Birthday

Well, the party was a success! The weather was beautiful, hot, but better than rain :-) The babies cooperated beforehand and took their two naps, so they managed the excess stimulation pretty well. We had a great time and truly appreciate all of the support and well wishes that came our way. What an honor it is to share this celebration with all of you :-)

Happy Birthday Hailey!

Each baby got their own little cake to dig into.

The Presentation......

The Wind Up......

The Full-On Melt Down!

As you can see, Hailey was not too pleased about her cake. Bless her little soul, she's not much for crowds. Especially ones staring at her waiting to see her devour cake. What's a one year old's party without some tears??? Fortunately, she settled down and enjoyed opening a gift. After one though, she was done!

Happy Birthday Andrew!

I tried to make Andrew's cake as boy as possible with my limited artistic skills.

It looks like he's gearing up to dig in.

Now he looks a little perplexed. Cake certainly doesn't taste like vegetables.

Done! This is Andrew's way of "No More!"

When Andrew first started eating solids, I was sure he would be my "Mikey", but lately he's become a bit on the selective side. I guess cake at the moment is not one of his selections.

When it came to opening presents, he bypassed the packages and went right for the cards. Smart boy :-) We did manage to get him interested long enough to make a few tears.

Happy Birthday Molly!

For some reason, polka dots remind me of Molly. Maybe because she had some really cute polka dot outifts. Plus, they seem to give off a "fun-loving" vibe, just like Molly.

It didn't take her anytime to dig right in!

Of course, digging in for Molly means inspecting, observing, touching, anything but eating :-)

Apparently, she's enjoying this part!

Out of the three, Molly's cake endured the most damage. And it was all done by her! The others had some help.

Molly also had the most fun opening a present. She was delighted at the sound of the paper ripping and the bright colors of what was inside. She will be my party girl!

It was a lot of work getting ready for this shin-dig, and I'd like to thank a few people! Jeff, thanks for helping Tim out with the pressure washing! We both appreciate your friendship! Laurie, thanks for watching the kiddos for me so I could get some cleaning done, and for always keeping me on track :-) What would I do without ya! And thanks to my mom and sisters for pulling the food together and getting my kitchen back in shape afterwards! As much as I'd like to take credit, all I did was answer questions and try to get in the way! We could not have pulled this party off without your efforts. Thanks for all the wonderful pictures Tori! You did a great job, as always :-) Shellie, thank you for the delicious rice! It was enjoyed very much. And thanks to everyone who came or were with us in thought! It's hard to believe that 16 months have gone by since the arrival of these miracles, but we have come to know and appreciate how truly blessed we are!

Here are just a few more pics. I'm putting together an album with Photobucket, but it's taking a long time to go through all the pictures and make sure they are in the right position. As soon as I finish, I will post the link to view that album, and any others I create.....

This girl is always smiling!

Andrew, the charmer!

Molly wants everyone to know that she touched quesadilla to her tongue!

Andrew found Molly's cake to be more interesting!

McCann Family Photo

Allen/Roper Family Photo

The "Party" Cake

Hailey wants to know if the party is over yet and if everyone is gone.....

Well, that's it for now! I have some ideas for upcoming posts! Stay tuned :-)

4th of July

I was asked in a survey once, or twice or 10 times maybe, what my favorite holiday is. I had never been asked that before, but after giving it some thought I realized that the 4th of July is my favorite holiday. There is little pressure but lots to celebrate, no shopping or gift giving, and lots of good food and friends! What more do you need? Here are some pictures from this year's festivities. We had a great time just enjoying the day and being with family and friends :-)

The day started with the annual neighborhood 4th of July parade. The kids decorate whatever mode of transportation suits them and they parade around with patriotic music playing.

Following the parade, we quickly packed everyone up and headed to Enumclaw for the Stars and Stripes celebration in town. We met up with my mom, sisters, and Tim's brother and his family. Megan enjoyed all of the fun activities for kids.

Molly had a great time taking in all the sights and sounds of the festivities.

There was a bubble blowing station and once again, with my sister
Tori behind the camera, we got a couple of really neat shots.

After the daytime activities, we went home, put the babies down for a nap and then headed over to our friends Bob, Laurie, and Brooke's house. You've seen pictures of Megan and Brooke together. The little girls spent time swimming, having their cheeks painted, and decorating cookies. Megan had a blast!

Here is my attempt at a 4th of July picture of the four. That wasn't gonna happen!

Instead, we settled for one of the six of us. Here we are with the kiddos waiting to participate in the first annual Sky Island 4th of July parade. The 4 girls along with the babies in the stroller made the trek around the cul de sac with their bikes and scooters all decked out in patriotic fare! It was so cute.

All in all, it was a wonderful 4th and great way to celebrate all that we have been blessed with over the past year. I'm happy to report that the babies slept right through our own neighborhood fireworks, and they were pretty loud!

I hope you all found the day as enjoyable as we did :-)

One Year Ago

Hailey Elizabeth

One year ago we brought the first of our three miracles home. Hailey was a mere 5 lbs., doing little more than eating and sleeping.

She was a tiny little thing that fit perfectly in the crook of an arm and resembled a little doll.
Today she is closing in on 18 lbs., thanks to grilled cheese and ice cream, tormenting her sisters and brother at every opportunity, and mastering new skills like they are going out of style!
We are so proud of our beautiful little Hailey :-)

Charlotte McCann

Are you really seeing a spider trap a fly???? Yes, you really are. The other night Megan, my sisters and I were in the kitchen and all of a sudden Megan says "Mom, do you hear that noise?" So, she gets out the flashlight, not just a flashlight but a meg-lite, and gets down on the floor to investigate. She proceeds to tell us that there is a spider trapping a fly under the cupboard. Tim says "No there isn't", and Megan says, "Yes there is dad. Listen." So we all quiet down to listen and sure enough, we here the buzzing of the poor fly in distress. Well, we had to get a picture, so my sister Tori grabs the camera and gets down as close as she can and this is what she got. Mind you, this is after we all took our turn having a look. It was quite a sight, I'm sure!

After this lovely discovery, we had to watch Charlotte's Web!

This-n-That

With all the warm weather, I figured the babies would enjoy a nice little pool to cool off in. Apparently Molly was the only one to appreciate it on this day! Actually, Andrew wasn't feeling well and as soon as we got him out, Hailey settled down and enjoyed splashing around.

The other night I got this picture of the lightening during the storm. Megan, Andrew and I layed out a blanket in the front yard and enjoyed the scene!
I had to get a picture of Molly in her new sleeping position. Now that she is off her wedge and moving around more, she has discovered the comfort of tummy sleeping! It's the cutest thing ever :-)
About a week ago, the kids and I headed out on a walk with our friend Megan and her daughters Annelyse and Lilyanne. Here are the girls sitting in front of the fountain along the trail! It was a perfect day for getting out and enjoying the warmth and friendship!
So, that's what we've been up to!

Picnic Dinner

So, I had this crazy idea the other night to pack up the kids take them on a picnic dinner. Tim was helping a friend move and I wanted to get out of the house for a while. It went pretty well. We got drive-thru and headed down to this little spot by the Carbon River. We were spread our food out on a blanket, the babies used their big board book for a tray, and just enjoyed the cool air. Megan played at the little park for just a bit then went looking for treasures by the river.

Megan was brave enough to put her toes in the water. I tried it out, it wasn't too cold.

It's a pretty setting and fairly clean. The babies enjoyed looking at the river and hearing the sounds.
Here is Megan with one of her treasures!

I'd definitely do this again when the weather is hot!

After all this time.....

First of all, let me just say that I cannot believe I have time to sit here and blog! I must be neglecting something. Oh ya, laundry, yard work, the dishwasher. Oh well....Anyway, we've had another bout of sickness with Andrew. It was pretty bad this time. An extremely high fever-105.6-followed by diarrhea and no appetite. For Andrew to push his bottle away, you know he has to be sick. So, after nearly a year at home, basically no lung issues and overall good health, we had our first visit to the ER. Pretty amazing when we are dealing with three 24 weekers! It wasn't anything dramatic, but the dr. thought Andrew might need some films done on his abdomen or chest, or further testing they couldn't do at the office. Apparently, a high fever with no other symptoms is okay for about 3 days, but after that they want to investigate. Here's how it all played out. Fever started on Saturday, we visited the convenience care clinic on Sunday because he was possibly exposed to strep, they tested his white blood cell count and did a throat culture. Both of those came back fine so we went home thinking it was a virus. Then on Monday he was still fevering and he vomited once, followed by a bloated, hard tummy. So, back to the dr. and that's when we were sent to Mary Bridge ER. Can I just say I really don't like ERs?? I tried not to sit down in the waiting room, but Andrew got pretty heavy so I relented and just made sure no part of our skin touched the chair. Well, after about 4 hours, two diarrhea diapers, three rectal temps, and a urine sample, we were sent home again with the conclusion that it was a virus. His fever broke yesterday, and things are looking up today, so far. He actually slept last night and took 6 oz. this morning! I think he got word that I was going to start weaning him off his bottle and he didn't like that much. Little does he know.....:-)))

Well, that's the word on Andrew. I have some fun pictures to post so I'll get to that soon!