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.

Summer 2012

We have been busy this summer!  Since our last post, a lot has gone on in the Quirk household.  Joshua got his first haircut on June 5th.  He did not enjoy it, but he looked so cute afterwards!  Noah and Evan were there to "help out" by telling him everything would be okay.
We've taken a few trips this summer already.  On June 16th, we went to the farm to visit Brian's family for a Fathers' Day celebration.  We spent the day there playing, riding the gator, eating, and the boys even got to go swimming in the creek.  Joshua loved it!  Noah and Evan were hesitant at first, but then ended up enjoying it.

Noah, Brian and Evan playing in the creek at the farm

Joshua playing in the creek

The whole gang getting ready for a gator ride!

The next day was Fathers' Day.  We went to church in the morning, took Brian to Bob Evan's for breakfast (big spenders), and then had my family over that afternoon for hamburgers, hot dogs, and brats.  It was a great weekend!

Fathers Day

The following weekend, June 23rd, we took the boys to St. Louis for our cousins Michelle and Scott's college graduation party.  We got there too early for the party, so we went to the Science Center - all of the boys had fun!

Noah and Evan at the St. Louis Science Center

Joshua and Daddy at the St. Louis Science Center

Looking down onto the highway at the St. Louis Science Center

The party was great and it was so much fun to spend time with extended family!  We stayed at an Embassy Suites that night, which our boys always like because they get to "explore" the hotel. 

On Sunday, June 30th, we drove to Branson, MO for an awesome family vacation!  We went with the boys' Grandma and Grandpa Sonderman, Uncle John, Aunt Theresa, Michael, Mia, Uncle Mark, Aunt Sarah, and baby Dominic.  We were initially going to go to Colorado Springs, CO, but some bad wildfires kept us away.  We were very bummed about not being able to go to Colorado, but the Branson trip was an absolute blast!  On Monday, most of us went to Silver Dollar City.  The boys loved to ride their first real park rides and play in "Geyser Gulch," which is an awesome play area for children with lots of water, air cannons that shoot foam balls, and more.

Geyser Gulch!

Noah at Geyser Gulch

Evan at Geyser Gulch

Noah and Michael at Geyser Gulch

We swam that night at our townhouse's pool.  On Tuesday, the men played golf at our resort.  That afternoon, we all went and checked out the outlet mall, which was great.  That night, Brian and John took Noah, Evan, and Michael mini-golfing (Joshua and Mia were having a "fussy" night and ended up at home with me and Theresa).

Noah playing mini-golf

Wednesday was the 4th of July.  A lot of us went to The Track for go-karts, kids rides, and mini-golf.  It was SUPER hot, so we didn't last long out there!  Brian and I went back to the outlet mall that afternoon while Noah, Evan, and Joshua took naps at the townhouse with Grandma and Grandpa. We swam that night and got to see an awesome fireworks display from our pool.  Thursday morning we all went and got an "old time photo" taken.  It turned out fantastic!  We got some ice cream afterwards.  That afternoon, Brian and I left the kids with Grandma and Grandpa and went to The Landing to shop.  It was a lot of fun.  That night we all went out to a local Italian restaurant for dinner, Florentina's.  It was really good (with the exception of Sarah finding brush wires in her steak - needless to say, she got a free meal). Friday morning we all said goodbye and headed home.  It was a great week!

Mia!

Joshua, Noah and Evan in a Batcave at the outlet mall in Branson

Michael, Noah, Evan and Mia modeling their new superhero shirts

Joshua with his new Spiderman shirt (complete with Noah/Evan's spiderman tennis shoes)

Grandma and Grandpa with all 6 grandkids

Mom and Joshua in Branson

Evan and Daddy chillin' in the townhouse in Branson

Sweet baby Dominic hanging out in the townhouse in Branson

Noah in his Daddy's new t-shirt

...and Evan acting silly on the last night of our vacation!

Noah and Evan started swim lessons the week of June 18th.  They do NOT like them.  They like to swim, but don't like to be told what to do by someone other than me or Brian.  Their swim teacher is great, and she has a lot of patience. Hopefully they learn to like the lessons and get over it quickly.  We will probably only have them do a few more weeks of them.  They start fall soccer again on August 26th, and will start preschool on September 4th.  They claim to be excited about both of those - we'll see :)  On a development note, Noah and Evan are both doing well.  Their vocabulary is getting better, and they seem to be eating better.  They still have fights and throw fits, but what 3-year-old doesn't? They love to play in our backyard with or without our neighbor Abby, who comes over at least a few times a week to play.  We try to play outside when it's not so hot.

Joshua is doing great as well.  He loves to swim in the pool!  He loves it so much and is a complete daredevil.  I told Noah and Evan's swim teacher that she'll probably have Joshua next summer since he's loves the water so much.  He is eating like crazy (most of the time he eats more than his big brothers), and his vocabulary is getting better each and every day.  He loves to play with his toys, read books, play outside, and follow his big brothers around.  He likes to roughhouse with them, and also gets in trouble for pulling their hair a lot (even though he's not doing it to be mean)! 

We still have plans for pretty much each weekend left this summer, so we'll have much more to blog about soon.  Have a great summer!

Joshua's First Birthday!

Joshua turned 1 on Wednesday, May 2, 2012!  He, Noah, and Evan went to Grandma Mary's house for the first half of the day.  We picked them up and took them to Chipotle for lunch, which Joshua loves.  He likes their beans and rice, so that's one of our favorite places to eat out.  After lunch, we went to the hospital to see Dominic, their new cousin who was born to Mark and Sarah on May 1st.  Dominic is perfect and we are already in love with him!  That afternoon, Joshua got his present from us - a green and black "motorcycle" for him to ride on (the new swing set was also part of his birthday present).  That evening, we made dinner at home and then went to get Joshua his first cupcake at Smallcakes.  He didn't eat it as much as he smashed it between his fingers and threw it on the floor :) I'd say his first birthday was a fun one!

Joshua on his birthday with his new motorcycle from Daddy, Mommy, Noah and Evan

Joshua's first cupcake!

Yummy!

Noah with his newest cousin, Dominic Edward!

Evan and his newest cousin Dominic

Mom (Laura) with Baby Dominic.  He's so sweet!

Brian and Dominic

Joshua's birthday party was held at our house on Saturday, May 5th from 5-7pm (after Noah, Evan, and Michael's soccer game).  So many people came to celebrate, and it was a ton of fun.  Joshua loved it!  The kids got to play outside in our backyard in the sprinkler and with Joshua's new beach ball that squirts water (that he got from his godparents, Uncle Mark and Aunt Sarah, and baby Dominic), they played on the swing set, played with the water table, and just ran around.  We had sandwiches, pasta, fruit, and veggies for dinner, followed by cake and cupcakes for dessert.  Joshua loved opening his presents!  He was very involved in it, which was great.  He got tons of new clothes and toys, including a bubble blower lawn mower, toy tractors, a toy bat cave, a magna doodle, shape sorter, and a dinosaur walker.  He was very spoiled :)

Joshua playing outside during his party

Water table!  Uncle John had just dumped some water on Noah's head :)

Opening presents!

His new hat - which is also his favorite word right now!

Bubble Guppies!

More cake...yum!

The following weekend, we took the boys to the Downtown Lee's Summit Farmer's Market, where they all got balloon animals, and Noah and Evan were even able to plant their own flowers that are still blooming.  The next day was Mothers' Day.  Noah, Evan, Joshua, and Brian all bought me a new mixer for the kitchen.  I haven't used it yet, but can't wait to!  We went to church at 8:30 that morning, came home and had a brunch for their Grandma Cathy, and then went to Uncle John and Aunt Theresa's house for pizza at 4pm.  It was an awesome day!

Mothers Day

Joshua had his first birthday photos taken Friday, May 18th, but the photographer hasn't emailed them to me yet.  I'm hoping she does it soon, because I can't wait to see them and mail some out.  On Saturday, May 19th, we went to Mt. Calvary cemetery to decorate the boys Great Grandma and Great Poppy's graves.  After that, we headed to Overland Park, KS to check out the Bat mobile, which is currently touring across the country.  We all loved it!  Noah and Evan were a hit too; people were commenting on how cute they were.

Noah, Brian, and Evan checking out the Bat mobile

Perfect!

Mom and Joshua checking it out

That afternoon, they had soccer, and then we went to John and Theresa's friends Adam and Jen's new house that John actually helped Adam build!  It was awesome to see the work they did.  It's a great house!

Sunday, May 20th, we had a neighborhood picnic by our pool.  The boys all got to play with their friends, and we got to talk to a lot of ours.  It was a great day!

Our neighbor Abby giving Noah a lift 

...giving Evan a lift

Joshua and our new neighbor Paige

Joshua playing catch with Abby

On developmental notes, all three boys went to the doctor on May 7th.  Noah and Evan are doing great!  Evan weighs 30.5 lbs, and Noah weighs 30 lbs.  They're 39 (Noah) and 39.5 (Evan) inches tall.  The doctor quizzed them on their colors, and was happy that she couldn't stump them...I told her that they've known their colors for about a year and a half.  They're still learning to recognize their letters and numbers, and can both now say their "k" sounds pretty well.  Overall, their vocabulary is great.  They never cease to amaze us with the things they come up with.  Just a couple of days ago, Evan said to Brian, "Noah is always up to something!"  It was pretty funny.
Joshua now weighs 20lbs, 12oz, and is 29.5 inches tall (20th percentile for weight and 80th for height).  He is officially WALKING!!!  He took his first steps on April 20th.  He just now started to walk more than crawl.  He loves to play outside with the rest of us.  He is also talking more.  He can say Dad, Mom, Noah, Evan, hat, ball, nice, night, and has repeated a few random words.  Needless to say, we are having a ton of fun raising these awesome boys :)