The end of a long week

Josh had a long work trip this week and the kids and I survived without him here...barely.  This is what happened on the last day of a long week without our dad.  

I was dishing out dinner to the kids and Liev spilled his glass of milk.  At just the moment I was cleaning up his spilled milk on one side of the kitchen, Rhen dropped the whole gallon of milk that she was carrying on the other side of the kitchen...and of course it broke and went everywhere.  I had to send the kids out of the room so I didn't lose it.  

 After dinner I put Liev and Keen into the shower before bedtime.  Literally a minute after I walked out of the bathroom, Liev yelled to me that Keen had pooped.  Sure enough.

We need our daddy to come home.  Mommy needs a break.

Best of Friends

Rease and Rhen are the best of friends.  Of course, like all friends, they have their moments of arguing.  But overall they love playing together and just being sisters.  Sometimes when we stay at Grammies house they sleep in the same bed and I've found them linked even in sleep multiple times.  Such cute little sisters.  I hope they stay close friends forever!

Chasing after the ball

I took the kids to classic fun center this week and we had a blast.  I didn't get any pictures except this crazy one of Keen.  Rease and I were playing a game of ski ball and Keen just stood and watched us roll the balls.  Then when we were done, we turned around to play another game and this is how I found Keen a minute later.  I'm sure he was just trying to find the balls that he knew had gone up into these holes.  He was just following them but for some reason couldn't find any of them.  He is such a funny kid.  

Keen's haircut

Keen's hair has become unruly.  Unless I gel it and do something with it first thing in the morning, it is a scraggly mess.  It's time for a haircut, don't you agree?

 I love his hair because of the curl in it but this haircut is long overdue.  We headed to Cookie Cutters and it took a sucker, a movie and a car in hand to get Keen to forget that someone was bothering his hair.  He did good after we finally got all the distractions going.

 The final product.  One handsome devil.  

 And look!  Still some curl left!

Another tooth for Rease

Rease lost another tooth and this time she is especially proud because she pulled it out all on her own.  No help from Papa needed!  This makes 5 teeth so far.  Man, she is growing up!

The things we do...

My kids are funny.   They all have their own personality and do their own thing.  

Rhen for example, doesn't really care which way she puts on clothes or shoes.  Most days her underwear is on backwards or inside out, lots of times her shoes are on the wrong feet, and days like today her pants are just this way.  I'm not sure that many people could even put jeans on backward if they wanted to - not to mention that it seems like it would be uncomfortable.  Who knows.  But Rhen didn't seem to mind.  In fact, when I told her that her pants were on backwards she said, "It doesn't matter mom."  I guess as long as she doesn't care, I don't care.

 If you could be around my Keen for an hour you'd realize that he cannot stay out of trouble.  He is constantly into something, climbing up on tables, making a mess or trying to find something to eat.  He is a go-er.  Anyway, I guess he decided that he is big enough to play with the Leap Pads at Grammies house because he got into the bag and got it all out himself.  He even got the earphones on - crazy kid.  My life right now is spent chasing him around and cleaning up his messes.  Good thing he is darn cute.

 Rease is a gamer.  I'm not sure where she gets that from.  She always wants to be playing something and lately our favorite games to play are Spot It, War and Monopoly Deal.  She loves that she can play "grown up games."  And she is actually quite good at them all.  She has beaten me numerous times at Monopoly Deal and that's for real.  I wasn't even trying to let her win!  

 Keen again.  See what I mean?  He is a trouble maker!  But don't you just love those chubby buns!

Party of Five

Actually make that 7 counting Josh and I - we're part of the party too right?  We found out last night that baby #5 is another boy!  Wahoo!  Rease and Rhen were slightly disappointed that they aren't getting another sister - Rhen even said, "mom why do you keep having boy babies?"  But we couldn't be happier about having another crazy boy join the group.  

 July 13 - sounds like a great time of year right?  Can't wait for this day to roll around!

The Hopkinson Triplets are here!

My sister Hayley had her triplets this week!  She was 35 weeks and one of the babies was measuring a little small than the others.  So her doctor told her it was time.  He scheduled her to be induced the next day January 8.  She didn't make it that far though.  She ended up going into labor that night and had the babies at 10:15 pm on January 7.  

Millie Mae 4 lbs. 11 oz.

 Norah Jean 5 lbs.

 Pippa Gayle 4 lbs. 2 oz.

So glad these little darlings made it safe and sound!  They are all doing great.  Norah and Millie were both on c-pap machines to help with their lungs and breathing, but overall they are amazing.

Skiing

Josh took the girls up skiing for their first time and they were more than excited.  He put them in a ski school class while he skied on his own.  But he said he ended up watching their class more than he actually skied - he loved to see how they were doing during the day.  This is them all dressed up and ready to hit the mountain.

 Rhen and her teacher.  She said she did really good even though she was one of the youngest ones in the class.

 Rhen had a lot of fun in the morning but decided that she didn't want to go back after lunch.  She was tired and I could tell she needed a break.  So I took her home and she napped the rest of the afternoon.  I'm happy she did a half a day though and didn't get burned out - she is already excited to go again!

 Rease stayed the whole day and was amazing.  Josh said he watched her the last half of her afternoon class and she was doing really great.  Then after class was over Josh took her and she went on a couple runs before the day was out.  She can stop on her own and seemed really comfortable with all that she learned during the day.  What a girl!  She is already planning another trip with dad!

Good job you two girls!  

Chubby boy

This chubby kid of mine is the best!  I can't get enough of his big cheeks and pudgy legs.  This boy LOVES to eat and will eat all day long if I let him.  But I think the thing he loves most of all is his sippy cup full of milk.  I'm constantly refilling it and he carries it around wherever he goes.  Love this boy!