Happy Birthday Kevin!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Kevin!

Well, it’s here! Kevin is finally 4 years old! I cannot believe that my little baby is growing so fast. It is amazing how fast the time has gone. We had a wonderful party for Kevin on Sunday afternoon—lots of people, cake, and games. We had the party at Dave and Marianne Krupp’s, who graciously opened their home for the occasion. Many of his little friends came from his day care which was a lot of fun for Kevin. He got tons of presents—so many that I think we may need a bigger house to store them in. The kids were all really cute playing the different games. They played musical chairs, pin the treasure chest on the “x”, had a piñata, and had a ring toss.

Happy Birthday to my wonderful, smart, handsome, funny, creative, imaginative, loving, sweet, little boy! I love you with every bit of my heart. You have brought so much joy to my life. You are such a blessing, and you light up the lives of everyone around you. Each day with you brings more happiness and excitement than I could have ever imagined. I love you sweetheart!

And here are some pics from all of the wonderful celebration:

The kids standing in line for the ring toss

The jumping tent


Little Isaac


The Pirate Birthday Boy!

Opening presents (with the help of his little twin bros)

Thomas loves cup cakes!

As does Lucas!

Musical Chairs!

Kevin: Playing Pin the chest on the "X"

Present Time!

Kevin whacking that Pinata!

Little Thomas, taking his turn at the pinata!

Kevin and his friend Kurtis

More presents!

Cortney and baby Kenzie

Great Aunt Linda playing with Lucas, Isaac, and Lily

Lucas and Lily

Little Brody

Keep the gifts coming!

Don't forget about us!

My Growing Boys

Things around the Krupp house are as much fun as usual. The kids are getting so big! The twins are no longer babies but are full-fledged toddlers. They are really starting to expand their vocabulary. And they understand almost everything that is said to them. Kevin, of course, is just as smart and funny as usual. He is almost 4 years old—hard to believe that this time next year, my little baby will be in kindergarten! He is getting really excited for his birthday party, which is this upcoming weekend.

Thomas is ornery as ever. He has this devious little giggle that automatically lets me know that he is up to no good. When I catch him doing wrong, he grins from ear to ear, melting my heart and making punishing him that much harder. He spends a lot of time in time-out, and it is really funny because a lot of the time, Lucas joins him…not because I sent him to time-out too, but I think because he feels bad for his twin.

Lucas is getting big. He is already about 1 ½ inches taller than Thomas. With his fancy new haircut, he looks like he closer to 2 years old, rather than 18 months. He is still more timid and shy than his brothers, but everyday he comes out of his shell more and more. He is such a sweetheart and has a very loving demeanor about him.

Kevin keeps me on my toes…nothing new. He has been watching a tv show called “Sid the Science Kid.” He absolutely loves the show, which is okay with me because it is quite educational. The other day, he asked me what it is called when ice melts. I answered, “Melting.” I thought it was the obvious answer. However, he looked at me in a very matter-of-fact fashion, rolled his little eyes, and said, “No mom. It is called reversible change.” He also got disgusted with my intelligence the other day when he asked me what these marks were called on his potty chart. Again, thinking I had the right answer, I said, “Kevin, those marks are smiley faces and x’s.” Not what he was looking for because with the same tone he replied, “No you silly mom, it’s called DATA.” He also informed me that his tongue was comprised of 16 different muscles. I find myself struggling to keep up with him…wish me luck!

1 Wedding, 2 Birthdays!

Happy Birthday to two wonderful people—my Aunt Linda and one of my oldest friends Nick Brown. And Congratulations to Amy Sekelsky and Mike Schommer on their wedding today!

Linda: I hope you have a wonderful birthday! You are such an amazing part of our family. You are always opening your heart and extending your generosity to all of us, and we all really appreciate everything that you do for us. You truly have positively impacted our lives in so many ways, and we will be forever grateful. We love you so much and wish you the best birthday ever!

Nick: Happy birthday buddy! I can’t believe we are already 27 years old! It seems like just yesterday that we were avoiding making eye contact in elementary school for fear of having to say “hello” to one another. You will always be one of my best friends! Happy birthday!

Amy and Mike: Congratulations you two! And best wishes for a happy and wonderful marriage! You two are perfect for each other. Paul and I are so blessed to be able to share this happy day with you guys!

Happy Birthday Ryan!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful brother Ryan! He is the big 2-4 today--almost a quarter of a century old!

Ryan, you deserve the best birthday ever! You are such an incredible person--kind, considerate, honest, thoughtful, respectful, funny, and I seriously could go on forever! You are such a great uncle to my three boys, and they love you very much. They are lucky to have such a wonderful role model in their life. You have always been a friend to me--not just a little brother. You have been there for me through thick and thin and I will never forget that. And of course, you are Paul's best friend. He values your friendship so much, and I don't know what he would do without you!

You have put up with a lot from me over the years--I wasn't always the easiest sister to put up with. But you have always shown patience and understanding, and you have taught me a lot about how to treat people. You are truly a stand-up guy. And I am so proud of you! I love you very much and hope you have a terrific day!

What am I going to write about?

My three little boys and I woke up this morning, excited that it was the twins 18 month day marker. The day was going smoothly as I was getting us all ready for the twins check up and for Kevin to go hang out with Jackie at the ranch. We were playing in the twins’ room and I was sitting there thinking: “What am I going to blog about?” I didn’t really know because I had just blogged on Saturday, but don’t fret, seconds later, the answer to my blogging dilemma became clear.

As we were playing, Kevin asked me to go and set up his Ninja Turtle toys for him. Since they were all playing so well, I just got up and went into Kevin’s room to get him his toys. Seconds after doing so, in came cute little Kevin, out of breath and beaming with pride. “Well, mom,” he said, “we don’t have to worry about my brothers.”

“Why not Kevin?” I replied, unalarmed.

“Because I locked them in their room,” he said ever so happily, “they can’t get out.”

Panic coarsed through my body. Fighting the urge just to curl up in a ball and have a true freak out, I ran out of Kevin’s room and tried turning the door knob to the twins’ room. They were on the other side of the door, pounding away, laughing….. I didn’t know what to do. There was a small hole in the knob, so I frantically searched for a bobby pin. Since that was unsuccessful, I grabbed a paper clip and began working at picking the lock. I was trying to call Paul in search of guidance, but his phone kept cutting in and out of service. I called Linda and she immediately headed over to give me a hand. Ideas kept coming and going: take the door off the hinges—nope, hinges are on the inside; break the window—nope, the glass could shatter on one of the twins; break down the door—nope, what if it fell on one of the twins. I had no idea and I was FREAKING out. During this whole time, Thomas kept slipping little books under the door to me. And every now and then, I would see their chubby little fingers come through and wiggle around.

I finally managed to get Paul on the phone and he told me to get a screwdriver and remove the door knob. I did just that, and Wah-lah, I was able to unlock the door! I grabbed the twins and hugged them and they wiggled and squirmed to break my hold. They were probably thinking, “what is the big deal, we were just playing around in here.”

Now, it was time to discuss the incident with Kevin. He didn’t understand why it was such a big deal to me and why it upset me so much. I decided the only way to make him understand was to make him relate to what happened. So I took his little Ninja Turtles and locked them up in safe that I have. I told him to get them out and he freaked out, crying and trying his best to get to his little friends. This seemed to work really well—I think it clicked in that brain of his what the big deal was.

She's not talking about me, is she?

On another note, today was a monumental moment in the twins’ life. They got their FIRST haircut! They look so much older, especially Lucas.

Lucas: Before

Thomas: Before

Lucas: After

Thomas: After

Thomas: After again

Lucas: After Again

Celebrations and Test Results

Well, this week I started my round of testing. I had injections of thyrogen on Monday and Tuesday, took a small dosage of radioactive iodine on Wednesday, and then on Friday, I got my full body scan—which results came back good. I am still waiting on test results back from some blood work, but at this point, we are very optimistic.

On a much happier note, our camping trip this weekend was a BLAST! Everything was perfect. We went up to Eleven Mile to the perfect spot—we were about 50 yards off the lake in a completely private area. It was quiet and the kids could run all over the area without a care in the world. We started celebrating my mom’s 50th birthday around 1pm or so. We set up camp and then we ate delicious Fajitas prepared by my amazing in-laws. Some of Dave and Marianne’s friends joined us—Mike and Brenda—and they had brought their boat along with them. Kevin, of course, just had to have a go on the lake. Kevin, Dave, Mike, and Brenda, headed to the lake to go out on the water. Kevin boarded the boat and fell off before they even got the boat moving. He just flipped right on over. He was fine; Dave was still in the water when he fell. It scared Kevin pretty good and has made a great tale for him to tell everyone about.

The twins loved running around freely. And it was especially cute when the 3 kiddos tried playing football with Paul, Travis and Ryan. We wore the kids out and they did actually go to sleep pretty easily—can’t say the same for sleeping through the night though, Thomas and Lucas took turns waking up each hour. Once the kids went to bed, we continued the celebration…and had lots of fun and laughs. It was perfect: good food and great company.

The next morning, the kids all went fishing. Kevin got to go out on the boat again (this time he made it safely to the shore and back). And Marianne, Traci, Brandi, and Ryan took the twins fishing on the side of the lake with their little kid Spongebob fishing poles. They actually sat there for 30 minutes, going through the motions like they were true fishermen. Thomas was even doing the reeling in of the line all by himself. Even though no fish were caught, everyone had a wonderful time attempting to catch something. It was really funny later too when Mike and Brenda took Brandi, Traci, and Kevin out on the boat again. We got going really fast and Kevin was yelling: “This is AWESOME” and “Rock and Roll.” He is such a ball of laughs!

Later on, after the camping was over, we took the kids over to Linda’s to celebrate Grandma Dorothy’s 80th birthday. It was tons of fun as well. Jami and Noah had bought some water balloons to keep Kevin entertained. A big water balloon fight broke out and all of us ended up a bit more wet than we had intended. And Kevin had a ball soaking Jami not just with the balloons, but with the hose as well. Grandma was in good spirit and seemed like she was turning 60 rather than the big 8-0. We are so blessed that she is doing so well!

Also, Kevin had his first sleepover this week. He got to stay the night at Isaac’s house. Isaac calls him “Cockeye” so that made everybody laugh. And let’s just say sleep was out of the question for those two little buddies!

Traci and her mom
On the boat with Traci and Kevin

Kevin, Travis, and Brittani--chillin'

Traci and her 3 kids

Just call me "Miner Kevin"

Jami, Keith, Linda, Noah, and Ryan

Traci and Thomas

Mema, Paul, and Lucas

Aunt Brittani and Lucas

The Krupp Fam

Uncle Ryan and the three Krupp boys

The birthday girl and Ryan

Brandi and Lucas--Pro fisherman in the making

Hey Papa, let's go fishing--and I'll try not to fall out of the boat this time!

Mema and Papa

Thomas loves football!

Where should we go Dad?

Jami, Noah, and Kevin--water balloon fight!

Papa and Grandma

Great Grandma, opening her present from Kevin. Which was hand picked by himself--a Spiderman puzzle.

Happy 50th Birthday Mom!

Happy 50th Birthday to the most amazing woman in the world! My mom turned the glorious 50 today! Even though, since she has been 45 years old, she has been rounding up and saying she’s 50 anyway—so the transition shouldn’t be any problem. My mom hasn’t had the easiest life, but she has gracefully overcome every obstacle that God has put before her. She continues to love with her whole heart and give until there is nothing left. She has sacrificed everything for her children and those that she loves. She is the type of person who makes certain that everyone else’s needs are met before meeting her own. She is the type of person, mother, and friend that I hope to someday be.

Mom, I love you so much. I cannot thank you enough for everything you have done and continue to do for me and my family. You are amazing! I know I wouldn’t be where I am today without you cheering me on and supporting me throughout my life. Thank you for your strength and determination to ensure that I aspire to become all that I can be. Happy Birthday!