Easter 2012

For some reason, there are very few pictures of Easter this year.  It's too bad because the kids all looked really sweet in their outfits!  They were so cute sitting together at the kids' table.  We had a great time hunting for eggs, playing together, and spending time with the aunts and uncles.

These pictures are not from Easter, but the kids spent a lot of time 'working' in the yard this spring!

Too many twins?

Today, we went to Jack and Aidan's house for a playdate.  Their mom was babysitting an additional set of twins, and their little sister, so it was just a little chaotic!  There were three sets of twin boys, an older sister (Mairead) and a younger sister.  So, 8 kids of which Mairead was the oldest.  To make it more chaotic, there were two Jacks, a Jake, and two Bens, plus Aidan, Abby, and Mairead.  The kids did really well, actually, except for a major crisis when we realized that there was only one Batman cape and one Superman cape, but 6 little boys who wanted to wear them!

This family is the one with the baby chicks, so we took all eight kids out to see them.  They were SO excited to check them out!  Jack and Aidan's mom even let the kids help feed them and they all loved that part.

We left a little after 11, so we hope that the other five kids had a great afternoon together.  And, we hope that Jack and Aidan's mom gets some rest tonight!

Welcome to the world, Kellan!

Congratulations to Katie and Steve as they welcome their son, Kellan John!  Kellan was born on June 4 and weighed 9lbs, 5oz.  He's a big boy!  Big sister, Lily, is incredibly sweet with 'baby brudda' and already loves him very much.  That makes 5 grandchildren in just under five years for the proud Nana and Grampy!  Mairead can NOT wait to meet him.  We are taking her tomorrow and it's all she can talk about.  Jack wants to teach him to play 'sneak.'  Today, we used our iphones to do Facetime with the kids and my kids kept kissing the phone and touching it, trying to reach their new cousin.  They love him already! 

Our family has had it's share of troubles and heartaches in the past five years, but we have also been so blessed and so lucky to have so many little miracles in our lives.  Kellan is the latest (and largest!) one!

Picture Potpourri

Since my laptop was unusable, I missed a lot of blog posts this Spring.  These pictures capture some highlights!

Our friends, Jeff and Tommy, invited us over for a fun playdate in their yard.  The weather this Spring was unbelievable, so we were outside a LOT!  Poor Mairead is usually quite outnumbered at these playdates.  At this one, there were three sets of three year old twin boys!

That same day, the weather was just so amazing that after naps, we piled the kids into the car and headed to Hampton Beach for a spontaneous afternoon of digging in the sand and flying kites.  The kids loved it.  It made me so happy to see them loving the beach.  I have SO many incredible memories of summers in Hampton with my family.  The kids loved the sand, were awed by the ocean, and thought their dad was a superstar for getting a kite in the air.  Exactly what childhood should be like.

The kids are coming up with more ways to experiment or to play.  It's fun to watch their little minds work!  I know some parents have a hard time with the age of three, and maybe I shouldn't jinx myself, but I am loving three.  The boys are so much fun!  This day, they were exploring with their telescopes.

They are still pretty committed to their trains, though.  The trains find themselves in all sort of predicaments.  Lately, the superheroes that Daddy has are often called in to save the trains or to save the Island of Sodor from something or another.  They LOVE when Dave gets home and plays pretend with them.  I love it, too.  And, Dave loves it.  Either because he loves playing with his kids or because he loves playing superheroes... maybe a combination of the two.

Mairead was invited to a classmate's birthday party earlier in the month and she had a great time.  She interacted with the kids more than I have seen her do in the past, so that was nice.  She was holding hands with the birthday girl and at one point walked up to two other classmates and said, "Callie, Rebecca, do you want to play with me?"  I couldn't believe it- she has never shown that kind of initiative in a social situation.  I was so proud of her!

 We spend a LOT of time in the yard.  One of their favorite parts is having snack on Nana's swing.  It's even better when Dad is around for snack time!

We have been to Tyngsboro Sports Center with our friends a few times, too.  They have a great Open Play set up where the kids can just run around this giant, fully-enclosed field.  There are toys, balls, tunnels, and all kinds of things to play with. 

Some mornings, when Mom is really tired, they get to play with Daddy's ipad for a bit before we go downstairs to start the day.  It's amazing to watch the three of them use it.  It's almost like knowledge of computers is innate in this generation!

This is how Ben sleeps.  We were worried that toddler beds might be too small, but apparently, Ben only needs about 2 square feet of space to sleep!

We have already been to our favorite playground, Penguin Park, a few times this season.  I love it there- so quiet, safe, and removed from everything.  The kids love it, too!

Thanks for reading-- I have a few more things to catch up on and then we will be back to 'present day posting'!

Some Really Cute Chicks

We have been spending a lot of time with our friends, Jack and Aidan (and my friend, known only as 'JackandAidan'smommy) lately, and the kids are getting pretty friendly.  It's fun to see them interact with others and start to develop real friendships!  We were lucky to have an invitation to go and visit the new baby chicks that arrived at Jack and Aidan's house!  The family is going to raise them for eggs, and we were excited to see the new babies.  Mairead, of course, was in her glory.  She would have stayed there all day if we let her.  Even Ben pet them a little!  Jack really got excited to touch them, too.  They were pretty darn cute!  Thanks to our friends for sharing your little chicks with us!

Mirror Images

I love this picture.  Each boy is looking in to a mirror, but it really looks as though there is one boy reflected in a mirror, doesn't it?  They looked so much alike right at that moment.  The haircuts were necessary because their hair was getting long, but also because Jack let Ben cut his hair.  They were quietly playing in the office and then I heard Jack cry, "Ow!"  Never good.  So, I ran up there to find Ben with scissors in hand and Jack sitting patiently next to him.  There were numerous tufts of hair on the ground, so they had been at this for several minutes, at least.  I was impressed that Ben has mastered the skill of using scissors, and that Jack showed enough patience to let Ben do this, but I was less than thrilled about the new 'do' that Jack was sporting.  Luckily, Ben only took some off the back, not the front!

Big Boy Beds

Just after they turned three, we moved the boys out of their cribs and into their 'big boy beds,' or in Ben's case, 'little boy beds.  He still insists that he is not a big boy, he is a little boy, and he is not going to get big or grow up.  It's only by a minute, but he absolutely lives up to his title as the youngest.  The move to beds was pretty sudden.  We just happened to see a great price on nice beds on Craigslist, so we figured we would buy them and eventually use them.  But when the beds got to the house, we realized that we really had no place to store them.  So, at 7pm, down came the cribs as two very excited little guys watched and 'helped' Daddy.  I was afraid Ben would seriously balk at the idea and at leaving his little coccoon, but he was excited!  They jumped on the mattresses and ran around for a while.  We were watching on the monitor after they went to bed, and as expected, Ben was in bed with Jack within ten minutes.  He did eventually go back to his own bed and they had a great first night.  They have been excellent since!  There have definitely been some naps that weren't, and some late nights when they are playing, but we couldn't have asked for them to be better.  Sometimes, Ben will still try to snuggle with Jackie, but Jack kicks him out.  It's funny because as infants, they slept in the same crib, and the reason we finally separated them was because Ben was (literally) smothering Jack.  Some things never change, I guess!

The move to beds was bittersweet for me.  I am so proud of them for all that they are learning to do, and for growing up, but each milestone gets us further away from the baby stage.  With all that went on when our kids were babies, that time went so quickly and was so hectic.  I love my three year olds, but I miss my tiny little infants, sometimes!

I have to say that I am really enjoying the age of three.  It was a tough year when Mairead was three because we were fighting so hard with the school system and dragging her to appointment after appointment.  With the boys, three has been a lot of fun!  There are definitely some challenges in that they are getting more opinionated and try to argue for what they want (one more than the other- guess who?), but they are just doing and saying such interesting things all the time.

For example, you know how they say that twins are double trouble?  One day I literally heard Jack say, "C'mon, Ben, let's go find trouble."  They are mischievous, though.  We have a screen door that leads on to the deck and the other day I heard it slide open as Jack said, "Let's get out of here, Ben."  I said, "Hey- what are you doing?"  Ben immediately said, "Sorry, Mom.  Sorry."  Jack just had a look of, "Aw, shit, she caught us." 

They are incredibly sweet, too.  Yesterday, Jack wasn't feeling well and said, to his brother, "Ben, you need to make me feel better."  Ben immediately jumped up, ran to Jack, and gave him a hug.  And, I believe that it truly did make Jack feel better.  You are probably seeing a pattern here of Jack telling Ben what to do.  I imagine this will eventually lead to, "C'mon, Ben, let's take the car out tonight."

They are good to others, too.  My grandmother gave them some pretzels the other day and Ben yelled to my mom, "Nana!  My Nana gave me some pretzels!  That was very so kind of her!  Thank you, My Nana!"  When one boy is looking for a toy, the other always helps him to find it.  They don't want to go anywhere without the other.  They really are fascinating and fun to watch as they develop their individual personalities, but always retain those bits of 'sameness' that connect them so deeply.  We are so blessed to have them.

I also love having them because since I have twins, I am able to be part of a Mothers of Multiples group that is really great.  There are so many fun activities planned, and a lot of terrific MoMs are in the club.  I have developed some great friendships for which I am very grateful.  There is one set of twins that we see very often, to the point where when we go someplace without them, my kids ask, "But when are Jack and Aidan coming?"  It's sweet to see them develop friendships, too!