Visit to Great Grandma's & "Christmas town"

Pictures:

* Great Grandma and Kyle cuddling

* Great Grandma & Kyle in front of grandma's apple tree

* The crew watching the babies eat

* Daddy & Kyle in front of Santa @ Bronner's

First of all, I must tell on Kyle's naughty day Friday. I was getting everyone ready in the morning in our room when Ryan started screaming (mind you, he's standing right next to me). Kyle had just got down off our bed and was standing behind him so I knew he was involved somehow. When I asked Kyle what he did to Ryan he responds, "I bit him." OMG!?!?! He bit Ryan's shoulder blade and it was already purple...yikes! I guess that e-mail that Santa sent him the night before, saying how great he was to his brothers/sister had already worn off?! After a time out and talking about how I was disappointed in him, I thought that would be the end of it. However, a few hours later, Cheryl calls to tell me that Kyle decided to take a bite out of Jack's cheek. Really? After just telling me he'd never do it again (maybe I wasn't clear - no biting ANYONE, not just Ryan :-). This one wasn't as bad but Cheryl said he was playing with Jack, making him laugh, then she thought he went in for a kiss...nope, a bite! Ugh, here's hoping that is the end of it.

On Friday night, while sitting at the dinner table, Kyle announced to Ed and I that he was going to eat all of his dinner and go to bed all by himself because he wanted to "make us proud". You can't stay mad at that kid too long!

On Saturday, we packed up the crew (and all of our gear) and headed to my grandma's house (1.5 hour drive north). My grandma hadn't seen the kids since their birthday party so it was a much needed visit and she was really looking forward to it. We arrived about noon and, as expected, Ryan & Brooke weren't so sure about seeing Great-Grandma. Thank goodness for Jack, he went right into her arms :-) Brooke is funny...she gets upset when certain people just look at her, my grandma being one of them. Most of the people on this list are females and all sweet ones, so I wouldn't say Brooke is a good judge of character just yet.

We had lots of visitors stop in to see us. My dad's cousin Nancy came over (bearing gifts - the best homemade noodles!) along with my Uncle Steve and girls (Laura & Emily) and cousin Amy with kids (Brandon & Ashley). Kyle had a great time with his cousins and he discovered my grandma's laundry chute. Thank goodness I went downstairs to check it before we left, as he had dropped the baby wipes, diapers and gloves down there! We had so much fun with the laundry chute when we were kids too.

My grandma has a lot of crystal displayed and the kids were pretty good not touching (although my uncle said we should re-name Jack, and call him "No, Jack"!) Kyle loved my grandma's tree, as it had icicles and apples.

After we left Grandmas, Ed wanted to take Kyle to "Christmas town" (aka - Frankenmuth). So we went to Bronner's, which is the largest Christmas store in the world! It didn't disappoint. Kyle and the triplets all loved it! They were in awe of all the decorations, lights and people! Brooke has a cold which always means a horrible cough (due to her TEF surgery when born). It sounds horrible (like croup) and people STARE at her when she does it. I want to have a big sign that says "NO, she's not sick and I'm NOT a horrible parent for bringing her out in public" because people definitely look at you or whisper under their breath. It's definitely reminded me that you shouldn't judge anyone, as I'm sure people are definitely judging us! We were in the store for about an hour and there wasn't a peep out of anyone, except for Brooke coughing :-) Kyle chose a few ornaments and we were on our way.

Of course, I hadn't planned on the long visit so we had to have dinner before we got home. Once again, the babies didn't disappoint! They had grilled chicken, green beans and applesauce (thank goodness for Culver's - fast and "nutritious"!). Jack wanted everyone to know he was there as he screamed (then smiled & giggled) to get everyone's attention. They all fell asleep on the ride home and went right to bed after a pj change. Kyle was very helpful, he used his flashlight so we could change them and not really wake them up :-) And thank goodness for the DVD player in the car, Kyle and the babies are all amazing travelers!

On another note, Jack got his 7th tooth last week (bottom, next to middle). That brings the totals to:

Jack - seven

Ryan - four (maybe more soon, if drool is any indication!)

Brooke - ZERO

And Ryan is practically running these days. Brooke and Jack can both stand up on their own and will take about 5 or 6 steps before falling. It won't be long before we have all walkers!