Prayers for Tuesday

I am making this post to ask all my friends and family who read our blog to say some prayers for a little girl Tuesday who is a member of my multiples group online. She was diagnosed this week with a Stage 4 neuroblastoma.(a large tumor in her abdomen) She has a twin sister Piper and she is about 6 weeks younger than our twins. Her family will need a lot of support and prayers over the next few months.
This week we got together with Max and Anna to send a get well card to Tuesday. This was our best attempt. It is really hard to get 4 kids to co-operate at the same time.
We initially wanted the kids to hold the signs. As you can see, that didn't work out.
So as I said before. We need as many prayers as possible. Little Tuesday has a long road ahead of her.

Party at Shepard Lake

Ok, so this is a picture from last year at my friend MaryAnn and Mikes's place. I didn't take any good pictures of the house this year. They live up near Sauble Beach Ontario. Yearly in July we are having a get together at their house with all of our girlfriends from high school. I missed the first year since I was at home on bedrest. We made it last year and this year. There were 8 of us girls with our husbands(minus Phia's Nick who fishes at this time every year) and all of our kids(17 total). So how could we not have fun???? We did have fun. The older kids looked after the younger ones so that allowed the adults to relax a little bit. This is a picture from the deck of the house. Some of us got rooms in the house(that would be me), some people brought their trailers, some tents, some slept in the bunk house. It all works out.
This is Reid and Elsie off with Megan and Sarah. They were great babysitters for the weekend.
All of the kids love to fish in the lake. Friday night the fish were biting so fast that the guys couldn't get the fish off fast enough. Elsie and Reid were very intrigued by the fish. Of course I don't have the picture, but Reid was kissing the fish. By the time I got the camera out, they were done.
This is my favorite pic from the weekend. This is Justin with Reid sitting down by the water. I'm not sure what they are doing, but they look like they are having fun. Deep in conversation or something. They're probably looking for frogs or fish.
MaryAnn also has a pool. So both kids went swimming again. They had a lot of fun.
Mommy got to lounge on the deck for most of the time while the girls watched the kids.
Elsie was a little nature girl. Here she is getting ready to touch a frog.
Thank you to Mike and MaryAnn for hosting a great weekend again. Can't wait until next year!!!!

The Rest of the Adventure at Nana and Papa's Place

The adventure continued in Exeter. We found a lot of things to do. Lots of our time was just spent in the backyard of my moms house. One of Reids favorite things these days is to pull the wagon, not go for a ride. Here apparently he thinks he is a little stronger than he actually is. He is trying his hardest to give his cousin Taya and all of the play cars and toys a ride. We ventured out to the beach one day. Only because my friend Karen insisted and wanted to take her little guy Nate. So we went. It makes for some cute pictures if nothing else. We were probably ready to go after about 1/2 hr. Nate wasn't liking it too much, and Reid was throwing sand everywhere-I mean everywhere. Or he was taking off down the beach. Thank goodness we had Nana and Taya with us as well to bring him back.

I think this is the cutest little picture. Nana with her grandkids. This one is before the wave.
After the wave. The kids did have a good time. And Elsie was very upset when we left. She cried pretty much the whole way back to Nana's house.
This is me sitting and supervising Reid and the sand. He doesn't look too happy, but he was having fun. Really!!! I guess I wasn't letting him have his kind of fun.
Elsie spent a good amt of time sitting under the umbrella, playing by herself. She had a pail and a couple of shovels.
One of the other days we went out to my friend Leanne's new house to try out their pool. We discovered that we are "over" our floaties from last year and definately need some lifejackets. Elsie has no fear and was all about walking right in. Reid was a little more cautious and just enjoyed being around the edges. Just getting close enough to make me nervous.


On another day we went to visit with my Aunt Kathleen and Uncle John. They have a little farm near Bayfield. Perfect for the kids to visit. Uncle John has a ton of animals. This is Frisky the pony. She is very friendly and enjoyed eating the grass that Elsie was feeding her.
This is my cousins son Clayton( this is his Papa's place and he does and excellent tour of the farm)He is showing Reid the goats.
So that is all of the pics from our time in Exeter. We are back home this week, and I haven't taken a picture yet. We are getting together with my highschool girlfriends, husbands and kids this weekend, so I should have some good pics from that.

Visiting Nana and Papa

We are in my hometown this week, visiting with Nana and Papa. Daddy came with us on the weekend. We had a family picnic on Sunday and saw all of our Aunts/Uncles and cousins. This is a picture of my brothers daughter Taya with the kids. She is the best cousin ever. She just loves Reid and Elsie to death and is sooo good with them. We get to see her again on Wed. We went to feed the goats and horses that live around the corner from Nana and Papa. The kids aren't afraid of them at all. Elsie wanted to feed the horse as well as the goats. We didn't think she would have a hand left, so we fed the horse and she just fed the goats.
Reid taking his turn feeding the goats.
Admiring the horse from afar. Its always fun to be able to just walk around the block at my moms house and see the animals.
For those of you who read my blog and are unfamiliar with my hometown, there will be something strange in this picture. That is a white squirrel that Reid is chasing. We have a big population of them in Exeter. There are only a few known towns in the US and Canada that have them. So yes, I am from Exeter Ontario, home of the White Squirrel. I tried to get a better picture, but he took off up a tree.
It was pretty hot out today and humid, so Nana set up a slip and slide so we could cool off in the backyard. We had fun, but probably had just as much fun with the gallon pails and cool whip containers.
Nana is showing us what to do with the water. It didn't take us long to catch on.
Elsie's container is empty, so she's on her way back up the hill for more.
Reid decided that he would fill his container and throw it at Nana. Thank goodness he's a bad shot with the water. I think he only really hit her once.
We still have a few days here, so I'm sure that we will have more pictures of our fun.

Nana, Papa and Fireworks

This week Nana and Papa came to visit and help us to fix our deck. Those of you who have been here know that there was a hot tub there when we moved in and we sold it last fall. Since then there has just been a huge hole. Rob took Friday off and he and Papa fixed the hole. It looks great. (Of course I haven't taken a picture of the completed deck yet.)Thank you Papa for all your help. While they were fixing the deck up, Nana and I took the kids(with our friends Donna and Addy) to a local indoor playplace. It is called Funtastic Play Center. Of course I tried to take pictures but the camera died when I got there. Next time. It is a fun place with a small climbing play area(like McDonalds) with slides at the end. And a lot of large foam shapes and it is all safe for the kids to climb all over. Perfect for a rainy day when they are driving mommy crazy.On Friday evening our city had fireworks. We decided to take the kids to see what they would think. It is walking distance from our house. Since I was having camera issues this week, my battery died there as well. I managed to get a couple of pics before it died. This is Reid not wanting to sit on Nana's knee. He was having too much fun running around.
This is us watching the fireworks. I especially like Elsie's expression. They really did like them and weren't scared at all. Reid actually enjoyed pointing out airplanes that were going overhead as much as the fireworks. I never realized how many planes there were until he points out every single one that flies over.
Elsie and Reid watching the fireworks.
One of the pretty ones.

Fathers Day, Trains and Pools

Elsie and Reid got their daddy an indoor/outdoor thermometer for Fathers Day. Daddy made his famous pancakes(ok, don't know if they're famous, but its the only think he cooks and he does a good job)and then we headed out to Cabela's to shop. We actually came home empty handed. Then we stopped at a park on the way home and had some lunch there and let the kids play. We ended the day with Jets Pizza. I offered to cook whatever he wanted and he wanted pizza(his kind with pepperoni and sausage, no veggies allowed this day) and Jets bread. One of Reids favorite things these days is trains. Everytime he hears one he pumps his arm and says choo, choo. I have driven past this park a lot and always see the signs saying train rides the third weekend of every month, so this weekend we finally checked it out.

Elsie and I took a ride too, but we let Reid and daddy go a 2nd time so we could get some pics. It is run by the Kiwanis Club. They just take donations. You get a ride twice around the park each time you go.
Reid really had fun. In this pic they are the 5th couple on the train, just before the tree. He was waving at people and saying hi as they went by. He wasn't scared at all.
Today I finally got out the little pool. Reid loved it. I am a mean mom and won't let him splash in the bathtub, so as you can see, he went crazy today.
Elsie was just busy trying to keep the water from Reid's splashing out of her eyes. I eventually put the slide from out little swing set in the pool, so they were sliding down into the pool but I didn't get any pics because I was too busy helping them. They have no fear sometimes and scare me. Rob is picking up a little slide he bought off of Craigs List so I can use it in the pool. It will be better than what we have, so I will get more pics. I'm sure we'll be in the little pool a lot this summer.
I know Elsie's hat is too small. Its her hat from last year. I didn't want to get the one we wear every day wet. I have more, I just didn't feel like looking for them. It served its purpose to keep the sun off of her head. Not her face very well, but at least her head was shaded.

Slacker

Wow, has it been 2 weeks since I last posted?? I don't have any good excuses for not posting sooner. I will just use the nice weather. The kids hate to be inside and all the fresh air has us going to bed early. The kids are both doing great. Reid is talking a ton. He is really good at repeating things you ask him to. Elsie is slowly increasing her vocabulary. She's a sly one. You don't think she knows any of the words and then she just quietly says it. Reid is just loud and vocal. Reids favorite things these days are trucks and tractors. He is all boy. I can't wait to bring him home to Huron County in a couple of weeks to take him to a farm. Elsie is definately all girl, whining over every little thing that Reid does to her. He steals every toy that she picks up and I know it is on purpose half of the time to make her scream. She lost her 2nd bottom tooth and now has a really cute little toothless grin. She is having a hard time eating corn on the cob. Nothing to rip the corn kernels off with. They are on the go from the time they wake up until we go to bed at night.
These are a few of my favorite pictures from over the past 2 weeks.

Today we went to the Detroit Science Center with Phia, Megan, Nicholas, Matthew and Donna and Addy(I didn't really get any good pics of my kids with Addy) This pic cracks me up. I thought I would get a pic of the boys since they all looked cute in their blue striped shirts. Apparently Matthew didn't think it was a good idea. Thats Nicholas holding Reid with his devilish grin, getting ready to take off. Here are Nicholas, Megan and Matthew on the forklift with Reid and Elsie.
Megan with Reid and Elsie.
Elsie playing in the ball pit and looking pretty cute with her little piggie tails. She actually kept them in all day right up until bedtime.
Reid just being Reid.Cute all the time.
This was our first attempt at piggie tails. I didn't post the first pic of the tears, and then the pics with the blankies to help soothe the tears and then finally this pic, lounging in her chair watching Elmo.
A favorite pastime these days, wearing mommy and daddy's shoes.
And last but not least. The Red Wings winning the Stanley Cup!!!!!!!! These are a couple of pics from the 2nd last game. Our neighbour hooked up his projection tv so we could all watch it together on his garage. The first period was rough since it was still too light outside, but once it got dark, it looked great. We all brought lawn chairs and hung out. I was able to stay out with everyone until the 2nd OT period when one of the kids woke up. Unfortunately Rob was out of town for the winning game and I had to work that night. Rob's mom was here and said it looked like a great party again and they set off fireworks when they won.
A bunch of neighbours intently watching the game.