Around here...

...these days, things are always busy and active.  Here are some photos:
MARCH

 First Bath

Ben

Sam

I had promised a certain sister of mine, that I would not vacuum for a LOOOONG period of time during my post partum recovery.  Well, anyone who knows me, knows that it was very difficult for me to give this up.  We had some days here and there between company, and on one particular day, the floors were driving me crazy.  So, since Henry loves to be a "big helper", I asked him if he wanted to vacuum for me- he jumped at the opportunity.  This boy has loved the vacuum since birth.  When he was a one year old, and having a particularly rough day, I would let him vacuum (at the time, I had a canister vacuum so it was much lighter), and after a bit, that boy was back to his happy self.  As you can see by the photos, he took his job very seriously!  He did such a great job, I surprised him with a payment of $0.5, and he was over-the-top excited.

look at those vacuum lines, impressive!

William and Ben

APRIL

We have smiles!  The babies started smiling around 7 weeks old (I think!), as well as coo-ing and laughing.   

Ben is the master "coo-er" he can't smile without talking

Sam does the gigantic, silent smile, and then he startles himself by bursting out with a joyful squeal

 Practicing different focuses with the camera (Sean, William & Ben)

 Have I mentioned that we share a duplex with a family with four boys?!  They have two teens and two younger boys who are perfect friends for our boys.  Here they are  post Easter egg hunt

 Tummy time:
Ben takes this seriously, always trying to lift his head as high as he can.  Sam, on the other hand, has found that being on his tummy is a nice relaxing position to just rest his head and watch his brother

 It is t-ball season around here.  Henry and Sean are both on teams, and loving it.  I think they prefer fast pitch, but this will do for now.   I guess the photos we have of Sean are in the "May" folder- you will see him when I get around to further updates.

Ben

March Madness- OCD style

Josh and I thought the boys would enjoy filling out brackets for this past March Madness tournament- we had no idea how much they would enjoy it.  Here are our sweet little boys working on their picks:

It was pretty cute witnessing their different strategies....Henry, our numbers guy, always went with the higher ranked team, until he got to Gonzaga.  He went with his heart on this one, choosing Gonzaga to win the whole tournament:)  Sean, on the other hand, picked mostly upsets, except for Duke (which was one of the first and biggest upsets).  I have to admit that after Josh and I witnessed him pick the underdog game after game, we actually HIGHLY encouraged him to pick Duke to win in the first round so he could at least get that one right (we actually got him to CHANGE his pick to Duke- and we must have been pretty convincing because he carried them to the final game).  Well, thankfully he doesn't remember this horrible advice we gave him, and here we are left with the guilt that maybe, just maybe, the kid knew what he was doing.  In the end I am pretty sure he just has a empathetic hope for the underdog, he is a little brother, after all.

The whole family got involved...my dad took this photo of the babies.  He was sure that Sam (left) and Ben were talking tournament strategy...

Okay, so fast forward to today, you know, like, mid-to-late May, (and this is where the unexpected OCD comes in), Sean (and occasionally) Henry are STILL obsessed over their brackets- the teams, the scores, and the locations of each team.  Josh printed out another bracket with the results of every game from the tournament, and Sean has studied that piece of paper on a daily basis.  Yes, our little guy knows just about every game that was played and the final score.  Can you say OCD?!?!  I should probably be more concerned, but I will tell you what bugs me with this whole thing....in spite of my training (aka- lectures and pleading) these boys are so destructive.  Toy after toy (plastic, wooden, medal) is somehow broken after creatively taken to a whole new level of play, but yet, somehow these pieces of paper have survived for months in our home.  I just don't get it.
Here is one such study session (while giving Mom a hand with the babies) with THE PAPER... 

Happy Easter!

My boys and the Easter Bunny!

HELP!

 We have been so blessed to have visits from family, who have so generously donated their love & and time to help us out after the birth of Ben and Sam.  It was wonderful to spend time with a handful of our loved ones, and we sure could not have survived those early weeks without their help.
My brother Kelly drove from Bethlehem, PA with only a moments notice to our house the night before I delivered so he could watch the older three boys for us while we were at the hospital.  Well, we ended up needing him at the hospital because Josh was not feeling well, and had to visit the ER while I was laboring.   Luckily, we have wonderful neighbors and friends who offered to be "on call,"so we took them up on  their offer to cover the big boys while Kelly took care of Josh and I at the hospital!  Kelly wore many hats that day, and was so flexible in order to help in any way we needed.
My sister Chrissy also dropped everything to drive 11 hours with her two daughters to take over caring for the big boys while we were at the hospital, as well as the rest of us when we got home from the hospital.  The big boys loved spending time with their cousins, while we adults were busy with those first few days of transition- and it really took all three of us.  Chrissy and her girls worked so hard while they were here.  I can't even begin to list all of the things they did for us, but I will mention that both times she has visited, she washed bunk bed sheets for me!  Everyone knows that making bunk beds up is not a fun task, and I didn't even ask her to do it, she just did it knowing that I wouldn't be able to.  Long after she and her girls were gone, we still felt the benefits of their visit from all of the frozen meals and snacks she had made and left behind.
Chrissy's girls with the babies:

Then, Josh's parents drove from Nebraska to help out.  Unfortunately for them, they showed up just in time to have the added burden of taking care of us while we took turns with the stomach bug, and then they got it.  They definitely had the messiest job of all, but they managed to keep smiles on their faces, and enjoy spending time with us (and vice-versa, of course).  One morning when Grandma was sick, Henry requested eggs for breakfast, and she made them for him.  Feeling as icky as that bug made us feel, and knowing how stinky eggs are, I would have said no, but she made them in spite of her condition.  Those are the kinds of things that make Grandmas special.  I think the boys' favorite memory from their visit is getting to play with Grandma's iPad, and beating their grandparents at the game of Sorry.  Due to illness and my isolation with the babies (trying to keep us well), I didn't get many photos of their visit.

Grandma and Henry playing Duck Hunt on the wii

Next up was my Dad and Linda's visit.  Linda logged many hours in the kitchen making delicious meals, as well as many hours cleaning, doing laundry, holding babies, playing with the big boys, and allowing us to get to know her.  We all just loved her, and we feel so blessed to have her in the family.  Dad kept the boys busy with a daily bucking bronco rides at the "O-K corral", exercise classes- the boys called this "gymnastics", and hours of basketball and baseball practice.

The wrestling match
I am happy to report that there was only one incident involving blood!

"Gymnastics"  warming up

The last day that Dad and Linda were here, they cleaned the entire house!  My boys LOVE to help, so Dad taught the boys how to clean a toilet.  I was invited to inspect their work, and they did a fine job!  Dad made the boys "Toilet Cleaning Union Cards" to prove their certification of this task.  The boys thought this was the coolest, and they are (still to this day) so proud of their accomplishment in acquiring this new skill.  Anytime they see me with any sort of cleaning item, they run to get their cards, so they can help me...it is pretty darn cute.

Finally, my sister Shannon came and spent Easter week with us.  She was the brave soul who took us all on solo!  Not many would attempt this, but she did it well, actually, amazingly well.  I loved spending time with my sister, and the boys loved doing activities with her.  We all loved her cooking, and I loved her cleaning and sewing as well!  She is the master of multi-tasking.  I am so bummed that I did not take a single picture during her visit- ARRG!

We are so grateful to all of our help as well as their families who shared them with us.  It was so nice to have such a long period of time that we didn't have to worry about cooking, cleaning or running errands, so we had the chance to recover, catch up on sleep and bond with our beautiful new babies.
THANK YOU ALL SO VERY MUCH!