Wednesday, October 15, 2014

These Babies....

The babies are now 3 1/2 months old and they just get cuter and cuter! I must have mom-goggles because, seriously, come on....look at them....I die.  Not only are they ridiculously adorable, but they are rockstar babies - they are now sleeping for 8-11 hours straight each night, plus another 2-4 hours before they stay up for the day.

We are getting into the really fun stage where they are smiling lots and are building their social skills. Abigail laughs out loud and Henry does this funny growl/grunting. Those are the moments are definitely my "mama paychecks." We are moving out of the newborn stage and into the infant stage - instead of taking a million little naps during the day, Abigail and Henry take 3 big naps a day. (If I can keep a tight schedule.) And what would be a blogpost without shamelessly posting photos of my beautiful children.....

Happy 2 Months (August 2014)
Happy 3 Months! (September 2014)
Happy 3 Months! (September 2014)
Looking at all of these photos, makes me want to go upstairs and wake them up and squeeze them. But, then I come back to my senses and realize that this is my ONLY free time.....enjoy the quiet moments alone. :)
Relaxing at the park while big brothers play.

Henry playing with big brother, Josiah
Abigail & big brother, Miles  (wow, I still have a hard time with the realization that Miles is a BIG brother!!)
On September 28, Jason gave the babies a "name & a blessing" at Church. They were beautiful blessings full of promises for their future. I took lots of notes & shed a few tears of happiness during their blessings. We had an army of friends and family who showered us with love & support that day. Not only was it the perfect blessing day, but we also celebrated Jason's 33rd birthday with "Lemon Frozen Dessert" from the Burnham family.





KINDERGARTEN!!

About a month or two ago (my days are kind of a blur....it was either August or September....) Arlo & Josiah started Kindergarten at River Heights Elementary! The week before starting we had a chance to visit the classroom, meet the teacher and check out their awesome name tags all over the room.  The night before the boys started school, we went to the store and picked out "hunting" backpacks and got haircuts and baths. The first day of school was quote, "AWESOME!"  Arlo & Josiah spent the next week strutting around and bragging to strangers about how they are now kindergardners. :) It was pretty darn cute.





Since that first day, Arlo & Josiah continue to love school, make new friends and excel at academics. Monday is computer day and Tuesday is library day. They come home with a homework packet each Monday and spend a little time each day completing it before the next Monday rolls around. They've already participated in a fire drill and today they had a fireman visit their classroom for fire safety week. Their teacher is Ms. Jelke and has loads of personality, energy and patience. I went to parent-teacher conference last week and  Ms. Jelke said "Your boys are not the 'sit-in-front-of-tv' type. Arlo and Josiah are adventurous and creative." I sure love those boys and are so proud of them. I hope they always love school as much as they do right now.


Our 2nd Annual "First day of School Ice Cream" Trip. (Cold Stone Creamery)

I'm THAT lady! Sympathy Discounts.

That's it....it's official folks....I have become that "poor lady"....the one that gets sympathy discounts without even asking. The mom who is obviously so overwhelmed that people give her a discount, just because. I didn't want to believe it, but it's happened twice in the past week. The first time is when I rolled into Les Tire Center with a half-flat tire. A nail had punctured my tire and air was quickly leaking out. I asked the man how much to fix it - $15 - totally reasonable. In fact, I would have paid twice that price to make sure that I didn't get stranded on the side of the road with 5 small children while my husband was working out of state. When the job was done, he said that it was free. SWEET! I drove away, all proud of myself & thinking that I was hot stuff - still had the charm & good looks to get free stuff.

Haha....And then a few days later.....

It was a CRAZY BUSY day (not counting the fact that I had 5 small children to care for.) I needed to grocery shop and get the house cleaned/prepped for several guests who would be staying with us for the week and Jason was MIA getting ready for his annual work banquet. In fact, I didn't have time to do my hair, makeup, or even put a bra on. I was pretty ratty looking in my sweatshirt & jeans, but it was bottom of my priority list. Moving on....

Our van battery was having trouble the past few days, but Jason was able to clean off the corrosion that we believed to be the problem. So, I jump-started the van & took the kids to school. Then jumpstart #2 when I picked them up. Jumpstart #3 at the school.  We headed to Wal-Mart because tampons & diapers can't wait for daddy to come home. So, I drag all 5 kids with me through the aisles of Wal-mart (Please visualize 1 shopping cart, 1 double stroller & 3 kids walking with me - I look like a circus.) After getting diapers, tampons & only the critical groceries we head to the check-out, only to realize that I left my purse SOMEWHERE in WALMART!!! CRAP! We wander through the entire store searching until we get word that someone turned in my purse at customer service. All money still in my wallet - tender mercy of the Lord.

We get to the van in the parking lot and Surprise! Dead Battery AGAIN. (Just kidding, I wasn't really surprised at this point.) Oh, I should mention, every time I have a dead battery, my fancy sliding doors don't open....so we have to all climb in through the driver/passenger doors....and baby carseats too. So, I load up kids & groceries through the front seat while we wait for a shopper to return to a neighboring parked car. Nice lady parked next to me jumpstarts the van (#4) and I FINALLY get the brains to drive to Autozone. The guy tests my battery and it's bad (Duh!). So, I purchase a new one & the man installs it for me while the big kids are whining in the backseat and babies are screaming bc it's time for them to eat. Who knows what I even looked like at this point - it must have been pretty bad because the man gave me 10% off my battery purchase. I drive home and silently cry a few tears because I'm SO tired.

So....yes, I love to post happy/funny/cute photos of my children. And I like to put on a front that life is easy breezy & filled with rainbows.  I feel like Facebook should be filled with happiness - not a place to complain.  But let's face it moms.....we all have those days. Tomorrow will be better and we'll laugh when we tell the story. :)

Our Middle Child

With all the excitement of have 2 sets of twins, sometimes our sweet middle child gets overlooked. So, to make up for it, here's a whole post on my charming Miles.

Miles is only 2 1/2 years old, but he can keep up with Arlo & Josiah as well as any other 5 year old. Anything they can do, he can do it too (or so he thinks). One day he will grow up and realize that he isn't a triplet with A&J. lol. 

Seriously, this kid is AWESOME! I don't care what kind of trouble he is causing or the ridiculousness of his temper-tantrum, he melts my heart. I can't say no to him. And if you haven't noticed, he LOVES the camera.



While I was taking this photo, he was waving his bat around and saying "I get the orange zombies & I eat them!!"


He would follow his older brothers to the moon.

Our Official "Welcome to the World" Announcement: