Lucky 22!

Hi all! Welcome to the last week of January - can you believe it?

Three (not just one) Things We Are Thankful For This Week:

1.) We, the Tweryon girls are thankful for a wonderful husband and daddy who works hard each day to support his family. I never really thought I would be a stay at home mom, and obviously money is a little tighter now that I am, but I am so thankful for the opportunity to be home with my girls. On Wednesday, we had a thank you party for Brian during his lunch. The girls were so funny. They put on party dresses and made place mats, cards and punch for the party. We even had to put candles in the brownies (made in my Perfect Brownie Pan, LOVE IT!)

2.) Grandparents -- Without our children's WONDERFUL grandparents we would not have been able to enjoy a fun weekend away. We are so thankful that our children have such great grandparents in their lives.

3.) Great Friends!!! This weekend was an absolute blast. We are blessed to have such great friends in our lives. I don't think I have laughed that hard in a very long time. It was so nice to spend some quality time with them this weekend.

Someone To Keep In Your Prayers This Week: Stuart and Jackie Blade (My brother and sister-in-law). They have their 20 week appointment this week. Not only will they find out the sex of the baby, the doctor will be looking to make sure everything is going ok. Please keep their growing family in your prayers.

Something Fun We Did This Week: This weekend was so much fun! I think we may try to do a ski trip every year. We stayed at the Jumer's Casino and Hotel in Rock Island. When we arrived and walked through the front doors we were in the casino. I knew they would have a casino in the hotel but I didn't think it would a.) be that big and b.) be staring right at you when you walked in the door. It was a little overwhelming and very noisy. For those of you that know me, know that I am not a risk taker. I have never gambled before and really don't have the desire too. On Friday night, the girls were listening to the band play and talking when Brian walks in with a ticket for $286.75!!! He put in five bucks and bet 1.25 and won big! Woohoo! Well, a little later... I was walking by the roulette table and stopped to watch. I had been joking all week that I was gonna bet on red and let it ride. I guess I was trying to talk gamble talk. Anyway, as I'm watching I decide to put five bucks on red. I win. Let's try this again. I win again. I'm up 40 bucks now and getting kind of excited. For whatever reason, I lean over to Brian and tell him the number 22 seems lucky. He tells me to play it, but I'm nervous. The table person (what are they called?) throws the ball and it's spinning and spinning. I put one of my five dollar chips on red or black (don't even remember) and one on the number 22. The ball lands and all I'm looking at is the color. I lost. It was the wrong color. Oh well. Then the lady next to me says "YOU WON!" I continue to tell her no I didn't, it's the wrong color. Oh my goodness, it landed on 22! I could not believe it. What are the odds of that happening? Well they are 35 to 1 and I walked away with $175! Let's just say that our entire weekend was paid for. We came home with more money than we went with. I did not see that happening.

On Saturday we headed out around ten and arrived at Snow Star. It was completely dead. There were maybe 30 people skiing/tubing all day. When we were getting all of our gear, they told us we were the only group that didn't cancel. The weather was decent. It did not rain like it was supposed to. The snow however was pretty icy which made me nervous enough not to ski. The boys went skiing or snowboarding and the girls tubed. They had a huge tubing hill with three lanes and it was so much fun. You had to ride a conveyor belt up to the top of the hill which took a little getting used to especially when you got to the top and the wind was blowing. Did I mention you had to stand? We all had a blast. We tried tubing by ourselves, with pairs and even as a group of 7. That was my favorite. We all linked together and went down as one big group. They had a big air tube at the bottom to stop you from going too far. We crashed into it many times but our last run was the worst. We went down with five tubes and we were going faster than we had all day. We knew we were headed for the tube but there wasn't much we could do. Erica hit first, then the rest of us slammed into her pushing her further under the tube. Jessi got kicked in the face and Devin's neck was bent the wrong way. I was screaming for Erica because I didn't hear anything for her and was worried. Turns out she couldn't talk because she was laughing too hard. We all laughed after finding out everybody was ok. We went out with a bang, that's for sure. Here are some pictures of our weekend.

Here is a picture of the the conveyor belt we had to ride to the top of the hill. It took about two minutes to get to the top. The man working at the bottom said they will be adding a railing this year.

Some Things I Learned This Week:

1.) You DO NOT take pictures inside a casino. Yep, learned that one the hard way. I was told that I might post it on my facebook page, or somewhere else and so and so might see a picture of "Joe" who isn't supposed to be gambling anymore. Blah, Blah, Blah. I'm just an excited mom trying to take an excited face picture for my blog. Here is a picture of my excited face from OUTSIDE the casino.

2.) You DO NOT walk between tables at a casino. I saw Brian and was just trying to get to him. Normally you take the shortest route, not walk all the way around, right? Well, not at a casino. The people in the black suits were not very happy with me. I guess I didn't read my rule book well enough.

3.) Certain slot machines have reservations and invitations. Are you serious? This group of machines was really crowded and I kept hearing times being called out. I finally asked and they showed me their invitation with their reservation time. I don't get it!

4.) When you win big, WALK AWAY! I saw people losing money left and right this weekend. I wasn't trying to be nosy but when you see someone put hundreds of dollars in a machine and walk away with nothing, it made even me sick. This one couple that was sitting next to me said they had lost a "couple grand" already. Wow! I guess that's why they have gambler's anonymous for those that are addicted. Yes, winning was fun --don't get me wrong, but I don't see myself frequenting a casino too many times in my life.

Hadley's Hoorays: I asked Hadley what her hooray was for the week and she happened to be helping me clean toys at the time, so that was her hooray. "I am being a good helper." She really is a good helper around the house. She especially likes to "wash" the windows, dust and help me clean toys. Hadley and Brooke also managed to be the best of friends and worst enemies all in the same day. Wow! They are definitely frick and frack around here.

Brooke's Blessings: Brooke's blessing this week is that she finished the week unharmed. I tell you what, that child seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time all week long. She was kneed in the head by Brian while he was taking off his sock, smacked in the face with the front door, run over by her sister, burnt by candle wax during our thank you lunch, knocked over by sheets that were being thrown into the hallway to be washed. I can't even think of the rest, but it was a pretty traumatic week for Brooke. And, no she did not fall off the chair. That was not one of them. She even had this look on her face that almost said "Are you kidding me?" Yowza! I'm gonna wrap her in bubble wrap to protect her. This picture on the right, needs explaining. We have the girls give each other kisses before bed and naps. This week Brooke decided that she would give everything a good night kiss. Walls, doors, pillows, blankets, books, etc... Here she is giving the wall a kiss before naps. She is so funny.

Kami's Kudos: Kami is climbing the growth chart! She now weighs 11 lbs. 11 oz. She is the 35th percentile not the 5th or 10th anymore. Yay!!! She was pretty small for a while because her body was using most of her energy to fight the urinary tract infections, and she wasn't putting on the pounds like she should. She's gonna need to beef up to keep up with her sisters.

Here is our family picture for the week. We hope you have a great week. Is it Spring yet?

***Note: I guess you can still leave comments? Click on the 0 comments and it should take you to where you can type a comment.

Pinkalicious and Barack-Lee

Well folks…we’ve got a long blog this week. Hang in there.

Something We Are Thankful For This Week: INSURANCE! INSURANCE! INSURANCE! I went to pick up a prescription for Brooke the other day and they told me I needed to pay 64 dollars. Yikes! I forgot that with a new year comes a new deductible. I had gotten used to not having to pay when I picked up a script. Our yearly deductible will be met in about a week when we pay for Brooke’s Synagis shot. She gets a monthly shot through the winter months that helps prevent any deep respiratory infections. This shot is a $2000 shot. Yep, you read that right $2,000! I guess if you are going to meet a deductible, you might as well do it early. Brian has really good insurance through his work (Thank God!). Once we pay for this month’s shot, we pay nothing for the rest of the year. I can’t imagine what our lives would be like without good insurance. I am so thankful that I can take my children to who I want, where I want and when I want.

People To Keep In Your Prayers This Week:
The Groesch Family – Dr. Groesch was my orthodontist and we went to church with his family. His daughter Sarah and son Mark were friends of ours. Mark passed away on Saturday. Please pray for strength and comfort for his parents and family.
Brian and Heather Tweryon. Ok, so you don’t have to officially start praying until Friday around noon. Brian and I exchanged a few small gifts this year, but our big gift to each other was a ski trip. I had wanted to go for years. It was supposed to be a surprise to me, but if you know Brian Tweryon at all, you know that he can’t keep a secret. We are going with 14 of our close friends this weekend and I am super excited. I am also super nervous. I CANNOT get hurt. It just can’t happen. Oh, I hope I didn’t just jinx myself. Please keep our safety and the safety of our friends in your prayers.

Something Fun We Did This Week: Each of the big girls had a gift card to Build-A-Bear in the mall. So, on Thursday night we took Hads and Brookie out on a family date night. Kami stayed with Nana and Papa. I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t have appreciated family date night just yet anyway. We started our evening at Hadley’s favorite date restaurant, O’Charley’s. We like O’Charley’s because kids eat free everyday. After dinner we went to the mall so the girls could build their bears. Funny thing is neither of them chose a bear. Hadley picked out a pink unicorn she appropriately named “Pinkalicious.” Brooke chose a brown bunny that Hadley named “Brownalicious.” Again, how appropriate. Hadley really liked the experience of stuffing, washing and dressing her unicorn. Brooke really didn’t care about building her bunny. She didn’t want to hold the bunny let alone stuff it, wash it or dress it. We couldn't go to the mall without riding the carousel. Hadley wanted to ride on the top level, which I really don’t recommend. Brian had to move around a few horses to take a picture of Brooke and me and about fell down the stairs! I will not be posting that picture because I was laughing so hard and look plain goofy. We all enjoyed our family date, especially getting to spend quality time with our girls. I’m just ready for it to warm up so we can enjoy time outside.

Something We Accomplished This Week: Ok, this one is two somethings I accomplished this week. 1.) I finally took every picture that I have taken in the last two and a half years and got them off of our computer. I have been freaking out that our computer would crash and I would lose everything. Most of them are saved to different CD’s but recent pictures (from October to the present) were still only on our computer. I found two really big – 32 gig big – flash drives and saved them all to those. I feel better knowing that all of our pictures are safe in one spot, as long as we don’t lose the flash drives J 2.) This next accomplishment I am pretty proud of. I, by myself, all alone, just me took all three of my girls to visit my mom at work and to Wal-Mart! Friday morning I packed everybody up and we left our house. My goal was to be on the road at ten and at 9:58 we were all strapped in and ready to go. Yay me! Three kids is definitely hard work when you are by yourself. I am outnumbered big time and it’s pretty nerve racking making sure everyone is where they need to be. We surprised my mom at work and visited with people there. After leaving Nana, we headed to Wal-Mart where I needed ONE thing. I am not crazy enough to attempt an actual grocery trip with three children by myself. I wouldn’t have been able to fit anything in the cart, by the time you get Brooke, the diaper bag, the suction machine and eventually Hadley in the basket part. Hadley started out walking, but ended up riding in the cart. Brian did meet us at the McDonald’s for a quick lunch. After Brian left, Hadley announced that she had to go to the bathroom. I packed everybody into the cart and we headed to the bathroom. Of course the one at the front of the store was being cleaned so we had to walk all the way to the back of the store to use the family restroom. And what do you know that one was occupied. We waited for about five minutes with no signs of anyone coming out. We finally went to the regular restroom and used the big stall with the door open. If I had a dollar for people’s thoughts, I would have made quite a bit of money on this shopping trip. I know what people are thinking, but no one ever says anything. Yes, sometimes life is crazy, but it’s our life and I love it! We had a successful outing and it was good practice for this summer when we have lots of fun things planned. Like this…we are going to Florida for a week! Oh my! I even think we are crazy for this one but I am really looking forward to it. We will go down a few weeks after our niece or nephew is born, sometime in the middle of July. We might even plan a trip to Disney!

Hadley’s Hoorays: You will all be relieved to know that Miss Hadley had a much better week this week. Hooray for Hadley! She was a super great listener and was very kind to both of her sisters. She likes to “babysit” Brooke for me when I need to go to another room for something. You know, because our house is so big and I can’t hear anything from the other room J Her favorite thing to play right now is Ariel and Ursula from Disney’s The Little Mermaid. She is Ariel and I am normally Ursula (or King Titan) and I take her voice away. “Ariel” and Brooke then try to find their voices. It’s pretty cute to watch Brooke tap her throat because her voice is gone too. Most of the time, Ursula is hiding under Hadley’s bed where we spray her with purple water and take their voices back. Hadley has quite a vivid imagination. I do have one cute story to share. Hadley and I were snuggling the other night and I was flipping through the channels when we saw President Obama on T.V. I asked her who that was and she said she didn’t know. Normally she says “McBama.” She has called him that since the campaign when she combined Obama and McCain. Well, after she told me she didn’t know, I said Barack to which she said “Lee.” Get it? Barack-Lee. Broccoli. Cute, huh? On Saturday afternoon Brian and I took Hadley to her first movie. We saw The Princess and the Frog. Hadley did really well and the movie was good. Aside from the two year old screaming in Brian’s ear and Hadley announcing that she had to poop, we had a great time. We had forgotten why we don’t go to movies though. It cost Brian and I $7.50 each to get in. When I explained that Hadley was three and asked what the child’s rate was. The boy behind the counter told me it would cost her $7.25. Wow, what a discount for kids. This was the 12:45 show too. It’s not like we went at 7:00 at night. Movies are expensive!

Brooke’s Blessings: Brooke, Brooke, Brooke. We watched home videos on Friday night and the blessing I choose for Brooke this week is just Brooke. I was brought to tears as we watched videos from her in the hospital. (I can only watch the videos from July 08 to the present. Younger videos of her are too tough for me to watch just yet.) As I watched the videos I can’t get over how far she has come this year. It’s like watching a different child. We watched her sit up, roll over, stand for the first and jump in her jumper. I am so proud of her continued strength and amazed at the obstacles she is overcoming. She continued to use the big girl potty this week too. Her cue that she needs to go is lifting up her shirt. It took me a few days to figure it out but now that I know her signal, she goes about three times a day. With Brooke being unplugged and because she wears a speaking valve, her language has really started to improve. She now repeats words when you say them and is using more words appropriately. Here is a video of her talking, but not saying the words I ask her too. This is Brooke being a total goof ball, which is pretty typical. She really does keep us laughing.






Kami’s Kudos: Kudos to Kami for not having an infection! I took a sample of Kami’s urine to Memorial Hospital on Tuesday. I was convinced that she had a UTI, but thankfully it came back normal. I was really surprised. We continue to give her an antibiotic each night and keep our fingers crossed that she doesn’t get another infection. In other news, she hasn’t rolled over yet, but she is getting close. While in her crib the other day, she managed to spin her self completely around several times.




We wish you a wonderful week. We had a family game night tonight where we made an obstacle course for the girls to try. It included a tunnel, a limbo pole, and a blanket fort. Here is our weekly Tweryon picture while taking a break from game night. Thanks for reading!

A Week of Hoorays, Blessings and Kudos!

Something We Are Thankful For This Week: We are thankful that we have a warm house to protect us during these bitter cold temperatures. The few times I did get out this week, I was cold just walking to the car.



Something Fun We Did This Week: We were confined to our house for most of the week, so that left lots of time to fill. We made homemade Play-Doh that smelled like grapes (and if you ask Brooke, probably tasted like grapes,too), we made snowmen by gluing cotton balls and we played with snow and made snow ice cream. Snow ice cream is actually very good and tastes a lot like homemade. It was my favorite fun thing of the week!

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Note: Check out Hadley's clothes. These are her "Betty Blah Blah Day" outfits.

When we don't have anywhere to go we call it a "Betty Blah Blah Day."

Most of the time, she is wearing something from Brooke's drawer.

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Something We Accomplished This Week: Kami’s room was used as Christmas central this year. I hid and wrapped presents back there and it’s been a mess since. On Saturday, the entire family piled into her room and we began sifting through the mess. I will admit that having two girls “help” doesn’t really help that much. While I put away clothes that were too small for Kami now, the girls took them out to put on their babies. At one point there were six babies in Kami’s crib and clothes were all over the floor. While we didn't finish the job, it looks a lot better than when we started.




Hadley’s Hoorays: Oh, where do I begin with Hadley? I thought it was called the terrible twos not threes!?!? This was a pretty trying week in the world of Heather and Hadley. I guess my hooray is that this week is over. :) She had a snow day on Thursday and by the end of the week we were both suffering from some pretty serious cabin fever. Hadley has recently decided that she doesn't want to listen or follow directions. She actually told me she didn’t like me because I don't give her treats whenever she wants them! If that doesn't hurt your mommy feelings, I don't know what will! Am I that bad of a mom for wanting my daughter to eat a healthy meal every once in a while? I definitely have a very strong-willed three old. Will she be 30 and still eating just cottage cheese for dinner or will she decide to add a little more variety to her diet? I am pretty sure that she might soon turn into a curd of cheese. However, this morning at 3:00 as she's climbing into our bed, she says "but I love you and just want to be with you" when asked why she doesn't want to sleep in her bed. Maybe I should feed her then when I'm on her good side. A real hooray for Hadley this week...we have been focusing on our alphabet and she knows 20 of her 26 capital letters by sight and is getting pretty good at writing her name. If I can figure it out I will scan her next attempt into the computer and upload it onto the blog.

Brooke’s Blessings: Brookie came down with some sort of cold/sinus infection this past week. Her nose was running like crazy and she had a cough. We chose to keep her plugged in to her vent for a few days until she got over it. This might not seem like a blessing, but I remember back to last year when she would get sick. She would require a lot more support from the vent as well as breathing treatments and oxygen. As I’m typing this she is running around the house being chased by her sister. I think she is feeling better. Also, Brookie used the big girl potty three times this week. The first time was a total fluke and you could tell she had no idea what she was doing by the look on her face. The next two times she actually walked over to the potty and pointed so we had her sit down. What do ya know, she peed! She had to put on big girl underwear after that (over her diaper of course). On Wednesday, Brian and I took Brooke out for a special day. We went to the mall and walked and walked and walked. She loved waving at everybody, but especially loved riding the carousel and those little coin operated cars. We spent most of our time chasing after her, but it was definitely good exercise for her (and us)!

Kamdyn’s Kudos: Kami is a super happy baby! Her smile lights up a room and she is really starting to “talk.” Here is a video of our happy little Kami Lu.








Brian had his first glimpse of what life in a house with four women will be like during the teenage years. All three girls plus mommy had baths/showers this morning and there was NO hot water left for him. Poor daddy!






We are two for two with our family pictures this year. Here is the next installment of the Tweryon Five in 2010. It's something just a little different, and it turned out pretty neat, I think. Enjoy your week. We will appreciate the warmer temperatures by Wednesday. 38 will feel downright balmy!

Happy New Year... Now Let's JUST DANCE!!!

Our family of five rang in the new year in three separate places this year.







Kami spent the night with Nana and Papa Blade and Uncle Stuart and Aunt Jackie. A nice quiet evening was enjoyed by all and if I remember anything about being 14 weeks pregnant, I really didn't care about making it to midnight. This also meant I enjoyed a quiet night too!


Hadley and Brooke had a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa Tweryon's with cousin Ellie. All three girls had a great time complete with sparkling apple juice, punch, appetizers, crowns and noise makers. "Midnight" occurred around 8:00 but the night didn't end there. When we picked up the girls the next morning, Grandma and Grandpa's house was, well, let's just say you could tell three little girls had been there!

That leaves Brian and me. We spent our new year's at the Lovett's. The grown up girls enjoyed some much needed girl time and the boys played a little dice. We are thankful for great friends to enjoy great times with. We got a new game for our Wii that I would definitely recommend! It's called Just Dance and it's a fun one. You follow along with the dancer on the screen and you get points for how well you do. Here are Courtney, Jessi, Devin and I enjoying a game.



Let's just say the boys enjoyed laughing at us and I know a couple videos were taken, which I am definitely putting up here! Hadley, Brooke and I played a quick game this morning and I hate to admit that Hadley beat me! We were dancing to the song "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" and she beat me. I was dancing, she was "dancing" (or running around trying to dance) and she beat me! What the heck?!?

The Tweryon Five are trying something this year. We are taking a family picture every Sunday. It doesn't matter what you are wearing, what you look like or where you are, a family picture must be taken. At the end of the year we are going to put them into a book. If it isn't a total pain we might just try it every year. Here is our first picture. It was taken right before we got the girls ready for bed, because we almost forgot. We aren't off to a very good start! Ha! We'll see how this goes. Happy New Year from the Tweryon's.

Good-bye 2009, Hello 2010!

2009 flew by. It really doesn't feel like that long ago we were all worried about Y2K and here it is 2010. Where does the time go? As I look back on this year, I can't help but think of the last two. Brooke will be two years old in just a couple months and I can't believe how quickly the time has passed. When your life is completely turned upside down, you are naturally filled with many questions --Why us? What did we do wrong? What could I have done differently? What are we going to do now? How are we going to get through this? All of these questions and about a thousand more have run through my brain at least a million times over the last two years.

Our situation has forced me to become a stronger person. I am definitely different than I was two years ago. I live life in a different way. I parent in a different way. I even shop in a different way. All because of Brooke. I truly believe that ALL things happen for a reason. I haven't quite figured it out yet, but things do. I believe God gave us perfect little Hadley for a reason. She has blessed our lives in so many ways and understands that we do things just a little bit different than everybody else. Brooke is our miracle. We received a pretty grim prognosis for her life and she is defying the odds. She has definitely been my teacher. And, Kami - sweet Kami. What a surprise blessing. We are so thankful she is healthy.

Almost every aspect of our lives has changed, but we are not letting it change our lives. We still want the best for our daughters. We still share special days with them, laugh with them, play around with them, snuggle with them. We still love them with all our hearts. I am in awe of my children. How such beautiful little creatures can fill your heart with so much love amazes me. Being a parent has challenged me in ways I never expected. I have seen valleys and peaks - sometimes in the same day. And, I thank God for each and every day. I look forward to what 2010 has to offer. Welcome to a new year!