So much to catch up on...

Here is a snapshot of our life... it is busy... crazy... but oh so much fun!

Josh - He is a very active, bubbly, busy 3 year old. He has learned so much and has a very large vocabulary. He makes Jim and I laugh every day with his stories since they almost always involve something we did at least a year ago and how much fun we had. I have said it before, but now more than ever, this kid is a sponge. Tonight on our way back from the annual softball party we passed by a pickup truck. Josh said, "When I get bigger I want a pick up truck." Jim replies, "Oh really?" Josh responds, "Just like Papa's". We both laugh and I say, "Well maybe you can have Pappa's when you turn 16". He goes, "No mom, I want my own truck.". Well okay then. I guess I was told what he wants.

Josh has always been a daddy's boy, but in the last month, I have enjoyed putting him to bed almost every night. He was stuck with me for five days when Jim had a baseball trip and I think he realized that I am also fun to hang out with. We have been reading some short poems/stories from the Shel Silverstein book "Where the Sidewalk Ends". My favorite one to read is "The Unicorn" mainly because it is actually a song... although I never knew that until I saw "Gary" up at tech... and that was more for drinking than educational purposes. Well Gary officially taught me something that I am passing onto my kids. Last night Jim went to read to him and Josh's request was the Unicorn song... when Jim started to read it, Josh said, "No daddy sing it". Jim tried and apparently it was not good enough so he kicked Jim out and had me do the bedtime routine... IT WAS A FIRST! and yes, I loved it! ;)

Josh knows the letters in his name by sight and completely out of order. He'll point to an 'S' and say, hey that is an "S" mom! Like in my name. He recognizes numbers pretty well up to 10. And the kid is already really smart on the computer knowing how to use a mouse and play a number of kids games. He can pretty much dress himself these days. Although for some reason when he takes off his shirt he puts his arms through the neck hole rather than through the belly opening. Ah well... he'll get there.

Everett - He is SO active. He is crawling, pulling himself up on furniture, not cruising yet... but the kid is EVERYWHERE! He is transitioning to the next room and apparently has surprised them all as to how quickly he will move around. He is not afraid of anything... he sees a bigger kid pulling up on something... and he thinks he can do the same.

He is loving solid foods and moving up into bigger soft chunks of things like avocado and mangos. He loves them! He officially weighed in at 19lbs 4 oz this past week for a doctors visit! Everett loves to stick out his tongue and make a tooting noise... all the time. Whenever he wakes up, that is what we will hear first. In the car when it is quiet... that is what we will hear. If you do it back, he will just giggle and then do it right back. On our long car rides to MI, Josh will get him laughing SO HARD by pretending to hurt himself or just laughing hysterically. Everett will just giggle and stick out his tongue. It is SO FUN to see these two interact. They both just love each other so much. I know it sounds corny, but really they do. Josh will do just about anything for Everett and Everett just grins when he walks in the room. He will roll, crawl, and pull himself where ever he needs to go to keep up with Josh. I think the only drama between the two of them is over the HOCKEY STICKS! Ha Ha! :) He is just the most happy non-drama little man. I love it! He still is sleeping through the night, since 2 mos old... and if he goes to bed a little later... he sleeps in later... RIDICULOUS! Josh... still up at 6am EVERYDAY!

Jimbo... work... kids... softball... visiting friends on the weekend.

Me... work... work... kids... work... and some friend time. No working out. I really really need to get things re-balanced in life... cause it is WAY out of wak. And just in time for school to start. YAY! :) 6 credits this fall... only 4 semesters to go until graduation... THE END IS IN SIGHT!!

Everett's Baptism

Finally it is here, Everett's baptism. I am very excited since I am guessing the outfit will fit him perfectly... another week and I bet it would be too small! We had lots of guests in town this weekend for the big event. Grandma and Grandpa Kirkwood, G'ma Connie, Aunt Deb and Uncle Chris, Abby/Aaron and the girls, Catherine all represented the Kirkwood family. Nanna and Pappa, Shannon and Steve, Joe and Megan, and G'ma Donna and G'pa Roger all represented my family. It was so nice to have everyone in town.

The weather was horrible so we were limited to mainly indoor activities all weekend. The kids hung out at the pool Saturday morning while a few of us went shopping to Hobby Lobby. It is my mom's FAVORITE store and every time they come to town we go there. It is the only store that I know we average 2 hours in every time we go. Sometimes it is a little much, but we get awesome stuff for the house. That afternoon I took a few family members on a tour of my work... it was fun to show my Dad, Grandma/Grandpa, and brother what I do. I think it helped put in perspective why I am on call 24/7 and why I say that I work with grown toddlers. ha ha!

That night we celebrated a number of birthdays. Aarons (BIL), Cindy's (MIL), my Dads, mine, Josh, and Catherine are all between Mid April to Mid May. We had pie, ice cream, cake, and a big big dinner. Everyone fit in our dining/living room at one table like they did for Josh's baptism weekend, but it is getting a little more snug with all the new little ones! The kids had a blast playing all weekend together.

Now the baptism. What an event! We arrived somewhat intact despite the pouring rain on the way into church that morning. I had focused so much on getting us there that I forgot to bring his matching coat and blanket. But somehow ended up with a ratty old dish towel in my hands. Everett was STARVING when we arrived so my mom fed him a bottle. During the homily we heard him let'r rip... I realized it was the very end of the homily meaning it was baptism time... I panicked and turned to my mom and asked, "Did it go through?". She just shrugged her shoulders as she looked. I turned back to the front and saw the pastor coming down the aisle, I asked my mom again, "Did it go through?". She then lifted him up and there was that lovely mustard poop all the way up his back!!! REALLY? Are you FRICKEN kidding me?

Jim already has the diaper changing pad out and a diaper/wipes ready to go... and all I could think of is, "you can't change a diaper in church... do you want to be struck by lightening?". So I grabbed Everett not sure what to do and said to Father Mike, "um, we have a problem" and then I proceeded to show him his back. Father Mike looked at me like, uh what? I said, "We had a blowout". Father Mike goes, "We have a delay of game everyone, cause Father Mike doesn't want to touch that!". So Jim rips Everett out of my hands and him, my mom, and SIL do the fastest diaper change I have ever seen. When I got Everett back in my arms I said, "Game on!". Everyone chuckled but for that 30 second delay I was forsure BEAT red. Father Mike commented that you could tell this was the second child because I wasn't freaking out! ha ha!

The baptism went on without any more hiccups. He was very smiley and Josh watched every move. He was so curious as to what was going on and where "Jesus" (aka Father Mike) was taking him when he brought Everett up front to show the congregation. It was very cute!

We headed back home and had a nice big brunch with everyone who could make it. Most of our family left around two that afternoon, but Abby/Aaron and the girls stayed until about 9pm and Uncle Chris and Aunt Deb stayed until 6pm. They were all leaving early the next morning for MI. It was a very nice weekend and despite the weather, it went VERY well with everyone in town. Thanks to all who got hotel rooms to help with the crazyness!

Aunt Shannon's Baby Shower

This weekend we went back to MN for my sisters baby shower with the Thuente side. We didn't get on the road until 6pm because I was tied up at work (so frustrating). But again the boys traveled extremely well and barely made a peep on the 4 hour drive. We got to MN and was able to put Josh from his carseat to the bed without waking him up... AWESOME! Saturday morning we got ready for the baby shower with my cousin Lisa and sister.

We had a good turnout for the shower, many of my cousins on my dads side and my sisters MIL. We played the Price is Right, the baby name game, and bingo when she opened gifts. Everett did well during it all, although he was a little overwhelmed with all the noise. Everyone wanted to hold him and we was quite happy to be held.

After the shower we had a birthday dinner at my parents for my brother Joe who turned 26. Jim and I joined him and his friends out in Stillwater that night to celebrate and had a very good time. I never really have hung out with my brother and his friends so it was a lot of fun. They are very good people, crazy, but good people. We partied till about 2pm when my brother Jack (18) came to pick us up. We got back to my parents and finally were in bed around 3pm... the bummer part of going out... the kids still get up at 6-7am!

We spent most of the day in MN just relaxing and spending more time with the family. Josh learned how to flip the puck up onto his stick and shoot it. I couldn't believe that he was able to learn the move and do it so quickly. He just gets so excited to play hockey with my brothers and dad. He got the section finals game of my brother Jack on a DVD... we watched it the whole way home and he was SO excited to hear them say Jack Walsh and see him score two goals... we had to keep replaying the goals over and over... So cute!

First week back to reality...

Well the first week is done and over with and I couldn't be happier. I worked some very long hours and realized that what I had feared is likely the truth... the hours on the job are going to be long. I worked till at least 5:30 every night this week... and that meant only about an hour to hang out with Everett before he would go to sleep at 7pm. Josh goes to bed at about 9pm so there is still some time to hang out with him after work.

Our getting ready routine went pretty smoothly, Jim helps get the boys ready in the morning and I drop off around 7:30am. Josh LOVES to help drop off Everett in his room. He helps carry in Everett's things and gives him a big hug and kiss, reminding him he will be upstairs. Everett did GREAT at school. He is sleeping really well, which surprised all of his teachers. They say he is a very easy baby, which I agree with. Jim picks up after work and gets dinner going every night. So things went as smooth as they could for our first go at it. Crazy to think that Everett is almost 12 weeks old.