Aloha!

Brian is Micah's best friend from High School. They went to college together and were pledge brothers. Brian's girlfriend Megan got a legal position in Hawaii, and he got a job promotion and transfer to go with her! This all happened within the past few days-and they leave Today! Saturday they threw a going away party, and we decided to make the drive to see them off. We had to leave early in the morning to get Micah back in time for call-but it was worth it to see our good friends one last time. Hey-it sounds like we may need to take a vacation soon!! Hawaii anyone??

Micah and I showed up in coconut bras and grass skirts, and then quickly transfered the costumes to Justin who was feeling pretty happy and relaxed at the time ;)

The frat guys

Brian, Justin, Micah, George, Mike

saying goodbye

Micah, Adam, Brian

Liz, Frank, Micah
We had a good time...we'll miss you Brian and Megan!
Sorry I didn't get a picture with Megan-she came later in the party and was a busy woman mingling about, and I just forgot to get a pic with her :(

Catching up

It seems like I've forgotten about my blog lately! I joined facebook a few months ago and have spent a lot of my time on there, uploading pictures and things-and I forget to put them on here as well. So here is a little catching up on February and a vow to be a little better about updating the blog!
So I had a birthday in February. It's crazy how a year flies by so quickly and you find yourself a year older. I like to think I learned a lot over this past year-so I'm getting wiser too-not just old! I was very happy that my family made a trip to visit me for the day, including my grandma! She's 92 (I think) and still can party it up :) I hope she's around for many more birthdays to come!

Devin is almost as big as Gigi! :) Well not quite, but he sure is big!

Devin's first rib bone. Apparently when I was a baby my parents gave me rib bones and I cleaned them so thoroughly and screamed bloody murder if you tried to take it away! Devin enjoyed it :) and was not to happy when it was gone.

Birthday dinner

It was a great evening. I enjoyed all my presents-thank you so much!

On Valentine's Day it was my sister Hilary's birthday. So we went home to celebrate with the family again. Here the boys are relaxing at my parents house and we're trying to get Devin to crawl (he wasn't at this point).

Hilary opening presents

Mom and Dad

Lauren and her new boyfriend Alan. Poor guy was meeting the whole family for the first time on Valentine's Day at dinner. We grilled him pretty good and made him sign the Dating Rules. We're keeping our eye on him-but he seems like a pretty good guy. Lauren's happy and that's what counts!

Hilary and Daryl

Gigi out to party again :) Look at her drinking her Happy Hour!

My Valentine!

The guys and their dolls :)

I love this picture of the boys after Ash Wednesday service. They're so holy now ;) Aiden insisted on going to sleep with his cross on and was so sad to see it gone in the morning.

Devin's crawling!!

Devin's been hitting milestone after milestone! In just a few short months he has rolled over, sits up well on his own, started clapping, and now he's crawling! Last week he was moving around by getting up on his feet and hands...and then Monday he really got the idea of crawling on his knees. It's pretty exciting to have a mobile baby now...but also scary - I've been waiting for the day that Devin can follow and chase Aiden around having so much fun :) But now I can't leave him alone for a second! He's growing up so fast, it's such a blessing to be here to watch it all happen :)
The first video is from last week when he was just starting to get around-sort of :) and then the last two are from Monday when he really started to get the hang of it.

Very Bad Week

I know it's been awhile since I posted last. I had to turn my computer in to get fixed and Micah has needed his computer for work, so I had limited access. Then a few days later we lost our internet! We just got it back yesterday-so yay for that! Now on to the other bad things going on. Last Tuesday we got a phone call from our realtor that our house we had in Medical school (that hasn't sold yet) was broken into. For many of you reading this, you know that we have not had much luck with this house-it's been 2 years now and it still hasn't sold because of the market we are all finding ourselves in. We had a guranteed buyout from our realtor when we first purchased the house, with signed purchase agreements etc. The day we were to close on it she backs out and leaves us in a terrible bind. Very long story short we sued the company and got a small settlement out of it-but still have to sell the house. So anyway, we drove to the house Wed. to get things in order, survey the damage, and get the ball rolling to getting it fixed. Then Thursday night we got the news that Micah's residency program was recommended to close. It's all politcal and completely has no merit...but it's the situation that we're in. We are praying for the chance to file an injunction and win to keep the program open...and if so we'd find out in about 2 weeks. We are so happy where we are, and Micah is getting the best education...we'd be so sad to leave if we are forced out. And that would mean another house on the market! We are trying our best not to panic yet, and are just waiting for more definitive news.
Then to make matters even worse...Sunday night we were packing the kids and the van up to come back home after visising our families when Micah turned the van on from the back seat and must have accidentally pressed the lock button (which is on the key itself). He closed the back door-and then we were locked out. Kids locked in carseats. Aiden can't get himself out-and Devin is screaming. We are freezing trying to talk to them to keep them calm while we wait for the police to show up. They finally get there and I sign the waiver for them to slim jim it when he asks me if it has side air bags. I said yes, I'm pretty sure it does, and then the policeman says he can't do it because they could deploy and kill him. Wonderful. Devin is still screaming and Aiden is getting upset too. While we wait for a locksmith, the policeman tries to get some wedges in the door and a wire contraption down to trip the locks...After about 25 minutes of this Micah is able to maneuver it enough to trip the locks and get the doors open. As soon as this happens, the locksmith shows up! But we got in, the kids were rocked to sleep by the van while they were trying to get it open and we were able to get on the snowy road home. I'm praying that our bad luck in 3's is over and we will have good news soon...
Here are the pictures from the damage done to our house...very minimal compared to what it could have been. We were lucky, and hope our luck doesn't run out-well our bad luck can run out now!

new tooth

Last Saturday after Kiki left Devin was really chomping on some toys and drooling up a storm (as usual). I didn't think too much of it since this is an every day occurrence. Then I was eating a chocolate cupcake beside him and he just gave me that 'look'. I caved and put a tiny bit of frosting on my finger and put it in his mouth-and what did I find?? A tooth! Poor little guy has been trying to get those suckers through for the past few weeks and one finally did! The other bottom one is sure to pop through any day. I was trying to get a good picture of it, but my camera just didn't want to focus on it. Sorry it's blurry, but I'm still going to post them :)
Devin just had his 6 month check up yesterday (6 months already?!) and he was 19 lbs (75%tile) and 27.5 in (89%tile). He's well ahead of schedule developmentally...he's been sitting up on his own for a month now, can roll over, and sit himself up from being on his tummy. He's just a shy step away from taking the leap to crawling :) Loves to play with his toys and move toys hand to hand (doing that awhile now) but I guess that's what the doctor is looking for. He's doing great :) And right now he's feeding himself while I'm typing this! I got him trained well now...hehe :) So that's Devin in a nutshell right now. My not so little guy is growing up! Time for a girl--Just Kidding!! Now now! :)

oh yes, we are always chomping on something-and when the fist is the only thing handy...it's a great substitute

Thanks for the chocolate mom!

My attempts at a good tooth shot...well, you get the idea!

Noodles!

Kiki surprised Aiden this morning for a quick visit-and they made her special home made noodles together. It was pretty cute-Aiden was very excited about helping with the flour :)

Watch the video!

What do you want me to do again?

Hard at work

Dumping was the favorite part

Yup-got it all out!

Let's clap our hands together and make a big mess!!

Proud of his noodle dough

Gotta get more flour

Look how long :)

It was fun Kiki! Thanks for coming :)

Fun times

Here are some pictures over the past couple of weeks...thought I would share :)

Mr. Devin being all suave and cool :)

Since the first of the year, Micah has been eligible to work various sporting events as the "doctor for the day" for some extra money. It's been a lot of fun to go with him to some of the events. He's getting paid to enjoy a game, spend time with family, and get some first hand experience. Here we are at a hockey game. We got to sit right behind the players, and the trainer gave Aiden a puck. As the team came out of the locker room the boys stuck their hands out for "high fives". It was a lot of fun...just too bad our team lost. The trainer told Micah the next game he works and they win, he can take Aiden down to the locker room...how fun!

We got to spend a lot of time with James and Ally these past few days...here the kids are zoned out after a few nights of hard core play time :)

The circus was in town this past weekend, and so we got tickets along with Ben and Laura...unfortunately I got really sick the night before and ended up staying home. But thankfully Hilary was here for a visit and was going to help out. I guess it was too much for Devin!

Aiden looks like a beaver or something with those teeth!

Where are you going James?? :)
I'm assuming flash photography wasn't allowed during the show, but I'm glad these few pictures were taken so I could see that the kids enjoyed themselves.