18 months - big boy

He is 25 lbs and 33 inches long.  That puts him around 25% for weight and 50% for height.  Perfect!  His head though is in the 95% heheheh.  We had no clue.  Doesn't really look that big.  Maybe that's why his knees are always skinned, since he has to carry around that big noggin of his.

sleep update

Well the sleeping is going MUCH MUCH better in the fact that when she does wake up she goes right back to sleep.  She is not up for hours and hours so it's so much better and I will take it.  Most nights she is up though.  I kinda think its become more of a habit though.  She's not really scared most of the time. Just a kid up and trying to avoid sleeping.  She does not want to go back to sleep in her bed or even in my bed/room.  She likes the basement with the light on so thats where I take her.  Not ideal but it makes her happy enough to go back to sleep so it is working for now.  I hope in our new house just turing on the light in her own bedroom will do the trick.  So glad we are moving soon.  She has been up the last 3 nights but as soon as I make up her little bed on the couch in the basement I don't hear another peep from her.  She is a funny one though.  What little kid would rather sleep by herself in the basemen than with her big sis or even on her parents floor?????  I don't know but I'm sooooo glad she is not in my room.  Or bed!!!!  I love cuddling with her but I get enough C time during the day.  The break of the night is a really really good thing for us.  She for sure is our most challenging kid, but lucky for her the challenging aspect of her also has a sweetness to it.   She is something for sure.  Born to be a middle kid maybe?  She sure will never be overlooked!!!!  

daddy's home!!!!

We all made it through J's last (at least for awhile) Brazil trip.  It was a tough week in the fact that we missed him but actually the week went pretty smoothly.  We did it and made it!!!  My longest single mom-hood.  I give big props to the ladies that actually do it all the time.  It is rough!!!  E and C were beyond excited to see daddy.  I don't think C left his side all afternoon!!!  She missed her daddy!!!  When Av got off the bus she didn't notice him at first.  Her teacher had given them a few candy hearts as a reward that they don't eat till they are home ( she has a long bus ride poor thing, that's a long time for a little kid to have candy but not eat it) so she was pretty focused on getting the candy out of it's bag and on playing tag with her bus friend.  I said, "Av looks who is here."  She looked up, said "daddy" and took off running to him.  It was very cute.

pacis or mommy?????

Yesterday am I had to wake E.  He had 3 pacis when I woke him.  One in his mouth and one in each hand.  This is like winning the lottery to him.  He was so happy.  He almost didn't want to get out of bed knowing I would make him keep the pacis there.  I cuddled with him for a minute and then tried to take them.  It was a no go, he cuddled into me and hid them.  I didn't have the heart to take them so we came downstairs.  We were running late so I wanted to set him down on the couch with the girls so I could get my stuff done.  He usually needs some cuddle time before he is ready to be on his own in the mornings.  I thought with his pacis he would be happy though.  I set him on the couch saying, "you have your pacis you don't need me."  I put him down then sat on the coffee table to put on cartoons for the girls. I heard him grunting and groaning and a few seconds later he was at my legs and wanting up.  I looked over at the couch and all 3 pacis had been left on the couch.  I think I was chosen over the pacis!!!!!!!!!!

pee pee

E has diligently been learning the names of his body parts.  He is very interested and excited to learn.  I think he has more words as his age than both of the girls combined did.  Anyway while changing his diaper he grabbed at himself down there and I said, "pee pee."  It was at least 2 weeks ago and it has not come up since.  So yesterday when J got home from Brazil and took E up to change him we were ALL very surprised to hear E say, "pee pee" out of the blue and point to himself.  J had no clue I had taught him that. heheheh it was pretty funny stuff.

c spelling her name

Camille and I were working on spelling her name.  I wrote C a m i l l e at the top of her paper.  We practiced it over and over.  When J got home I asked her to spell her name for J.  She said, "C a m i one one....." It took me a very long minute to get it.  Then we laughed and laughed and laughed.  She is a funny one!!!

spring break dino world!

On Saturday we all got up and left the lake house and headed for DinoWorld.  The adults were not excited but the kids were enough for all of us.  We did end up having a blast.  After the sticker shock wore off of J (he grumbled a little about paying $47.00 for us all to get in....oh my that is a lot) and he saw how happy the kids were he got into the spirt of it all.

The best pic of the day

First they enjoyed a fossil dig where they could keep 3 of the treasures they found.

Then off to the Boneyard.  The kids LOVED this part.  So much so that at the end of the day we went back and spent more time there.

They a dino ate the girls!?!?! Oh no!!!

Then a walk to see all the dinos!

After dinoworld we went for ice cream.  The shop seemed very shady at first but it was probably the best ice cream I have ever had.  I don't really like ice cream so I never even get it.  J, E and I all got one to split and I wanted to go back for more.  Then ignoring E's screams for a nap we flew by the seat of our pants and went go-carting!!!!!!!  It was so spontaneous and that made it that much better.  I think J and I liked this part better than the kids.  Don't get me wrong the girls loved it but J and I LOVED it as did Sam and Melissa.  They had double go carts so it was perfect for the kids.  It was the first time being a fam of 5 got us, J and C went first while I waited with E and then Av and I went.  After that we went back to the house for a gator ride, walk on the beach, dinner, drinks and a super duper big bon-fire.  It was an amazing trip!!!!

spring break mammoth cave

We had no clue but apperently you have to book your tours ahead of time.  They sell out?!?!?!  Who knew?  Oh well, booking ahead is not really how the Hoekstras roll anyway.  We like to live on the edge. hhehehe anyway we didn't get to tour it but we did hike and hang out in Mammoth Cave state park.  It was a blast.  We had the best picnic and hike ever.

C liked playing in the dirt more than hiking.  That is her "walking stick" there next to her.

After that we stopped for a treat.

And then the van took a ferry ride.  The kids thought it was soooo funny!!!

After that we headed back to the lake house to wait for the Masons!  What a super fun day.

Spring Break zoo

I have been to the zoo a lot lately.  E LOVES it.  He just squeals and squeals in delight.  The girls loved it too but not like him.  He is just crazy amazed by animals.  Even ants on the ground he stops and watches in delight.  So neat.  He points to all the animals and loves to just watch them.  I wanted J to see how much he loved it and noticed it all so I made him take the day off and go with us over spring break.  It was a blast.  Av does not get to go much anymore either so it was important to me that I took her over her spring break as well.  Here is a special treat that we NEVER do.  Dipping Dots at the zoo.  The kids loved them.

Notice E skipping the spoon and going in for handfuls of the goods!!!

"sorry Everett"

Everett was climbing on Av tonight and made her bump her head.  She was crying and I was trying to get her to stop.  I asked Everett to say he was sorry.  I said, "say sorry Everett."  So what did he say, "Sorry Everett."  heehhe the girls and I got a good laugh out of that.

Good Morning!!!

spring break!!!

It has been soooooooooooooooooo nice having Avery home.  Man we have missed her.  Today Camille just jumped on top of her and was hugging her.  Av was letting it all happen.  They have missed each other.  Weekends are one thing, usually we are on the go.  Today was a day pretty much at home.  Although C was tired we really enjoyed each other.  The girls did so well together.  They played a lot.  Even went outside by themselves and just played with each other.  It was soooo nice that I didn't have to be out there.  When E got up though he was mad and I had to take him out right away.  He wanted in the tractor and to be driven around.  He loves it!!  Just sits in it yelling for someone to drive him.  Only a matter of time before he figures it out.  On Monday we took a fire house tour with some friends and then went to a park to have lunch.  It was pretty fun.  When we came home the neighbors were out so we spent the rest of the day playing in the yard.  Love it!!!!  Tuesday we had some work men coming to the house so we had friends over.  The Masons came over.  It was really fun.  The neighbors were out again and all the kids had fun together.  I managed to schedule Av's therapies for the week back to back so that was AWESOME!!!  She had OT with Ms. Katie at 3 and speech with Ms. Courtney at 4.  I was able to run to the grocery with the other 2 while she was there.  It was perfect.  I hope to do that in the summer too.  Then we got home and played outside some more.  Today we were going to head to a play place in cincy but I didn't have it in me since we had not slept.  We ate lunch at a park with the Masons but we were only there an hour.  It was freezing out so we came home.  We did have a nice day though.  Av and I went over a lot of her work in the am and then read a few hundred books and then did her spring break homework in the pm.  The girls and I had popcorn and watched Lady and the Tramp too.  It was really nice.  I love having my sweet big girl home.  Didn't realize how much I missed her.

Yesterday am C spent 30 minutes screaming about the clothes she wanted to wear for the day and a ring she could not find.  Then E was a little fussy and whinny.  Av said, "I want to go back to school, there's a lot of screaming here."  Ugh made me feel bad.  She then went on to ask, "how many more days until I go back to school."  She misses school!!!   Which is good yes, but man, I want her to have a great spring break too.  So I really tried today to just shower her with my attention and make it special for her.  Even though we didn't do anything special I gave her all of my time.  She said today she is having a great spring break.  I know she is only 6 and I may be crazy but I really want to make sure this is a special time for her.   Tomorrow J is home and if warm enough we are heading to the zoo.  Then we are packing and heading to the lake with Av's bff Caroline so that should be super special for her.  I can't wait.  We are going to Mammoth Cave, Dinosaur world and KY Down Under.  Fun times in Cave  City!!!

horrible nights

Nights with Camille are going more and more downhill.  It's getting bad.  She wakes up with the bug dreams and then cannot go back to sleep.  She is up for hours and so in turn we are up for hours.  Last night she came in at 1:15.  I comforted her and then tried to put her back in her bed.  That didn't work and J was up so I brought her in our room, turned on the lights, made her a bed on the floor showing her with the lights on there were no bugs anywhere and tried to go back to sleep.  5 minutes later she was back up screaming.  So then we tried the pack and play that happened to be in our room.  She was up and down in that several times.  It was about then that we noticed Jack was not in our room so John went on a hunt for him.  He was not in the house.  oops.  This is the second time this has happened.  When he gets left out he gets bored and wanders.  So John came back up telling me he was going to have to search for Jack.  I said I would go bc I was done dealing with C and I left w no shoes, braless, in pjs wo my glasses.  oops.  My vision is barely bad but I am used to seeing clearly and so when I can't it bugs me.  So here I am driving slowly around the neighborhood with the window down yelling his name.  OMG not what I want to be doing at 2 am.  A car pulls up behind me and I am annoyed and try to turn so they will not be behind me anymore.  They follow.  About this time J calls and tells me Jack is home.  Great.  About this time I realize its a cop behind me.  Oh shit.  Ugh my heart starts beating.  No I am not really doing anything wrong but still.  Finally after following me 4 blocks he pulls me over 2 blocks from home.  UGH!!!!!!!  I have not had a night include a 2 am cop for 8 years.  I am just an old mother, I had been asleep for 4 hours by this point.  hehehhe   He asks for my drives license which of course I do not have.  I try to explain that I live 2 blocks from there and I was searching for my dog.  After a few minutes he seems to finally believe I'm harmless and sends me on my way.  Ugh, I get home and J and C are still up.  At this point I tell J to go to the basement and I will deal with C.  So over and over I am telling her she is fine and go to bed but no luck.  I get up and give her meds thinking her legs her.  Nope.  Finally by 3 I have had it.  I bring her downstairs to the basement and get her settled on the couch.  J is in the guest room.  He comes out to see what is going on.  I wanted her to sleep with a light on hoping she could see there were no bugs.  So I leave her on the couch and him in the room.  At that point all was quiet.  I think it still took us all about 45 minutes to fall back to sleep.  I hope I never have another night like that again. She seems to have these issues every 3rd night so I hope we sleep tonight.  The strategy next time is to let her sleep in on the couch in the living room with the lights on.  I can't wait till she has her own room and can sleep with the lights on.  I so hope this works.  Please have your fingers crossed for me.  If not she is heading to boarding school.  Does that start in preschool????

Easter

We had the best Easter ever!!!!  It included being in the back yard for 9 hours straight!!!  My kids played with my parents in the morning and then J's parents in the afternoon and then friends in the evening.  It was a night to give pain meds bc I knew there would be growing pains during the night.  Look at the kids Easter basket they got this year.

Yes it's a very big Easter gift but they have been dying for one forever!!!!  Until now we really didn't have a place for them to enjoy it (we live on a busy street) and no place to store it.  The new house is on a court and we have a 3 car garage so it's the perfect time to get them one.  Yesterday they enjoyed it in the backyard.  The 3 of them were all in it for at least an hour just riding around loving it.  E had his stone face on but when you tried to take him out he freaked out.  C drove it mostly and was doing a great job.  Av got the hang of it by the end of the day.  My sister had sent Ester baskets for the kids thankfully bc she saved the day on that.  I hadn't made them baskets bc the tractor was enough of a gift from the bunny (from mom and dad and G&PP).  So thanks AA for sending the baskets!!!  They loved them and yes they knew they were from you.  Actually when they got the gift it was the baskets at first that they were way more interested in.  They had fun opening all the different eggs.  ( e was still sleeping)  They loved, loved, loved the baskets!!  They also had bathing suits from G&PP that they loved.

I need to back up though for a minute.  The Easter baskets were outside with the tractor.  C had J and I up a lot of the night so him and I were trying to sleep in a little.  The girls were sorta looking for their baskets but being good and waiting for us.  By the time I got up (8:30) they were ready.   We had them looking all over the house knowing they were outside.  heheheh mean.  By the time they got frustrated we said we heard Jack barking last night and "maybe the bunny was scared by Jack and left them outside."  So out they went to hunt.  Finally we opened the garage and Av spotted it.  They were very excited.

Here are some Easter egg dying pics.

Some of the Easter egg hunt (e was not interested)

 And some great Easter friends!!!

bernheim forest

We spent Saturday at Bernheim forest with my parents.  It was a super pretty day and we had a blast.  We started out with a picnic lunch and then off to play on a very cool "green" playground.  It had several different areas to explore and the girls just loved it and all the attention from all of us.  Then we hiked by the lake looking for the perfect spot to fly a kite.  J and my dad tried and tried but there was just not enough wind to keep the kites up.  It was fun watching them though.  We spent a while in the grass just looking up at the cloudless sky and enjoying the day.  The weather was perfect.  The forest is 45 minutes from Lou but we still ran in to 2 different groups of friends.  Must just have been the perfect day on Easter weekend for a picnic day.

nice day

We have gotten really close to our neighbors lately.  Of course right as we are leaving.  That part really really really sucks.  They are just the nicest people.  Good people, that would do anything for you.  Misty and Kenny and their 2 girls live next door to us.  Her sister Heather who has 3 kids as well (2 girls and  1 boy almost the same ages as my kids) is around a lot.  They are VERY close.  My kids love their kids.  They have another sister who lives here and all their family is close.  They have taken us in and invite us to everything.  Kind of like part of the family.  It's so sweet.  Today they were doing Easter crafts and invited use to join.  We made Easter Egg wreaths, Easter egg flowers in painted flower pots and decorated  cookies.  They put so much work and time into putting this all together and to include us.  They also sent us home with everything so Av could make the crafts as well.  I just can't get over their generosity.  While the girls were crafting the boys were playing.  Really interacting with each other and laughing.  Running and rough housing like the crazy boys they are.  It was a super great afternoon.

total jinx

I have been doing the girl scout cookie bribe for about two weeks now and it WAS working like a charm. Until I went ahead and announced it to the world.  OMG, C walked into my room at 4:20 last night saying, "I don't want a girl scout cookie." hehehehe at least she's funny.  J wasn't home so I moved over and let her in.  We did that last time he was gone too.  He doesn't know that. hhehehh I wait till she falls back to sleep and then carry her to her room.  (I am a horrible sleeper once awake I am up for at least an hour so carrying her back into her room is no big deal).  Last night though she just couldn't fall back to sleep.  Poor thing laid there for almost 2 hours trying.  I have to give her a lot of credit she tried hard.  Finally about 6 she was in dream land.  Even in her sleep she moves a lot so I was never going to fall back to sleep with her there so I carried her back to her little bed.  I am a VERY picky sleeper and having her there with me does not fit the bill.  Usually at 6am I would give up on sleep but since I had been awake for so long I took advantage of one more hour of sleep.  It was super duper hard to get up when it was time but I did it and we made it.  I really really really hope she sleeps tonight.  And no I don't think she had a nightmare.  She was not scared when she came in.  Wish I could figure out what is waking her around 4.  I guess it's another fun phase I have to live through.

the boy

Is a maniac.  Best word to describe him.  He is just the best!! He loves life.  Tonight was I was sitting on the floor straight legged with Camille on my lap he was purposely tripping over mine and Av's legs and laughing so hard as he fell each and every time.  He talk a lot and makes a lot of different noises but when he's got a ball in his hands and is playing bb he talks in his "gremlin"voice.  It is so funny.  He thinks he's funny.  The minute you need want to sit him down to put his shoes on or something like that he runs from you.  He takes off in the other direction and thinks it's so funny.  His cute little laugh is all you can hear.  He laughs all the time.  Loves his "go cards" and his "go state" which he can tell the different.  He knows which is which.  He has learned how to bug the girls and loves to do it.  He can really get a reaction out of them.  He can and does climb anything and everything.  He makes me so happy.  He makes us all so happy.  He really completes our family.  He is almost 18 months.  Where did the time go????

All time parenting low

Is what I have hit.  I have taken to bribing C to stay in bed at night, all night, until there is a 7 on the clock in the am.  It works when I remember.  J has been traveling A LOT.  He was gone all week to Brazil, and then last week to NY and then this week to NJ and in two weeks back to Brazil.  IYIYIYIY Anyway C has started finding any reason to get out of bed several times before she falls asleep and then again in the middle of the night.  She is up 4 and 5 times in the first hour since putting her down and I hit the end of my rope one night.  Told her she could have a girl scout cookie in the am if I didn't see her again.  It worked like a charm.  Im not proud but a mom has got to do what she has got to do.  Yes the first words out of her mouth in the am are "can I have my cookie?"  They are thin mints so they are small.  heehheh at least that's what I tell myself.  That and a cookie can't be worse than syrup or poptarts which my kids don't eat ever.  It also somehow stops the night time waking.  The nights I promise cookies she all the sudden does not have bug visitors or snake visitors.  I will be in trouble when the thin mints run out.  I have also threaten J's life if he touches them. hehehe