Our baby....

I had an ultrasound yesterday, so here are some pictures!  I thought everything looked great, but what do I know, most of the time I couldn't tell what in the world she was looking at. :) I don't know how in the world they find the liver and kidneys and everything else that is on the inside.  Amazing!!  Even though it is our fifth baby, everything still amazes me about being pregnant!  I love to feel the movements and see what is going on inside.  God is so amazing and he created us perfectly!!  I am excited to meet this little one, but I am only half-way there so I guess I will wait awhile. :)  No, we didn't find out what it is.  We have never found out, we like the surprise at the end.  Going with our track record, I think it is probably another boy but I really have no idea. :)  God knows exactly what we need and we will be happy with either one! They are all miracles.  (I should remind myself everyday that my kids are miracles because some days I could think of other words to describe them.:)  I love them all!

My Mom's 60th Birthday!

 

My Mom, a wonderful, kind, amazing woman!!  Thursday, the 4th was my mom's 60th Birthday!  My sister and I picked her up on Thursday morning and took her out for breakfast with Anna and Marge.  We had a good time!  

Then we spent the rest of the day shopping.  Always fun!:) 

In the evening, Tim, the kids and Kim's kids came to Mom's and we had pizza.  Gage and Kelsie blew a ladybug (dead) back and forth on the kitchen table!  There were lots and lots of giggles and screams from Gage when he thought it was going to get him. :)  

Mom thought that was all she was going to get for her birthday, but we weren't done yet. ;) 

I had invited all of her siblings to come and surprise her that weekend but due to weather and other circumstances only one sibling could come--her sister Mary.  Shannon, Shae and Annika also came and even surprised me.  He had been sick and so I called him on Saturday morning to see if he was coming or not, and he went on and on about how he still felt awful and that he wasn't coming.  Well a couple of hours later he showed up!  Someday I will get him good! :)  Anyway, Mom was excited to see Mary and we had a party for her on Saturday night.  We all brought gifts to equal 60 total.  She had lots of help opening them.  :)  I love you Mom!!

Our Week (or two)....

Life around our house is never dull, hectic, but never dull.  Here is what a "typical" day in our house looks like.  First off I have been getting into a new habit of getting up an hour to an hour and a half earlier than the rest of my family.  I know, I know, most moms already do this and I used to, but to be honest this past year I have been cherishing every second of sleep that I have gotten.  Therefore, until I hear that yelling on the monitor or feel little hands shaking me and a voice saying, "Mommy, I sleeped really long and now I waked up! Please get up with me", I wasn't getting up.  Anyway, on to my point, I have been getting up early and though it is hard to roll out of bed, I absolutely love it!!  It is the part of the day I most look forward to now.  I can get things done without little ones constantly needing attention, I can have my coffee (which is only half-caf btw:(), and most importantly I have been able to sit down and have devotions without being interrupted or extremely exhausted!  Did I mention that I LOVE coffee!!  It is a weakness but not one I have the strength to work on yet.  Baby steps.  

Next in our day is of course the rest of the family waking up and breakfast, play and cuddles ensue.  The kids all play quite well together with the normal sibling squabbles here and there.  We have told the boys that they are each other's best friend and that they will love each other and be kind to each other.:)  The twins have started to mind a little when the other one takes something away.  It is pretty funny actually, Everett can take something away and Hadyn will just screech and take it back, but if it happens the other way around, Everett just cries like he is brokenhearted.   What does that tell you?!?!:)    They are getting so big and I can't believe they are 11 months old already!!!  Little side note here but by the time you all read this it will be my mom's 60th birthday!!!!  That's right, February 4th!  Happy Birthday, Mom, I love you more than you could ever know!!!    

After the twins go down for a morning nap, the boys and I have school.  It's the part of the day that we all look forward to.  It's nothing major, (after all I am the teacher:), but they are actually learning things and we have a lot of fun. They love to color.  

Then lunch, then naps and then the best part of the day--Daddy comes home!!!  The above picture was taken during a movie and when I left the room the boys were sitting on the couch but apparently something slightly scary happened because when I came back the boys were both in Daddy's lap.  By the time I got my camera, they were giggling at Beethoven.  I love that sound! 

Here is our house, in all it's mess and glory.  Why, you may ask, is the chair ottoman in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room?  Well, whenever I open the dishwasher door, it has this magnetic-like pull on both of my twins.  They both love to climb onto the door and proceed to empty the dishwasher as fast as I can fill it!  So Daddy barricaded them in the living room and gave them raisins to keep them happy.

I have a hard time saying no to their adorable smiles.:)  Hope you enjoy the pictures and hopefully next time I will have something more interesting to blog about.  Oh yeah and if you think about it I would love your prayers for Everett.  He has been really fussy the past few days and had a fever today and I don't know what is wrong.  My prayer is that when I wake up in the morning he is going to be perfectly healthy and fine!  I'll let you know.  Blessings and good night or good morning:)!!!

Time Flies!!

How quickly time gets away from us!  I have not posted in over 2 months--that is horrible!!  My goal from now on is to post once a week--usually on Thursday.  I miss blogging and it helps me remember to write things about my children down when they happen as a way of journaling and saving memories for a lifetime.  

We have been very busy with the holidays and also I don't think I have previously mentioned on my blog that I am once again growing large with baby.  Notice I only said BABY, yes there is only one.  We checked at our first appointment, just to make sure.:)  It was definitely a surprise to us as we thought the twins would be at least 3 when and if we had more.  Turns out they will be a whopping 16 months!!  I am now 17 weeks along and we wouldn't trade this baby for anything.  Just because we didn't plan it doesn't mean that God didn't.  The boys are excited and so are we.  At first when I told Reese that we were going to have another baby, he said sounding quite shocked, "another baby, mom, but we already have 2 babies!"  I love my kids more and more each day and thank God for all of them!  

Another thing new this year is that I have started preschool with the boys.  I intended to only do it with Reese but Gage wants to be involved too so I include him in everything we do as well. We have only done it a few days now but they are both excited every time I say, "Time for school."  It is fun and rewarding for me.  I love spending time teaching them and reading to them and I haven't been able to very much since the twins were born.  Now it is a scheduled part of the day that I look forward to.  

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I hope you enjoyed the pics.  I am sure I have a lot more to say since the last time I blogged but for now I must go and do something else on my never-ending list.:)  Hope you all are having a great day!!  Blessings and love to you all!!

My Silly Little Boy

Yesterday was one of those days.....you know where you don't really feel like doing anything except for going back to bed and sleeping all day.  Three of the kids were up in the middle of the night several times so my night wasn't very restful.  Anyway, I was just kinda having a down day.  But my ornery little two-year-old made me laugh anyway.  (Try not to get a mental picture to go along with this story.:)  So I was just getting ready to get in the shower, and Gage comes running in the bathroom.  He stops when he sees me, starts giggling and says, "Mommy, your tummy looks like an elephant!"  To which I said, "What!?!?"  He said, "It looks like it goes...." and he proceeds to make the elephant sound!  Apparently my stomach and my belly button add up to looking like a saggy baggy elephant!!  Thank-you Hadyn and Everett!!  Anyway, despite receiving such a wonderful complement, I had to chuckle! 

Last week Tim and I came home from Missouri and the boys were all in bed.  When Gage got up the next morning, I gave him a big hug and told him I missed him and he said, "yeah you did."  :) 

My kids bring joy and humor to my days (most of the time)!

How can you resist such a smile!

Eight months old!!

Today the twins are 8 months old!! I can hardly believe that only 8 months ago they were so tiny!  On the other hand I can hardly believe that it has already been 8 months!  Sadly I do not have enough time or energy to post any pictures tonight (I will soon), but I just thought you should all know we are alive and well.  I took the twins to the doctor today for a well baby check and they are growing perfectly.  Everett weighs 18 1/2 lbs. and is 29in. long and Hadyn weighs 18lbs. and is 28in. long.  Everett is starting to level off with his weight mostly because the little boy CANNOT SIT STILL!!  He crawls under and over everything and is starting to pull himself up to stuff and then proceeds to fall and cry!:)  So as you can tell instead of blogging I have been saving him from falling, kissing his bonks on the head, rescuing dead ladybugs from his mouth, rescuing tiny toys his brothers leave lying around from his mouth as well as Hadyn's mouth, and making sure they are not eating dirt or chewing on shoes, and feeding them lots of new foods, and taking adorable pictures of them, and doing all of their laundry, and many many many other things that my brain is too tired to think of right now.  
I have so many pictures and stories to post and hopefully soon I will have more time to post them. Until then, I hope you all are doing well and having a wonderful November.  Oh and Congratulations to my cousin, Liz who just had a beautiful baby boy!!  I love his name, which I won't even type right now because I have no idea how to spell it, but it is adorable!  I will get back to you on that!  Aren't I annoying!?  :)  I need sleep, must go!!

Comin' Through

The twins are definitely on the move!!  Life is very busy around here, making sure that they are not into something that they are not supposed to be into or that they are not eating whatever droppings they can find.  The boys are quickly learning that they can't leave small toys and cheerios, etc... on the floor.  Hadyn still loves eating paper and Everett will eat anything that he can get into his mouth.  He finds microscopic crumbs on the dining room floor and then chokes on them.  I don't remember my boys being quite so scavenger-like.  :)  He also likes to crawl into or over anything and everything.  Neither one of my first two boys were climbers and I was very thankful for that.  Apparently now it's my turn.  
Everett also loves to crawl over his sister.  In this picture there was actually something to get to on the other side of her but usually there isn't, he just likes to crawl over her. 

                                  Poor Hadyn!

Oh and to clarify, they aren't crawling normally yet.  He army crawls and she army crawls with only one arm and one leg.  Yeah, it is as funny as it sounds. :)  He has crawled a little bit for real, but it takes him to long and he can army crawl with lightening speed (okay just too fast for mommy to keep up:).  

Everett really and truly said "Mama" yesterday!  The first couple of times I thought it was a fluke, but Tim heard him say it a couple of times as well!  He is the first one to say Mama before Dada!  Yay for me!!  He is only a little over 7 months!  They are growing so fast!  I will have more to come of all our adventures this summer, soon.