Such a stud.  Can you believe he turns 7 in a month?! Sam loves school and has so many friends.  He loves to give me math quizzes all the time and just lost his first loose tooth.  He's a ball of energy and an adrenaline junkie.  Jeff stitched Sam's forehead about a week after this picture was taken.

He is also the clown in our family.

Mick's laugh is the BEST.  It comes from the gut.

Mick is the sensitive one. He is always concerned about everyone else. He also has a very silly side that can be rather loud. We understand him more and more each day (he's been in speech therapy for a year) and realize that he is a really funny kid...we just never knew it.  He loves preschool and playing the Wii. Every family needs a little Mickers.

Try to picture my mom jumping up and down and squeezing a rubber, squeaky giraffe.  Yep, that's why all the kids are looking forward.

Seriously?  She's my sweetheart. She loves to babble and has a couple of words (hot, momma, dadda).  She loves to play hide 'n seek with Max, Patty-cake with Mom, and Peek-a-boo with anybody.  When she's nervous she lifts her shirt or dress to expose her belly.  She's my cuddler and is the only one of my babies that likes when I sing.  She's taking after Sam in the clown department.

Max is so talented!  Seriously...this kid can whistle intentionally, walk, crawl, belly-slide backwards, run in place, and kick a ball. He's recently become the more aggressive one and takes whatever Lucy is playing with.  His favorite toy is my iPhone and knows exactly how to turn the music on...and dance.

14 months

Feeling very GRATEFUL for my family!

I chopped my hair on a whim.  I went to bed one night and just decided the next day that I was going short. I absolutely love it and wish I had done it a long time ago.

I love him! Can you believe in 7 months he won't be a resident anymore? It's been a long 6 1/2 years but we've had a lot of great times. I'm getting excited for the next adventure.  In July we enter the Navy.  The earliest we find out where we'll be stationed is December...but probably after the new year. I will miss Minnesota. I think I fell in love with the Midwest. Maybe we'll be back?

were here in Minnesota!

It's been a little chilly lately, but we've tried to get outdoors and enjoy the non-winter weather. Sam started T-ball on a cold Saturday morning.  Jeff wasn't finished rounding so I had to haul the whole family to the field.  I bundled up the babies so warm that they were sweating when I took them out of their car seats.  Mick and I were the miserable ones. The next practice was cancelled due to rain and last Saturday was his first game.  We're not sure if he really likes it yet.  He mostly sits down on the field or does "cool karate moves." I'll try to take pics of his next game this Saturday (if it's warm enough).

Jeff was selected to receive one of the Mayo Brothers Distinguished Fellowship awards.  It's given annually to six residents from all of the Mayo campuses (Rochester MN, Scottsdale AZ, and Jacksonville FL).  It's a pretty big deal.  I'm pretty proud of him. Here's his poster hanging in the main lobby of the clinic. (Jen - remember playing the piano here?).

Also hanging are all the "Best Teacher" winners pulled from the consultant/attending staff.


The children weren't impressed, except for the awesome marble stairs...



Our praying mantis egg sac hatched a few weeks ago.  This is what I found on my counter one morning.  Nearly gave me a heart attack.  We let all but six of them go in the yard.  Of those six, we have five left.  We are feeding them flightless fruit flies and little crickets.  They've tripled in size but still have much more to grow.  These are my least favorite insects ever (even more than spiders) because they get so big.  I thought that if I ordered some and we had them as a "pet" I could get over my fear.  NOPE.  They're still nasty, but the boys love them.  If you're interested in hatching your own go to insectlore.com. They have butterflies, ladybugs,  frogs, and ants too.


The Saturday that Sam's T-ball practice was cancelled we drove to Minneapolis to see the Sculpture Garden.  It was wet and cold but really neat.  We are definitely coming back this summer on a warmer day.




Sam "planking" by the "planking" rabbit.  If you haven't heard of planking, give it a google.


Shhh....don't tell anyone, but the Scow boys (including Jeff) don't know what it means to stay off of things that can be climbed.


Cool picture of our family.  Jeff, Sam, and Mick are one one side of a large glass panel while the babies and I are on the other. I think we read somewhere that the artist wanted to portray the past and future simultaneously.


Ever since the babies were born in September Mick has decided to boycott his own bed for any other place to sleep.  Sometimes it's the floor, the spare bed, mom's bed, or the couch.  I had the pack 'n play out one day to take the babies outside for some actual sunshine and Mick decided that was where he was going to sleep that night.  Hilarious.


Lucy had her eyes checked.  They're not cross-eyed or lazy, but she is nearsighted.  We got a prescription for glasses and tried on a few of those "goggles" for babies.  We decided to wait on the glasses since I'm 100% sure that she (and Max) will not keep them on her face for the time being.

We are counting down the days until summer.  As soon as school is out we will be driving to Idaho and Utah to visit family.  The kids and I will be there all of June and July!

I blogged.