Hi there....

It's been so long I forgot my password. But, I forget my passwords a lot. I know no one has been sitting around refreshing their browser over and over and over awaiting my return, but I missed my online journal. It is the only thing that keeps those damn baby books update. Crap, baby books. How do people stay on top of these things? I am such a tomorrower. Tomorrow I'll do that. Anyway, I thought I would check in and bring you on to date on our lives. I can't make any promises but I sort am thinking probably maybe that I could be back to blogging. And baby booking. Oh and Cricut'ing, because I just got one of those and am already frustrated. Add that to my lists of odd jobs I create for myself.

Round Up:

Ellie Bee- 4.5- 5 in August, in case you don't see me back until then.

Ellie is a very determined little girl. She wants what she wants when she wants it and refuses to take no for an answer. She must be able to read people well, because she knows the more she badgers me on something the more I will give in. Because of this, she is a regular at Sweet and Sassy. Good thing her dad's a sucker and always pops for it!

These days you can find her prepping for the biggest job of her life, Flower Girl in Cece's wedding. She practices her faces and poses in the mirror after her bath each night. We have worked on dance moves and proper wedding behavior. She has had a trial make up run and even got to try out Cece's fake hair. This will be THEE event of her life and I can't wait to take it all in with her.
Ellie's been in the HoneyBee class at School with Ms. Cathy this year. She loves preaching the good word and learning about Jesus. She has a direct link to heaven with Gommy and Papa and she likes to remind people of this, mostly strangers. It should be weird that she talks about death and heaven so much, but we find it oddly comforting that she continues to bring up her angels all the time!
Ellie is playing Field Hockey again this year and having fun with her little friends in her group! She totally goes for the social aspect, but whatever, so do I. It is fun to talk with all the other moms while lounging on really comfy astroturf. She's all signed up for Soccer in the fall at SGM. If history repeats itself, she will be scoring goals on her own team by October! We have a big year next year... the last year of preschool and prep for kindergarten. We wish we were joining our favorite kindergartner to be, Lilly, but that tricky August cut off got us again.

Likes: Shopping, Sweet & Sassy, Patrick (but not John), Jesus, Tennis (she just decided but doesn't have a racket), sparkles, makeup, Frozen, her sweet little girl friends, and her long hair (only when it's wet, and not curly, and longer than Cece's).

Johnny- 3 or "FREE" in March

John celebrated turning three with a "Fireman John" birthday party with a couple of friends. We had a party at the Sugar Shack with a tour of the Fire Station. John about pooped in his unders when the Fireman had a real call and came flying down the pole one by one. He still can't stop talking about it. But he really never stops talking.
Since he was potty trained at two by our hero, Mrs. R, three was a bit lack luster. So we decided to get crazy and take him out of his pull up at night. It was wild.

A few doctors appts ago Dr A mentioned speech therapy to me. I was researching names when Chris begged that we just take away the bink and see what happened. I reluctantly agreed, because everyone knows the bink issue in our house is my problem. I think my kids look super cute while knawing on them. I went away to Palm Springs, and Chris decided to take the boys beloved nee nees to work and then just leave them there. WTF. I wasn't ready! Turns out, I was the only one not ready. The boys haven't looked back. I occasionally dangle one in front of P's face to entice him b/c I miss my baby w/ one.. but don't tell Chris. Anyway, what I was trying to get at was that Chris wins a-freaking-gain. His speech dramatically improved. He went from saying a few things that required subtitles to never shutting up. Ever. He talks all.the.time.

He's a total mama's boy and likes to remind me of how much he loves me every other night when he crawls over my face into my bed. I know I should mind, but I don't. So sue me. He also lays on the ground on the floor while I take a shower and loves the sound of my blow dryer.
His annoying cough that has been lingering for way too long is finally coming to an end. He is down to one puff of his inhaler a day and we are hoping to be off of it completely by the summer.

Likes: Fire Engines. Fireman. Firehouses. Fireman Sam (some weird Welsh show on Netflicks). Trains. Conductors. Cars. Trucks. Legos. Blocks. Water Guns. Bounce Houses. Hockey. Hockey sticks. TJ Oshie. Blackhawks. He is a total boy, a smudge sensitive, but all boy.

Patrick- 1.5- 2 in August.

Oh sweet Patrick. Diddy, Paddy, Dids. He is such a mess. I forgot how terrible 18 months was. I was in a newborn haze when John was 18 months and totally forgot. Patrick continues to eat his way through life. I should start one of those sweet Pinterest like collections from things I find in his diaper. I could save everything and present it to him and his wife on his wedding day. I wish I could jump into the future to catch a glimpse of what Dids will be like at 18. Dragging Keegan and Jack down with him. With his hair.

Patrick is such a sweet determined little bugger. He gets his hands on everything and is told no the majority of the day. He loves his sleep and is the household's current sleeper (I learned my lesson, they all basically suck at sleeping at different times in their life).

Likes: ME. Patrick is my #1 main squeeze and stalker. We could spend all day hugging, laughing, smooching and repeating. We are best friends and I am the only one that can handle his constant whine. Dirt. Patrick loves to eat dirt. Dancing. The boy can shake his butt like no one else. Going for runs. Playing at the park. Taking baths alone (very very rare in these parts) and brushing his teeth for hours.

The 3Petes:  Together as a crew the 3Petes can:

1. unlock and open all of our doors. And we live on a busy street.
2. build a tower to reach the garage door opener, open the garage door, and run out onto our busy street.

3. bathe together. I love that I can still give all 3 a bath at the same time. Things are getting cramped in that small tub, but it really saves me some time (and allows me social media time)
4. climb into their carseats and start the buckle process. Again, it's not what I can do for them, but what they can do for me.
5. eat a 50 pack of donuts from Dunkin Donuts.

6. poop in public places.
7. Ruin a mall trip

And 8. Make us laugh and love them even more every day. We may be tired, under laundered and overstressed, but we wouldn't have it any other way. I just wish I could talk Chris into a 4Petes :) 

Chris coached Chaminade into another great season and took on a million extra projects w/ the team. He went to The Bahamas on a fishing adventure with Dan for a week.

He handled 3 puking kids (while puking himself) while I was in Palm Springs drinking way too much. And finally, went to New Orleans for Michael's bachelor party and caught a Phish show (and texted me videos of hippies dancing titled "I hate hippies"). He had a pretty good #WinterofChris which can only be followed by a spectacular repeat of #SummerofChris. Can't wait to see what his future holds :)

And finally, me. I went to Palm Springs for Cece's bachelorette party and spent the kids college tuition. And that is basically where my story ends. Between work, the kids, and trying to lose 987 lbs by May 31st, I don't have time for much else.

We have been working hard at keeping smiles on our faces and laughing. Laughing a lot. Because we are really funny.

(let's see how that goes without editing, re-reading and correcting grammatical errors... I expect a text from my brother shortly)