Snow Day!

Yet again, New Jersey got dumped on with snow. This time we got a good dose of it with about 6 inches or so. So that means out here, school is cancelled! We had one very happy 5 year old! I don't think he was ready to go back to school just yet and Thursday was rough enough getting him to go :-) So Monday will be his fresh start and I go back to work! Since it was pretty cold outside yesterday, we only let Declan go out with Andy for a while and then today, we let the girls go out (due to all of Declan's begging). It took longer getting everyone ready than the time that we actually spent outside, but it was fun! Here are a few pictures from the day...

Aven... She wasn't so sure about the snow... This was the first time that the girls have actually walked in the snow - I had them out last year, but they weren't walking yet and it only snowed a few times last year.

Bria was pretty fearless in the snow and seemed to enjoy it the most!

Declan helping Stevie out - she liked the snow, but it was pretty deep for her to get around.

Stevie couldn't move :-)

All the kids on the mountain! L to R: Bria, Stevie & Aven

Declan getting ready to throw a snowball at me and Bria clearly enjoying it.

And there it comes.

Bria getting ready to go out - trying on her new boots!

A few other pictures from the last few days - we had our first tea party! Everyone loved it!

Today I tried getting some pictures of the girls all together and it was yet again an epic fail. Think about how hard it is to get one 2 year old to do what you want, now times that by 3 - so not fun. I even tried bribing them with coloring and it didn't work - what??? Not sure what I'm going to do about that... Hopefully they learn. Here's a good one of Aven...

And Bria...

And she's not happy with me...

Now she is!

Now she isn't again...

Aven and Stevie, who was clearly not happy... 

And still a little unhappy...

A little better...

And there she is back!

While Aven just munched on some toys...

Happy New Year!

It's hard to believe that it's 2014... 2013 flew by and I had to stop and think about everything that has happened this year... In summary, let's see what happened... All the girls started walking, talking, climbing, running, jumping, playing with each other, fighting with each other, learned to enjoy their brother, turned 2, and started to eat and sleep awesomely (if that's a word). Declan started a new Pre-K, road the bus for the first time, played soccer (in 3 different leagues), learned to ice skate, saw his first Pro-Hockey and Baseball games, experienced his first Lego Land in NYC (Discovery Center), started to realize that his sisters could actually play with him, turned 5, learned how to do headstands and handstands, learned how to shower on his own, started writing things (with our help on spelling), learned how to play mindcraft when his parents haven't a clue and realized his love of breakdance :-) All of us enjoyed 2 trips back to Wisconsin, both Andy and I joined a gym and started working out (I've lost 25 pounds since December 2012!), Andy/Declan/I went to Puerto Rico, Andy went to a Pearl Jam concert and had a few guys weekends, I got to go to Italy, Belgium, Argentina, London and various places in the US for work, we had numerous wonderful visits from family and Andy and I have survived another year with 4 children :-) Unfortunately with a lot of good came some not so good with Andy's Grandma Ray passing away, which was a huge loss...

Overall it was a pretty positive year and I can't wait for 2014! I feel this will be the best year yet for us, as a family and for both of us personally. Can't wait!!

Here are a few pictures of us ringing in the new year and kicking off the first day in the new year... Me and the girls before their bedtime (and before my yummy Blue Moon time!) L to R: Stevie, Aven & Bria - they are getting way too big for my lap!!

Em came over and our friend Justin came up from Philly and we had a stay in NYE celebration playing monopoly and drinking WAY too much! But we had tons of fun!

Declan humoring me - love the rob :-)

Mr. Justin entertaining the girls (Stevie is not in the picture since she is still terrified of him :-))

Some outtakes of the girls cheering for the Badgers - too bad it didn't work for us and get us a victory! (L to R: Stevie, Bria & Aven)

We hope you all have a Happy New Year and you are blessed with health and happiness this year!!!

Screaming...

There is a lot of screaming in our household lately - and it's not Andy and I at the kids! The girls have been screaming - a lot. It's not the normal kind of yelling, it's the bone-wrenching, nails on a chalk board kind of screaming... And it. will. not. stop. And when one starts (usually Aven), the others chime in and then Declan jumps in and Andy and I wish we had padded walls to throw ourselves against :-)

Here's a snippet of what I'm talking about... It's during lunch today - not as bad as normal, but you get the jist...

And here's a cuter video from this weekend of Stevie and Declan dancing... I love it when Stevie dances :-) She's just so cute with her "moves."

Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas this year... Although it was pretty quite (as quite as you can get with 3 2 year olds and a 5 year old), but it was nice to not have to run all over the place and do what we wanted.

We kicked off the holiday with my birthday - I'm happy to be 35!! I love getting older as I've always felt like I was playing catch up with my age - ask me at 40, but for now, I'm happy with my age! Aunt Em watched the kiddos as Andy and I went out with a friend after the girls went to bed. I'm pretty sure we were home and in bed by 11 pm, but hey - it was fun while it lasted! My one accomplishment that day was finishing my "40 before I'm 40" list... Yep - I've got 40 things I want to do before I'm 40. I think it's a good one and can't wait to get started!!

Christmas Eve Em came over and we decided to make and eat hors d'oeuvres all day long.  We made each of our favorites and then stuffed ourselves! That night we did our annual (3rd year in a row) outting before bed time and went to see the Christmas tree in downtown Princeton. The kids just wanted to run around in the mud and dark, so we didn't get many good shots, but it was still fun. And it was perfect because it started snowing just before we were leaving, just in time for Santa to come!

Auntie Em with Declan and Stevie before the outing...

Bria (L) and Aven (R) not too keen on getting all bundled up to go... Auntie Em in the background trying not to spil her coffee mug wine :-)

The only picture I got off all the kids by the tree - they were off and running!!

Daddy and Aven...

Bria - help it's SNOWING!!!

Daddy and Declan...

Christmas day the adults were up before the kids... Em came over and we ate breakfast before anyone was even awake :-) And then the kids got up and tore into the enormous amount of gifts... Here's a few pictures from the day...

The before picture... Our kids must have been good because Santa brought a lot! That and we are blessed with an amazing family who sent lots of gifts!

Bria and Aven trying to get a glimps of their new kitchen!

Bria...

Stevie on Em's lap...

Bria ripping into her sisters gifts - it was chaos!

Declan hugging his new iPad from Santa... I'm excited that I get my iPad back now!

Daddy working too!

Aven playing with some creapy horses from Grandma Sally :-) She loved them!

Stevie on the new "indoor" play gym - Grandma Mary bought the kids a climber (since they LOVE climbing) - it's small so we set it up in our living room for the winter :-) All the kids love it!

Aven playing with their new tea set from Papa and Grandma Judy...

Bria playing with the girls little people horse castle from Aunt Linda...

Stevie playing in her new fridge from all the grandparents... All the kids LOVE LOVE LOVE their gifts...

This morning we all woke up at 10 am - YES 10 AM!!! I jumped out of bed, very startled with the time since I myself haven't slept that late in, well since I can remember! We had to wake the girls up and Declan was just getting up himself. The girls have been crazy sleepers lately - meaning they sleep all the time. Not a bad problem to have and today Andy informed me that you get smarter the more you sleep (now I know what happened to me the girls first year!) I'm thinking the girls excessive sleeping either means they are getting sick, they are going through a growth spurt or they are just tuckered out from all the playing and new fun stuff to play with. Time will tell...  

This year we are yet again blessed with amazing children, each other and awesome family and friends... Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Sister love...

The girls have just started to really enjoy each other... Don't get me wrong, they still fight A LOT, and don't necessarily like when each other takes what they were playing with first, but they also are finding that it's fun to have sisters! It's honestly adorable and likely the best thing that I've discovered about multiples... I can deal with the fights when they are this cute!

Bria and Aven holding hands and then Bria and Aven dancing... Melts my heart!

Party!

Yesterday, Em, Andy and I and the kids went down to my Aunt Conny and Uncle Jim's house for a Christmas celebration. We were really looking forward to getting out of the house and spending time with family. I was curious how the girls would react since it's been a while since we had been there and they have had a lot of stranger danger lately. But the minute we put the girls down, they were off and running! They loved, loved, loved being there, playing with their cousins, terrorizing the dog and finding everything that they shouldn't touch and touch it.

Here's a few pictures from the night (I didn't get a lot of good ones because I was busy trying to find the 3rd child running around)...

The kids watching the girls eat their snack :-)

And Declan attacking his cousin :-)

The girls terrorizing Aunt Conny's living room...

And the dog...

They got the girls the most adorable seats - it's a 3 seater!!! (L to R: Aven, Bria & Stevie)

Here are some other pictures from the last few days... Aven hugging Bria :-)

Happy Stevie!

The girls really happy to see Aunt Em! They were banging on the door when they saw her...

Stevie & Aven holding hands - love these little girls...

Aven and Stevie sitting nicely in front of the tree...

The girls have been having a love hate relationships with each other... I'll take it because it's better then all hate! They have really started to actually play with each other instead of just parallel playing with each other - they still have their moments of pushing each other, but they do enjoy chasing each other around and playing games... Here's a video of Bria and Aven playing with each other (Aven is in the laundry room)...