what were they thinking?

I know this blog was for family touch base, updates, how are you's and here we are. But I can't help it....

What were the people in the hamster cage thinking? Yes, I'm talking about Big Brother. Angie, why? Jesse is clearly the bigger threat. I'm struggling here with the logic. When the hamsters make poor decisions, I start to second guess why I watch these shows. If only they could see what we see ....

Just so you are "in the know" ....
Big Brother House = Hamster Cage
Big Brother Housemates = Hamsters

i love it.

I have made the switch to a 2 column blog. It was a huge decision, that probably shouldn't have been a huge decision. But, I went back and forth for a couple of weeks. I need simple, I need a lot of simple. In my life there is a lot of not simple. Keeping up three columns was getting increasingly difficult now that soccer season is ramping up, summer is on a downward spiral, and school is now 3 weeks away. And I love my blog, I love posting and I love reading other blogs. It is my time, that I can take after my beautiful children are down for peaceful slumber. And anyone who knows me know that I am a reality TV junkie, I love all things reality based. So I've gone a simpler route, and I love it. Clearly, blogging is here to stay in my world.

you tube video of Kasey & Nanny

I have been meaning to post some pictures of Kasey and Nanny's trip to China. And I will. But for now I found a video of them on the Great Wall of China. I found it on You Tube, go figure.

Now my mother is a You Tube hit! She is actually the picture on the front of the video. There is more pics of Kasey and Nanny, and they are very nice. It is about 5 minutes long. Take a few minutes and watch.


Click here for watch the video

good stuff.

Today was super-crazy-stressful-not-fun-at-all-day at work. It was one of those days where you turn the volume down on your speakers so you don't hear your inbox dinging with new messages every 10 seconds.

I was in a less than stellar mood and my inbox dinged. I didn't want to look in there, but when I did, I laughed my butt off .....

This is what my kids do at home when I am at work and it's Daddy Day Care! It's the best daycare around :)

There are two of them, watch them both...

Three Quinn Men Breakdancing

Disco Kids

the shopping truck.

Am I the only one who plans their trips to the grocery store around the times that I think I will be able to get the coveted "shopping truck"? I can't be ....

It's that darn truck. Yeah, you know the truck. The truck shopping cart, the cart that every kid HAS to drive. I am sure some guy at the top thought this would be a really great idea to get these "cool shopping trucks" to keep all the little kiddo's busy while Mommy's shop and I am sure it was done with good intentions. It had to be a guy who had this idea, because WHAT MOM would ever order just 3 of these carts for each store. Only a guy, who didn't think outside the box - a guy who didn't think that there would be 6 gazillion other kids who want this cart at the same time. And you know what kids don't get the carts, the ones screaming the entire time. I am sure that Mom really wished there were more shopping carts.

I try to plan my shopping times to when I think that there may be a cart available. First, I prep the Rachael and Erin on who is going to run and claim the cart. And we plan carefully, it involves a drive-by of the parking lot, we scope it out in case there is a rogue cart. We sometimes get lucky. If that is not the case, we drive slowly past the front entrance and look to see if we see one sitting in there. If we do, Rachael gets out and runs. No walking, she runs. She knows what happens if we don't get that cart. If we have a cart, there are no worries.

Do I really need to tell you what happens if I don't? Didn't think so.

Here are pictures of a happy Trevor driving his truck. It was a good shopping trip.

Sorry for the pic quality. They were taken with my phone.

no shots.

Today was Trevor's two year old "well baby" visit. It was better than expected. Trips to the doctor with Trevor are traumatic. To say he doesn't like going there is an understatement. We aren't even out of the car and he starts with the "bye bye". BUT today, we made it out of the car only to step foot onto the sidewalk and he said "me scared". I couldn't believe it. I felt so bad.

He wouldn't stand on the scale today without holding onto me, so I had to step back while he is screaming. We think we know how tall he is, but I am sure it is off a little bit since he wouldn't stand up for that either. And here is the shocker...there wasn't a single shot today. No more until he is 4. You'd think that would make everything a little better, but it didn't. He screamed the entire time we were in with the doctor. It wasn't quite the highlight of the day.

Trevor, aka Moose, is weighing in at a lofty 31 pounds and is a little over 3 feet tall. That would put him in the 90th percentile. For all you men who don't speak percentile .... That would put him in the heavy weight class.

yup..i know.

Thanks for the "heads up". I know my signature "Joanne" isn't working. Not sure why. I'm really not an "HTML" geek. I'm a mommy hacker, I google most of my codes and tweak them to work for me. I may have some time tomorrow afternoon to look into fixing it.

Trevor has his 2nd year wellness visit tomorrow. I'm sure it involves a number of immunizations, so I may spend my afternoon with a baby on my hip. Erin and I joke around that he is like those sucker fish that hang onto the sides of sharks to hitch a free ride ...

not quite his color.

Usually when Trevor is quiet, he is up to something. With 2 sisters and a brother in the house, someone always knows where he is because he is usually trying to get one of them to play. Not the case this time.

Picture this ...I'm standing at the dryer folding clothes (my other full time job), I realized that I hadn't heard Trevor in a few minutes nor have I heard someone telling Trevor to stop doing something. I gave a shout out asking for a "Trevor Locate Please" and the information I received wasn't good....



He had apparently pulled his stool up to the bathroom vanity in my room and was playing with my make-up bag. There was liquid foundation, chunks of my blush and lip gloss smeared everywhere. Quite a mess.

BUT, he was pretty happy with himself. I tried being upset with him, but he was so pleased with himself, it made me laugh. He is such a silly boy. You would laugh too. I can't get upset with that smile.

Replacing make-up used on Trevor's face .... $20
Bissell Carpet Cleaning solution .... $7
Mr. Clean Erase Sponges .... $5
Trevor's Beautiful, Smiling, Makeup Face .... PRICELESS

happy birthday Alexa.

Alexa, today is your day! And I hear you are telling everyone. Happy Birthday little sis'. Your 11 years old today! I hope you and Rachael are enjoying your time together in Old Orchard Beach, Maine. Have fun, play hard and make today a special one!

4th of July fun.

In the better late than never department.....

Erin's sister, Sherry, celebrated the grand opening of her newly built pool on the 4th of July. We had a lot of fun. The kids swam for hours, only to get out for a few minutes to grab a quick bite to eat. My mother (aka Nanny) was able to come with us and enjoy party! We don't see Erin's family as much as we would like, so seeing Erin's sisters, nieces and nephews was an added bonus! Sherry's has a beautiful pool and we had a wonderful time. It was a great way to spend the 4th of July!

I have a lot of pictures of my kids, but I don't have any pictures of Erin's sisters, Sherry, Sean and Kerry. UGH!! I don't really have an excuse for this other than I didn't think about it. But looking back, I really wish I had a few.

Here is a 4th of July slideshow:

only Trevor.

Now that Trevor just turned two, I really need to start weaning off his pacifier. All my kids were nu-nu kids (Quinn lingo for pacifier). All of them used it until they turned two, I think Erin had his a little longer.

I'm not really into that entire Association of Pediatrics says .... blah, blah, blah. Come live a day with me and you would give the child a nu-nu too. My position is that it is easier to take away the nu-nu than their thumb. So there it is, my opinion of the pacifier debate. To me there really isn't a debate. It works me, may not work for you and that is OK.

Well, we are down to 3 pacifiers in my home that we can find. At high nu-nu time we were around 10, you can see he is beginning to leave them lying around. I like his pacifier, it calms him down. He is in a place now where he really is trying to communicate with all his being. We really only understand some of what he is saying. NO, GO, BAD DOG, BAD SISSY, BAD ROO, BAD MOMMA, and NU-NU, come across really clear. So it is too late to take it away before he can ask for it. So we are now approaching "Plan B". And it isn't pleasant....

As the pacifiers get holes in them from Trevor biting them, I will start cutting them back until only the handles are left. This worked for both Rachael and Erin. They both walked around holding handles for about a week, until they figured out the suckie parts weren't coming back. And then we avoid that the Nu-Nu aisle for about 6 months when we go shopping. It isn't the easiest way, but it works and I'm a complete wimp when it comes to not giving my baby what he needs in terms of comfort. The baby tears get me every time.

Here is a picture of Trevor that Nanny took last week on the way back from the airport. He decided that two Nu-Nu's were better than one! Gotta love him .........

show me some love.

Show me some love and leave some comments. I'm getting lots of hits, but no comments.

I love the idea that I have alot of friends and family checking out the blog! Hit the comment button, enter your comment and click on Name - type in your name. That is the easiest way.

Much love ...

a little bit quieter.

One child comes home, and one child leaves. Does anyone notice a difference in their home when you remove one child from the mix? We do, and it is really significant, strangely odd, yet peacful lack of noise that reminds you that you are minus one child.

Our home is loud. There is no getting around it. Tile floors, a plasma car for Trevor (thanks nanny), 4 children with different agendas, two dogs and 2 birds - it is a hot mess for noise. I am loud by nature. It came to me by my father, so that doesn't help. Sometimes having a conversation with someone takes too much energy, so you just don't.

BUT, this summer Kasey was away for 12 days and Rachael just left for her summer trip to my home in Massachusetts. Because each of our children is so drastically different from the others, removing one changes our home. It is remarkable. With Rachael is Massachusetts and Kasey out with her friends last night, Erin and I had the boys home and that was it, just the boys. It was a walk in the park. The quiet was almost spooky. I felt like I was missing someone.

Rachael is on her summer trip for the next two weeks. She left on Wednesday with her Pappy. Rachael has some diva tendencies, so flying first class with Pappy just added to the Diva in Rachael. Next week she will be going to Old Orchard Beach in Maine with Papa, Nic Nic and Alexa and then back to Nanny and Pappy's before coming home. Did I mention she is flying home 1st class too....yeah...She should be a full blow Diva upon return. I'm hoping to get some good pictures of her trip. New England beaches are beautiful.

Here is the weather report for Old Orchard Beach, Maine:

Free Weather Reports

I very glad that Rachael has this opportunity to visit her grandparents, Aunts, Uncles & Cousins. She loves having everyone to herself.

like I have nothing better to do.

I love my blog, I really do. I have some issues with it being the most perfect blog. So in my never ending quest to find a layout and theme that I am happy with, here is the latest. Actually it just tweaked a little from the previous background.

Do I like it? Yeah. Do I love it? I don't think so. But it summer-ie. It has a happy, joyful, bright feeling to it. So for the next couple of months I deal. I'll start looking for something Fall like. I'm feeling pumpkins and cornucopia's around the corner. (Can you tell I'm over the Florida Summer thing)

I'll continue to hunt, as if I don't have 9 million other things I should be doing. I am looking for a three column blog, maybe just three columns with one background in a main wrapper. I don't know. I"ll keep searching.

I should me doing way more productive things.

adventure islands = more fun in the sun

With Erin on vacation, we need to get outside and do something fun with the kids. Remember, that "Understood Quinn Rule" from a few posts ago, only water parks during the summer months .... so that meant the only thing to do was head to Adventure Islands.

I don't really consider myself a huge germaphobe, but highly chlorinated water in kids areas, and a high number of swim-diapered toddlers only means one thing ........ and I don't really need to go into specifics, do I ?? But I was a trooper and had some good Mommy / Trevor time. We played for hours in the Fabian's Funport! Erin, Erin and Rachael joined us from time to time. They were busy doing the water slides, water tubes, Splash Bucket (Little Erin calls it the Chum Bucket)and the Lazy River.

Best of all I used a vacation day from work. I've used 6.5 this year. Only 13.5 days left to use... In my office, it's use em' or lose em'. And you know it ....... I'm not losing em'...

Here are the pics of the fun .... Most of the pics are from Trevor's Play Area .... I played with Trevor most of the day.

{he is a bigtime snacker}

{that's a whole lotta cuteness}

{our 3 little fishes}

{those crazy boys .... Momma doesn't like her hair-do to be un-did}

{she loves her daddy}

Trevor's Birthday

Wow, this was a crazy holiday weekend. We didn't stop at all, only to fall face first into our beds at night! I want to share it all, so this is going to be a very busy posting week. We did so many things; Erin was on vacation and we went to Adventure Island, Busch Gardens twice, Trevor's Birthday Party, a big 4th of July party at Aunt Sherry's and the fireworks.

One post at a time ... beginning with a big one, Trevor's 2nd birthday.

Trevor turned 2 last Thursday, July 3rd! We had a little birthday party with some close friends and family at Chuck e Cheese. I'm not a huge fan of the mouse, because of the whole "Chuck E Cheese Disease" thing. In case you aren't familiar with that lingo, that's what we call it because it is almost guaranteed that one of my kids will be become sick within 48 hours of playing there. But they love it, so who am I to mess with their play time!

We had such a blast! The kids had fun and Trevor loved every minute of it! His friends all played and ran around like wild children. Even Kasey and Nanny came straight off the airplane from Chicago and we were very happy to see them. Nanny even ate the pizza, she said anything that wasn't' Chinese food was good food !! That's some funny stuff!

Trevor sang Happy Birthday and "cha cha cha" the entire day and I hope that everyone who called to wish him Happy Birthday enjoyed the Trevor version of the song, that was his little gift to you. I know it made me smile all day!

He loved everything about his cake. He loved blowing out the candles the most. I think we lit the candle 10 times! I apologize in advance for my singing voice, I'm definitely not American Idol material! Here is a video ..

And here are some pictures of the birthday party ...

{Big shout out to Chris and Dawn, now Trevor can show his Tampa Bay Rays pride ...Yup, we are in 1st place}

And the best picture of all :

{I told you he loved everything about his cake}

The China Trip that will never end ...

I didn't have a chance to update everyone last night, as it was very late when we got the final update. Right now, I am kind of upset about this whole thing, so I'm going to write without getting very angry.

The information is so confusing. They made it into Chicago very late last night. Obviously they missed the flight into Tampa, not that it mattered as Kasey didn't have a ticket to Tampa.

I just spoke with Nanny and they are booked on a 5 pm flight out of Chicago, but they are heading to the airport as we speak to get on the Stand-by list for the 9:30am flight.

I hope that they make it home. Today is Trevor's birthday and we would really like them home to celebrate!

Trevor Turns 2 Years Old !

Today is Trevor's 2nd Birthday. We can't believe our sweet baby is a full blown 2 year old toddler. It seems like yesterday that we brought him home from the hospital.

Trevor's arrived on July 3rd, 2006 at 7:10 pm. He weighed 8 lbs, 11 oz. Erin and I instantly fell in love with him, he was absolutely beautiful and he actually resembled me!! Since then he has brought so much joy to our family. He is funny and his baby giggles make us laugh. He was a very good baby.

Trevor really likes to play with his brother, who doesn't like playing with him nearly as much. He is in love with his sisters, Kasey and Rachael. He likes to walk the dogs and play outside. He tells cars to "slow down!" and he tells his sisters to SSSHHHHH. He really likes to dance and tell other babies "Don't Cry". He is becoming very bilingual, thanks to our super awesome daycare provider and friend Susie. He knows his body parts in Spanish and English. He loves "bob bob pants", which is Spongebob to the rest of us. He likes to say "goofy goofy goobers, YEAH". Little Einstiens, Barney, Diego, & Wiggles round out his top 5! He now caan tell people that he is "2 years old". He is a very busy boy. He doesn't really stop moving until he is asleep and even then he is a very restless sleeper. But everyday with Trevor around is a true adventure. And we wouldnt' trade it for anything!

{Trevor - One Day Old - July 4th, 2006}

{Trevor - Our Super Busy Boy}