Out of Control!

These three pictures were taken over a 5 minute time period several weeks ago.  It was just one of those days.....

I was on the computer and noticed the lights flickering.  I looked up and found this.  Ava and Brooks were standing below him cheering him on.  When Ava saw me walking over she said, "Oh Shit!"  

I think I took a minute to move the end table into another room out of their reach, change a poop diaper,  and put that last picture on instagram and then I looked up again and he had found another way to flick the lights..  Look at the look on his little face!!!  I get that same look all of the time!  He's saying, "Ha  ha, what are you going to do about this?!"

After that chair was removed this is what they did.  

Knox is a monkey.  He is also the ring leader of my three monkeys.  They copy everything he does and they think he is hilarious and cheer him on!  I think I'm going to be in big trouble when they are teenagers! 

Christina's getting married!

Last Friday night the babies had a birthday party to attend and I had a shower for Christina!  We had a busy night!  I don't think I have any pictures from the babies party but I did snap a few at Christina's shower!  It was so cute!  If I host a wedding shower I am definitely going to have to copy some of this! 

The flowers were all so pretty and there were pictures of the bride and groom everywhere! 

The guests of honor playing a game!  

Showing off the gift I brought! 

Christina and me!

George, me, Christina, and Jonathan

The cute personalized sign that wrapped around the bar! 

It was a fun night!  I can't wait for all of the wedding festivities to begin! 

Busy Saturday

A few weeks Brandon had his big bike race he has been training for.  The babies and I were going to go watch but the weather was terrible!  It was cold, rainy, and even started sleeting!  So instead, we met Karrie at Ricks for donuts and coffee!  I love that the kids can still get away with going out in public in their pj's!  ha Knox insisted on wearing his cowboy boots.  I don't know what we are going to do when he outgrows those things! 

This was Ava and Knox's first time to try donuts!  They put away 18 donut holes!  Knox stuffed so many in his mouth he puked and then kept going!  I also let them try chocolate milk!  So yummy! I wish I had taken more pictures but lately there hasn't been much time for picture taking!  My hands were full and sticky!

The babies went home for a nap and I drove out to the race and got there right in time to see B cross the finish line!  I took pictures with my good camera so I will have to post those later!  

When the babies woke up we all got dressed to go celebrate Hudson's birthday!  Ava wasn't feeling her best so she stayed home with Gigi.

Family Photo!  At least one of us is looking at the camera! ha

Leave it to this kid to find a broom at the party and start cleaning! 

Hudson had a tailgating party so we wore our best Hog's gear! 

Daddy and Brooksy!  B was tired from his race so we had to leave a little early!  It was such a fun party! Happy Birthday Hudson! 

Gigi's!

We have been taking turns hanging out with Gigi lately! Brooks is obsessed with the Radio Flyer tricycle at Gigi's house so she picked him up last week so he could play and have it all to himself!  She took him on a little dinner date too!  

Gigi sent me this picture while they were gone!  My little funny guy was tricking Gigi!  He would act like he was going to feed her a fry and then he would snatch it away!  He obviously thought this was hilarious!  So sweet!

We went to Gigi's for Sunday dinner a few weeks ago!  Her Halloween decorations are so cute!  She made us a special dessert too! 

After dinner, when I was loading the babies in the car, I fell down a hole!  I stepped on a round metal cover thing (like the teenage mutant ninja turtles came out of) and fell in!  I was holding Knox and I don't think he knew what was going on! ha I'm really surprised I didn't break a leg or something!  This happened a week before I was in a wedding with a short bridesmaid dress too!  Not real attractive! 

Next it was Ava's turn to spend the night at Gigi's!  Ava went in Gigi's closet and pulled out all of the leopard print shoes!  Smart girl! ha

Gigi gave Ava a fresh pedicure too!  

Such a princess!

Botanical Gardens

One day we met friends at the Botanical Gardens for their little sprouts program.  They read a few stories to the kids and do a little craft with them!  Ava spent the night with Gigi the night before so she didn't go.  That was probably a good thing because I had a hard enough time keeping up with the boys!  

We, as in I, made a windsock!  We gave it to Gigi to put out at her house!

The good ole' wagon kept the boys contained for a little while but then they got restless and I had to let them out.  That's when they started running everywhere! Oh and Knox kept walking up to a lady trying to talk to her and steal her snacks.  The lady kept saying, "She's fine!" "She can have a snack!"  We might have to give the pink shirts a rest for a while! ha 

After we left we went over to Gigi's house to eat lunch and pick up Ava.  I kept trying to take pictures of Brooks and he kept making this face!  Brooks can be so silly and funny!  I really think this might be my favorite picture of him ever! ha 

I guess I've never really explored the Botanical Gardens closely.  I've been to events there but it's usually at night.  It was so pretty and such a neat place!  We loved looking at the chickens and the butterfly house!  We will definitely be making another trip back for Little Sprouts! 

Happy Birthday Alex!

Everyone seems to be having birthdays lately and we love it!  A few weeks ago Alex turned one and we all went to her party at the park to help her celebrate!  It was a beautiful night to sit outside and eat chili with friends! 

Brooks loved the water table filled with corn!  He played with it for hours!  We are definitely going to have to try this at home!  

Knox was all over the place, imagine that! He was running away from me as fast as he could go in this pic! 

Ava loved the cupcakes! 

Oh Knox....  I wish this picture was clearer.  This was his second stolen cupcake.  He took the first one out of a little girls hands as she was trying to eat it and this one he just helped himself to.  They had mini cupcakes for the kids but I guess he decided he wanted the adult sized one!  I accidentally snapped this picture as I was trying to grab him and wipe his face!    

Thanks for letting us celebrate with you Alex!

Pumpkin Patch Day

Two weeks ago a portable pumpkin patch came to the kids school!  It was the perfect opportunity for them to wear their new outfits Jenny made!  They looked so cute all dressed up!  Thanks again, Jenny for making these adorable outfits! 

One of their new favorite things to do is pull all of the clothes off hangers in the closet and take all of the shoes off of the shelves.  This is the look Ava gave me when she got caught! ha

Trying to put his favorite tennis shoe on over his favorite boots!  He is still so obsessed with shoes!  He's learned how to put all of his shoes on himself and he even gets them on the right feet!  

Ava!

Brooks!

Family Day

I'm so behind on blogging.  I feel like we did this a month ago (I really think it was about two weeks ago)!  B decided to spend the morning at home with the babies and me!  The kids were wild and ready to get out of the house so we loaded them up and headed north to the new Cabelas!  Brandon had already been once to buy a new gun but he wanted to show the kids!  I have to admit it was fun!  It was kind of like a mini zoo!    

We had to check out the four-wheelers and rhino's!  Brooks loves stuff like this!  Definitely a boys, boy!  I think a four-wheeler or tractor might be on his Christmas list! 

He takes his driving very seriously! 

This wild man was loving it too!  He thought it was so funny that we were actually letting him sit in the drivers seat and drive!  Knox is very smart!  He knows when he's doing something that could possibly get him in trouble! 

We made a few purchases while we were there!  Brandon said this is probably the cheapest trip he will ever make to Cabelas with the kids!  The boys each got camo hats and Knox got a cozy blanket with a deer head hood on it!  They were out of pink camo in Ava's size so she didn't get a surprise but she honestly didn't know the difference and Ava gets plenty of things the boys don't get (clothes) so it was fair! 

Give this guy something to snuggle and his thumb goes in his mouth and he is ready for bed! 

Brooks led the way for us!  Oh and B dressed the babies for their trip to Cabelas-camo of course!  He even dressed Ava!

Knox and Brandon wore me out!  Brandon insisted we go up and down every single aisle and analyze every single product!  It's amazing what Brandon thinks he needs!  He got real close to buying a pair of ugly hiking boots!  And no, he doesn't hike!  Knox's "What's that's?" were out of control.  If he said it once, he said it five thousand times! 

Ava and I had fun looking at all of the animals and the fish! 

We had a little wreck with our carts and Brooksy thought it was hilarious! 

Love this face!

Ava, I hate to break it to you but your dad informed me this is going to be under the Christmas tree for you in a few years!  Thank god we had a few boys!   

Brandon obviously loves to hunt and talks about taking the boys constantly!  He literally cannot wait!  The other day he told me he feels bad because when he daydreams about taking the kids hunting he never pictures Ava going with them.  He said she just hasn't given him any indication that she might like to hunt! ha I told him not to worry that while he is with the boys in the woods Ava and I will be in NYC, LA, etc shopping and having fun! She won't feel left out at all!  The kid has been girly/prissy/dramatic since the day she was born.  I have a feeling hunting just isn't going to be her thing! 

After our two hour tour of Cabela's we took the babies to lunch at PF Changs.  I have to brag, I'm sure people (waitresses especially) hate to see us walk into a restaurant but the kids are really so good.  So far, we have never had to leave early or had any big melt downs while out to eat.  We of course leave a huge mess, but we try to tip well to make up for it!  It was such a fun day!  We can't wait for our next big family adventure! 

The Fire Station!

A few weeks ago Bethany, her neighbor, and I took the kids to the fire station for a little tour!  My kids love playing with their toy fire trucks but I wasn't sure what they would think of the real thing!  They had so much fun!  As soon as we got there everyone got to climb in the drivers seat of the big truck and pretend to drive!  

I have to say the difference between girls and boys is pretty funny!  Ava was kind of like, "whatever" about the whole thing!  She might as well have been sitting in the driver seat of my car!

Brooks was pretty excited!  He loved pretending to drive! 

I can't wait to take the kids back when they are Porters age!  Porter loved getting the tour and asked lots of questions! 

Knox trying to honk the horn of course! 

While I was snapping this picture the fire alarm went off (you can kind of tell by the look on Knox's face)!  I was so distracted I didn't even notice!  They firemen were yelling "Get him down, get him down." Finally I snapped Knoxie up and we moved out of their way! 

I tried to get some action shots of the fireman running around and getting ready to go fight the fire!  

PS-The fire was actually a false alarm at Damn Good Pies.. ha

It was crazy how fast they jumped in their gear!  They had on a full fire suit within a minute!  They told us this is the busiest fire station in the entire state!  Pretty neat! 

Brooks loved watching the action from the sidelines!  Knox and Hudson were busy playing and didn't know what was going on! 

Hi boys!

As soon as the truck came back Brooks went right up to it!  I think he wanted another turn in the drivers seat! 

Next we learned about all the special gear the fireman wear!  Once again, Ava is oblivious, Knox is missing and Brooks is really paying attention! 

Knox did reappear to push over the oxygen tank! 

Next the boys got to get in the back of the truck and look around! Brooks went first! 

Knox checked some valves while he waited his turn.

I could tell Brooks felt like such a big boy!  Knox ended up chickening out so Brooks and Porter were the only two that got to play inside.  I didn't even attempt to put Ava in the truck!  It was pretty funny to watch the kids interact with the firemen.  The guys would ask them questions or try to tell them something and they would just get a blank stare back! ha One of the guys even asked Brooks his age.  Brooks just looked at him like he was crazy!

How cute would this pic have been if he had looked at the camera?  Oh well, I tried! 

Another family photo attempt! 

Brooks checking out the room where they keep all of their gear!  

Next we got to meet all of the fire chiefs and we even got to go upstairs and see where the firemen eat, sleep, workout, and have important meetings! This part of the tour is when my kids went wild!  They were running in three different directions!  I just knew one of them was going to fall down the fire pole hole! It took me, Bethany, and a few of the firemen to keep up with them!

Knox was ready to pump so iron and throw the ball around!

We went down stairs and watched all of the fireman slide down the pole (which they really use btw!  I thought that was just on movies) and they gave us hats, badges, and coloring books!  

Love this picture!

So excited about their new hats!

This is where Brooks's badge ended up!  ha

My little firewoman! 

This little outing was so much fun!  I'm so glad Bethany organized it for us!  I really can't wait to go back!  I have to say all of the guys working at the station were so nice and patient!  They were so good with the kids too!  Mine were so out of control one nice fireman just offered to hold Knox and carry him around for the tour!  Ava and I might have to bake the firemen some cookies this week to thank them for being so nice to us!