Ethan Turns O-N-E!

Happy 1st Birthday Ethan Noel!

It's official. I finally have to admit, that once you have kids, time truely does fly by. People have told me that you blink and before you know it your kids are grown. Well, Ethan isn't exactly grown, not yet anyway, but the past year has gone by in no time.

Ethan has grown so much in the past year! He's in the process of cutting two more teeth (which will take him up to 6), in the last month he's started crawling and now all we hear is "mama" and "dada". He's our "jumbo baby" weighing in at a little more than 20 lbs and measuring 30 inches tall. He's a super happy little man who loves to eat goldfish, play cars with his big brother Dominic and dance with big sister Christina.

On Saturday, August 1st we celebrated Ethan's first birthday with family and a few close friends. Mom & Dad came up (I guess from Indiana it's technically over) to help get things ready because Bryan had to work during the day. Gamma Chris, Christina & myself spent the morning making the coolest cupcakes. We decided to do a sports theme and made baseball, football and basketball cupcakes. I was really excited how they turned out considering it was a relatively easy throw together.

I made Ethan a baseball cake for him to eat but these are the cupcakes. I was quite proud of our work.

Here is Christina, Olivia, Madelyn & Dominic enjoying their cupcakes at the party. The girls all sat down on one side of the picnic table and Dominic (the ladies man) just had to sit down with them! Dominic just ate the icing off of his and had an orange mustache the rest of the night. I think this was their favorite part of the party.

Birthday boy Ethan really wasn't too sure about the whole cake thing, however once he got into the cake (I cut it so he could pick it up), he really got into it. I think he sat there for like a half an hour and just went to town. I ended up throwing him in the tub just to get the chocolate out of all of his little folds! Even after the bath, I found cake inside his ears!

All in all, it was a wonderful night - good weather, good food and good company. Can't get much better than that! Which is a good thing, because we'll be doing it again in about 12 months (which will be here before we know it)!

Our three musketeers! Can't imagine our life without any of those little faces!

Happy Birthday buddy! We love you!

Fun with the watering hose!

You are all being treated to a guest blogger tonight -- daddy!

Earlier tonight we took the kids out back as they have been begging mommy to take them outside recently. Why you ask? It's not because it is fun playing in the backyard or because the kids are bored in the house, no, they have been itching to go outside with daddy so they can get me wet with their new sponge balls that Christina got for her birthday.

Well, being the wise old dad that I am, I decided that I would trick the kids (it's not too hard, they are all less than four-years-old) and I got out the hose from the garage.

Let's just say that the kids got ahold of hose and had some fun!

Can you guess who got squirted the most? I can!

Sometimes there were battles for the hose:

And even though "sissy" won most of the battles, "bubba" got his own revenge as well!

And Ethan, well he just tried to stay out of his brother and sister's way and enjoy playing in the grass for the first time with mommy!


All in all, I think the kids had a good time tonight (even though daddy stayed dry!)

Christina Turns 4!

Turning 4 is such a chore. At least it was for mom & dad! Ha. We had party central at our house for about a week and a half. The demands of a four year old should really not be that demanding. After all, she is only four. But then again, you only turn four once, so we decided to make the most of it. Here are our highlights.

Gamma Chris & Papa Dick came up the weekend before the big day. After a fun day of Papa putting in new windows with Daddy, Christina had her fun. They took her to Toys R Us and let her pick out whatever toy she wanted. She settled on a princess dress up set and a Hannah Montana head set/music player.

Here we are showing off our new look as a princess with our pajamas.

We knew we had a jam packed day of fun for Wednesday. Before going to bed on Tuesday night, we told her she could have a special birthday morning breakfast. Without hesitating she informed us she would have apple dippers from McDonald's, birthday cake and sweet rolls. Bryan and I looked at each other and without saying a word, put the kids to bed and I started on a cake while he ran to Meijer for sweet rolls and McDonald's for apple dippers. If at this point you're saying "you've got to be kidding me" just wait. Bryan got home and had streamers to hang along with a "Happy Birthday" banner and even princess tableware. (These decorations didn't come down for over a week!)

Birthday morning with all of our birthday breakfast wishes.

Christina was told she could have what ever she wanted for her birthday dinner. Without missing a beat, she decided she wanted to go to Friendly's. The funny thing is, she's only been to Friendly's maybe twice, and it's been easily over a year ago. But we said we'd go. She was all big girl all the way. For those of you who know Christina, you know she takes some time to warm up and come out of her shell. Well, no more! Friendly's seemed to bring out the friendly in Christina! She wanted to order her own meal (and Dominic's too). She also was very insistent that they sing "Happy Birthday" to her. After the wait staff left, she even asked me why the rest of the people in the resturant (the patrons) didn't sing to her also! Then on our way out, she saw a waitress across the room, that didn't come sing and wanted to know why she didn't sing to her also. She was hilarious!

On to our next birthday celebration. Last Sunday we had Bryan's family over for a small family party. Gamma Joyce & Papa Phil, Great Grandma Lena, and Uncle Andy & Aunt Chris came over to celebrate. Christina had a blast. More and more presents and even new sand for the sandbox! Which is where we spent most of the evening.

And another cake for another party. We love Hannah Montana at our house!

And the last of our birthday celebrations took place this past Tuesday. Two of the other girls in Christina's preschool class have birthdays right around Christina's, so we decided to have a joint party with Elizabeth & Malena. Everything went extremely well. We had it at the park down the street from our house and invited all the kids from school. The kids had a blast! Most of them hadn't seen each other since school let out, so they were so excited to see eachother. I think the highlight of the night though was when Mrs. Klaus (their teacher) rode her bike up to the party. (We had invited her as well.) You would have thought she was Hannah Montana (see above comment on HM)! The kids were running and screaming to her and hugging and squeezing the heck out of her. Too cute. Anyway, the party went really well. And yet again, Christina got more gifts!

The birthday girls! Christina, Elizabeth & Malena had a super fun party on the lake!

Last but not least, did I mention that I submitted another card for the Sunny Side Up Show on Sprout? Oh yeah, I did. So for those of you haven't read all my blogs go back and read about Dominic's birthday card from last year. Christina's card made the show again this year! So she's been on for the past three years (Dominic hasn't made it yet- don't get me started)! Here's the video clip so make sure you check it out!

Anyways, the decorations have finally come down, most of the gifts have been opened and Christina is another year older. My baby girl is growing up! Yes, the past four years have gone by super fast, but we've enjoyed every minute of it. We have so many wonderful memories to still be made and for that we are truly blessed.

We love you Christina Anne!

Christina's Last Few Days of School

Seems it's been a while since I've been on here. I am now determined to get more than one post on here a month since Bryan is giving me a hard time about my "monthly posts". So for my die hard followers (pretty much my mom) you'll be getting at least one more post this month (Did I mention it will again be about Christina - hello she turned 4)!

Christina finished preschool the beginning of the month. While in September I never would have imagined this school year would come to an end this quickly, the last few weeks went by in a blur. She truly enjoyed herself and has grown into a wonderful young lady over the last 9 months. She can hardly wait to join her classmates, Mrs. Wollf & Mrs. Klaus again in the fall.


The last few weeks of school were packed with FUN! FUN! FUN! The kids walked to the library, visited the fire station and got to spray the fire hose, a trip to the beach and even a walk to get ice cream!



I'll start with the picture above. Obviously the above picture is Beach Day. Mrs. Klaus lives on the beach and she was gracious enough to invite 13 three & four year olds over to play on the beach for the day. We were told they would be playing in the sand, so no swimming or swim suits required. Um, yeah right. I was a driver and stayed, boys in tow, to check out the action. I don't think a single kid left without getting a "little" wet. Most were soaked! This picture is the entire class sitting on a log before heading to the picnic table for cupcakes and ice cream!

Christina and Reagan holding hands after walking over to get ice cream. You would think that when the teacher tells you that you can get "whatever ice cream you want" you wouldn't get a green slushie. But that's my girl!

Christina and Elizabeth at the beach. It was overcast, but the kids still had a blast! As you can see by Elizabeth's shirt and shorts, most of the kids got pretty wet. Christina was playing in the sand in facing away from the water. Too bad she couldn't have moved in more because by the time we left it looked as if she had wet herself from behind!

This is Christina, Malena & Elizabeth. You'll hear more about these three in my birthday post. The girls all have birthdays during the same week so we're having a group party for the three of them. Should be lots of fun!

Couldn't do an entire post without mentioning the boys at the beach. Ethan was a trooper and pretty much hung in the front carrier the entire time. Dominic however, well looking at the picture should say enough. He was running from the top of the beach straight towards the water and then back again. With several sandy falls he went home soaked (his diaper was like the size of a football) but had a blast playing with the boys in sissy's class.

Ryan and Christina with their slushies. They thought it was quite fun that their tongues turned different colors.

All and all a wonderful end to a great year. If this is what we have to look forward to with the school years, I say bring it on - we love it!

Summer is Officially Here!

I think it's safe to say that summer is officially here for the Alphabet Family. Daddy hasn't had a day off from work in over two weeks, so when we knew he was going to have today off we wanted to make sure he got to relax! What a fun day we had!

The day started out by talking at breakfast about being good at church. If the kids were good today during Mass, they would get to go to the beach and to get ice cream. Nothing like bribing a two and three year old! As I type this, I just realized that the ice cream promise never happened. At least the kids didn't remember!

Well, church wasn't the easiest hour of our day, but we made it through. There were baptisms this morning as well as Memorial Day weekenders so it was a little more packed than normal. And Dominic didn't seem to understand that not everyone around us wanted to know what color crayon he wanted to use next. I thought that he would stay quiet if he got to color, no such luck.

Did I mention that Christina got a new swim suit yesterday and HAD to wear it to church? After much convincing, she finally understood that if she was to walk in to church in her bathing suit, they would not let her come in. So she wore it UNDER her dress, so she would be ready to hit the beach right away.

We did end up making it to the beach. I was a little nervous. One big lake, three kids and two adults. At least Ethan isn't mobile and just was happy cuddling with Dad or Mom. But really the kids did great. Christina was all about going down to the lake and getting buckets of water. Dominic was just content sitting in a hole Daddy dug him and playing in the sand. They could have cared less that there was a giant lake behind them and jumbo amusement park on the other side. They were just having a ball in what they thought was their own private extra large sandbox.

Christina dumping water from one pail to the other.

Dominic ready to dig in.

Right after we arrived, filling our pails to make sand castles.

Dominic filling his turtle.

He played happily in the sand just digging and dumping, over and over again!

Christina quite proud of her first sand castle.

Ethan had a never ending battle wearing his hat.

I think he looks cute with it on!

All and all great family fun day! You know they had fun when they're all in bed asleep by 7:30!

Our "Bay Cation" to Kings Island

Some friends of ours from church thought it would be fun to take the kids down to King's Island for opening day. After blocking out all the terrible memories of riding in the van for more than 10 minutes with our children, we happily said yes. So on Friday afternoon, we hopped in the car and after what seemed like an eternity (about 4 hours in real people time), we arrived.

The ride down was full of it's own adventures. Not leaving until almost 2 p.m. left me dreaming that my children would blissfully nod off and sleep most of the way down, but that wasn't the case. Dominic has been battling a cold/cough for a while and he tends to get a little phlemy (if that's a word). Needless to say, he coughed most of the way, and at one point I was holding a Rubbermaid bowl to him so he could toss his cookies & phlem (really french fries, mandarin oranges and chicken nuggets - WENDY'S), but we continued on.

After a rough night in a hotel room with 3 children three and under, we got up this morning wondering if today could get any worse. Luck was on our side and today was WONDERFUL! (Besides the tired kid meltdowns in the car on the way home!)

Christina rode her first roller coaster. It's called Little Bill's Giggle Coaster, and it's all she wanted to do when we first got there. I rode with her and the giggles really do come pouring out with every "hill"! She had a blast. I think Daddy was a little bummed her first coaster wasn't at CP, but once he saw how much she enjoyed it, he was thrilled. We were suckers and bought the pictures, I'll have to see what I can do to get them on here.

KI put in a new coaster this year. While we didn't ride, it was well worth standing and watching it run. We stood on a bridge and watched it come over head and down into some water. Dominic was so excited and would literally shake with "wow's" every time that we could have stood there all day. It was definitely a highlight (not the ride, Dominic's excitement any day!)

Ethan was a real trooper. He spent a majority of the day in the stroller. He did get to ride the train in the "boys" seat with Daddy and Bubba. Mommy and Sissy sat in our seat and "checked out our boys" so we had fun. Ethan did actually fall asleep and took a nice little nap in the stroller which was really cute (Christina and Dominic NEVER did this so it was a special treat for me). Other than his blow out poopy diaper that left him without any shorts on, I'd say he had a great day.

I did say shorts in that last sentence. It was absolutely beautiful today. It had to be in the high 70's and plenty of breezy sunshine. The kids wore their sun screen, and Dad and I are both wishing we would have put it on ourselves as well.

Anyway, here are some highlight pictures:

Dominic & Christina driving their car on the bridge. They thought this was the coolest!

Again, in the "carnival" (that's what it sounds like when Dominic says convertible).

Ethan asleep in the stroller. He missed out on the Lazy Town helicopter ride with his big sister and brother, but I'm sure he enjoyed his zzz's.

Christina saw Dora from up on the helicopters and told Bryan (after they had waited a half an hour) that she no longer wanted to ride, she wanted to go down now and meet Dora. Being the good dad that he is, he said no way in heck after he'd waited with them, but he made sure when they got off, they got to go meet her. Christina let Dora know she was coming by yelling to her from the helicopters the whole ride. This picture has Dominic, Christina, Daddy, Dora and Hunter.

You can't see it too well in this picture, but Dominic had a cheese & ketchup mustache from his chicken bites and french fries he was dipping in his sauces. Christina was just being her cutie patutie self.

Anyway, we're home after a long exhausting day. So I think it's time to hit the sack, the kids are zonked, and I think I'll be asleep before I make it upstairs!

I Love This Weather!!!

I love this weather! It couldn't have turned out to be a nicer day!

Tuesday's tend to be my day of chaos. Christina has to be at preschool by 8:45 a.m. (which means everyone has to be ready by 8:30 and I'm not a morning person), Dominic and Ethan and I then come home for all of an hour before we head to Lap Sit at the library, we then hang out there for about 15 minutes before heading to pick Christina up at school, and from there it's over to pick Daddy up and take him out for lunch - by the time we actually make it back home to do anything it's about 1:30 - and that usually means trying to get Ethan down for a nap, so it's 2 before I can start my normal morning routine!

But today was wonderful! We opened the doors and windows and let the fresh air in while I got some things done around the house, but when dad got home from work is when the real fun began. I think Bryan had his dress shirt and tie off before he was even in the door. He then ran around for about 15 minutes to get the swing set ready, and the kids spent a good hour outside before dinner. After we ate, I got Ethan down for bed and when I came back downstairs it was spooky quiet (not normal at this house!), but Daddy had taken the kids back outside, and we were finally able to get them in for the night around 8, which is past bedtime!

Christina did so well pumping on the big swing. She didn't quite get it last year, but she just took off with it! Dominic was his normal giggly happy self. A little aprehensive about the slide at first but I'm sure he'll be the monkey he was last fall again really soon! Ethan loved the swing, he was too little for it last year, but it's perfect now!

Anyway, wanted to post some new pictures, and let everyone know we are doing well. Life is crazy as always, but we're enjoying every minute of it and not looking back!

Let's pray for the beautiful weather to stay!

Dominic on the glider, Ethan in the baby swing and Christina on the "nana" swing.

You can actually see Ethan smiling better in this one, and I'm so proud of Christina "pumping!" Check her out!

Dominic the dare devil making his first of the new year trip to the slide!

Ethan's first ever swing ride! He loved it!