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For those of you that might be interested, my ever-so-talented sister, Kathy is coming to Connecticut for a week and she will be doing a few days’ worth of photo shoots in Trumbull. You can see her most-amazing work HERE and you can make an appointment by calling her at (801)253-7617. She does everything from Christmas cards to enormous black and white family portraits. She has experience with weddings, does remarkable senior photos and is excellent with small children. There is a $50 fee to hold your slot but that goes towards any purchases you make. So don’t delay. She’s got to have 20 appointments by Tuesday, June 3rd in order for my dad to give her the time off work and no, my appointment doesn’t count towards that 20. (Appointments are available Monday, June 16th thru Thursday, June 19th between 9:00am-5:00pm.)

After running around chasing balls and swinging and learning how to bat a ball and shooting some hoops, Caleb and the twins were tuckered out. A few pushes in the hammock later. . . .

There couldn’t be anything in the world more heavenly than that.

Many of you know that Hunter (our nine year old) has struggled with Juvenile Diabetes since he was 15 months old. In just nine years the world has come a long way in making his life easier, simpler. He’s on an insulin pump and receives insulin constantly, keeping his blood sugar in relatively good shape. He can do just about anything his friends can do and nothing slows him down. He’s happy and vibrant and energetic. But that’s not to say he doesn’t have his struggles. Roller coaster blood sugars and the long term effects of not having a working pancreas are scary and heartbreaking. We have no idea how long Hunter will survive this life-changing disease or what pains he will have to suffer through. And worst of all, we’re afraid of being forced to say goodbye much sooner than we should ever have to. It’s a constant worry for all of us. Even Noah (our seven year old) can’t sleep at night for fear of witnessing Hunter have yet another seizure and worrying we won’t be able to help him fast enough. While it’s definitely a manageable disease, it’s also one we’d much rather do without.

So this year a family that lives nearby asked if they could help us find a cure for Hunter and all of the thousands of other children who struggle with Type I Diabetes day in and day out. The Sedgewicks are an amazing family. Every year they produce a play all by themselves and then donate the proceeds to a charitable foundation. We suggested Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and they immediately got to work writing and rehearsing the show. Hunter, Noah and Denver were invited to participate and have been working their little rearends off, practicing and rehearsing once and sometimes twice weekly for a couple of months now. Nobody wants a cure more than these little boys and they’ve been working hard to help find one. But three little boys can’t possibly do it alone and that’s where y’all come in.

On Saturday, June 14th, you all are invited to come and see the boys perform in the Sedgewick’s production of The Jungle Book. There will be singing, dancing, and all kinds of fun animal antics. And all we ask in return is that you come and support us anyway you can. Donations will be accepted in any amount and there is no amount too small. Every penny collected will go directly to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and to help find a cure for Hunter and so many others who struggle with the highs and lows of Type I Diabetes. Even if you have nothing to give (I know these are difficult times for many right now), I hope you will at least come and support these little boys and all of the others who have put so much work into the show and the cause. We look forward to seeing you there!

The show starts at 6:30pm at 40 Bonnieview Drive in Trumbull CT. If you can’t attend the show but you’d still like to donate, please contact me by email for the mailing address.

Last night was the Young Women’s camp fundraiser. Because the YW are going to a new camp and doing some tubing and canoeing and stuff, it’s costing them $100 more (each) this year than last. So, the YW turned the Cultural Hall (gym) into a Pirate themed restaurant last night and served us spaghetti and toss salad and dinner rolls for $10/family. The YW dressed up as pirates and seated us at our tables which included pirate coloring sheets and eye patches for each of the kids. I was surprised how much it really felt like a restaurant. After dinner and a little entertainment which included some cell phone tag, a purse scavengar hunt and some pirate jokes there was a dessert auction. Each family was supposed to bring a dessert to be auctioned but I sort of get the feeling everyone brought more than just one because there were a TON of desserts to bid on. I think the highest bid item was for a Lion House Carrot Cake which went for $75 and four caramel apples which I believe went for $60. It was kind of crazy how bad people wanted some of the desserts. Mark brought three plates of cookies which went for $30/each (give or take a few $$) and we ended up buying a Key Lime Pie (for $25), two loaves of Honey Bread (for $5) and this most adorable and very delicious Cow Cake ($25).

Somehow we also left with a gigantic bowl of Death by Chocolate and a mini Orange Creamsicle Cheesecake. I have yet to hear if it was a success, but I sort of have a feeling most of those girls aren’t going to have to pay a whole lot of money to go to camp this year. And everyone that came had a good time. Thanks Trumbull YW–hope you have fun at camp this summer!

As per tradition, we spent this morning up at the boys’ school listening to them sing every patriotic song known to mankind. And as always, Mr. Noyes (that’s Mr. Noise) had them singing their little hearts out. I’ve tried a million times to upload all of the boys’ songs but some are just too big for Blogger to handle. So, I’ve had to shrink some down and they aren’t necessarily the best quality but at least you get to see Hunter sing and I don’t think I’ve seen anything quite so cute in a long time. And let me warn you before you start watching the videos, you may get vertigo from my videography. Me + a video camera + a baby = vertigo. There’s just no way around it.

The Caissons Go Rolling Along

Fifty Nifty United States

My Country Tis of Thee

This Land is Your Land

Yankee Doodle

You’re A Grand Ol’ Flag

After all of the singing was done, there was a raffle for an electric guitar. Raffle tickets were awarded with each school CD that was sold. This year we bought five tickets and I guess it paid off cause look who won!

The guitar is almost bigger than Denver and just about as heavy. But dang were the boys excited and proud of themselves. I must say, there couldn’t have been a more perfect ending to the morning. Happy Memorial Day!

Mark and I get all sorts of questions from strangers when we go out. The top three would probably be 1)Are they all yours? 2)Are you going to try for a girl? And 3)Don’t you know what a TV is for? Okay, maybe number three isn’t one of the top three questions but I have been asked that once or twice by complete strangers and yeah, I totally think it’s rude. Anyway, probably the number one question we get from people who know us is: Is it getting any easier now that they are one? And the answer is absolutely, positively, definitely NOT! If anything, things are only getting worse. Here’s just a random sampling.

Saturday Mark was busy all day long. All. Day. Long. So I was stuck with the job of entertaining the kids as usual. Lucky for me the boys’ piano teacher (a die hard Zelda and gaming fanatic) came over to play Nintendo with the three big boys. So that really only left me with the three babies. So, I decided to take them up to the school’s Spring Fair and try our hand at the sucker game. No skill is required in the sucker game. You just grab a tootsie roll pop and if it’s red on the end, you win. And if you win you get to keep the sucker. I was pretty sure whoever was in charge would have mercy on me and let the three boys win, even if their suckers weren’t red. I convinced Denver to join us since he’s not really a Nintendo freak like his brothers. So the five of us headed up to the school, the three babies squashed into our little red wagon. As I had hoped, all three babies “won” a sucker and with them busily sucking away I was able to focus on Denver for a few minutes and let him try out a few of the other games, as well as the giant blow-up obstacle course. We finished just around noon and I could tell the babies were getting tired. But Denver and Caleb had to play at the playground for a few minutes so I gave in and set them free. While we were waiting for the two boys to finish running around, Jericho fell asleep. We also ran into our friend, Enid Sherpa who kindly shared a bunch of tickets with us so we could buy some popcorn to take home. Finally, I loaded Caleb and Justus back into the wagon and with Jericho asleep in my arms I pulled the wagon back up the hill to the Fair to buy some popcorn. We got stuck in a mild traffic jam and had to wait a few minutes for people to squeeze past us, before we could proceed to the popcorn stand. Upon our arrival I turned around to check on the babies and lo and behold, there was no longer a Justus in the wagon. I immediately freaked out, worried he might have fallen out and gotten trampled by the crowds. So I threw poor, sleeping Jericho back into the wagon with Caleb and ran off, shouting to the popcorn lady that I had lost a baby and I’d be right back. To make this long story short, after about five minutes of pure adrenalin and panic, I found Justus happily running up and down a nearby ramp of a mobile unit. He wasn’t panicked. He wasn’t worried or stressed or crying. He was rather quite enjoying himself and the fact that he had escaped the wagon without being caught and in such a great location too. Meanwhile I swear I aged another five years.

That was bad. Today was worse. We’ve had another rainy week. Not straight rain, but off and on rain all day long. All. Day. Long. As soon as you think it’s safe to go outside to play. . . rain. Anyway, this morning it was sunny for long enough I figured it was okay to head out into the great outdoors. So I proceeded to put shoes and coats on the three babies. I had Caleb and Justus done and was in the middle of shoeing Jericho when I heard the kitchen safety gate crash down and the back door open wide. “Caleb, do not open that door yet!” I shouted. The door slammed shut and I immediately jumped up to make sure no one had escaped. Caleb was still there and I was pretty certain there hadn’t been enough time for anyone else to sneak out. But where had Justus gone? So I’m searching all over the house for him and Caleb keeps saying “I have to go get him, Mommy” and finally I look out the window and there is Justus, walking down the street, with a giant rock in his hand, on his way (I’m pretty sure) to the lake where he can throw his hefty treasure. Arrgghhh!

That was just the beginning of the day. As soon as I had everyone loaded into the stroller, the rain started down. While I was ordering t-shirts for the boys’ play in a few weeks, the twins were spitting/spraying grape juice all over the kitchen floor which I had just mopped this morning. And during piano lessons, Jericho and Justus did this to their faces:

And then there’s the wee fact that chocolate and Weight Watchers do not go hand in hand which means when a day like today stumbles upon us (which is oh, just about daily) I’m forced to abandon my weight loss program because if I don’t have my chocolate things get really, really, really ugly. Anyway, try as I may to think positive and tell myself things are going to get better, I don’t really think they will. At least not for a really, really long time. Maybe in another 16-1/2 years or so. And by then, I’ll probably be a grandmother. Either that or my kids will start moving home again. Someone really should have told me about this before I started having kids. I mean, how come no one told me how to use the TV until after I had six kids? Gosh!

See all those beautiful, round, bald heads. Well, from now until the wind changes and we have cold weather again, you can rub one of those fuzzy little heads for twenty-five cents. Talk about a great deal. But be warned–the boys know how to count and add and they’re not about to let you rub their heads without paying. And if you think you’re gonna get a freebie off the babies, think again. Their mother also knows how to count and add. We’ve gotta start their mission funds early, ya know! Here’s to a tick-free summer without having to worry about combs or spray gel or paying the barber.

I have to admit, I’m not always real good at getting the kids outside to play. The little boys, that is. Sometimes it’s easier to plop them in front of the TV and get some of my work done. I know, I know–quiet down cobwebs, dust go to sleep, I’m rocking my babies and babies don’t keep. But it’s not even the nagging chores that make me do it. I like to play with them outside. Really, I do. It’s just that getting socks and shoes and jackets on the three babies makes me want to go back to bed, it’s that exhausting. Chasing them around the yard, lifting them in and out of the swings, hauling them up and down the slide, pushing them up and down the roller coaster, kissing the millions of boo-boos and then cleaning them all off after they’ve fallen in the mud a hundred times each and dripped popsicles all over themselves just about puts me in my grave. So sometimes, just thinking about loading them all into their shoes and coats is enough to convince me to stay inside and do something else.

Lucky for me, it was a rainy week and that means I don’t have to feel so guilty about letting them watch TV all day. But since I thrive on feeling guilty, I did anyway. Weird, I know, but true. So yesterday, despite the yucky, rainy day I loaded up the babies in their swim shoes and raincoats, and off we went in search of some puddles. Denver was already home from school and we snagged Noah as he walked out of his classroom. We handed him some flip-flops, unzipped the bottom half of his pants and insisted he join us. Hunter was staying after school for Lego Robotics so he missed out on all the fun. It wasn’t long before we found some puddles worthy of jumping in and the twins and Caleb caught on immediately.

We spent a good hour out there in the rain. By the time we got home we were all soaked through and freezing. But not so bad a pair of pajamas, some popcorn and a movie couldn’t fix things. And this time when I hit play on the DVD player, I didn’t feel so guilty. No, I didn’t feel guilty until I started handing out the chocolate. But hey, what’s a movie and popcorn without a little chocolate?

P.S. Justus is in the green raincoat. Play close attention to him in the pictures. He’s pretty funny.

The bird over our front door hatched two beautiful, bouncing, baby birds about three weeks ago. If you paid enough attention while walking past our house, you could see their cute little heads peeking out over the top of the nest watching the world go by. One day as I was walking by I noticed the baby birds peeking out and then I noticed something even more interesting. . . Mrs. Bird was frantically building a second nest on the other corner of the door frame. That’s strange, I thought. That can’t possibly be Mrs. Bird. That must be another Mrs. who thinks Mrs. Bird has such a great location that she’s gotta get her own nest built there.

Yesterday Denver and I decided to check out the new nest to see if we had any new eggs. This is what we found:

Yeah. . . five eggs. And the bad news is. That’s not another Mrs. That’s Mrs. Bird’s second clutch of eggs. Her first clutch just flew away a few days ago. So, while she was already busy taking care of twins, she was busy laying quintuplets! And not only that, she was building an entire second house while in the process of producing five more babies. Maybe it’s different for birds. If my twins went from infant to adult in three weeks, maybe I could handle having quintuplets. But still! Holy Bird! I gotta complain a lot less. And somebody needs to give Mrs. B a day off or something.

So Noah had his first visit with the “Anxiety Psychologist” yesterday. Things went well. Noah had no problem opening up and sharing with “Dr. I” every single, little detail of Hunter’s diabetes and epilepsy right down to the fact that the babysitter over Christmas didn’t know how to push the “talk” button and Noah had to do everything for her. Dr. I established that I’m an irresponsible parent (since I don’t educate babysitters before leaving my children and all) and that it’s really no surprise Noah has anxiety and that he can’t trust me to take care of Hunter properly, or Noah for that fact. I practically expect Child Protective Services to show up at my door any day now–things went that well. But at least we have smoke detectors in the house, something Dr. I doubted we had. But of course, we have the responsible parent to thank for that one. My self-esteem is at an all-time low–not that it was ever great in the first place–and I can hardly wait to go back next week.