B-day in Des Moines, Easter in K.C. and others

Well, a month ago, we celebrated my birthday by meeting my parents in Des Moines at the Hilton Garden Inn (my fave hotel). It was lots of chaos and fun! Below are pics from the weekend. Carter LOVED the pool, duh.

Really, no fear! We start REAL swimming lessons this Saturday. Yay, Mommy in a bathing suit...make me vomit.

Making a "BIG splash" Carter would say with the exact expression you'd expect pasted on his face.

Paw with the babies.

Paw with all his boys. I love that Carter's holding onto his ears for stability. Adorable!

Getting a kiss from "Sue." Yep, still no "grandma" just "sue."

Climbing out by himself. "Carter do. Carter do. By self."

Tyler waiting for his turn in the tub. Since this was taken, we've become brave and put all of them in at the same time. It's sheer chaos, but much quicker...

Abby and Vince stopped by for a quick visit the other day (like a month ago, really, but whatev.) Abby put Tristan (I think) right to sleep. She's going to be a fab mom someday (hopefully, as soon as that wedding's done with, but no pressure!)

Chubby cheeks.

This is what a typical evening consists of for Carl. Carter on his lap (because he can climb up on his own) and the babies trying their hardest to get up there too...they just usually end up knawing on the chair until Carl takes pity and lifts them up to be part of the action.

Just before leaving for Kansas City for Easter. Tyler fell asleep eating dinner. Now I have seen other kids do this but never thought one of mine would...it's hilarious!

Close-up.

In K.C. at a park. Mom and Dad stayed with the babies while Carl and I spent some quality time with just Carter. He loved the attention (and the ice cream). We had fun imagining how simple it would be with just one kid!

Carter doesn't go down the wimpy toddler slides...he goes for the biggest ones he can find!

Climbing. He loves it and he's really good at it.

The dome thingy.

We had another GU Reunion over Easter...here are my boys playing nice with Emerson or "Emmy" as Carter calls her.

Grandma Sue with Carter and the Nativity Set. Hey, Carter celebrates Christ's birth all year long...you know, like at Disney how it's Mickey's birthday all year long!?!?

Coloring easter eggs with Paw and Tyler. Eventually all of Carter's clothes came off. He colored eggs with gusto, cracking many and covering the cracks with stickers. He had fun, though.

Checking out his yellow egg (with green fingerprints.)

Nanny Janny with Tristan.

Katy practicing her Mommy skills with 3 week old Hadleigh Bullcoming! Little peanut. Precious. Makes me want to have another...in, like, 3 years. (Carl, if you're reading, I'm totally joking!)

Carrie, Emerson, Audrey and Stacy...a few of my fave girls in the whole world!

Carter's monster hand when he was finished with his eggs. I never though it'd come off his hands and figured it would be part of his Easter outfit...but yay, it did come off in the bathtub!!!

And, oops, I said "BATH" outloud so the girls had to join the fun. Yeah, I know they'll KILL us for this later, but just too cute not to take pictures...oh, and video! (See end of blog post.)

Carrie and me giving Zimmerbaby some love! Seriously, yes, I'm wearing pjs at our GU Reunion. What was I thinking!?!? I mean, I knew we'd be taking a million pictures. I guess I was mentally thinking college, and since all I wore in college was pjs, it's totally fitting... For the record, I DID shower that day. I'm just sayin'.
Paw with Carter after his bath.

Sue with Carter.

I don't know, but I love this face, Ryan!

Stacy, Carrie and me. Ugh, pjs again. Really!?!?!? At least my BFF's are looking great (and Stacy had just given birth, like 5 minutes ago!!!)

Ah, the hunt for the Easter basket.

Yay, he found it. He was really good at looking!

Dear Easter Bunny, next year just get the kid jelly beans, m&ms and peanut butter cups. All he cared about was the candy, anyway. (Oh, and the big boy underwear!!!)

Love, Carter's mom

Ridiculous amount of stuff in this basket for a 2 year old!!!

Sweet! A new John Deere hat and big boy underwear!

Sidenote: Carter's been wearing his underwear more and more lately with very little accidents. We're on our way, folks!!! He's growing up so fast!

All of us at church on Easter!

Just the 5 of us. Isn't this a great pic!!??!?!? I may frame it.

With the Wood family.

Boys wrestling match on the bed...all fun and games until someone gets hurt (that would be Tristan with a bloody mouth!)

Carter hunting for eggs after church. Yes, boring picture, but I wanted to document it!

These last few pics are from this week at home. I love the one below. Babies want so badly to be outside...

This was last Friday at the hospital in Iowa City. We took them for a second opinion regarding their circumcision issues. I won't go into details...but all is great! Thank God for the second opinion from a pediatric specialist!!! Tristan had his issue fixed that day with a little numbing cream (yeah, no needles!) and it's already almost healed today! Doc said Tyler was fine, just to keep an eye on his issue and re-visit in a few years if necessary! YAY! Original urologist said surgery (under anesthesia) for both. Idiot. Go back to taking care of old men and refer the babies to a peds doc. Seriously. A weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Surgery for babies scares me. Right now, my brother is thinking, "hippie." I hope he ends up marrying a girl that's even more hippie than me...that'd really get him!!!

Me and Tristan after his procedure. Happy as a clam. Penis numb as can be!

Super-fun playdate at my friend Heather's house last weekend! Made new friends (me and Carter did). Adorable girl with apron on is Olivia...there's Carter, Tristan, Kelan and Carter's first girlfriend, Finley.

On a walk the other night. Yes, my boys are this happy all the time!

Carter and Daddy on our walk.

In the tub last night!

VIDEO TIME!!!

Carter with one of his many gf's, Audrey Bullcoming. Watch the end of the video carefully. Adorable!!!

Carter tickling Tyler's belly. I didn't prompt this at all...just found him doing it the other day. I mean, really, how cute is this!?!? Well, until he gets too rough and starts scratching Tyler.

Bathtime video to show the chaos!!! Seriously, by the end, Carl and I are both sweating and our blood pressures are sky-high!

Well, there it is folks. This post took some major effort. Comments are expected. Thank you.

And a note on the babies sleeping: they are rocking at it. Sleeping through the night 8-5:30 or 6 and going down for naps and bed awake. It's awesome!