Isn't she cute?

I know it might be a bit controversial to pierce the ears of babies, but I have been thinking about it since she was born. So yesterday (when June and Jackie were here for moral support), Miss Quinn got her ears pierced. I actually got cold feet a few minutes before it happened. Who wants to inflict pain on a baby? But she only cried for a minute, and so far it has been just fine. She eats and sleeps like normal, and it doesn't bother her when I clean them or turn them.

June said that she is just learning that beauty can be painful. Ha!

Summer is here.

The weather yesterday was fabulous, and we spent the better part of the day outside. I took a few (ha! when do I ever take a FEW??) pictures. Here's little miss Quinn in her polka dot hat.



Noah started t-ball last night. I have volleyball on Tuesdays, so I couldn't go. He was so excited when he got home ... told me all about it. Griffin managed to fall down the bleachers. Luckily, no broken bones or significant bruises.

Noah is officially done with kindergarten. Grandma Judy, Grandpa Terry, and Aunt Jackie came to his graduation ceremony. It was a nice little (short) presentation. Noah's teacher makes each kid a scrapbook. These things are pretty impressive. They have artwork, pictures, monthly summaries of class activities, and must be a TON of work. Very cool stuff. Bob was manning the camera and got some good shots of the graduation. The St. Cloud Times was there, too - the Rockville kids made the front page of the paper the next day. And so did Bob. :-) The photographer took a picture of Bob taking pictures. Bob thinks it is because we have a cool camera. Hee hee! You can see the pictures here: St. Cloud Times photos Click on the "next" button to scroll through.



And this kid ^^^^^^^ slept until 9:30 this morning. I need him to teach that skill to his little brother and sister. :-) Have a great week!

Happy Mother's Day!

I took some pictures of the kiddos on Friday. This one is my favorite - look how Quinn is touching G, that look on G's face, the way Noah is overseeing everything. You can see their personalities, each and every one!



And this is Quinn at 4 months. I might be biased, but I think she may be the most beautiful little girl EVER. :-)

A local photographer was doing free sittings for photo shoots for moms on Friday and Saturday this week. I had stuck a flyer in my diaper bag but forgot about it, so when I called on Thursday there weren't any spots. But luck was on my side - she called on Friday morning about 10:30 and said she had a cancellation for that afternoon at 2:00. So I scrambled around the house to find something remotely matching for me and the 3 kids to wear, got myself ready, got them ready, and raced out the door. The funniest part? We ended up running to JCPenney (the photo shoot was set up in a temporary location at the mall) and buying white shirts for me, Noah, and G. Quinn wore her little white/lemon Easter dress. I get to see the proofs next week. It was chaotic but a little fun, and I hope there are some good pictures. :-)

Have a happy mother's day weekend!

NSD

Yesterday was NSD (National Scrapbooking Day - and no, I'm not making that up). I didn't actually scrapbook, but I was part of the festivities at twopeasinabucket.com. Jackie Bonette and I hosted an online chat at 3 pm. We had prized to give away for different things. One of the challenges we posted was to show a picture of your letter sticker stash. So here is my picture, with a model for a sense of scale. :-) My model also liked to chew on the letter stickers. Lucky for me I have plenty. Ha!

I also wanted to mention that BHG Scrapbooks Etc is part of a fundraiser for breast cancer research. You can check it out at scrappink.com. Definitely a good cause.

Random photos of the little ones.

Here is Quinn, demonstrating her "deer in the headlights" look.

And here is G, eating "chiptsths." The phonetic spelling of the way he says it is not possible with the alphabet as we know it. But it involves lots of "th" and "sh" and possible a "f" noise at the end of the word "chips." He is eating cheddar and sour cream chips in this picture. But I don't think the flavor matters much. He loves ALL chips. And he frequently asks for them for breakfast (no, I don't let him have chips for breakfast but some morning it could happen).

And here is our big boy, reading. He can read pretty well. This page is one I did for the creating garden at twopeasinabucket.com.

Last but not least, here is my latest pair of socks. I know, I know... you are all waiting anxiously to see what I am knitting. But hey - it is my blog, right? Hee hee!

Have a great weekend!

Miss Quinn's room ...

is getting closer to being completed. It is now painted. And what a saga that was! Marcy came to help me, but our plans were totally thrown out of whack by problem after problem. First, the old wallpaper border was a HUGE pain to get off. I have no idea what the issue was, since we put it up the "right" way because we knew it would eventually come down. Next, the orange paint took forever to dry. We painted the first coat on Saturday and finished around 6 pm. We figured we could recoat around 10 pm. Um, no. At 10 pm it was still tacky. And at 9 am on Sunday it was still tacky. I was about ready to panic. Thankfully, the paint eventually dried. The paint department at Home Depot told me that orange and red take longer to dry because of the colorant. That would have been a handy little tidbit of information to have before I started this project and decided to paint 3 walls orange, and red/orange/yellow/brown squares on the other wall. :-) Then there was the issue of getting the orange to cover evenly. I painted those 3 walls at least 3 times with orange. It was a project. But I think the end result was worth it - I LOVE the grid. I am now on the prowl for the changing table or dresser, whichever I can find that I like. And I still need to make the curtains. But it's coming along.


When I'm not painting (HA!) I've discovered a new love. I knit socks. Yes, socks. The sad thing is that I'm off season ... can't wear socks when it is so nice outside! The kids and I have been spending a lot of time out in the fresh air. Griffin can't bear to be inside ... he stands and the patio door, pounding and yelling "I go swing! I go swing!" until someone takes pity on him.

One more picture. I bought a "new" swing for Quinn off ebay. So the old swing is in the toy room, waiting to be moved into the basement. Last week, I was in the living room with Quinn and the boys were playing in the toy room. Noah came and said, "Mom. Come here. You have to see this." And he was right. I rounded the corner of my scrapbook island and saw my little goof. Talk about your kodak moments, eh? :-) I'm pretty sure he exceeds the weight limit, but since it isn't far to crash I figure I'll let him have his fun.

Updating ...

Wow. Life has been crazy busy, as usual, since I last posted!

Let's see ... G is 2. He celebrated with a big Cars birthday cake and lots of presents and playing. Bob and Noah also found the motherload of Cars at ToysRus on his birthday, so they came home with about 10 or so of the beloved diecast characters. Heaven for my little guy (and his big brother!)


Noah had his first school program. He was a bee. The kindergarteners and first graders did their program together. Noah was one of the two kindergarteners to have a speaking part. He did GREAT! We have it on DVD if anyone wants a copy - just let me know and we'll burn it and send it. Noah also lost his other front tooth. He wasn't happy. He blames Daddy for making "hard toast." We tried to explain the tooth was ready to fall out and the toast didn't have anything to do with it, but he doesn't believe us.

Quinn got baptized with Jackson last weekend. She looked so pretty in her gown and bracelet. She wore the same gown I did (and Jackie, for that matter). Jackson looked all dapper in his little vest and pants, too. What a pair! The baptism was after mass in Groton, and was total chaos. Either Quinn or Jackson or Griffin was crying just about the entire time, and Jackson and Quinn both managed to spit up during the service. Poor Father David was about ready to run and hide, I think.


And then there is me ... and my pretty pink cast. I fell over a laundry basket. 34 is too old for your first broken bone, I think. Actually, it might not be broken. The x-ray wasn't conclusive, but the area I damaged is hard to heal so they casted me to immobilize it. It sucks. Poor Quinn has a rock for a pillow when I hold her. I get it cut off and re-x-rayed next week on Monday - yay!

Bob is busy at work and busy working at home on the laundry room/bathroom. He's planning to hang a door tonight so the bathroom will be functional for guests. Can't wait!

G gets glasses & other stuff.

Alliteration is such a cool thing, isn't it? For those of you that have not seen him, the Griffin-monster now has glasses. It was actually harder on mama than on Griffin. I shed a few tears when the opthamologist told us Griffin needed glasses. He is far sighted, and his eyes cross when he tries to focus. We caught it really early, so that is good news.

It is incredibly hard to find glasses that fit little guys. Even little guys with big noggins like G. We decided on these. He screamed bloody murder when we tried on the first pair. The second day of glasses shopping was better. And by the third day, he only yelled "No no no" but didn't inflict bodily harm on us or himself when we put the glasses on him.

This is a layout I did for the garden at 2peas. (The main part is digital, then I printed it an layered it on paper and added some stuff.)






And, in other news, Quinner is 2 months old today! Here she is, in Noah's current favorite outfit. She is such an alert little girl. I think we have spoiled her, though ... she likes to be held all the time. ALL the time. Oh well. They are only babies for such a short time!






Noah is doing well. Kindergarten cuts down on my picture taking time. :-) Actually, I haven't had the camera out much lately. Something has been keeping me busy. Oh yes - the children. Ha! Between picking up toys, changing diapers, figuring out what to eat (although Bob is a better cook than I am and generally makes supper when he gets home), time flies by every day. Add in the scrapbook stuff I've been doing and suddenly there is NO time left.

Well, maybe there is a little time. My nightly reward is to knit. No, I am not turning into an old fuddy-duddy. I just find it relaxing. Except when I screw up and drop a stitch and have to rip out 4 rows. That is not quite as relaxing. Anyway, this is the little dress I'm knitting. I have no idea if it will fit. But I love the colors and am having a good time working on it.

Some digital layouts ...

from ages ago. I need to have a host site for these so here they are. Carry on! :-)

A not-so-successful attempt at getting a picture of all the grandkids.

Attempt 1.
Attempt 2.


And these are the best of the photos! :-)

Long time, no post. :-)

I've been busy adjusting to life with 3 kids. And I've been doing a few scrapbook assignments. Here is a layout I did for CHA Winter (a trade show that is at the end of January). I am not going to the show, which is sort of a bummer since it is in California and I've never been there. Maybe next year. The first layout is my big boy and my little girl. :-) He adores her - more than I could have guessed. Noah is such a sweet kid.

The second layout is Griffin. He loves to look at the scrapbooks. Noah really never paid much attention - he'd look at a page that I had finished but didn't really care beyond that. Griffin, on the other hand, drags the scrapbook off the shelf every couple of days and looks at the pictures. He also likes to shout out the names of the people he sees.

The last layout is from the hospital, right after Quinn was born. And it is totally true - Bob is wrapped around her little finger.

I bought tights.

I have officially crossed a line somewhere ... who would have believed that I would buy tights for my baby girl? But she needed them. And if I could have found the right size, she would have also been the proud owner of little black mary janes. Too bad I couldn't get them in her size. :-)

This is Quinn, on Christmas Eve, after mass. She is fascinated by our Christmas tree - probably because I have 10 or so strings of lights on it. She was lying next to the tree, quietly watching, when paparazzi mommy got the camera out.

The attempt to get a photo of all 3 of them earlier in the night was not so successful. Griffin is impossible to photograph. He looked so cute in his little jacket, too ... Noah, on the other hand, is more than willing to hold Quinn and pose. Gotta love that!



We let the boys open one present tonight ... new Cars jammies. They both liked the gift, which is pretty amazing since it is clothing. Again, not much success in getting a photo of G where you can SEE his jammies, but here are a couple of him playing with his beloved Cars. The best is when Griffin says "a-cow" and "cha-chigga" (noises that McQueen and Chick make in the movie). We also learned that the Cars book from Dave & Connie is NOT a good thing to take to church, because of said noisemaking.



Merry Christmas!

Hello, Baby Quinn.

She is here. Born around 2 am on December 15. 8 pounds 15 ounces, and 20 inches long, with lots of dark hair.

We are officially in love.

Seeing Santa

As everyone knows, only the insane visit Santa at the mall on a weekend. We decided to visit him on a Monday, after my weekly baby check. Great plan, right? Noah would get home from school, the boys would eat lunch, G could sneak in a quick nap before we had to leave for the 1:40 appointment, and then we'd go visit the guy in red.

Except that I screwed up and my doctor appointment was at 1:10. Which meant that G did NOT get a nap. And poor Noah had a nasty cough, so he couldn't go to the well-child room at the clinic like usual. That is where things started falling apart. We planned to leave Griffin in the well-child room, and he seemed perfectly willing to stay there ... until he saw the door close with me on the other side. He started SCREAMING at the top of his lungs, and ran for the door. Noah and I checked in at the clinic desk, then I ran back to the exam area to leave a sample. When I finished, I decided to check on G. I rounded the corner where the receptionists sit, across from the well-child room, and heard them talking about Griffin. Oy. He was still screaming. I had no choice but to rescue him from the well-child room and take him to the appointment.

Fast forward 20 minutes, after the appointment. We loaded back into the van and headed to the mall. Santa was on break, so we shopped for a few last Christmas presents, then got into the line to visit Santa. Noah was prepared. He wants this thing called "The Mega Rig Arctic Adventure Snow Monster Mission" - what a mouthful, eh?




He was thinking ahead and asked me to find it in the toy catalogue so he could SHOW Santa. I did one better ... I printed the image and name off of Amazon.com. So Noah was ready, with his prized toy picture in hand, when it was our turn. But he didn't want to sit on Santa's lap. We had already discussed it. Too bad Santa wasn't in agreement with our discussions. Noah walked up to him and started talking, and Santa grabbed him and pulled him down - poor kid. He didn't want to risk annoying Santa so he just perched there, uncomfortably, as they talked. He showed Santa the picture, and to Santa's credit, he kept the picture "so he'd remember." I'm going to have one happy, happy, happy 6 year old on Christmas morning. :-)

G, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with Santa. He'd sit on the tiny stool somewhat NEAR Santa, but that was it. And he kept trying to make a beeline for the oversized scooter that was a prop for the Santa area. I'd take my eye of him for 2 seconds and I'd hear "RIDE - RIDE - RIDE" and see a little red streak making a break for the scooter. I happened to have a picture of the scooter - my test shot when I was getting my camera ready to shoot.






It was quite an adventure. I should have brought a helper ... I have virtually no photos that turned out. But that is OK. Part of the whole Santa adventure is the chaos, right?

School is almost over for the semester.

YAY! It has been a long semester, even though I only have 2 classes. The first, Combined Media, is something I enjoyed. We did Photoshop and video projects. Video was new to me, but I liked it for the most part. And it inspired me to dig out our old video camera from the basement - totally forgot we had one! Maybe I'll take some video of the kids.

My final project for Combined Media was to create a video. The problem with art school projects is that they can't be "cliche" ... "predictable" ... "obvious" ... or anything like that. Hard to do, especially when your brain is linear and literal like mine is. I decided to do a video about Elmo. Remember when Tickle Me Elmo came out, 10 years ago? Now there is a new version. I decided to make a little 1 minute video about Elmo, shot from his point of view, as people tried to snatch him up when he was new. If you click this link you can download the movie.



If the link is not working, cut and paste this into your browser window and you'll get to the download page: http://www.yousendit.com/download/eG1go8GsQa95TA%3D%3D

Keep in mind, when I showed my teacher yesterday, she thought it was a success. :-) I photographed Elmo against a white background, used Photoshop to remove the background, added some hand-drawn backdrops and other elements, and then combined audio. You don't want to know how long all of that took me. Of course, it might have been a quicker process if I hadn't had a little guy who got really excited and ran to my computer shouting "EL-MO" every time he heard the freaky Elmo giggle. ;-)

My second class, Life Drawing, was not as fun for me. I learned a lot, though, and I guess that is really the whole point. I'm glad it is almost over. I loved the teacher but the projects were hard for me to do. I don't have a photo of the final project for that class. It is a big drawing - 3x4 feet, maybe? - and I used watercolors, paints, and charcoal. I'm just glad the class is almost over.

In other news, baby girl has shown no signs of making an appearance. So my dr let me set the induction date for December 15. The end is near!

I don't have a lot of pictures from Noah's birthday party, and I don't feel comfortable posting them on the internet without asking permission from the other parents, so instead I'll show you these from the last "nice" day we had.

My baby is 6.

I'm not supposed to call him my baby anymore. At least not when we are in public. But since he can't officially read yet, I can get away with it here. :-)

Ever since Griffin was born, I've been amazed at how much older he seems to me. And now with those glasses ... wow. He's a KID, not a little boy.

For those of you that mailed gifts, thank you! He had a blast opening them and has played with everything.

The big birthday party is this Saturday, followed by a Monster Truck Jam for the guys in the Cities.

On another note, Griffin really enjoys ripping open presents. REALLY enjoys it. And then, after the present is unwrapped, he really enjoys shredding the paper. Maybe he is part cat. Christmas will be fun this year! :-)

I've been slacking ...

on posting pictures. Or updating everyone about what is going on in the Lessinger world.

For starters, Baby is getting big and really *kicky*. I've been having regular contractions at night for about 3 or 4 days now, but they always stop. I have a doctor appointment on Monday, so we will see if there is any activity. As of yesterday, I am 36 weeks - 1 week shy of what is considered full term.

Noah has been busy with school and planning his birthday bash. Well, the planning was pretty easy. We are having the party at Space Aliens, and he's invited 5 buddies. The two of us went to town today and got stuff for his goodie bags, as well as ordered his cake. He chose a Cars cake. We also spent a good amount of time looking at toys at Target today. If anyone is still wondering what to get him, I highly advise Transformers. He flipped out in that aisle ... wanted ALL of them. I think Griffin might be selecting a Transformer for a gift in the next few days. :-)

The G-monster has been doing really well. He is such a funny kid. He mimics everything he sees, and especially anything he sees his big brother do. He is at such a fun age right now. Yes, he's as busy as ever, but he's so much fun that we don't really mind. :-)

Bob and Mark and our neighbor Cory got the bathroom sheetrocked last weekend (while Jackie, Jackson, June, Turner, Griffin and I went shopping at the MOA - what a crazy choice that was!) The tape/texture guy is coming to start the final phase of *operation: walls* on Monday. I am so excited I can hardly stand it!

Bob also has an opportunity to teach a few classes at SCSU. I am so excited for him. He has a gift for translating jargon into English, and I think he is really excited. I hope the opportunity works out because he'd be a great teacher.

Here's a picture of the boys playing. There is just something about boys and boxes ...