We're back!

We successfully made our first road trip as a family of six. It was an adventure from the get-go but we did it! We drove through rain, hail, snow (on the side of the road), and 105 degree weather. We had a mile marker pole punch hole through our bumper (not my fault!). We had a van go from spotless to mud covered disaster. We had moments of silence and hours of crying. We had conversations about turning around and going home and conversations about how we could do this again at Christmas! It was crazy...but we are glad we did it.

So during the trip I decided to start a list of all the funny things that had been said either btw Kev and I or the kids. Here is what I managed to write:

Landon to us about 15 minutes down the road, "Are we in Colorado yet?"

Landon about 45 minutes down the road, "Are we in a new state yet?"

Landon about 1 hour down the road, "Are we still in Texas?"

**We continued to get a 'are we there yet' question about every 15 to 20 minutes from Landon until Kevin had had enough and told him that we would just tell him when we got to a new state!

Landon, "Why is Texas so big?" How can Texas be so big?" Why didn't we fly? I really wanted to fly. Flying is more fun and we would be there faster on a big jet. But I don't know if I can wait this long."

Liam after having many snacks and me having to cut him off, "I need just one wittle bite to make me happy though..."

Me to Kevin at a gas station, "Help, Klaire just pooped all over my arm."

Me to Kevin, "You have got to be kidding me, there is a huge pile of poop in Klaire's car seat."

Me to Liam, "Get up off the bathroom floor!!" Next stop, "Liam! Get up off the bathroom floor!"

Me to Landon, "Don't put that....!!!!!!!! Arghhhh....you know not to eat food that's on the floor!"

Landon to me after we decided to let him sleep in tent, "Chocolate chip cookie your cool." (a Landon original. I must be super cool.)

Kevin to Landon, "Let's go eat breakfast..Nanna made Pigs-in-a-blanket." Landon looks confused. Kevin, "You know..little weenies wrapped in biscuits." Landon, "Those are different than human weenies right?"

Liam said some really cute things about the mountains and the cabin but I can't remember them and I didn't get them written down. The boys did so well in the car....really other than Landon's bazillion questions and them needing me to crawl to the back seat OFTEN...they were little angels. The girls did do some crying, but they were happy more than sad in the car so we are thankful for that!

The girls turned 6 months old while we were gone! Crazy how much faster your kids grow up the more you have! They are really getting fun...we are seeing more and more personality. They want to crawl and sit up on their own but they aren't ready just yet. They oink their baby food....except for apple sauce and pears....they seem to be liking veggies more than fruits which is totally backwards from what the boys did. But I know it is only a matter of time before they figure that one out:) They are really starting to get into each other...they make each other laugh and want to grab each other and the other one's toy.

Liam is going to be 3 on Friday and as you all know that is very bittersweet for me. He still sucks his thumb to fall asleep and sleeps with blankie and loves to cuddle and let me play with his hair and he can't say his 'L's' and 'R's" very often and I JUST WANT TO KEEP HIM THIS WAY FOREVER. I know I know other phases are fun and we will have experiences with him at each age that we can only have at that age, but he has been an adorable toddler. I hated seeing Landon leave this stage too, but it is harder for me with Liam. Anyway, I will post about his birthday in a couple weeks...

Here is an album from our trip!

Colorado Summer 2009

Our Colorado Adventure Begins Tomorrow

Our 16 hour (for adults who don't stop much, it will likely be 22 hours at least for us!!) journey to the cabin begins tomorrow. Many would call a trip to the mountains a vacation, but we aren't ready to label this trip as such! And don't worry we aren't driving straight through, we might be brave, but we aren't stupid:) The girls might cry half the way up there and Landon and Liam might ask 'when will we be there?' 76 times and Kevin and I might just curl up in ball and shake back and forth when we get to stopping points.....but we can't miss out on an opportunity to go to the mountains!!!! I am actually very excited, not so much about the car rides, but for the parts in between. Fishing, hiking, four-wheelers, seeing family, hearing the river......yes it's going to be fun.

So I will take many pictures and might even post before we get home......?!?!? Say a prayer for us to have safe AND pleasant travel!

Some 5 month pics of the girls!

Miss Klaire.

Kallie loves her tongue lately. She sticks it out and touches it!! She is a goof ball.

I didn't have many pictures of Kallie and Klaire in the last album I uploaded, so here are several! They are doing great. They have been loving squash this last week. Sweet potatoes are up next. I surrendered to the homemade baby food. It tastes better and is cheaper. Why I decided to do this at this point in my crazy life.....I don't know. But they love it, wish I would have done it for the boys....I thought I was too busy. Funny I know.

http://picasaweb.google.com/laurastaples3/TheGirls5Months?authkey=Gv1sRgCMbJ1PyZor3EbQ#

Where to begin?

May where did that go...June humm...will it be July tomorrow? Our babies are 5 months old......can you believe that!?!? They might be small, but these girls can move. They are little wiggle worms....rolling and inching their way around. And talkers too. They have been so funny this week, they have been jabbering with such excitement and VOLUME! We may have a couple extroverts on our hands:) They are really getting into their toys and rice cereal too. In fact, I think we may introduce some veggies in the next week. They are sleeping from about 10:00ish to 6:00ish...pretty good we think! We have to go in a couple times at night to re-adjust them and pat them, but that's it. They take a great morning nap and then the two afternoons naps are rather sketchy.....the first is usually less than 30 minutes and the second is only an hour an half. So we are going to be cutting out that little cat nap very soon!!! It's just hard to entertain both of them from 10:00 to 3:30 with out a break!

The boys are doing well. Landon is growing an inch a week....his legs are getting SO long! Liam's vocabulary rocks! He is using some crazy big words all thanks to his super big brother! Landon has gone up to the elementary that he will be attending twice to meet the teachers and turn in some art work for a special tile project. I wish I had taken a picture of his drawing....I will when we get it back! T-ball is over. It was a lot of fun, but Kevin was playing softball at the same time...so it was draining me.

Kevin's parents spent the last third of the month with us. Kevin and his dad, along with some help from Collin and our friend John, built a deck! We LOVE LOVE LOVE it. We are out there all the time now. The boys think it is awesome, they think they should get a popsickle out on the deck twice a day too!! We...humm....maybe I should say me.....have big plans for landscaping around the deck...but we are not doing to our yard until next spring. One step at a time. I wish I could snap my fingers and have the house painted and decorated and the yard landscaped...but I guess that wouldn't be any fun. So speaking of decorating......I know you have been waiting for the big reveal of the pink paradise. I think I am done for now in the nursery.....I would still like a shabby chic mirror...but I now Kevin is ready for me to focus my efforts into finishing the living room!

Let me tell you about our washer and dryer drama this week! At one point we were the proud owners of 3 washers and 3 dryers this week. Yep, six units. So the washer and dryer set that Kevin and I got (used for cheap) when we got married has been good to us. But we have had to fix the dryer twice in the last year...so this week when it starting to bite the dust again, we said ENOUGH! So craigslist here we go. I weeded through all the ads all week, made lots of calls, sent plenty of emails, hit many dead ends, but then finally....the 'ONE' showed up. Less than five miles down the road, a newer matching set, for a great price, we go and pick it up, the family is so wonderful, we talk about hanging out some time, we get it home and hummm....what is this hose for Laura? I have no idea Kevin. Then it hits him. Gas dryer. We are all electric. Oh joy. So I guess we don't need underwear for tomorrow. Just kidding...:)

Anyway, we decided to keep the washer since we got a super deal on it and hunt for the matching ELECTRIC dryer (and if we didn't find the match, then we would mismatch again). Which by the way, the ad said that the gas one was electric...we just failed to check! After more searching I found the matching electric...hallelujah...oh but of course these folks don't want to split the set (even though they don't match!...ahhh). So fine, will buy your set too, and then sell your washer and the gas dryer as a set and our washer and dryer too. Kevin got the new ones hooked up today after a little more drama (thought we were going to have to wait three more days for some special screw to come in, but we luckily found one) and I have NEVER been more excited about doing laundry in my whole life!!!!!!!! And I can fit all most twice as much in this machines.....hooray!!

That and take care of our 12 kids is about all I did this week:) Oh and did I mention our vaccum went out the week before (and it is less than two years old). Our house functions on survival mood with out everything pooping out on us....this week I think we limped along! Mom, I need you back in Texas to do our laundry!!!!

I had too many pictures to post, so please just follow this link to a picasa album. There are two videos...one of Landon playing t-ball and one of the girls eating cereal. Enjoy! Oh and I'm updating the boys quotes with some new favorites....I feel bad that Liam, Kallie, and Klaire's quote list will never be as long as Landon's because I just had ONE talker to keep up with!!!

http://picasaweb.google.com/laurastaples3/May200903?authkey=Gv1sRgCPGd2c2ziayQLA#

I know. I know. I need to post!

Posting is overwhelming me right now because I have so much that I want to post about and not enough time, so bare with me! I hope to have a super long post with many pictures very soon!!!!

No chance of being 'tom-boys'!?!

We like a little bling around here....hope you enjoy the video clip at the end. We are finishing up the nursery this week so stay tuned for the unveiling of Kallie and Klaire's pink paradise.

Landon Landon Landon

I just can't believe Landon is five! He is so grown up for his age, but I still can't swallow that number very well! Landon has been planning his birthday party since December...right after every major holiday passes he asks when the next one is. I remember feeling like my birthday would never come....when I would give him the count down, he acted as if his birthday would never be here until we got within about 15 days:) So what does a kid like Landon want for his birthday...well he had some very specific requests. First, he wanted party hats, it's just not a party with out those. Then we had to have a very exciting cake....it was going to be a rocket until Aunt DeeDee found a Wall-e cake pan. And for those of you who don't know about Wall-e...well it was movie about a little robot and his journey with another robot Eva...and to tell you the truth I have never watched the whole thing with them! But robots are big around here, so not only did Landon get a robot cake but he got a real robot too. He also wanted the cake flavors to be lemon and coconut....can you tell I let him help me cook??? And he has noticed that for the adult birthdays we celebrate with my family we make a special meal just for that person. So he decided that he wanted....you'll get a kick out of this....fried chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, and PEAS! He thinks he really likes peas but he has only had them in stuff not by themselves. So with much persuasion I talked him into green beans and rolls instead of peas:) Landon also wanted to go somewhere special to celebrate the big day, so we went to the zoo. My mom says it was like the Staples zoo went to the zoo:) Yes, we were a handful and thankfully we had several other people there to help us! We had a full visit at the zoo. First of all Landon had pink eye...but he couldn't have cared less. The girls did the exact opposite of what I thought they would do on a warm day being pushed in a stroller....they stayed awake almost the whole time and were very hungry. We were often pushing an empty stroller and feeding babies bottles while we walked, we made a changing table out of the stroller for the poopy diapers they blessed us with while at the zoo. And Liam flipped over backwards off a picnic bench which damped his spirits for the rest of the day until we rented a stroller for him and got him an icecream cone. But Landon soaked up the whole day in classic Landon style! He literally ran from exhibit to exhibit, asked a few thousand questions, and scoped out everything he could. Oh and I forgot to mention, we UNknowingly went on TWIN day. It was crazy the amount of twins that were there and how much attention the girls got. One twin mom told me that I should get a shirt made that says, "Yes, they are twins. Yes, they are girls. Yes, they are identical. Yes, they keep me busy!!" I do enjoy showing the girls off, but I don't like it when random people touch them.....it's like hello I am the hand washing nazi...what germs do you have going on!!!


So when he woke up on his birthday (4/24) he asked me when will I be five. I thought hummm..don't recall telling him that there is a specific time....but then again this is Landon:) So I said well at 2:04.....four twenty four two thousand and four, born at two o' four....crazy! So he watched the clock all day and when it was 2:04 he turned and said, "But this can't be! I don't feel any different!" So then came a lengthy explanation and many questions....one of which was..."So what can I do that is different now that I am five...ya know mom....like backwards soumersaults, jumping to the ceiling, running super fast....?" It was so cute. And still everything is about being five now. The other day I asked him if he would through away a diaper and he replied, "I don't think five years do that mom."



Yesterday Landon wrote and illustrated a 16 page book. It is titled, yes he titled it and put his name on the cover like a real author, 'The Playground Fun!'. It is about a day at the playground and it starts off saying, 'Some one was watching a duck swim in the pool.' Yes he wrote 10 word sentence and spelled the whole second half of the sentence perfectly with out help. Then each page has a character doing a park activity and he narrated it with little tit bits like...whee...and whoo. He did the whole thing on his own and was so proud of it. Kevin and I were just blown away. I mean he spells and draws every day, but this was over the top! I sure hope his kindergarten teacher can keep him busy...


Anyway, Landon is our big five year old now and we are enjoying watching him be a terrific big brother, make new discoveries, and learn learn learn!

The birthday boy!

Wall-e cupcakes thanks to my sister.

Wall-e cake thanks to my sister!!

This will get the ladies' attention:)

Klaire.

And I just had to add this. We are all convinced that Minnie wishes she were a baby, so the joke around here is that we have triplets. We decided to make her dream a reality. She was not happy with us.