Rise and Shine!

Normally, I get up at the crack of 4:50am (READ: the alarm goes off at 4:50am) in order to go to the gym in the morning before the boys get up and the choas ensues at our house.  I am able to get a workout in, come home, shower, get dressed for work, and around the time I am ready for breakfast, our #1 is rising and ready to start his day.  #2 and #3 follow shortly after that, then breakfast for all, and then Jen gets up with #4 and joins the rest of the crew.  Even outside of the gym, our morning routine has been this way for a while.  The early morning gym has become a nice little addition and I am glad that I have stuck with it because I don't have to will myself off the couch to run or go to the gym after the boys go to bed.

 

Yesterday, I returned from my Tuesday spin class and instead of a dark, quiet house, I walked in the door to see the following image: 

 

1.  All the lights on

2.  Jen sitting on the floor, coffee within reach

3.  Parker laying down getting changed and dressed

4.  Jack already changed and dressed (with shoes on)

5.  Owen (changed and dressed) sitting in his chair eating cereal

6.  Ben in the jumper

 

Apparently Owen awoke at 5:20am, proceeded to enter "bro's room" and got them up, forcing Jen to get out of bed to attend to everyone, and somewhere in the mix, Ben decided it was also time to get up.  Needless to say, there was NOT an expression of joy on Jen's face. 

Photo Shoot

While in NOLA this past weekend, the Dougherty's stopped by Gaga and Pop's house to say hey.  Kaitlin had her shiny new camera and was itching to take some pics.  We graciously threw matching outfits on the guys and started posing them in ridiculous ways in order to try to get a modeling contract. 

Thanks to the newly formed Kaitlin Dougherty Photography for our afternoon session!!

Take a look at some of the pics here, they are awesome!

Where did all these kids come from?

One day a while back, when we had Katie and the boys over, it was a madhouse during lunchtime.  I turned around to Jen and Katie and asked them "Where did all these kids come from"?  Just 3 years prior, they were two pregnant cousins awaiting their first born.  Fast forward 3 years and we had 5 boys under 3 and each of them were pregnant with what turned out to be...more boys.
 

Jen used to have a conversation with Owen about where he came from and mimicking mommy, he always replied "heaven."  This past weekend, boys were falling from heaven...good thing I was there to catch them!!

Food Wars

Another Food Network TV Show??  Nope, just another meal in Connisonville.  Parker and Jack have all gone through many phases of food, where some meals are fine and others cause excruciating pain to get through.  Picky, not picky.  Sometimes they will eat anything, and other times, they will eat noting.  The good phases have lead us to affectionately referred to Parker as "Truck Stop."  Not sure why that stuck or how it is really relavent, but he seems to be the most willing to eat anything and everything, including Jack's meals...until recently. 

 

Jen has been trying ever so hard to get the boys to branch out and eat different stuff, making it easier to feed them and avoid the many containers of "Gerber Goo" that we go through.  They will eat her red beans one day, the next day they hate it, turn their nose up at it, spit it out, cry until they are removed from their seats.  Yeah, its that bad somedays.  The same thing goes for bananas, cereal (in milk), and just about anything else right now.  They love peanut butter and jelly, until they hate it.  I am unsure how any humans can have such varying tastes in such a short time period.  It truly baffles and frustrates me.  It is a constant battle, where the rules change almost daily and we are left unarmed with an appropriate weapon - a meal they will eat peacefully.

 

We are always adapting our tactics which have provided victorious celebration and agonizing defeat.  We have waited until they are super hungry, sat them in front of the TV as distraction, used alternating good food/bad food, mixed in veggies, smothered everything in applesauce, you name it, we have tried it, but it is what it is...feeding time at the zoo.  We have moved on to our hopefully our last attempt, making something specific for them (beans, homemade spaghetti and sauce, whathaveyou), but keeping a backup on hand (oatmeal, mac and cheese, grapes, yogurt, Gerber goo) and hope that is enough.  At this point, we are open to suggestions, but I guess trial and error is the only way to go.

 

 

Date Night with my Sugar

A date night in the middle of the week, including college football and $9 beers?  Count us in!! 

Jen's cousin, Christine, scored some Sugar Bowl tickets from her boss and she offered us the opportunity to come into town and go in her place.  With a little last minute switcheroo at work, I took off and we drove in from BR, hung out, got the dudes ready for bed and handed them off to Gaga and Pops so we could head out.  Pops was able to drop us off close to the dome, and we were on our way.  Anytime we can get out of the house together, we try to take advantage of it, so the Sugar Bowl game between OSU and Arkansas was as good an excuse an any.  It is funny going to a game that you have no real care on who wins.  You get to do some real people watching and see all the Arkansas fans chanting "Woooo Pig Sooooooeeeeee!!!!"  Sure we were rooting for Arkansas and the SEC, but that is still a ridiculous chant.  We had great seats in the 300 level and sat next to some nice OSU alums from Metairie who were in the band back in their younger days.  There were way more Arkansas fans, probably about 70%, but they still couldn't pull it out in the end.  That one hurts fr the SEC...no one likes losing to the Big Ten, especially Ohio who had previously never beaten an SEC team in a bowl game.  Oh well, we still have a few more days to kill before LSU takes on Texas A&M...more important than an SEC win - we got out of the house!! 

Thanks Christine (and your boss) for the tickets, we definitely owe you for that one!   

New Year's Rockin' Eve

We had a New Year's party at our house this year, here were our stats:

11 people in attendance 

9 boys, 2 girls

2 families

The last guest (all of them) left at 7:30p

The boys were in be around 8:15ish

I made it to about 11:20p

Jen made it to midnight, but was asleep shortly after

Ok, I know this isn't what most would consider a New Year's party, but it is the best we can do right now and we will take what we can get.  Not many people want to come visit the chaos that ensues in our living room, but those who do, usually stay for drinks!!  Katie and Rob are the closest thing to crazy that we know (having so many kids so close together - they have 3 under 3) .  We are able to share stories, experiences, tips, tricks and laugh about all of it with them.  We make having 5 boys running around (and two sitting around), an interesting time, especially during a meal.  It was nice to have them over to celebrate a new year that isn't going to be filled with more babies! 

Happy New Year from Connisonville!!