Halloween in Pictures

Rachael as "50's Poodle Skirt Girl"... 

Claire as "Good Pink Witch"... 

Hillary as "a Genie"...

Dustin as "an iPhone"...

Kole as "Superman..." 

and Avery as "Cinderella". 

Happy Halloween!!!

Pumpkin Guts

A Day at the Park

Motivation

~Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the floor each morning, the devil says "Oh, crap, She's up!"

FAQ'S

Or more specifically, my answers to much too frequently asked questions that I get everytime I go out with my two little ones.  I think I could practically have my end of this conversation recorded and play it back to the random people we meet.


Yep, they're twins.
Nope, not our first.  They are our 5th and 6th.
Uh huh, I have BOTH hands full.
A boy and girl.
Nope, not identical (REALLY???)
Avery and Kole.
Nope, no matching names.
They're 13 months old.
Born at 33 weeks.
Three weeks in the hospital.
Natural, born 40 minutes apart.
Yes, 40 minutes is a long time :)
No, twins don't run in either family.
Considering we have 4 other children, no we weren't trying for twins.
Yes, a very big surprise.
(A small laugh, to humor them)
Yes, they are very good babies.
Oh really, how old are the twins that your sister/neighbor/friend twice removed has?
How interesting.
Ah, well, I better get going.  It's almost their naptime (not really).
Yes, I think they're cute too.
Thanks.

Toothless Tale

Today, Keith and I were enjoying a nice, quiet morning in Sacrament Meeting…um...yeah right.  Let's try this again.  

This morning, Keith and I were in Sacrament Meeting, wrestling with the twins, trying anything to keep them happy and making sure the other 4 kids were being reverent when Hillary turned toward me with a trail of blood coming from her mouth.   She quickly explained that she had been wiggling her loose tooth out of boredom and decided to push it forward as hard as she could.  I handed her a tissue and we quickly made our way to the bathroom.

I was happy to find that her tooth was laying horizontally in her mouth and when I showed it to Hillary she asked me to "Get it out, Mom!  Get it OUT!!!"  All it took was one little tug and out popped her teeny, tiny tooth.  She was so excited and was screaming so loud I was sure that others could have heard it from the chapel thanks to the echoing of the bathroom.  

What a story she got to tell in Primary today….and here is the end result.

What If?

The Book of Mormon and Cell Phones

Consider what would happen if we created our Book of Mormon like we treat our cell phones…

We would…

carry it around in our purses or back pockets.

turn back and go home if we forgot it.

flip it open several times a day.

spend an hour or more daily using it.

use it to receive text messages.

treat it like we cannot live without it.

give them to our children to use.

keep it with us and use it when traveling.

use it for emergencies.

With the Book of Mormon, unlike with our cell phones, one plan fits all.  There are no usage or roaming charges.  We always have reception and there are no weak signals.

And best of all, we don't need to worry about our Book of Mormon being disconnected.  That is because many heroic men have already paid the bill.

*Taken from FamilyHistoryReport.org

Claire is a Preschooler

It's a good thing we didn't have to wait one more day for preschool to start.  It was hard enough waiting for 12:00 to come.  Claire has been patiently waiting for her turn to go to school since the other kids started a couple of weeks ago.  She was not disappointed, and Mom certainly isn't disappointed that preschool coincides with the twins 2nd nap of the day.  Glad you had a great first day Claire-Bear-Roo-Ski!

What a Difference a Year Makes

 Today marks the one year anniversary of welcoming Avery and Kole home from the hospital.  Were they ever really that small?

In one short, yet very long year they went from this...

…to this!

Kole was born at 5 lbs and 17 1/2" and had grown to 6 lbs 2 oz when he left the hospital.
 Today he weighs 20 lbs 2 oz and is 29 3/4" tall.

Avery was 4 lbs 4 oz when she was born.  When she came home she had grown to 5 lbs 7 oz.
Today she is 19 lbs 2 oz and 28 1/4" long.

Backtracking

Once again it has been several months since my last post.  I can't imagine why I have such a hard time keeping up with this blog, can you?  Take a few minutes and catch up on some of the things that we've been up to.  There are probably plenty of events I have missed, but I think I have hit most of the highlights.

Dustin's Got Braces

We have our first child with braces.  Dustin has a cross bite with his two front teeth and so for the next 5-6 months he has a mouth full of metal.  It's amazing how fast it can work.  He's only had them one week and the out of place tooth has already moved in front of the bottom row of teeth.  Crazy.  Here are a couple of toothy grins :)

Trailer-Blazin'

 This summer Keith and I decided to buy our family a tent trailer.  It makes camping much easier for us.  Don't get me wrong, with the babies it's still quite hard but it gives us a fun way to get out together for a day or two (because that's all we can handle right now).  It sleeps all 8 of us, at least until the kids get a little older and gives us a good place to let the babies down without them eating dirt all day :)  These are pics from the camping trips we took this year.

Back to School

Hillary, 1st Grade

Dustin, 3rd Grade

Rachael, 5th Grade