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Dave was working late tonight, so it was just the boys and I having dinner. I threw a quick kid friendly dinner together (mac-n-cheese with polish kielbasa) Here’s how it all went down.

Twins are in their high chairs. I make Gavin’s plate first and place it in front of him at the table. I cut up some sausage for Blake & Brady. They each have a small plate of sausage with a dap of ketchup and a bowl of mac-n-cheese. Everyone is set and beginning to eat. I grab myself a plate and spoon on some mac-n-cheese. I sit down, take one bite. Gavin wants something to drink. I sit back down, take one bite. Brady points to his bowl and says “more.” I get him more mac and sit down and take one bite off my plate. Blake points to his bowl, “more.” Again I sit and take another bite and Brady want’s more ketchup. Then Blake wants more sausage. Then Brady wants more sausage. Then Brady wants more milk, then Blake wants more milk. I’m up, I’m down. I think I had about 5 bites off my plate in total.

I leave you with some fun video of Blake & Brady.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgmE-7N2bb4]

Friday night a couple girlfriends and I had a fun night out. It was a night that we all needed and was long overdue.  Bren and Shannon booked a room at the Windsor Hilton in Canada. They went over late in the afternoon and then I met them there. The hotel was just a few city blocks from Caesars Hotel & Casino, so we drove over.

The first 45 minutes of being there, we got completely lost. We were just walking around, having no clue where we were going.   Most of it was because of Shannons fear of escalators (this I only learned about her less than a few years ago).  In order to get anywhere in the hotel and casino, you have to take escalators. The hotel and casino are 2 seperate buildings with a small connection between the two. And in order to get from one to the other, you have to take an escalator.  So most of our evening was spent looking for alternative routes so that Shannon could avoid the escalators. We tried several times to convince her that nothing would happen to her, but she insisted her phobia was serious.  But we had so much fun. I never rode so many elevators in one evening.  One elevator we got on was double sided. The side that opened was not the side we entered through. And when the doors opened this is what we saw.  Brenda decides to push every button and every floor looked the same. I turned around at the door we entered through, leaned my face against it and just started shouting “hello? hello? anyone there?”  Brenda and Shannon were hysterical. Every where we went it was completely deserted. We were so far deep in elevators, it was like a maze. Finally the opposite door, the one we entered through, opened. And we were back where we started.

We finally found our way to the casino and more importantly, the buffet. I never ate so much in my life. It happened to be Seafood night at the buffet. By the end of our meal we had a mile high pile of crab leg shells on our table. I only wish I had snapped a photo of it. The three of us started reciting lines from John Pinette’s famous “Chinese Buffet” skit and laughing so hard we about peed our pants. You can see all the crazy pictures here.

In other news. My little problem solver is at it again.

I am so tired of winter. Normally I don’t mind these winter months, and probably wouldn’t mind the snow so much, but it’s this darn bitter cold. Why does it have to be so cold? We’ve had a whole winter’s worth of winter just in the last 4 weeks.

I hate when I have to take Gavin to school and I have to bundle up both babies to drive 4 blocks. I hate that when I come down to my computer, which is in the basement, I have to put on 2 layers of clothes. It’s probably one of the main reasons I’ve been a blog slacker, because I hate coming down to my cold basement. Right now I have a tank top on, then a flannel pajama top on over that and then a thick sweater over that. I have a thick pair of socks on with knitted footie slippers over them. I’m wearing jeans with long johns underneath, and I’m wrapped in a polar fleece blanket. All so that I can sit here and type about how much I hate being cold all the time.

In other news, we’re finally near the finishing touches of Gavin’s room. Gavin wanted a Superhero bedroom. So my mom and I spent countless hours painting him a Superhero bedroom. You can see the progression photos here.

Dave recieved his Stanley Cup ring about a week ago.  They get better and better with every championship.  Mind you, he didn’t recieve the exact ring that the players recieve, but instead, a replica with a little less.. sparkle?

The thing is a monster nonetheless. It’s nice though that the organization recognizes those that played a part in support of our Wings. Below is a picture of the actual ring that the players recieve and then pictures of Dave’s ring. Then last, I took a picture of it on my finger just to show the pure magnitude of this thing. Mind you, it doesn’t look as big on Dave’s hand as it does on mine. But it’s still huge.

 Blake & Brady turned 18 months yesterday. A year and a half has flown by. They have their 18 month well-visit on Friday. They most always end up weighing the same and measuring the same.  I also scheduled for both of them to have tubes put in their ears. In the last 6 months alone we’ve battled way too many ear infections. They finally saw an Ear, Nose & Throat doctor last week and yes, they both have fluid in their ears.  I’m nervous about it of course but, I know it’s a routine procedure and it is going to benefit them so so much. I’m anxious to see if they start hearing better and as a result start to really talk more. They do talk a little, but I’m looking forward to seeing if the talking really picks up after the tubes are put in. I’m also anxious to see if it makes nights any better. Surprisingly though, both boys slept about 11 hours last night. Brady woke up once, but I didn’t have to put him back to sleep, he just kind of stirred, fussed and then found his bear and went back to sleep.  It’s been a long time, if at all, that we’ve had a full nights sleep.  It’s always one of them that needs to be comforted back to sleep.  And during an ear infection, it’s a nightmare.

Gavin turns 6 next week.  Last year, before his 5th birthday, whenever we wanted him to try a new food, or just do something he’s not used to, he’d say, “When I’m 5 I can do that” or “When I’m 5 years old I can eat that.”  We’d tell him all the time that he’s going to be quite a busy boy when he turns 5.  Well, needless to say, he’s going to be a busy 6 year old too.  In school (kindergarten), he’s starting to learn greater than and less than. And I think he’s beginning to catch on because the other day I wanted him to try some swiss steak my mother had made and he said, “When I’m 13 I can eat that.”  Seems he’s learning he can buy himself a lot more time by going with higher numbers. At least I know he’s paying attention in school. Kids are so much smarter than we give them credit for.

I’m not sure just what it is that this child does in his sleep for his head to look this way when he wakes up. This picture taken after his nap the other day. I swear, I did not do anything to enhance his “nest”, this is exactly how he looked when he woke up.  We’ve dubbed Brady, the Bedhead Master.

Resolutions. Bah! I can never keep them, so why bother.

After catching up with a couple of my blogging friends blogs. I decided I was a little weak in the New Years Resolution department and needed to scratch my entire post and start over. Since no one follows resolutions anymore, it’s now called a “To Do List” for the new year. So in following Jessica and Laura here is my 2009 To Do List:

• Become a better blogger. Writing and reading.
• Seperate all my sons toys into two piles, box one pile up and pull it out for him 6 months later. Surprise, it’s like all new toys.
• Finish decorating Gavin’s room.
• Organize, or at least start to, (lets be real here) the storage area in the basement.
• Do better at actually putting laundry away instead of having this growing heap(s) of need to be folded and put away clothes all over the house.
• Give Gavin chores.  The kid is almost 6 and does absolutely nothing around here.
• Try and maintain some sort of schedule with the twins. This fly by the seat of our pants just has to end.

So there you have it. My resolutions “To Do List” for 2009.

Christmas was nice. My sister was in town. It’s always great having her here. I miss her so much.  Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. Here’s to a great new year for 2009!!

In stealing another idea from Laura. Please see the previous post that was an added in post to end 2008.

Thank you Laura for this great idea. You should go check out her Year in Pictures too.

January

Solid foods officially become a part of Blake & Brady’s daily routine, time to move up into the high chairs.

February

Gavin turned 5.  Two days after this picture we had a huge party with friends and family at his favorite place, Pump It Up.

Blake & Brady are 6 months old.  In an attempt to save some money, I took their 6 month photo myself.  They were very cooperative and had fun sitting in the basket.

March

I think this was the last time the boys all laid still long enough for me to get a decent shot of the 3 of them.  After this, their newfound mobility would not allow them to sit still for more than a few second.

Both Blake and Brady cut all four top teeth at once. That’s 8 teeth! Ugh, we were all miserable that week.

April

Blake and Brady are officially hooked on Baby Einstein videos.

May

Blake and Brady are introduced to Jungle Java for the first time and they have an absolute ball! 

Gavin graduates from preschool and we have a fun picnic at the park with his class & teachers.

June

Gavin goes to work with Dave.

Dave drives Niklas Kronwall in Detroits Stanley Cup Parade.

We attend a Stanley Cup party at Dave’s work.

July

Blake and Brady turn one year old.

August

My dad visits from Texas. The last time he was in Michigan was for my wedding in Sept 2003. It was so wonderful having him here.

We take our 2nd road trip to my sister, Renee’s in Indiana. This is as we were pulling out of the drive way to head back home.

September

Gavin starts kindergarten.

Gavin joins the mini-mites hockey team.  This was his first day.  Three weeks later, he was skating like he was born to skate.

The Stanley Cup comes to our house for a visit.

October

We all enjoy a family day at the park.

Blake and Brady are introduced to Great Wolf Lodge for the first time.

Gavin is the Incredible Hulk for Halloween, his most favorite holiday ever.

November

My great aunt passed away and Gavin & I go to Northern Michigan for her funeral.  This was taken at the Mackinaw Bridge before heading home.

I reach that 40th 29th milestone birthday.

December

We attend Dave’s company Christmas party downtown. Gavin had fun skating on the home ice of the Detroit Red Wings.

Our Christmas family photo.

Hope everyone had a fantastic holiday season. Happy New Year!

Ahhh yes, my least favorite time of the year.  Am I ready? Hardly. Here it is after 2am and I’m still addressing my Christmas cards.  It seems I get them out later and later each year.  The past couple years I find myself rushing to the 24hour post office in the middle of the night so that folks can get my cards by Christmas Eve.  Needless to say, I’ll be hitting the 24hour post office tomorrow night.

My sister is coming in town on Christmas day. Am I ready? Hardly. I have to rewash the sheets in the spare bedroom because the boys like to go in there and jump on the bed. Suppose I could just wash the pillow cases since that’s all that is exposed to the endless amounts of drool that pour from my childrens mouths. I’ve never known toddlers that drool so much. And at almost 17 months. When is it going to end?

November, as I mentioned, was a crazy month. My great aunt passed away and we went out of town for her funeral.  The stomach flu also made a visit to our house in November.  First Gavin, then the twins, then Dave. Luckily for me, I did not come down with it. I was washing my hands so much while cleaning up buckets of vomit and diarreah.  I was determined to NOT get it.  Just goes to show you how frequent hand washing is a huge defense against these kinds of things.  I’m now an even bigger fan of hand washing.

Well, for now, I’ll leave you with this. Every year we make a gingerbread house. This years was quite a turn out. Gavin is very proud. Now if I can only keep the twins from pulling the candy off.