Smiles!

I just wanted to share a few pictures of the precious smiles that I get to look at every day. I think that I am the luckiest person in the world... I mean how many other people get to hang out with the three cutest kids in the world EVERY DAY!!

I did my best to capture some smiles... ENJOY!

Smiles all around!

Now if those pictures didn't bring a smile to your face, this video surely will! Quinton can turn anything into a guitar. Sorry that it is turned the wrong way for most of it... I almost always forget! I hope you enjoy this and it makes you smile. I think that we have a musician on our hands, he totally has the moves down!

Snow Day!

This is how I left my babies! I am thankful to have gotten on a great schedule with my all my babies. I usually get at least two hours every afternoon where everyone is sleeping. I get to pick up, do some laundry, read my bible, relax... sometimes I even get a nap in! It is always so sweet to watch my babies sleep. I was laughing to myself yesterday when in a matter of two minutes my house went from sweet and silent to three crying babies. It is always an adventure here at the Rude house, but an adventure that I sure love to be on!

My sleeping babies!Quinton looks so big... too big for a pacifier... we will work on that! bad picture but I didn't want to use a flash.

I was washing some dishes and turned my back for a moment only to turn back around to find Quinn eating two muffins and with such a goofy smile on her face. He is such a goof and a joy!

I saw on another moms blog that she let her boys play with their dump trucks and diggers and beans.... well I didn't have beans so I started with rice....I quickly decided that beans were a better option, they are a little easier to clean up! It entertains Quinton for a long time. He uses his digger to push the beans around and puts beans in the back of his dump truck. A wonderful indoor activity!
You would be amazed at all the different positions that I hold the twins while playing with Quinton. You have to be creative when all three need your attention. The babies have quite a bit of awake time these days. They take a little nap in the mornings a long nap in the afternoons and a little one in the evenings but when they are not sleeping they are watching us play trucks, color, read books, build towers, I'm pretty sure that they want to join the fun!

Some really handsome boys!

Quinton is a fabulous big brother. We are working on sharing our toys with friends that come to visit, with me and Dan and also with Rex and Myla. It is good practice for him.
Here he is showing Rex his new digger... the digger is his favorite toy this week!

Quinn likes to help us put the babies in their seats and will even try and hook a carseat on his arm like Dan and I do to carry the babies outside. Quinton is definitely a "monkey see monkey do" boy. He likes to copy us!

Brothers hanging out in the bath!

Rex hanging out in the bath!

My Beautiful MylaBoth Rex and Myla try to put everything in their mouths these days!

Our bathtub is always a colorful mess!

Check out the beautiful neck strength

Rex' favorite toy is this colorful octopus

Myla eating her hands

Rex doing the same.

Myla and Rex

Well, Des Moines got hit with yet more bad weather! The only problem is that when you are a stay at home mom, snow days are not quite as fun as they used to be. Growing up, snow days were longed for. I remember having my friend Caitlin sleep over anticipating a snow day. But today resulted in no music class, no hanging out with my friend Carla, and no dinner and play date with Christy, Leighton and McCabe. I don't mind being home all day, I mean most days we are home all day, but I do look forward to taking Quinn to music class and getting to see friends. Oh well...Praise the Lord for a warm house and beans to play with!

Happy Birthday Heather!

Happy Birthday Heather!

Heather is a good friend of ours that is serving her second tour over seas. She was a tremendous blessing to our family while I was on bedrest and while the babies were in the NICU and after they came home. She always had willing arms to come and hold a baby or run after Quinton! We miss her a lot. She is not expected back to the US until November but we are hoping that the Lord will bring her home sooner. Quinton enjoyed getting to know her this summer/fall so we thought that we would send some birthday wishes over to her! Quinn is only in his diaper in this video because his wonderful gag reflex resulted in losing his dinner all over the couch (which ironically, Heather gave us) so I was washing the couch covers and had taken Quinn's clothes off but obviously had not dressed him again... don't worry Heather, we are taking good care of your couch! We are all so blessed by the willing soldiers who are sacrificing so much for us. Thank you Heather for your service! We miss you a lot!

Heather and I holding the babies when they first came home!

We are enjoying 2010. This week has been so much more enjoyable because of the warmer (I did not say warm... but warmer) weather. We were able to get out of the house a little easier to visit friends, we go to a music class with other moms and kids and even stood outside to watch the garbage truck today... oh the joys of above freezing temperatures. We continue to be making the most of our indoor days. We just discovered stickers (thank you Christy), we have a new found love of legos, making big big towers and then crashing them, any type of coloring (pencils, crayons, markers), but the highlight of our day is when Dan comes home. Usually what happens is Quinn hears the door runs and grabs Dan's hand and drags him off to his room, then when I try and go into the room Quinn either says "bye bye" or "back" meaning go back to the living room. Quinton adores his Dad and the "manly" things they do together like making new ramps for his trucks and wrestling. Dan surprised me with tickets to Broadway's The Lion King this past week. I love the theater so it was a perfect, kid free night with my husband. He is quite the date planner!!

I gave all three babies a bath this morning. Rex and Myla took turns and Quinn played the whole time. This was the end result... my three babies in diapers. Quinton hardly looks like a baby anymore. I can't believe he will be two soon!

I think that bath time will only get more fun as the babies get older. It was fun to let each of the babies sit in the bath for a while. Usually I have a few minutes to get them in and out while Quinn is coloring or playing but today Quinn drove trucks all around the babies bath and Rex and Myla got to enjoy a relaxing bubble bath! Oh that sounds so nice!

Myla hanging out!

Quinton and Myla

Rex... It is so difficult to capture a baby smiling!

Brotherly Bonding Bath Time!

The babies continue to be wonderful. They are both grabbing at toys and do a little giggling. The other day I would laugh and then Rex would laugh and we went back and forth several times, it was a little mother-son moment! Rex seems to chew on anything he can get into his mouth, including his hands, I forget how drooly babies can be! Both Rex and Myla enjoy watching their brother play and of course just being held!

Quinton enjoying some crackers and peanut butter after round one of dinner came back up!

Brought our jumperoo up from the basement this week. With the babies necks getting stronger I figured it would be another place to hang out while Quinton runs around them. I just have to remind him to not bounce the babies, a big temptation!

Rex enjoying the jumperoo!

Quinton and Leighton would be linked at the hip if we let them. We always enjoy getting together for a play date and usually Quinton will talk about it until the next time we get together! It is a blessing having such a good friend with such similar life circumstances! Don't these boys both have great hair... very different but both so handsome!

Quinn trying on a friends hat!

Just hanging out!

Quinton and Myla "boarding" together. As you can see, anything and everything still becomes a skate board!

Myla watching her big brother color... Quinn will have to watch his back pretty soon when they begin moving, nothing will be safe!

I had the privilege of being a bridesmaid in my friends Molly and Brandon's wedding on January 1st. Dan officiated the wedding and did a great job. It was a fun but busy and COLD day. Molly and her son Asa lived with Dan and I when we were first married so we have known each other for a while and it was exciting to get to celebrate with her and Brandon.

Me and my handsome date!

I got to spend a lot of the day with my good friend Keely. We lived together for two years in college but don't get to see lot of each other these days. It was so much fun to get to hang out with her and laugh about the old days!

Heather,Happy Birthday! We miss you very much! We can't wait for you to come home! We will continue to pray for you!

A New Year!

What an amazing year it has been! We have been blessed beyond our imagination and continue to be in awe of our Lord with all the wonderful things that He has given us!

Our family continues to be doing wonderful! Dan and I are as busy as ever but enjoying our kids, our families, our friends, our church. Dan is a busy and amazing husband. I'm not sure how he balances all of his responsibilities but he does a tremendous job. He speaks usually 3 times a weekend at church and his week is filled with tons meetings, preparations for bible study, small groups, church and yet he still has enough energy to come and run around the house with Quinton, help hold and feed Rex and Myla and love and serve me. I am truly blessed to have such a great husband.

Our friend Justin Meyer took some family pictures for us before Christmas. He did a great job! Photographing kids is a difficult job. We had to use fruit snacks to get Quinn to smile normal instead of his squinty smile! You can take a look at all the pictures at Justin Meyer's website.

Quinton's first modeling picture!







Quinton never ceases to amaze us with his many smiles, giggles, new words and curly hair. He has continues to grow in his role as a big brother and makes us very proud with how well he has adjusted to such a huge change. He has new words daily and we have to be careful with what we say because he repeats everything! He has mastered saying and recognizing many colors, his favorite crayon color is black but he also is able to recognize and say pink, blue, purple, red, green, orange, and he knows yellow but it is a hard one to say. I'm not sure when kids normally learn things but I think he is pretty smart! He is also able to recognize and say his "special letter" Q!

He continues to be our little social butterfly. He adores his friends and will do just about ANYTHING if he knows that Leighton is coming over. He will wake up in the morning or from a nap and ask for one of his friends and I have to be the bearer of bad news and let him know that they are not coming over. He has a fantastic memory. I hope that as Rex and Myla get bigger he is as excited to play with them as he is his friends. He is so active, jumping, spinning, running, dancing and constantly keeping us on the go. As I have said before, we are looking forward to warmer weather! I'm not sure how I am going to be able to keep track of three movers come summer but I am thinking that we should invest in sunscreen because I have a feeling we will use a lot of it this summer!




Myla Jane was born fiesty and has stayed true to her role. She loves being held more than anything and will let you know if you're not paying attention to her. She is the strongest 10lb baby I have ever seen and loves looking around. She definitely adds some girlyness to our family. Myla successfully rolled over this past week and loves to practice standing. We are convinced that she will be walking in a month of two :)





Rex is patient and sweet. He always has a smile for me and loves being talked to one on one. He has tipped the scales at 15lbs, which is technically only in the 50% for a 4 month old but still seems so big to us. He quickly followed Miss Myla in rolling over this week. He did not want to be left behind. He is as handsome as ever and still has all his dark hair! I love right after a bath when his hair is all fluffy!



We enjoyed a fabulous week in Arkansas with my family. All of our kids were spoiled. Quinton constantly had someone to play with and Rex and Myla always had willing arms to hold them. Dan and I even went to see a movie while on vacation! It was so wonderful to get to spend a week relaxing and playing with our kids. We also enjoy our trips to Arkansas!
After Arkansas we hopped in the car and headed to Omaha for our annual Faithwalkers conference. Our church had around 500 people attend this year. I didn't get to listen to one session but enjoyed the fellowship and got to spend a lot of time around other moms and their kids. We had lots of time with my friend Christy and her boys Leighton (he is three days older than Quinton) and McCabe (6 months). It is always wonderful to get extended time with friends. Our kids did just about as great as they could have with all of us in one hotel room and being around tons of people. We were very proud of them. I got to put my new stroller to good use. The hotel was connected to the convention center where the conference was so we would put them all in the stroller and walk over every day. It was an encouraging four days for our family and our church!

I think that was have finally settled back into life at home. Trying to unpack almost two weeks worth of stuff while trying to take care of three little kids can take a while but we all have clean clothes and everything is put away. Now we are just enjoying the warmth of our house and waiting to come out of hibernation.

We hope that you all enjoyed your holidays. We have so much to be thankful for. We are a blessed family of five!

Justin also photographed all the Rude grandchildren. Last year there were six grandkids and this blessed family has added four more! Again, it is hard to photograph kids!