Happy 9th Birthday Cuddlebug!

My sweet Drew, you gave me one of the most wonderful gifts ever.....you made me a mom for the first time. How excited your dad and I were to become parents. We wanted to do everything right by you. We've made our mistakes, but I don't think we're doing too badly. We have so much love for you and that's enough. I can't believe you're turning 9 today. The time goes by so quickly that I just want to stop the clock and keep you little. But day by day you are growing into an awesome big guy. You're sensitive, smart, funny, and you have such a big heart. You love to do things for other people. You make us so proud. I see you struggling with wanting to be grown up and me not wanting you to be. I'm only looking out for you, trying to keep you safe. I hope you can understand that. I don't want you to grow up too fast. You are a wonderful big brother. I know sometimes you complain about being the oldest and your brothers bother you sometimes, but when you take the time to help them with something or play with them, it really melts my heart. The look on your face this morning when Aiden sang Happy Birthday to you was priceless. I could tell you really love your brothers and that it made your day (and mine). Happy Birthday big guy. Let's not rush through all of these birthdays too fast. I want to enjoy all of these moments for as long as I can. I love you, Cuddlebug!!

One of my all time favorite pictures!!!

Soooo Big!!

Matt and Beth's Wedding--back when we were a family of 3.

The day you became a big brother.

Another favorite portrait that will never come down off of my wall!

A big brother for the second time!

8th Birthday Party

Bad Dreams Part 2

Ok, Aiden really creeped me out last night. He woke up about 3 am and I tucked him back in. He kept saying something about Pawpaw John's car but I couldn't figure it out. I asked him if Grandpa was in his dream and he said yes. It creeped me out enough that I had to keep myself from calling mom and dad in the middle of the night to see if he was ok. He kept getting out of bed and wouldn't go back to sleep. This morning I asked him why he kept getting up and he said, "I scared" Then the whole way back and forth taking the boys to school, he kept talking about Pawpaw John's truck having a hole in it. When we got home I asked him about it and he said the same thing again. I asked if Grandpa had gotten hurt in his truck and he said "Yes, Pawpaw truck had a big hole. I not like that. He not do that anymore". He said it so sadly, it just broke me heart. So I told him we could call Grandpa at work to make sure he was okay and that made him feel better. He grabbed the phone as soon as I said Grandpa was on it and said, "Pawpaw you okay??" Sheesh, a 2 year old shouldn't have dreams like that!!! I sure hope this kid isn't having premonitions or something. So Dad, you'd better be extra safe in your truck!!

School Pictures

The boys brought home their spring pictures from school yesterday. Not quite as good as last years but cute all the same!!

DREW--3rd GRADE

NOAH -- KINDERGARTEN

Busy week here. Not much going on other than getting ready for Drew's birthday on Friday. That means cleaning, shopping, and cooking for me!! He's so excited.

Happy Easter

Nothing says Happy Easter and Springtime like waking up to a Winter Wonderland. I actually did a double take when I looked out the window this morning. The sun came up a bit later and melted most of it away. Whew, I thought, glad that's gone. Then it started pouring while we were at my parents house and the sleet soon followed. So fun. This shot was taken about 2pm this afternoon. Lucky for us, it's supposed to be in the 50's this week so hopefully this crazy weather will FINALLY be behind us.

We had a great Easter so far. The boys were excited with the things the Easter Bunny left and had fun finding their eggs. Aiden had a marshmellow Peep in his mouth before we were even all in the living room. He was very good at shoveling the candy in when we weren't looking. Todd made us bunny shaped pancakes for breakfast which I thought was a sweet little touch. Then we went to eat at mom and dad's with Matt,Beth and kids. Right now we're home for Aiden's nap and then off to Grandma and Grandpa Klauser's house.

I was lucky enough to find matching shirts for the boys at Children's Place. That's usually pretty hard because there is such a size difference between Aiden and Drew. I didn't tell Drew because I thought he'd think he was too old for that but he thought it was pretty cool. Whew, safe for another year. I actually got a decent shot of the three of them too. Is it my lucky day or what?

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Easter!

Fun Friday

No flashin' back today, I have too many other things to write about. We had a wonderful day off today and the weather turned out to be nicer than we expected.

Our day started off by the 5 of us meeting Beth, Blake,Ty,and Ellie at the library. We took the 4 youngest to the Easter party while Todd and the older two stayed in the children's library. Afterwards, they had an easter egg hunt and we got some pictures with the Easter bunny.

No, Drew isn't sleeping, he just couldn't keep his eyes open in the pictures.

Aiden was so excited to get an easter egg, he kept taking it over to the Easter Bunny to show him.

Beth and I asked ourselves if we dared to try and get all 6 cousins in a picture with the Easter bunny?! We did it and it may not be the best, but we were both happy to have gotten the pictures!!

We came home, had pizza and the little guy took his nap, the older two played in the backyard, Todd slept on the couch, and I watched my Ghost Hunters. After Aiden's nap, the five of us took a family bike ride. We headed over to Quincy University first to show the boys the brick with our family names on it and then I wanted to see Kathy's brick too since the 2nd anniversary of her death is in a couple of weeks and she's been on my mind a lot lately. We then headed over to Aunt Jer's new house and say hi but no one was home. We walked across the street to Uncle Joe and Aunt Cindy's to say hi but no one was home there either. We also left a little "gift" for them on the front porch. When we were knocking on their front door the whole screen popped out! Todd tried to put it back in but realized he needed a screwdriver and of course we didn't have one on our bikes! Sorry guys! Oops. We came home and then we all headed to the grocery store to stock up on food and buy a yummy supper. We made cheese fondue with all kinds of veggies and bread, cold shrimp with cocktail sauce, and fresh strawberries. Then we colored our Easter eggs. So we had a nice relaxing, fun day and I'm ready to put the kiddos to bed and kick back with Todd.

My Dad's Big Day

My dad received a wonderful award at work yesterday. Not only was the award a surprise to him but having all of his family there (minus Nate) was a surprise also. It's called the Fire Starter Award and the award "is given at the Leadership Development Institute to recognize one outstanding leader who is using evidence based leadership principles to make a difference in the work area and for the organization. "

Dad was the first one to win the award and not only do I consider this a big honor for him, I agree that he is very deserving of it, and I am VERY proud of him. He's been at this job since I was a baby and has worked his way all the way up the ranks over the years. He's always been a very hard worker and because of this, has always provided for his family and has been a great role model for us on what a hard worker is. I love you Dad, thanks for all you do!!

Family picture at the Ambiance after receiving the award.

Picture is very dark but this is when he came up for the award and turned and saw us all standing there.

Somehow this is the smallest picture ever, but this is when he was receiving his award.

A Quote to Ponder

“What you’re supposed to do when you don’t like a thing is change it. If you can’t change it, change the way you think about it. Don’t complain.”
-----As written by Maya Angelou for Success

I came across this quote on another blog and it really struck me. If I could follow this one bit of advice, it would change my life in so many ways. If everybody lived by this advice, the world would be a much happier place.

One more from Rhonna's 21 Day Challenge.
"Happiness is a choice that requires effort at times." ---Anonymous

This and That

Life is never dull here. I've had an eye infection since Friday that seems to be almost cleared up, all three boys have coughs, and Noah just got over his 3rd stomach virus this winter. How's that for rotten luck?? Poor kid.
Aiden has been an absolute terror. I'm trying to blame it on the nasty weather and being cooped up but maybe it's just that he's plain onry. I've completely lost my cool a few times over the past couple of days and I'm not proud of it. Love and Logic doesn't seem to work and neither does yelling at him. He did have one cute moment today. When he woke up this morning, I asked him if he had a good nights' sleep. He said he went to Grandma Tunie's house and watched the green movie with her. I told him that sounds like a great dream, much better than the one where Noah stole his toothbrush! (the green movie is the Ronald McDonald movie she has that has a green label on it)
The cat is still possessed. I think he got on Todd's last nerve tonight. He certainly knows how to get into trouble. Between him and Aiden, I just may lose my mind.

Off to bed, hoping for a peaceful nights rest. I'm looking forward to a 5 day weekend with my boys. I hope we have a healthy Easter!! (some nicer weather would be great too!)

One Fun Saturday

We had a great day yesterday although it got off to a rocky start. We realized when we woke up yesterday that we hadn't seen Grayson at all the evening before and he didn't stir up any trouble during the night. We opened all of the doors in the basement thinking maybe we accidentally shut him in a room but no luck. Then we got to thinking that with the boys going in and out of the house the day before playing, that he might have gotten outside. That got me REALLY upset because it was cold and rainy and I kept picturing my furry gray wonder huddled outside, soaking wet and cold. Who would have thought I'd miss him getting into trouble at night?? To make a long story short, we found him hiding in the garage up near the ceiling in a storage space. When he came in, I ran right to him, snuggled him up and he wasn't cold at all so that made me feel a bit better. We had planned on leaving town by 8:30 am and I didn't want to leave unless we found him. AND we got to leave on time.

Where did we go you ask?? Well Aiden got to spend the day playing with Grandma Paulette and Grandpa John. Todd, Noah and I took Drew to St Louis for the day for his birthday present......we got tickets for us to see High School Musical--The Ice Tour. It was pretty spectacular I have to say. I love ice skating and I enjoy most of the music from the movies so it was fun to see. The look on the boys' faces was priceless though. They also did the music from BOTH movies, which we didn't realize---we had thought it was just from the first so the boys were pretty excited about that.

We started off the day at Toys R Us and then headed to Drew's choice of Macaroni Grill for lunch. MMMMM. Then we headed off to the St Louis Mills Mall for a couple of hours before hitting the ice show. It got done a bit earlier than we thought so we popped in REI quick for the boys to do the rock climbing wall. Drew made it to the top, the little monkey. Then we went to the Galleria to eat supper at the food court before heading home. We had a great day and the best part was Drew telling me this was his best birthday gift ever. I also got extra hugs and thanks yous at bedtime which meant a lot to me. It's hard to believe I'll have a 9 year old next week.....the last year of the single digits.

Here is a video from the show. Shhhh, don't tell, we weren't supposed to take video. (my hubby can't hold a camera still to save his life but he blames it on the mom sitting next to him dancing in her seat!)

Ok, here's where the video should be but Blogger is not uploading the video. I'm sick and tired of trying. Maybe I can get it working tomorrow. So for now, enjoy the pics!

Here's a picture of the 3 guys before the show started.

See that blue blob up there?? That's Drew ringing the bell at the top.

Noah climbed halfway up two times so that's pretty good too!

A perfect ending to a perfect day....Noah crashed on us on the drive home.

Freaky Friday

I couldn't get the pictures I wanted for Flashback Friday but I do have some freaky ones, hence the name Freaky Friday for today!

We had some major fog this morning. It was almost a little scary driving in it, especially with the idiots driving without headlights. It was hard enough to see the ones that DID have their lights on. Of course, today was one of those days where I had to drive 3 places in the morning instead of one. Add to that the fact that I woke up with The Funk in my left eye and I couldn't really see crap while I was driving. But that didn't stop me from taking these pictures of the cool fog while I was driving the boys to school. I know, I'm one of the stupid ones. Not the best of pictures but what do you expect coming from the dashboard of a moving mini-van?? (This was at 8:15am by the way)

I'm sure most of you know today is 3-14 but do you realize it's Pi Day?? Only if you're a math geek I'm guessing. Well since my hubby is a math teacher they celebrate Pi Day every year in his math classes with what else....pie!! They also design cool math t-shirts every year to sell at school to raise money for the Math Team. (Yes, there really IS such a thing) Amazingly they usually sell tons of them. So this year they designed these t-shirts (see photos below). Also note the scary facial hair on my husband. Yes, he shaved his goatee off into the shape of the symbol for pi.

The shirt reads: "Chuck Norris knows the last digit of pi."

Apparently most people get why this is funny. I didn't, he explained it to me, and I still don't.

One cool fact for the day....today happens to be Chuck Norris's Birthday.

See him making a face to show off his hair pi??

Sorry, had to make the joke. I love Revenge of the Nerds

Yes, it's all a bit geek to me. (sorry for all the horrible puns, it's getting late). But he's my geek and I love him dearly. I love that he comes up with cool things to do with his students too. Love you sweetie.

I'll leave you with this last thought to ponder for today......................

Just how long does it take to clean up 6 smashed raw eggs off of your kitchen floor??? Don't ask Aiden. While I was cleaning his eggy mess off of the kitchen floor, he went into Drew's room and took his lip chap, smeared it all over his face and then ate a bite off of it. That nearly pushed me over the edge. And once again, I have a clean kitchen floor, no thanks to the little guy.

Bad Dreams

I have always wondered if babies and toddlers had dreams and what they may dream about. Toddlers DO have bad dreams from time to time, but I'm happy to say, their "bad" dreams aren't always on the same level as our bad dreams.

Example:
I woke early this morning to the sound of Aiden crying and sounding very upset. I run in to calm him down. This is how it went.
Me: What's wrong honey??
Aiden: Noah stole my toothbrush.
Me: It was just a bad dream. Lay back down.
Aiden: Noah stole my toothbrush (very distraught)
Me: Shhhh, go back to sleep sweetie.

I let the hair junkie grab a fistful of my hair with one hand and his Barney with the other and he drifted back to dreamland. I knew Noah would find this hilarious when he woke up. When the boys woke later, I was telling them about this "bad" dream of Aiden's. They were cracking up. Drew pats Aiden's tummy and tells him he'll get him a new toothbrush. Aiden says "Yeah, at the library" and starts laughing. "That be funny" he says. My little comedian.

Quotes From Cuties

Aiden comes up to me and asks me if I'm happy and I say I am. He asks me if I'm REALLY happy. I say I am. He then tells me "I really happy because you my sunshine." How can I NOT be happy about that??? I LOVE that kid!
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Noah and I were cuddling on the couch the other night under my fleecy warm robe. It was so nice getting some cuddle time with him because Aiden tends to monopolize my lap. Drew and Aiden were piling up on top of Todd on the other couch, playing around. Todd asked Noah if he wanted to come over with them and Noah said no. He says to me "Mom I didn't want to leave you alone over here. I never want you to ever be alone." He's such a sweetie. I wonder if he'll remember that when I'm old and decrepit.
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We were eating supper at Grandma and Grandpa Klauser's the other night. Somehow we got to talking about the overnight scrapbooking weekend I had gone on not too long ago. Drew says "Yeah, it's just a place so they can go and forget about their kids for the weekend." I told him we spend most of the time scrapbooking pictures of our KIDS and spend a lot of time talking about them. Of course it's nice to get away from them all for a night too, but I wasn't going to tell Drew THAT!
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As long as I'm talking about my kids, I might as well talk about my furry one. He's either possessed or has multiple personalities. He has been so cuddly and sweet and comes in and sleeps with me at night. The other night he slept on my pillow next to my head all night. In the evenings he cuddles in my lap while Todd and I watch TV. He even slept with his head on Todd's shoulder the other night. But the trouble he gets into!! I thought having the house toddler proofed would be enough.....but not even close!! He's attacked and kidnapped my feather duster, tearing off the ostrich feathers and scattering them around. He climbed up on top of my cabinets....and I'm not talking about on my countertops. He got on the counter, jumped up on the refridgerator, and jumped up to the top cabinets by the ceiling. I tried to get his picture but he got down too quickly. This morning, I go in the bathroom and notice something by the tub. He had torn a long strip off of the bottom of the shower curtain liner. No big deal, I'll pick up a new one. Later in the morning, I hop in to take my shower and glance to my right. The liner is shredded! There is one rip that goes almost the whole length of the curtain. So it's not doing me any good as far as keeping water in the shower. I'm guessing he had tried to climb up the liner and slid his way down. Todd and I had heard something during the night but we were both too tired to go check out what trouble he was getting into. This morning I was trying to type and he kept walking back and forth across my keyboard. Only slightly more annoying than him sitting on the edge of the bathroom sink while I was washing my face last night. I love him, he's sweet and cuddly, he makes me laugh, he also annoys the hell out of me. He's perfect for this family!!

Who is Your Ideal TV Boyfriend??

Who is Your Ideal TV Boyfriend?

More on Gossip Girl. Created by BuddyTV

Thanks to Latte Mommy for posting this fun quiz on her blog.

I have to say I was disappointed though. Who the hell is HE?? Never seen the show, but I remember when he was on Days of Our Lives and I liked him then. Maybe I need to take the quiz again...............

Flashback Friday-Easter Edition

This will have to be a quicky since I have to head out for work today. Since Easter is right around the corner (you'd never know it by the weather!), I thought I'd flash back to some recent Easters.

Easter 2006---getting all the grandkids in a picture is always a job and this was no exception. Let's see, we've got Noah pouting, Aiden screaming his little bald head off and Blake is doing something to Ty. Always an adventure!

Grandpa John always likes to pass out $2 bills to the grandkids. Aiden must have decided not to take any chances with his as he fell asleep holding on to his money.
We met up with Beth and the boys for the Easter egg hunt. Here the kids got to pet baby chicks and ducks. They got a kick out of it. Beth and I followed them around with a bottle of hand sanitizer! :)

Noah caught himself a live one!
This was the Easter party at the library. A little bit better attempt at getting the 5 boys in a picture together. I wonder what the Easter Bunny is thinking of it......

Easter 2005---I love dressing them in matching outfits but it's getting harder and harder to get away with it as they get older!

A blue marshmallow Peep exploded in Noah's mouth.

Easter 2004--Party at the library again. That damn bunny just doesn't age at all does he?

Hopefully I'll have more time next friday to scan in some really old Easter pictures. But Momma's got to go bring home the bacon today.....or at least a few slices!

Have a great weekend!

Stop The Presses!

Noah has his first loose tooth.......and he's scared of it?!!? Is this common or is my child wierd?? When Drew was first losing teeth, Noah commented on how he never wanted to lose his and he was scared it would hurt but that was a couple of years ago. I guess that fear hasn't left him. He went to take a bite of his pizza last night and said it hurt his tooth. Todd felt around and sure enough, one of the top front teeth was loose. We were all excited for him but he just sat there deep in thought. He kind of whimpered and said that he didn't want a loose tooth. He was afraid he might swallow it, or that it might hurt. Even having Drew tell him that the Tooth Fairy leaves money for lost teeth didn't seem to brighten him up. Hmmm, this journey could be interesting.
***************Other non-related stories.................
During dinner last night Aiden says "Oh, dammit" Todd and I kind of look at each other and shrug. He's 2 and sometimes hard to understand. Surely it wasn't what it sounded like. "Oh, dammit". Yep, he did say it. I told him that was a bad word and he couldn't say it. He replies "Holy Moly". I said that was a little bit better. Later on he says it again and when Todd said he couldn't say that word, he smiles at Todd and says it one more time. Todd tries the ole soap in the mouth trick, why I don't know. He said took just a dab of hand soap and rubbed it on Aiden's tongue and says "Does that taste good?" Aidens says "Mmmmm, yeah" Great Todd, thanks.
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Our cat is certifiably insane. Luckily, he's awfully cute too. NOTHING is safe in this house, let me tell you. I should lock him up when we go to bed at night because that is when he d0es most of his troublemaking. He knocked off and broke a ceramic flower pot on my dining room floor. He's taken off with my sunglasses twice. He's taken a cup with a bunch of those single serving drink packets in it and toted them off to various parts of the house. He's leaped off the top of the refridgerator when Todd was getting a snack. ( I would have had a heart attack) He nonchalantly walked out of my kitchen last night carrying a plastic snack bag of goodies with him. He will play with dishes left in the sink, knock anything off of the counters that is left on them, will find balls and other toys under the couch and bat them around the house at 3 am, including running back and forth behind the blinds on our BIG front window. Clackity, clack, clack. But then he comes and curls up on my legs and sleeps with me at night. Yep, he knows how to work it. Lately he's gotten in more trouble than my boys! One good thing, my kitchen counters will never have clutter on them again, if they do, I may never see that stuff again!

Sunny Sunday

Wow, could the weather today have been any more perfect?? It hit a sunny, warm 74--woohoo!! And to think we had some freak blizzard like weather thursday night and have a chance for SNOW tomorrow. I don't like that you fickle, fickle weather!!

We were outside as much as possible today. We did have to spend some time indoors though. Drew had his Pinewood Derby races today for Scouts. He got 4th place in his pack and now has one more trophy to add to his collection. I think he was pretty happy with that!! (Drew's car is the yellow/red one in the middle. He had fun making that with his Dad.)

I got to take a nice long walk yesterday and today. You can tell I'm out of practice but it sure felt good to grab my ipod and go.


We didn't get to see Noah much today. He got his one on one time with Grandma and Grandpa Klauser today. (Aiden got to spend Friday with them and Drew got to spend Saturday with them. They love getting the individual attention and special time) We took Drew and Aiden to the playground up the street and I got some cute pictures. I hate that I didn't get any of Noah though--next time!

Future Firefighter??

Drew is quite the monkey....he can climb all the way UP the fireman's pole and do the monkey bars without missing a beat.

Sometimes ya just gotta grab life by the balls!

Who said he could look so grown up??? Where's my little Drew??

Ok, I have to post at least one picture of Noah since I missed him so much at the park today. This was a picture he gave me for Christmas. His teacher took their pictures and then they decorated black picture frames with red,gray and white. What a beautiful xmas gift from my darling Noah.