Aunt Jill & Uncle Mo Visit

Those of you who have been following me on Twitter, know that Aunt Jill and Uncle Mo came for a visit a few weeks ago. We haven't seen them since Christmas of 2007! We had a great visit, and I have been trying to figure out how I want to capture it on the blog. I thought to myself, would it be mean to post pictures of people who had just been flying for over half a day or had just run 13 miles? I hope not. I think they look great, anyway. Hopefully, everyone will be ok with the slideshow I put together, as this is pretty much the pictures I have. Most of the visit, I took some time to relax and enjoy myself instead of being the photographer.

We had a busy long weekend together, which started off with the kids making signs for greeting our guests at the airport. They really enjoyed it, and it was great to kill an hour or so, while we anxiously awaited their arrival. After our happy reunion, we had a great dinner at a family favorite Italian restaurant (thanks, Dad!). We had the sunroom on the side all to ourselves, which worked out perfectly. The kids seem to really enjoy their spaghetti (messy but kept them busy), and the adults got to catch up.

The next day was pretty relaxed. Lots of errands were run, and we stayed inside a lot as it was a drizzly day. Alyssa was excited to skip her nap and get to run errands with Aunt Jill, though. She loved her neon orange nail polish that she got as a treat for being so good during the outing, too.

That brought us to Saturday, when we all got up bright and early for the big races. Dave did the 5K and Jill and Mo completed the half marathon. Since I missed Dave finishing his last 5K by about 2 minutes, I was bound and determined not to miss this one. The kids and I were out the door by 7:30am - a new family record! The choo choo was invaluable to get the kids there and occupied while we waited to see Dave finish his race first. It was also a very odd feeling as several total strangers took pictures of the kids in the choo choo. We actually did get to see Dave as he finished, although the picture isn't so great (look for the guy in the red shirt on the right side of the street). Then met up with Dave and our friend Scott, who also finished the race. It was so nice to have help, too! We had a little bit of lag time to kill, but ended up seeing Aunt Jill finish, too. (We feel badly that we missed Uncle Mo in the crowd.) Here are my spectacular pictures of her finishing. (She is the one with the black shorts and the green shirt.)

Yep, that's what happens when you have a new camera and don't know how to take pictures with it. I think you can see about 1/5 of her body behind the guy in the brown shirt.

After some rest and relaxation, we went out to dinner that night for my Mom's birthday. I don't know how long it's been since she has gotten to celebrate with both of her kids. We had a nice time, especially with the added entertainment of the high school kids there for Prom. Alyssa picked out her favorite dress, and the boys thought one girl with most of her back exposed was "naked baby." (That's what we say when we strip the kids down for bath time.)

Sunday night, my mom hosted an awesome Open House for Jill and Mo. She went all out on the Hawaiian theme, and everyone had a great time. I thought I would take tons of pictures there, but instead I enjoyed getting caught up with old friends. After the party was over, though, we took some good family shots and some goofy ones as well. I think those pictures turned out to be the last ones of Huxley, too.

So here's the slideshow that I put together to commemorate the event. Even though the pictures are of more than just my sister, I just had to use this song. Jill sent it to me out of the blue one day, and it made me cry my eyes out. It's ironic that it is sung by Reba McEntire, too. One summer during college, my sister and I both worked at Bob Evans. Every Thursday, a group of guys would come in and say, "Hey Reba, how are you doing?" because they swore I looked just like her. I don't see it, though. One other thing before I stop babbling about the slideshow - keep your eyes open for the modern day American Gothic snapshots and enjoy the vintage ones of my and my sister at the end. Enjoy!

God bless,

Amanda

Have Wheels - Will Travel

We would like to introduce you to two new additions to our family. (Nope - not the human kind; you need to reread the title of this blog if you are thinking that!)

The first one is called a Choo Choo Wagon. These babies are no longer in production, so you can only buy them used, and they are hard to find! I was fortunate enough to get one through a member of our triplets group. I guess you could say that it's an investment piece now. Another friend with triplets saw one of these on eBay for $700 more than we paid for ours! (Honestly, I think we'll just be happy to get what we paid back out of it. Plus I promised to keep it in our triplets group.)

Those of you faithful blog readers may remember from almost 2 years ago when we hit a fork in the road with strollers. I knew about the Choo Choo back then, but with all my back problems, it just wasn't an option. We are so excited that the Choo Choo has worked out now for us at this stage in our lives. It is the perfect solution to the problems we were having with our Triple Decker stroller, which has gotten us this far. First, it's a place for all 4 kids to ride. Alyssa was frequently feeling left out before. Secondly, if someone wants to get out, it's no big deal, and we don't have to worry about it tipping over like we did with the stroller. Thirdly, since each kid has his own car, there is no more kicking each other in the back. It also opens up all kinds of options that we didn't have before for one parent to get out of the house with all 4 kids (especially for running errands). Needless to say - we love our Choo Choo!

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The second new addition to our family is a Barbie Jeep from some very generous friends from our church. I had no idea that Alyssa even wanted one, but she told me after we got it that she had really wanted one. She was so excited to have one of her own after seeing another kid with one. I wish we had our camera when we first got it, because it was hilarious to watch Alyssa try to drive it while running into things in the backyard. (I'm sure our neighbors got sick of hearing us yell "Stop!") It also made me very, very frightened for when she turns 16!!! But after she got the kinks worked out, she has gotten pretty good at driving it. She loves to drive her siblings around, too. One afternoon during naptime for the little kids, she and I were out in the backyard. After a while she asked me to wake her siblings up because she was lonely. I think she missed having a passenger. The triplets have been relegated to passenger status only, since they don't understand the concept of a steering wheel.

 

It is so cute to watch the kids go cruising around the backyard in their new wheels. The Jeep is really fun, too, as it has a toy phone and it can even go in reverse  when they get stuck. My favorite feature is how you charge the battery. You have to pop the hood and attach two mini jumper cables that plug into the outlets.

Here's a quick video (courtesy of our new camera - yeah!) of some of the joyriding that takes place in our backyard (with a touch of jealousy thrown in at the end). Enjoy!

God bless,

Amanda

http://four-and-no-more.blogspot.com/