Firehouse Tour--Then and Now

We toured the new Upper Arlington Fire Station today with the Moms' Group. One last big outing before the eldests start kindergarten. Reminded me that we also toured a fire station back in 2007 before I started blogging. Check out these pics--all of which were borrowed from Alyssa, Melissa or Cheryl as I have been wearing a baby both times which doesn't make for good picture taking!

Then:

Luke is chewing his sleeve in every picture. He had just turned two years old.

You can see me in the background with Michael in the sling.

One of many attempts at a group shot.

NOW:

Waiting for the tour to start--some of these kids weren't even born in 2007. Check out my Michael--sling baby no more!

What a great group shot even if some of the babies are missing (including Justin)!

My, how time has flown. I love you, EBC moms and kids!!!

Deja Vu

Tonight we were reading a book that had a picture of a hippo in it. Michael said that he would like a stuffed hippo. I reminded him that he already had one. He said "No. One with four feet." I might have gotten into an argument with him about the fact that his hippo indeed has four feet if I hadn't had this exact conversation with Luke when he was 3-years-old. With Luke, it was a cat. Luke didn't like that his stuffed cat was sitting up teddy-bear-style (as is Michael's hippo) and he wanted one that "stood on all four legs." Apparently, sitting animals are unacceptable to 3-year-olds. Michael actually gave his sitting hippo to Luke to sleep with (five-year-olds no longer seem bothered by them) and instead went to bed with the book open to the picture of the "four foot hippo."

A Chair of His Own

I hated the high chair I used with the other two boys so much that I donated it to Kidney Services last year even knowing that we were going to have another baby. Since Justin is very likely our last baby, I asked Matt if he wanted me to ask around for a high chair to borrow, but Matt said that Justin deserved to have a few things of his own. So a few a days ago we bought a brand new high chair for Justin. It's pretty snazzy. Now Justin can start solids!

The Hartford Fair

Last night we endured the ridiculously hot and humid weather to attend the Hartford Fair. It's a "real" small town, agricultural fair. The kids loved climbing on all of the farming equipment--made me feel better for copping out on COSI's farm days this year. The food was great. We skipped the rides this time since the boys were just at the State Fair a week ago. The main event last night was the Demolition Derby. Justin was not a fan (which is why I have no pictures of the derby), but the older boys LOVED it!

Michael waiting patiently for the demolition derby to start.

Why, yes I am . . .

. . . a tremendously big and tremendously cute baby.

Mommy has spent the last few weeks looking for her favorite onesie, this one here that Michael is wearing in this picture with Luke. This picture is from the end of August 2007, when Michael was 4.5 months old. The onesie is size 3-6M and you can see that it was a bit big on Michael.

Well, Mommy finally found it and put me in it. I'm the exact same age that Michael was, except that I'm much, much bigger. Mommy couldn't get the snaps snapped very well. So this was my first and last time in the beloved striped onesie. On to the 6-9M clothes, I go!

Silly Michael

I'm doing a Luke post and two Justin posts on the blog today, so I have to include a Michael entry. Here he is pre and post haircut in all of his three-year-old glory: covered in stickers and silly bandz, eating gummy fruit snacks, wearing his Superman shirt and not holding still for the camera.

Jumpin' Justin

Martial Arts

I keep forgetting to post about martial arts. A few weeks ago, Luke started taking classes at Koguryo Martial Arts. He studies Tang Soo Doh, a Korean martial art (apparently the same one that Chuck Norris studied). He LOVES it! He's in the Little Dragons program and goes 2-3 times a week. It's quite expensive, so he won't be doing soccer or any other sport this school year as long as he continues with Tang Soo Doh. We'll reevaluate next fall, once he can start playing sports cheaply through our parish. I'll get some video soon.

Prayers

Luke and Michael say the Our Father and Hail Mary before bed each night. Luke knows both by heart and Michael is really close. Recently, they have also begun making up their own prayers.

Luke's prayer: "Glory God for the son and Holy Spirit. God, you win all the time."

Michael's prayer: "Glory--it's starts with Glory. God. Darth Vader fought Luke Skywalker. And then . . .Daddy, it's a long prayer."

Ok, so Michael's Catholic doctrine is a bit fuzzy, but I think their late Grandpa Sam, a staunch Episcopalian known for his improvised prayers and blessings (and also a Star Wars fan), would approve.

4 months

It's hard to believe that Justin is 4 months old today! What a great little guy he is--well, what a great big guy he is! He weighed in today at 15 pounds, 11 ounces and over 25 inches long. He's in the 70th-80th percentile. Compare that to his brothers who were both in tenth percentile at 4 months.

Ten Years

Matt and I celebrated our tenth anniversary on the 22nd. We've actually been together for twelve years now. Sometime this week, we are dragging out the scanner and I will scan in some of our old wedding photos. Until then, you'll have to be satisfied with this oldie from grad school. This one is from 1998, I think. Yes, there was alcohol involved that night.

And he we were on Friday night, when we went out on a much needed date. Many thanks to Ali for babysitting. We had a lovely dinner and saw the movie Inception, which was really good.

Vacation Bible School

Luke attended Vacation Bible School at Immaculate Conception this week. Last year he cried for two days and we dropped out. This year he LOVED it. It helped that the theme was "Putting on the Armor of God" and the whole week focused on a being a knight for Christ. Luke knew a few kids from Sunday school and met more of his future classmates. He made great crafts and learned lots of songs that they performed for us this morning. I think he looks a lot like his Nan in these videos.

Upgrades

We inherited the swingset in our backyard from the previous owners of our house. It was nice to not have to buy a new one, but it has required considerable repairs, updates and upgrades over the past four years. This is what it looked like when we bought the house:

First upgrade in the summer of 2007. We needed two baby swings! Matt replaced the tarp and ladder and added the woodchips:

In 2008, we replaced one of the baby swings with a big-kid swing:

And this week, Matt straightened and reinforced the main structure, doubled the length of the swing arm, added the support frame and added more wood chips. Now there are two big-kid swings and a twirl-about and there's still the baby swing on the other side. Good job, daddy!

Michael's Conversation with Auntie Katie

Katie: What do you want to be when you grow up, Michael?
Michael: (unintelligable)
Katie: a doctor?
Michael: noooo. I wanna be (unintelligable)
Katie: a teacher?
Michael: nooo. A (unintelligable)!
Katie: a killer whale?
Michael: YESSS!!!!

Vacation: Part Three

Sunday was Kayla and Kyan's Baptism. Chris and Katie are their godparents. Ange's parents found Kyan the cutest outfit with this great little hat. Here he is with Stephen and here's Kayla with her godmother:

After the service, we went back to Greg's for more swimming and lots of eating. Katie was working the first day we were all at Greg's, so she finally got to meet Justin on Sunday.

Luke and Chris were in deep and serious conversation.

Michael kept asking me to take pictures of him with his inflatable toys.

Justin and his Granddad:We tried lining up all the cousins, but by then my camera was dead and the light wasn't good enough for my bloggie to take a decent still. Hopefully one of my SILs got a better shot. I'll post it when I get it.

Vacation: Part Two

We spent Friday and Saturday at Matt's Dad's cottage on Georgian Bay. Last time we were there was in January and it was the coldest we've ever been! What a difference six months makes. The weather was beautiful and the water was warm. Jon, Allie and the girls came up, too. The cousins had some great bonding time, especially Luke and Claire who really enjoy each other's company. The kids were outside until 9pm and up until 11pm, but they were busy making memories, so who were we to get in the way?

Matt's dad put in a new dock this year. The end of it is a floating dock that rolls on the waves like a boat. It's really nice. Michael didn't swim, but he waded and looked for rocks and seashells. This is his new favorite outfit: Spiderman jammie shirt, Thomas swim trunks and crocs on the wrong feet.

Matt bought his dad a Bean Bag Toss (aka Cornhole) set for Father's Day. Cornhole is super popular here in Ohio and Matt loves the game, but hates the name.

Justin spent a fair bit of time in the front carrier as I chased after Luke and Michael. Maeve is too heavy for Jon to wear her on the front anymore, so Allie rigs him up backwards with Maeve on his back. Totally ingenious.

The kids love this little grove of beech trees. Dad and Sylvia are putting up a gazebo in this spot soon and I'm not sure if they will keep the trees, so I thought I'd better get a picture.

Unintentional artsy shot. Karate moves on the rocks:

The five "big" cousins on the dock: Jacinta, Michael, Luke, Talia and Claire. Such a beautiful picture. I think Allie got the same shot on her fancy camera, which is a good thing as we'll definitely be framing this one.

Vacation: Part One

We were in Canada last week and had an awesome time. We stayed with Matt's younger brother Greg in Toronto. Greg and Ange have a beautiful house with a swimming pool. The kids couldn't get enough of swimming. Jon and Allie came down from Ottawa with their four girls and we had everybody at Greg's one afternoon. It was so much fun. There are nine cousins now. Jon and Allie have 4 girls: Talia is 9, Claire is 6, Jacinta is 3 and Maeve is 7 months. Then there's our three. And Greg and Ange have 4 month old twins Kayla and Kyan. Chris and Katie don't have any kids yet, but there were plenty of neices and nephews for them to borrow.

In the pool, the 3-year-olds were all about the gear. Check out Michael with Uncle Chris and Jacinta with Allie--they are sitting in rafts wearing water wings. Jacinta has goggles and an inflatable killer whale and Michael has a water blaster. Too funny.

Ange was more low key with Kayla, although I got her to try on the water sling I borrowed later. Someone probably has a picture of me wearing Justin in the pink camo water carrier--it was surprisingly useful and I think Ange will be buying one. I'll get some more use out of mine this summer, although pink is not Justin's color.

Inside was Babies Central. Here are Kayla, Kyan, Justin and Maeve.

Tummy Time x 4 or How to Make 4 Babies Cry:

I love these last two pictures. It's not that they're great quality or anything, but they totally capture what it was like in the kitchen with brothers and cousins galore:

Proper Attire

for viewing the local fireworks show. For the record, I made Michael wear jammies because I suspect he'll fall asleep on the way home. Luke, however, chose to wear his all on his own. He also added the sparkly thumb ring and suggested they bring the stuffed dragons. Some days Luke seems like he's on his way to adolescence and some days he's just a silly little five year old boy! Thank goodness.