New Year's Tradition

 
We have a tradition to bowl on New Year's Eve with the kids and many of our friends with their kids.  The kids really look forward to this day.  What kid doesn't like bowling?  And then to add in beads and party hats?  Excitement for everyone!  This year "Auntie" Becky suggested we all dress the kids up in "crazy clothes" for some added fun.  Our kids (especially Hunter) don't particularly like dressing any way other than normal everyday clothing but they did agree to do crazy hair.  And Greyson is at the fun age where you can do anything to him and he's oblivious so he definitely played along (and was the hit of the bowling alley).  At one point in the night I put in our order for dinner at the counter and the lady working asked, "Which lane are you on?"  I said, "Ummm...I'm not sure...(looking around) it's that one with the mohawk baby."  She excitedly replied with a big smile, "Ooo!  We love the mohawk baby!"

The boys (all except Greyson) enjoyed their very first kiddie cocktail.  When I asked Tyler and Brody what they thought of it they both said, "It's good but a little spicy."  It was their first soda of any type so I'm sure they were referring to the carbonation.  I wish I had gottten their first sip on video because it was pretty funny!  But they kept going back for more so I guess it wasn't too spicy!

Unfortunately Hunter wasn't feeling his best so we didn't extend the festivities afterward at the Gunville household.  We ate a pizza dinner at the bowling alley and headed home for an early night.  I'm not so sure they would have lasted much longer anyway, especially our littlest little rock star.

Happy New Year everyone!

Christmas tradition

One of our favorite Christmas traditions is called "Holiday Lights Night."  On that night we all get in our pajamas and pile into the car with travel mugs of hot cocoa.  We drive around looking at all of the outdoor decorations that people have put up for the holidays and vote as a family on the best one.  We reward that lucky house with this certificate as well as some treat.  Several years in a row we gave away a jar of homemade raspberry jam (when we still had raspberry plants), one year we gave homemade canned salsa and this year we gave away a plate of homemade cookies.  This year Hunter's number one requirement was that the house had to be colorful.  Brody, however, fell in love with the light-up reindeer with moving heads and he couldn't get past it.  The house HAD to have those.  It made for a difficult search!  It's fun to see the reaction of the people in the winning house and the kids really look forward to this night.

Old man Brody

Last night Hunter went to bed without dinner because he had a very bad headache and was feeling very tired.  We've learned in the past that when he complains of any type of ailment that he needs to be in bed immediately.  He never complains about sickness until it's really bad.  So we tucked him in and put a garbage can next to his bed (just in case) and continued on with dinner without him.  The first thing I asked him this morning when I saw him was, "How are you feeling today?"  He replied with, "ok, but my head still hurts a little bit."  Shortly after Brody woke up and joined us in the living room.  Hunter asked him, "Is your head feeling okay?" and he said, "Not quite yet."  Then Hunter turned to me and asked, "Is he a teenager?" and we both had a good laugh!

Greyson's first birthday

Well, since it's almost 2013 it's probably about time I dedicate a post to Greyson's first birthday (which was in September).  Eeek!  I'm a bit behind in my blogging (as usual).  As many of you know I started up an official photography business this past fall.  This has kept me very busy since the official "launch" for which I am extremely grateful.  But what it hasn't left me with is much extra time for my blog.  Now that Christmas is behind us for another year and my photo shoots have mostly come to a halt with the cold weather, I have a little extra time to get caught up.

Let's talk Greyson...Being that this was our last "first" birthday to celebrate I wanted it to be extra special.  This commenced with the invitations, for which I needed perfect pictures.  So I dreamed up how he would enjoy his very first cake with an all out "cake smash" photo shoot in our backyard.  I went to great lengths for this perfect photo, from ordering his special handmade birthday "suit" to staging every aspect of the setting, and don't forget the homemade cake I spent four hours making.  Oh, yes!  This would be PERFECT! 

What we didn't account for was one tiny little thing.  It turned out that our precious little angel wanted NOTHING to do with that delicious and painstakingly-made confection.  We tried and tried to coax him to even just try it but he had absolutely no interest.  John finally just stuck his hand in it.  Take a look at that face and you can decide for yourself how that went!  I did manage to get him to play around with it a bit once I handed him a spoon. 

Hunter even had a go of trying to convince him that it was really good!  He was talking it up like you wouldn't believe.  God love him!  Well, even if he didn't get to enjoy his first cake, he certainly was adorable during the attempt.  And the rest of the family got a really great (and beautiful if I may say so myself) dessert that night after dinner and we all appreciated that!


Onto the actual birthday.  We invited some close friends and family over to celebrate this big milestone.  It was pretty low-key this time around (no theme) but we did rent a cotton candy machine for some added fun.  It turned out to be the hit of the party.  The kids all loved the treat and the adults had a great time making it.  I overheard one kid say, "This is the best birthday party EVER!"  That (of course) made my night.  We tried to get Greyson to eat store-bought cake but he wanted no part of it.  He was fond of our singing though so I guess we can't ask for more!  Instead we gave him some ice cream, which he loves.  Happy (very belated) birthday to our little peanut!

More firsts!

Many firsts for Greyson today (Saturday, the 15th).  First haircut, first lollipop and first good official teeth brushing!  He was such a trooper at the haircut place.  As his hairstylist said, "He's just chillin'!"  At one point she even said, "I love you right now!"  I think she has had MUCH worse...(was she the twins' stylist about two years ago?)  I should have held out on the lollipop for all of my kids for this milestone.  His three older brothers screamed bloody murder when they all got their first haircuts.  I didn't intentionally hold out on this treat for Greyson for this specific occasion but it worked out famously!  He just sat there, in a sugar-induced state unaware of anyone around him doing anything out of the ordinary.  It was AWESOME!  That is, until I had to put his sticky self into the car for the ride home.  ICK!  Immediate bath upon entering our home.  He looks like such a big boy with his cute little haircut.

Biko

Tonight at bedtime Ty told John with a very sad tone, "Daddy...I went to the hospital and I lost my biko."  And John said, "I know honey.  We'll just have to take you to the store and get you a new one."  He perked up and excitedly said, "To the biko store?  Where's the biko store?"  So John told him, "Yes, Mommy will know where the biko store is."

Falling apart

It started about a month ago when Hunter brought home some nasty bug.  It infected all the kids and they all got ear infections as a result of being sick for so long.  Hunter was the worst.  He had a double ear infection that had pus.  Gross!  The incredible thing is that he never even complained about any pain.  I had gone into see the doctor in the first place the day before because Tyler woke up from his nap in the afternoon screaming in pain.  He had a fever and complained of ear pain.  The next day the same thing occurred to Brody.  On our way to the doctor's office Hunter said he felt dizzy so when we saw the doc I asked her to check Hunter's ears as well as Greyson's.  She said Hunter had it the worst.  So they all got antibiotics.  We've been through the first round of them and they're all still sick.  We're on a second round now (all except Greyson, whose right ear is still infected but we're waiting it out a week or two since he isn't acting much different from normal.  I asked the doctor what the risk would be if we didn't give antibiotics.  Would they lose hearing with an infection?  She said that most would clear up on their own and she's never seen a case where a patient had lost hearing from an infection.  So since I still haven't brought Grey in for his 1 year well-baby check-up.  I asked if we could hold off on antibiotics and see if it cleared up on its own and re-check at that visit.  She agreed that it would be fine.  But she did push for Hunter to take a second round since he has it pretty bad and it doesn't seem to be clearing up on its own.  His cough is horrible and his ears look bad (so she says).

Then about a week ago Tyler had a run-in with the bathtub faucet and needed to get four stitches to patch up the gash on his cheek below his left eye.  Poor little guy.  He was such a trooper.  He cried when it happened for about five solid minutes pretty hard.  But when they stitched him up he didn't cry at all.  They gave him a topical numbing ointment that I had to hold on for about 15 minutes (on a cotton ball) and they put him in the straight-jacket-type board with velcro straps that tightly bound his arms to his sides.  They called it a papoose.  He didn't like that very much but he didn't complain or cry.  He just kept watching Wall-E on the t.v.  To add insult to injury he lost his "biko" (blankie) somewhere between the hospital and home and despite a trip back to look for it that night as well as several calls the following days we haven't been able to locate it.  He's pretty sad about that loss.

They're all on the mend now and I pray that I do not have to return to the ER or doctor's office for at least another week.  I've been six times in the last two weeks between the ear infections and the stitches/removal.

Worst blogger ever!

BAD MOM and BAD BLOGGER!!!  I haven't even blogged about Greyson turning one.  I have so much to write on here and NO TIME.  Most of you know that I've decided to "go pro" with photography and thankfully, I have been very busy with it.  I am having SO much fun capturing special moments for people on film but it has left me barely any time at all for extras like my blog.  I realize that it is so important to keep up with it though so that I can remember OUR special moments so I really want to make more of an effort to update more frequently.  Things have slowed down now that it is cold outside so hopefully I can do just that.  For those of you out there that are still stopping by to check, thank you so much for your loyalty!

Greyson's firsts

It's official.  Greyson is getting big.  He spoke his first word a few weeks ago (August 30th, bad mom for waiting so long to sing my praises).  He was the only of our children whose first word was "mama."  AT LAST!!  It happened on my first day back teaching this year.  When I returned home he was sitting in the toy room with our new babysitter and as soon as he saw me come through the garage door he said it.  Awwww....

Then yesterday he took his first steps!  Again, we were all in the toy room and I mentioned to John that I saw him take a couple mini steps this afternoon but I didn't think it counted because they were so small.  He was a little disappointed so I grabbed Grey and plopped him on his feet, kneeled a few steps away from him and said, "come to mama!"  And he did!  He did such a good job too!  He took about four small steps to get to me!  John was so excited to see it happen because he missed it with the other three.

He is also saying "ball" and "dada."

What a little punkin!

Nuk Fairy

Tyler and Brody went to their first dental appointment a few weeks ago.  They did great and got a good report from our new dentist (whose office is within walking distance from our house.  The kids actually rode their bikes there while I pushed Greyson in the stroller).  I took them the week before to watch Hunter get his teeth cleaned so they knew what to expect.  Then when it was their turn Tyler went first and was a champ the whole time.  He wasn't afraid and did what the hygenist asked him to do.  When it was Brody's turn he was a bit more hesitant and wanted me to sit with him for the initial part of the exam.  After about five minutes he got the courage to sit by himself.  At the end of the appointment the dentist asked me if they sucked their thumb and I had to admit that they still took a Nuk at bedtime and naptime.  He said it was evident and that it was time to take them away.  He showed me their bite (especially Brody's) and how the Nuk is affecting it.  Immediately when we got home I snipped the tips of the Nuks (a suggestion made by the dentist) and braced myself for what was to come.  At naptime Brody (of course) noticed it right away.  He showed it to me and I acted super happy and told him how exciting it was that the Nuk Fairy had come and done that because she believed that he is a big boy now and doesn't need that Nuk.  I also told him that he was free to sleep with it as it was and when he was ready to give it up then the Nuk Fairy would return and bring him a present!  Tyler completely blew my mind and walked over to the dresser, set it on top and said, "I'm ready!"  Brody on the other hand started crying.  He kept saying, "That Nuk is broken.  I want a new one!"  I told him that the Nuk Fairy had done that to all the Nuks.  More crying.  He chose not to sleep with it and cried for at least a half an hour until he finally fell asleep.  When they awoke Tyler asked where his present was.  I had to explain that the Nuk Fairy only comes at nighttime and that if they were truly ready to give up their Nuks then there would be a present for them in the morning.  Sure enough, both boys went without their Nuks again at bedtime and that evening the Nuk Fairy came back and they got their gifts.  They were delighted but for a few days after this episode Brody continued to talk to me about his Nuk at naptime and bedtime usually saying, "Where's my Nuk?"  So I would have to remind him.  He looked sad but didn't cry after that first day.  A few days later one of them found a Nuk hiding in the couch in the toy room and it was still in tact.  They brought it to me right away and I told them that the Nuk Fairy must have forgotten that one.  I said, "Do you think we should draw the Nuk Fairy a picture with a note on it so that she could take that one too?" and they agreed.  This picture is of them drawing their picture to the Nuk Fairy.

Greyson's new shoes

Greyson is so close to walking and since the weather is changing we decided it was time for his first pair of shoes.  They say that it's best to learn barefoot but I disagree if it's cold outside!  Besides, he has been getting lots of practice this summer without any shoes.  He walks holding onto only one finger of one hand but once I let go he free-stands for up to 30 seconds and then gives up, lets himself down and crawls to wherever he wants to be.  Robeez shoes are so great for this stage and I loved the Oscar ones.  He looks adorable with them on.  Don't you just love the fuzzy eyebrows?

Family visit

At the end of July/beginning of August my family came to visit for 10 days and we all had sooooo much fun together! Of course it wouldn't be a "Stenen" vacation without it being jam-packed full of activities. So, to start we all spent some time swimming and rock climbing at the Y. Hunter tied his personal best so he was happy with that.  Even Tyler and Brody got in on the action and did some "bouldering."  Cousins Anthony and Bella went up as well.  Even Uncle Mark gave it a go!  Next up, Hunter went to the EAA Air Show with his cousin Anthony, Auntie Jen and Uncle Darrin. A very hot summer day but fun nonetheless.  Anthony is big into planes so he was in heaven!  Then we all spent the next three days in the Dells. The highlight (of the entire summer in Hunter's opinion) was Noah's Ark. He had an absolute blast riding all the waterslides he could. He only backed down on one, "The Point of No Return," which as rumor has it is so steep that you don't even touch the slide for part of the ride. It's like a free-falling body slide. NO THANK YOU! I was kind of happy he chose not to go down it. Pretty scary. We all really liked the new slide called "Quadzilla."  You get to race up to three other people, which was super fun.  The day we were there it started out a little cold, rained for a little while around lunchtime but then cleared up and ended up being a beautiful day.  All that led up to a relatively empty park so short lines so we were happy!  We also went mid-week so that helps.  While in the Dells we also did The Army Ducks (a Wisconsin Dells must), mini golf and Go Karts. It was a very fun time had by all. Once we returned home we spent the next few days bonding with my Dad. We all went out on the boat and hung out on the beach the first day. That was followed up by a trip to a really fun park in the area and finally a Brewer Game where Hunter was able to march with the Scouts around the warning track. Hunter spent some quality time fishing with his Grandpa which he thoroughly enjoyed.  Especially the part where Grandpa took him shopping for some new lures.  He was loving that!!!  Even Grandma Ruthie joined us later on in the week. So so much fun!!!

Sweet moment

This morning, like most mornings, I had a hard time getting out of bed.  When I heard the twins  jumping in their cribs I dragged myself over to their room, let them out so they could go use the bathroom and stumbled back to my bed for a few more minutes while they did their business.  A while later I heard Greyson's mobile playing music.  Mind you, my understanding was that Greyson was still sleeping after having woken up at 5 a.m. to nurse and my tucking him back in afterwards.  So when I heard the music coming from his room I immediately got out of bed to see what was going on.  What I saw was Tyler hanging from outside of Greyson's crib reaching up to wind up his mobile for him.  I said, "Aw, are you playing music for your little brother Ty?"  And pointing to it he said, "Yeah, I twinkled that on."

Whew! What a summer!

You can tell how fast this summer has gone.  I haven't blogged since June!  This is hands-down the fastest summer ever.  Hunter started out with a week of a summer school "class" called "Mad Science" followed up with two weeks of "Incredible Edibles" (where he learned how to cook simple recipes) and "Spy Kids."  Then he had two more weeks of "Survivor" and "Chess."  These classes took up our mornings for all of June and half of July (8 a.m. until noon).  Then my family came to visit from Arizona and Florida for two weeks and we did all sorts of fun things with them (more on that later).  Hunter has been taking golf once a week all summer long and was in baseball during June and July (twice a week).  I've decided that next summer we are going to do minimal activities.  I might be hearing, "Mom, I'm bored!" a lot but I'll take the trade off.  Too much running around!  And that's for ONE kid!  I can't imagine what it will be like when all four of them are in sports and activities.  Ay ay ay!  He's been having fun though, no doubt!  With school around the corner I am caught between feeling happy to headed toward a more predictable routine and schedule and sad about sending Hunter away for most of the day five days a week.  I like having him around and am going to miss him.

Vase

Hunter: "Brody, don't touch that vase!"
Brody:  "But I want to!"
Hunter:  "It's very very breakable.  Don't touch it!"
Brody:  "Why?  It's pretty!"
Hunter:  "Well, don't!  Mom probably got it on a whole nother continent or something."

Meeska Mooska Mickey Mouse

To celebrate Tyler and Brody turning three we went with a Mickey Mouse birthday party.  I really enjoyed planning this one.  There were plenty of ideas out there to help me execute a fun event!  Three cheers for Pinterest!
Let's start with the goody bags!  These were so simple to make and yet soooo cute!  They each contained a small bouncy ball with stars, a Mickey Mouse Cake Pop (not simple to make) and a BPA-free plastic Mickey cup (thanks Laura!).  They also all got to take home the Mickey Mouse ears I made for them.  I even made a Minnie Mouse one for Callie!
 I made them these adorable (if I do say so myself) Mickey shirts to wear.  Our friend Sara asked at the party if I ordered them off of Etsy so I guess they looked pretty professional!  They were relatively easy to make.  However, I left them until the last minute so I was up sewing them together at midnight the night before.  It was worth it because they loved wearing them! 

For food we had Donald's Cheese and Quakers, Oreo Mickey's, Hot Diggety Dogs (and brats), more Cake Pops, Pineapple Pretzel Salad, Cucumber Hummus, Veggie Pizza (thanks Laura!) and a fruit tart that I forgot to put out and ended up eating myself the few days following the party.  AGH!

The cake was so cute!  They loved that too, especially eating it!

We sang Happy Birthday to each of them separately (like we always do) but when we first sang to Brody (he was born first) Tyler helped him blow out the candle.

To go with cake we had ice cream (also a hit)!

We didn't have any organized games and that was good because organized games = stressed out mommy as we learned from the Ninjago party.  It was a hot summer day so we just filled the kid pool, put out some squirt guns, had the wiggly sprinkler going, put up the bounce house and the kids all had a crazy good time. 

We opened presents while listening to the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse CD.  After lots of assembling (thanks Dad!) they played with their new big wheels in the driveway while all the other kids fought over all the other riding toys.

The birthday boys were so happy with their party!