Summer Time?

Rainy day cookie making

Austin did great.

Look who's swimming!
Griffin's a fish.

Em and Max playing on the water mat.

Alex is my fearless swimmer!

Summer Time?

Well, I'm not exactly sure where Summer is but we are are waiting patiently. We have been taking advantage of every single moment of sunshine we can. We finally spent some time in the pool. That's not bad, the 1st week of August and we are just now getting in use of our pool. Alex is a fish, this kid loves the pool. His lips are blue, his fingers are prunes but he's swimming away. HE loves his arm swimmies and with a tube floaty he is on his own swimming around the pool. He literally has no fear! Austin is still using his arm floaties because the pool is just way to deep. I refuse to let him take off any floatation devices until he can touch the bottom. Call me crazy, call me insecure but that's how I feel! Emerson and Max down right refuse to go in the water. They love the water table, the water mat and the hose but I think the pool is just too cold for them. Now Griffin has no fear either. He got right in with David and began to kick his feet and move his hands. He loved it. He was happy, splashing and laughing. I think we have another water baby on our hands...YAY!

I have some exiting news about little Mr. Griffin, he said his first word! While jumping in his bouncer he looked at me and with a huge smile and said "mamamamamamamamama". I'm overjoyed that his 1st word was mama. He uses it quite often to get my attention if I walk away from him. He even says it after the boys say it. He is just an amazing little man who thrills me everyday! After I began typing this blog I had Griffin on my lap and he latched on to my finger with his mouth and much to my surprise there was a TOOTH!!!! My baby has his first tooth and has said his first word. I'm so excited, but on the other hand it's a little sad. My baby is growing up! Pretty soon he will be a big boy, independent and strong like his big brothers. Where does the time go?

Bounce Baby Bounce!

Our new bounce house!

Austin loves it!

Maxim bounced Emerson right down!

Emerson is so happy, he smiles and waves!

David and Alex share the Polish dinner from the Canal Festival.

Maxim and his pepper from Mommy's garden.
Could Griffin be any happier? He's such a big boy!

Bounce Baby Bounce!

As I'm sure you can imagine the bounce house we recently purchased is a huge success amongst my children. Since the weather has been so rainy and miserable it is an even bigger success than the pool. We have been bouncing pretty much everyday, well in between torrential downpours and thunderstorms. At first it was just Austin bouncing his little heart out, than Emerson, slowly Alex and now Maxim. For some reason Max was leery but he quickly overcame his fears when I took him in and let him bounce solo. Now every time I turn a round the four bigger kids(Austin and the triplets) are bouncing. I'm glad we got the commercial one. I looked for ones sold in toy stores and realized we would have popped it by now. I know it will prove to be a wise investment with 5 very active little boys.

Speaking of active boys, Griffin is my little wild man all of a sudden. He is now over 6 months old and is growing like a weed. At well over 18lbs he is almost the size of his big brothers that are 16months older than him! He can definitely hold his own when it comes to wrestling for a toy or grabbing for something he wants. He is eating up a storm. He wants all the orange stuff( carrots, sweet potatoes and peaches) but what he really craves in BREAD! I know it's probably just the teething aspect of bread, but he loves it. He is definitely a little German baby! He has this funny hair that sticks straight up in the center of his head like a rooster. David claims I comb little Mr. Griffin's hair this way but I do not. He's just "spikey" by nature! Anyway, he is an amazing little man. He has even begun to stand up holding onto the couch (with a little help from mommy or daddy of course). He's so strong and strong willed too. He does this growling yell, that I can only assume is him mimicking me. It's adorable. His face gets all red and he belts out this "RARARARH" sound. It's going so fast. It almost makes me want another one...ALMOST!

We have harvested quite a bit from the garden lately. The Zucchini and squash are HUGE! We have been eating them almost everyday. I am on the look out for more and more recipes for both. I am hoping to get enough squash for Griffin to have fresh baby food. Max is the veggie monster. He runs into the garden and grabs peppers off the vine and eats them whole. I can't wait for the tomato's to get ripe. They are taking their sweet time. They are huge though. If we could get just a few days of hot weather I think we would be good to go! You should see my pumpkins! WOW! I am so excited the kids are going to be able to pick their own pumpkins. With all the rain they are getting so big, I would say some are already the size of a large softball. My cucumbers didn't seem to like all the rain though. All except one plant died. We have around 20 cucumbers on that plant but just the one. I have all of a sudden grown a green thumb and I am very excited since I thought I would kill everything!

The boys birthday is right around the corner and all the final preparations have been made. I am looking forward to seeing friends and family and for the boys to turn 2! I can't believe they are almost 2! Where did the time go? I'm hoping the day goes smooth and we have NO drama. I think this year will be a good one.

It's raining, it's pouring...

Austin doing his best "Pooh" impression

Alex IS Batman!

No, Austin IS Batman!

Tigger...hehehehehe!

Dragonmax!

Emerspidey!

We finally added another car to the wagon...now cue the circus music!

mmmmmmmmmmm!

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

Making cupcakes Emerson style!

Now Maxim!

and Alex!
Griffin preferred the cone we put the cake mix in!

It's raining, it's pouring...

What a crappy summer. The weather has been all over the place. One day the sun is shining and birds are singing and the next it's cold and raining cats and dogs. We start out every morning as if it's going to be the best summer day ever. We stroll down stairs, make and eat breakfast, turn on sesame street (our new favorite), clean the house, naps than lunch. That's when it gets interesting. If it's a beautiful day we eat lunch than head outside to play on the swings, in the water table or swim in the pool. Well, more days than not it has been overcast and rainy. We can usually get at least an hour of outdoor activities in between raindrops but on truly dreary days we where hitting a rut. I didn't want the kids to sit and watch TV all day so I've begun dreaming up new activities for them. We color, bake, cook an elaborate dinner, paint(not suggested for 3 two year olds) or play dress up. Dress up is their favorite. Throughout the past few years I have bought all the Halloween costumes I could find when they get marked down to nothing. I found some for as low as $0.25 and have only paid $10 at the most. I accumulated quite a few one year when I happened on a 90% off sale at Target. I bought all the complete costumes I could find in all sizes and put together a dress up box for Austin and a friends little boy. It was a great idea since I no longer have to purchase costumes for Halloween, we just pick one out of the box. The triplets love to dress up. We have several years of Austins costumes so with a rolling up of the sleeves and pant legs, the boys are all set to go. It's hard to find something for 4...OK 5 little boys to do on a rainy day. If they where girls we could give manicures and do our hair. But 5 boys is a challenge.

Right now we are in full Birthday party crunch mode. I have been feverishly finishing all the last minute details to the big bash. All of the invitations have finally been mailed, the decorations purchased and the children's activities planned. Now all we have to do is decide on salads and we are done. This year I decided to order chicken and pizzas from our favorite caterer to avoid us standing in front of the grill all day. We are having some friends and family make side dishes and have ordered a beautiful cake from a local bakery. We even purchased a commercial bounce house instead of renting one. We figured we have 5 boys and a ton of yard space so why not? We may even rent it to family and friends. Since my children are now full blown Sesame Street addicts, that is of course the theme. The boys loved picking out all the monsters from Sesame Street for decorations and centerpieces. It's going to be a fun time and who knows, we may even have a visit from our favorite little(or big) red monster. I can't wait, I think I'm more excited than the boys!

Protection!

The starting points. The border and weed guard.
Michael laying the weed guard.
Now for the mulch!
All the boys helping(blurry but it was so cute!)
Austin helping with the mulch.
Kelly, Mike and Emerson spreading mulch.
Almost done.

Protection!

I've said it before and I will say it again...from the moment my children came into my life, be it from a small orphanage in Poland, an insane delivery with 20 people buzzing like a bees in beehive whisking three babies from my womb to places unknown or a sick full term baby ripped from my arms to awaiting doctors, I was was in love. Hooked. Addicted to my children. They instantly became the loves of my life. I made a decision at that point to do whatever it took to keep them safe. To protect like a mother bear protecting her cubs. Have you ever seen a bear protect her cubs? Ripping a would be predator to shreds for looking towards her precious babies. That's how I feel inside sometimes. I can't explain the intensity I feel when it comes to protecting my babies, all 5 of them. It's almost an anxious feeling. Knowing all the evil in the world, I feel this, almost painful need to protect my kids. My heart aches when I hear of someone mistreating a child, any child. But if it where to happen to one of mine...ewww, BEWARE! Even if my children fall and get hurt or scrape a knee, I ache for them. I want to take the pain away. Call me crazy, obsessive or whatever name you want. I call myself A MOTHER!

Like most parents we have baby proofed our home. Removed dangerous furniture, bolted shelves to the walls, safety locks on doors and cabinets, gates and fences. But we still can't protect them from the day to day events which will eventually lead to a scraped knee or stubbed toe.

Done but not cleaned up.

When it comes to our outside world, we have made provisions for are children to be safe. We had a privacy fence installed, locks on gates and protective gates in front of concrete stairs. So it was really a no brainer when we decided to put the recycled mulch(old tires ground up and dyed)down on the children's play area. The triplets are so curious now. Wanting desperately to be like Austin who whips up and down the rock wall and jumps down his slide. The little tykes play slides are tons of fun but it's the "no no" element of the large wooden swing set that makes the little boys curious. Up until now we have not let them play on the wooden set for fear they will fall and break their necks. But Thanks to our friends Michael and Kelly and some good old fashioned hard work and ingenuity the swing set and entire play area is now covered with 4000lbs of recycled tires. This makes for safer play and one happy mama!

Very late that night but all clean!
The next morning!
BEAUTIFUL!

All this doesn't mean I will worry any less about the safety of my children. It really is a built in mechanism in a mothers brain that says "protect at any cost". I will continue to obsessively protect my children from the evils of this world. Just try and stop me!

Summer

Max and Alex try and figure out why the jeep isn't working.

First swim of the season!

Who gave the baby a cookie?

Alex "baptizing" Emerson in the water table!

Emerson swimming in the water table.

Max analyzing the water.

Alex digging in the dirt.

Emerson is a big boy...he ate 2 whole peanut butter and jelly sandwiches! Hey, I was impressed!

Austin up to no good!

Summer

What a week. Austin finished school and is now home full time. He will be attending some summer activities but basically he will be home. Because he's home it's a little easier for me to take the boys out in the yard and even for walks. Yes, I take all 5 out by myself! I am super mom!

We spent every day this week outside. The weather was HOT. At some points close to 90 degrees. Not that I really minded since we opened the pool Memorial weekend. Up to this point was just to cold to go in. Well, not anymore. The pool is 78 degrees and the water is fine. Austin has been in several times and I am quite impressed with way he's swimming. He's not a pro yet(he still needs some floatation devise) but he's working on it. Of the boys only Max has been in. It's hard to take more than one in at a time. I am hoping for some more ridiculously warm days to allow it to heat up even more. Than we are all in! The boys pretty much just play in their water table. By play I mean stand or sit in. What a sight that is.

Austin is still in "school mode". He has devised a lunch plan that consists of three levels. A lunch, B lunch or C lunch. Every day he chooses what each lunch consists of and than he tells me what to make. I humor him of course but I really don't have time to be a short order cook. He is really into making lists and 'research" he has a notebook he carries around and takes research notes on things around the house. To read it it doesn't make much sense. But he knows exactly what it means. Whenever he starts getting under my feet I tell him to go do research, and he does. He went with my Dad to see the dinosaurs at HSBC arena on Saturday and he had a blast. I am so glad he has such loving grandparents who spend quality time with him.

The triplets are unbelievable. They are talking so good now. Alex can talk your ear off. He has some babbling but he is speaking several sentences. I love when I drop something he picks it up and says "here ooo go". Max is really starting to say a lot of words. "I did it" is his favorite phrase. It's great when I'm not in the room and I hear someone cry. Max says "I did it". I know who to blame! Emerson is starting slower than the other two. He does count though. "Un, two,wee" when he goes down the slide. I am not forcing them to talk. I have learned from raising Austin that we teach them to talk just to tell them to be quiet. I will let them go at their own pace.

Is this one beautiful baby or what?

Griffin is so smart. He is so incredible for 5 months. He loves to hang with his big brothers and has started to "play" with them. He smiles and laughs at how funny they are. He cracks up at Austin. I'm not sure why he's so funny, but he is! He is the king mimicker! He mimics everything I do. He will stick out his tongue, blow raspberries or blink when I do. This is unbelievable for such a little baby. I know I'm impartial but so what, he's my last baby and I am enjoying every minute!

All 5 boys playing dinosaurs.

Friday my mother watched all 5 kids by herself for the first time. I thought for sure we would find her tied up in the basement. But she handled it well. David and I attended my cousin Megan's wedding and enjoyed the time with just adults. Hopefully my kids didn't torture my mom too much and she'll be fine for the next time.

We ventured out to Kenmore Days this week. The carnival was interesting. We walked from our house which doesn't seem long but ended up being a 45 minute walk to and from. We needed the exercise but where exhausted by the time we got home. We basically stayed to eat and stock up on carnival junk food than headed home. I haven't let the boys see fireworks yet for fear of them freaking out. besides they are still on a schedule and staying up until after 10pm wouldn't work for any of us.

My garden is unbelievable. I am shocked at how big the plants are. All the rain and sunshine are making for a phenomenal harvest this year. Not bad for thinking I would kill it all in a short time! I can't wait for the first tomato and green pepper!