Matthew and Jonathan turn 7.

Okay, so it's a little later than Tuesday, but hey, I am only a week behind. As you know the twins turned 7 on October 3rd. All in all it was a pretty nice day. The twins had school and got to take a treat for their classes. They chose M&M sugar cookies from Albertsons. When they got home from school, I decided to be a brave mom and I took all 3 boys to ToysRUs. The twins received birthday money from Grandma Rosie and I decided to let them choose what they wanted. Matthew had been talking about a race track for quite sometime. So I knew he would want to get that. The store wasn't too crowded and they all did quite well. Matthew chose a Nascar race track and also got a Cars game for the Nintendo DS. It is quite funny to see him carrying around my pink DS to play his game. But he loves that game. Jonathan picked out a Pokemon maker thing (think easy bake oven). I wasn't real happy about that choice but it was his money. We have yet to attempt to make one. He also picked out a movie and a couple days ago he spent the rest of his money on a book.
After the store I decided to let them choose what they wanted for dinner. Jonathan wanted Wendys, Matthew wanted Pizza and Luke wanted McDonalds. Matthew eventually changed his mind to McDonalds but Jonathan still wanted Wendys. Since I already braved the store with all 3 boys I decided to brave McDonalds as well. I had planned on just taking the food home to eat, but figured if I pulled up to the McDonalds and Jonathan saw that it had a play place he would change his mind and he did. They all did quite well there and even listened when I told them it was time to go home.
Once home, I put the race track together. Did I earn some mommy bonus points for that??? My parents came over about 6:30 for cake and presents and Eric got home about 6:45. We did cake and then opened some presents. By the end of the night I was exhausted but happy that the twins had enjoyed their day. This was the first year that they had been waiting for their birthday to come and they were so excited to celebrate the day. Every year things get better and better with them. I can hardly believe that they are 7 but it is amazing to see just how far they have come. They are such a blessing and I can't wait to see what this year brings. Enjoy the pictures.

Here is the birthday cake. I know it's not a masterpiece but the twins were happy with it. In the picture below doesn't it look like it's Luke's birthday instead? He just plopped himself right down in front of the cake.
Here is a picture of Matthew and Luke with the new race track. Yes, Luke has a black eye, courtesey of the brother sitting next to him.
Jonathan showing off his new toy. I am not looking forward to attempting this one. I will let you know how it goes.
Jonathan enjoying his birthday cake.
Jonathan opening his Chicka Chicka Boom Boom DVD. This has been his favorite story for about 3 years now and he never tires of it. He loves his alphabet.
Matthew opening up some new Cars the movie, cars.
I love how he intently studies the packaging. They all do this and it's so cute.

Stay tuned for my next post in the next day or so of our day trip we took yesterday.

The Twins Turn 7.

The twins turned 7 on Friday, October 3rd. I have much to write about and pictures to post. Hopefully I can get on here tomorrow or Tuesday and fill you all in on those precious twins of mine. Stay tuned....

Praise and Worship.

I know I have posted about the twins singing worship songs all the time, especially Jonathan but I had to share this with you all. Last night on the way home from church and dinner we were listening to the boys cd of downloaded songs that they love to sing in children's church. I happened to look in the rear view mirror to see what the twins were doing (Luke was with Daddy in Daddy's car) and saw them reaching their hands in the air while singing. Now we do these motions with the songs and that is what they were doing, but it just did something to my heart to see them praising this way. I often wonder how much they understand about Our Savior and the songs we sing to Him and seeing that last night just made think that they just might understand more than I think they do. I posted the song they were singing last night along with one of their other favorites right now.

What to do about Luke and more pics.

Is he just cute or what? We were trying out some fun hairstyles after we cleaned up from some chalk playing, which you will see below.
Before we get to that, though, I wanted to write about this boy. As some of you may know, Luke has moderate to severe asthma, he also has some pretty severe food allergies and moderate to severe eczema. He is just a mess isn't he? Last night I spent 3 hours at urgent care (no they were not busy, just slow, slow, slow) because Luke was complaining about his ears and coughing some. On a side note, we had one of the worst storms I can ever remember last night and it was pretty scary being out in it. Anyway, He came down with a stuffy nose on Monday, which he gets whenever we get rain (we have gotten a lot of rain this summer). The stuffy, runny nose usually turns into an ear infection. This time it was no different, he has a pretty severe double ear infection. He had another double ear infection in May, March, January and December, I am sure there were more in the last year but I can't remember right now. I am just so tired of him getting these ear infections. Have any of your kids had tubes put in? If they have how was it decided that they needed them? Do you think I should bring this up at his next appointment. He has a quarterly check-up with his asthma/allergist doctor on Wednesday and I was wondering if I should bring it up with him. Any thoughts and feelings on the matter would help.
The twins have probably each had 2 ear infections in their almost 7 years of life. Luke has probably had 5-6 a year.
One last thing, I believe Luke will be getting retested for his nut and egg allergies on Wednesday. Please keep him in your prayers. Last year the egg had gone down but the nuts were still in the severe (off the charts) range.


Now for more pictures. This one is of Luke writing his name. He found a broken piece of chalk in the rocks in front of our house and just started writing L's and U's. I was very impressed and Grandma Rosie and I talked him through writing the K and E. I think he did a very good job for a not quite 3 and a half year old. He is above his name in the picture because we were trying to get him to pose. He did not write his name upside down.
Here was another silly hairstyle, but you can't see it very well.
This one is Grandma Rosie and the boys right before we took her to the airport.

First Day of School 2008

The twins first day of school was Monday, August 11th. Daddy was gone camping in upstate New York, but Grandma Rosie was here for the week from Pennsylvania. The morning started out pretty calmly with all the boys playing their leapsters. I just had to get a picture of the 3 of them sitting on one chair all concentrating on their games. Here is Jonathan ready for his first day of first grade at a new school. He was ready to go with his new Pokemon backpack and new Spiderman lace up shoes.
Here is Matthew not really wanting his picture taken. He was happy that he was going to school and that he would be in the first grade. He was also very excited that Jonathan would get to ride the bus with him again.
The best I could do at getting the two of them together. Grandma Rosie was taking pictures too, so they didn't quite know where to look.
Opening the door to go outside and wait for the bus, which was 15 minutes late. But we were all happy that it was the same bus driver that Matthew had last year and the twins had her the year before when they were at preschool. We love Tracy the bus driver, who happened to work with my husband a few years ago.
Luke's very first day of school ever was Tuesday, August 19th. He would be in preschool at Little Palms Preschool at my parents church. We went to meet the teacher the day before and all the students were given a little book bag to bring to school everyday. Luke was very happy to get an orange one, which is one of his favorite colors next to red. Here he is getting ready to leave for school. He thought he needed to wear the bag around his neck. I think it looks like an apron.

The sign outside his school.
Poppa (my dad) works at the church and gets to ride this golf cart around from place to place. Luke got a ride to the school building. Nothing like VIP treatment on your first day.
Approaching the door. He doesn't look to sure about it.
Here he is getting ready to find some cars to play with. Luke did just great the first day. He did have a potty accident but all was okay the second day. He was all ready to go back on Thursday. I may have to think about adding another day to his school week in January if he continues to do well.

Pictures are coming.

Just wanted to let you know that I haven't forgotten to post pictures of everyones first day of school. I am having a little trouble locating the cable to connect the camera to the computer. I plan on looking some more tonight. See what happens when you clean your house?....you can't find anything.

First Day of School

The twins went back to school yesterday and Mommy was so happy. It has been a rough last 2 weeks with them home. The fighting between all 3 boys was getting to be too much for me to take. I walked in the house as the bus pulled away and just breathed a sigh of relief. Luke on the other hand turned to me and said "I just need them back." It was such a nice relatively peaceful day. Of course the fighting began as soon as we were back from speech therapy and today it was even worse.
The boys were so happy to get on the bus and they both had a great first day and second day. Luke starts preschool next Tuesday so I will wait to post pictures until then. I just needed to get on here to tell you how HAPPY I am that school is back in session.

Pictures

Here are some pictures that have been on my camera for a few weeks. The first 3 are pictures of Luke with his new love, Watermelon. Every Summer it seems he has a new favorite fruit to eat. 2 years ago it was blueberries, last year he couldn't get enough of strawberries and this year it's watermelon. He still loves all the other fruit but this is his favorite right now.

The next two pictures are from the night he decided to go pee pee in the potty and got his Thomas and Friends Cranky set. Daddy set the whole thing up on his train table, which by the way, my dad made for him last year. That's the best he would give me for a smile at the camera. He was a little preoccupied.

The following picture is of the lilies that Eric's coworkers gave us. Once the smell was too much for us to deal with Eric went and planted them under his grape vine out back. I think they have since died, but since I never go out back I wouldn't know.

The next three pictures are from my very quiet birthday on the 10th. It was the day after my surgery so things were pretty somber around the house. My mom made a cake (raspberry jello cake) for me. Eric, Luke and Jonathan had fun putting lots of candles on there. I then remembered that I had the 3 and 2 candles from Luke's past birthdays and since I was turning 32 I thought it would be fun. As you can see I had lots of help blowing out my candles. Yes, there is cake missing from the pan, thanks to my mother for keeping a little bit for herself and my dad.



Here is Luke showing off his new underwear. I love how he is looking back at them. I may be silly but I just love his little tushy in underwear.

You know something is up when you see a face like this. What did you do Lukeypants?

This is what I discovered after seeing him in the above picture. I guess the NASCAR cars were hungry or maybe unfortunate to find themselves in a downfall of crumbled up chips.



These next pictures I had actually taken before I read Doni's post about Ty. They are of Matthew playing Disney Pixar Cars on the Gamecube. The first one he is pretty serious about what he is doing and is actually sitting quite nicely.

This is how he is usually playing. He jumps around and talks the whole time he is racing. Sometimes Jonathan joins in but this day he was tired and decided to just sit on the couch like a good boy.
I tried to get him in the air but it didn't quite work. Yes, that is Luke napping on the floor. Believe it or not he stayed out of harms way and slept there for almost 2 hours. It's so nice to have boys who can sleep through most anything. How I wish I could do that.

Potty Training Update.

Luke has been doing a great job with his potty training. Last week he decided he was ready. We didn't switch him over to underwear until this week because of all that happened last week. Monday he didn't really know quite what to do about the underwear and had an accident on the carpet, but yesterday and today he has kept his underwear dry all morning until nap time when I switch him to a pullup. He is very proud of himself.
He has also figured out all the fun stuff he can get as well. Daddy took him to get a new Disney Pixar Cars car last Friday after he went pee pee in the potty a few times for him during the day. Monday morning a good friend of ours, Ms. Sarah (not me), came over and went with us to Toys R Us to get a new Cars King play set that she and I had promised him way back in April. He was very excited to have Ms. Sarah come over.
That same day he got to go to Target with my mom and get a couple more Cars because she and my dad had told him they would take him to the store to get something if he pee peed in the potty at their house. So now he thinks he needs something every time he goes. We have narrowed it down to getting something if he keeps his underwear dry all week and then we will probably do something for number 2 in the toilet, as well. Then he will just have to learn that it's just something he needs to do.
I am just so happy that he decided to do this when he did. What a blessing it was for me last week. I do have a few pictures from the past month that I am hoping to get posted within the next few days.

PS. I am doing well and life is back to "Normal."

Joy in the Midst of Pain.

As some of you may know, Our little unborn baby died last week and we found out this week. Today I had surgery to remove the baby and all went well. It was a little hard to go through all the pre-op stuff as it was almost all the same things I went through for both c-sections. It also occurred to me that both c-sections were on Wednesdays and so was this surgery. Everyone has been so nice and I appreciate all your prayers and all your love.
It has been a very emotional week for us but life goes on when you have 3 boys needing your love and attention. So last night Lukey told me he needed to go potty and off we went to sit on the toilet and voila he DID IT!!!! I was so proud of him and we made a big deal about it and he got his Thomas and Friends Cranky. It has been sitting in a box in my room for a week and he knew he had to "pee pee in the potty" to get it. Last week he was still so stubborn about the whole thing. This week he has been at my moms 3 days in a row and she had him sitting on the toilet but nothing ever happened. I am so glad he did this for me last night. I still have him in pull-ups but plan to start the underwear again next week when I am feeling better. Luke has always been a very intuitive little boy something that is amazing for his age but really needed for his brothers. He has known that Mommy hasn't been having a good week and has added me to his prayers at night all by himself without prompting. As much trouble as he is, he is equally if not more such a joy. He had to give me kisses and hugs all afternoon and was really gentle with me. I love my Lukeypants and am really praying that this is the start of no more diapers!

From Mommy to Mom

Well, it has happened. Jonathan now calls me "Mom." Every once in a while when he gets hurt or really needs something of me he still calls me Mommy. But for the most part it is just Mom. This is a little sad for me. I love being Mommy and am not real thrilled to hear my 6 year old calling me Mom. The way he says it is quite funny. It's really long when he says it. I don't know when he discovered that he could just shorten my name but I guess it was eventually going to happen. I think the tough part is the fact that they never called me Mommy until they were almost 4. It was a dream come true and now only 3 years later one of them has stopped and I am sure the other 2 will pick up on it real soon.
The good news in all of this is come January I will have another little one that will call me "Mommy." So I know I have a few more years to hear one of my most favorite words.

Another story along the same lines. Luke overheard Eric call me "Bear" which Eric has called me since we got married. Luke got real upset by this and had to set Daddy straight. "Daddy." Luke said "She's not a bear she's a mommy." All weekend if Eric called me any term of endearment we have heard this same sentence. Luke is very determined to teach Daddy that I am Mommy. Isn't that sweet?

A Fear Come True!

Okay, so it's not as bad as the title makes it out to be, but I suppose it could be.

Most of you know that the twins have only been potty trained for less than a year. While I am still rejoicing in that fact there are still some hard things about it. One of them being their lack of a need for privacy. They just go in the bathroom and don't even bother with the door. I know most kids are this way but they do this at other people's houses and in public restrooms. I am usually with them and make sure they know they have to shut the door. The other issue is that they feel like they can just come out of any bathroom without putting their pants back on. Again, they do this at my parents house and have done it at other people's houses too. We are usually quick to catch them. I am usually with them in a public restroom so I am quick to make sure they don't leave the stall without pulling up their pants. Matthew has done pretty well with this but Jonathan just doesn't care. He is constantly walking around the house with his undies and short wrapped around his ankles. He thinks he needs help getting them back up but he CAN do it.
I am sure you know where this is going. Today my mom and I decided to take the boys to a local pizza place called Peter Piper Pizza (a smaller scale chuck e cheese). My mom and I were helping Matthew and Luke play some games while Jonathan was busy climbing in the tunnels and going down the slide. Somewhere along the way he must have decided to go potty. I am not sure which restroom he used, Men's or Women's, but he went in and went potty. Neither, my mom nor I was aware of this until, one of the young men working there came walking around the corner with Jonathan who, you guessed it, was walking around with his undies and shorts around his ankles. We explained to the worker that he was Autistic and he said he understood, but some people might not. I was mortified. I did get his pants up and tried to explain to him how he couldn't do that. I try and tell him this at home every time he does it. Thankfully, the restaurant wasn't crowded because we were there after lunch and thankfully no one complained. I am not sure if anyone else saw him. I just don't want this happening again and I am not sure what I can do about it.

New foods.

I just thought I would update you on what the twins have started eating. I know I mentioned a couple months ago that Jonathan had eaten a hot dog for me and corn dogs. He now eats a corn dog or two almost everyday for lunch. I still have to de-corn the corn dog, but hey, I am just so happy he is eating them.
Matthew was a little slow with eating new foods and all of a sudden in the last month and week he has broadened his menu. It started with trying some carrots during Occupational Therapy. She has been working with feeding issues with them for about 3 months now. Then a couple weeks ago at a graduation party he decided he would like a bite of watermelon. He took a bite and didn't like it but he did finish what was in his mouth. Then this week he asked to make a ham sandwich because he wanted to eat it. I let him make half a sandwich because I didn't want it to go to waste. He ate it. The last 3 days he has eaten a ham sandwich for lunch. He also ate a bunch of grapes at VBS this week. I am just so happy that they are eating some new things.

Jonathan's Loss and Gain.

For the past couple of weeks Jonathan has had a very loose tooth but it just wouldn't come out. Last week it was really bothering him but no matter how much we wiggled it the tooth just wouldn't come out. It was a very tiny tooth and we couldn't get a good grip on it. We left it alone the past couple of days and this morning I just decided to ask him how it was doing. He opened his mouth and I noticed that a new tooth was already coming in. I stuck my finger in his mouth and pushed the baby tooth out. He complained for about 30 seconds and then was fine. So he lost his first tooth today and already has a new one coming in. Matthew, who lost his first tooth in February, still doesn't have his new tooth in yet. On an interesting twin note, When their first teeth came in the both got their front bottom tooth in but Matthew got his left one in first and Jonathan his right. They also lost those same teeth first. We have long suspected that they are mirror image twins from other things about them and this is just another to add to that.

I tried to get some pictures of the missing tooth but didn't have much success. Here they are anyway.

It's his front right tooth or your left. Yes, he has crowns in his mouth.

I don't know why he had to close his eyes when he opened his mouth. You can see the new tooth in this one.

He then decided he needed his picture taken with his Dinoco Helicopter. Luke wanted his picture taken too but was not happy that he didn't have the helicopter. Matthew is playing the piano for us in the background.

Schools Out, Now What?

I am back!

School has been officially out now for a week and a half and I am already ready for the twins to go back. I reinstated "quiet time" almost every afternoon. The boys can tell time on a regular clock now and they have one in their room. So I always let them know when they are allowed to come back downstairs. Most days they fall asleep. I do this because Luke still needs his nap most days and Mommy needs hers now too.
In case some of you don't know, child #4 is on it's way to the Crazy Rosenbarker house. I am pretty sure I am due towards the end of January. Let's just say this is going to be one of longest Summer's for me. Trying to take care of 3 crazy boys and fight first trimester yuckiness is not what I had planned for the Summer. I keep remembering I was pregnant with the twins during one of the hottest summers we have had. (Of course all our summers are HOT.) At least it was quiet and I could rest whenever I wanted. It should be interesting these next couple of months.

Next week the boys have VBS at my mom's church and other than that we don't have a whole lot planned this Summer since we took our big trip in March.

I just wanted to update you on what has been going on here and keeping me away from blogging. I will try and get on here more frequently and let you all know how things are going.

Random Pictures from the Past Month.

Luke needed a picture of his new fashion style. He did this to himself.
Luke got this workbench for his birthday. It came a couple weeks after the fact but he was very excited. I put the whole thing together. Go Mom! < A couple weeks ago I took the boys (by myself) to a local park that has a few rides including this mini train. They did very well and cannot wait to go again this Saturday. Matthew calls it the carnival. Riding jet ski boats. I was really surprised that Luke got on because he does not like carousals, but he did great.





Luke started going to Rainbows on Sunday night at church since he is now 3. Here he is in his new uniform.

The boys were playing in this box that contained the twins new bedding. Oh how fun boxes are. This reminds me I need to get pictures of the new beds.

Matthew asked me to take his picture one morning before school. I thought he posed very well.


Luke wanted his picture taken yesterday morning. I think he wanted me to take a picture of the red balloon. This kid loves having his picture taken.