Happy Birthday, Uncle Matt!

Uncle Matt!!!  We are a day late on your birthday post and we are SORRY!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, UNCLE MATT!   What did you do last night?  Whole lotta nothin'?  Rent a movie, play cards with Miss Soon To Be Aunt Nikki?  Ha ha ha!  We bet you went golfin' and out to the bars!  Just our guess!  That's what Daddy would have done!
In your honor Uncle Matt we are making a donation to Big Brothers/Big Sister of Miami Valley (Ohio) because you are Daddy's favorite little Brother and we all love you very, very much!
We are excited to see you next week!
Happy Birthday!
Love,
Lilly, Anna and Jack
XOXO

Lucky Number Seven Months!

 Oh, My, Goodness - Baby Jack is 7 months old today!  Happy birthday, Baby Jack!  This occurred to Mama just yesterday as she sat around thinking, "I need to schedule Jack's 6 month pictures - I have plenty of time since he just turned 6 months...um, a MONTH ago!"  Looks like Jack will follow suit and his "6 month" pictures will in fact be "7 month" pictures (like mine were and like Anna was 8 months!)

 I'm such a lucky baby, and soooo adorable!  I'm starting to get around - I might even start crawling this month!  I've skipped spoon feeding all together.  I love to shove food in my mouth myself!  I get so excited I get all shaky and grit my gums!  It almost looks like there's something wrong with me but there's not, I'm just excitable.

Oh my Gosh I am so cute Mommy can't stand it.  Look how different I look now!  How chubby!!  Ack!  Mommy just wants to kiss and hug me all over!

Hard to believe this is the same little baby.  It goes so fast, it really does.
Love,
Lilly, Anna and Jack

My Gollie, It's Our Weekend With Ollie!

 Ollie, do you hear that a lot?  Mommy's creative juices are finite and sometimes it's hard to come up with catchy new post titles.  We thought, "Ollie, Ollie oxen free" but pretty sure we've used that one, and then we couldn't really come up with another one so...here we are!
About 6 months ago we got to see Cousin Ollie!  (That's a gross exaggeration, it was really only about 6 WEEKS ago!  ACK!  We are still so far behind!)

 We met him, Aunt Tracey and Grandma at the Children's Museum in Cincy and played there for FOUR HOURS!!

 That's a lot of playtime whether you are a baby, a toddler, a kid, or a Mommy and Daddy.  We were all pretty wiped out by the time it was over (and isn't that the point of everyday?  Wiping out your kids so that you may have 10 minutes of quiet time to yourself at night?  Or locked in the bathroom?)

 It was so awesome to see you, Ollie.  We love hearing stories about the big city you live in and the great food your Papa cooks.  Mommy is hoping your Papa will cook for us again when we all reconvene in Hershey - in only 2 weeks!  Hey!  We're pretty proud of Mama for actually getting these pictures up BEFORE we see you again!

 And yo, Ollie!  Any baby updates?  Mommy wants to hear some news!!  Mommy is so excited to be an Aunt again and we are so excited for a new baby cousin!!  We are thinking an early 2013 trip to Brooklyn is in order!  And by "we" Mommy means "she" and wethinks she might also wrap a little NYC retail therapy into the deal.  Win-win-win.  Mommy gets to see you all, eat awesome food cooked by your very own Papa (heck, even the HOT DOGS taste better in New York!), and spend all of Daddy's money on stuff she won't be able to buy in SC!  See?!?  Win-Win-WIN!

 One thing that's so great about the Children's Museum is the Career Training Center.  Here, I'm learning how to be a Mommy and spend all of my future husband's money!  Or, I could be like MY Mommy and be a Working Mommy and spend my own money.  Doesn't sound as much fun.  I guess there ARE some perks to being a Stay At Home Mommy (besides wearing your jammies or your "yoga" clothes every day!) Spend someone else's money!  Awesome!

 But first I think I'll give this "work" thing a try...hmmmm...

 And here we have more career training!  It's a mini construction zone!  I will build big, giant buildings with glass walls and rent out space at an inflated price on long-term contracts that I will never let anyone out of.  I will call myself, "The Anna-mal."  Kinda like "The Trump," kinda nothing like "The Trump." 

 This is our first high-rise prototype.  At this career station Mama had to lay the smack down on some dude she called a "douche bag" because he would not share with the children and he was about 40 years old.  Seriously.  SERIOUSLY!  He would not. SHARE. With the CHILDREN!  He also instructed his son to take blocks from me to build his bridge.  Huh uh.  No, Sir.  Wrong Mommy to mess with.  You do NOT take MY Mommy's kids' toys.  WRONG MOMMY, DUDE!!!  You wanna know the awesomest part of all?  When Mommy reminded him that grown ups should lead by EXAMPLE and SHARE their toys and not STEAL them by instructing their SEVEN year old to do their dirty work so that EVERYONE can enjoy them ol' dude had a temper tantrum and stormed off!  HA HA HA!  HA HA HA!!!  I really wish Mommy could have video'd that!  It was awesome!  (*douche bag*)

 Woot woot!  Tired!

Thanks for spending the day with us, Ollie!  We love ya little dude and are really looking forward to seeing you in TWO WEEKS!!!
XOXOX
Love,
Lilly, Anna and Jack

Jack's Stats and Other Things

 I'm 6 1/2 months old!  I weigh about 16 lbs which puts me at 25% and Mama can't remember how tall I am but they re-measured me twice and turns out they mis-measured me last time because I'm 50% for height, not off the charts like they said - well this makes much more sense.  I want to say 26" or something?  Meh.  So much for the whole "monthly play by play" that Alpha Moms give of their babies.  Sometimes Mommy has delusions of grandeur, thinks she can hang with the Alpha Moms and then we do something promptly to remind her she will never be in the ranks of ALPHA.  S'okay, she hates them anyway...

 We get Daddy Daycare all weekend long!  Mommy is going to a "bachelorette" party - whatever that is!  We hear she's going to have all sorts of fun and do all sorts of crazy things like: sleep in, sleep through the night, take a long, hot shower with no interruptions, use the potty with no interruptions, eat her own food and not off our scraps, have adult conversations that don't involve the words: "potty", "poo poo" and "pee pee", talk in a normal voice and not scream, beg and plead for people to do what she asks - BOR.ING.  This bachelorette party nonsense sounds miserable.  Obviously she's going to miss us!

We also hear Grandma is going to come help Daddy out.  Fancy that!  Daddy has never spent more than 24 hours with all 3 of us by himself.  Mommy was really looking forward to 3 whole days of Daddy and us kids so that when she got home Daddy would fall to the ground in reverence and appreciation of all she does but no, Grandma is coming!  Well of course we promise to be extra specially good and have a lot of fun WITHOUT Mommy!  We will save the temper tantrums for when she gets home.  Just to show her how much we really love her!
Mommy is off to get her eyebrows waxed now.  Last night when Mommy was putting Anna to bed she says, "Mommy, I love your eyebrows.  They are like beautiful fuzzy rainbows."  At least she didn't say Caterpillars!
Love,
Lilly, Anna and Jack

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all our Moms!  We love you so much, we are so happy for everything you do and we thank you for all the Mom lessons you've taught our Mommy.  This weekend Mommy got to enjoy our company by herself all weekend so Daddy could work to earn money Mommy has already spent in her head.  And thank you, Babi and Duda for coming to the track with us yesterday and for taking me, Lilly, yesterday evening and today.  I loved spending Mother's Day with my Babi! 
Things we've said today to make Mommy's day very special:
"Taking care of the baby is so much work." (Lilly)
"I want to say I love you, Mommy.  For Mother's Day." (Anna)
"Oh yeah, and I love you, too Mommy.  And these flowers I made are very special to you, and to me, so H appy Mother's Day."  (Lilly)
And thank you, Uncle Dan, for the nicest message ever to our Mommy today about her being a Mommy.  YOU are the pretty awesome one, you made her whole day.  This Mommy business is for real, and for real, our Mommy loves it!
Happy Mother's Day!
Love,
Mommy's Crew

Did Ya Know We Were Coming?

 Mama never did get around to putting up pictures of Jack (and us) with his 6 month birthday cake.  Thanks, Babi for hookin' up the cake!  You must have known Mommy dropped the ball (once again).  Good thing our loved ones are there to pick it right up!  How are we even alive I do not know?

 Babi and Duda thank you also for letting us crash your house for a couple weeks while we were "in between".  We have to say apartment living is fun and Mommy is quite enjoying not having to worry about keeping the carpets clean, the bathrooms clean, etc - not that she ever really did to begin with.  If you ever visited our house (or just seen our pictures on the blog) you know that cleanliness and tidiness fall down on Mommy's list of priorities.  Hey we're too busy NOT CARING about how clean the house is for Mommy to kill herself over it.  What can we say - we're children!

 At 6 months old Jack has already mastered the "whatever" look that Lilly and Anna have nailed to perfection.  I guess us M-----s learn especially early.

Hmmm...not much of a chocolate kind of kid! 
Enjoy your day!  Eat cake!
Love,
Lilly, Anna and Jack

Southbound, Baby!

 Well, it's official.  Mommy can officially announce on the blog (even though by now all of our friends know) - we are moving to GREENVILLE, SC!!  A couple weeks ago Jacky got to fly with Mommy and Daddy down there to close on our new house (we will post pictures at a later date - we still need to post before and after pics of our beloved old Kentucky home!)  This was Jack's first time on an airplane!  He did about as good as babies do on airplanes!  Thankfully the lady sitting next to Mama on the 7:00 AM flight was super cool and super nice even though she had no children of her own she wasn't an uppity bitch about it.  That was refreshing!

 It was pretty exhausting flying on an airplane so we did a lot of sleeping once we got there.  Our hotel room had a King sized bed which meant I could stretch out between Mommy and Daddy.  They actually prefer to sleep on the edge of the bed - they told me!

We also got to tool around our new 'Ville!  We went to Downtown Alive with Teti and Mr. Bryan, and Uncle Mark and Miss Soon To Be Aunt Kimber!  That was so fun!  The band even played a Phish tune for Mommy, kinda like a "Welcome home, y'all!" song for her.  She liked that!

 After jammin' to some tunes we went out for pizza.  The key to going out to eat with young children and/or babies (in case you didn't know) is to go somewhere LOUD so either no one notices you when you're screaming or no one cares.  This is why you often see us post about eating out at pizza joints and Mexican restaurants.

Teti doesn't mind at all when I scream in her face.  She just screams right back and then we have a screaming contest.  I win, Teti!  Ha ha ha, HA!  Now give me back to Mommy so I can scream at her!
While we are certainly sad to be leaving our home in Kentucky we are looking forward to the new adventures that await us.  The big countdown begins - only 7 1/2 weeks left!  Then I can scream at Teti on a weekly basis!

That screamin sure tuckered me out, think I'll take a nap now!
Love,
Jack, Lilly and Anna

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

Happy Birthday, Grandma!  It was so fun to Skype with you tonight!  We need to get you a better camera for your 'puter! 
Daddy told Mommy that for your birthday this year he would like to make a donation in your honor to MoveOn.org which is a public policy advocacy group and political action committee that supports baby killers and atheists - I mean, Democrats - wait a second that's not right...MoveOn.org is a LIBERAL P.A.C. so he must have been joking!  (We are joking, we know you don't think Democrats are ALL bad!)
So when Mommy said, "No, Daddy that won't work" he said, "Then okay that was a joke, how about NPR?" and Mommy said - NO POLITICS!!!  But Daddy laughed because he likes to get one over on you, Grandma!
In all seriousness in your honor for your birthday we are going to make a donation to Catholic Charities USA which is the largest private network of social service organizations working to support families, reduce poverty and build communities.
We hope you had a happy birthday, Grandma and we love you very much!
Love,
Lilly, Anna, Jack (and Mommy and Daddy, too!)

Fest-A-Ville!

 Here in Louisville we have LOTS of festivals!  We have holiday festivals, Derby festivals, Catholic church festivals - LOTS and LOTS!  One of our favorite things to do with friends is go to these festivals and parades!  These pictures are actually from an Easter parade (don't hold it against me - we've had a whole LOT going on!)

 We did an Easter egg hunt at Tucker and Mackinsey's house...

 And we ate at our new friend's Mexican restaurant.  THAT was awesome!

 We had GREAT seats at the restaurant for the parade - here are all the girls!  Mackinsey, Lilly, Isabella and Anna!

 I love to catch candy and goodies that they throw from the floats.  So awesome!

 We think Jack is going to love parades and festivals as much as we do!

This weekend is DERBY WEEKEND here in the 'Ville!!!  Mommy and Daddy are so STOKED for this weekend!  One, because we ALL get to go to Grampa and Grammy's house (that's right - all three of us!!) so Mommy and Daddy will have a whole weekend of bettin' on ponies, partying, sleeping in, wearing big huge hats, all kinds of fun!  Thanks, Grampa and Grammy!!!  You brave souls, you!
Love,
Lilly, Anna and Jack

In Honor of Avery Lynn Canahuati

Mommy's heart hurts so bad right now.  Just last week Mommy and Babi saw a Yahoo! News article about Baby Avery and her Bucket List blog which went viral.  Only 3 weeks ago Avery was diagnosed with SMA (Spinal Muscular Atrophy) which is a rare and incurable genetic disease that is always fatal.  Last night Avery passed away.  She was only 2 weeks younger than Jack.
I don't think there's anything in the world - as a parent - that would be more devastating than losing a child.  Thankfully, I've never had to entertain the thought and I pray every single day that I never will.  My heart hurts so bad for Avery's Mommy and Daddy but before I read Avery's story I never heard of SMA and now I know what it is - and so do thousands of other people.  If you take a second to click here you can read more about it, too.  Even a short little life like Avery's was not in vain because now you know what SMA is, too.
In Avery's honor we are making a donation to The SMA Gene Therapy Program from Nationwide Children's Hospital/Ohio State University
Peace be with her Mommy and Daddy and please say a little prayer for her family and friends.
Love,
Mommy

Happy Birthday, Duda!

 Dear Duda (from Anna)  Happy Birthday!  I love, um, to say Happy Birthday to you!  Happy Birthday!  Happy Birthday!  Happy Birthday to you Duuuuuuudaaaaaa! 
And (from Lilly) Duda, this is the M----- family.  Jack is already asleep and we love you, Duda!

And Jack would say, Jack loves Duda!  And we like to watch Michigan games with you when you say, "MEEEEEESHAGIN!!!!!"  And we like Notre Dame, but not the rest.  My favorite thing to do with Duda is to go to a place somewhere, like a restaurant or a store...and I love Duda.  So, Happy Birthday, Duda!

True story - straight from their mouths!

Happy Birthday, Duda!

We're doing something just a little different for you - stay tuned!  We'll keep you posted!  We need to talk to you first!  Enjoy your birthday dinner!  We love you very much!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Love,

Lilly, Anna, Jack, Mommy and Daddy