Playing with Grandmom

Grandmom becomes a kid when she is around all her grandchildren. She is full of energy and John commented the other day that she knows every nursery rhyme. She might. Between playing the board game Life and playing London Bridge, (all in between making Thanksgiving Dinner) she kept all the kids busy this weekend. I think they all had fun :)

Thanksgiving Day--Scudder Dinner

In the afternoon, we went to part two of our Thanksgiving, which included another meal! The older cousins were so excited to see our kids. They are getting to be so helpful with these kids. Our girls love all the attention and Jack, Nicholas and Amy are great playmates!

Margaret & Anna, Sarah & Kate, Erin & Elizabeth

Kate finally let Uncle Mike hold her

Two meals in one day made for a busy day and four very tired children. But, we have so much to be thankful for this year and always. Wonderful families, growing, happy children, yummy dinner(s), great friends and we are also thankful that our house sold so quickly :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Day--Szczepanski Dinner

Thanksgiving Day! We were excited to celebrate and to see everyone. We started out the day at Grandmom's and Granddad's house. There was quite a crowd including, Grandmother and Grandfather Poinsatte, Uncle Phillip and Aunt Patty and their three children, the Druelle's, the Szczepanski's and us! We were missing the Wakefields :(

My mom made a great meal which we enjoyed quietly (the girls were napping).

Kid table #1. Jack helped to set the tables with Grandmom. He put little stickers at each of the kid's place settings. What a nice little boy to share his stickers :)

Kid table #2. This was reserved for the older group of kids.

Anna and Kate are unloading the set table.

Jack

Elizabeth

Kate

Anna

Grandmother and Grandfather looking after the little kids.

Aunt Julie and Kate

Aunt Patty, Marie, Anna and Jeremy

John, Grandmom, Elizabeth and Uncle Phillip

Carving the bird

Dinner--the little kids: Abby, Jack, Thomas and Kevin

The middle kids: Marie, Richie, Braden, James, Emily and Ambria

The adults

Carter liked his Thanksgiving, too :)

Granddad and his Girls

This picture sums up my dad's new life in the last two months. These little girls love him. Elizabeth will say his name, Anna has him wrapped around her finger--all she has to do is crawl over to him and he picks her up. She grabs onto his shirt once he is holding her. Kate has learned to crawl to him for a get-out-of-jail-free-pass. He picks her up and takes her out of the playroom. And when one gets his attention, the others aren't too far behind! How lucky are they to have such a great granddad!

I should mention that aside from helping with the girls, Granddad has become the king of the 'underdog' (a push on the swing) and has been keeping Jack busy during the day. He also has been bathing Jack and putting him to bed every night--what a huge help for me!

I'm Thankful For...

I'm thankful for...

Our neighbor & uncles & aunts & enemies (enemies are people I don't like)

My mom & dad & grandma (mom) & Granddad

Clocks & Blocks


Jack~ almost 4 years old

Jack came home from preschool today and he had made a turkey with things he is thankful for written on the feathers. I wanted to share his responses to what he is thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

16 Months!

The girls are 16 months today! Time is flying by! I was thinking back to last Christmas...they were 4 months old. Then, they were sleeping through the night, but I still think they might be harder this year!

They went to see Dr. Jim for a weight check. At their 15 month check they recovering from a week of vomiting, so their weight gain from their 12 month visit wasn't that great. Yesterday, they had gained back the weight from their illness and then some! Anna was 15 lbs. 12 oz., 27.5 inches long. Kate was 15 lbs. 9 oz., and 27 inches long and Elizabeth was 15 lbs. 6 oz., and 27.25 inches long. So, only 6 oz. and a half of an inch separates the three of them. Good thing they look so different :)

Kate

Elizabeth

Anna

Great-Grandparents and 15 Months

Today we enjoyed the day with my grandparents and Uncle Ric. They all came over after church to visit. My mom made a delicious lunch that we enjoyed after we put the girls down for a much needed nap. We always love to see them and we had a good conversation today because the girls were napping for a few hours so they weren't there to distract us.

My grandmother is feeding the girls yogurt

Grandmother and Kate

I think all the kids might be sitting at this table by next year

Jack was signing the days of the week and the months of the year for Great Grandmother

Jack was quite the little helper today even with no playmates his age. He helped wash dishes and load the dishwasher after lunch.

Great Grandmother and Great Grandfather

Helping Kate with her sippie cup

After they left this evening, Elizabeth starting taking quite a few steps! She has been watching Anna do it and she decided she can do it too. She is VERY cautious. She keeps her knees bent and with each step she gets closer and closer to a squat! It is funny to see her walk!

Today the girls are 15 months old! They are growing up way to fast! Right now they all seem to be concentrating on walking. Anna is probably walking more than she crawls, Elizabeth and Kate stand quite a bit. Kate even dances while standing. They all take three to four sippie cups a day and are completely off the bottle! They are phasing out of their morning naps and will only go down in the morning when we are not leaving the house. They all still sleep wonderfully in the afternoon, anywhere from 2-4 hours. They love finger foods and will pretty much eat everything, although Anna is the best eater and Elizabeth is the most picky. They like to crawl up the stairs, puzzles, blocks, music and books. Anna just recently got one of her first molars, so she now has seven teeth, Elizabeth leads the way with twelve teeth and Kate has two (but her top two teeth are so close to coming in).

15 Month Check-Up

Today I took the girls to see Dr. Jim for their 15 month check up. These visits keep getting harder! Realizing that I would need to use a one-on-one vs. zone defense, I gathered two of my cousins to go with me. Thankgoodnes for Cecilia and Maria!! We trooped into the clinic at 9 am. I think Elizabeth started crying about 9:15 and didn't stop until we left the office around 11am. I really think after we undressed her for her weight, she realized what was going on. She fussed while waiting for Dr. Jim, and screamed during her exam. I had her go first and Cecilia took her for a walk out to the waiting area and she was better once out of the room. Kate was slightly better than Elizabeth, however, she cried through her exam, too. I guess she noticed Elizabeth doing that and took notes. Anna was perfect. No tears, but smiles. Dr. Jim said, well, you deserve to have one that doesn't scream. The girls look good. Because they were preemies and multiples, Dr. Jim referred us to the Indiana program, First Steps. They will evaluate the girls to see if they need any sort of development therapy. The girls were in the Illinois version of this, so it is a great way to keep up on their development. Also, they are still on the small side, and Dr. Jim wants to see them back in a month to check their weights because of their illnesses last week. He was not concerned because they have been following the same growth curve, however, it is just below the charts. They also got three shots today :(

Today, Anna outweighed her sisters by almost a pound and is 3/4 of an inch longer. She is 14 lbs. 15 oz. 27 3/4 inches long and her head was 44.5 cm. Her head is on the charts around the 10th percentile.

Today, Elizabeth weighed 14 lbs. 4 oz. She is 27 inches long. Her head is 44 cm. Her head is just on the charts around the 5th percentile.

Today, Kate, who was hit hardest with the GI bug last week weighed 13 lbs. 12 oz. She was 27 inches long like Elizabeth and her head was 44 cm too. Her head is around the 5th percentile.

Until next time...18 months in February. And they only have one shot left!

Here they are going up to bed tonight. They LOVE to climb up the stairs. (My mom was standing right behind them)

Good Night All

I'ts Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas...

We decided to get some of the Christmas decorations out this weekend. I'm not sure my mom in all of her 57 years has ever put up decorations this early, but since I am living here at the moment, I gave her a little nudge saying it was OK to get it done. Plus we are hosting Thanksgiving Dinner next week and I think it will be nice to enjoy the tree and lights with everyone! I might be regretting this in the coming weeks with the girls walking and crawling towards the tree...we'll see. I love this time of year--the family, the food, the lights, music...I could go on forever! Here are a few pictures of the kids in the last few days.

The girls have been fighting little viruses again. Anna decided to empty out the tissue box one morning. She typically does this with the wipes if I leave them out.

My Mom put the girls in a box. Who wouldn't want this package this Christmas? :)

Typical morning. The girls crowd me. They are slightly jealous when I am holding someone other than themselves. Sometimes I wish I had three arms :)

Kate. She reaches up on the top of her head looking for a bow when I put bows in Anna's and Elizabeth's hair. I have to tell her she doesn't have enough hair for a bow.

Elizabeth

Anna

Jack ran errands with Grandmom today and they stopped by Great-Grandmother's and Great-Grandfather's house.

Grandmom took the girls for a walk today since it wasn't too cold.

Oh, if all goes well, we sold our house! We are so glad that it only took a little over a month! We are so thankful for the sale, but it really makes this holiday season even more busy. We close on the home Dec. 10th. Now, we get to start looking for a new home--that's the fun part!