spring session...povah style.

Since I'm WAY behind on my blogging (weird, I know), I guess I'll have to tackle Spring and the start of Summer 2013 in two posts. Winter seemed to drag on this year. We had a lot of snow and it lasted until early May. It never got crazy cold, but the snow kept coming and it was an unusually cold Spring. The kids were stir crazy and I was constantly trying to find new ways to keep them entertained. We took lots of trips to the Science Center, music class and the mall for some playtime.

Easter was cold and dreary this year. The kids LOVED hunting for eggs though. And they got the mother load of candy this year (thank you family for contributing to my 10 lb weight gain!).

 

 

The twins had their first round of swimming lessons this Winter. Aubrey loved it, Owen not so much. Aubs liked to splash around and would put her head under water, but Owen was a lot more hesitant and by the last class, refused to go.  Guess we'll keep trying! We're hoping to get Aiden signed up somewhere this Summer. He wasn't old enough for the Y's classes.

 

The boys did flag football this Spring. Aiden was definitely too young (hey, we did have to fudge his DOB just to get him registered), but I was worried that he would see Owen doing it and feel left out. Owen liked it, but his attention span is not quite long enough for football. He had fun grabbing the flags (even his own teammates) and loved running the ball, but his interest is more into soccer at the moment. We registered him for Soccer Shots during school and he loved that and it's amazing how much he learned from it.

 

 

We also decided to take a last minute trip up to the Mall of America this Winter. I was going stir crazy, the kids were going stir crazy and we needed something to look forward to. The kids did awesome on the drive up there and did pretty good at the mall. We bought unlimited ride wristbands and they really enjoyed the rides. We chose to go up on the Saturday of Spring break so it was packed, which made it hard to ride a lot of rides since we spent so much time waiting in line. Overall, it was success and nice little break from being stuck at home.

 

The kids are still wild and crazy. The boys wrestle ALL. THE. TIME. I swear they are born to fight each other. Owen can go from sweet boy to ninja warrior in no time flat. Aubs prefers to play with her dolls, paint or cut paper while the boys are busy attacking each other.

 

Aubrey just goes with the flow (for the most part) and is still the easiest of the three kids (for the time being). She can get a little sassy and everyone is "girlfriend or boyfriend," i.e. "hey boyfriend, will you hand me the toy." she also pulls a little Southern accent out while doing it. She goes to bed the easiest of the three every night. I often catch her trying to play princess with Lola in her room at nap time. Poor dog loves her though. She's really into playing with makeup and getting mani and pedis. Her vocabulary is super expansive and it's amazing how much she learns everyday. Her new cartoon of choice is Sophia the First and she loves all of her princess, Fancy Nancy and Pinkalicious books.

 

Aiden is still super goofy. He loves to dance and laugh. He also still comes into our bed every night and sleeps with us. I swear the kids has restless leg syndrome since he kicks all night long. He's funny and likes to be the comedian of the family. He still has a short fuse and can get crazy mad really quick. He loves books. His newest cartoons include Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Super Why. He's the best eater of the group and will try anything. Spanky has my sweet tooth and loves candy.

 

Owen has a sensitive soul, but has gotten a lot better over the past few months. His vocabulary is amazing and he knows recognizes all the letters of the alphabet and every number. He plays hard and crashes hard. He loves to sing and can bring Adam and I to tears when he sings along to the radio (nothing better than a 4 year old making up the words to a Justin Bieber song.) He could play soccer or baseball in the front yard all night long. He loves his cheese crackers and apples, but really doesn't eat much. He's a skinny minnie that runs everything off that enters his mouth.

 

Will catch up with the rest of Spring, kids' birthday party and the start of Summer soon!





Baby It's Cold Outside!

We had another fabulous Christmas at the Povah house. The kids really got into their Elf on the Shelf, Diddle, and had fun finding him every morning in his new spot.  Owen was probably the most excited and often went downstairs looking for him before coming into our room to say good morning, while Aiden and Aubrey preferred a little cuddle time before heading down to look for him. The kids went to see Santa and we actually had 2 kiddos sit near Santa this year!

Aubrey was still apprehensive, but got close to sitting on his lap...

 

 

The kiddos got super spoiled again this year. The hot items on their lists were: Baby Comes Alive, a dollhouse, Elmo Rocks, Jake and the Neverland Pirates ship and telescope, Thomas the Train portable train set, books, movies, art supplies and an XBox Kinnect. The got all of that and way more, but I've already forgot what all they got. Damn aging memory. Christmas Eve was great. We started the day over at Mimi and Papa's house and opened presents and ate lunch. We came home and went to Mass then had Brendan, Leigh, Papa, and the Povahs over for dinner and fun. We all had a great time playing with the Kinnect, drinking some wine and eating WAY too much food. The kids loved setting out the homemade sugar cookies for Santa and carrots for his reindeer that night and eventually passed out dreaming of sugar plums, I'm sure. The were so wiped from Christmas Eve that they didn't get up until 7:30 Christmas morning (I was more excited than they were). Unwrapping presents and digging through their stockings was super fun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After opening presents we headed over to Papa and Gwen's house for brunch. We had a great time hanging out over there. We came home for a couple of hours then headed over to GG's house. We ate more great food, then opened presents and hung out. The kids did great, especially considering they hadn't napped in two days and we had been running around like crazy. We came home and crashed that night and everyone slept in til almost 8 (glorious!).

 

 

The kids have also enjoyed playing the snow and we got to experience a massive snow storm in December.

 

 

 





Aiden is fully potty trained now!!!! Woo hoo! This mama is super excited. All three kiddos still wear a diaper at night in case of an accident, but I'm ok with that for now. He is acting so grown up now. He says the funniest things...case in point:

Me: "Aiden do you want an enchilada for dinner?"
Aiden: "Oh yes, they're my fav."

Aiden: "My poop went bloop into the toilet."

Aiden: "Daddy you're a tub of lard." (Ok, not nice, but hilarious)

He loves baseball and is ready to play ball this Summer. Both boys should be able to play on the 3 and 4 year old team together. Adam and I are really looking forward to their games!

Owen is busy being Owen. He has a group of boys at school that he likes to cause trouble with. We still struggle with him being aggressive and excited a lot of the time, but hoping it's just a phase. He's cute, but oh so naughty. He's really excited for soccer this Spring. He loves playing with my iPhone and could watch YouTube for hours (but we obviously try to discourage that).

Aubrey is doing great. She's known as the fashionista at school. She loves playing with all of her princesses and baby dolls. She could also paint all day long. Both Owen and Aubrey have gotten pretty good at writing their names. She really wants to start in gymnastics and dance, but we may have to wait until the Fall when more classes start up.

We're all itching for Spring and Summer to get here. Adam leaves next week for Minnesota and it will be a long week alone with the kiddos in this cold. At least when he leaves in the Summer, we can play outside. He starts his new job with MedLine on Tuesday and is pretty excited about the new opportunity. We have to buy a new car with this job, so I think I will have to bite the bullet and accept the we're a minivan family. It will come in handy on road trips, so the kids can't touch each other and we have more room. Adam has to go to Chicago for two weeks in April and I'm planning on driving the kids out there to make it a little family vaca out of it. I hope I can survive 6 hours by myself in the car with the kids...guess we'll find out :)

Off to watch a little "Gnomeo and Juliet" with the kids on this lazy Saturday afternoon. Til next time!

 

 



It's Holiday Time Folks!

Yikes, another month has flown by. Seriously, I don't know where time goes anymore. I feel so incredibly busy that my head spins. I usually get super annoyed when people complain about being busy, especially people that really aren't busy, but I'm going to do it now...I'm busy. I haven't read a book in over 6 months, I barely watch tv, I work out maybe twice a week (if that), sigh. If I'm not chasing around toddlers, I'm working, doing laundry, cleaning my house, making a meal, cleaning up a meal, taking care of four pets, taking care of Adam (ha ha)...my list could go on forever. Ok, enough whining.

Aubs had her second surgery to remove her stents. Did amazingly well. She and I spent the night in Iowa City then got to the hospital around 6 a.m. We were on the road back home by 11 a.m. so way easier than the first go around. Thank heavens. Adam took her back to Iowa City first of December for a check-up and things seem to be looking great!

We've gotten pretty used to our new house. Adam is already wanting the basement finished, so that's next on the list. It's going to be a lot of work, so not really looking forward to that, but it will be awesome to have another place for the kids to destroy...err, I mean play.

They had a great Halloween. Owen was a pro trick or treater. He loved every minute of it, even though the rest of us were a little cold and ready to go home. We all came down with something nasty that week and I really felt miserable, but we all powered through the night.

 

 

We also had Uncle Brendan and Aunt Leigh's wedding in September. It was the most perfect day and the wedding went off without a hitch. The kids had a great time dancing and playing at the reception and were still not ready to call it a night at 10 p.m.

 

We've had pretty good weather so far and even took a trip to the Omaha Zoo in November. It hit 70 degrees that day and was amazing!

 

 

We are gearing up for Christmas and it's been super fun with the kids. They really get into the Christmas spirit and are super excited for Santa. Diddle, our elf, made it back from the North Pole the night of Thanksgiving, so the kids love looking for him every morning. Aubrey loved decorating the Christmas tree and Owen and Aiden love holiday music. They really jam out! We took a trip to see Santa and Owen was obsessed. He was waving at him in line and yelling, "Santa, I'm here." Both Owen and Aiden sat on his lap, but Miss Aubs was too nervous still this year, so she watched from a few feet away. The kids are going to get super spoiled again this year and are going to have a wonderful Christmas!

 

Aiden is still super goofy. He loves to dance and sing along to the radio (favorites include Maroon 5, Justin Bieber, Usher, Phillip Phillips and Jack Johnson). We're still working on the potty training thing. He really could care less, but I'm less than thrilled with changing 4 poopie diapers a day (seriously, how can this kid poop so much?). He does tell me when he goes, so I know we have to be getting close. I still have to lay down with him at bedtime and he's still ending up in our bed in the middle of the night, but at least I'm kind of sleeping. He is still my sensitive soul. He was trying to get crackers out of the wrapper the other day and said, "Come on dude." It was hilarious and I started laughing at him, which then led him to cry, thinking I was making fun of him. He hates to be told that he's funny. He's also working on his final four molars. I'm amazed at how happy he's been considering he has large teeth trying to cut through. Still a mama's boy. Crazy as all get out. Animal lover. Cuddly.



 

 

 

 

Aubrey is still the easiest of the trio. She rarely gets into trouble and the teachers love her at school. She excels in preschool. She can easily trace letters and has started to write her name (legibly). She loves her dolls and has a great imagination. Aubrey loves to play house and is always the leader in charge of assigning roles (mommy, daddy, etc). She plays in her princess dresses all the time (as do her brothers) ha ha. She often runs around the house either half naked or with a princess dress on. Her favorite cartoon is either Bubble Guppies or Team Umizumi. Her favorite color is pink and favorite food is chicken nuggets. She wants to be a dancer when she grows up. She loves to sing loudly (especially at 6 am, which makes Adam less than thrilled). She loves lip gloss and girly things. She's still super clumsy and often falls down or runs into walls (I'm not forseeing a real athletic future for this child). She can easily be the loudest of the three and we still call her "noisemaker" a nickname she got from the daycare when she was a baby. Still sweet. Very thoughtful. Smart girl.

 

 

 

 

Owen is the wild one of the bunch, still. He's often the wildcard and everyday is different. He is not a morning person and it's literally a toss up when he wakes up whether it's going to be a good morning or bad morning. He plays hard, all day and has to be doing something at all times. He loves Spiderman right now and you can often find him dressed in his Spidey costume all day. He is still a daddy's boy and misses Adam a lot when he travels out of town for work. He has always gravitated toward men and that hasn't changed. He loves playing with his Papa's and Uncle B. We have about a foot of snow on the ground right now and he could play in it all day. He loves sledding. He shows a lot of athletic talent and loves playing baseball and soccer. This Spring will be really fun to enroll him in sports. His favorite food is french toast. Color is blue. He loves his dogs and cats. He's also into Bubble Guppies and Team Umizumi, but still loves certain movies (Cars, Toy Story, Lorax). He loves to give everyone a nickname (Aubs, Aid, Lo (for Lola), Lancey, Gus Gus (Mimi's dog)). He's the least shy of the group and loves to talk to everyone. He often says hello to strangers and always asks what they're doing. Funny boy. Hyper. Playful. Full of personality.

 

 

 

Next up...Christmas run-down...