Hey Boo Boo

Katie took some big strides in her walking. After weeks of trying to get her to walk without holding onto fingers, she took six steps without us even telling her too. That's our Katie, she does everything on her own time. On Wednesday we went camping after swimming and lunch to Jelly Stone Park in Indian River. The babies had a lot of fun their second time camping because they all can walk a bit more and this camp ground had Yogi Bear! They also went to the beach for the first time and played in the sand and even splashed around in the lake! We got back home and started to prepare for the garage sale that we're having this weekend to sell some of the baby stuff the kids have grown out of. So it has been a pretty busy week with camping, swimming, and getting ready for the garage sale we have been quite busy. The babies are having fun and doing more every day, pretty soon they will all be running in different directions! The pictures are from their camping trip.


Helena, Seamus and Katie playing in the camper


Grandpa Huddas, some babies and I on the Yogi Wagon Ride


Helena, Seamus and Katie arriving at the beach


Helena playing in the sand


Seamus playing in the sand


Katie playing in the sand


All of us at the beach


Mommy and the girls in the lake


Seamus and me in the lake


Seamus and Helena riding their cousin Drew's bike


All of us with Yogi

Cows, Pools, and Tables too!

The last week or so has been pretty eventful around here. We had our first swimming lesson today. Everyone had a good time, no major crying or meltdowns. Friday we went to Wolcott Mill's farm and saw some cows, sheep, chickens, etc. Everything was a dog according to the babies though.


Helena and the cows

We also finally had to break down and put away the exersaucers. Both Katie and Seamus could escape from them so they didn't really serve their purpose anymore. Instead we bought a new little picnic table that they can sit at.


We also got them some puzzles which they love!


Katie and the puzzle

Saturday we celebrated Grandpa's 60th birthday! Pat and I actually got to go out to the race track with him that evening to celebrate. We also had birthday cupcakes with the babies that afternoon.


Pat and I have also decided to attempt to get off our butts more so we got a couple of bike trailers so we can all go for bike rides. It's been a blast! The big news is that Seamus is officially a walker now. He walks more than he crawls and is getting really good at stepping over toys and sisters.

Seamus the walking machine!

Both Helena and Katie have also taken a few steps at a time. We're getting really close to having 3 walking now. We leave on Wednesday to go up north to see Yogi Bear! Enjoy the photos!!

4th of July Revisited...

Helena


Seamus


Katie

The 4th of July is the first holiday that we celebrated last year with the babies at home. It was also supposed to be their due date so I think it will always hold a special place in our hearts. Because of this, we decided to have a redo on wearing their cute holiday outfits and take some pictures. This is what we ended up with! Yesterday we had the appointment down at Children's hospital for our head rechecks. The good news is we are completely done with helmets!!! We only have to go back in 6 months for one last recheck. Look at these perfectly round noggins!

Katie


Helena


Seamus

Family Reunion 4th of July!

We've had a really fun week or so since I last posted. Last week on Wednesday we went to the zoo with Aunt Kathy D. It's was kind of cool and overcast outside which was nice since it meant that the animals at the zoo were active. We got to see all kind of animals from sparrows dive-bombing us while the babies had a Cheerios snack to the hippos, chimps, and yes- we saw actual gorillas! We've never seen the gorillas ever before but this time we saw all 3 of them! It was really cool. Since there were 3 of us there with the babies we could actually go into the chimp house and they loved it. We went and saw the dinosaurs again too but this time they weren't quite so excited about them. All 3 of them were a actually a little scared but it was still fun.





On Thursday morning we started our drive down to WV to see Pat's sister Kathy. It was a VERY long drive with 3 one year olds but we survived. I'm really happy that we decided to go. It was a ton of fun. The weather was rainy and cool so we didn't really do much but it was nice to just kind of hang out and spend time with Aunt Kathy. It also made Pat and I realize that we can do things like take vacations by ourselves without needing extra help. We did go to see Cooper's Rock which is a really cool state park where you can see a really deep gorge and walk out on an overlook. We also went to see the WVU stadium.

Cooper's Rock


Cooper's Rock


Katie and Aunt Kathy


Seamus and Aunt Kathy


Helena and Aunt Kathy

Saturday the 4th of July we left WV for Pittsburgh and the Hrebenak-Burda family reunion. This is definitely much different than the way we spent our last 4th of July! My mom's family has a reunion every 5 years and we all get together in a local park for some yummy food, pictures, and catching up. By the way- Great job Maria, hope you're planning the next one too!!! I feel a little bit like we didn't get a chance to really talk to many people but we were corralling 3 almost-walkers. By the next one they'll be 5 and a little less needy I hope! That night we went and saw some more family from the Wasilco side. Drew and Robin were having a bbq and we stopped by to say hi. Everyone else went to go see fireworks that evening but we decided to go back to the hotel instead and try and get some sleep.

Group photo


Seamus playing ball


Katie


Jim, Fred, Isaiah, and Gabriel

Maria and Helena

Sunday was a mass at Holy Ghost in McKees Rocks for deceased members of our family and then a little coffee and donut social. We were heading for home that day as well so we pretty much said our goodbyes and packed up. We had about a 5 hour car ride to get home so we knew we'd be in a little bit of trouble with the babies. They had missed a ton of naps on our trip and Helena has decided that she's going to cry in the car whenever she's not sleeping. Let's just say she slept for about 45 minutes right when we first left... you can guess what went on after that!
Today the babies and I are meeting up with some girls I went to high school with and Pat's staying home to cut the grass. We get to register for swimming lessons this week and hopefully have our last appointment with the cranio-facial specialist down at Children's hospital on Friday. I'll post more then!