Sean and Evan are five!

My boys turn five tomorrow.  It seems like yesterday that I was holding them in the NICU wondering when they would be stable enough to take home.  They were born 8 weeks early and spent 5 weeks in the NICU before going home.  It was a long five weeks that did not get any easier when they came home.  It hasn't been a smooth five years but it has been most gratifying.  I love my boys!

 Evan over the years!

Sean Over the Years

Everybody Wants to Rule The World

At night I have to cuddle the boys before they will go to sleep.  I try not to talk too much because I want them to get sleepy.  The other night however, Evan was chatty and we had the most interesting conversation:

Me:  What do you want for your birthday?

Evan:  A hundred dollars

Me:  A hundred dollars?!  What are you going to do with a hundred dollars?

Evan:  Take over the world with it

Me:  Why do you need to take over the world?

Evan:  So I can right the roller coasters without waiting in line and so I can be in the first car.....  Good night Mommy.....I'm tired

Apologies

I have a bunch of posts that I didn't publish so if you are getting stuff from 6 months ago, it's because I never published it.  I meant to revise it or add more then I forget.  Also, I will be consolidating the blogs this year sometime.  It's too much now to keep up with.  After the boys 5th birthday in July, I will have a new combined family blog.  I started this combined blog 3 years ago but haven't done anything with it yet.  I will very soon!

Base Runners

We did our annual baseball game as a family this past weekend. The kids sit pretty well through an entire game if we keep feeding them....  We had ice cream, hot dogs, pizza, french fries, cotton candy, pretzels, Teddy Grahams, licorice and lemonade.  Though this particular time Gretchen and Evan were motivated to stay the whole game so they could run the bases.  Apparently Wrigley has a thing on every Sunday game in April/May were kids can run the bases after the game.  Sean wasn't as interested in staying as Gretchen and Evan. Though when it came time to run it, Sean wasn't going to miss out.  You can see in this picture Evan is standing there waiting for his brother and sister (he's in the blue shirt/red shorts). 

Preschool is almost over and then KINDERGARTEN

We had the boys' IEP meetings last month and it was confirmed that they will be in regular Kindergarten next school year.  We weren't sure because frankly Sean still has less speech than Evan and transitions are tough for him.  Evan seems very caught up to his classmates but he still needs fine motor work and some speech.  Both of them will continue to get speech and OT which I hope continues to help.  As much as I want Sean to be as conversational as Evan, he really has come a long way in the last school year.  He talks and talks and talks... Sometimes it's reciting a story he loves or sometimes he's answering your questions from an hour ago but he does talk more than ever now!  Anyway, today was C Day in the end of Preschool Alphabet Countdown.  C for Cowboy... and here are my little cowboys

Spring Break Rules!

We surprised the kids with a trip to Dollywood over spring break.  First though we went to visit our friends in Hendersonville NC.  We didn't tell the kids where we were going after but then we drove to Pigeon Forge TN to stay in the Dells of the south!  Dollywood was very cold but a very nice amusement park.  Clean, affordable and a nice selection of rides, I would love to go back when it isn't 45 degrees.  After that we traveled to Lexington for a visit with more friends and then to Indianapolis to the Children's Museum (we did that last year and they asked to go back).  It was a long and exhausting week but between the cabin in Pigeon Forge and the hotel visits and uncle Todd's drum set, it was the best vacation ever according to the kids!

Long Winter

Winter makes for some long weekends in our house.  We stay busy but soon, because we want so badly to get outside, cabin fever will rear its ugly head in our home.  Maybe, just maybe, the Wii we got two years ago will start to pay off.  Apparently the boys daycare has a Wii that the older kids play in their free time.  Evan likes the dancing game and is now playing it at home.  All three kids are really starting to get into the Wii games we have (which is not much:  Resort Sports, Just Dance and Music).  Their love of video games started with our smart phones and Kindle and now with the Wii (Gretchen likes playing games on the computer but the boys are not there yet).  I never really thought we would be a video game household but in some small way, I think it's better the passive TV that passed as entertainment in our house.  We do it together as a family but I already see an emphasis in Evan to "win".  This might lead to some fighting... sigh....