Hungry? How about Tonefire?

For his birthday, Middle-G got a gift card from Grandma to go to Stonefire Pizza, and we decided to use it Monday since my husband had a half day of work. I think pizza is Middle-G's favorite, and him and Big-G both love Stonefire. Big-G has been calling it Tonefire because he refuses to say his S's. He can say them, but he just refuses to. He just started saying them a little recently because Middle-G says them. I guess when the little brother starts doing it, it's time to get your act together!

Anyway, they had a blast. Thank you Grandma! I think we were there for almost 5 hours. We ate and ate, and the boys played and played. Big-G loved playing in the make-believe kitchen. As usual, Middle-G loved the water table. He ended up soaked because daddy let him take his smock off. We had good timing because we ate lunch, and the kids basically had the place to themselves for a few hours. Then we ate supper before we left, so no cooking for me when we got home. Too bad we can't do that every day, but we would probably all die of heart disease.


Yesterday, Papa came over and took Big-G outside to play. They had a fun time digging out the swing set and sliding down the slide. It's hard to get hurt when there is a foot of snow on the ground and you're bundled up like a mummy! I just love winter because everything gets covered with snow, and there isn't any yard work. On the other hand, we will all be glad when we can start going to the zoo again, take walks and play outside more often.

I've got a lot of pictures this time. I actually took some of Little-G. You were probably starting to think I was making him up!

Here is Little-G just lounging around on the couch.

Uncle-M and the boys watching some TV. Do you think it's cold in our house?

Big-G and Middle-G at the water table.

Middle-G playing with some whales in the water table.


Big-G in the giant Lego house we built.

Middle-G standing in the slide.

Daddy and Little-G. What a couple of cuties.

Big-G baking in the little pizza kitchen.

Little-G in the bouncy swing.

Big-G playing after shoveling off the slide.

Want some?

Happy Birthday Middle-G!!!!!

We were so excited to celebrate Middle-G's birthday on Saturday. He is finally a big 2! The statistics say that only 50% of Prune Belly kids make it to 2 years old, so we were very excited to celebrate this milestone with him. Not only did he make it to 2, but he is healthy and thriving. His life is a continuous miracle that we thank God for every day.

We had a party at our house. It was great that all the family could make it on the same day. Graham had a such a fun time playing with everyone. Pizza was for lunch which is his favorite meal, and then he continued to munch and munch until he went to bed that night. He goes from eating nothing for weeks at a time to becoming a bottomless pit! We had a such a nice time. We also want to wish Papa a happy birthday as he celebrates his today because a lot of us wouldn't be here without him!

The boys finally got to open their Christmas presents from Grandma. They got all kinds of art supplies. Middle-G of course will not be trusted with any paint or markers yet. We are still trying to get him to stop eating crayons. Big-G on the other hand is quite the artist. He has been painting or coloring with his new markers almost constantly since he got them. He just loves doing all kinds of crafts and coloring. He's such a smart boy!!!

Today I took Little-G to the doctor for his 4 month check. He is huge!!! He weighed in at 18 pounds 10 ounces. He is in the 95th percentile for weight and the 98% percentile for height. He grew 2 inches since his last appointment. He has now had to move up to the 9 month clothes. Actually, right now he is wearing some 12 month pajamas. I wish I would have taken a picture of him to post. He is really a giant. I'll make a mental note to get some good pictures of the little guy on here. I have a feeling in a few years he is going to be bigger than Middle-G. Time will tell!

Here are just a couple pictures taken since I last posted. Enjoy!


What kind of Nana would do this to her grandson?


Middle-G wearing his new Tigger shoes that he got for his birthday. He has been wearing them all day every day. Now I always know where he is because I can hear him clunking around in those shoes.


Here is Big-G doing some of his finger painting with his new paints.


Here is the finished product. He did this entire picture all by himself with no help. I'm so pround!!!!

Christmas Again

We've done a few things since we last spoke. On Friday night we had our first meeting for small group for church. It will meet the 1st and 3rd Friday of each month, which will be a nice opportunity for us to go out together and have grown-up talk! We played the Battle of the Sexes game on Friday night. Somehow the men won, I think just because the women picked up an unlucky wild card. It was still fun though.

Then on Saturday morning we were off to go up north again for my husband's family's Christmas. It was lots of fun and yummy food. They did a white elephant gift exchange which we didn't know about and so were unable to bring gifts. However, we still ended up being able to take some junk home. Middle-G picked a straw hat which he really liked wearing for some reason. He was so cute in it. We also ended up with a few other odd things, for example a bottle of "methane gas" and some sardines in dill/mustard sauce. Yuck! Little-G also had a fun time getting passed around, smiling at and spitting up on everyone.

The boys had a fun time playing in the pool at the hotel that night. When we woke up in the morning everything was covered with ice. The car had a complete coating on it. You could ice skate on the sidewalks and parking lots. We asked for a late checkout so that the roads could get salted, and everything was fine on the way home. We stopped at Cabella's, an awesome outdoor supply store. It has a lot of mounted animals and a huge fish tank. The boys loved it. Middle-G could fit through the bars of some of the displays though, and it was a challenge trying to keep him on the outside.

Thankfully, we have nothing going for a while now. A time to rest and get healthy. I'm going to enjoy it. I hope you all are having a blessed start to your new year!

Pics from the weekend:



Here is Farmer-G in his new hat.


Big-G actually liked his white elephant gift - a bank and sidewalk chalk.


Here is Big-G flirting with the little girls again.


Middle-G and Blue Teddy on the wrong side of the fence at Cabella's. Why did they make those bars so far apart?

Big-G and and a big moose at Cabella's.

A Christmas to Remember?

I don't think I want to remember a lot of this one! This Christmas week was crazy. To start with, back when we got home from vacation a few weeks ago, we all started getting sick with colds. Needless to say, everyone else ended up getting better, but I just kept getting worse. I think it was probably all those sleepless nights that finally did me in. I was so sick by Christmas day, but of course most of the urgent care clinics were closed. Finally, Friday morning I went to the urgent care and they said I had bronchitis and a sinus infection. I got antibiotics and whatnot, and finally started feeling better. I don't think I've ever been that sick, and it never dawned on me that I should just go to the doctor.

At the same time all of that was going on, Middle-G was battling another one of his urinary infections. He had 2 antibiotics that did not work. He finally got a 3rd which tasted so bad that he could barely keep it down. We almost had to schedule for him to go in on Friday for surgery to get a PICC line to do IV antibiotics at home. Thankfully, God helped him keep that 3rd antibiotic down. We then found out that that antibiotic was mixed incorrectly at our local pharmacy and was not effective. We found that out when we were at the hospital ER for Middle-G's concussion. Yep, Daddy fell on the front walk with him while getting the paper, and he ended up with a concussion. So, we killed 2 birds with 1 stone and got the correct prescription at the hospital pharmacy while getting his head checked out. After all of that, we are now all recovered and feeling better. Nobody is taking any meds any longer and we are all sleeping at night. Life is good!!

Anyway, we did get to go up north this past weekend for Christmas at my grandparents house. My husband and I both said the same thing when we got in the car that night. Neither one of us had felt like it was Christmas at all until that night. We had such a good time, and it was wonderful to see grandma and grandpa, all the aunts, uncles and cousins. There's nothing like getting everyone together in one place. It was the first time in many years that everyone had been there with no one missing, about 30 people in all. We ended up staying in a cabin near my grandparent's house which was really nice. It snowed the next morning, and everything was lined in fresh snow. It was sooo beautiful. That weekend totally made up for all of the not so good Christmas we had so far.

This weekend we are off to my husband's family Christmas up north. I'm sure it will be lots of fun. In the meantime, here are some pics from last weekend.


Here is Big-G and Middle-G playing with some cousins. Cute little Cousin-A liked playing trucks as much as Big-G.


Here is some of the gang just hanging out.


Here is Little-G and his Great-Grandma. He gave her lots of big smiles!


Here is Big-G and his Nana. I know it's fuzzy, but I just couldn't resist one where he is actually smiling.


Here is Nana and Little-G taking a snooze at Grandma's house.


Here is the log cabin we stayed in.


Here is the view from our cabin on Sunday morning.


And another one after the sun came up, just beautiful.