Happy Belated Easter!

Here are some pictures from our Easter weekend! Sophie had a great time hunting eggs and playing with her Easter toys. They all enjoyed the nursery at church, and did surprisingly well at dinner!

The ears are from Grandma and Grandpa Schuler...you can see that we all had fun with them! :-) The boys got pool floaties for this summer, and Sophie got a huge lamb and LOTS of fun toys!! They gave Sophie a musical card (she loves musical cards!!), and she's been carrying it around since she opened it. You should see her maneuver her lamb through doorways. :-) We'll be playing with Easter presents all summer! Thanks Grandma & Grandpa!

The chocolate bunny and ball cap are from Brent's dad and stepmom--Grandpa Jerry and Grandma Pat. Sophie got her mommy's love of chocolate! She had fun getting messy.

WEIRD day today

The office I work in only has 7 people in it (including me). Our receptionist and one other girl were out today, so we had a sign on the front desk telling people to ring the bell when they came in. Well....I was heading up front to check the fax machine, and there's a guy standing in the office next to mine (of the girl that's on vacation), and he was crouched down beside her desk next to her computer with a drawer open. I thought it was a little strange--but in my defense, I'm only there three days a week and I don't know all of the faces that come in and out of the office. I stopped in the ladies' room, and on my way out one of the ladies told me that she had startled him and he made up a fumbling lie about waiting for the bus (there's not a bus stop around our office) and left. EEK!! He was a burglar!!! You've got to be kidding me!! It's not like our office is a big open environment--you have to go down a hall to get to our individual offices. Needless to say, the front door was shut from then on so we'd hear the alarm chime if someone came in. Does anyone have a big dog I can borrow to take to work with me Friday??

Other than that, all is well here. :-) The boys will be SIX months old on Friday!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I hope you didn't get pinched today! Our babysitter Leslie had the kids all dressed in green outfits when I got home from work tonight. So cute! I don't know WHAT I would do without her...

It's been a cold, rainy few days around here. Sophie is getting cabin fever! Every time one of us goes near the door, she thinks it's time to get in the car. I took her with me on a quick errand earlier before Brent went to work--she was in heaven.

Not much to report! I just wanted to check in to say nothing exciting is happening around here! I'll post more pictures soon.

A great site to check out: www.parenthacks.com. It's full of great practical ideas for parents...lots of "do-it-yourself" tips and advice for entertaining little ones. I stumbled upon it trying to find a "sand & water table" for the kids for this summer. They have instructions for making one!

Happy Monday!

Jessica

I've mentioned my friend Jessica from church before--she's the one that brings us dinner. I saw her tonight, and thought I'd elaborate on her. She's in a ladies' Bible study I was in last Fall, and I got acquainted with her. When the twins were born, she wanted to do something for us, and offered to bring us dinner...EVERY WEDNESDAY...FOR A YEAR. AN ENTIRE YEAR?!? Yep...every week. So, sweet Jessica brings a hot dinner to our house every Wednesday, often along with a note of encouragement or some scripture verses that she thought were fitting.

I tell you, I look forward to Wednesdays like it's Christmas--every single week. I would love to make an impact like that on someone's life--I'm trying to determine what my "gift" is that would be a blessing to someone else. If you have any ideas, e-mail me.

Cute story: I put the boys on their playmat on the floor tonight, and Graham grabbed Blake's face and kissed him on the forehead. While he was kissing him, Graham was squealing at the top of his lungs! I wish I could have hit "rewind" and gotten a picture!! Blake didn't know what hit him--he looked shocked, then laughed. He was defenseless against his kissing, squealing brother--Ha!! More pictures soon!

Small group

Since our church is so big, members are assigned to "small groups" that meet every week. Ours is made up of 5 couples, and Brent was able to go with us tonight since he's off for a few days (yippee!!). We have babysitters that watch all of the "group" kids for us, but they have midterms tomorrow and couldn't come tonight. That meant all three of our angels were with us in the living room...during our opening prayer time, Sophie tried to climb into the fireplace, Blake sang "AHHHHHHHH!" at the top of his lungs, and Graham blew spit bubbles sounding like a motorboat. I'm not even sure what we prayed about...I was too busy wondering if we'd be the first couple kicked out of church small group.

Tomorrow is supposed to be a beautiful day! I am READY for warmer weather. I can't wait to load up the triple stroller and take these kids out walking or to the zoo. We need to get another trailer to go behind the bike that the kids ride in. We have a 2-seater one, but need another one so we can take them riding. It will be nice to spend a summer NOT pregnant this year! I've been sooo pregnant the last two summers. Here's a look at me LAST summer...this picture makes my back and belly hurt!!

Will we sleep again??

Last night wasn't much better! The boys woke up at 2am (3am...Daylight Savings Time!), sniffling, coughing and screaming!! Dad heard them, too, and came upstairs to help. Boy, are they demanding at that time of night. They sucked down bottles and eventually calmed down. We put them in their car seats so they could get some rest sitting up. It seemed to help their stuffiness. I wish we could give them cough medicine or something! Thank goodness Sophie slept through it all--she is such a great sleeper. Brent will be off for a few days soon...I can hardly wait.

Poor Dad--last night we had Sonic for dinner and this morning breakfast was from McDonalds. So, on top of him leaving today with a bad night's sleep and a wreck of a daughter, his arteries aren't in any better shape either!! I wonder...will my hospitality improve as my sanity does?? I promise, Dad--if I win an exotic dream vacation, it's yours!!

On a lighter note, we got some really great pictures! Here are a few:

Dad's here!

Dad came to visit today!! I think he sees that I'm close to a breakdown, so he offered to stay the night tonight. The kids were all super fussy today (all 3 are teething and miserable), and I couldn't be more grateful for the extra pair of helping hands. Brent is working nights, and the boys have decided to start waking up every two hours again. Last night they woke up at 2am and I couldn't get Graham back to sleep. He cried...I cried...we're a mess! I gave the boys rice cereal tonight, so we'll see if that helps.

More soon!

Sorry it's been so long!

I can't believe it's been so long between posts! Apparently we've been busy...but I'm not sure what we've been doing?!

The kids and I went to MAPS this morning, and the boys have cried pretty much non-stop since we got home. I'm almost positive they're both working on their bottom teeth, so I gave them both Tylenol and they're napping in their swings right now.

Tuesday our Parents as Teachers educator Stephanie was here--if you're unfamiliar with this program, it's AWESOME. Stephanie comes to our house once a month for in-home visits. She teaches us activities to help the kids develop both mentally and physically--she's full of good ideas and advice. This month we talked about "pretend" play with Sophie, and how important it is for her to pretend to cook, talk on the phone (sorry LeAnn and Louise...I didn't think she would ever give me the phone back when I talked to you two), etc. These are pictures of Graham and Sophie playing with the pretend pizza...I thought it was funny because Brent would eat pizza for every meal if I'd let him!!

Jerry's Birthday Party

Today was Jerry's (Brent's Dad) birthday party--Happy Birthday, Jerry! We had dinner at their house this afternoon. Lasagna, salad, bread and really good cherry/cream cake. Yummy!! Brent and I realized on our way home that we didn't sing to Jerry...I wonder if he missed our singing??? We'll serenade him another time...lucky guy. :-) Here are some pictures of the festivities:



Brent snapped this picture of Sophie and I laying on the floor. We were trying to watch Oprah's "The Big Give", but we missed most of it trying to get the kids ready for bed. I miss satellite TV...especially to record and rewind shows! From what we caught of the show it seemed pretty good, though.

Sleeping beauties

I changed the blog's background...I like to "redecorate" once in a while. :-)

Here are some pics of the sleeping boys, and Sophie when I went to get her from her crib this morning!



We had a big night last night--Devin and Sydney (our little neighbors from our old neighborhood) came over and we went shopping and to dinner. It was so much fun, and I really wish those girls still lived next door! They are a tremendous help--Devin helps with the boys and Sydney wears Sophie out. :-) Devin took a babysitting class last summer, and I'm amazed at how comfortable she is with babies. She is going to make a great babysitter!!

The kids were exposed to chicken pox at church this week...so far, so good. No little bumps yet! I feel bad for the mom whose baby has it--I can't get Graham to stop scratching his face, and can't imagine trying to keep him from scratching his whole body!