Begining of Fall

It has been a busy couple of weeks!
At the end of September we had a birthday party for Mom. She turned 60 this year!! It was a good time. We collected laundry soap to take to the homeless shelter in place of gifts. We got enough soap for about 3 weeks, it feels so good to be able to help others! The party was lots of fun, lots of visiting and dancing. We had a DJ again this year. It is lots of fun to be able to dance the night away. Duncan had a blast. He danced and played with Trey and Little Kenny. The babies had a very good time too, they ran around the whole time they were there.

Duncan started going to RE at Christ the King on Wednesday nights. I thought because it is school he would be ok, but I was wrong. The first night he lasted about 1 minute and then went to his Aunt's room and was her helper! He really enjoye that. When he got home I asked how it was and he said Great! Then Abby told me to ask him how his class was, I did. He told me oh, I didn't like it so I was Aunt's helper! He called Sarah on the way home to see if she would go with him the next week, she said she would. Then he asked, you will go every week right? She does go with him. Hopefully he will get comfortable and go by himself soon, we will see!

Duncan had picture day at school, we will see how well he smiled this year!!
We went to the Apple Orchard as a family! The girls went with us also, it was lots of fun. Our friends The Etters went too, we all had a great time! It is lots of work with 9 kids 4 and under, but way worth all of the work. Really it went very well. The girls are a huge help and just knows what needs to be done. This year was way nicer than last year, it was not so windy. Until we sat down for lunch! The kids had fun on the tractors, seeing the animals, goats, pigs, chickens. They feed them too, and seemed ok with that.  There is also bouncy horses, adult size tractors, a super slide, hay maze, a huge pillow to jump on ( that was interesting with the little ones), not my most favorite thing!  There was a little playground the kids played on at lunch too. Duncan, Sarah and Hannah and Tracy loved the adult size pedal tractors. They took the little kids on rides too! I think Hannah and Duncan rode thoese things for an hour. We ended the day with a tractor ride though the apple orchard, We did not get off to see pumpkins or the corn maze, Tracy and I didn't think the babies would last through that.

Owen got his glasses today, he did well this afternoon with them, I hope that continues. He is getting more and more ornery! All of the babies are talking more and able to let us know what they want. They also are trying to not take naps this last week. Olivia can sure keep herself awake. Owen is the only one that will lay down and go to sleep.
I have been going to the gym while Duncan is at school. The babies go to the daycare there, they are getting use to that and do well. I have kid leashes that I put on there arms, and we all walk in. Most days it goes well, some days are a challenge.

 Duncan jumping in the corn pit, Hannah beside him

 Elliott

 Elliott and Mommy, he didn't like the corn

 Everyone, well almost looks like a few kids missing!

 Duncan

 Sarah

 Duncan

Sarah and Owen

Taylor, Elliott, Olivia, Sarah, Owen, Ethan, Hannah, and Duncan

Hannah and Duncan

 

 Haus, Hawkins, and Etter's that's aloit of kids!

Olivia, Hannah, Owen, Taylor, Ethan, Sarah and Elliott. Duncan is hiding behind Owen, you can see his hat!

Summer Part 2

The boys! Owen, Duncan, Ethan and Elliott.  July 2012

Duncan at VBS program, SS John and Paul. July 2012

Duncan and Olivia. Adventureland July 2012

Olivia, Abby and Ada at Reimen Gardens. Girls Day August 2012

Duncan Reimen's Gardens Ames. August 2012

Cake Taylor made Uncle for his birthday. Tracy, Elliott and Taylor July 2012

Duncan helping wash a hog at the Polk County Fair, July 12

Olivia ISF, 2012

Twins, Triplets and more ISF 12. Duncan and Elliott, Amy and Owen, Hannah and Oliva, Sarah and Ethan

Duncan and Taylor helping at project aware booth ISF 2012

 Ethan and Duncan, this is what they all like to do

 Ethan and Hannah, Owen on outside, Kids day at ISF, 2012

 Mom and MaryLouise, Reimens Gardens, girls day

 Favorite snack at ISF,egg on a stick and it was FREE!! Ethan in back, Owen (L), Elliott (R)

 Duncan 1st day of 2nd year of preschool. September 2012

Hannah Elliott,Ethan, Taylor and Owen at Adventureland September 2012

Little Bit of Summer 2012 Part 1

Uncle Wayne feeding the kids cereal  L to R Olivia, Elliott, Owen and Ethan

The van is full!! One of many trips while in Texas

Duncan at NASA

Olivia at NASA

Everyone loved the beach, much to my suprise

Elliott at NASA

Family picture, NASA Duncan, Ethan, Owen, Olivia, Elliott

Dallas Zoo, Ethan, Olivia, Duncan, Elliott, and Owen

Duncan feeding the giraffe at the Dallas zoo

Elliott on chair, Ethan laughing, and Owen making his way up

Mother's Day, Daddy and Olivia

Taylor and Olivia

Daddy and Owen

Mommy and Elliott

Duncan graduation 1st year of preschool. May 2012 church of the cross preschool, altoona, iowa

End of Summer

We kept busy the whole summer!! We had lots of fun. I am so grateful that I can stay home with the kids. I love watching them grow, play, and love each other. It is the most amazing thing to me to watch all of them grow up. They are into hugging now! We get lots of kisses too.

We ventured to the Iowa State Fair a few times this year. Lots of fun was had. The kids and I went on the first day of the fair. The Hawkins went with us to help out! The twins, triplets and more contest is the first day of the fair. The Quads got 5th place in least look alike again this year. We also went to little hands on the farm. That is Duncan's favorite thing at the fair. We were not able to do the whole thing, it was just to much for Sarah, Hannah and myself. We also went on parks and rec day, that is always a good day. The kids were in the big wheel race. The babies had to be pushed! Next year they will have long enough legs to pedal the big wheel.

We went to Adventureland a couple of times with the whole family. It was fun. Duncan loves to ride rides! He loves the big boat. The galleon!! He would get on almost anything except roller coasters. The babies also like rides. They had a blast riding the little kid rides, most of them Duncan went with them and we didn't have too! Hannah likes some of the rides and if she could get on with them, she did! Thank goodness for Hannah to help out in this department! Sometimes Elliott and Owen won't ride, but they got better towards the end of the summer.
Ethan is on his 4th pair of glasses! He went through 3 pairs in 3 weeks and then we bought an unbreakable pair! He does well with them. They really help his eye to come out and be where it is suppose to be.

Owen has an eye doctor apt. this week, his right eye is lazy.

Olivia finally hit 20 pounds! She went for her last physical therapy. The therapist was amazed how far along she has came in 2 months. She out does the boys on almost everything. She loves to climb! Speaking of climbing she climbed out of her bed today and went to visit Owen at his bed. He just pulled her hair! I sent Duncan to check on her after about 10 minutes of crying.

I am working a little more now. I really do like going to work once in awhile, it is nice to see everyone and all of the patients. I ran my first 5K, The green run. It was a very hard course, very hilly and rough ground. I finished in 46 minutes. I will do better my next one!

Duncan is back at preschool 3 mornings a week. He loves school! He amazes me everyday what he knows and is learning! He also knows how to get to me. Yesterday I told him I was tired of him not listening. He was bouncing on a ball and just looked up at me and said, "you are" and that was that. He is a big help with all of the kids, he plays with them and helps with what ever I may need.
We have been on a few play dates with our friends the Etters. The are quadruplet boys who are 6 months older than our kiddos. Everyone always plays well together!

More Summer

Well the summer is going fast! We have been to Adventureland a few times, made it to the farmers market dentist and doctor for check ups. I also picked up a few days at work. I won't work 3 days in a row for awhile again. It was alot on for everyone!

Duncan continues to love Adventureland. He loves to ride the rides and he loved the water park when he went there with the girls. We went to the farmers market early on one Saturday morning. It was fun, the kids were all good. We had breakfast there and got a few things to bring home. We were only there a couple of hours because it got hot fast!

All the kids went to the dentist in July. It was an exciting trip. All of the girls went to help, I told them I would take them out for lunch if they went to help. We went out for Mexican before the appt. The kids all did well, they love chips and salsa! Ethan really loves the salsa, he let his cheese quesadila sit in salsa and then ate it, and I thought it was a little spicy ( i am a wimp though!). They went back a couple at a time for the dentist appt, Duncan did well like always. The babies all cried when the dentist was looking in their mouths. No one really liked it, it will get better as they get older. All the babies have 8 teeth top and 8 bottom. No cativies for anyone, thank goodness.

The babies went for there 18 month check up at the doctor also. They did well, I took Owen and Olivia together and Ethan and Elliott together. The office asked if I would bring 2 at a time because it is a lot of work! Really, I don't know that!! It worked out though because Sarah babysat and she doesn't really like to go and help at the doctor. Olivia almost weighs 20 pounds, finally. She weighs 19.8 and is 30 inches long. Owen weighs 22 pounds and 30 1/2 inches long. Elliott 25 pounds, and 33 3/4 inches long and Ethan 22 pounds and 30 1/2 inches long. I decided Ethan and Elliott are to ornery and will have to be separated, but I think putting any 2 of the boys together will be trouble! Elliott was swinging off the exam table saying wee, wee!! So of course Ethan had to try it too!

Ethan got glasses for his lazy eye. He has had them a couple of days and doing good so far, if Elliott will leave them alone we will be good! Olivia went to physical therapy for her legs. She is fine and the therapist said she is in the normal range for when she was born, just needs to get strength in her legs. To do that she needs to bend over and pick stuff up, amazing that the day after we were there, she really started doing it! We go back at the end of the month for a check up. She is much more steady on her feet now. Owen is starting to get a lazy eye also, so we will be making a trip to the eye doctor for him too. Nothing more new with Elliott!

Duncan went to VBS at the Christian Church in Runnells, he had a blast. He was nervous and was not going to stay by himself, but the first night we got there and his Sarah had decided to help, he was so happy! She helped with his group so I did not have to stay with him. Tracy and Duncan went to a car race in Newton. Duncan loved it, his favorite part was watching the race. Tracy said he sat and watched the race and played with one of the cars he got. He wore big yellow head phones the whole time!

Tracy's birthday was in July, he got a new TV for Father's Day, and his birthday. We went to the farmer's market on his birthday since that is what he wanted to do.

We went to the county fair to see the girls and all of the animals. Duncan made friends, baby goats. They talked to him! He would of stayed there all day watching them. We had a good time. All of the kids loved the animals. We watched Taylor in the queen contest, that was fun even though she didn't win.

Olivia and I had a girls day with the Weir/Kelley side. We went to Rieman gardens in Ames and to Hickory Park to eat, it was a good time. The boys had a boys day at home!

We went to the 4th of July parade in Carlisle this year, it was lots of fun and all of the kids loved watching the parade. It was very hot out, but that didn't bother the kids.

June 2012

Well June is here and gone! We didn't really do a whole lot this month. Hang at home mostly. The girls are out of school so I have taken advantage of them being home and have them help out during the day! It is nice to be able to do stuff and have them around to watch the kids or some of them anyway! It has been very hot and the air in the van isn't working.
The kids, Hannah and I did go to adventurland one day. That was lots of fun, we were just there a couple of hours, but that was enough!! Elliott and Owen did not like the rides, but the other 3 loved them and would of stayed all day. Coming home at nap time did not work well because the little kids slept all the way home and then after lunch they did not nap well at all. We just try and go with the flow though, otherwise we would not be able to do anything during the day! We did not go to the water park, although Hannah asked if we could. I told her we better wait for the other girls, because I could not handle 6 kids by myself there.
We have been playing outside at home. The kids love to swim in there pool, and play with all of the toys we have. We got a power wheels jeep that he loves to drive. The other kids love to ride it with him. We also have a little 4 wheeler, the babies love to get on it but don't really know how to make it go yet.
The Gruber Reunion was at the park in Runnells this month. We all went and took the swimming pool for the kids. Tracy was kind of against the idea at first, but after about 5 minutes he was glad we brought it. The kids stayed mostly in one place and were not climbing all over the equipement anyway.
Olivia has decided she will bite now. She has been in time out a few times, Ethan also continues to bite, he gets in time out too. He just looks at you like, "Ya I know I am not suppose to bite, but I don't really care". Ethan also got a hold of the phone and called 911 the other day. The phone rang and I answered it, the lady said, "this is 911 did you have a small child playing with the phone?" . I told her yes, I was sorry and she just asked that I keep it away from him. Then we were going on a walk, and the sherriff pulled up in front of the house, just to check it out. I was surprised when she didn't tell me on the phone someone would be out. Oh well, we will be sure the phone is put up always!
We hope to make it to adventureland a few more times and the farmers market this summer. All the kids love to get out and about, as do I. I go crazy if we stay home to many days in a row.
I almost forgot about father's day. Tracy just wanted to hang at home. So that is what we did during the day. In the eveing Duncan went to VBS at SS John and Paul (which he loved all week!). Mom came and watched the kids at night so we could go out to eat. We went to Bass Pro, Target, Goodwill and then to Iowa Beef Steakhouse with Abby and Rodney. For Father's Day Tracy got a new TV and a DVD player. Something he has been wanting for awhile so I saved for it. It is for his birthday too!

May and trip to Texas

Duncan finished school in the middle of May. He asked for 2 weeks if he had school today! I am glad he likes it and he will be very happy to go back in the fall.

We went to see the buffalo and we did see some. All of the kids enjoyed the trip. I didn't think about it but the air in the van wasn't working at the time and when we got home, the van was filled with dust. Well it needed a good cleaning anyway so Abby helped me ( really she did most of the cleaning, she likes to clean cars!). We spent about 5 hours cleaning it good and getting it ready for vacation.

At the end of May we went to Texas to see Joni, Wayne, and Alex. Us, Hawkins, and Mom all went in our van. We left after supper on Friday so the kids could sleep on the way. We drove all the way through to Houston, well with a few stops on the way!

On Saturday morning we were almost to Dallas. We stopped at a park and made eggs and let the kids play since we had a few more hours to go! This was a good choice, they did pretty well the rest of the way and even napped some more! We stopped at a bakery and at Buckee's (truck stop) on the way. Our stops take any where from 30 minutes to an hour it seems by the time we get everyone out and bathroom breaks and loaded back up.

We finally arrived in Houston, it seemed like forever from Dallas and that is what Joni said would happen. Within the first hour of being at their house, I broke a lamp by running into a table. Owen got into a fire ant hill and had bites all over his legs and a few on his hands. They looked nasty. Topical benadryl and ibuprofen seemed to work. It did take all week for them to look better. He still has a few spots, but much better now. Where else would you get to ride a tricycle in the house, no where except Aunt Joni's. Duncan had a blast on it and finally it ended up outside and he rode that thing all week. We thought it was going to be a fight to leave it there, he kept telling everyone Alex out grew it so he needed to take it home!

Sunday we went to church at Rose and Bill's church (neighbors of Joni's). All of the kids were very good, I was really surprised. We went out to eat at a Mexican restaurant on Sunday night.It was very good. On the way there Aunt Joni decided to show us some sights of Texas, as we were driving along here comes a police officer with lights on, coming towards our van, Tracy pulled out of the way and he followed him, so Tracy moved again and the police officer followed again. Finally Tracy said, is he pulling us over? Yep he sure was because Joni had us going the wrong way down a one way street! Thankfully there was not lots of traffic!

Monday we went to the pool in the neighborhood, that was fun. Tracy stayed at home with the little ones. Monday night we grilled out and some of Joni and Waynes friends came over. We went to Nasa on Tuesday, that was lots of fun. Lots to see, we did not go on the tour because there wasn't time. The Hawkins, Mom and Alex went they said it was very cool. The only thing Duncan wanted to do was ride the train that takes you on the tour and you have to get off at every stop. Next time we go we will do it. On the way home we went to the Chase tower, Aunt Joni's friend Tim works there and he took us clear to the top. The 75th floor is the roof. It was way cool to see Houston from the top of the building. Tracy and Hannah neither one really like heights, but they both came on the roof just didn't go to the edge. I was proud of both of them! Duncan sure didn't have any fear, he was right at the edge with who ever would hold his hand. Wednesday we went to Galveston Island. This was lots of fun too. Tracy, the kids and I went to Moody Gardens and went to the aquarium. Abby and Rodney went to the body exhibit, Taylor, Alex, Mom and Joni went to the Bishops Palace. Sarah and Hannah went to the aquarium also. The kids really liked seeing the fish and turtles! We went to the beach in the afternoon, that was lots of fun. I didn't put on my swim suit because the babies were tired and I didn't think they would really like the ocean. Boy was I wrong. We couldn't hardly get Ethan out of the water, Olivia and Owen really liked it too, and as always, once Elliott was warmed up he really enjoyed it too. Duncan had a blast and was with Uncle Rodney most of the time out jumping the waves! We had to stop at McDonald's on the way home to get the kids sandwiches because we didn't leave until 5. They were starving and I knew they would be ready for bed as soon as we got back. One thing I learned about Houston, it takes a least 30 minutes to get anywhere, and everywhere we went, it took anywhere from 1 to 2 hours! Wayne had to work everyday while we were there, that was a bummer, but we did get to visit and he really enjoyed hanging with the babies on the floor while they ate.

Joni and Wayne have a dog, Mickey. He is an inside dog. Mickey did very well with the kids around. He let them do what ever most of the time. Ethan decided to body slam him one day and Mickey let everyone know he did not like that and it scared him. That was the only time Mickey acted out towards the kids. He is a very good dog. Thursday we got up and had breakfast, then headed to Dallas for the night. It was a long trip, but the kids rested. We got to Dallas and checked in at our hotel, swam for a while. We got tacos for dinner, very yummy! Everyone went to bed early, by 10. The kids slept all night. They had been getting up by 6 or 6:30 the whole week so we didn't set an alarm. They slept until 7:45 on Friday morning! Nice dark curtains in the room. So we got up and went to breakfast, everyone ate well! Then off to the Dallas zoo. One last thing before we headed home! The zoo was fun. Duncan's favorite thing to do was feed the giraffe. That was his favorite animal too! After the zoo we went to the Ten Star diner (taco's that we had on Thursday night) for lunch and then headed out. Thankfully we only had to stop for supper and then the kids could go to sleep for the night. Rodney drove most of the way, every time we switched drivers, one of the kids would cry. Finally Rodney couldn't drive anymore so I drove for a few hours. I said I would drive the rest of the way home, but I didn't make it. Rodney had to drive from Missouri. Abby couldn't see well enough at night to drive and Tracy can't stay awake so they neither one drove! We got home about 6:30 Saturday morning. It was a good trip, lots of driving but well worth it. The only thing that would of been better is if the air would of worked right and we didn't have to keep buying freon to put in it! Oh well.

Olivia started walking on vacation! She now will walk across the room, guess she has decided it is time to walk! Owen got way more ornery on vacation. Everyone has decided to be more of a monkey, they all climb up the kitchen chairs onto the table. We have decided to put a ratchet strap around the chairs so they can't push the chairs around!

We have been to the park with the Miller's since vacation. That was lots of fun. The kids played and then a little picnic lunch. To my surprise, all of the kids sat on the blanket and ate. Elliott did decided he was going to wander around, but he did eat all of his sandwich.

The other day Owen was being ornery to his dad, and Tracy called him a shithead. Duncan immediately looked up at Tracy and said, "Your a shithead Dad!" All Tracy could do was laugh! Guess we need to be more careful what we say. Duncan has called the TV, Damn TV (thanks aunt Abby), and has said shit over and over, thanks to me. Guess we will learn someday.