Candid Camera

This first picture I took after Kylie and Beth snuck into Megan's bedroom and all three of them conked out on Megan's bed. I love that they are such good friends :) ~


I checked my camera this evening to see if I had any pictures I hadn't downloaded to the computer yet. There were 71 pictures, but not a single one had been taken by me. I love flipping through pictures the kids take by themselves! Most are usually close ups of things they love, such as their purses or stuffed animals posed with various toys, or shots of various things around the house (this session included several pictures of the surface of the griddle before I cleaned it), but then in the middle of all the random pictures I will find shots of the kids that crack me up :)

I love these next three - obviously self portraits of Kylie ~






Kylie posing (taken by Megan I think) ~


Megan posing (taken by Kylie I think) ~


Megan and Kylie (taken by Beth apparently) ~


Kylie ~


Megan (Kylie says she posed her) ~


We are still going to the gym and pool nearly every day. Jack has developed an affinity for water that is a bit scary. When we first started going to the pool he was perfectly happy driving around in his little blow up car (complete with steering wheel and horn) while Brittney towed him around the pool. He has since then decided that sitting isn't nearly as much fun as scaring the stuffing out of Mom by deciding he can swim just like all the big kids. He must be part fish, or at least thinks he's part fish. At the gym on Friday he spent most of his time wading out into deeper water until it covered his face and I pulled him up and put him back in the shallow water, only to have him repeat it immediately. Because of that, today at the pool I put swimmies on his arms to at least keep him floating on the top of the water. He LOVED it. He swam around all over the place with Brittney next to him to lift him up when he got unbalanced and ended up with a face-full of water. He never seemed to mind though and grinned and laughed the whole time. As we were getting ready to leave, Beth, Kylie and Jack were out of the pool, but Meg refused to get out, so Brittney went in after her. I was drying Jack off and the second I turned to put his swimmies in our beach bag, he took off for the pool again. I caught him as he was trying to climb down the ladder into the deep end. From now on Jack's swimmies will stay on his arms until he is strapped into his carseat!

None of the girls wear swimmies any more. Megan is swimming pretty well, although she usually swims with her head under water and her little bum stuck straight up in the air. Whatever works I guess :) I think I may get her swimming lessons now that she is staying up on her own. Kylie stays in the shallow end and loves to jump from the side into the pool (where the water is shallow enough that she can stand easily) and her favorite thing is the tugboat slide at the town pool. Beth loves to have me take her out to where the water is about at shoulder level for her and she happily bounces around on her tippy toes making up songs about swimming on her toes and singing them at the top of her lungs. It makes me laugh.

We had a bit of a rough night last night. Beth woke up screaming around midnight. We thought she had a nightmare, but she kept whimpering even curled up next to me. I finally gave her motrin and took her downstairs until it kicked in so that Rob could sleep. This morning she had stuff coming out of her ear that was all too familiar. We took her to the dr and sure enough, she has another ear infection. The doctor wasn't sure if the tube in that side is still in or if the eardrum ruptured because there was too much blood and pus in her ear to see anything :( Poor baby! She's on an antibiotic and has antibacterial drops for her ears and we go back in two weeks to check that ear again. We made sure not to get her head (or ear) wet at the pool today.

Rob has found a gym that is closer, cheaper and lets him pay per class. They offer a free week of classes, so last night he went to a Jiu Jitsu class and tonight he is at a Muay Thai class. I am so glad he found this gym! I know he really missed his boxing classes.

Nothing horribly excited planned for the near future. We are looking forward to our 4th of July celebration this Friday. Rob works Saturday, so we are doing our family celebration on Friday. Our town has it's fireworks that night anyway.

Pictures from Molly's wedding

Molly's wedding was perfect! The girls ended up walking down the aisle with various bridesmaids as Beth and Kylie were shy and didn't want to walk down alone. Jack walked down the aisle with Rob and me (we were the first ones). The reception was a lot of fun too. Megan danced and danced and danced with anyone or no one. Beth danced some, but spent more time playing games on Kiki's iPhone with one of Brian's friends. Kylie spent quite a bit of time playing under one of the tables. She was pretty shy, plus I'm sure that it was fun to play in the tent created by the floor length table cloths.

My family with Molly and Brian ~


The three flower girls and the "ring master" ~


The kids with Molly and Brian ~


Some of the people at our table (my brother Travis, my cousin Katie, my friend Ann Marie, me and Rob) ~


Rob and I dancing ~


Beth dancing with Kiki ~


Meg dancing with Molly's friend Jessie ~


Susie dancing with Meg and Beth ~


Beth dancing with Susie ~


Kiki and Jack dancing ~


Meg and Molly dancing ~


Rob dancing with Megan ~


Jack with my brother Travis ~


Kylie being shy ~


One of my favorite picture of Molly and Brian, taken after the wedding ~

ABC tag from Facebook

A - Age: 31

B - Best coffee: Hot cocoa

C - Chore you hate: Dishes

D - Dog's name: No dogs, just cats

E - Essential start to your day: Jack patting me on the back as he hugs me when I pick him up out of his crib

F - Favorite color: Blue or purple

G - Gift you love getting: Good books I haven't read, flowers, eating out, pedicures

H - Height: 5'10"

I - Instruments you play: umm I can sort of play the piano I guess. I can play a couple of songs on the recorder (thanks to my 3rd grade music teacher)

J - Job title: Child Development and Human Relations Research Associate, otherwise known as Mom :) oh, and full time grad student

K - Kid(s): Megan, Kylie, Elizabeth and Jack

L - Last CD listened to: Don't listen to cd's much - usually listen to iTunes - but I think the last one was Michael McLean

M - Most memorable Christmas present: toss up between the scrapbook about Jack from Susie and my present from Becca and Rob last year (a pedicure with extras and Becca said she would babysit too!)

N - Nicknames: Mom, Momma, Doodlebug, Laney-doo (thanks Dad), Laney lady

O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: I think a couple of days after I hit my head and hurt my back running through a kitchen during a water fight when I was engaged to Rob (but I don't really remember much), a week after my first surgery in 2001, and the night before my gall bladder was removed

P - Pet Peeve: People who put a "R" in words like Washington (Worshington)

Q - Quote from a movie: "Well, don't expect me to go to one of your churches . . . they'd probably make me eat a live chicken!" "Not on your first visit!"

R - Right or left handed: Left

S - Siblings: 3 sisters, 1 brother, 3 sister-in-laws, 2 brother-in-laws

T - Time you wake up: When I have to

U- Ultimate vacation destination: Sicily - or a tour of Europe

V - Vegetable you dislike: Eggplant

W - Ways you run late: Diaper changes, bathroom visits, lost shoes . . .

X - X-rays you've had: Back (several times), dental - I think that's it, everything else was ultrasounds

Y - Yummy food you make: Bread, meatloaf, baked chicken, lasagna, other stuff :)

Z - Zoo favorite: Meerkats

Surviving Summer in TX

Finally after four years, I have discovered the key to actually enjoying the summer in TX. Summers are so incredibly hot here and it stays hot - there are no cool nights to recharge myself. Historically I have spent summers in my lovely air conditioned house, leaving by getting into my air conditioned car in my attached garage only to go to air conditioned stores. This summer we've changed our plans a bit. We live in pools instead. I got a gym membership with a friend to a gym that has a wonderful outdoor pool designed specifically for children. Beca and I got work out for an hour or so while our kids play together in the children's center (which is included in the membership - yay!!!), then we change everyone into swim suits and head out to the pool. The kids love it and I am actually getting the chance to work out! Once a week we kidnap our friend Brittney and her sister and go to the town pool. It makes the heat actually enjoyable as even with the incessant wind that is part of TX, it's still more that hot enough to be in a pool.

We haven't been doing a whole lot else. On Friday we attended two more baptisms at our church, bringing the total for the last two months up to five. Rob's assignment at church is to work with the missionaries and he is very excited about the recent baptisms! There was not a single convert baptism in our congregation last year and only one a year the year before last. Rob has been working really hard for a long time, as have the missionaries in our congregation, and it's so nice to see it finally paying off!!! One of the missionaries (who has taught and help to baptize all five of the recent converts) is being transferred to a different congregation on Wednesday, so we are taking both missionaries out for dinner tomorrow night to thank them for all the work they've done.

I finished my second class about a week ago. I got an A!!! That means that I currently have a 4.0. I know two classes are only the beginning, but at least it's a good start!

A few recent pictures~

Megan reading to Beth and Kylie ~


Rob reading to Beth and Jack ~

The beginning of our trip to MA

We flew out to MA on Thursday, May 28, as Molly's wedding was the following Saturday and her rehearsal dinner was Friday. Rob and I decided that we didn't want to pay to check bags as that can get expensive with six of us, so we went out and bought a few carry-on sized bags (we only had two and one was child-sized). We managed to fit everything, including the extra stuff we had to bring for the wedding, into four carry-on suitcases and one backpack. We only brought a few toys and coloring books to limit the amount of stuff we had to haul through the airports with us.

As we boarded the first flight, Rob was leading and I was bringing up the rear. The pilot spotted the kids as they trotted in after Rob and diverted them into the cockpit. Rob took our stuff to our seats and I pulled out my cell phone to take pictures of them. I don't think the kids have ever been in the cockpit of an airplane, but this pilot was very excited to see them as he had three granddaughters about the same age as our girls. He put his hat on Meg's head, took Jack and perched Jack on his hip, and happily explained all the gadgets in the cockpit to the girls while they pretended to fly the plane. Kylie got to speak to Rob over the intercom (or whatever the speaker system is called). Rob was a bit surprised to hear Kylie's little voice echoing through the plane, but she loved it.




We gave the kids motrin to help their ears not hurt as much and benedryl to insure that any fluid in their ears dried up (a trick we learned from Christy, who takes sudafed before she skydives so her ears don't pop as badly). The benedryl had the added benefit of calming the kids down and Jack and Beth slept through most of the first flight. We had an hour long layover in Atlanta and the second plane was delayed about 30 mins, so we had enough time to get lunch and even got ice cream sandwiches from a vending machine (which took credit cards, something I hadn't seen before, but then again, I don't think I ever use vending machines any more). It's nice that healthy foods are becoming more available as we were able to get things like Naked drinks (which are pretty much pureed fruit and fruit juices and all natural) instead of soda. Granted, we still got Wendy's burgers and the ice cream sandwiches weren't exactly all natural, but we still appreciated the drinks :)

Our flight from Atlanta to Providence (we flew into Providence as we like that airport much better than Boston - it's much easier to get around in and to get to) went pretty well also. The kids started to get antsy by the end, but still behaved themselves very well. Jack required about 45 mins of nonstop "patty cake" and "this little piggy", but I much prefer those to crying or screaming. There were a lot of grandmas on the plane and many of them came up to us after we landed and told us the kids were very well behaved, which we really appreciated hearing :) My favorite was a very petite little grandma who came up to us and sort of stage-whispered "Your children are better behaved then even my grandchildren. Heck, they behave better than MY kids behaved!"

Nona and Papa were there at the airport to meet us and happily commandeered the four kids, even giving them "temple cookies" (huge cookies they sell in the cafeteria of the temple). They loaded the four kids and half of our luggage in their car and took off for their house, making it easier for Rob and I to get our rental minivan. We took a quick detour on the way to Nona and Papa's so that we could drive past our old house in RI. I almost wish we hadn't as the house is now trashed. The paint was peeling horribly and there was garbage and stuff all over the lawn and driveway :( The couple we sold our house to ended up renting it out and apparently didn't do anything other than collect the rent. It was really sad to see it that way as we loved our little house.

We picked up Papa Gino's pizza for everyone just before going to Nona and Papa's. Papa Gino's is seriously the best pizza in the universe. The Bistro down here has good pizza, but nothing compares to Papa Gino's! Yum!

Travis, Christy and Ron had flown in earlier that week and so all of us were together again :) It was wonderful to get to all laugh and joke together :)

More about Megan . . .

I forgot to add this to the last post ~

I mentioned that Meg has been really trying to help out around the house. Not only has she been loading the dishwasher, but the other day she "did the laundry" too. She loaded up the washer and emptied a almost-full family-sized container of laundry detergent into the washer. She has also emptied the trash can in the kitchen several times, even replacing the bag. This morning there was an odd smell as I came downstairs. Meg and Beth were playing in the playroom. Megan had started the dishwasher, which was partially full with last night's dishes, and filled the soap containers with Pine-sol. For those of you who may also have small helpful children, Pine-sol does not result in excessive amounts of bubbles like dish detergent, but it smells a bit like the cars that used to come through the drive-thru of the McD's I worked at in high school after the kids in them had been smoking pot. Odd. I also discovered a bowl in the cheese drawer of the fridge. It had a sheet of wax paper over it and was full of what looked like chocolate almond milk and canned mushrooms. Yum! Megan made it for breakfast (she used the can opener this time, not a steak knife - our can opener cuts along the edge in such a way that you can't cut yourself on either the can or the lid and is so difficult to use that Rob still has issues with it even after owning it for seven years).

I also forgot to add that my parents took Megan to their doctor of Chinese medicine while we were in MA. He felt her pulse and without me telling him anything told us that Meg's liver was not functioning properly as it seemed she had had a virus in it recently. He said that would have knocked out her immune system, caused fevers that fluctuated multiple times a day, and made her very emotional. Since he was able to tell me the specific symptoms she experienced without me even hinting at anything, we decided he seemed to know what he was talking about. He prescribed three powders and some pills for Meg to take for the next two months to help heal her liver and a few other parts of her that were affected (I wrote it all down, but don't have the list next to me). It was nice to have answers, and doubly nice that those answers were not a chronic condition or something like cancer. I don't ever want to go through an experience like those months again. I wish no one had to and it made me develop so much sympathy for parents of children who aren't as lucky. A friend of a friend lost her little girl, who was just a few weeks older than Kylie, a year ago to neuroblastoma. It makes my heart ache to read her blog and to know that there are other families who start off by going through similar experiences to ours, but their experiences don't end after a few months. My prayers are with them. It makes me appreciate the gift of my children so much more. We are so blessed.

Home again, home again

We got home Monday night from our eleven day trip to MA. My sister Molly got married on May 30th and we flew up for her wedding and my sister Susie's graduation from high school a week later. I don't have any pictures as we didn't bring a camera, but tons of pictures were taken by various family members, so I will post my favorites when I get them :)

We had a wonderful time! The girls were flower girls and Jack was the "ring master" (the girls were apparently more familiar with that term than with the title "ring bearer"). The wedding was perfect and absolutely beautiful! We loved getting to spend time with the extended family members and old friends there too! I will post more detail about our trip with the pictures, but we managed to spend lots of time visiting with family and friends and swimming in the hotel pool. Megan learned to swim all by herself in about 10 mins - at least partly because she had watched her cousins (actually 2nd cousins, since she only has one 1st cousin and I don't think he swims yet since he's about 7 months old) swim without floaties at the hotel on the Cape. We were able to visit the Children's Museum in Boston with Rob's sister, Kate. Rob and the kids stayed home from the graduation as we thought seats were limited, but it was so neat to see Sus graduate! She is the last of "our generation" in our family to graduate from high school. That sounds kind of weird. Susie was Kylie's age when I graduated. Megan will be the next to graduate from high school in our family - and that sounds really weird!!! At least it's a decade away, although I know that decade will fly by.

We flew back on Monday night. This time around we tried a new tactic; rather than flying non-stop, we set it up so we had a layover about half-way through each way. On the way out it worked perfectly. The second flight was even delayed for about 30 mins so we had time to get dinner and the kids had more time to run around and get energy out. The way back was a bit less perfect. Our first flight was delayed and delayed. We were supposed to have a two hour layover, but by the time we took off, we were told we would be landing about 30 mins after our second flight was scheduled to take off. Mid-air they redid the route and managed to shave 35 mins off the flight, meaning we landed in O'Hare 5 mins before our second flight was scheduled to leave. Christy checked the flight status on her iPhone and discovered it was running 12 mins late and was leaving from another terminal. We jumped up the second the plane parked and Christy scooped Beth up and grabbed Kylie's hand and I, holding Jack, grabbed Megan's hand and we ran. Rob was a little bit behind us, but he caught up and took Beth. We made it as the last few people were boarding. Yay!!! All of us had only carry on luggage, but we checked it at the gate in Providence all the way through to TX so we wouldn't have to run with it. The luggage didn't make it onto the plane that night, but they delivered it to our house the next day.

It was wonderful to visit, but it's nice to be back in our house too :) Here's a few stories from this week ~

School is officially out, so Meg is home full time now. She has gone out of her way to help out around the house. She and the other kids all loaded the dishwasher on Wednesday completely by themselves. I tried to subtly go through and adjust things so that they were in positions they could actually get cleaned, but I was very impressed with all their work :) ~


I discovered a wonderful new way to keep Jack occupied when I am at the kitchen counter - sticking him in the sink with the cold water turned on low. It originally started because we had watermelon for dessert one night and he was COVERED in watermelon juice. Fortunately I ordered the "washable" brand of children, so I stuck him in the sink to clean him off. He had so much fun, I let him play there while I cleaned up dinner next to him.


A super cute shot of Jack's wrinkled nose grin :)


Megan decided today to eat her lunch upside down. I made her sit back up, but took a picture first :)


Beth dressed up as a baker today. She took an deflated swimmie and somehow stuck it on her head. It was so tight it made her hair stick out over her ears. Then she found a kid's apron and set to work making "cake" in her little play kitchen. I tried to take a picture of her, but she ran away. I asked if I could take one for Nona. She said NO. I asked if I could take one for Molly, Susie, Kiki, Travis, Great Grandma, Kate, etc. She said NO. I asked if I could take one for Papa. She came right over and even posed for him, so Dad, that face is for you! :)

Congratulations Molly and Brian!!!

We've been in MA for the last two weeks as my little sister Molly got married on May 30th. We had a wonderful time and I have lots of stories to share, but I will start off by typing up "The Story of Molly and Brian" that I read at their wedding. This is for you Aunt Annie :)

The Story of Molly and Brian
As read at their wedding May 30, 2009

Neither Molly nor Brian can remember the first time they met, but their first date was September 28, 2001. Molly wasn’t dating anyone at the time and thought Brian would be “a cool guy to go to the movies with,” so she IMed him and asked him out. A few weeks later they were shopping at Providence Place Mall (and Brian hates to shop, so he must have liked her!). Molly picked out some shoes, a cd and a belt, but discovered she didn’t have the money to pay for them. Brian offered to buy them for her, but she only let him buy the shoes. They were blue vans platform sneakers. They were the first closed-toe shoes Molly had worn in nearly four years because she really liked toe socks. Molly wore those shoes almost every day for the next year just because Brian had bought them for her. She still has them. On her 18th birthday a month later, Brian bought her the cd and the belt.

Brian and Molly’s relationship has been filled with little acts of service that show how much they mean to each other. When they were in their early 20’s and their friends were enjoying single life, Molly and Brian were taking turns attending school while the other worked. Molly didn’t have her driver’s license, so Brian would get up every morning to drive her. When Brian was working night shifts, he would come home after working all night and still take the time to drive Molly to school before he let himself go to bed.

When I asked Brian and Molly when they first knew they loved each other, they said they didn’t know. As Molly put it, “we just quietly grew together, nothing momentous, nothing sudden. One day I just knew I loved him.” Over the past seven and a half years, they have quietly been there for each other whenever the other one needed them. They have made sacrifices to stay together. They have learned and grown together and reached a point where they know what the other is going to say before they say it. They “get” each other. After all, he loves her more than video games!

Molly and Brian – as you take this next step together, I’m sure your love for each other will keep growing as your love story continues to be written. As Sir James Barrie said regarding love, “if you have it, you don’t need much else, and if you don’t have it, it doesn’t much matter what else you have.”

I wish you every happiness in the world and I hope you have fun forever!