Can you guess the Baby in the Polka Dot Highchair?

Playing in the snow with our neighbor friends.  That's Liam on the left hurling a snowball at Luke

Friday night Lights on the backyard hockey rink!!

Liam (left), Luke (middle), and Jack (right)

Baby A at 6 months.  Can you guess who this is?

This one is a little too easy.  Baby B on left and Baby A again on the right.

Baby C

And Baby Finn

Sweet Finn at 6 months (nearly)

Finnegan!


The ice rink had several issues this year, but it is finally up and running.   John and our neighbor, Kevin, worked hard on it after a hole in the tarp among other issues.  The rink is bigger this year so it also took awhile to freeze that much water.  Nonetheless, the rink is frozen solid now and the skating is perfect.  Luke and Liam have improved quite a bit since last year and really enjoy skating with our neighborhood boys.  Our biggest issue now is that it has been too cold to skate.  Yes, we have had an average temperature of about 10 degrees for the entire month of January.  We have also had several days where the temps did not get above zero and we have had wind chills of -30 to -45 degrees.  

Finn will be SIX months old on the 29th of January so I pulled out a couple other pictures of the big boys when they were six months old.  As I took the pictures of Finn in the same polka dot highchair, it brought back memories of Luke, Liam, and Aiden in that chair which has been the backdrop for many pictures in our kitchen.  I thought Finn resembled Liam and Aiden quite a bit so I posted some pictures of them at six months old in the infamous highchair.  Baby A above is Liam.  Liam was quite a bit smaller than Finn is at 6 months, but I still see some resemblance especially in the eyes and mouth.  Aiden is Baby C above.  Aiden and Finn are very similar in size at 6 months and I see a lot of resemblance in the face.  Baby B is, of course, Luke.  I don't see as much resemblance other than the fact that he and Finn are both big boys!

Star Wars Birthday Bash x3!!!!

Star Wars theme cake with our picture from Halloween

Fooseball with friends

Aiden is running the show here....

Parachute games

Lots of fun!

Daddy pushed a long train of 20 kids!!!  Seriously!

The cake with a few additions, our birthday numbers and lego guys

Star Wars shirts with our age and Star Wars cake that was quite delicious!

All the birthday party kids

Singing Happy Birthday.  I love Luke's expression, he was so excited to have everyone singing to him. 

Liam likes Star Wars but he prefers Leonardo, from the ninja turtles.  We convinced him that a Star Wars theme would work best for everyone.

Time to open gifts! 

A friend snapped this picture of John pushing the train of kids in the gym

Another pic from a friend's iPhone

18 boys and 2 girls

Luke, Liam, and Aiden enjoyed a group birthday party on Saturday at the fitness center.  We had a great turnout this year with friends from church, school, and our neighborhood.  We ended up with 18 boys and 2 girls ranging in age from 2 to 6 with the majority around 5 years of age.  It was a wild and fast two hours, but everyone had a lot of fun.  We had a gym party with games, lots of running, as well as some time in the party room with several things like foosball and air hockey.  We had a Star Wars theme cake with a picture of all three boys in their Halloween costumes.  While Luke and Aiden love Star Wars particularly Darth Vader and Yoda, Liam is a little more interested in Ninja Turtles.  Liam does, however, like Luke Skywalker a bit so we were able to get everyone to agree on a Star Wars theme.  Thanks to all of our friends for joining us on a cold and snowy Saturday to celebrate #6 for Luke and Liam and #4 for Aiden.  It was a great day including the fact that the boys were in bed by 7:30 pm!!

Luke and Liam turn SIX!!!

Fun lunch and games with our best friends, Jack and Charlie

Crazy Aiden face with Finn

Boys love video games

Opening gifts on their birthday!!

We love the new shirts!  

Singing Happy Birthday!

So excited!!

Super excited!

Luke, Liam, and Aiden are pretty much going to have a "month of January" birthday celebration this year.  On Saturday, January 11th, Luke and Liam turned SIX years old.  Seriously, where does the time go?  Seems like only yesterday we were in the NICU and hoping to go home from the hospital soon.  Then, we were learning to crawl, to walk, starting preschool, and now kindergarten!  Both boys have lost two teeth this year and are both getting ready to lose one of their top teeth.  They are growing so fast.

Liam is quiet, detailed, and studies things before he jumps in.  He is, for the most part, very agreeable and easy to work with.  He loves to learn and he listens well.  His teachers love his cooperative personality and friendly demeanor.  They frequently refer to him as a "model student."  He is quick to offer help and gets along well with others.  He is very observant and has an amazing memory.  Just yesterday, he asked me why we have flowers on our toilet paper now.  Ironically, I had just changed the toilet paper and it was a new type that I got at a different store than I normally do.

Luke is a happy, easy going kid who asks a lot of questions and thinks about things in an entirely different way than I ever will.  He is a numbers guy.  Luke loves math, can count to 100, and easily picks up on various card and reasoning type games.  He loves puzzles and loves to build everything from legos to tinker toys.  He has a hard time sitting still if he isn't using his hands in some form or fashion.  He is a helper and loves to assist with his brother Finn or hold the door open when I have a lot in my hands.

As a family, we spent Luke and Liam's birthday weekend celebrating their special day by opening gifts and going out to dinner in between a soccer game.  We also went to lunch with our best friends, Jack and Charlie.  Their party with the rest of their friends is this weekend, January 18th so I feel like I explained at least a dozen times that we were having a party with friends, but not on their actual birthdate.  The conversation went something like this:

Liam: "Mom, when are we having our party?"
Me:  "Remember, we are having your party next weekend and today we are celebrating your birthday with just family."
Liam:  "So, today is not our real birthday?"
Me:  "Today, January 11th, is your actual birthday but sometimes you have a party with friends on a day that isn't actually your birthday."
Liam: "oh, o.k.  So when is everyone coming over?"

Repeat....not sure they ever got the point, but we are moving on and very excited to celebrate with friends from school, church, our twin friends, and the neighborhood this weekend.

Aiden's 4th Birthday

During the "Polor Vortex" this week, we did at least an hour of playdoh

Aiden celebrated his 4th birthday on Jan. 2

Opening a few gifts

Four is FUN!

Very excited about the Beyblades

We are attempting to get back to our normal routines this week.  John started back to work on Monday and the boys are back in school, although the week has been a little tricky with the super cold weather.  All MN schools were closed on Monday due to temperatures that dipped down to -50 degrees in the Twin Cities and hovered around -18 degrees during the day.  Crazy cold!  I have never in my life felt such cold temperatures and apparently it has not happened in the Twin Cities in   nearly 20 years.  So, needless to say, this has limited our trips out of the house.

Before the subzero temps set in, Aiden celebrated his 4th birthday at the end of last week.  He was very excited to be turning four, but he really wants to know when he will be five which he thought would happen a little sooner rather than later.  Pretty sure he associates "five" with being a big boy and starting kindergarten just like his brothers so that's his goal.  We went to his favorite pizza place for dinner and opened a few gifts.  We plan to have a party in a few weeks to celebrate the birthdays of all three boys together.  Considering their birthdays are only 9 days apart and they have many (if not all) of the same friends, we are having one big party. This year the theme is Star Wars!  More to come on that....

Happy 4th Birthday Aiden John!  We love you and your spunky yet caring personality!