Just one good picture...please?!

I couldn't resist posting the sequence of this photo shoot b/c it involved a lot of things: a couple of outfit changes, a lot of bribery, the remote control and at least 4 adults in the background behind the camera all shouting and doing funny things all to get one good Xmas card shot. We never got that one shot but what we did get is far funnier. Here's just a glimpse of 2 2yr olds and a 1 yr old in front of the Xmas tree....our life may be interesting and crazy, but it is NEVER boring!

Our Baby is 1...and we can't believe it!

I say it all the time but I really can't believe it's been a year since we had Quinn. I feel like her little life goes by faster than most. I don't know if it's because she's my last or what but I feel like I blinked and I missed her 1st year. So sad but what a joy she is in our lives. She doesn't miss a step lately. She is mobil and nobody is going to slow her down. She is completely uninterested in anything age appropriate. She only wants what they're playing with or the things she knows she's not supposed to have...the electrical outlets, the xmas tree, dog food, the remotes...whatever she can't have. She's still a great eater. You have to give her fruit first and she'll eat it, otherwise if there's something different on her chair, she's not choosing the fruit! She's a teeth grinder, and loudly too. Such a happy and independent baby. She just walks around and amuses herself all day long with whatever she can find along the way to play with. She requires no entertainment at all. She loves Baby Einstein. Loves whole milk instead of formula. Didn't care much for her birthday cake. Hasn't played with one toy she got for her birthday...why would she? She has a lot more important things to do like keep up with her older siblings.

2 going on 15...

Finley Paige still continues to run the house, or at least we let her believe she does. She bosses everyone around. She is head of Darla, Brody, Quinney, Whalen...she's got her entourage in line! Yes, I did say Darla. She hasn't gone anywhere although I'd swear her days are numbered. Her little arms are a couple of weeks from falling off. Poor baby girl gets drug all over this earth and suffers more timeouts than one baby doll should have to participate in. She does continue to be Finley's one and only love though. She doesn't ask for much from Santa except for twin baby dolls just like Darla. Although when she gets them, I'm not even sure she'll play with them so we'll see how this goes. She has become quite the picky eater. She gags on quite a few things lately, we can't decide if she truly has an aversion to food textures or if she truly is just a master manipulator. I'm going with the latter. She has some of the funniest little sayings like calling people "big boy" etc. This morning she wanted to sit in Daddy's chair so he tried to act like he was sitting in her booster seat and she said, "Daddy...your big ole bummie can't fit in that seat!" She's just funny that way. She loves shopping (we're in trouble), she loves being with her mother lately. She has grown quite attached. If I'm in the bathroom, she's in the bathroom. If I'm cooking dinner, she's on the counter watching and asking questions. No telling what she might learn from all of this mom time but she watches every move I make! She doesn't miss a step. And she fills her brother in on everything he misses, and he loves her for it. She sure is funny, and I can't even put it into words. I'm convinced she's an old soul trapped into a little body. I never feel like I'm traveling with a 2 year old when I'm with her but I do just love being with her....

It's beginning to look a lot like a "Thomas" Christmas...

Brody has officially become one of the largest Thomas the Train fanatics that I know to this date. I'm sure there are others out there, but I don't know if they fell as fast or as hard as he has. I only have Grandma Vicki to thank for this insanely addicting and expensive venture! She has collected Thomas Trains for a while now and now has my son begging for a new train everytime we leave the house. We're at the store and he wants to look at the Thomas Trains (aka buy one). We're at home and I'm on the computer and he wants me to google Thomas so he can see it. We're watching TV and he only wants to watch Thomas DVD's...and boy are they interesting! We're at the dinner table and he has to have a Thomas Train watching him eat and we have to talk about them while eating. He's got me eating, sleeping and breathing Thomas Trains and I swore I wouldn't let him become interested in this. My fascination with it is simple though...he's so entirely happy and at peace with Thomas in his life that how could it be a bad thing right? I mean when your child's face lights up when he sees Thomas anything, it's sort of cute. Only sort of but still. So I find myself looking for that one train he's talked about this week everytime I'm out, although it changes by the minute. I bought him Thomas toothpaste yesterday and he slept with it! He's got the empty box in his bed as we speak! It's crazy. I'm convinced they lace those trains with some sort of addictive material. The Thomas marketing people are geniuses...and they're rich! Anyway...so that's literally all Brody has been into for the last month since I've blogged about him. He's become train obsessed and we're all on board! Sad but true. Other than that, the other thing he loves most right now is singing. It's so cute. He is in love with Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. He pretty much knows all the words. Other than Christmas songs and Thomas, there isn't much to Brody's life right now. He's a great eater. Loves everything. Would rather have water than hot chocolate. Would rather have pretzels than a cookie. He is his father's child. He's getting so tall and skinny. He has become downright silly. Singing all the time and making up funny names for people. On a bad note...he did flush his toothbrush down the toilet about a week ago and it hasn't worked since. Dad wasn't too happy about that but he got over it. He flushed and strutted right out of the bathroom to tell us about it like it was no big deal! He was quite proud of his accomplishment. We were less than impressed. But if that's the worst thing I can come up with in this blog to say about my favorite two year old boy...I'll keep him!

It's been a while....

but not because there hasn't been A LOT going on with all three of you crazies! Shall I start with the youngest for a change? She never gets to go first on anything so why not? Quinn has 6 teeth, 4 on top and 2 on bottom. Her two outer teeth on top look like pointed little vampire teeth, hope those shape out soon. We do call her "Babyzilla," but not for that reason. We call her that b/c she is a one woman, human wrecking ball! She particularly loves her brother's train set. He promptly tells her, "No, babyziwwa!" She's walking at 11 months. Correction: Almost running. It's sort of a drunken stagger most times. She gets going so fast and she can't quite control her balance just yet. She sure did walk herself right over to the stairs though and proceeded to take herself all the way up them in about 2 seconds flat! She has no time to waste for milestones she must master before she's 1! She must be checking off a list somewhere....wean off bottle and master sippie cup - check, get some more teeth - check, learn how to walk/run - check, master the stairs - check, finally say mama - check! Slow down! You're not even one yet Quinney Campbell...but the party planning is in the works and you are due for your own party in about 2 weeks. We're pretty excited. I think Finley and Brody are pretty sure it's their party...we'll let them think that for now. Oh and last but not least, she loves being chased. Her daddy chases her and she laughs and thinks he's so funny!

"Brodog" Brody Auping, as he refers to himself, has had a rough fall/winter already. One major sinus infection and a bad cough and now we can't seem to shake the clear drainage. He does love the bulb suction...it is his favorite part of the day...NOT! I like to refer to him as "quizmaster." He has nothing short of a 1000 question limit/day he must reach, and boy does he hit the mark! Right now he's particularly fascinated with The Seven Dwarfs. He doesn't really care about Snow White so much, his father is eternally grateful, but he does need to know the names of the dwarfs about 16 times a day. He needs to know what color hats they wear etc. and will not stop asking until you tell him. He knows the answer but he must hear you say it. He's also obsessed with Cars, anything, any type of car from the movie "Cars," and also Thomas the Train. He feels the need to watch Thomas DVD's all day long, we limit this of course but he feels it should be allowed more. He knows every train on the DVD from Skarloey, Edward, Sir Handel, Thomas, Henry, Percy, Toby...and the list goes on and on. His obsession seems to coincide with anything on wheels...such a baby man! He also loves to sing. He'll sing anything from Itsy Bitsy Spider, Take Me Out to the Ballgame, Frosty the Snowman, anything really. He likes for you to sing to him also. His bedtime song is "Alleluia." We started singing this to him a while back from church and it just stuck. Part of the lyrics go as follows: Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Give the glory and the honor to the Lord! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Give the glory and the honor to the Lord! He also loves "Halleluia, I'm a Bum!" but I don't know the lyrics for this one. He always asks me to sing it so I'm going to have to ask Grandma Vicki for the words to this one. It came from her and he loves it. Lately he has a new trick to getting out of going to bed. He waits until his sister falls asleep and then he just keeps crying out until we have to go in there, he asks for all different things. Different stuffed animals in his bed, cover up his stuffed animals or him, sing him another song. Finally it's been about an hour and a half and he's still not in asleep. So we bring him out for a little while and he's happy as a clam! He's sitting next to me in bed as I type this smiling from ear to ear b/c his Dad just brought him in here and he knows he's won! Andy just asked him why he's not sleeping and his answer was, "I like to sleep in your bed!" Which he never gets to do but I guess it doesn't hurt to try right?! He's no dummy! He loves his one on one time. He is a master manipulator! Still a pretty good eater. Loves fruit, likes waffles w/o syrup, still loves ranch dressing on way too many things, takes ginormous bites. He has one million stuffed animals he grows attached to. Everytime he goes to either Grandma's house, he steals something else he must have to take home and they're all in bed with him. They're all named very simple names like: Blue Dog Auping, Turtle, Lamb, White Bear....he's a simple boy! They all have to be just so before he can go to sleep. He must pick out his own clothes. Don't even try to do it for him. He must have a say in everything. He wants certain tshirts, sippie cups, socks, shoes, hoodies, he has tons of opinions. Thank god he's cute b/c his routines are exhausting!

Finley has resolved to biting for survival around our house. She only bites her brother so far, and we're hoping to nip that really soon. She says, after everytime she does it, that she'll never do it ever again. And that works for about an hr before she's at it again. Poor kid has bite marks with perfect teeth marks all over his back, arms and legs. I'm not saying he's w/o fault, but she knows she's doing wrong. The punishment that works, or is the most devastating at the time, is taking away her beloved "Dirty Darla." Darla must go on the fridge for a long time after she bites. She hates this more than anything. That baby doll is everything to her. All we have to is threaten her to put Darla on the fridge and she'll usually shape up and do what she's supposed to. But when she's not biting, she's typically pretty sweet and caring. She takes care of everyone in the house, Quinn, her brother, Dirty Darla....she'll do just about anything you ask her to. She's very good at going to get stuff when you ask her to, she picks up well for the most part, she tattles on her brother (not so helpful). She reminded him just this morning that he needed to be good b/c "Santa is watching Bwodey!" She gets her feelings hurt very easily. I was making dinner the other night and she came in the kitchen and threw herself on the floor with all the drama she could muster up and said, "mama, I'm so sad!" When I asked her why she said Daddy had told her she couldn't take a bath! What he meant was, she couldn't take a bath right that second b/c it was time to eat. So now everytime you reprimand her in any little way, she dramatically puts her head down, starts crying, pouts, leaves the room, and says you hurt her feelings. She's a typical girl for sure!

Our little teenager in the making...

There are so many things that you do that are funny. For a little girl, you are full of drama, comedy, silly...so many emotions all packed into one little body. You love to entertain people and make others laugh. Sometimes it's not so funny though. Last thursday at your class Halloween Party you got in trouble and had to sit at a table all alone and eat your lunch b/c apparently you were making funny faces at all the other kids distracting everyone so they couldn't concentrate on eating their lunches. Your teachers did not appreciate this at all, although I'm sure they had to laugh a little on the inside when they saw it b/c I've seen it, and it is very funny. Very hard not to laugh at you when you're trying to discipline you. You truly never mean harm, you're just a funny girl! Tonight you got into trouble for coming up to me and saying, "Mommy...hush your mouth!" I think you actually pronounced it mouf, but nonetheless, it's sass and it's unacceptable. But the minute I tried to scold you about talking to adults that way, you busted up in that contagious giggle and of course the discipline was lost! Needless to say, you're going to be a monster! Last night at the dinner table, of course during a quiet moment, you pronounced to all of us including grandparents that your baby had a bagina too! That's vagina if you couldn't guess, and yes, you said it at the dinner table. If only Gigi Joan had been there, she loves it when you guys discuss your private parts at great length! Whether you're putting your babies in time out, bossing your brother around, mothering your sister, or entertaining a crowd...it's always adorable!

A very "buggy" Halloween...

I couldn't resist one more chance to dress you guys up as a trio. Actually it's my first chance as Quinn wasn't born last year and I'm not sure how many more years I'll have to convince you guys to do it. So I took full advantage...I'm sure you'll thank me for it in years to come! :) I first ran across the bumblebee costume for Quinn. Since we call her "Quinney Bee," I thought it was perfect! Then I ran across the idea for the bug catcher in the magazine and thought that would be perfect if I did that for Brody and made his sister sandwich both bugs. You all loved the idea....thank god! We did talk these costumes up a lot to all of you so you would be excited to wear them. I never really thought Brody would wear his glasses all night but he sure did love them. They made the outfit so I'm very glad he decided he liked them. Overall Halloween was your favorite holiday so far, what other holiday can you dress up, get all the attention any 3 kids can get, and get bags full of candy?! It's Finley's dream! You were all the talk of the neighborhood everywhere we took you. Of course nobody got what Brody was right away, but as soon as we told them, they thought it was the cutest idea ever!

The terrible two's have arrived!

I guess we've been lucky so far, and I'm hoping it's just been a difficult week for Brody and this trend isn't here to stay....but this has been a crazy week for one 2 yr old! Brody has had trouble with all decisions in his life. He doesn't love his parents, he doesn't want to eat, go to school, get dressed, he doesn't want to wear the choices that are offered...we're having a hard time deciphering what it is he does want to do! We'll go in his room at bedtime or naptime and we'll get the, "I don't want you I want daddy"...or vice versa. It's just manipulating. Then if I go in there in the morning to get him out of his bed, "I don't wuv you." It's truly heartbreaking that you can create, grow inside of you, and then give life to something that greets you in the morning with, "I don't wuv you!" I'm sure it's just a phase, b/c surely no parent ever signs up for this, but I'm hoping it's a short lived phase he's going through. Even his sister looks at him and says, "What's wrong with him? He needs time out!" He seems to be the worst with me but he's certainly done it with Dad too. He typically just wants the exact opposite thing as what you're offering, and then if you're flexible and try to give him what he wants, he doesn't want that anymore. There's been a lot of timeout, tantrums, throwing, kicking and hitting this week. I sure am thankful that it's only happening for now x 1 and not both of them. Finley does have her moments but is typically a go with the flow girl. She has her opinions about clothes, ponytails, bows, socks and shoes, but is typically easily reasoned with for the most part. Brody doesn't take to reasoning and he's got a stubborn side about him for sure! Everything is "I not!" or "I am!" So cute...but devilish for sure!

Finley Paige remains so funny. Truly she is such a funny child. Yesterday she had a small bite on her arm and we were looking at it and I asked her what it was. You can never be too prepared for a toddler answer b/c she replied with, "it's a boobie! I have a boobie on my arm mama!" And it did kind of resemble a nipple! She never ceases to amaze me with the stuff she comes up with. She talks with her hands, sings all the time now, reprimands her baby dolls (and usually Brody and Quinney too), and she has fallen in love with her sister. When Quinn first came along, she wasn't quite sure what to make of her, we had some hitting at first but then she came around and decided to just ignore her all together. Now she wants to know what she is doing at all times, wants to wake her up, help her with her bottle, she loves her sister. She is such a little mother. She amazes me with her independence also. She can put on her shoes and socks, she can get into her booster seat and even buckle herself in all by herself. She is growing up too fast. And although she is only a minute older than her brother, she finds the time to help him out and do his stuff for him also. I'm sure this trend will continue....after all, he is a man, he is perfectly content to let her feed him and help him and in any way that she will!

Quinn Campbell is definitely our wild child! She is the typical 3rd baby that isn't at all interested in toys, she'd rather just crawl around and get into all of her brother and sister's stuff. She isn't at all interested in things her own age. She just learned to crawl not that long ago and is already standing alone, pulling up everywhere, and can already get up the 1st flight of stairs all by herself. She would attempt to go down head first all alone if you'd let her also. She has no fear! She has two "older" people to model her behavior after...so the fact that they're going through the terrible two's and display not so great behavior to model after is such a blessing! (sarcasm implied of course!) She has had only 2 teeth on the bottom since June but now has two teeth on the outer top row now. She still has a hole in the middle but I feel they're coming. Her lack of teeth definitely does not stop her from eating whatever she wants though. She has yet to turn anything down, except bananas on occasion, they aren't her favorite. Bring on anything else though, tacos, spaghetti, beef stroganoff, taco soup, lunch meat, any fruit, she'll gum anything down! And she'll do it with a smile too. She is the smiliest baby with the cutest little giggle and she's just happy to be here...and thank god she is! Thank god for her happy go lucky demeanor...we are so blessed with her. She naps when she should, goes down w/o a peep, takes a bath with her two siblings and holds her own with the amt of water they try to dump on her, and takes quite a few "accidental" bumps along the way all in stride! After a 10 month trial with her...we're going to keep her!

A picture really is worth a 1000 words....

These pictures are just a few of my favorites from a recent photoshoot so lovingly captured by a great friend of mine! All of these pictures speak to the individual personalities of the kids themselves. This picture is so Quinn...her sideways glance, her easy smile that she uses all the time, her sparkly eyes...it's all so her! Finley Paige...well maybe I should have used the picture of her with "Darla" for this post but this picture is great! She loves life and lives to entertain and that's what I believe she just might do someday and I think this picture just captures that perfectly of her. Brody is more serious yet mischievious and he's so darn handsome that it's disgusting! What girl isn't going to be chasing him around!? So I really appreciate my friend Dionne for not only taking the time out of her busy life to take these pictures, but for totally capturing my children's personalities in them also, that is a true talent!

Lately....

You guys really are so funny. I know I haven't posted in a while but that's b/c you guys keep us so darn busy all the time. I really do want to take the time to record some things that you say though b/c they sure are priceless! Here is a conversation I heard just the other morning between Finley and Brody:

Brody: "Finley, can I have your sausage?"
Finley: "Yes, I'll give you one piece at a time, and when you chew that up, I'll give you another one...okay?"
Brody: "Ok"
Finley: "Now you say "fank you" and I say "you're welcome" k?"
Brody: "thank you"
Finley: "you're welcome"

Word for word! I could listen to you two's conversations all the time b/c it is hilarious the stuff you guys come up with. You're really starting to interact and feed off eachother...sometimes good, sometimes bad. And you're really into your sister right now too. Always referring to her as: Baby Kinney, Kinney Campbell's, or baby Campbell's. So cute!

You sing all the time...everything: Itsy Bitsy Spider, Happy Birthday, Boom Boom Pow by Blackeyed Peas...that's a pretty funny one. I heard Finley refer to it the other day as "her song"...not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing!

You guys fight quite a bit these days. Finley is pretty good at sharing, Brody not so much. Oh and Brody is no longer Brody, his name is "Brodog Brody Auping." When Finley heard his name, she wanted a name also so her and Papa Greg went through all the animals and came up with "Findonkey" for her! It suits her I think.

We're starting to pick our our own outfits, which are really creative. We love wearing mom's shoes all the time around the house, which means mom's closet is constantly messy and disorganized! You have to have hats, sunglasses, purses, etc. in the house and are always carrying arm loads of stuff around the house. We can't seem to keep it in any type of working order around here! Daddy's motto is "Daddy hates messes" b/c he does....to which you two usually reply, "we like messes!" And you mean it....

Quinney still only has the two top teeth, but her entire upper gumline is bulging with what looks like 4 teeth about to drop any minute. I'm sure that's pretty painful. You growl like your sister when you don't get fed fast enough. You LOVE all food...and I mean all food. Turkey, chicken, bologna, grapes, oatmeal, potatoes, puffs, tacos, spaghetti...doesn't matter what we're having, you're eating it! I haven't seen you turn down anything yet. It's crazy sometimes how much your little 18 lb body puts away. You're working on using a sippie cup and it's a good thing b/c you don't seem to want to take bottles anymore. You're way too busy to have to sit still with a bottle b/c you're crazily mobil now. You've gotten really good at crawling and can even pull up on things now, you're pretty proud of yourself. You giggle and smile constantly when you're not growling for food. I like to say you live pretty passionately b/c anything you do, you do it well. You're to the extreme. If you're good, you're extremely good, if you're mad, you're extremely mad. You love to be held...just the perfect little hip sized baby. We do think you're pretty much the perfect little addition to the family. What would we have done w/o you?

A crazy day...

Finley has been sick all week with an unexplained fever (aka swine flu if you ask her paranoid mother the RN) and they were all three supposed to start school today. By school I mean a Mother's Day Out Program structured like school that they go to on thursdays from 9-3. It's the one day a week I can schedule appts, grocery shop, run errands, clean house, etc. So yes, I look forward to actually being able to pee and shower alone on those days without having to answer such questions as: "mommy...you have a bagina?" Or "you got boobies?" I debated on sending Brody and if I didn't send him, Quinn definitely wasn't going as it was her first day. F & B attended all last year and loved it but she's never been. Brody doesn't generally do well w/o his sister and he's a man of structure and routine. But I decided that they not only needed time apart and needed to get used to that, but I also needed a day just to hold her and let her be sick and cranky w/o the other two around. So we packed his new guitar lunchbox, bookbag and spiked his hair like a big boy and off we went. Drop off went w/o a hitch in both rooms, neither made so much as a peep when mom and dad left...we were both so excited. I was apprehensive about pick up thinking Miss Lesley was either going to call me halfway through the day and ask me to pick up the "Rain Man" child repeating Finley's name all day or tell me how miserable he'd been all day without her....but on the contrare! She said he totally took her spot as the boss of the class and helped everyone out by telling them what to do. That is normally Finley's job but he just filled right in for his sister on his very first day with a completely new classroom and new people! Who says "Brodog" isn't a leader? His daily report said he was a "rockstar!" They both definitely asked for eachother all day and were very excited to see one another after school. And as for Quinney, well they said she was "dream baby" just as we all already knew....I am one lucky mother!

Watch out...Quinn is mobil!

Quinn began scooting around sometime last week, but this week she is full on mobil and crawling and nobody better get in her way! She means business! And her #1 goal in life is to get to her brother and sister's stuff....mostly the stuff they don't want her to touch the most. Doesn't matter what you try to distract her with...she makes a bee line for Brody's train set everytime and dismantles it in seconds sending him into full on "Rain Man" tantrum mode....the kind where he just repeats himself and cries..."My tain...my tain...my tain....over and over and over again! So you can see why this whole mobility thing affects the entire house right?! It's not like we didn't know it was coming soon though...she couldn't be happier with her new found skill!

"F" is for Finley....and so much more

So Finley has been able to have a conversation with anyone for quite some time. Recently she's decided to start a lot of words with the letter F. I asked Andy if he'd heard this and he said she probably just does that with you. Of course, why wouldn't he think that? But then that night he called to tell me that he had noticed it...his perfect angel of a first born child had done it in front of him also! So if she wants a banana, it's "fabana," or "faboney" (bologna), "fank you" or "fanks"(thank you or thanks). And yes, she can say the real version...she just does this all of a sudden to make us laugh I think! Character!

Our Future American Idol...

Brody deserves an entire post all to himself, here's why...he LOVES to sing ALL THE TIME. He's hilarious. He sings himself to sleep at night, or maybe he's singing to his babies or Finley, not really sure. He sings in the car, while he's playing, while he's eating...he just loves it. If you sing to him, he says, "do it again..." and again, and again. Never gets old. He sings Take me out to the ballgame, ABC's, A Swimming Song, Rock-a-bye-baby, Happy Birthday, and he loves for us to sing Halleluia to him before he goes to bed at night. He is such a sweet boy for the most part. I will say that he got a train this past week from PaPa Greg and it's gotten the better half of his patience although he does love it. Everytime the thing derails off the track, he gets mad and throws the parts around the room and stomps his feet and cries. I just don't know where he gets his lack of patience from!? Certainly not his mother's side of the family! :) Other than that, he is very loving for the most part. He's obsessed with Baby Einstein movies, he calls them "Baby Movies." Loves the music in them and everything else about them. He loves oatmeal cereal bars, calls them "oatmilk bars." He would never admit this either but he loves to be like his older-by-1-minute sister, Finley. He does everything she does. If she's changing, feeding, rocking her baby, he's doing the same thing. And there is no brother that loves his little sister like he loves "Baby Campbell" as her calls her. Can't wait to see her in the morning and tell her good morning. Loves to kiss and hug her. He is such a sweet brother....he is our "idol" even if he's tone def...we love to hear his sweet voice singing whatever it is!

A busy saturday...the theme of our lives lately...

A very busy day with a birthday and errands to run etc. I did stop to take this picture of Quinn though b/c I just thought she looked so darn cute today. We went to a birthday party for Addison Almeling and everyone kept stopping me asking me: how old she was, where her outfit came from, if she was a good baby...And yes, she's a perfect baby most days. She has her moments but mostly she is dream baby. Always smiling. Always calm. Loves all food right now. Drinks her bottle when she's supposed to. Sleeps when she should. Goes with the flow. That's her nature. She's just perfect. She's the type of 3rd baby that might trick you into having a 4th baby....notice the term "might" in that sentence b/c that probably won't happen. But she could convince you. I just love this outfit she's wearing, my friend Nadine gave it to her when she was born. You can't see it in this picture, but there are pink, sparkly ruffles on the butt...why? Because she is a "diva."

Our Entourage

Okay so I know I look like a weird mother who sneaks in her kids rooms at night and takes pictures of them...but these are the moments that I cannot let slip by. These are the funny things you guys do that make us laugh everyday that I cannot go w/o documenting them somewhere. This is you guys sleeping with your animals and babies, your "entourage," tucked in between the wall and the crib. You guys did this all on your own and this is how we found you one night. We laughed about it and then of course I ran to get my camera. I also have to document these things b/c you guys change so fast. Just a week prior to this, you were lining all of your animals up in your crib, now you will not sleep unless they are "watching" over you at the top. Too funny! Our life is never dull with you guys in it...this much we do know!

Playing takes it out of you...

There are so many reasons Quinn is a "dream baby" as we call her. This is just one of the many reasons. When she's tired, she just falls asleep wherever she is. I was busy, cleaning, making phone calls one day and I heard fuss just a little bit and next thing I knew she was sound asleep on the floor with her head on her toys! Even better, she had a diaper full of poop! I changed her and put her in her bed and she never even woke up! Such a good baby!

Princess in the making...

Papa Greg loves getting pedicures...yes, I said Papa. So he does a very nice thing and takes us with him. Finley loves to go also and get her toes painted. She always wants pink, and she loves to have "pokey dots." It couldn't be more adorable but I'm sure when she's older and demanding to have regular mani/pedi's, it's not going to be near as cute as it is now! We're going to keep her anyway...her and all of her princess tendencies! I just tell her to stay on Papa Greg's good side....

A gift from Aunt NiNi!

Aunt NiNi showed up tonight with a gift of pet frogs! They live in their own little ecosystem complete with rocks, a bonzai plant, water and a snail to clean their place. We could use a snail around here! Finley and Brody couldn't have been more excited with their new pets. All they want to do is feed them. They only get 4 pellets twice a week so this could get interesting with the overfeeding potential! The frogs may not survive the amount of touching and moving their little ecosystem has to entertain with two 2 year olds shaking them around all the time...but we hope they do. We tried to name them...we went through lots of possibilities, Aunt NiNi likes "Frick and Frack"...they weren't having this. We tried lots of others as well, such as: Nemo and Dory, Salt and Pepper, Alec and Gloria, Mickey and Minnie and lots of other famous pairs. In the end we could only settle on "fogs" so far. So that's what we call them....

Finley and "Bro-dog"

There is nothing cuter than the two of you together and loving eachother. The bond between you is crazy and you are constantly around eachother and if not, wondering where the other is. I do separate you sometimes or take one someplace w/o the other, but the entire time we're gone, you are asking to go home to see eachother. It is so sweet to see. I hope you are always friends. Dad nicknamed Brody as "Bro-dog." Finley talks for Brody sometimes and the other day someone asked what his name was and Finley chimed in for him as usual..."his name is "Bro-dog." We are Finley Paige and Bro-dog....she's very serious when she says it too....

"Dirty Darla"

I thought Finley and her "Baby" deserved a post all of their own. Baby, or "Dirty Darla" as I've lovingly nicknamed her, has become our 4th child. She goes everywhere with us and Finley is never w/o her "baby." She doesn't have a real name although we've tried. Finley just wants her called "Baby." Because she goes everywhere with us and she never puts her down, she's dirty...hence the name "Dirty Darla." We do try to wash her or even buy a new, clean version of her, but it's just not the same as the dirty baby. This picture was taken at the zoo on July 24th, 2009. Baby saw everything Finley saw that day. She held baby up at every exhibit to make sure she could see all the animals! She ate with us, she sits in her carseat with her, she sleeps with her, baby is well traveled! She is such a good mother to baby. If I refer to her as "Dirty Darla," she promptly says, "she not dirty, she keen." She rocks her baby, pats her, covers her with blankets, takes her for car rides, changes her diapers...we've grown to love baby as one of our own!

No naps!

Today was an exhausting day! I don't know if I was still tired from yesterday's work or what but I just couldn't seem to pull it together with the three of you. On days off, I'm always trying to play catch up with laundry etc. so it's always a little challenging to get anything done with two toddlers and a 7 month old running around, but today seemed even more challenging. We ventured out to the mall this am to get a couple of bday presents for Carter, Maleah and Faith. That went really well. You should have seen you guys all dressed up for the mall, Finley in a dress (b/c she has to wear one everyday no matter where we're going) with her huge polka dot ("pokey dot" as she says) sunglasses and pigtails carrying her Dr. Seuss recycled bag with a book and sippie cup in it. You guys are always a sight when I give you any input on what you might wear! We stopped at Bread Co. to eat lunch. You guys always amaze me with your love of any kind of soup no matter how hot it is outside. Today you loved the black bean soup. Now what other 2 yr olds love black beans in anything, much less soup? You guys were very well behaved at the mall though, and we didn't even have a stroller for F & B, just Quinn, so even walking you did great. After lunch we headed home for naptime, this is where the day fell apart. Nobody wanted to nap, well maybe except for mommy! Crazy 1 and Crazy 2 (F & B) jumped in their beds for the first hour, then pooped at the same time, then just continuously said, "we not napping...we jumping" while jumping of course for the next 30 minutes! You never cried, just didn't nap. Then of course you got crabby that evening during dinner etc. The night ended with Brody sitting on Finley and in true retaliation, you bit him! You knew it was wrong too b/c said "I in trouble..." but you weren't sorry. I asked you not to be nasty to your brother or anyone else for that matter....your reply was "I need to be nassy mama!" Thank god it was close to bedtime at this point. It was constant bickering all day long!

Quinney was perfect today as usual, fell asleep in the pool in her floatie while her brother and sister swam. Wish I would have had my camera. The only thing eventful that happened with you today was that you had a massive explosion of a diaper up your back...thank god it was before we left for the mall as it required a change of clothes and a lot of stain remover. You usually save those activities for public places requiring immediate exit. So thank you for doing it at home for once!

Just one more photo to post. This one was taken just this morning by Aunt "Ni Ni" as they call her. She was nice enough to watch all four kids this morning so I could go in and help a good friend as she had her baby. My kids just love their new cousin Lennon, or Baby "Lemon" as they call him. The years to come are certainly going to be interesting...the only thing missing from this photo is baby Hadley, "Hads", from Texas. We sure do wish she was closer to her cousins!

Back blogging a bit...

So I'm back blogging a bit, trying to play catch up as I haven't had much time in the last month to journal about you guys. There are so many things you do and say everyday that I wish I had a recorder on at all times! I'll start with Brody Andrew...such a sweet, sensitive boy we've nicknamed "Cautious Cal." You approach everything slowly and with much thought involved. You never jump into anything with all the knowledge about it firsthand. Very very slow and cautious, not your typical boy! We've also nicknamed you "Pokey Pete." You are so stinking cute though, I just can't get enough of you. Recently you two have gotten into singing and that little voice of yours couldn't be any cuter. Your favorite is rock a bye baby...instead of treetop you say "tee top." Your voice fluctuates at all the wrong places, which is of course what makes it so great! You sing "Happy Birthday" to yourself practically everyday. You still love food but mainly you just like to dip everything in ranch dressing...really healthy I know. But you do eat a lot of fruit and drink a lot of milk. Not quite into junk food as your sister is. Movie and TV junkie. Love Baby Einstein now that Quinn is watching them, you call them "baby movies." I thought we'd gotten over those but they're back. You love the boat and the lake. I can't say you're a huge swimmer but you do talk about it a lot. Your content to sit on the side and watch. You run pretty much everywhere. I've had a long running joke with you since you were tiny. I would always ask you, "did you get cuter today?" And you would always reply with a very serious, "yeah." Now I ask you if pixies came in your bedroom at night and sprinkled you with "cute dust" and you say yes....so now when I come in in the morning you say, "prinkle, prinkle, prinkle...cute!" My heart could just melt! Now I know how and why my mother in law spoils her boys so badly! I still don't condone it but I do know how it happens Vic!

Finley Paige...where do I start with you??? You are our constant source entertainment! The things you say and do on a daily basis make us laugh out loud all the time. Your dad came in the door from work just tonight and you looked at him with all the attitude in the world and said, "What's your deal?" We took you to church on sunday morning and you asked mommy, very loudly during a quiet time in the service of course, "mommy, you got boobies???" Of course mommy wanted to sink in a hole and disappear! I was getting you out of the tub last week and you said, "I watch a movie?" I replied with "No, we can read a book and then it's bedtime b/c it's late," to which your reply then was, "We'll talk about it...." I'm learning more and more that you must pay more attention to mommy when she talks then I give you credit for b/c more and more of my catch phrases are starting to pop up in your vocabulary! Everyone is constantly telling me how advanced your vocabulary is for a new 2 yr old. You tell me all the time that you're 5 and somedays as I'm having a conversation with you, I believe it! You love shoes, purses, sunglasses, hair bows, any accessory...you are all girl. You have a baby doll that you carry around all the time. She's so dirty and we can't wash her so we got you a brand new one just like her but go figure, you don't want her. You only want the dirty baby. I've nicknamed her "Dirty Darla." You sing a lot now. Might be one of the cutest things you and your brother do. You will try anything, total daredevil! You call your brother "Bro dog" sometimes b/c Dad calls him that. I just can't say enough about how funny you are all the time!

Last, but certainly not least...Quinn Campbell. You are just such a "dream baby" as I call you. You just turned 7 months yesterday and I can't believe how time has flown. I feel like just yesterday I found out I was pregnant with you. And while that was a HUGE surprise to a lot of people, us including, we cannot imagine not having you in our lives! You are sitting up now, laughing and talking constantly, Grandma Julie says you never shut up! Out popped 2 little razor sharp teeth this last week on the bottom row. You're not very fond of vegetables but you love your fruit. Absolutely will not touch carrots or peas. Sweet potatoes and green beans sometimes. I stopped breastfeeding last week and I feel absolutely so guilty about it. I did it for the twins for 10 months, essentially until I found out I was pregnant with you, so naturally I feel as though I should breastfeed you that long also. I just felt like you weren't getting enough and I wasn't able to pump as much at work this time so I had to stop. I think you're still thriving though...not suffering one bit :) Starting to get a bit more hair. Everywhere I take you people go on and on about how cute you are...I posted a pic of you from a recent lake trip that I just love...it completely displays your personality as a baby.

So my future postings won't be quite so long but I had to play catch up....

I'm a blogger now!

I'm not sure I know what I'm doing yet but I'm determined to be a blogger for one reason really. I currently try and write in journals to my kids about daily happenings in their lives, funny things they do and say, etc. every so often. I don't get the time to write to them as often as I'd like to, and I can type a lot faster than I can write. So I thought if I could find a way to online journal about them...to them, etc., I could someday print this out for them and they would have it. Written word from their mother. They change so fast and things they did just yesterday they no longer do and it makes me sad. So I try to capture the little moments so they will someday know how much I do enjoy our "3 ring circus...."