Winter 2012

Wow!  What an awesome holiday and Christmas season we all had!  We have been so busy since our last post in October that I didn't have time to sit down and write a blog entry.  The boys are all doing so great.  Here are some things we did at the end of October (obviously, I keep this as a reminder of what we've done as a family and I like to keep track of almost everything.  Please don't feel bad if you don't feel like reading everything!):

- We all went to a wedding reception downtown
- We all went to Miss Mia's FIRST birthday party!
- Noah and Evan played their last soccer game for the season
- We all attended Uncle Mark, Aunt Sarah, and Dominic's Family Halloween Party
- Noah and Evan had a Halloween party at school
- We all went Trick or Treating in our neighborhood on Halloween

Iron Man (Evan), Thor (Noah), and Buzz Lightyear (MJ) 

 

The family getting ready to trick or treat (Joshua was The Hulk)

Here are some things we did in November:

-Our Parents as Teachers educator came over and assessed the boys - they're all developing very well!
-Brian went to his first Sporting KC game on November 7th
-Noah and Evan went to see their first movie in a movie theater on November 9th - Wreck it Ralph!  They LOVED it!
-We all attended a birthday party at a gymnastics center for our next door neighbor Abby.  It was "Jake and the Neverland Pirates" themed.  The boys had a ton of fun flipping and jumping in the foam pit!
-Noah and Evan had a Thanksgiving lunch at school on Friday, November 16th.  They took the mashed potatoes.
-We all attended a 50th wedding anniversary party for Brian's Great Aunt and Great Uncle (Auntie and Duane) on November 17th.  We took the boys to Crown Center afterwards and ate at Crayola Cafe.
-We got to go to Michael Jude's 4th birthday party on November 18th!  It was cars/race themed and the boys all had so much fun playing games.  Evan even pulled the string on the pinata that broke it!
-We had an awesome Thanksgiving.  We had my side of the family over for Thanksgiving dinner. Luckily, Grandma Mary did most of the cooking:)

Wreck it Ralph at Town Center Plaza

Noah, MJ, Gus, Evan, Joshua, and Charlie getting ready to play a game at MJ's birthday party

We've had some illnesses lurking around our household for the past month or so.  The boys all developed coughs around Thanksgiving, and Joshua even developed a case of the croup that landed him in the Children's Mercy Emergency Room the night after Thanksgiving.  He also had two ear infections within two weeks.  Basically, he was on two rounds of steroids and antibiotics all within one month.  He had gone his whole life with no prescription meds until this happened.  Brian also developed a terrible cough that turned into bronchitis.  He took himself to the ER on December 23rd and got steroids and antibiotics as well.  The doctor said it was a good thing he went because it could have turned into something much worse since he has asthma.  Knock on wood - I haven't gotten sick yet.

December was busy, but mostly right around Christmas.  We had our work holiday parties (mine and my Dad's was even at the same place at the same time, so we got to introduce each other to our coworkers).  For Christmas Eve, we made tamales and then went to church at 4:30 mass at St. Regis.  Then we hosted the Miller Christmas at our house at 6:30.  It was a success, and Noah, Evan, and Joshua got several new toys and some clothes.  Christmas morning, Noah, and Evan, and Joshua woke up to what Santa had left them...the Ninja Turtle sewer and van for Noah and Evan, and Bucky the Pirate ship (from "Jake and the Neverland Pirates") and a Toy Story race track for Joshua.  They also got several toys from us including Ninja Turtles dress-up sets (all 4), a super hero poster, a plush Jake toy, and new toddler bedding for Joshua.

Noah with his first snowball of the year!

Evan playing in the snow

Joshua taking it all in

Handsome Noah and Evan getting ready for their school Christmas program

Joshua with Jake on Christmas morning

Raphael (Evan) and Donatello (Noah) on Christmas morning

Raph!  

Leonardo (Noah)

Joshua, Bucky the ship, and Daddy on Christmas morning

Mia and Joshua enjoying Christmas dinner

...and the end of the day attempt for a grandparents/grandkids picture :)

Christmas day, we went to the Quirk Christmas at Uncle Pat and Aunt Debbie's house at 1pm.  We then went to Grandma Mary and Grandpa Mike's house for the Sonderman Christmas at 4pm.  The boys all got SO many new toys.  We ended up bringing more than two yellow trashbags full home - plus more that didn't fit in those bags!  Noah, Evan, and Joshua have had so much fun playing with all of their new toys.  They are very lucky!

Noah and Evan are doing great in school.  They love going there and seem to be starting to become more well-rounded individuals.  We get compliments from people about how good they are about sharing and being polite.  Their typical day at school consists of group circle time, snacks, and individual "work" time where they all work individually on whatever they are currently "mastering."  When I ask them what kind of work they did that day, they usually say things like "coloring work" or "painting work" or things of that nature.  Noah is becoming a coloring fanatic - actually coloring at a 4th grade level.  Evan likes to color too, and also look at books and do puzzles.  Their current obsession is the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  There is a new show on Nick Jr. that they watch every Saturday with Daddy (who likes it just as much as they do).  They had a Holiday program for school on December 20th, where they sang "Joy to the World."  They stood in the back row and didn't dance or sing, but it was still fun to see them up there!  They had no idea what to expect from a Christmas program, so we didn't expect much out of them :)

Noah and Evan playing with their ninja turtles

Joshua is still doing great too.  He talks more every day.  He loves Buzz and Woody (Toy Story).  He also loves "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" and "Jake and the Neverland Pirates" (both shows on Disney Jr.).  He can now tell Noah and Evan apart, and does call them both by their names.  He just started using Evan's name (although he's been able to say it for months).  He loves to sit and look at books and also likes to color.  He is still coming in to our bed in the middle of the night since he was sick for such a long time.  That's something we'll need to work on soon :)

Fall 2012

Summer came and went in a flash - now we're well into our fun fall activities!  Noah and Evan started their fall soccer league on Sunday, August 26th and have played 6 games since then.  They're really enjoying this season!  Their cousin Michael was playing too, but he unfortunately broke his arm the weekend after their first game, so he was out for the rest of the season.  We miss him out on the field, but we're so happy his arm is healed now!

On Saturday, September 1st, we threw a big surprise 60th birthday party for my dad.  It was so much fun!  We are so happy that so many friends and family came to celebrate such an awesome man in our lives.  He is amazing!!!

On Tuesday, September 4th, Noah and Evan started preschool!  They loved it as soon as they started.  They go on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:00-11:30am.  Their teacher's name is Ms. Miki, and they seem to like her a lot.  She is a very nice person.

On Friday, September 14th, we took Noah and Evan to the circus for the first time.  They enjoyed it, although Noah did tell me, "Mom, I think I'm a little bit bored" towards the beginning of it.  Joshua got to spend the evening with Michael and Mia at Uncle John and Aunt Theresa's house.  He LOVES playing with his cousins, so we knew he would have a great time doing that.

September 15th was our 5th wedding anniversary, so Grandma Mary and Grandpa Mike spent the night with the boys and we stayed the night at the Raphael hotel (where we stayed the night we got married).  We had a lot of fun eating and shopping on the plaza that night.  The boys loved spending the night with Grandma and Grandpa and have even asked me when they can do it again several times since then.
On September 21st, we went to our annual Royals Game.  They won, and we even got to stay for the great fireworks show at the end.  We also got to see Uncle John and MJ!

We've also been to some birthday parties and had dinner at friends' houses this fall.  Noah, Evan, and Joshua love playing with their friends.  On one Saturday, the boys' Grandma Cathy took us to Powell Gardens, where they had a lot of forts that the boys played in...their favorite was the pirate ship!
This past Tuesday, October 9th, Noah and Evan got to go on their first field trip!  We took the big yellow school bus to Faulkner's Pumpkin Farm and had a ton of fun with their classmates.  They got to go on a hayride, listen to stories about pumpkins, climb through a blow-up caterpillar, go through a sorghum maze, eat lunch, and pick their own pumpkin at the end of the day.  They both say the pumpkin picking was their favorite part.

On development notes, Noah and Evan are still doing great.  We'll get to go to Parents Night at their school this coming Monday night, so Brian and I will get to see what they do on a daily basis there.  They are still learning letters and both still like to color.  They love doing puzzles and love using their imaginations and playing together.  Sometimes they say things that we're amazed by.  They both still sleep really well, though we have been having some issues with them not going to sleep at a decent time after we put them to bed.  We're working on a solution :)
I can describe Joshua's development in one word this time - VOCABULARY!  His vocabulary is exploding and he can say so many things now.  He is already using some three-word sentences, which is awesome.  He says, "I don't know" when he really doesn't know the answer to your question, and can say "I love you" as well.  He can say a lot of animals names, along with their sounds.  He says "Noah" all of the time, and we're still working on "Evan."  Other than that, there are dozens of other words he uses daily.  He is still sleeping very well in his crib through the night, which was a huge milestone for us as a family.  We're all sleeping much better :)

End of Summer 2012

The rest of our summer has flown by and we've been having a ton of fun!  We're getting ready to start our fall activities, so I thought I'd do a blog post to end the summer. 
Since our last post, we've been doing a lot of typical summer things.  Noah and Evan did several more swim lessons and actually learned to like them!  They finished their lessons last Wednesday and said goodbye to Ms. Melanie (their swim teacher) for the summer.  They are already saying they miss her and miss having swim lessons.  They each did amazing.  They learned to float by themselves, go completely under the water by themselves, and even swim a little bit by themselves.  They certainly came a long way since the beginning of the summer, and we are very proud of them. 

Noah, Ms. Melanie, and Evan

We've spent several evenings with different friends, and Noah, Evan, and Joshua love to entertain.  They also love hanging out in our backyard either by ourselves or with our next door neighbor Abby.
On Saturday, August 4th, Brian had a golf tournament.  While he was away, I took Noah and Evan to meet Iron Man at the zoo.  I surprised them with Iron Man because they just thought we were taking a regular trip to the zoo.  They loved him!  We stood in line to meet Spiderman for a while, but they decided just seeing him was enough and we didn't need to wait in line any longer for a picture.  Iron Man was a lot cooler anyway! 

Meeting Iron Man!

On August 5th, our nephew Dominic was baptized.  It was a great day!

After his baptism...sleeping :)

On August 12th, Brian and I ran the Race for the Cure.  We've done it several times now, and I just love being a part of something so incredible.

Last weekend, we went to a festival/picnic that our realty team does each year at Longview Lake.  We got to eat awesome food, and we all won great prizes.  Noah, Evan, and Joshua all rode ponies, walked through a petting zoo, and jumped in a "bouncy castle."  We got to spend a little bit of time with some of our neighbors, so that was also fun. 

On developmental notes, Noah and Evan are doing great learning their numbers and letters.  They are using scissors pretty easily now, and love to color.  Noah is quickly becoming our "artist" and colors on his own a lot.  I think he's going to take after his artist Daddy (who is currently transforming Noah and Evan's "Buzz and Woody" room to a Superhero room - it's going to be great).  I think they are both still around 32 lbs, although we haven't weighed them very recently.  They start preschool on Tuesday, September 4th and will go Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:00-11:30am.  They are getting very excited!  They also start their fall soccer league this coming Sunday, August 26th.  They are the Silver Sharks.

Noah and Evan's new superhero room...thanks Daddy!

Joshua is also doing great developmentally.  He is becoming quite a chatter box and repeats almost everything we say. His current phrase is, "Oh man!"  Although he can say several words, he loves to say "Hulk," "ball," and "hat."  He loves to play with his big brothers, and even gets rough with them sometimes.  He's quickly learning the ropes.  Also, he is now sleeping in his crib through the night!  This was a big milestone for us because he had been sleeping in our bed with us since we moved into our new house last November. He was still nursing through the night, so I knew it was going to be a very difficult habit to break.  We really decided to sleep train him mid-July, and by now, he is doing great!  He usually wakes up once or twice in the middle of the night, but we're usually able to get him to go back to sleep in his crib.  Last Wednesday (August 22) was the first night he slept all night in his crib without making a sound...I was very proud :)  He hasn't nursed in almost two weeks, so that has definitely been an adjustment for him and me.  I was very sad to give up nursing, but it had to be done.