One year since my dad died...

Yesterday was the one year anniversary of my dad's death and it was a very hard day for me.  I went through a ton of old pictures and found some wonderful ones that captured my dad's spirit and love for his grandsons.  I thought I would post them here for family/friends to see them also.  Not a day goes by that I don't miss him.  These pictures made me smile though.

Back to school

Ashtin started preschool yesterday.  It doesn't seem possible.  Of course he absolutely loved it and already made a new friend.  Here is a picture of us before we left:

I also took my camera with me to his school because I stayed with him for the first day - although he didn't even notice I was there I think :)  Here are a few more school pics:

Gavin also started school on the 27th of August.  He is very happy to be back and loves his new teacher and has a lot of neighborhood friends in his class.  He is a big second grader now and seems to be maturing a little.  He is getting so tall and is still very lean.  Here is a picture of him on his first day:

Gavin turned eight on the 23rd and Rob took him and 2 buddies to Six Flags for the day.  I have pictures from that day that Rob took but he took a disposable camera and I have to actually scan the pictures in and I haven't had time.  Here is a picture of Gavin eating his huge lollipop he got that day:

Rob had a day off yesterday and he took Ashtin and Landyn to Emricson Park and the boys had a blast!  I got a whole hour in the house by myself - I cannot remember the last time that happened :)  Here are some pictures from their trip - it was such a beautiful day yesterday.

Then Ashtin told Rob he wanted to go to the baseball field and he was just fascinated with it.  Rob took a really cool picture of him taking it all in - I called this pic "Field of Dreams" :)

Then, for your viewing pleasure, I now present you pictures of "Super Ashtin".  There was a whole day when Ashtin would NOT take off his Superman cape and Rob happened to snap a picture of him with no pants on and his cape - that one will definitely be on his graduation board when he's 18! 

Drum Roll Please....

Landyn is walking more than crawling now *sigh*. He turned one on July 10th and is eager to keep up with his brothers! He is a very vocal and curious baby (well, technically he is a "toddler" now I guess). He also whines/cries a lot for daddy to hold him - daddy spoils him a little :) Time is flying by! We went to Michigan the week of July 6th and celebrated all 3 boy's birthdays at Grandma Parniske's house. The boys had a lot of fun and I will post more pictures when Grandma gets around to sending them to me.

Ashtin is very excited that he can sing the ABC song, so here is a video of that to make you chuckle:

Gavin is all signed up for soccer in the Fall. He seems excited for it, so we shall see. He is not a sports guy, but is willing to try soccer. Hopefully, he learns to play as a team and develops some "team" skills. He is going to be in 2nd grade this Fall and it just doesn't seem possible. He turns 8 in August and I can vividly remember driving home from the hospital with him making Rob go 10 miles per hour because I was afraid we would crash with him in the car. Hard to believe that was almost 8 years ago! Gavin and Rob went camping over July 4th in Indiana with Grandpa White and Betsy. Renee was also there with her kids and Becca and Matthew. Gavin really enjoyed himself and told me all about catching lightening bugs! Rob forgot the camera, so we have no pics :(

Ashtin is still working hard on the potty training, but isn't quite there yet. Hopefully we will make preschool in Sept...if not, January is fine! He is talking much better and a LOT more these days. In fact, I don't think he is quiet unless he is sleeping. He really enjoys summer and LOVES the water.

That's it for now. I will update with more pics when my mom emails them!

Small updates

I am so thankful for the warmer weather these days. We are finally going outside and enjoying our new patio and fence (that keeps the kiddos contained!). In the picture above, Landyn is in the sandbox with Ashtin - he is getting so big and mobile. No walking yet, but he is too close for my liking! He still has his beautiful blue eyes and his hair (what little he has) is coming in a golden-blonde. Yes, he is our child, I swear :)
Gavin and Ashtin are starting to hang out a little more now that Ashtin can talk much more. Ashtin WORSHIPS his brother and likes to do whatever he does. He would watch him play the Nintendo DS by the hour. They also argue a lot more now that Ashtin is talking more.
I decided that Gavin and I needed a day all to ourselves and I called it "our special day". I surprised him one morning and took him to the Zoo and to Legoland. Rob took the day off to watch the other boys so we could have the whole day. It was wonderful. We had such a good time. I think I will remember that day forever. The weather was perfect and they were having a dinosaur exhibit with 18 life-size dinosaurs in the zoo and Gavin was fascinated. Of course Legoland was cool too :)
This past weekend was the "Touch a Truck" day at Emricson Park. It is a free event - they had a firetruck, ambulance, motorcycles and tons more things that the kids could sit in and climb on. Ashtin was beside himself. He loved it so much that I literally had to drag him to get in the car (ok, not drag, but just about). He was kicking and screaming - it was quite embarrassing. He had a blast and the above pictures are a few that I got.

The days are very busy lately and time is flying by again. We planted a tree in honor of my dad - a pear tree. Mom said he loved those. We had Lemon Meringue pie (one of his favorite pies) on his birthday - April 25th and had the tree planted. The boys call it the Poppa Tree. My mom came to visit and it was a nice weekend. Here is a picture of the tree:

Time Goes So Fast...

I have 3 new videos of the kiddos to post. The first one is of Landyn - he is pulling up already! I can't believe it. He is moving so much earlier than the other boys did. I think it's because he wants to be like his brothers! He can now pull up to his knees. He loves to pull up on this Leapfrog station my mom got him for Christmas:


We also have a new obsession with Ashtin - he LOVES bowling! Gavin and Ashtin kept lining up water bottles as pins and they were using a football for a bowling ball - here is a video of that:



Then, my awesome neighbor Amber gave us a bowling set that her kids weren't using anymore. Ashtin loves it, but does NOT like his little brother Landyn anywhere near the pins. Here is a video of a little "squabble" between them:

We have had a few days of warm weather lately, so that's been nice. Gavin had strep throat this week, but is healthy and back to his normal self. I am enrolling in school (YES, AGAIN!) to complete my Bachelor's in Nursing (I have an associate's)- they offer a one night a week class through my hospital...and then on to my Master's degree to become a Nurse Practitioner. Rob is enrolling in his CISCO certification (a computer certification) this week as well.

Landyn giggling....

Ok, so I had to add one more video today of my little guy giggling. He makes me laugh so hard when he giggles. Here it is:

New toy!

Grandma Parniske bought us a new cool Flip camcorder and we are having tons of fun with it. It's the size of an Ipod and extremely easy to use/upload videos. I think it will be a nice addition to the blog. I took a video of each kid so you can see them in action :) First off, it was crazy hair day at Gavin's school today, so I took a quick picture to remember. He wanted "spiky hair" so I did my best Billy Idol hairdo for him:
I will upload a couple videos of the baby for your viewing pleasure- not too exciting, but cute all the same. He loves to sit at his Leapfrog table and play with the controls. He frequently tips over, but keeps on a-goin! He is like the energizer bunny these days...he never slows down.

Here is another one of Landyn in his exersaucer:

Ashtin and Landyn have a love/hate relationship these days. Landyn follows Ashtin all over the place trying to grab his toys and play too. He wants so much to be like his big brothers. Here is a video I was taking of Ashtin and Landyn crawls in for the sneak attack towards the end of the video. I can't wait until all 3 boys are beating the crap out of each other and we are pulling them off of one another :)

Lastly is a video of my sassy man Gavin. He is playing the Wii and was bothered that I wanted to video him. He is quite the little attitude lately, but is still a really good-hearted kid. He is kind and is such a good boy at school. He LOVES science lately and is just fascinated with it. He said he wants to be a scientist and looks forward to the days they do science in class. He also is really good at basketball and is showing quite an interest in it. We signed him up for the Rec dept. Hoops program, so we will see how that goes. He is not the most coordinated kid, but he can dribble and shoot very well. He also is great in swimming and continues to advance in the levels through the rec dept. Rob is thrilled, because he loves to swim too.

2 big front teeth and a visit from Grandpa White

Gavin's 2 front teeth finally came in almost all the way and they are HUGE! He is happy he can finally eat apples again. He doesn't like to get his picture taken lately and I made him laugh and happened to get a real smile on camera! He had 2 days off of school last week because of the dangerous windchills and it was nice because Grandpa White was visiting on Friday. They took a trip to Toys R Us and that was WAY better than school :)

I also managed to get a good picture of Rob and his dad. They both smiled a real smile too! Woo hoo! We had a nice visit with Russ and the boys miss him dearly already. Ashtin is still looking for "Ganpa" some mornings.

Now for my Jeckyl and Hyde baby boy! He surely is my little devil one moment and my sweetness the next. He definitely knows how to get picked up by daddy and is very "vocal" at the moment. After 6pm, he is my little crabby patty....but he is cute as heck :) He is fast as lightening with his army crawl and we can't take our eyes off him lately or he is getting into everything. Ashtin had a spat with him today about him grabbing his cars. Ashtin just politely took the blanket Grandma Betsy made and covered his head up to keep him from grabbing his cars. I tried so hard not to laugh, but this is only the beginning of the brotherly fights I think.

Little updates.....

I figured it was time to start the blog up again....dad would have wanted me to. It's a good way to keep in touch with everyone and update about the kids. First off, Gavin is an excellent reader and likes to read to his brother all the time. It's really cute....hence the above picture. Let me say that 7 is the hardest age so far with Gavin. He is testing us so much lately and starting to realize that he is going to have to follow the rules or priviledges will be taken away - so far, taking the Nintendo DS away is a good punishment (for now).

Well, Rob made me cut off all Ashtin's curls :( He was starting to look like he had an afro, so we got him a haircut. Above are some pictures. He looks so much older with short hair. He is our little destroyer lately....making a mess where he goes. He loves to "help" us with everything and ends up making such a mess. He is so cute though and has this light about him and happiness. He is so happy all the time and any little things gets him so excited. You can't help but smile when he's around, and frankly I need that so much right now.

Now an update on my blue-eyed boy...he is rolling, scooting, crawling....anything to get to his brothers and play with their stuff. Ashtin's coveted Thomas stuffed animal thing is his ultimate goal and when he gets it, Ashtin throws an absolute fit. It is so funny to watch the 2 interact. I can't wait to see what great buddies they are going to be. Right now, Ashtin isn't too thrilled with him and doesn't like it when he slobbers on his toys or him. He yells "WET, WET" when Landyn slobbers on him...it is so funny. He will be sitting up any day now too. Didn't I just give birth to him? Wow...time is going fast.