The Penguins

Finn had his first play date at his house last week.  This is a picture of Finn and his buddy Silas who lives down the street.  They are hard at work on the play set.

Ready, Set, Skate....Luke and Liam are on the SuperMite Penguins Hockey Team

They picked the same numbers from last year!


As crazy as it seems to me, hockey season started over the weekend for Luke and Liam.  It seems crazy because it is so early, but Minnesota loves hockey and the season seems to get longer each year.  Luke and Liam are playing on a team with second and third grade boys in a house league within the town where we live.  Their team is called the SuperMite Penguins and they picked the same numbers from last year (Luke #9 and Liam #8).  They are really excited to start the season.  We have a few friends from our team last year that are on our team again this season, but for the most part this is an entirely new group of kids that we are playing with.

Next weekend, Aiden will begin his first season of hockey.  He is playing with other kindergarteners on the Mite Tigers team.  He has one of his best friends, Keaton, playing on his team.  Keaton and Aiden go to the same school and love playing together.

Finn had his first play date at our house the other day.  In our new neighborhood, there is a little boy he likes to play with that is close in age.  His name is Silas and he came over to play for a little while one morning last week.  Finn wasn't so sure about sharing all of his toys so we have some work to do, but overall we had a great time.

7th Annual Halloween Party

We have a Football player, a skeleton, and two Ninjas

Luke painting his mummy coffin

And Liam painting

Finn and his buddy Landon doing stickers

Let's dance!  Finn loves the Whip Nae Nae song

Luke and his charades 

The football player was starting to fade

Cool bracelets!

We had our 7th annual Halloween party last week.  Luke and Liam were out of school for a teacher conference so we spent the majority of the day with friends celebrating Halloween.  We played halloween Bingo, charades, painted mummy coffins, made pumpkin lights and toilet roll monsters, and we ate lots of good food.  Kirsten (Jack and Charlie's mom) and her good friend Audrey (Landon's mom) planned all of the events.  We began these parties with our twins group when Luke and Liam were less than a year old.  We have gained many new friends and said goodbye to some old friends that have since moved away, but the party has remained.  This party is definitely something the boys will always remember fondly.  They are counting down the days to Halloween and trick or treating!

Finn's Animals

Finn's first visit to the MN Zoo.  He's looking a bit stunned in this picture, but he really loved it.

Checking out the penguins

Tunnel to look at some type of reptile

Aiden wanted a picture in front of the bald eagle

Liam took this picture of his favorite, the leopard.  His favorite animal is the cheetah.

Riding the carousel

Liam got his cheetah

Luke thought the ride was o.k., but nothing like those roller coasters at the fair

Popsicles on a warm day

Finn and his popsicle

Aiden and his buddies Keaton (brown) and Landon (red) from school on picture day

Silly faces on picture day

Finn at breakfast one morning this week.  Finn, unlike any of this three older brothers, loves to sleep in!!

(L to R) Liam, Aiden, Luke, and their friend Jack at the season opener for MN Gophers hockey.

Finn made his first trip to the Minnesota Zoo over the weekend on a very warm October day in Minnesota.  It is unusual to have such warm weather in mid October, but we are making the most of it.  The MN Zoo is a bit of a drive from our house, but we made the trek and took the boys.  Finn loves animals and talked about "seeing animals" for the entire 50 minutes we spent in the car driving there.  He loved it all-the fish, seals, penguins, snakes, caribou, monkeys, etc...Liam is also a big animal lover and his favorite is any type of cat-leopard, cheetah, jaguar, tiger, etc...Finn keeps asking to "say hi to animals" so I am certain he loved it.

In other news, we had a busy sports/social weekend.  Luke and Liam are playing 2nd grade basketball and practiced on Saturday.  They will have their first game at the end of the month.  They also had hockey try outs to determine teams this season.  They did not have to "try out" in the past so we will see what happens with it.

Aiden went to a birthday party with friends from his school and got to skate in an open ice activity for new skaters.  He was super excited to be skating while his older brothers tagged along and watched.

And lastly, John and the big boys were asked to go to the Minnesota Gophers hockey home opener for the upcoming season.  The game was at night so the boys got to stay up late, eat hot dogs and ice cream, and watch hockey too!  All in all, they said it was a fun weekend surprise.

Fun Run and Our Week

Croquet with Mimi.  Mimi gave us the croquet set she found at my grandmother's (her mom's) house

Luke (back right in blue shirt) on the obstacle running course

Aiden at the Fun Run

Mimi and Aiden helping out

Luke being silly

Liam and his buddy, Oliver

Luke and Liam lining up after run

Popsicles post run

Popsicles with their friends

It would be hard to talk about any of the fun things we did last week without also talking about the not so fun stuff.  A week ago on a Sunday afternoon, I started running fever.  John had just returned from two trips (one  business trip followed by a stop in Arkansas to retrieve furniture from family members).  I decided that I was probably getting the 24 hour virus that all the boys had the week before so I went to bed early thinking that I would be fine tomorrow.

When Monday arrived, I felt worse and was battling fever off and on all night and day.  By Monday night, I had fever up to 103.9.  I was taking Tylenol and/or Advil regularly, but felt pretty miserable.  John and my mom had taken over the house and the boys.  I was sent to bed.  Each time my fever would break, I felt fine and had no other symptoms (i.e. sore throat, stomach ache, cold, cough, etc...).  Prior to Sunday, I was feeling fine and had not even had as much a cold.

The uncontrollable fevers went on for several days and I became more and more lethargic, minimal appetite, and basically unable to function.  I had more and more high fevers of 103.9 and had fewer breaks in fever.  By Thursday morning, I was certain this had to be more than a virus so I went to the urgent care at our local hospital.  They asked a series of basic questions, performed a few blood tests, and sent me home saying I should rest and continue Tylenol.

After texting my dad and explaining the situation, he called me shortly after the visit and said I needed to go see an internist and get a more thorough exam.  He asked several questions over the phone and felt there had to be something more.  It is unlike me to be sick for more than 24-48 hours.

I found an internist to see me on very short notice and I made an appointment on Thursday afternoon at another clinic.  She performed a thorough exam, asked several questions, did more blood work, and a chest x-ray.  I found out that I had pneumonia in the lower left lung.  It was definitely an atypical pneumonia considering I had not been sick with a cold, strep, or any type of respiratory illness.  Thankfully, with my dad's urging, I went to a second clinic and a doctor was able to determine the issue. I started an antibiotic immediately and was feeling better by the end of the weekend.

Sadly, all of this illness happened during the second week of my mom's visit.  We missed out on doing all of the fun things I was hoping we could try.  My mom did manage to do a few fun things with John and the boys during the week, but primarily she was busy taking care of me and the boys.

Luke and Liam had their Fun Run at school on Friday and John took my place as a volunteer.  My mom helped as well and had fun with Aiden while they cheered on Luke and Liam.  She also experienced her very first hockey game and found it to be "a lot more exciting" than she thought.  Luke and Liam play at a 3 on 3 facility on Wednesday evenings and we missed the week before because Liam was sick, but she was able to go this week.  Aiden and my mom went to swimming lessons and Finn enjoyed several walks outside and played several games in the garage and driveway.

Overall, my mom claims to have enjoyed herself despite our change in plans during week #2.  So thankful for all of the help she provided to us during the week.  Thanks also to John and several close friends who also urged met to rest and offered to help in many ways.  It was a long week, but things are getting better!