We went to Santa Cruz for a beach day.

As our kids get older they can sit here and play their favorite lady bug game.  It's Vincent's favorite... and he got to be in charge of "the aphids" so he loved that. Seanie would randomly come in and run and jump on the game (maybe in a year he'll be playing too).. but maybe not :(

  
 Maggie got matching jammies for her and her baby from my Aunt Cookie. She loves them so much that I've washed them about 20 times. Soooo cute! She always finds the best gifts.

Bedtime with her new favorite book about dogs.  She loves dogs and is very interested in different breeds.  She can even recognize dogs as we drive by them.  Her three favorite dogs right now are bloodhounds, beagles and German Shepherds.  If she doesn't know the breed then we have to go up to the owner and discuss their dog.  They usually ask if she has a dog and she says "Yes, she is a mutt or mixed breed". Love it!!!!



Maggie is really into dogs right now so for her birthday she got to go to build a bear to "make" her own dog and we found an old shirt we had for Bailey (back when we loved her and took care of her) and decided to put it on her. She loved it so much she went into our room (where Sean is still sleeping). The kids know the rule that they may never go in and wake up daddy on a work day. But she was soooo excited she goes in and gets right in his face, "Daddy, daddy guess what? Bailey has a shirt on. Ha ha" Then she left.

I'm five today!

I get to write the number of kids in the class, my name and a shape on the board!

Surprisingly I was looking forward to Mag's all girl party. We did hair and nails.

We cut off the curls. Ill try and get an aftershot. He cried the whole time. His gummies were filled with hairs.

On Maggie's realy birthday we had to have her neighborhood "boyfriends" over for cake. It was a blast. Next year she decided that she wants to do a "spiderman and princess Party" so everyone could come over.  She even kept asking if boys could just come to her "nail and hair" girl party and just not get their nails done. I love how she wants to include everyone. :)

Miss me?

 

 Well so much for my goal of posting pics every week.  I've been slacking and it's been 2 months. Here are some updates.  We just got rid of the crib so in memory of our "recalled crib from 2009" (whoops) sooo long and good ridance.  Maggie had fun chewing on every edge of you and left her cute little teeth marks.  Seanie had fun peeing on you and there are many boogers left so you don't get lonely.  There were many nights of screaming and banging sippy cups, pacifiers, and Buzz Lightyear against you.  Thank you for not breaking and keeping my babies nice and cozy when they slept.  R.I.P 5/2007-5/2012

 Scroll down to the next pic and read 1st..... Ok now this is the day after and you can tell it's still a little swollen but a lot better. Poor guy! I kept him in for 2 days after that.

 So this shot is a little blurry but it all started outside with some gentle rubbing of the eyes.  Then the swelling started so I tried to give him Benadryl for the allergies.  He gags when taking medicine and spits it at me and this time was not any different... oh except that he barfed all over me!!!  So I finally get some benadryl down and sat with the poor guy until I look at his eye one more time and realize that the swelling has moved to his actual eyeball. I searched everywhere for signs of spider bite, bee sting and there was nothing.  If you can zoom closer you might be able to see the eyeball puss coming out.  I decided to rush him to E.R. and the doctors took one look and said, "yes, it's allergies". I said "What? why is his eyeball about to explode?" I guess he rubbed pollen into his eyeball which cause it to swell. It was freaky but now he takes Claritin in the morning for those high allergy days.  Oh and did I mention that Sean was gone to the middle east for 2 weeks??? Luckily I had my friend Kelly, my mom and Sean's mom (who lives in Arizona). :) Does motherhood get any easier? I doubt it! Their going to be teenagers one day..... aaaaahhhhhhhh!!

 IPad rehab!!  I think I've mentioned my sons addiction to the ipad but it's been getting worse.  If I can't find him this is usually where he's at.  He unplugged the ipad and is quietly playing games, looking at pics and videos.  He probably has a blog! The other day I was in my room for 10 minutes getting ready, cleaning up and then I looked over and there he was. Sooo scary! He might have to go back to ipad rehab. This will be his 3rd trip.

 Sean made it back the day before mother's day and even with jet-lag he still made me breakfast in bed. It's just what I wanted!  Thanks honey!

 Before Sean left on his trip he had a few days off so we went to Santa Cruz one day and Bay Area kids discovery museum another day.  Maggie made a cool fort and Seanie played the drums (of course).

Grizzly

Here is what happens when you let your 4 yr old borrow your camera. A picture of Dora and her foot.

















There has been alot of "playing house" recently. Maggie is normally the mom and the boys switch off playing the dad, baby and kid. Vincent is the dad and Gavin is the kid today. Becky and I have answered to "mom" so many times and the response is "not you". Becky also told me that she puts all the boys in bed and then does her workout while they sleep. :)









Sean got talked in to coming to Mag's preschool. I missed his talk to the class but I heard it went well with plenty of laughter from the teachers and parents. There are 5 firemen dads in this class so he said he needed to outdo them.














He also got to bring the SWAT vehicle which was cool. The boys loved it!


















Seanie and Roman got to come and they just loved hanging out inside.

I did it!!!!!

I finally figured out how to get pictures from our iphone onto the computer. It took me 3 months but I did it! Here are some random pics. For about 2 weeks my son took down these books off his sisters shelf. He even gave himself timeouts afterwards cause he knew he was in trouble.



















Family picture at a park in Dublin!


















Here are after and before (can't get everything right on this blog) shots of his 1st haircut in October. He had a racecar, Elmo on the TV, and a lollipop. He was so confused and very unhappy! The he went outside with his dad and fell, busted his lip open and Sean had to go across to Pete's coffee and get ice because the ladies at the haircut place ran around all panicked when they saw blood. They gave me a baby wipe and I politely told them that it will burn his cut. Glad they work with kids every day. :)

Sean's birthday

We've gotten used to celebrating holidays, birthdays and other events on different days. Sean had to work on his birthday this year so Maggie and I decided to make rice krispy treats for him (or as she likes to call them "rice kripskies"). Sean's favorite memory of childhood was that his mom would make him rice krispies every year for his birthday. He specifically asked if they could be chocolate this year. Happy 34th to a great husband, wonderful dad and hard worker!!!!





"To my favorite tooty. Daddy, love Maggie" translation from the card she wrote to him. :)

What's new with us? Seanie is talking up a storm and some new favorite things he says is when we are out and about in a store... he points to people and says, "Mommy who's that?" It can get a little embarassing. "Wheres the remote?" "Wheres the ipad?" "I want to eat chicken nuggets". "Where's Woody and Buzz?"

My kids were sick a couple of weeks ago. It lasted about a week each. Just fevers and bad coughs. Seanie was acting a little strange after being sick so after the 5th day I finally took him in and he had an ear infection. He got medicine and we went home. The 4th day of antibiotics we were heading up to the snow on a random trip but Seanie's ear seemed to still bug him. Sean took him in and got stronger medicine. Were on day 5 of the stronger medicine and he's still tugging on his ears. After day 10 he better be back to normal. I told Sean that he is like Superman with his special powers of fighting off antibiotics and his high pain tolerance.

February

Well, I wish I was more computer savvy but I'm always having problems posting pictures on this blog. My nice camera is broken and my little camera is filled with pics that I need to get printed. So we rely on Sean's iphone right now but I can't figure out how to download them on here.

Updates from The Poole Family:

Big Haircut:
Last Sunday Sean gave Seanie his 2nd haircut. His 1st haircut was in October and it is just soooo curly. My brothers were calling him Harpo Marx from the Marx Brothers. So Sean shaved it and I got teary eyed having regrets. But it actually looks really cute. It's still curly on top but shaved on the sides. My brothers now call him J.T. (Justin Timberlake) from the 2000's and sing "Bye, Bye, Bye" whenever they see him.

Kindergarten:
I can't believe Maggie will be 5 in a couple months and I have to register her for Kindergarten next month. It's a big step and she's very excited. She has also been playing soccer once a week and she is having lots of fun. She is always the first one to listen to the coach (well, most of the class is boys so what do you expect)? She shares the ball with all the other kids and I love that she is so nice but then the competitive side of me wants her to just kick butt and be the best!!!

Funny Stories:
Seanie is talking so much now and I just love all his funny sayings. He is in such a good spot right now and I'm really enjoying his sense of humor. He loves getting naked in bed at night and so he falls asleep on his stomach with his naked butt sticking straight up in the air. The first night he did it both Sean and I thought it was the funniest thing ever. We have pics but just text me and I'll send it to you :) He loves taking off his diaper during the day also and says he has to go potty about 20 times a day but never has.

My kids have been really hungry lately so dinner has been around 5:00 lately. Last night Seanie tells me hes hungry and he wants a "sammy". He sits at the table and usually talks me into a little appetizer while hes waiting. I noticed that he was really quiet looking at his naked knees (he was just in his diaper). I finally walk over and he's rubbing his right finger on his right knee and his left finger on his left knee. I said "What are you doing?" and he looks up and shows me his finger's. I said, "What are those?" He said "eeeewwww... boogers"! He was rolling boogers on his knees and playing with them. It was pretty gross and funny at the same time. So my son doesn't need any toys to play with he just makes his own out of boogers!!!!

Maggie, my laundry helper has been helping me fold clothes and put them away lately. She was putting away my clothes for me in the drawers and asking me which drawer they were in. "The first, the second?" She said, "Hey mom, where do your boobs go"? I said, "Do you mean my bra"? "Yes". "In the first drawer" "Ok"

I was changing Seanie's diaper when the ultimate question came up....
Maggie: Mom, why do boys have wee wee's and girls have pee pees?
Me: Well, thats what makes up boys and girls because of our different parts and girls have boobs too.
Maggie lifts up her shirt and says: I don't have boobs. Look!
Me: Your right but you'll get them when your a little older.
Maggie: Well, why does Daddy have boobs?
Me: ha ha ha ha ha good question... ask Daddy when he gets home.

Maggie and I play dollhouse a lot and her mom in her family was going to the store and the mom in my family asked her to get her a bunch of stuff from Target. Maggie's mom came back with 3 trampolines from Target (one for the babies, one for girls and one for the adults). My mom asked where all her stuff was that she asked for and her mom said, "Oh, I'm so sorry it wasn't on sale". hee hee hee

The last two Saturday's we've gone to the zoo. Last Saturday was the 1st time I went by myself with the kids and without the stroller. It was really fun and we had a talk about not running off and how we would get to see the baby giraffe named "Maggie". The giraffe was so cute. She galloped around trying to get the other giraffes to play with her. So we had so much fun that we went again yesterday and I invited my parents. We had a blast. The monkeys were in rare form. The chimpanzees were going crazy and kept banging against the glass with their feet. So we were standing there and one monkey came over to us and banged against the glass. Seanie started crying and Maggie jumped on my leg and I spilled my coffee. I thought it was awesome and now my kids are traumatized. Seanie wanted to go back and one of them was playing peek a boo with him. It was the coolest zoo trip ever!!

That's the latest and I'll try to get pictures up asap!