3 men and their babies

I had to take this picture this past weekend. Brent and Katie and their three kids came to meet Colton for the first time while we were all home for Thanksgiving. The three guys all happened to be sitting in a row on the couch so I suggested we throw in the babes and get a picture of the newest additions (L>R, Brent and Weston, Aaron and Colton, Trav and Ellie). And here is a picture of Ellie and Weston getting reacquainted. They were holding hands while Ellie shared her knowledge of what life was going to be like for Weston in the coming months - she is two and a half months older after all!

Lauren is 3!!!

Our (1st) baby girl is officially 3 - crazy! Lauren's birthday celebration, or should I say celebrations, were done in 3 different parts. First up, a celebration with the Quast side of the family on Thanksgiving day (what a deal, Thanksgiving and a birthday all in one day!). That was followed up with a celebration with the Loken side of the family on Friday, and finally a celebration with just us on her actual birthday, Sunday. She got lots of presents (Barbies, babies, and clothes - every girl's dream) and lots of love from everyone. The past three years with Lauren have been interesting to say the least. She was stubborn from day one (came out breech), and is just as stubborn today. The girl knows what she wants, and she'll do just about anything to get her way (a challenging trait for us now, but I'm hoping that means she'll grow to be a strong, independent woman who can handle herself in the future). We've enjoyed every minute of her smile and crazy personality and look forward to watching our little girl grow and change over the years! We love you Lauren!

Pictures

Here are some recent pictures of the kids. The top picture and the pictures of the girls were all done at the same time. Ryan's picture is his school picture. After having to do retakes this year and still not loving them, I think I might be skipping school pics next year.
Hope everyone has a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Grandchildren

Here is the first official picture of Mom and Dad with all of their grandchildren. I'm pretty sure Mom would have preferred us to take the picture when she was dressed up and the kids were all positioned just right, but instead, she gets this. This is reality - Mom in sweats, Dad in his one of his work sweatshirts, and the kids never looking in the same direction at the same time - oh well, at least it is authentic!As you probably already guessed, we spent some time down at Grandma and Grandpa's house this weekend. Ash had her wedding shower on Saturday morning so everyone (minus Trav and Mike) packed up and headed south. It was a tight squeeze with everyone and all their things (most of those "things" belonged to Ellie and Colton - they are some needy little people) in the house, but it was fun to have everyone together. Dad said it best, "I like having everyone here, but I would never want to do this everyday - it's a lot of work." The good news is that Dad will have a little break - we all won't be back again for another 7 days! See you soon Grandpa (and get lots of rest while you can)!

6-Month Well-Child Exam

Ellie had her 6 month appointment this past Monday so here are the results . . .

Weight: 16 lbs 12 oz; 70%
Length: 28 1/4 inches; >97%
Head: 17 1/2 inches; 93%

This means in the past two months she has put on less than a pound (she weighed 15lbs 13 oz at 4 mos), has stretched out another 2 inches (was 26 1/4 inches), and expanded her brain size by another 1/2 inch (was 17 inches).

In comparison to Ryan and Lauren at this age, Ellie is right in there with length (Lauren was the same length, Ryan was a 1/2 inch longer). She is right in the middle with her head size (Ry was bigger at 18.3 inches, Lauren was a 1/2 inch smaller at 17), but she is significantly smaller where weight is concerned. Ryan was a whopping 18 lbs 10 oz, Lauren was 18 lbs, 8oz, and Ellie is the peanut at just 16 lbs, 12 oz - guess I better start giving the poor girl some more food!

She did a great job as usual with the shots - 4 shots, a couple of screams, one big tear, and she was good - such a little trooper!

Christmas card photo

Here are my attempts at getting a good picture of the kids for our Christmas card - not so sure we'll be using one of these, but it was still fun to see them all dressed in their Christmas jammies.
Ellie's face says it all - time to wrap things up and go to bed.

HGTV visits Shakopee?

Trav, Ash, Mom and myself (a mini HGTV crew) put in long hours and lots of work this past weekend updating our house. The whole thing started when Ash and I were sitting in the living room this past week and Ash says to me, "do you think we should paint the kitchen?" I immediately perked up and said, "how about we do the walls that have never been painted instead (the living room, the hallway, the huge wall going down the steps, etc.)?" She doesn't even think about it (which was probably a good thing, no time to really think about how much work it was going to be), and says, "let's do it." After we both agreed, I had to get the okay from Trav, and once he was on board, it was time to figure out what to do with the kids. Luckily Grandma and Grandpa Quast were brave enough to step up to the task off having all three of the kids for two nights and three days - thank you, thank you, thank you! With the kids figured out, I moved onto getting more help. I needed just one more person, someone who would keep going even when we wanted to stop, someone who would do all the icky jobs no one else would. And lucky for me, that person was Mom! With the crew assembled, we got to work. Ash and I got most of the pre-work done (taping, removable of face plates) on Thursday, and when Friday night came, it was straight to work. By the end of the night, Trav and Ash had one coat of paint on (I wasn't feeling so hot so I didn't help much) and were ready to take on more. Between the two of them, they decided that it was best for us to paint the kitchen as well (pretty sure they were delirious by this point). I of course agreed with them (it was after midnight by this time) and everyone wrapped things up and went to bed (so much for our early night we planned). Saturday morning came early with Mom calling to say she wasn't going to be able to make it up because of the weather (last weekend - beautiful and warm, this weekend, lots of blowing snow). We were still a little sleepy when she called so I didn't think much of it, but when I really woke up and realized that she wasn't coming, I felt a little panicked - we needed the "task master" to keep things moving. After a little thinking, I called Mom up and offered to meet her half way if Dad would drive the other half - with no hesitation on her end, we agreed and the team was four strong again. By 10:30am, we were back in action, and by 7:30pm that night, we had everything painted - six cans of paints later, we were finally done!! We treated ourselves to a meal out, took showers, then called it a night. Sunday was our fun day. The girls went shopping for "finishing touches" while Trav slept off all of his hard work. By 3:00pm, with multiple shopping trips to Ikea, Lowe's, and Micheal's, we had everything done - the window treatments hung, new hardware on the cabinets, the pictures up on the walls, you name it, it was done (except the blinds that we had to special order). And now we get to sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labor. The place looks completely different - think warm and inviting vs stark and cold. And when I went through all of my receipts (and there were many of them), we got it all done at a reasonable price. I like to think that we pulled off one of those HGTV "Designed to Sell" makeovers . . . $2,000 budget and two days to get it done - it's not impossible after all! Here are some pictures to show off our hard work. I had intended on taking some before and after shots, but somehow I managed to forget the "before" - oops ( just picture gross, bare, white walls and you'll have a pretty good idea of what it used to look like) - enjoy!
The last picture is the new wall unit to house all the kids' toys downstairs - pretty sure they have way too many, the thing is completely full already!

Funny quotes

This past week Ryan has been his usual self - lots of talking, lots of questions, but there were two sayings that really stood out that I have to share.

First up, we were driving out to the Y when Ryan asks from the backseat, "Mom, what is a man with two wives called?" I look at him in the rear view mirror and say, "a Polygamist, why?" His response, "Well, I guess that is what I'm going to be then." I respond with, "Why do you need two wives?" He responds, "I don't want anyone to be sad." I say, "Who would be sad?" He says, "Riley and Lindsay if I didn't marry both of them so that's what I'll do." My response, "That's nice Ryan, but I don't think you need to be worrying about marrying anyone right now, you're only 5." He says, "Okay Mom" and the conversation is done.

Next up, we are at home getting lunch ready. Ryan is in the bathroom washing his hands. Usually he'll leave the water on so Lauren can wash up after him (she can't turn the faucet on by herself yet). But something must have happened this day to make him mad so he shut the water off and walked out into the kitchen. At this point, Lauren is standing in the bathroom asking for help, I'm making lunch, and Ellie is nearing her starvation point (at least that is what she wanted me to think), so I ask Ryan to go back in and turn the water on. He whips around, looks at me and says, "All I do is help Reid (his friend who is shorter than him and asks Ryan to help when he can't reach something) and Lauren, what kind of life is this?" A little shocked by his response, I say, "apparently one you don't like, now go turn the water on."

Oh the things that boy says - at least we know life with him will never be boring!

Beautiful weekend

We had another gorgeous weekend here in MN - maybe our last? I certainly hope not. Anyway, to start the weekend, the kids and I went to visit Colton (and Aaron and Ann too) on Friday. Ryan didn't have school (teacher in-service day - why didn't I become a teacher?) so we took advantage and Ryan was able to meet his newest cousin for the first time. He did his usual great job of holding the babe for a while and then it was time to watch some cartoons (he does have his priorities after all). After our visit, we headed back home to enjoy the rest of the day. That night I ventured out with a girlfriend for dinner and drinks. It wasn't a crazy night (I was home by 10:30pm), but it was nice to get out and enjoy some "Angie time" with a good friend. By the time I got home, all the kids were in bed sleeping - guess that means Trav did his fatherly duties while I was away. We spent Saturday in St. Peter with Grandma and Grandpa Loken while Trav and his dad headed up to help his brother do some more work on his house. Sunday was spent relaxing and enjoying the great weather. Trav and Ryan played some football, Lauren did some digging in the sandbox, and Ellie and I sat back and took it all in - what a perfect little day. And to make the day a little bit better, Grandma and Grandpa Quast stopped by for a visit - a great way to wrap up a great weekend.

Warning, lots of boob talk ahead

This past weekend started what I can only classify as "the end of an era." What era you might ask? Well, I like to call it the "Boob Era." The days of someone else (namely my children) owning my boobs are forever done! My nursing days have come to an end and although I complained while I was doing it, I am now kind of sad that it is FOREVER done - so weird to think about. Ellie put up a good fight and resisted our first attempts to get her to take a bottle, but after a couple of trips to Target to buy different bottles, we finally found the one she liked (okay, maybe "liked" is a strong word. More or less, she just tolerated it because she was hungry). In any case, she is officially off the boob, and on the bottle. This certainly makes life a little easier for me. Feedings are quicker, and anyone (most importantly, not me) can feed her! That means a little freedom for me, and a break in our "best friends for life" relationship that Ellie and I once had. It is just another change in Ellie's life, but it is a huge milestone in my life. My "baby" days are numbered and it is things like this that make me stop and reflect and recognize all the things that will never be again - so sad. Now I'm into the process of getting my boobs to recognize that they no longer need to make milk - let's just say it hasn't been fun. I often tell friends that nursing your baby is great. But I also tell them that they should know there will be two times you really won't enjoy it . . . the beginning (I like to call this the "breaking in" period), and the end (this is the "sit back and suffer" period). Everything in between is great. But with every reward, there is a sacrifice and I'm right in the middle of that final sacrifice. I figure I have another day or two before my body figures out that I am no longer a "24 hour restaurant" open for service at Ellie's beckon call. When that happens, my boobs will return to their normal, shriveled up little selves and I'll be able to get back wearing a sports bra everyday instead of a harness - yay to that!

I just have to put this in because it is truly one of my fondest memories of nursing. I'm not exactly sure when Dad made this comment, I just know he said it when I first starting nursing Ryan. So there I was at Mom and Dad's house and I was talking about how crazy it was that my boobs were getting so full (and I'm not joking here, they were plump full and ready to explode). Having never nursed before, I really didn't know what to expect, but having to pump just to relieve myself was a real surprise. I just figured I'd make enough milk to feed Ryan, I never imagined I would be able to pump so much extra each day. Anyway, after I made these comments, Dad jumps in with his take on the whole situation and says, "back on the farm, it was always the skinny cows that made the most milk." Awe, isn't he just the sweetest Dad around. Only he would compare his own daughter to a cow - at least it was a skinny cow!

Here are a couple of pictures of the "new milk man" in town taking care of business.

Halloween 2010

We had a busy and great Halloween weekend. First up, a Halloween party complete with a magician on Saturday out at the Y. The kids loved all the activities and were very impressed by the magician and all of his "silly" tricks. After the Y, Grandma and Grandpa Loken stopped by for a visit to check out the kids' Halloween costumes. After all the excitement of the day, and the anticipation of the following day, we all headed to bed early. When Sunday finally rolled around, the kids were ready for more fun. We spent the morning puttzing around the house in our jammies before we got ready for the big day. As luck would have it, the weather was beautiful so we took full advantage by spending the day outside tailgating at our neighbor's place. They are apparently much more tech savvy then we are because they had the whole HD tv set-up and a great sound system out in their garage with the Vikes game projecting onto the wall - not too shabby if I say so myself. On top of that, there was great food, beverages, and lots of people to talk to. It was also a perfect place for the kids. They each had a couple of friends to play with and lots of room to run around in the fenced in backyard. This would be the perfect setup to watch all games if the weather always turned out so nice! By the time we wrapped things up at the neighbor's place, we had just enough time to grab a quick bite to eat, put on costumes, and head out for some trick-or-treating. We hit up the usual houses and were back home with enough time to hand out some more candy before we called it a night. Everyone was worn out from the busy day, but by all accounts, the day/weekend was a success!