The Barn!

We recently purchased 5 acres in Orchard Farm.  It has a house, 2 sheds, 2 barns and a well house, but the only thing worth keeping is the 2 sheds.  We now just refer to it as "The Barn" (I have no idea why since we will be tearing it down).  It will be used primarily for the business for the next few years and then we will eventually build a house there.  (Hopefully before the boys start Kindergarten so we won't have to change schools.)  We may see if it is worth fixing the house up a little to rent out, but it is in really bad shape.  There have been skunks living under the house adding to the already lovely aroma!  The boys now refer to it as the "Skunk House".  The barns are falling down, which saddens me as it's my dream to have a barn, but the property itself is beautiful.  Dale began grading the ground to level it out and we will soon get rock for the drives around the sheds.  In the meantime, on nice days I have been bringing the boys down there so they can play.  They love it!  There is just so much space for them roam and it's nice to not have to yell at them to get off the street.  We all look forward to living there some day!

A panoramic view of part of the property. 

The big barn. 

The little barn. 

So much room to ride 4-wheelers!

Will 

Levi 

Max 

So many places to explore!

Levi 

Will 

Max 

Lately the boys, especially Max, are obsessed with sitting on it!  It does not matter what it is that they see, they want to "sit on it".  Max wore motorcycle pajamas the other day and he was mad when I put them on because he wanted to "sit on it".  He sees a bike riding down the road, he wants to "sit on it".  There's a new toy car at grandma's, he wants to "sit on it".  So the boys were ecstatic when we let them sit on the Highlift!

Max 

Will 

Levi 

A picnic lunch.

Dale, Will, Levi & Max

We took a walk in the field and Max took a spill when he tried to walk through a water puddle.  Well at least he got to "sit on it"!

The aftermath of the fall!  

The Highlift at work! 

Papa Hackmann, Max, Levi & Will

Exhausted!

The transition from Cribs to Big Boy Beds has been very interesting.  This past week has been very long and we are all very tired.  But, I think we are starting to get it.  The past several nights it has only taken about 10 minutes for them to fall asleep (knock on wood!), but naps are another story.  It doesn't matter how tired they are, they keep refusing to give it up.  We put them in their room, close their door and let them play until eventually they get tired enough that they fall asleep wherever they are at the moment.  They also wake each other up.  Whoever wakes up first must go around the room and wake the others because they have all been very sleepy.  I don't understand why they don't get it.  Someday they will wish they got to sleep as long as they could!  But for the time being Dale and I rely on caffeine and try to have a lot of patience, but some days the patience runs very thin and for those days we rely on a nice cold beer!  Ha-ha!

Max and Levi fell asleep in front of the door during nap time.  

Will finally gave in and fell asleep in Max's bed.  

And this was too precious!  Last night they all fell asleep in Will's bed.  It was the cutest thing ever so I had to get a picture.  We ended up moving Levi and Max to their own bed so they wouldn't roll over each other during the night.

Operation Big Boy Bed!

The past month or so has been quite an adventure when it comes to sleeping and napping. The boys have learned to crib hop and then eventually get out of their bed. We are able to subdue them for a while by moving their cribs apart a little bit. It was an obstacle to get through their room, but it worked for a little while. Well today it took them 3 hours to fall asleep at nap time. Every time I went up there they were out of their bed, then out of their bed and stripping, and this went on and on and on. They are able to climb on top of their cribs like they are some Ninja Warrior and it scares the crap out of me. They can so easily fall on their head and break their neck. So we made the ultimate decision that it was time to switch to the toddler beds. I have a feeling that our good nights of sleep are gone for a while, but at least I know they won’t be falling from 4 feet in the air. Dale took the fronts off the cribs tonight as the boys helped daddy get their “Big Boy Beds” ready to go. They were very excited, until it was time to actually go to bed. We let them cry it out for a while, but had to go in. They were all in Will’s bed smashing him. I had to sing to them, which finally bored Will to sleep. After about an hour I was finally able to leave while Max and Levi were still awake. Hopefully I won’t have to go back in there!

With this decision I became aware that I have never taken a picture of their Nursery. So here are a few pictures of their room before switching to toddler beds. Of course these pictures were just taken so the cribs have been chewed on, no not by beavers, but by 3 teething boys. The carpet has stains of formula spit up that I thought I had cleaned, but apparently cleaning spit up in the dark at 12, 3, and 6 a.m. just didn’t cut it! Their cute John Deere blankets with their names on them are no longer hanging sweetly over their cribs. Instead the blankets are ratty with holes chewed in them by Max (I will post on that another day). But, these are still pictures of their room that we can cherish forever!

From left to right: Will, Max then Levi's cribs. 

From left to right: Will, Max then Levi's cribs.

BIG BOY BEDS! 

Let the chaos begin!  Levi, Will and Max! 

Max, Levi and Will 

Bedtime at last, Will, Max and Levi.

Another battle wound for Max!

Dale and I had a conference Tuesday and Wednesday and after our conference on Tuesday we went to the hockey game.  Needless to say we hadn't seen the kids in two days and I was excited to spend Wednesday evening with them.  We even stopped at Walgreen's on the way home so we could get them some M&M's.  Of course as soon as Kristen left all hell broke loose.  The boys were terrible and NOTHING made them happy.  I finally bundled them up in their snow suits and we went for a walk looking for deer.  But, the screaming continued when we went back inside.  I was going to start giving the boys a bath while Dale cleaned up dinner.  They typically love the bath and will play in the water as long as we let them.  Well they didn't want to get in and Will and Levi preferred to walk around the bathroom naked playing for a while.  Max wouldn't even come close to me or the tub.  Finally I got Will in the tub and Max was soon to follow.  They decide to stand in the tub which is a big no no.  I am trying to get them to sit down when I see Levi walking across the bathroom naked and starting to poop.  I am trying to get him on the potty before poop goes everywhere and Max falls and hits his mouth on the tub and chips his tooth.  Needles to say, we put the boys to bed an hour early and I had myself a good cry!   

First visit to the St. Louis Zoo!

Yesterday was such a beautiful day that we decided to take advantage of our new Zoogoer membership.  This was the boys first trip to the Zoo.  They were really excited to see all of the animals.  They thought many of them were deer!  And hey, the resembled deer so why argue with them.  The African Bongo was now a deer!  I think their favorites were the Orangutans, the Giraffe's and the Hippo!  Of course we didn't get to see everything in one visit.  There is only so much time three almost two year olds will allow for an outing before complete mayhem arrives, and we were getting very close to that point.  In fact Levi was getting very antsy so I decided I would let him walk with me for a little bit and he immediately started throwing a tantrum about what he thought was a tunnel that he wanted to go through.  A lady said to me that she had been following us for a while and she just commented on how good they were.  Thanks lady, you just jinxed it!  We left shortly after that episode and Levi through a tantrum in the car for the complete 25 minutes it took to get to my mom's house.  Ahhh, who said terrible two's anyway, they start at 16 months!  Levi's tiredness aside, it was really fun for them to see all of the animals and to get out of the house and enjoy the wonderful weather.  We can't wait to plan our next visit to the Zoo!

Dale, Max, Levi, Will & a Giraffe!

Me, Max, Levi, Will & a Camel! 

A Butterfly in perfect pose! 

Max, Levi & Will 

The Hippo! 

Levi after going into the tunnel he threw a tantrum about.  He realized it was just a hole in a rock and he got scared when he couldn't figure out how to get out. 

Dale and Levi, who is finally happy! 

Dale, Levi, Will, Max & me. 

Max, Will & Levi 

Levi 

Will 

Max

Moms of multiples are freaks of nature

I was looking at a multiples website recently and came across this video and thought it was funny. It is a pretty good recap of questions strangers ask me nearly every time I have the kids with me. Although this video conversation is about twins, you can just add a child to the questions. 

Bella's 1st Birthday!

Will, Max and Levi's cousin Bella turned 1 this past Saturday and we celebrated at Pump it Up.  Bella was a birthday princess!  (She's the only girl in the family, so she's always a princess!)  The boys had so much fun.  They especially loved the big slide and I am especially thankful to Uncle Bill, Aunt Megan, Aunt Lauren and Grandma Hackmann for taking them down the slide so many times.  I am not sure what I would have done if they weren't there.  We hope Bella had as much fun at her party as we did!

Will

Max

Levi 

Max and Aunt Lauren 

Levi and Uncle Bill 

Will and Aunt Megan 

Max, Will and Levi 

The Birthday Girl, Bella!

It was Dale's birthday on Sunday and I made him a landscape themed birthday cake.  I thought I would share a picture!