Easter pictures and more

Big boys at the table. Sean with the binky in his mouth; Ryan with the fingers in his mouth.

Tallying eggs after the Devlin family room hunt. Sean has the orange basket, Ryan has the blue, Andy is Andy and by default, Alex is Alex.

Happy babies.

Sean absolutely LOVES the bubble blower.

Ry checking out the new Buzz Lightyear bubble blower.

Andrew was sorting the bubble toys by who he thought would like each.

Alex poses for the camera with some bubble makers.

Ryan trying to blow bubbles.

Ryan playing with the new toys -- bubble blowing devices!

Its dark but that's our 4 guys all together in one picture -- Andy, Ryan, Sean, and Alex.

The Easter Bunny with some helpful bunny friends dropped off some gifts.

We met up with Alex at the big boy hunting grounds and the twix and Andy checked Alex's eggs for the winning ticket. Ryan's standing. Seany is sitting.

Andy preparing to go on the Easter Egg Hunt. Ryan is standing next to him.

Andy walked into the corner of the door. Yes, he grew a third eye.

Mark ready to leave for a job interview. Andy practicing his dressing skills.

Alex relaxing in his room.

Alex and Me.

Andy, Ryan, and Sean posing for me.

Sean, Ryan, and Andy mug for the camera.

Andy is a self tattoo-er.

Ryan wanted a photo also.

Sean fell and caught his lip in his teeth, can you tell?

Andy-ism

This morning Andy asked Mark, "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, I want a hicky back ride." What is a hicky back ride you might wonder. A hicky back ride is what other kids refer to as a piggy back ride.

Recent goings ons

I know these sound like bragging but there's no other way to tell the stories, so there you go. I'll start with Alex. He's picked up some very grown up phrases.

"Hey, Alex what are you doing back there?" He was very quite in the car.

"I'm just keeping myself entertained." This has become a very popular phrase and sometimes he'll substitute "amused" for entertained.

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His friend came over to invite him to play. The next thing I knew he was back home. "What are you doing here? I thought you went out to play with your friends."

"I did go outside to play with Hannah and Lexi but shortly after we started playing, Hannah's cousins arrived and I asked Tina (Hannah's mom), if they would prefer to have just family time."

He's a genius! :-)

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Not to be outdone, Andy has picked up his own catch phrases and such. On Sunday, I made the rare decision to comb his mop. Just as I finished and admired my handywork, Andy threw his hand up and started messing up his hair. When I asked why, he responded, "I wanted my hair to be back to nermal."

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Andy's day is busy and through out it, he makes reference to Alex. "Mommy, when Alex comes home from ah-skewl, I want to come back to the spark."

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Sean and Ryan are learning some sign language. More, please, thank you, etc. Sean mastered more first, two tiny fist touching finger tips over and over. Ryan finally agreed to make the sign and then I caught him making it to himself while feeding himself.

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Sean and Ryan are concerned with the other's comforts, so long as there are two of the comforting item. If there are two sippy cups, one will take them both and then deliver it to the other. Yesterday, Sean requested a cookie. So I gave him two, thinking he'd have one for each hand (as per my elder kids). he waited for me to take that second cookie then said, "Ta Doo" (Thank you) and ran across the kitchen to deliver a cookie to Ryan. Where I saw him look up from his toys, take the cookie, and say, "Ta Doo, ga ba do..." and smile.

Andy eating Ovaltine.

Sean sporting a skater look.

Ryan riding a scooter.

Andy is riding a horse dragon that comes with sound effects.

Alex riding a motorcycle.

Ryan climbing the stairs at the park.

Sean checking out what his brothers are doing at the park.

Andy and Alex wanted a little Captain in them.

Mark's got a little Captain in him.

I like this picture of Sir Ry.

Sean and Ryan driving around town.

Andy all tuckered out!

Andy driving a Mickey Mouse car.

Alex and Andy in front of a car.

Papa, Nona, Alex, and Andy at the Silver Legacy.

Ryan and Sean checking out the view on the tram.

Mommy and Ryan on the Circus Circus tram.

Andy, Mark, and Sean on the tram at Circus Circus.

Andy was watching his current favorite flick, "Chicken Little."

Alex smiling for me.

Sean thinking about our predicament.

Trapped in the snow Ryan just looked out the window.

Driving around Reno with the twix.

Sean and Ryan driving at Circus Circus during our Reno adventure.

Sean and Ryan playing in their ball pit!

Back in Utah

The ride into CA was so terrifing, dangerous and deadly, that when we gave up and headed back to NV, we got sucked into a snow bank and had to wait for a tow truck to pull us out. Luckily a sheriff drove by and called for help. We had no phone signal and the few drivers we saw drove on by. The snow plow continued to drive by though he radioed us in each time. We were so scared of the storm, we stopped in Carson City for the night, not confident enough to drive all the way back into Reno. A drive that should have taken 2 -3 hours from Reno took 6 hours for us to get to Kirkwood and back to Carson. The snow plows passed us probably 20 times in the 3 hours we were on that dreadful road.

I didn't fully understand the difference between chains and roads closed. Never again will we drive in such weather, conditions. Never ever again.

The next day all the roads were closed and those few drivers who got through spent as much as 10 hours to get to Sacramento.

It was nice to spend the 2 extra days with Mom & Dad though. Alex and Andy especially enjoyed spending extra time at Circus Circus. But we were very sad to not be able to see everyone else we'd made plans with.

One day we went to the mall where they have a kids wheel. Alex spun for his brothers and won a $10 gift card! He and Andy ended up with some toys from the Disney Store, a set of Power Ranger guns that match his costume. They spent the rest of the trip shooting each other.

We enjoyed a yummy burgers at Mel's Diner with Erin and Geoff, a birthday dinner with my parents at the Olive Garden and a delicious buffet at the El Dorado.

All in all it was a fairly nice vaca -- if you take out all the trauma on the road and the battery we needed jumped to head home. One of those weeks, where we kept telling each other what else can go wrong.

Andy's sharpie

As some of you may remember, shortly after Andy was born, his pediatrician told (and showed) me that "Andrew is very well endowed." Perhaps one of the most well endowed he's seen. At the time, as his mother I commented that I could have gone my whole life content without that knowledge.

During a pull up changing session, I yanked down the pull up a little more roughly than usual as we were in a hurry and noticed a rather large manly part jutting out. "Whoa, are you a little excited, Andy?" He was already squirming uncomfortably."Ah. Mommy, quick you have to fix my penis. Mommy, my penis is broken. My penis is sharp! Mommy make my penis go back down." He actually started to get upset and started frantically groping himself.

"Andrew calm down. Stop touching yourself. If we leave it alone for a second it will stop being um, sharp."He stopped but could have burned holes in himself with how hard he was staring. He relaxed, I pulled his fresh pull up on and we're done.

As we headed into his sibling care class (for Ry to have Kindermusik with other special needs tykes) a little while later, "Mommy, I don't like it when my penis is sharp."

"I know. Its ok, Andy. It won't stay like that." I was certainly blushing, embrassed at this conversation.

"Ok Mommy, but don't let your penis get sharp either."

Ryan playing with Daddy.

One of the approximately 85 pictures Andy took when he got hold of the camera.

Andy mugs for the camera.

This is what Seany does while Sir Ry snuggles with Daddy. He's none the wiser and sleeps in his crib.

Ryan's favorite morning activity -- climbing into bed and sleeping with Daddy.

Alex sleeping sick on the couch.

Sean against the wall had his first time out for hitting Alex while he was sick and sleeping on the couch. Ryan (in the diaper) sympathized with Seany and hung out with him until the time out was over.

Sad Day in Saratoga Springs

Yesterday afternoon a home about a mile from ours exploded. I'm not kidding. The house blew up -- gas leak, pilot light, etc. The couch was on a neighbors roof, pieces of the home were all over that neighborhood.

Apparently a work crew, punctured a gas line nearby and though the gas readings were safe, the owner and gas worker were killed. Her child was outside with the father as she was rushed to the children's hospital as a precaution. The image of that poor man cradling his daughter looking at the rubble that contained his wife's body will be forever tattooed on my brain.

This story is so sad. Its really affected me. A sad reminder of how quickly it can all be over, how a child can be left motherless (so young she won't even be able to remember her), how that poor man will probably forever blame himself for not going in in her stead. The tradegy of this story for me lies in the random, totally pointless deaths of these two normal people.

I'm sorry for sharing such a sad story. I just needed to get it out of my system.

I have an amusing story that I will be sending seperately a little later. It even has a picture!