Sniff. Sniff.

I know posting two days in a row...don't get used to it:)

Kevin and I dropped Landon off bright and early this morning. We left the rest of the crew behind with a friend so that we could just focus on him. He jumped out of the car, threw on his backpack like a pro, marched straight up to the school (said hi to the cross-walk guard of course), and followed us through the maze of parents and students all the way back to his room. He felt comfortable in his room and when I asked him to stand next to his teacher for a picture he hugged her instead....that is when I had to hold back the tears the worst. He is so sweet. They asked the parents not to linger, so we hugged and kissed him and walked out. He just went right over to the other kids and didn't look back so that was good.

I managed to hold back my emotions until I got in my car. I know he is ready I kept telling myself, but a million things kept running through my mind. It's so hard. Then when I got home Liam was sad. He asked if we could go pick Landon up right then. So I talked to him about having special time with mommy today and he perked up and asked, "Can you be Wandon today mommy?" Choked up again, but it brings me so much joy to think about them loving each other that much.

So we played some games and puzzles and he enjoyed that very much, but when it comes to building rockets...I honestly need to take some lessons from Landon I guess!!

The last days of Summer

Landon starts kindergarten tomorrow and I think I'm in a little bit of denial! My baby leaving me from 7:45 to 3:00 Monday through Friday.....what!?!?!? Liam is going to preschool for the first time too...just two days a week thankfully. It is going to be really quiet around here...I might get some work done if Kallie and Klaire let me!! I'm a little nervous about getting all the kids out the door and ON TIME...many of you know that timeliness is not my best attribute:) Over the years I have gotten faster, but then we just keep adding babies to the mix and it's all a wash! But I am not going to have Landon getting tardies, even if I do have mission impossible most days of my life! I'd like to see all the other moms have to get a three years old and twins ready as well and still make it on time(I'm sure there is some mom that has like seven kids and triplets...that will somehow manage to beat me:), than I wouldn't have to worry about bringing up the tail end!
Anyway, since my last post we have been to Cananda and back. We just took the girls and the boys stayed back with Nanna and Papa. We went to support Kari, Jordan, and Peyton on a special day for Drew. There was so much thought and hard work that went into this event. It all went beautifully and Drew's life was honored so gracefully by MANY. Kevin participated in the golf tournament along with 97 other golfers, what a turn out. I helped with a few behind the scenes things and enjoyed every minute of it (even the posters Kari:) I was enjoying time with family and friends so much that I forgot to use my camera much, unfortunately!

But here are few pictures of our family over the last few weeks.

Kallie is crawling! Klaire likes to get up on all fours, but she isn't crawling just yet.

Klaire is sitting up better than Kallie. Kallie is such a wiggle worm, that she doesn't sit still for long. Also, Kallie has a tooth now too. And unfortunately both girls have a cold right now which has made for a fun last couple of days.

The girls were getting some cuddling from some friends that came up to the tournament from Bozeman.

Kevin and Peyton on the tramp.

Liam is Three and Fire Ant Invasion!

I know it has been way too long since my last post, I just don't spend much time on the computer these days!

So Liam turned three on July 17th....sniff sniff. He had a great little family birthday. It was wonderful to see him in the spot light all day. He was so excited and thankful for his presents and he sang with us when we sang him 'Happy Birthday'. He has such an adorable personality and we are so so so proud of him.

Three fingers are hard to hold up!

We filled up their sandbox and thanks to all the Aunties for the toys. They love them!

Big boy bike. He loves it and feels so special getting to ride like Landon.

Sweet Birthday Boy.

One of Lyndi's creations. It's so nice to have a cake-maker in the family!

(Klaire on the right)

We are starting a few chores around here and the boys are doing great!

Kevin and I probably hated fire ants more than anyone else in the world last week. It all started with a couple bites on the boys. We chalked it up to playing outside. Then the next day we found a few more bites on them, so we investigated and found 8 or 10 by Landon's bed. So we moved his bed and sprayed and called our exterminators. They came out and sprayed the boys room thoroughly and the exterior of our house. That night Kevin heard Kallie crying and so he went in calmed her down and patted her back to sleep. A few minutes later she was hysterical again so I told Kevin to bring her out to me and I would rock her for a while. He hands her to me and I immediately (we were not in very good light) notice that her face is all red, there is blood on her eye lid, and she looks like she has a black eye. So I jump up and we turn on all the lights and with in moments we both realize it is fire ant bites. ALL OVER HER. Her eye is swelling because she got bit so many times on it and she got so mad that she scratched it and made it bleed. Kevin runs in and grabs Klaire, who is sound asleep, and checks her and she appears to be unharmed. He turns on the light and finds Kallie's crib just crawling with them. Meanwhile, I am getting hysterical and anyone who knows me well, knows that things like this REALLY upset me. I felt so terrible and so scared b/c my dad is HIGHLY allergic to fire ants and she has never been bit before so I don't know how she will react and her eye is so swollen. Kevin and I felt like we were going to vomitt we were so upset. So I call our pedatrician and manage to articulate the situation in-between my sobbing. She assures me that Kallie's respiratory system would have already been affected if she was highly allergic and that we should just give her liquid benadryl and put some soothing topical cream on all of her bites, except the ones by and on her eye. So we do all that and put Klaire in the pack-in-play by our bed and Kallie won herself a night right next to me. I hardly slept a wink because I felt so bad for her. She ended up with at least 30 bites. We had the exterminators back out first thing the next morning and they sprayed every inch of our house and 'dusted in the walls'. They were nesting in the walls and coming out through our outlets. We baited the kids rooms for two nights to make sure they were gone and found nothing. I have killed a couple stragglers, but we think they are gone and the girls have returned to the nursery.

The girls are seven months now. Klaire has one tooth, Kallie is about to get one any day now. They are both about to be very mobile, Kallie has taken a step or two crawling. She mostly gets up on all fours and rocks back forth and grunts in frustration. She will also push up into a bear crawl position (up on her toes rather than knees). She seems to be the more hyper of the two, you ought to see her in the bath tub....she is a wild-woman!!! Klaire is MUCH better at taking a bottle, but Kallie is a little more content to play on her own for longer periods of time. We love watching their personalities emerge, they are getting so interactive and interested in life!

We leave for Canada for Drew's Memorial tomorrow. If you would like to know more about it you can visit the website at:

www.adayfordrew.com

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#