buy a live octopus and a small bag made of loose mesh 2. Attempt to put the octopus into the bag so that none of the arms hang out. Time allowed for this - all morning.
• Lesson 6: 1.Take an egg carton. Using a pair of scissors and a pot of paint, turn it into an alligator. 2. Now take the tube from a roll of toilet paper. Using only scotch tape and a piece of foil, turn it into an attractive Christmas candle. 3. Last, take a milk carton, a ping-pong ball, and an empty packet of Cocoa Puffs. Make an exact replica of the Eiffel Tower.
• Lesson 7: Forget the BMW and buy a station wagon. And don't think you can leave it out in the driveway spotless and shining. Family cars don't look like that. 1. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment. Leave it there. 2. Get a dime. Stick it in the tape or CD player. 3. Take a family size package of chocolate cookies. Mash them into the back seat. 4. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car. There. Perfect.
• Lesson 8: Get ready to go out. 1. Wait outside the bathroom for a half an hour. 2. Go out the front door. 3. Come in again. 4. Go out 5. come back in 6. go back out again.7. Walk down the front walk. 8. Walk back up it. 9. Walk back down it again. 10. Walk very slowly down the road for five minutes, stopping, inspecting minutely, and asking at least 6 questions about each cigarette butt, piece of used chewing gum, dirty tissue, and dead insect along the way. 11. Retrace your steps. 12. Scream that you have had as much as you can stand, until the neighbors come out and stare at you. 13. Give up and go back into the house. You are now just about ready to try taking a small child for a walk.
• Lesson 9: Go back to the local supermarket. Take with you the nearest thing you can find to a preschool child (a full grown goat is excellent). If you intend to have more than one child, take more than one goat. 1. buy your week's groceries without letting the goats out of your sight. 2. Pay for everything the goat eats or destroys. 3. Lift goat into cart; out of cart; into cart. Beg goat to stay in cart. Bribe goat with cheerios. Until you can accomplish this, do not even contemplate having children.
• Lesson 10: 1. Make a small hole in the side of a melon and hollow it out. 2. Suspend it from the ceiling and swing it from side to side. 3. Now get a bowl of soggy Cheerios and attempt to spoon them into the swaying melon by pretending to be an airplane. 4. Continue until half the Cheerios are gone. 5. Tip half of the remainder into your lap. The other half just throw up into the air. You are now ready to feed a 9-16 month old baby.
• Lesson 11: Learn the names of every character from Sesame Street, Dora the Explorer, Barney, and Disney. Watch nothing else on TV for five years.
• Lesson 12: Make a recording of Fran Drescher saying "mommy" repeatedly (important: no more than a four second delay between each "mommy"). An occasional crescendo to the volume of a supersonic jet is required. Play this recording in your car everywhere you go for the next five years.
• Lesson 13: Put on your finest work attire. Pick a day in which you have an important meeting. 1. Take a cup of cream, put in 1 cup of lemon juice, and stir. 2. Dump half of the mixture on your shirt, and saturate a towel with the other half. 3. Attempt to wipe off your shirt with the towel. 4. Do NOT change. You have no time. 5. Go directly to work.
• Lesson 14: Go for a drive! But first...1. Find one large tomcat and six pitbulls. 2. Borrow a child safety seat and put it in the back seat of your car. 3. Put the pitbulls in the front seat of your car. 4. While holding something fragile, strap the cat into the child seat. 5. Run some errands, removing and replacing the cat at each stop. You are now ready to run errands with a toddler.

Happy Valentine's Day!

We ordered a Papa Murphy's pizza and a chocolate chip cookie (have you had one of these yet?? SO worth it!!) tonight and had a great Valentine's dinner! We were laughing about how dramatically our focus has changed now that the kids have come along. Give us our lounging clothes, a takeout pizza and a movie rental with the kids, and we couldn't be happier!

Here are some cute pictures of the kids tonight. These are of them opening their cards from Grandma and Grandpa Schuler. They mail them each their own card in their own envelope. We love that! Graham kept dropping his, and Sophie would pick it up and give it back to him. Awww! Such a good big sister.

Kelly and Roger brought them each a Valentine gift bag--Sophie got two books and a mug that says "Sophia." Blake and Graham each got soft teething toys. So sweet!! Sophie had to have her mug with her at the dinner table, and put all of her food in it. Then she'd take it out of her cup and eat it. Ha!

Wishing YOU a happy Valentine's Day and hoping your day was full of the things you love...especially chocolate. :-)

Sophie's first photo gallery

Sophie loves carring the camera around, and figured out how to snap pictures. Here's a few of her latest shots:

Yesterday morning my friend Caryn came over with her son Ryan to watch the kids until our babysitter Leslie could get here. These are some pictures Caryn got of Ryan and Sophie playing together. Isn't he a doll?!

We'll be celebrating Valentine's Day when Brent wakes up this evening, so I'll have a "Valentine's Day" posting later tonight with more pictures of the kids!

Welcome Home Sue!! (& Welcome Home Brandon!!)

My friend Sue had a knee replacement on Friday, and is already home and doing great! Sue is Kelly, Kari & Kris's mom, for those of you who know our friends. She's such a trooper--Kelly said she's getting along great. I'm stopping by her house later today, so hopefully I'll get a chance to peek in on her.

Brandon (Kelly & Roger's son) is home from the Marines for a week! Welcome home Brandon! He got in late last night, and I'm sure he's busy seeing all of his friends already today. He's off to California next week to the base where he'll be stationed, and last I heard would be heading to Iraq soon. Hopefully we'll get a chance to see him while he's home!

The kids are still really sniffly and coughing some. Blake slept in the swing after about 2pm last night. His nose was stuffy and it was making him mad! I ran the Triaminic Flowing Vapors vaporizer for them, and it seemed to help some. I need to stop at Walgreen's tonight and see if they have another scent of medicine--the one I got is cherry mentholatum, and it smells like the worst fake cherry smell you can imagine.

Sophie made her first attempt at crayons today! She loves them--such a natural! She tried to eat them, though, so art time came to an end. She'll try again after she wakes up from her nap.

More pictures in the next day or so. :-)

Happy Birthday Pat!

Today is Brent's step-mom Pat's birthday--Happy birthday Pat! They're having dinner at a BBQ restaurant tonight, but we're bummed that we're going to miss it. :-( Brent has been sick for the last few days, and last night the kids and I spent the night coughing and sneezing. I'm sure the last thing Pat wants for her birthday is a nasty cold!

The boys went all night with no bottles! I put them in their own cribs, and aside from the sneezing they did GREAT. Every time I checked on them they were in a different position--I think they're loving all the room they have in their cribs!

Since Edge isn't feeling well, Sophie has turned her attention toward our other cat, Heidi. Heidi walks by...minding her own business...and Sophie tackles her. If you look at it from Heidi's perspective, it's sadly comical. Sophie grabs Heidi's cheeks and kisses her on the mouth. We are VERY lucky that we have such good cats--I don't think normal cats would tolerate such attention! :-) Edge is doing MUCH better today, the swelling is almost gone and he seems to be more energetic.

Poor Edge!

We have two cats: Heidi and Edge. Edge is Sophie's VERY BEST FRIEND. Brent said he went to wake Sophie up the other morning and she was talking to Daddy, but the minute she saw Edge she wanted nothing to do with Daddy! We're chopped liver compared to "kitty"! Well, last night I noticed Edge's eye was almost swollen shut. This morning it looked worse, so Brent took him to the vet. He had an abscessed tooth--the vet had to sedate him and pull his tooth. Poor Edge!! He's at home now and seems to be doing well. Brent is in charge of giving him his medications (both are liquids)--Edge took them like a champ tonight.

GUESS WHO SLEPT IN THEIR CRIBS LAST NIGHT!! Woo hoo!! I put them both in the same crib, but they were spinning around exploring the new space and spent most of the night accidentally beating each other up. They were really restless most of the night, and wanted bottles at 1am. Tonight I put them in separate cribs--I'll be anxious to see how they do. Graham is asleep, but Blake is awake and talking in there. When I carried Sophie into their room this morning, she wanted to climb in their crib with them! Here's a picture of them this morning. So cute!!

Happy Birthday Jimmy!

Today is my oldest brother Jim's birthday! Happy birthday!!

As promised, here is the recipe for Kim's Mexican soup:

1 ½ pounds ground beef
1 can kidney beans, drained
1 small can corn, drained
1 whole onion
1 large can tomatoes
½ pound Mexican velveeta cheese
¼ pound regular velveeta cheese

Brown ground beef and onion together, Drain grease. Add tomatoes, beans, corn. Add cheese until it melts. Cook about 30 minutes. Season with salt & pepper if you’d like.

Also as promised, here is a picture of Sophie, Elliott, Blake and Graham!

What a busy day!

MAPS (Mothers and Pre Schoolers) started up again Thursday at church, so the kids and I spent the morning at church while Brent slept (he worked Wednesday night). I love MAPS and Sophie loves playing with the other kids in the nursery. You should see how many kids are there--it's so much fun!

I dropped the kids off with Daddy for afternoon playtime and worked in the Wags office for a few hours, then ran to the grocery store. I ran in as Brent was running out to go to work (one of these days we'll all be at the same place at the same time!). The kids and I went to my neighbor Jessica's to play with Jess's daughter Elliott (20 months). Sophie and Elliott had so much fun together, and Elliott loved the boys! She kept saying "babies!" and was so gentle with them. I have a cute picture of all 4 kids that I'll post later.

Pati and Mary came over last night to babysit the kids while Kelly and I played Bunco with Kim and Teresa's Bunco group. We had a blast! Kim made an awesome mexican soup (kind of like taco soup but creamier)--I'll post the recipe when I get it from her. I even won a prize for most Buncos--$20! It doesn't get any better than that!!

WHAT A FULL DAY!

Caucus

Have I told you about the time that I forced Brent to sit through a two-hour "waterless cookware" seminar because we could earn a free weekend hotel stay somewhere (yes, I'm a total sucker)? It's been many years ago, but I've had a long-standing debt to Brent ever since. Well....going to the caucus last night PAID OFF that debt!! In fact....I might now have a credit....

Last night was a ZOO! We've never seen such a disorganized mess--it was chaos! Brent was so excited to go--everything he'd read said we'd get to listen to neat speakers and talk to people, but it turned out to be completely different than we expected. The only speaker we got to listen to was the lady behind us with a New York accent that had a comment on everything we talked about. Plus, she kept touching me...she weirded me out a little. We waited in line (with my touchy new friend) for close to two hours before we made it into the auditorium, and then they just counted us and let us leave. Such a bummer! I felt bad for Brent.

Kelly watched the kids ("poor Kelly" said Dad--he thinks we abuse her, I think), and in hindsight I wish we would have ordered pizza and hung out with her! When we left the caucus, it was really snowing--Brent had a hard time knowing which lane he was in. But, we picked up hamburgers on the way home and snuggled up with the kids, so the evening at least ended well!

p.s.--We didn't buy any waterless cookware, in case you're wondering. :-)

Happy Super Tuesday!

Brent INSISTS that we go to the Democratic caucus tonight, so Kelly is coming by soon to watch the kids. It should be interesting! Brent is excited--he keeps telling me what a historical event this is for Kansas! Is anyone else participating in this tonight? Or the Republican caucus on Saturday?

I worked at the Wags to Whiskers office this morning, then Laura treated Julie (her new employee) and I to lunch at Olive Garden. We all had the lasagna rollatini they've been advertising--YUMMY! Brent enjoyed the leftovers. :-) Brent worked on child-proofing the cabinets while I was gone, and had a mishap...he drilled through one of the cabinet doors. Oops! He was NOT happy, but with a little wood filler and an electric sander, he got it looking good again!



The kids got baths early today in preparation for Kelly's visit. They love their baths! Graham is pictured in the middle, Blake is on the right.

Happy caucus-ing!

Crib time???

Please try not to shake your head and call me crazy, but I can't seem to move these boys into their room. :-( We had it all planned out that tonight was the big night....then I burst into tears and Brent said we'd wait a few days! So, they're snugly tucked into their playpen next to our bed as we speak. I KNOW, I KNOW, I KNOW--it's probably way past due, but I'm having a tough time with it. I'm not sure why, exactly. Probably within the week I'll be posting that the boys are in their own room, but not tonight. Only constructive comments, please. :-)

Sophie must be teething. She's woken up every night for the past week in tears, and has her fingers in her mouth when we go in to comfort her. She settles down after a dose of Tylenol or ibuprofen and sleeps fine for the rest of the night. Maybe this explains the tantrums she's been having lately?? She's due for her canine teeth to come in next, and the doctor said they're the hardest on kids. Poor thing!!

It was a BEAUTIFUL day here today! I had a chiropractor appointment at lunch, and the temperature was 61. Brent had to work all day, so he didn't get to enjoy much of it. He's off for the next few days, but we're supposed to have ice and snow tonight and tomorrow. No fun!

Super Bowl Sunday

Welcome to the first post on our new blog! We seem to blink and a month goes by, so we hope to keep everyone up to date with pictures and weekly "happenings" through this blog. Free time comes at odd hours for us, so this seemed like the best option for updates! We hope you enjoy!

Today is Super Bowl Sunday, and Brent is working. They're having Super Bowl munchies at his office today--maybe this would be a good day for us to visit Daddy at work?! The twins are in "touchdown" football outfits today. Sophie, Blake, Graham and I ran some errands this afternoon, and now all three of them are napping. The game starts soon, and I'm sure we'll have it on to watch the commercials. The boys LOVE watching TV, but Sophie isn't interested at all. Is this proof of male/female pre-programming??

Sophie has become quite the little helper with the boys--she loves trying to give them their bottles. This picture is of her giving Graham his bottle, she and I had already fed Blake. It usually ends with the boys being covered in milk, but she's so proud of herself! Yesteday she picked up Graham's hand and kissed it. Awww!! She sings to the boys all the time. I think she likes that they're so interactive now--they watch her every move (partially out of fear and self-preservation I'm guessing?).

The boys are rolling over from their backs to their tummies! They're really trying hard to figure out how to roll back over, though--they get so mad that they're stuck on their tummies! We spend a lot of time rescuing them and rolling them back over. If they're laying next to each other, they grab at each other's arms and heads and try to log-roll right over each other. It's like a human obstacle course! They've also just started laughing. They've been smiling and squealing for a while now, but they just started making little "chuckle" sounds. This picture is of Blake on his belly, but he has Graham's hand in his mouth!