We bought...

We bought a blender! I haven't owned a blender in 10 years at least. Mine broke at one point and we just didn't replace it. Smoothies and milkshakes are much easier to make in a blender instead of a hand held drink mixer. I know this because we made milkshakes for dessert. I did the math as a I created them...275 calories in a 1 cup serving!! The boys are excited to see how this turns out and were speculating how they would look with thicker arms and legs. 

6 Month Challenge Begins Today!

The boys were born early. They were smaller than their gestational age. They have always been under the percentiles for growth. We have gone through testing, to find nothing to cause it. We have tried letting them eat all the high calorie foods they want, and still they stay small. 

Yesterday we went to the pediatrician for a well check, our first one in years. I am if it isn't broken why fix it kind of gal. Well the Dr. was less than thrilled with their weight and height. Am I surprised at this? Not even close. I deal with it every day. At school when no one believes my kiddo that is the height of a kindergarten kid is in third grade. At church when they go to receive communion and barely get their hands up high enough for the server to see them. (I almost always get the look from the server if they are OK to receive.) Clothes shopping when the girls skinny jeans fit and boys skinny jeans look like baggy carpenter jeans. At dinner when they eat just enough to not starve and then quit. It is part of our day, every day to be concerned and to look for ways to get extra calories into them. Heck we even encourage them to sit and watch TV so they burn less calories! 

With that in mind, and per the doctor's recommendations we are increasing our efforts for the next six months. In the hopes we see enough growth to keep the doctor from recommending us start testing for other issues! EEEK- not again! 

That means the kids get to have ice cream for breakfast in a smoothie with carnation instant breakfast for a double whammy of calories. They get to have ice cream for dessert too. Samuel doesn't like milk, but he does like ice cream. Instead of just chocolate instant breakfast in Toby's morning "coffee" I will be adding the vanilla too for a double serving. (We used to do this when they were younger for the calorie boost.) Instead of cooking new foods for them to eat, I am to push the things I know they will eat. Adding in protein powder and other healthy calories where I can. 

My goal is to keep track of the smoothies we come up with (since they don't like "frunkies", anything chunky, in them) and other ways we are finding of sneaking extra punch into their diets. We are also going to measure every week. Height and weight. Just like me eating better and exercising to lose weight and inches, they will be eating and exercising to add the same. I really need them to see that throwing away half their lunch at school or choosing to eat it can impact their growth. 

To kick this off we made our first smoothie today using raspberry sherbet, sunny d and applesauce. They said it tasted like candy! I will only call it a success if they drink it! We also made sweet potato muffins and I stuck in some carnation instant breakfast in those too. Those they gobbled up!

I decided to look up some of their numbers from the past and to see how they compare on average to the growth of boys their age. Yikes!

Samuel - 
Age                 Weight     Height
Birth                3.2 lbs      15.5 in
1 year             18.7 lbs    28 1/2 in
8 yr 9 mon       40.4 lbs    48 in 
He has the weight of a 5 year old and the height of a 8 year old. 

Toby - 
Age                  Weight     Height
Birth                 1.5 lbs     12 in
1 year               15 lbs      26 1/2 in
8 yr 9 mon        35.5 lbs   45 in
He has the weight of a 4 year old and the height of a 7 year old. 

We will measure again every week for the next 6 months in the hopes we see some great growth spurts, and that they don't get fat!!!!!! 

Gearing up for a great summer!

Oh how I love summer break! This is one of the biggest perks of being a SHM - months of a barely existent schedule, wearing your bathing suit under your clothes and my personal favorite - sleeping in. The boys have been enjoying the freedom of late bedtimes and late wake-ups too. 

Already we have been swimming several times, had sleep-overs with friends, gone to the splash park, had outings with the Lemonheads, had a staycation on the strip, watched Phantom of the Opera, took a backstage tour, performed in an amazing dance recital and this week started Vacation Bible School. This week we are packing our stuff up for a 45 day trip, yes you read that right 45 day trip. We will be towing the long, long trailer to Oregon - to park it at my parents summer home there. The boys and I will get to stay there until mid-August. I can't wait to spend time with my brother and his family, fish with my dad, and just be in the thick of a lush landscape where sweatshirts are a must at night. I will miss the sun, but there will be plenty of that when we get back in August. 

We will try to share our adventures! 

Have a great summer everybody -we already are!

Jeny

Back in the Old Days

President's Slide - South Dakota!
Fun times!
Kids watched it tonight and like parrots first Sam, then Toby... "Where is that? Can we go do again?"
President's Slide

Dino Diggers and Leaping Lizards

The boys are going to be in a Dinosaur Play this month. Sam plays a digger with a disdain for digging up old bones and Toby is in a musical number where he gets to jump around a lot. (I think their teachers have them pegged spot on!) I got to take pictures of the kids dressed in their costumes for a class slideshow and had to giggle at how excited all the kiddos were to get to try on their costumes. The play is next week - I hope they are practicing hard!

Riding Bikes

Finally after trying for a long time, giving up and moving on to scooters we did it! We can ride our bikes without training wheels. It wasn't too hard and we think two things happened that made it easier. 1. Dad bought us scooters to help us learn to balance. 2. We went to the skate park with friends and wanted to ride bikes so we did!

Simply Special

Toby reads a clue. They took turns.

 

The cousin hunt!

Digging for some extra filling...

 As always a holiday celebration wouldn't be complete without some family, friends and laughter. The Easter Bunny kicked off the day with a scavenger hunt, which had the boys racing all over the house finding clues. They finally found the goods in their IKEA red egg chairs. I guess the bunny likes egg shaped furniture better.

After a nice mass at church, we spent a good part of the day with all the family at Mima's house. She made delicious breakfast casseroles and everyone brought something tasty to add to the banquet. We hid at least 100 eggs for the kids to find, and enjoyed the hunt a lot.

Back home for a bike ride with Dad and a nap for Mom, then on to the park for a get together with our Lemonhead family. The kids hunted for another clutch of eggs and we couldn't have asked for better weather.

Easter is turning into my favorite holiday and I look forward to next year doing it all again!

Chase hunting in Mima's apron.

Toby was holding the ladybug until she flew away! Love his face!

The Lemonheads are ready to hunt!

Sam the Sarcastic.

Toby the Snaggle Tooth.

Crazy...

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Crazy Sock Day

The boys took crazy sock day for NV Reading Week to a new level of wild and crazy with thier shirts covered in socks. They love being outside the box and I enjoy encouraging them.

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Hearts, Games and Candy

Valentine's Day is always a fun day with the kids. We enjoy making handmade valentines to hand out at school, and this year we created 6 games/activities to play during the classroom parties. We were some busy boys (and mom) for a few days. Everything turned out great.
Toby created Valentines with glow stick bracelets that turned into arrows that read "You make my heart glow". Sam chose to make a Valentine that read "I'm bursting with happiness that you're my friend." and he filled bags with Starburst candies. Toby was to create a box to collect his valentines in and together we made a heart monster that we had seen online. (Thank goodness for Pinterest and Family Fun!)
At the parties we decorated Kripsy Kreme donuts with icing and cereal, played a minute to win it style candy game, built 3d structures from gumdrops and toothpicks, used chopsticks to pick up candy hearts, raced to create a love bug and played a good ol' game of bingo.
That night we had a simple dinner at home and then played a game as a family. We used q-tips and straws to make dart guns and aimed them into some buckets. It was very fun!