Happy Thanksgiving!!

Hey everyone hope you all ate great Turkey and enjoyed the company you were with! We had a great day here in Scottsdale but the theme may not have really been Thanksgiving...

We talked all week about being Thankful for things and the boys did a great job of naming things they were Thankful for at the dinner table. Other than that and a little Turkey the theme of the day was Christmas!!! Rob and I both turn into big kids when it comes to decorating (and we are recently very familiar with unpacking boxes so it felt natural). We have the house and halls decked! It looks great and feels like the holidays. With only a week left with the boys and I here in AZ we wanted to be sure that they saw all their decorations and that the house was a festive place for Rob to come home to when we are gone (to help fill the void and keep it festive he took it upon himself to stocked the fridge with Eggnog :) ). The coolest part for all of us is the Christmas Village and the train under the tree! The boys pulled a chair up to the Village and stared FOREVER yesterday! I can just imagine how all the people come to life in their little minds. Braydon has mastered the train remote and has asked multiple times about Santa. We are working on learning the words to some Christmas Carols then we are ready!!!!

That was our Christmas themed Thanksgiving but there was also a lot of family time and fun in the day as well. We got up early, watched the Parade, met a playdate at the park where we fed the ducks TWO loafs of bread. Rob feels I will be putting the family in financial distress if we go through that many loafs on each Park trip......I admit it was a lot and I will tone it down to just the stale old bread next time :). Then it was home for a bite to eat, nap time and then Turkey. Rob was outside on the fryer and I made the sides. It was great! We both had three plates of food and the boys only ate the cooked marshmallows from the top of the yams. The dogs were thrilled with the leftovers and have been stalking the fridge in hopes of another taste of turkey since.

We love you all.

Hello From Scottsdale

Hey guys!

How is everyone? We are doing great, who would have thought that in just two weeks we would feel so settled and welcome here in Scottsdale. The boys did amazing on the move, it was great to have a "time out" from life and get to hang with the Doane crew in Dallas. The drive was long but seemed longest for Rob and I. Dogs and boys were great! I LOVE THE HOUSE! Good pick Rob. We are moved in and life has started!

So to go back a few weeks, we took off from SA and headed to Dallas, we had a wonderful few days seeing family and visiting with old friends. Though it seemed like we were there a long time it also felt like we didn't get enough time with anyone :(

We drove out from Dallas and made it to the new house in two days. The boys were great road trip buddies and horrible roommates! I think the evenings in the hotels were what pushed Rob and I over the edge. The boys go to bed at 8 so that meant that Rob, the dogs and I were in bed by 8 and no one seemed to know what to do in a hotel room. The dogs acted like they had never been inside before and the kids seemed to have no idea what a bed was used for. Dogs were a JOKE. Moving all night, jumping up and off the beds, eating soap from the bathtub and more. The boys could not calm down. 8pm came and so did their energy levels. B was in bed with Rob and I was in bed with Cal, by 10pm Caleb was asleep (upside down and on my side). By 12am B was asleep also with me an also on my side. All I know next is that Devo, Caleb, Braydon and I are all sharing half of the queen bed and it is 3am. Devo is so in my face that I don't even have my own air to breath and the poor belly baby is being squashed by his oldest brother. Kids dogs and space all get re-distributed and things are great until about 5am when Rob wakes me telling me that Cal has a fever and is not doing good........

However it happened, we made it to the new house in time for the movers on Monday all sleep deprived and desperate to eat something other than takeout.

We are two weeks in, the house looks like a home, we feel settled and have really been able to get around the community and start planting seeds to make this place grow into a wonderful life over the next few years. B is enrolled at a WONDERFUL school down the street and I felt very lucky to find it (after much searching). He is also going to be staring his first little sports team in January and we are excited for him to meet some friends! Caleb is about a year to young to get enrolled in anything but we met a neighbor just yesterday who is his age and that will hopefully provide many a fun playdate. We have already mastered the Storytime hours at the Library (which is very impressive for a public library) as well as gotten to know all the great parks in the area. Next week, the zoo....

Thanksgiving is around the corner and we will be thinking of all of you! Rob is going to Fry the Turkey so it is going to be great!!! I will be posting more pics on Snapfish soon, till then miss you all and love you tons.

album 11\01\2010 (82 photos), by maureen jenkins

I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.
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Moving Day

Hey fam and friends, hope you guys are great. Today is packing day and tomorrow is moving day at the Doane hs. Things are moving along great and we are almost in Dallas visiting fam so it doesn't get much better than this. We have had a great week, Dad had time off work and came with us to the Kiddie Park (you have all heard stories of this park from the boys). We had a Halloween that topped all Halloween's of the past and there are a ton of picks to prove it! The boys were adorable!! Two football players that ate as much candy as their tummies could hold. All the parents got dressed up as well and we had a special visitor, our own fighter pilot Funcle!! We also had another Baby Dr. Apt and he is growing great!

The kiddie park lived up to its original impression again as one of the best stops for toddlers in SA. Again the park was built in the 20's and has most its original rides still running. Rob was able to come with us this time and the boys loved showing off how they can ride all the rides by themselves.

Halloween was a BLAST, we set up shop in a neighbors driveway with all the neighbor friends. There was a DJ and tons of candy. I took the boys from house to house while my Ref husband stayed behind to judge the dancers that came round. The better the dancing the bigger the candy bar! Good times. The boys were totally into Trick-or-Treating and they looked great.

When we got back to the party they started chowing in to the candy. B and C can not open their own candy yet so I felt I had a fairly good understanding of how much they were eating. Then I hear a neighbor girl announce "if anyone needs more help opening candy I can do it all". I turn around and B is sitting in a pile of litter indicating he has eaten the majority of his candy! I walk over to him and he says "Mom, I am going to get sick". I say "well, B you should really stop eating then". B "But mom, I really don't want to". So he didn't stop and he didn't get sick. Caleb was less interested in the Candy but ate at least 4 Hotdogs from the grill. They were up passed their bedtime they were decorated in various glow sticks, necklaces, blinking safety bracelets etc and ate their weight in unhealthy food. It was a party to top all parties!

Baby boy 3 is doing great and "growing" says the doc. He is more active than I remember either of the other boys being and he proved it on the last ultrasound, he was doing one back flip after another.

Tomorrow the truck comes and takes all our stuff; then we hit the road for Dallas. Look forward to seeing some of you. Love to all.

album 10\23\2010 (53 photos), by maureen jenkins

I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.
Click here to view photos

IT'S A BOY!!!

Hey fam

It is a boy! We are thrilled! I have already started everything needed for him to get here. Boston was a bust :( , Devo training is a bust and our first choice Phoenix house is a bust. Other than that our house seems to be progressing in the sale process (that is huge) and dates are set to have us delivered in Phoenix. Finally the Halloween count down is on.

The fam went in last Friday for a sex determination of the baby and as most of you know we are moving closer to having our own Doane Basketball team! The boys are excited and B has been giving me updates everyday on what he is going to teach his new brother; Friday: how to jump, eat candy corn and play with the dogs. Sat: how to keep food away from the dogs, how to crawl out of the crib and how to do his plasma car....to be continued I am sure.

As far as baby planning I know exactly how I want the nursery decorated and I hope GiGi is up to the challenge of sewing the bedding :) (I was gonna call and ask soon). I have my top ten names that is now a top 6 because of Robbie's first round knockouts. We are treackin...

So we didn't get to go to Boston and the whole fam was bummed but the Dr office was less than easy to reschedule with. We will be out there in the Spring for sure! Devo training being a bust is really half and half. We have been doing "training sessions" in the evenings and she is great. She will "Sit", "Stay" and "Come". I can run all around her while she is staying and she doesn't budge till you say "Come", then she runs right to you and waits for the next command. It is really amazing how great she is and how quick she learned! The other half to all of this is that is only seems applicable to the backyard. Once she has jumped the fence it is anything goes. Ugggg!!! Finally, first choice Phoenix house was a great hs in a perfect location and had great schools but seems the owners will not rent to anyone with dogs over 40lbs. Second choice here we come...

Phoenix is happening! Nov 1st movers come to pack us up. Nov 2nd we get loaded in the truck and Nov 8th we are there for delivery!!! YEAH!

The last thing going on is Halloween. The kids have been making really great holiday crafts and they have made so many pumpkin variations that we have the whole Laundry room door dedicated to "the pumpkin Patch art work" It is really cool how into it they are. (Rob when you get home, show no concern that you have old undershirts flying in the front yard breeze :))

What can I tell you about the boys? They are huge and eating like crazy this AM they each ate four pieces of french toast and a bowl of Rice Crispies! Caleb is getting skinny! (not to be confused with Thin). He is also talking a lot more. His words are not easily understood by an outsider but he can express most anything he wants these days. B is mastering all types of new tasks and is expanding his interests all the time. He can ride a bike wonderfully and started cruising on a scooter (these are all neighbors toys, so Rob and I have some xmas shopping to do) he also likes shooting baskets and plays a lot of golf in the backyard!

Enjoy the pics!!

We love you all.

We are up and running again

Hello everyone!

We are back! we had some major camera issues but as you can tell from the adorable pics we are up and running again. Lots has happened since the last blog, the house is under contract and we are out of our "option period" so things are clicking along with the house. We have started packing, the boys got new beds (very exciting) and more.

I LOVE BEING AT HOME! These little guys are so great and we have a blast together everyday. I am learning A TON! We have had a lot of adventures but mostly playdates, park time, outside with neighbors, and a few field trips of our own. The boys have helped me start packing and getting some of the house ready. They also got new Big Boy beds. That is right! Caleb will be going into a bed when we get to Phoenix so that baby 3 will have the crib set up in its room. The new beds are very cool bunk beds. B is dying to sleep on the top and asks about it every night. These guys are getting big!

It has been a great break not having showings every other day. The house is still holding together but I will admit it is much harder to keep it clean with the all day in-house playing than before. I am begging anyone out there to share their fav receipts that consists of 3-6 ingredients and minimum prep time. So feel free to post back or shoot off an email. Also did everyone see those adorable pancake pics on the side of the blog? Thank you Aunt Bobby. The boys love eating these and they come out so cute.

Lucky us! the boys and I are getting to go visit the Burke family in BOSTON! we are so excited. We will have great pics in the next few weeks so stay tuned.

The Dogs are ...the dogs. I have been reading about how to train a CRAZY BOXER online and her classes start at nap time tomorrow. Wish me luck! She is like a 2yr old (as Jess pointed out) they are really hard to enjoy when they have no rules and run wild. So here goes! If i don't succeed she is being put in Boot Camp with Greg this December (thanks dad).

Halloween is coming too. Talk about a great weekend. The boys have a pumpkin painting party on the 30th and then a block party Halloween night! They have both decided to be Football players (and NO we did not push this at all!!!) B thinks he is like the football players he saw at the UT game and wanted to be them and Caleb wants to be like B so there you have it.

We miss you guys all so much and are thrilled we will be able to see most of you shortly!