.... As Time Goes By .....

As Time goes by...and by, and by...with no posts.

2011-03-24T22:44:00.011-05:00

Time to get the ball rolling again.

For now how 'bout a video of my girls from about 10 months ago. New enough right?! I don't think ever I posted it here anyway. (Okay after waiting too long for it to load I gave up...try the link at the end of the post. That'll get you there.)

Where to go from there? I don't know where to begin. Here is an awesome quote:

Quote of the Week: Avrie yesterday said, "When I grow up I want to be an astronaut that sells old fashioned nutcrackers in outer space."

Brag worthy: Report cards and parent teacher conferences were this week. It's official. My kids are way smarter than I was at their ages. Also, they have started taking a Spanish class and are LOVING it.

Other Happenings: Got released from YW Pres last week. Mixed emotions because I love the girls, but glad to have more evenings home with my family. KO is now in the stake YM. I am a VT. I like that...a lot.

Birthdays: We celebrated KO's 46th this week. We love birthdays around here...and we especially love him! We went out as a family to a middle eastern restaurant for dinner and came home to presents, cake and ice cream. His favorite gift was a cool "fashion hat" as the girls call it. =) Pictures to come!

Random Alison thoughts: Getting the itch to travel. Where to go? I'm thinking France for some reason. The girls' little Spanish words and phrases won't help us there. Neither will K's German. My high school French won't either for that matter! K has a meeting in turkey coming up that I could go tag along for free. Istanbul though? I hear it is great, but not on my top 10 places to visit. Call me unadventurous. Truth be told, I'm too chicken to leave my girls, afraid I'll orphan them. Totally irrational but a true fear of mine. I've missed tagging along to some really cool places these past years to stay home with my girls, but that is okay. We always said we would go later and visit those cool places as a family rather than leaving the kids at home. They are getting close to the age where we can start doing that. Today I pulled out our old travel photo album and showed the girls our pictures from our travels before they were born. I think that is where the itch comes from tonight. Guess we'll hold out for a not so free whole family tag along to a meeting somewhere else. Any meetings in France, Germany or Spain coming up? Didn't think so. Not so interested in taking the the whole family to Istanbul though. Oh, we ARE taking a trip soon to see my brother in Dallas. Dallas IS on my top 10 places to visit. Can't wait to see our cousins! After that...we'll just have to see! Kind of fun to dream about.

Video update: Okay already! How long does it take to load a video on blogger for crying out loud! FOREVER! I think I better just go to bed. Maybe you won't see the video of my girls from 10 months ago after all. I'll try posting a link. Try this. Good night. =)

How's that for a random jump start back into the blog! More to come soon...I promise! =)

Happy New Year!

2011-01-11T13:47:00.003-06:00

Wishing you all a HAPPY 2011!

Click here to see a video recap of our 2010. It indeed was was a very good year and we have much to be greatful for.

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-11-28T16:13:00.008-06:00

If you count the girls in the picture above, there are a few extra sitting around making candy houses while the turkey cooks. The "extras" belong to my friend Rachel. Rachel and I have been friends since our days together back at the BYU. We were roommates and what a wonderful roommate she was! I tell you she hasn't changed either! She is so much fun and just an outstanding person. She and her husband and four daughters joined us for Turkey Day this year. I am thankful for good friends and especially Rachel and her family!

Looks like I was on the wrong end of the photo here. Nice hair everyone has don't you think? =)

I had to snap this photo...two reasons.. 1) the giant drumstick on Addie's plate 2) It is now official that she is allergic to Amoxacilin. If you look closely you will see the "freckles" she has all over her face and hands. Luckily her reaction wasn't beyond the hives. Sweet Adeline, I'm so glad and thankful that you will be fine.

So I tried a new recipe this year that was just too good not to share. Here it is if you are curious. YUM! You won't be sorry!

Also made the famous Dixie Salad and it was a favorite (apples, oranges, grapes, pomegranite, marshmellows and whipped cream all mixed up together). I tried a few Pioneer Woman recipes. I liked the cranberry sauce a lot but was so-so on the green bean casserole. I figure I'll try this one next year. If I'm the only one that is going to eat them, I may as well make them a little healthier. This looks awesome too...next year. I also think I need to work on the old turkey. He turned out good...just a tad on the dry side in my opinion. A great meal though and great to be with family and friends.

I "only" weigh three pounds more than I did a week ago. =)

We've had a wonderful weekend counting our blessings. Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving too!

Adeline & Avrie are 5!

2010-11-28T16:00:00.008-06:00

My babies are now five! I can hardly believe it myself and yet when I look at them I realize that yes, it is TRUE! They have grown so much in a year! We decided to invite the girls from their class over for their party. They wanted a My Little Pony party. They chose the hats, the plates, the cups, etc. They helped me make some giant lollipop decorations that were on the tables. The surprise though was the candy table. When they woke up in the morning and saw the candy table...they were so excited!

Avrie wasn't too sure about having a party that wasn't on her actual birthday...but she soon found that having two celebrations is actually pretty cool.

Both Avrie and Addie loved having their friends over and had a really happy time. Kermit and I were just happy watching them be happy. He shot some good footage....maybe I'll have to put him up to making a little birthday video. I hope! =)

I love these girls. It blows me away when I think of their rough beginning at life. I feel so blessed that they continue to thrive, grow and learn. My whole life I thought it would be cool to have twins but never did I dream that I would actually have some of my own. It blows me away how different two girls can be from one another. It also amazes me how such differences can compliment each other. They are a perfect pair. I love these two forever. Happy Birthday my sweet girls!

More of October

2010-11-28T15:14:00.010-06:00

What would October be without our visit to Goebert's Farm! I love the picture below. Avrie is holding the zombie's hand! he he. =)

Last but not least, here is the video again. The resolution isn't very good here so click the link here for a better picture.

Halloween 2010 - Sugarbuzz Video

2010-11-28T14:36:00.011-06:00

This Halloween was a good one, as expected!

Annaliese was a snow leopard, Adeline was Little Red Riding Hood and Avrie was a Jack -o -lantern.

Me, a witch. Kermit, himself!

Saturday we headed to our church for a fun Halloween party. The pictures above are from the party. (Oh and I must add that I won a little prize for "the most unique" chilli for the cook off. I do love that white chicken chili! The kids were quite impressed that mom could cook something worthy of a prize. To them, good cooking means dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets from the freezer.)

Sunday was Halloween. Trick or Treaters kept coming by the dozens. We thought passing out candy was as much fun as getting it! When we finally ran out of candy we went out for our own turn at trick or treating. Good times! (note to self...buy FOUR Costco bags of candy next year!)

Also, here is Kermit's latest video appropriately entitled "sugarbuzz" with footage from our post trick or treating. Thanks Kermit for putting this together! So cute! Click here to view on Youtube.

Primary Program

2010-11-14T21:11:00.003-06:00

Today was the Primary program at church. It turned out so good and I was so proud of our girls and their friends.
This morning before church we had quite the drama going on. Avrie was so upset and nervous about it and was crying and sobbing that she didn't want to go. Annaliese was excited and practicing her lines and practicing projecting her voice while dressing herself in an outfit that looked like a six year old put together....(a jumper that didn't fit anymore along with hot pink cowboy boots...luckily she was open to other outfit suggestions). Adeline was busy trying to convince me she didn't need to wear tights and had on a pair of old pink suede shoes that didn't fit Annaliese anymore but didn't quite fit her or match her outfit. I had overslept so was barely dressed myself. We were a like a crazy family trying to pull it all together it was funny actually.
We finally made it...just a few minutes late. Avrie was still upset and trying to convince us that she was not going to participate snuggled on my lap. When it came time for them to go up she hesitantly went up with the encouragement of the primary president. Whew.
They did great! All of them! Annaliese said her lines perfectly and clearly and loudly. She knew all the words to the songs and was terrific. Avrie and Adeline did their lines perfectly as well. The sweetest thing though was how Adeline comforted Avrie the whole time by holding her hand. MELT ME! I wish I had a camera..it was too sweet. Avrie really appreciated the extra love from her sister for sure.
Our ward meets in an elementary school....one built in the 1940's. The auditorium is old and the acoustics are not very good. The amazing thing is that we could hear everything perfectly where usually it is very difficult. It was such a well organized and well rehearsed program. The primary presidency did a fantastic job with the kids. I think it was one of the best primary programs I've ever seen. Great job to all and especially my girls! You made us so proud! =)

Field Trips

2010-11-12T12:50:00.010-06:00

When ever the kids have a field trip for school I try to go with. Their school is small so they rely on parent drivers for all field trips so I usually get to go. Here are some photos from Annaliese's trip to Goeberts Farm. It was pretty cute. All the kids got to feed all sorts of animals and take a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch and pick out a pumpkin. Fun!

Avrie and Adeline took a trip to the Swedish American Children's Museum. We had never been before and were very impressed! The play areas were adorable. They made a craft and learned songs and learned all about what farming was like in America and Sweden.
We'll be going back for another visit one of these cold winter days coming up for sure.

I didn't have the chance to really read any of the books that they had at the museum but they looked adorable. We love good picture books at our house. I'll have to take a trip to the library and check them out. Maybe we've found some new books to add to our collection? I hope so!

Pictures from Columbus Day Weekend

2010-10-31T22:13:00.005-05:00

The link below is some pics from Columbus Day. For some reason I can't get it to load on to the blog so this will have to do for now.
http://www.slide.com/r/ywefIK7E6z-6WN3QQ3QOkefcR54-l9r6?previous_view=mscd_embedded_url&view=original

Columbus Day 2010

2010-10-30T22:25:00.011-05:00

I can't believe how quickly time is passing! I don't have my summer pictures posted and we're half way through fall! I have a good list of excuses going in case you were wondering but that is all they are...excuses, even if they are darn good ones.

For Columbus Day the kids had another three day weekend so we decided to head back east for some New England color. MY FAVORITE! I wish we could spend all of fall in Massachusetts! The girls and I flew out on Friday evening and Kermit picked us up in Boston (he was able to fly in earlier that day from NYC). We got in late but it was so worth it. Saturday we were up early and just enjoyed being away. Most of the day was spent wandering the property collecting all kinds of "treasures" (colorful leaves, acorns, rocks, bugs, etc.). Kermit spent time on his tractor of course giving the fields a final mow before winter. Saturday night Kermit's mom took care of the kids so that he and I could go out for dinner. We ended up at a place called Harrington Farm that was nearby. We have become quite the food critics. =) The appetizers were amazing ... but should have stopped there. Good time to just be together though.

On Sunday after church we took a hike at our favorite Wachusett Meadow. It was milkweed season! Love the pictures we got of the kids with all the fluffies in the air (pics coming soon)! The weather was perfect...like 65 degrees perfect! The whole weekend was just wonderful and so memorable. Today Adeline asked me when we could go back. Sadly...probably not until summer. Bummer.

To end the weekend we drove a few hours north with all the family up to Vermont. We LOVED the drive! We took as many scenic detours as we could. We drove through tiny towns that looked like they could have been frozen in time 150 years ago! A few were all decked out with festive Halloween decorations. The drive was beautiful! We had a reservation at a little B&B called the Inn Victoria. We had dinner at a "fancy restaurant" next door. Everyone did great and was well behaved with good manners and ate all of their food (very fancy pizza). The kids thought they were in heaven with all five of us in a huge King bed. The next day we headed to a little farm (like a REAL one) and picked apples and fed animals...then back to the airport and reality. Great memories though! Wish we didn't have to leave! I do love fall...it's my favorite and it's even better when we get to spend some of it in New England. Thank you Columbus for making this long weekend possible! =)

2010-10-06T10:04:00.005-05:00

I love my brother Derek. His best pal, partner and K-9, Renzo passed away this week. You can read about it here http://www.ocregister.com/news/link-269718-renzo-work.html. This dog was like no other! Hang in there Derek. We love you!

Labor Day Weekend 2010

2010-09-24T01:02:00.010-05:00

So this last Labor Day weekend we decided to take a road trip with the kids south. All the way down to Bella Vista, Arkansas, home to my grandparents. What a great weekend we had! We broke up the 10 hour drive by stopping in at the half way point both coming and going. I planned ahead and booked a hotel (woohoo for me...no sleeping on the side of the road in a car b/c every hotel along I-55 is full)! We were thrilled beyond thrilled to get a clean and comfy room to stay the night, a free hot breakfast in the morning and...a pool to play around in, all for about $99! We vacation in style! ;) (And did I mention I didn't have to sleep in a car with a wiggly four year old on my lap? Yay!) Truly though, it was a prefect weekend!

On our journey we stopped in St. Louis to show the girls THE arch and ended up randomly running into my old friend Terica and her family. That was so cool ! I love that girl and she has the cutest family ever. She and her family live there now and it had been awhile since I'd been in touch with her. We were both pregnant with our twins at the same time when they lived here in Chi-town. It was so fun to see her there! (Terica, can I get that picture you took so I can insert it here...until then imagine two hot momma's here.)

After our St. Louis adventure we pushed on to AR for the long awaited visit with my grandparents. We had hoped to go down for a visit this summer but Grandpa's health was too poor for us to make the trip. Finally he was feeling better and was up for some company so we jumped at the chance to visit. The girls had been praying all summer for their Great Grandpa W. to get better but they really didn't know who he was. The last time they had seen him they were babies! The girls were so excited to finally be able to see him and Anna. It was great. I was so happy to see him as well. It had been about four years since I last saw him. He hasn't changed a bit and I love it. He is older sure, but he is still Grandpa. When I called to tell him we were almost there I could tell he was just so happy and told me to get over there now. Our visit was short, just a few hours. We sat at his kitchen table and visited for awhile then the kids and Kermit went out back and played. Anna made a delicious lunch for us. We visited some more then we headed out. Short and sweet but oh so worth the effort to be there. I love my Grandpa and Anna. I was so glad I got to take my family to visit.

Farewell Logan Square Ward, sniff

2010-09-09T22:06:00.010-05:00

After months of hearing that it would happen, it is finally official. Logan Square Ward has been split. Our family will now be part of the newly formed Lake Shore I Ward. We have been members of Logan Square for over 10 years and will miss it. It has been home to us.

We have met and loved so many families from all over the world in our Logan Square Ward. We have truly loved the experience. Some of my best friends I have made in this ward. We will especially miss the "old timers." Those are the families that are settled here in Chicago, those few families that are constants, that we've seen year after year. It's weird to feel like we are saying good-bye to these dear friends. Nobody has moved...we just won't see them every week like we have for years.

I know why the split needs to happen. The ward is enormous with over 800 members. Only half are active, but of that half, about a quarter have very unique and serious needs. Logan Square is also transient. Every 6 months, about 25 new couples move away and 25 new couples move in. It is constantly changing and difficult for one bishopric to keep track of so many new faces and take care of so many special needs.

With mixed emotions I turned in all my RS keys to Bishop Malli tonight. I also gave him a bunch of the manuals and other materials that I will no longer be using. Last Sunday they released everyone from their callings but asked us to keep doing them until the transition is complete? I am a bit sad. I have loved serving in Relief Society for the last year and a half. I am sad that I won't be able to have that calling that pushed me to grow daily. I had wonderful counselors who I will miss working with. It was great to be able to serve along side such awesome women. I do just love the sisters of the Logan Square RS! All of them! I also feel a little sad because I feel like I was just starting to get the hang of things. For me there was a high learning curve. Maybe I'll have the opportunity in my new ward to serve in RS again, maybe not, I don't know. I know that the callings we receive are inspired. I know that God knows what He is doing so I will trust in that either way. I also know that good things are in store either way.

So farewell my to my Logan Square Ward. We love you always!

Summer

2010-08-13T23:25:00.005-05:00

I love summer almost as much as I love fall. One of the best things about summer is that we get to see our families. We traveled from coast to coast to see everyone and we just loved it. What is better than staying up late every night playing with cousins? It is so great to be able to relax and catch up with everyone. Before summer vacation comes to a close I hope to get some photos posted of what we have been up to these past few months.

This picture is from a hike we took at Wachusett Meadow in July. We love it there! It's just beautiful! Speaking of beautiful...Love those girls! Fun times were had this summer...come back soon for pictures galore of all our summer adventures.

It only takes a moment

2010-07-21T23:35:00.003-05:00

Tonight I was watching all of our videos that Kermit has put together. I love this one and I don't think I've posted it here yet. He made it for me for Valentine's Day. Most of the footage is almost a year old now. Wow how my girls are growing! I almost get teary looking at their little baby faces. (I just wish that the video wasn't frozen on my face like that...why can't it be frozen on a cute picuture of my girls? Oh well.)

Memorial Day Weekend + the rest of MAY 2010

2010-06-02T22:21:00.031-05:00

Guess where Kermit and I spent Memorial Day weekend!
No kids!

My old stomping ground!

(Um, that would be DC in case you couldn't see the capitol there in the background on the first pic.)

Everywhere we went we kept saying, "the kids would love this....lets bring them back." Guess we'll just have to do that. This place is such a blast to visit and is where Kermit and I spent much time dating those three years....so we'll bring the kids back for SURE!

We visited the American History Museum one day and the National Gallery of Art the other. We could have seen a ton more....except when you sleep until noon....guess we'll just have to go back!

This was my first time back since I left almost 11 years ago. I loved flying in to Reagan Airport looking down at Arlington and all the old familiar places I used to go. It took me back to a time when Kermit and I would fly back and forth just to see each other for a weekend. Here I was doing the same to see my man after not seeing him all week. (He had been there on business and I flew in to join him for the long weekend.) The difference this time is that we got to go home together rather than saying good bye! (And I just realized something....Memorial Day weekend was the weekend we got engaged! That is a post for another day but all the more reason to celebrate!)

I loved my cab ride to the hotel passing all the familiar places and beautiful winding roads. I'd live there again! Oh, how I loved DC!

That weekend there was a huge parade of veterans riding motorcycles through town. Not just a few motorcycles...thousands and thousands! Thanks to all the veterans that have served our country! We love you and appreciate all you have done!

We visited the new World War II memorial. It wasn't there yet when I lived there. We liked it, but felt it was too modern for our taste. We love what it represents. Too bad this wasn't completed sooner when more WWII vets could go see it.

We stayed at a hotel across from the White House. Hay Adams. Very cool! No pics of the hotel but here is the White House anyway.

What a fun trip! Can't wait to go again! And take the family next time!

*****
Then there was the rest of May....

We are getting ready to say good bye to our good friends the Francoms. Boo hoo! Don't leave us!Good luck to you friends!

We played in cotton wood fluff. Aaaaahhhh Chooooo! Where is my zyrtec?

Visited Brookfield Zoo. If you look close there are giraffes back there.

Checking out the animals. This was only our second time at Brookfield. Pleasantly surprised this time! We just may have to go back again soon!

Grandma and Kimmel came to town! Yes, its that time of year when grandma makes her trip back to Massachusetts for the summer and when she stops in Chi town to see us! We love it! This time Uncle Kimmel came too! We visited the Art Institute....

and Millennium Park.

We had a blast with them! We cant wait to see them again soon on their turf!

And last but not least...May brought us many a family bike rides. Loving those bikes! We get lots of smiles as we ride down the street. Dad takes the lead with the three girls behind. I ride in back to push along any slow pokes.

GREAT TIMES in May 2010~

April 2010

2010-06-02T22:02:00.012-05:00

Let's see.... a few pictures from my phone to share. It was a beautiful April. Easter was a warm day here which NEVER happens. I loved that we had General Conference on Easter. I wish it could be like that every year. I loved staying home with the girls hunting for eggs. I loved hearing wonderful messages and talks! It truly was a day centered around family and the peace that comes with Easter. A perfect day!

(I think I have some other pics taken with our good camera...stay tuned...they may turn up yet!)

March Madness 2010

2010-06-02T21:51:00.003-05:00

We celebrated Kermit's birthday with style this year! He blew out 45 big ones with all the girls gathered round to witness. His favorite gift (or maybe our favorite) was the pack of sticky mustaches! All the pics I took were on my phone....why do I do that? They just don't turn out. Luckily my parents were in town and snapped a few with a real camera. THANKS DAD!

I really need to just catch up on this blog. Too much time has lapsed and I'm drawing blanks. This much I do know.....Kermit had an awesome birthday! I have a picture to prove it!

California Video

2010-05-21T14:22:00.001-05:00

February 2010 = Lots o FUN!

2010-05-21T12:31:00.017-05:00

February brings many things. A few of our favorite things....Annaliese's Birthday for one and Winter Break for two! This year we spent winter break in warm and sunny, balmy and beautiful California. We were able to celebrate Annaliese's sixth birthday with family! Love this girl! Can't believe my girl is SIX!!!

She wanted a cat cake...so a cat cake we made, complete with six whisker candles!

We also went to Sea World...great time! (This was about a week before they had to hold all Shamu shows due to the killer whale attack. Um, so glad we missed that one. Yikes.)

And no trip to CA would be complete without a trip to the Happiest place on Earth!

And a happy time it was!

Starring.....

2010-05-21T12:13:00.005-05:00

Miss Annaliese! She was part of her Kindergarten play and did wonderfully! The class wrote a play called "The princess and the wedding." Annaliese played the part of the good fairy. She said her lines clearly and loud enough for all to hear. Not shy at all!

Also the paper program featured her art work! Bravo Annaliese!

January 2010 Hightlights

2010-05-21T11:58:00.007-05:00

So here is a fun thing that happened with us in January. We moved all three girls to the back room! For months all three were in the smaller middle room. Annaliese on her bed, Avrie and Addie traded off sleeping on a floor mat and the crib. Yes, we had four year olds in cribs. (Eyeball roll, I know.) They seriously are the most wiggly sleepers ever! Whoever was on a mat on the floor would end up under Annaliese's bed by morning. They seriously needed the rails that the crib gave them. Now that it has been a few months in the big girl beds, I am happy to report that they no longer fall out of bed. The cribs have been dismantled and are now being stored down in the basement. AND...look at this cute room! I love it! They love it too. Annaliese's old room is now "the visitor room." So if you want to come visit us....we have a room just for you! Come soon!

Also another fun January 2010 HIGHLIGHT was a visit from my sister Erin! Did I take any pictures? No. Erin, did you take any? (I thought that we took one at the airport before you left but I can't seem to find it. Lame.) ANYWAY, I always love it when Erin comes. The very night she arrived the twins decided to get the flu. Lovely. We each took care of one of them through the night keeping the barf bowls at the ready. Welcome to Chicago Erin! Luckily nobody else got it. The rest of the visit was delightful. We just had fun visiting and being together. I love that girl! Come again...the room is ready for you (and we'll try not to get the flu)! =)

Catch Up Post - December 2009 Adventures!

2010-04-24T12:24:00.017-05:00

Before I can post spring pictures....let me post these winter ones! One of these days I'll be better at keeping this blog up to date....for now it's me playing catch-up! Enjoy our flashbacks!

Every year for December we have a little wooden advent calendar with little doors that count down to Christmas. Behind each door of the calender is a note inside that reveals a special something that we get to do as a family. Sometimes the advent calender will send us somewhere exciting like Navy Pier Winter Wonderland, other days we get to decorate candy houses. Sometimes we get a new Christmas book to read. Every day is exciting as the kids pull out the note that tells them what fun thing they get to do for the day. Here are some pictures we took from some of advent calendar outings. Good times!

I took the kids and hopped on the EL train. Three stops later we were at Kermit's NEW office building! We met up with dad and had a lunch date to remember! 42nd floor!

December would just not be complete without a visit to Navy Pier's Winter Wonderland. Loving the little Ferris Wheel!

We went to see CSO's Welcome Yule! Fun! The girls primary teacher sings professionally and is a member of the CSO choir. It was fun to get dressed up all fancy and to see their teacher perform. (Fun extra tidbit...during intermission a youth orchestra was performing in one of the ball room lobby areas. Addie started to dance and twirl to the music totally uninhibited. Soon the other two joined in as well and they all just stole the show! It was too cute! Oh how I wish I had video! I knew then that I needed to get them signed up for a dance class!)

We visited the Botanic Gardens. You'd think that there wouldn't be much to see or do in the winter....but what a fun place any time of year. They have an elaborate indoor exhibit of little trains traveling all throughout villages made of tree bark and all kinds of woodland plants. So cute! They also had a variety of fun activities for the kids to do as well. Love that place!

Can't forget Rain forest Cafe!

Took the girlies to the Art Institute. They did pretty good. (Lost Addie for a good five minutes! Now that was the worst feeling ever! Luckily she was wearing bright pink and was easily spotted clear across the other side of the museum. Whew!)

PUMP IT UP!

Guess who was the star of the kindergarten class play? Great performance Annaliese!

That's about it for now! Next we'll be skipping to February. Come back soon!

Dancing Queens

2010-04-14T10:38:00.007-05:00

I signed the girls up for their first dance class. It's a combination tap/ballet/tumbling class, 20 minutes of each. They pretty much LOVE it!

This clip was taken right after their first class when we got home. Makes me laugh out loud every time. They are dancing queens for sure! Enjoy!

The girls call their leotard and tights...their "costumes". Avrie chose a black costume because it's her new fav color. Addie chose the pink with a skirt and has it on everyday at some point. Annaliese wasn't with us when we went shopping so her sisters chose for her. She likes what they picked. Pink, no skirt.

After our second class Avrie accidentally came home with two left tap shoes, one two sizes too small. Obviously we learned quickly that names written big and bold in shoes is important. We have not found her right shoe yet....but somebody in her class has it I'm sure. She has been a good sport wearing her ballet shoes for tap class until the mystery of the missing tap shoe is solved.

The class is for 4-6 year olds. Annaliese is the only 6 year old and is a full head taller than all the other girls! There is one five year old, her friend from church...the rest are four year olds. She doesn't mind though. She gets along just fine with 4 year olds. =)

I think this class is perfect for these girls! They are loving it!

P.S. I need to update my blog

2010-04-12T22:40:00.004-05:00

I am still alive...just so you all know. =) We are doing great and loving spring! Pictures coming soon!

P.S. I need some sunshine

2010-01-31T17:37:00.004-06:00

We've had a wonderful time this winter season. We've been busy doing about all there is to do here in the winter. Good times! But dang it, when I came across pictures from this balmy September day it hit me! HURRY SPRING! I NEED YOU NOW!

Ice Skating

2010-01-31T16:46:00.006-06:00

When my sister Erin was here visiting a few weeks ago we headed downtown to take the little ones for their first shot at ice skating. We thought that having 3 adults to 3 children would be just what it would take to pull off this adventure.

So we were wrong. If we go again anytime soon, we'll know that we need 2 adults for each child.

Not only did we have a good time but our biceps got a nice work out. Whew! The girls did great! If we had had more time they would have been able to go around with just one person helping. Guess we'll have to get Erin back out here for another visit!

All about Annaliese - 2009

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(Insert here - Picture of Annaliese)

12/25/2009 - Is loving her new scooter and fur real puppy named Ruffles. Cutie pie.

12/12/2009 - Has been really into tongue twisters this week.

12/01/2009 - This girl loves her cousins. Had a blast playing with Byron's kids for thanksgiving. She and Caden have a very similar sense of humor!

09/30/2009 - Last week I found this in her own writing: "The Lord mad avretheing spashl. He love us vare mush. He mad avrething is for us so we kod have everething we wont. You no God loves you with ol his hort and wil olwas be with you."

09/11/2009 - Today Annaliese went in for her 5 year check up. (A little late but better than never.) She was soooo brave when she had to get FIVE shots! Her reward choice for her bravery was a chocolate bar...Good choice! =) Her height is 41 1/2 lbs. (50%) and weight is 46 1/4 inches (75-90%). There you have it! All is well.

09/10/2009 - We've been trying to help her practice reading...seeing as she is really really ready and is trying to teach herself.

09/10/2009 - Today I received a handmade card that read "Deer Mommy I HAD SO MUSH FUN AT SKOOL TOODA HAW WOD YOU FEL IF I WUS WITH YOU (heart) ANNALiese" Melt me!

09/10/2009 - Started Kindergarten, Loving her teacher.

09/10/2009 - My little dreamer loves to tell stories. Her sisters love to listen...so do I.

09/10/2009 - Loves to draw....still! She can't get enough!

09/10/2009 - Loves playing with her sisters. She is often the leader and tells her sisters what they need to do and of course they play right along. She also still loves to pretend she is an animal...recently SKUNK is a favorite...P.U. Kitten is also a favorite.

07/31/2009 - Miss Fidget! Has such a hard time going to sleep at night. I often have to lay next to her and remind her to keep still so that she can fall asleep! Silly girl.

07/31/2009 - Loves to play with babies. She is so captivated and interested.

07/31/2009 - Loves to make cards for people. She'll find the envelopes and want to mail them off right away. I can hardly keep up.

07/31/2009 - Has figured out how to use the breaks on her bike. Yay! She loves to ride it!

07/31/2009 - Has figured out how to count to 100.

07/29/2009 - Leader of all sorts of play around here. Yesterday she was the leader of the "Fly whacker attackers! Get ready to explore!" Game. She was cracking me up!

06/06/2009 - Last night we went to some friends' house for dinner. They live in a high rise. Annaliese said that she wishes she lived in a department. =) Also today we had the window open in the back room and she climbed out to play on the "valcony."

05/21/2009 - So tenderhearted this one. Kermit has been out of town all week. She cried when he left but kept a stiff upper lip all week. She fought those tears every night with success. When Kermit came home tonight she ran to his arms and let it all go. she was SOOO happy to see her dad. Yes, we do cry when we are happy.

05/19/2009 - "Mom, there's an ant in the house!" "Don't squish him, I want to keep him for my pet." =)

05/15/2009 - Um, she is reading. No kidding. She is amazing.

05/15/2009 - The Doodle Pad is still by far her best toy ever.

05/11/2009 - Today she decided it would be great to have a pet ant.

05/11/2009 - Love the stories she tells and pictures she draws. She has produced volumes!

05/11/2009 - Likes to talk over the fence with the neighbor boy Jake.

05/01/2009 - Loves cutting out shapes and coloring them into pictures. Tells stories with the picutes. LOVES it!

05/01/2009 - Good singer and dancer. "Avrie, Addie.....Mom & Daddy....even Annaliese too!" Very catchy. Kermit caught it on video. Classic!

04/16/2009 - This is true for all the girls but especially Annaliese...She LOVES the movie "Milo and Otis" - just LOVES it! They sing the song and play Milo and Otis all day. Kermit even made them a little play set using their little tiny animal toys. He made them a dock and a wooden box that Milo can drift down the river in. =)

04/15/2009 - Is doing so great in school. She just loves it. She loves her teacher and loves her friends. She is so over being shy.

03/23/2004 - She is doing so great with her spelling. She makes signs and posts them all over the house. She loves to read the phonics books that she got from Grandma!

03/21/2009 - Has been sick! Poor little thing has been up all night with a fever!

03/20/2009 - Earlier this week I took the girls to the little park. There we met almost 4 year old Owen. He was all boy and was showing off big time for my girls...you know like crashing the cars, pretending to fall to get them to laugh, etc. Well on our way home from the park I hear "Mom, what do you think will happen to Owen and to Annaliese? Do you think that we will grow up and fall in love? Get married? Who knows what's going to happen!" Later that night she told Kermit about Owen. Kermit told her that she was young to be thinking about getting married. She needs to have lots of boy friends before she decides who she will marry. She says "I already have lots of boy friends at school. None of them like to hug me. I wonder if Owen would like to hug me. Who knows what will happen." =)

03/19/2009 - (Actually 3/20) Last night Kermit and I had a date night. Our baby sitter reports to us that Annaliese was crying before bed which is very unusual. (Later in the night she was up w/ a fever...explains the crying.) Michele told us she was trying so hard not to laugh as Annaliese cried and told her that she really loves, no likes Owen so much. (Avrie pops her head out of bed to explain that they met him at the park.) Maybe they will get married. Just then she stoped crying and said, "who knows what will happen." Just like that stopped crying, "who knows." A funny story and preview into the years ahead when we have 3 teenage girls in the house.

02/25/2009- Annaliese has decided she can only eat brown food...ya know like chocolate milk, brownies and cookies. I like that.

02/24/2009 - Today I took Annaliese into Marshalls with me. I was trying on all sorts of weird stuff. I just cracked up when Annaliese told me very seriously that I looked posh! Thanks Annaliese! I bought the posh skirt on clearance for $7.

02/17/2009 - Had a wonderful birthday! This girl loves her new talking telescope! Learning to read and doing great!

02/08/2009 - We are busy planning her OUTER SPACE birthday extravaganza. She is thrilled with the theme!

02/06/2009 - Annaliese told me that she wishes she were a firefly....because she could stay out all night and sleep all day. We are definitely related!

02/02/2009 - Likes to make name cards for the family for dinner time. She knows how to spell everyone's name.

01/19/2009 - This girl is so helpful! She's entering the stage where she likes to make sandwiches all by herself. She also recently discovered she can work the DVD player so she likes to be in charge of movie time.

01/14/2009 - Is at school for the first time this year...she is finally feelilng better...FINALLY! She was nervous to go but then received a really warm welcome from all her friends and waved to me good-bye. Sweet, sweet girl.

01/12/2009 - Has been such a good little helper! She loves to help her sisters with things like feeding them snacks. She also likes to help me around hte kitchen.

01/12/2009 - Has been SICK! Before Christmas she had pneumonia. She was healthy for Christmas (just a lingering cough) then for New years sick again! I finally took her to the Dr....double ear infection! Poor kid. Being sick is miserable.

All about Addie - 2009

2010-01-31T15:55:00.004-06:00

12/25/2009 - Loving her new scooter. She has picked up on it very fast. I think in the spring there will be no stopping her!

12/22/2009 - at the CSO Welcome Yule intermission the girls danced in the ball room to the music being played there. Addie stole the show with her graceful moves. I think we may have some dance talent in the family! No kidding and she's not shy about it either! Guess it's time to find a ballet class for these girls!

11/18/2009 - Tells everyone that they are now four. =) Loves her Cinderella costume and barbie doll with sparkly horse. She is just a happy girl!

09/21/2009 - Loves being silly. Her new favorite silly walk is feet straight out...what a goof!

09/14/2009 - Who knew that the toy of the year would be a laundry basket. Good thing we have five of them. Yes, it's true Addie has turned her sisters into laundry basket players. =) You can put a pillow in them and sleep in them, you can hide under them, you can put them upside down and pretend they are a table, the list goes on...an oh the fun!

09/14/2009 - She is always wrapping up a "present" for me. I get multiple items a day presented to me wrapped in dishtowels, or washcloths, or blankets, or napkins, etc. She just has a giving heart I guess.

09/14/2009 - I think this is the girl that is responsible for the pillow piles that we get in our house. Loves to put all pillows in the house into a pile and jump into them. Also she likes to like up pillows in a line and just lay on them.

09/10/2009 - Still likes to be held...always. When we go to the park we now take the wagon so that she can ride...and not ask to be held for the walk home. Love that wagon! Love that girl too! I've been using it for after school too! Love it!

09/10/2009 - Started preschool! She loves her teacher and loves going to class! LOVES her uniform and her backpack. She is very outgoing and tells her teacher that she loves her and gives her hugs and kisses.

09/10/2009 - Of the three Addie is still my best sleeper. First to sleep at night. If we have quiet time she she will nap every now and then (the others never nap). She takes after me. I love sleep too.

09/10/2009 - Loves to draw! We got stacks of old stationary from Kermit's office and we draw and draw and draw all day. She is sooo good! I'm starting to not be able to tell if Annaliese or Addie made a drawing. She is so good! Both of them are.

09/10/2009 - Loves pretending she is a baby. Her sisters like to pretend that they are the mom so it works out well.

09/10/2009 - Learned to write her name ADDIE. Just like that! She often points to letters and asks what letter they are...she is getting there! Way to go Addie!

09/10/2009 - Has been walking around with her feet straight out for some strange reason. She is a goofy girl sometimes. Happy and sweet and goofy.

07/31/2009 - Still my snugglebunny.

07/31/2009 - Loves to ride her tricycle.

07/31/2009 - Likes to walk around and clap her hands loudly...by cupping her hands. New skill.

07/31/2009 - I love her little skipping. She has it half down and it is adorable to watch.

07/31/2009 - Dress ups are still this one's favorite. I still have to hide my church shoes otherwise I'll find them all over the house with the dress ups. Her drawings continue to get better and better!

07/25/2009 - She did so great in the pool! She figured out how to doggy paddle with her life vest on and had a blast!

07/15/2009 - Often complains that her tummy hurts. I can't tell if she is for real or just looking for attention.

06/06/2009 - Such a graceful little girl. I love it when she dances. She also makes me smile when after dressing herself in what she thinks is a gorgeous outfit she poses for me. Very cute.

06/06/2009 - Okay this night time routine of 3am wake up calls has been going on for awhile now. Last night was the FIRST night she hasn't gotten us up and out of bed in weeks.

05/21/2009 - All week addie has been waking at 3am calling for me..."because she needs to tell me something." All week I have been lecturing her at 3am why it is important to not wake me up in the night to just wait until morning to tell me something. I told her last night that if she called for me I would ignore her. Sure enough she still tried and tried. "Mother...I LOVE YOU...MOTHER....I LOVE YOU...MOTHER...sob, sob...I LOVE YOU!" So hard to ignore, but I did. Finally she did it. She climbed out of her crib all by herself and walked into my room (Kerm is out of town this week) "mom, I need to tell you something" she says to my face. Oh my, oh my. No wonder I'm tired.

05/18/2009 - Likes to tell about her dreams. Sometimes they are identical to the dreams Annaliese has. Hmm. =)

05/18/2009 - Has started to write her letters. Such a good little artist too.

05/15/2009 - She is little miss social. She is NOT shy and loves to bat her lashes to impresses those she doesn't know yet. Love this girl!

05/15/2009 - Melts me every day. I love it when she says, "Mom, I love you." It's so cute when I cuddle her and ask her if she knows i love her. She'll say sweetly, "nyeah."

05/11/2009 - Sh cracks me up when she is "cries". She'll whine and tell me what the problem is (somebody isn't sharing, tummy hurts, etc.) then very dramatically sniffs two sad sniffs for effect. It works every time! =)

05/11/2009 - Is big into doing tricks on the couch...usually a somersault. She is so flexible though she could join circe de soile. She's a good dancer too!

04/15/2009 - So sweet. so sweet. so sweet. Loves Kangaroo class at OTS. Loves her teacher! Is taking a break from speech therapy until fall. She calls her therapist "my lisa".

04/15/2009 - Can climb into her crib all by herself. Can't climb out but that is okay with me. =) Now that she can do it herself she will not allow anybody to help her. Cute girl!

04/01/2009 - We're working to break her habit of licking her lips. She can't help herself. Very cute but ouch those lips need some lip balm. =)

04/01/2009 - Have I ever mentioned how much Addie and her sisters love to play doggies? These girls are obsessed with dogs and play puppy dogs all day. They LOVE it!

03/23/2009 - This girl loves to draw. She is so good at it. Have I mentioned that before? She likes to play guessing games with her sisters. She will draw a picture and give them hints to have them guess what she has drawn. She'll usually say..."It starts with the letter A" even though she drew a house or something. She also loves to look at books and pretend she is reading. That's how it all starts though. She'll get those letters and sounds down!

03/05/2009 - This morning we were awakened to Addie singing ,"I think we have a wug. I think we have a wug. I think we have a wug." Addie, what's a wug? "A wug is on the floor." Why are you singing about a rug? "um......um......um.......because we have a wug."

02/25/2009 - Whenever Kermit or I have to leave Addie will always say, "Wait, wait, wait! I need a hug and a kiss!" She gets her hug and kiss then she says, "And another hug...(hug) and another kiss...(kiss)." There have been times she just keeps asking for more and more. We are suckers for it big time.

02/25/2009 - This girl can draw so well!

02/25/2009 - "Mom, I love to go to the potty!" Words we love to hear! She's done potty training! Good girl Ad!

02/16/2009 - I love how she says "Mom, I think I'm a little bit of sad." MELT me!

02/10/2009 - Both she and Avrie LOVE to play like they are puppies! So cute! Often Annaliese will be the master.

02/10/2009 - 3 nights in a row with a dry diaper! 3 nights in a row I was awakened by a little three year old announcing she needs to go the the bathroom at 2am.

02/02/2009 - Potty Training Complete! 5 Stars for Addie! Good Job!

01/19/2009 - First day of Sunbeams! I was spying on her class and I overheard her tell her teacher, "Guess what....I have a rash." Oh dear, where? "On my bum." Oh that sometimes happens. Avrie says..."She has a diaper rash." Teacher says..."Anyway....let's sing a song." Um, TMI?

01/17/2009 - We'll have to watch out for the antibiotic called Cefdinir....Major Rash Alert for Addie. I will say this, her pneumonia is gone.

01/16/2009 - This girl is amazing! Potty training is going GREAT! Yesterday she was with her speech therapist and stopped in the middle of her lesson to use the potty...on her own! Today we were running errands and she told me in two different stores that she needed to use the potty. We found the potty and she took care of business! WOW! I am so proud of her!

01/13/2009 - Potty Training...slow but sure. We'll get there.

01/09/2009 - Pneumonia....AGAIN! That cough is nasty. She's at least feeling okay.

All about Avrie -2009

2010-01-31T15:45:00.004-06:00

12/25/2009 - Loving her new scooter! Loves her set of horses too! Loves reading with Dad "Black Beauty" She likes to pretend she is Ginger the horse.

11/30/2009 - Loves to draw pictures on her doodle pad at night and leave them in the hall way for daddy to see when he comes up to bed. Cute girl!

11/18/2009 - My big four year old is loving her ballet costume and ballet slippers. Loves the barbie and horse gift too.

09/29/2009 - Avrie has learned to skip and it is the cutest darn skip I've ever seen! Almost like she skips side to side with huge hops. So cute!

09/21/2009 - Has decided that she would like to start sleeping on a big girl bed. Time to buy some bed rails so she doesn't wiggle off the bed...b/c she does wiggle!

09/14/2009 - Have I ever mentioned that this girl (and addie too) loves to change her clothes and often. If she had her way she would be seen in 10 different outfits per day. She still thinks that jeans are for boys..but is less resistant when we insist. After all you can't take a hike in a dress.

09/14/2009 - At night for story time this girl is always snuggled into my right side....and she always make sure that my arm is around her. I can't just hold the book open, I must have my arm around her and hold the book open. =) I do love it.

09/10/2009 - Started Preschool! Loving it! She told me the first day...the day that parents stayed in the classroom for the entire class. "mom, I'm not afraid. Could you please go away." =) Every day since at drop off she says, the same.

09/10/2009 - Of the three I've noticed that Avrie loves the outdoors the most. She loves the sand box. She makes sand cakes and pies and serves them up to anybody she can. She loves playing in the playhouse in the backyard. She is first out the door when we go on walks. She just loves it.

09/10/2009 - loves climbing on the castle at the park. Loves the swings and want to reach the leaves in the trees.

09/10/2009 - I can add one more food to her list of food that she will eat...energy bars. Kid Cliff...not bad if I do say so myself.

09/10/2009 - Can I celebrate the fact that not only are we fully potty trained but pull -ups are now optional at night time! Way to go Avrie!

09/10/2009 - At night she loves to draw on her doodle pad. Lately she has been drawing pictures for us and leaving them in the door way for us. She calls us up and tells us to look at the card she made. So cute! She is really getting good at drawing too! REALLY GOOD! She colors in the lines well too!

08/15/2009 - Was so captivated and interested in bugs on our trip to MA this summer. Her most quotable quote of the summer "Remember when there was a little tiny mosquito and I took care of it? And it had BIG EYES!" Love this cute girl!

07/31/2009 - This girl is GROWING UP! She has matured on so many levels. She is sooo helpful and sweet. She is melting me these days. Unbelievable! She is has been less clingy and outgoing socially too. She is going to be ready to start preschool!

07/31/2009 - Loves to race and loves to win! Working on the socially acceptable way to loose. =)

07/28/2009 - Avrie was curious why we need to take baths. It was explained that back in the olden days people did not bathe much and often became sick from being so dirty. Avrie says, "good thing we live in the latter days."

07/25/2009 - LOVED swimming at the indoor swimming pool! She loved doggy paddling around in her life jacket. This girl is fearless and a little fish~!

07/20/2009 - Avrie asked today "Mom, do little kids have a butt?" Yes, of course. Ha ha! =) An hour or so later..."Mom, where's my butt?"

07/01/2009 - This girl is potty trained! A month ago I thought for sure she'd be starting preschool in pull ups.

06/06/2009 - Is obsessed with being a girl. She only wears clothes that she thinks are girl clothes. Even though every single girl we know wears jeans...they are not girl clothes to her. Dresses, headbands, maryjanes are girl...everything else..boy and unacceptable to wear.

05/19/2009 - Loves headbands. Must wear one at all times. Loves her silver maryjane shoes. Must wear them at ALL times. I don't let her wear them to bed so she just sleeps with them next to her.

05/18/2009 - Still my pickiest eater but she has added Craisins to her list of edible food.

05/16/2009 - I love her little "prrrs" or prayers she gives. Last night's was especially funny..."Thank you that we can play guns and shoot each other. Thank you for the yummy food mommy made for us. Please bless us to go on a long trip so that we can watch a movie in the car. Thank you for the gospel. In the name…." Good news: today we took a long trip to the Indiana State dunes...they watched Dumbo. =)

05/15/2009 - Likes to run "SUPER FAST!"

05/15/2009 - Has gone from being 0% interested in Potty Training to about 50% interested. Hey, we'll take it.

05/11/2009 - Wow...this week Avrie has decided she loves to change outfits every hour....that's a lot of outfits in a day. I had to get organized and put things up out of reach to keep her outfit changes to 3 a day.

04/20/2009 - I love it when she sings "thumpin up n down in my little wed wagon....won't you be my garlin." Makes me smile every time.

02/25/2009 - This girl is under the weather. Snuggles from my Avrie all day. That's the kind of sick I like.

02/25/2009 - 5% interested in potty training. 95% interested in using diapers.

02/17/2009 - Loves to "ice skate" in the house...uses tupperware lids to "glide" around the room.

02/16/2009 - Where are those books? I've found she will respond better to puppets talking to her than me for some reason...she likes the attention and the play.

02/10/2009 - Unfortunately I need to pull out my parenting books again. Avrie is busy testing her parents limits this week.

02/10/2009 - Giving up naps these days...maybe there is a correlation?

02/02/2009 - This girl has been so pleasant lately! Just happy almost all day. Love her. Potty training has come to a halt. Last night as I was changing her diaper I told her that next time she should tell mom so that poops can go in the toilet. She said, "No, poops go in diapers." Okay we'll give it a rest.

01/19/2009 - She likes to wear her "Skeleton" jammies. Sometimes she'll call them "Stellikan". Funny girl.

01/19/2009 - Marshmellows! This is what she will work for! Potty training coming along slow but sure. Likes those marshmallows.

01/14/2009 - Miss Independent! You can't even TRY to help her. If you do she'll stop you and say, "No! I'm LEARNING!" =)

01/13/2009 - Potty Training...slow going but we'll get there. Discovered that she will work for marshmallows.

01/10/2009 - Pink Eye. Yuck! She does NOT like those drops!

01/09/2009 - Got her first haircut this week. We kept it long but she just needed her ends (baby hair) trimmed. I was a little sad...but I must admit she needed it! Looks cute!

New video: Jingle Girls

2010-01-04T10:28:00.007-06:00

Click here to view our Christmas video

Merry Christmas to One and All

2009-12-25T15:51:00.003-06:00

It's begining to look a lot like Christmas

2009-12-22T23:35:00.005-06:00

These past few weeks....wow! They have been full! Full of activities, service, shopping, stress, pink eye, fun, excitement, sadness, love, repeat....(except the pink eye part).

We've been busy with school programs and parties, church service and festive family outings. I don't remember a Christmas ever being as full as this year. I'm finally finished with our church giving tree project. Also our family has been busy supporting a family from church who tragically lost their son last week. We've recovered from a house full of runny noses and goopy eyes. Add to that some of our family traditions such as Zoo Lights, Wonderland Express and CSO Welcome Yule...there you have a FULL December. Christmas cards may or may not make it out this year, but I did get some cute pics of the kids in case they do. Whew...Christmas is in two days...what should I get Kermit? Any suggestions? =)

Guess who's coming to dinner!

2009-12-09T13:04:00.028-06:00

Byron and Co...that's who! My brother Byron drove his family up from Texas to spend THanksgiving with us! We had such a fun time! THANKS FOR MAKING THE TRIP! WE LOVE YOU GUYS!

Above is all of us sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner. Pie would come later...and it was then that we realized my pumpkin pies from Costco needed to be refridgerated. Oops, ours had been on the counter for a few days. Tammy and I whipped up 2 pies from scratch in 20 minutes. They turned out awesome! Our apple pie was great too! Tammy, we are dangerous together!

Above: All the kids lined up in fromt of Portillo's.

We spent one of our days at the Museum of Science and Industry. We loved seeing the German Uboat and the model trains. I love this time of year when they have the hall of Christams Trees from around the world.
Below: The Links, what a great family they are~

Below: Here we are. (This picture is our only family shot in months. I better get on the stick or this picture will be our only option for Christmas cards....I mean New Years Cards by the time we get them out.)

Below: THE German Uboat

Below: Greyson towering over Chicago

We spent one of the days at the Field Museum. You can't come to visit us without seeing dinosaur bones! Good Times!
All of us in front of Sue the T-Rex.

Field Museum. View from 2nd level

Above: Dino bones

Above: Brynna

Above: Avrie

Above: After the museum we went to Starfruit for some frozen keiffer. Note, if you ever go there I recommend getting a berry smoothie b/c it tastes like a berry smoothie. =)

I couldn't resist this picture of Maggie. Her face says it all. Turns out that frozen keifer wasn't a huge hit. My favorite comment was from Caden who said, "I don't think mine is vanilla." At least the toppings were good! =) (Kieffer is sour...and for some vanilla and sour don't mix well I guess.)

The entire time they were here the kids just played and played the entire time! Every now and then they'd come away from their play for food or something. =) Our "playcave" was in use constantly. The older boys loved playing fooseball....we also had some nailbiter rounds of Chinese Checkers. Greyson has some good moves!
above: Greyson and Caden

above: Brynna and Annaliese

above: Addie and Maggie

Below: Annaliese saying goodbye to cousins! We love you all!

We can't wait to see you again! We loved having you here! Let's do it again real soon! WE LOVE YOU GUYS! xoxox

Two times FOUR

2009-11-20T12:48:00.007-06:00

It's been birthday time around here! The twins turned four on Wednesday. They are sure tell everyone the meet that they aren't three any more.
We had a "smallish" birthday party here at the house with their friends from their primary class. We had tiny cupcakes, tiny ice cream cones, tiny cookies, tiny pretzels, etc. The girls enjoyed playing "pass the parcel" and opening presents the best. They were so happy to have their friends over to help celebrate! They had a very happy day indeed.

On Thursday the girls got to have cupcakes at school. Annaliese came down from Kindergarten for the occassion. Again they were thrilled. What a great day!

Weekend Review

2009-11-09T11:52:00.005-06:00

What a fun weekend we had! On Saturday the girls had primary program practice at the church so after that was over we loaded up into our fresh and clean car and headed to the Botanic Gardens. The weather was devine...it felt like 65 or 70 degrees and sunny! The girls had so much fun climbing trees, jumping in straw (one of the water pools was filled with straw for the season), and climbing on rocks pretending to be mountain goats. I tried not to make eye contact with others passing by afraid they'd tell me to get my kids out of the tree or off the rocks or something. Nobody gave us grief though. The girls obviously weren't hurting anything, they were just having fun being outside. Funny girls! They had a blast and so did Kermit and I.

Let's see what else, oh yes....Kermit fixed a plumbing problem. He had to cut open the ceiling in our entry way and buy a new seal for the toilet upstairs. Lots of dust created but problem solved!

We ate out at a restaurant called Basha. Kermit loves middle eastern food so every now and then we go. The kids ate up their chicken shawarma pretty well. Oh, and we ate out at Five Guys the night before...I'm on a roll!

The girls had their primary program on Sunday, they did so well! It's so funny how many people commented to us on how different our girls are. Addie got up and said her lines with no help, nice and loud and clear. She sang half the time when she wasn't turned around looking at the big kids behind her. Avrie froze and barely squeaked out her lines when it was her turn but sang loudly and was very reverent and still. Annaliese did her lines perfectly and sang well...she was very wiggly on the stand sitting up there with her class just loving that she was up there. All in all they did great! I loved watching them say their parts and sing so well. That evening we called/skyped both grandparents and sang for them. Annaliese sang "I'm trying to be like Jesus" the rest of the night non stop. A good reminder to us all.

Ding Dong the Rat is Dead

2009-11-05T09:18:00.007-06:00

Our secret is out. Kermit and I agreed we wouldn't tell anyone but I couldn't keep my mouth shut so half the world knows about this, you may as well know too. Just don't tell my kids. They don't know.

A week ago Sunday I left the sliding doors open in our minivan after we got home from church. On Sunday the kids helped themselves out of the car, my arms are full of bags, coats, purse, etc. I forgot to go back out to the garage and close the doors behind the kids. It's not uncommon for this kind of thing happen in our family. Our car is parked in our garage so it's not a big deal. In the evening when I'm locking up for the night I close the doors if they happen to be open, end of story. Not a problem.

Monday I am driving around town and I notice a big blob of poo on my dashboard. Hmm. Gross. Weird. I look over to the passenger seat. Big blob of poo on the arm rest. Disgusting. It becomes obvious we've had a visitor in our car. I will make an effort to ALWAYS make sure I close the van doors. In the eight years we've lived in our home I have never seen a rat in our garage, but clearly we had a passer though on Sunday night. I will take the car in to get deep cleaned asap. I do just that.

Tuesday, I go grocery shopping and leave Halloween candy and pasta in back of my nice clean car.

Wednesday I go to get candy out of the back only to discover...dun, dun, dun...pasta all over the place and candy packaging all chewed up. EEWE! We have a problem!

We spent all week setting traps and glue boards all over the car. Every morning we'd find that the traps were sprung but no catch. Finally we had evidence that the beast was at least injurred...the red stuff on the carpet confirmed it. (GeeeROss!) (BTW...when ever I say "WE" I mean Kermit. That is just to gross. It was even too gross for him but he had no choice.)

Finally on Saturday morning we find that none of traps were sprung and no rat on any of the glueboards. Terminex comes over and helps us investigate further. We take out all the seats, clean out the nasty rat hole glove box, etc. Nothing. We decide that the rat somehow got out. Good ridance. I sanitize the bajebahs out of the car.

Tuesday morning...There's no denying it, something is dead in here! PEE-U! I drive it with the windows down and take it straight to the dealer. They tear open the dashboard and after 2 hours of searching....they find the beast. SICK! SICK! SICK! I know you all just lost your appetite a long time ago but SICK! Apparently it was a huge sonovagun too! They found him in the upper passenger side dash, whatever that means. I feel sorry for whoever had to get him out!

Wednesday afternoon...I pick up my car from the dealership...smells fresh and clean, just a little musty from the carpets being shampooed. The dashboard and armrests gleaming. The steeringwheel so shiny it is slippery. At last a sparkleing clean and rodent free vehicle.

After a week and a half I can drive without worrying about being attacked by a by a killer rat. I can drive without the windows open but truthfully I'm still grossed out. It's just not the same. I'm getting more hand sanitizer to keep in there for extra measure. I think I may even go out and buy more Lysol and go nuts again. I totally understand if nobody ever wants to ride in my car ever again. Frankly, neither do I but I have no choice. I'm worried the little rat is going to start haunting my car since he can't terrorize us in the flesh anymore. But for now...DING DONG the rat is DEAD (and gone from my car)!

Halloween 2009

2009-11-01T21:50:00.014-06:00

Kermit's friend from work stopped by. Had to snap this photo! It's not every day you get a giant bottle of Windex at your door.

Halloween is such a great holiday! The kids have been just so excited. All month they've been singing and singing their little hearts out every Halloween song they know. They have been going back and forth on what they want to dress up as. Every night before bed they would ask how many days until Halloween. Serious stuff here. Very VERY excited. We finally decided after much debate on their costumes. Avrie, a unicorn. Addie, a walking strawberry. Annaliese, a witch. I had a lot of fun making them their costumes. My sister kept me company late in the evening working on these gems...we visited via Skype. (I love Skype! What a great invention!) I have decided that a glue gun is a very handy tool and one that I have under utilized in the past. I went through many a glue sticks on these costumes and even dusted off my sewing machine. I really loved it and look forward to next years costume challenge. The most rewarding part though is how proud the girls were to wear my creations. They were so happy and so proud to be wearing such nifty duds.
We went to our church party on Friday night and had a great time. We were having car trouble so we took a cab to and from the party....and that was a highlight in and of itself. We were late as usual, but it was a great party I'd say. One of the better I've seen in my day here in Chicagoland. Kudos to those who planned it!
Saturday, which was the actual holiday...Kermit and I spent the entire day cleaning out the basement. Now that was spooky! We had fun working together and were able to get rid of so much stuff. Seriously, it was long overdue and we did it! I love clean basements! In fact I dream about someday having a basement so clean and organized that I could take guests down to our storage room and just show it off. Exciting I know. But I seriously do hope to be able to show off my basement someday and I know you all can't wait.
Saturday night we invited a couple of families over to eat pizza with us and trick or treat in our neighborhood. It was a fun and casual evening. Kids ran wild, pizza inhaled and good time had by all I think. Halloween 2009 a success!

Random Photo

2009-09-29T22:33:00.003-05:00

I found this random picture yesterday that just made me laugh. I don't remember this day very clearly but it looks like it was a good one. =)

I'm hoping to complete some catch up posts this month as I am soooo
f a r b e h i n d. Wish me luck.

Canoe in waiting

2009-09-28T15:57:00.003-05:00

So this is where we've been storing our canoe. It has not been sitting in our kitchen all summer as you might have wondered. It's been hanging from the rafters in our garage. It fits PERFECTLY! If our garage was an inch smaller it would not have fit- literally! I'm sorry to report that we did not take the canoe out for it's maiden voyage this summer but I have a feeling we'll be able to make up for it next year. And so it waits in the rafters until then.

Twilight with cheeseburgers

2009-09-26T14:37:00.003-05:00

I wouldn't be surprised if all 5 of my readers have already seen this. If not, I just have to share. It gave me a good laugh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daTTOyu-E1w

Okay so the link isn't working...just do a YouTube search called "twilight with cheeseburgers". Maybe it'll make you laugh too. =)

Anniversary Weekend Review

2009-09-21T23:59:00.007-05:00

So now that everyone in the blogoshere knows I married a sweet and tenderhearted male that can write poetry (and can figure out my password)...I'd better post something quick in response. I'll spare you any attempt at rhyming but thought you should know that I love my husband also and feel so lucky to have married him ten years ago. Life has been so good with Kermit at my side! I truly feel blessed.

So here is the weekend review.
Kermit and I headed out of town for our anniversary weekend sans kidlets. We drove to Madison, WI because we thought it sounded fun and we had never been there before. It was so close too, only 2 1/2 hour drive! We had dinner at a fabulous restaurant called Harvest. The food was incredible! The menu was simple but OH SO GOOD! Everything on the menu came from local farmers. Did I mention YUM? I highly recommend this place if you are ever in the neighborhood. Another place I recommend if you are ever in Madison and want to stay in the nicest B&B around...check out Mansion Hill Inn. LOVED this place! We had fun just walking down State Street and driving around town looking at all the beautiful old buildings and houses. We missed the kids but oh how nice it was to just be together and RELAX and not be interrupted. It was just EASY!
The next day we drove to a place called Devil's Lake. Beautiful! It was crowed but so pretty! We took a hike up the side of the mountain that was along the lake. It was some serious hiking...difficult I'd even say...or maybe I'm just out of shape. We'd go again for sure though! Maybe even next summer we'll find a place to take out the canoe maybe even....camp.

It was a most memorable weekend for sure. It was a perfect way to celebrate ten good years!

Happy Anniversary Alison!

2009-09-18T14:05:00.013-05:00

For some time now, Alison has maintained this blog without contribution or comment from me, her husband. You may ask, why is this so? I don't have a good reason, aside from the fact that I am male. But now the time has come to break the code of silence. Today is our 10th anniversary and I want to officially declare that I love this woman! You heard me blogosphere, I am the luckiest man living. Alison you are the love and joy of my life, so embarrassingly blessed in riches of human kindness, beauty and talent. Now that I have crossed the blog line I might as well go for broke. Oh yeah I'm talking poetry here people. I wrote the following to commemorate our 10 perfect years together. With love from Kermit.

FOR ALISON

ON OUR TENTH ANNIVERSARY

A summer night, a seaside town

The moon and stars all shining down

A sandy ridge o'erlooked the sea

I promised her, she promised me

A white-washed room, a silver band

Her slender fingers in my hand

Family present, family gone

And those to come, all looking on

A song, a tear, a kiss, a sigh

The fundamental things apply

As time goes by--our love expands

Five beating hearts, ten holding hands

And on life's worried, hurried train

Above the noise, a single strain

The steady sweet unbroken voice

Of Alison, my love, my choice

Ten years and more have come and gone

The moon and stars still shining on

And you, like they, eternal spark,

Companion, lighting up the dark

Good Excuse

2009-08-14T23:24:00.004-05:00

Okay, okay....so I am slow getting our summer vacation pictures posted. I have my list of excuses all ready if anyone is dying to know. Well since you asked...Kermit has been busy monopolizing the computer every free moment he's had. Here is what he has been working on. I guess I can get over it and forgive him. I LovE it! Thanks Kermit!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOMsjM7JUJM

Ps. Did I mention that I LOVE IT? LOVE IT! LOVE IT!

This weekend....

2009-08-10T22:02:00.009-05:00

...was a most memorable one. 2 crazy things happened. One good, one not so much. First the good. We took the kiddos to Millennium Park. As you can see the girls were not shy about getting wet. They had a ball! I tell you that matching neon green swimsuits is the best way to keep track of your kids in a big public place like Millennium Park. The girls were playing, having a blast, when out of nowhere, who should we see but Katie! Katie babysat for us for a summer when the girls were little little. She was here just for the day from UT and we just happened to be at the same place at the same time! It was so fun to see her and to catch up! It's a small world after all! I'd post the picture of Katie and I together...but lets just say...I don't really like it. Katie looks awesome! Me, not so much. =) Imagine a picture here of me and Katie. Imagine that I look good too. =)

The other crazy thing that happened...2am Saturday morning. Kermit and I were awakened to the sound of what I could only assume was a race car barreling down our little residential street. Then an instant later we hear screeching tires and then a HUGE crash after crash after crash followed by car alarms blaring. Yes, that was weird. I knew almost immediately that it wasn't a dream. It was too loud to have dreamed it and sounded like it could have been in our living room . Kermit threw on his shoes and ran down stairs. Three drunkards in their grandma's Jeep/race car were driving 80MPH and lost control. The first car hit was the car parked right in front of our house. Nobody was killed, that is the good news. Our planter is all bent up. That is the other piece of good news. All I can say is, thank goodness for the bent up planter. It kept those cars on the street and out of my living room. Kermit and I both have been a bit jittery and have been counting our blessings for sure.

Last Day of School - Summer VACATION is here!

2009-07-31T22:14:00.012-05:00

We've been gone a travelin' to and fro. We're back! Here are pictures from the official "beginning of summer vacation"....the last day of school back in June. Annaliese was so sad to not be able to go back to school. There were two things that made it okay for school to be out. 1.) She could write letters to her teachers 2) We would be able to travel to see grandparents. That was enough to make it all better. =)

Annaliese had a wonderful second year of preschool. She attended three days a week and had great teachers, great classmates and friends. Her portfolio was full of all kinds of fun photos and examples of her work. She amazed her teacher with her drawings (and I want to save them all)! She knows all her letters, sounds and numbers up to 100. She writes words sounding them out phonetically and can sound out words to read. Socially she really came out of her shell this year. She was friends with all of her classmates and especially loved to play chase with some of the boys. (Hmm.) She is a little dreamer and loves to tell stories and use her imagination. Her teacher commented to me that hours after a lesson Annaliese would still be thinking about it and would be thinking of new ways to apply what she had learned. Her ability to concentrate has always amazed me. That said, sometimes it's hard to get her attention because she is busy thinking about other things. We call it "zoning" but she's just busy....thinking. =) A special treat was when Kermit was able to take her to school in the mornings. Nothing was better than to have dad drop her off! All in all she had a most excellent school year. By golly, she is ready for KINDERGARTEN!

City Escape

2009-06-06T16:01:00.016-05:00

Today Kermit and I took the kids to one of our favorite places, the Garfield Park Conservatory. We did something new and ventured outside to check out the gardens there. The girls had so much fun exploring the different paths & picking clover puffs (and flowers..oops). Their favorite part was running and playing hide and seek in the tall grasses. We spent a good couple of hours letting the kids run around and just play. Kermit and I loved watching them play and dreamed about landscaping Princeton similarly someday. This place is such a great hidden gem in the city. Who knew!

Hello the Boat!

2009-04-11T11:24:00.008-05:00

Last Friday we drove to Wisconsin and picked up our new....canoe. Cool! This beauty is gigantic! Our whole family will fit in it for years to come with no problem. We're looking forward to trying it out this summer. We brought it in the house this morning to let the "kids" play in it. =)

Flowers & Signs Annaliese Style

2009-04-02T12:34:00.013-05:00

The other day Annaliese asked me to take her picture with these flowers that I brought home from Enrichment Night. =)
She loves flowers. Every time we go to costco she asks if we can buy flowers. I usually say, "maybe next time...." I really should buy flowers more often. Look how happy they made her. I think I will say yes next time.

Annaliese has been a busy sign maker lately. See if you can decode these messages. Answers in comments.

Wohoo!

2009-04-02T11:50:00.006-05:00

Wohoo! This has been our morning! Good times.

Gross

2009-04-01T00:25:00.010-05:00

Okay, this is one of those things I'm not sure I should blog about or not. Maybe TMI... but here it goes anyway.

Tonight at about ten I was sitting here at the computer minding my own business and thinking about going to bed so I could get some good sleep when Kermit comes down and tells me not to freak out or anything BUT, he just saw a large mouse or small rat like thing walk into our closet!!!! This is so gross! I HATE RATS but amazingly I kept my cool. So much for a decent sleep tonight.

We immediately dug up some traps, slathered them with peanut butter and set them in the closet. Long story short, the little guy doesn't like peanut butter.

By midnight we had him trapped under a clear plastic box. He's still there now. We don't know what to do with him. If we let him go, he knows how to get back in our house. (We think he got in through the upstairs laundry room vent via his amazing spiderman skills or....I just don't know.) I just hope his little friends didn't get the memo. Just what we need a house full of mice (at least that's what I'm going to call them but I really can't tell which this is).

This is just disgusting. I guess I know what I'll be doing tomorrow. Yeah, I'll be washing everything in my closet and sanitizing like crazy. That's no April foolin' either. ICK!

Other than that things are great around here! Really! =) Also on my to do list tomorrow...get my hair cut! Looking forward to that as always. All the little ones are doing great. We had a fun day today playing at home and a little visit to the library.

Birthday weekend review.

2009-03-22T20:09:00.011-05:00

This weekend we celebrated Kermit's birthday. 44 big ones! We decided to have a low key "family party" this year. Annaliese was very concerned because all of Kermit's family were not here...like his mom and brothers. Yes, that would have been nice. (Like we had a few years back, a surprise "whole family party". Maybe we'll try that again another year! Shhh.) This year however, was a happy one nonetheless with just the 5 of us. We had wonderful weather so we loaded the kids up for a day out at the zoo. Ahh, spring. It's coming, or rather it's finally officially here! When we got home we worked in the front yard a bit while the twins just played and "helped". Poor Annaliese slept on the couch, she's been sick the last few days. Kermit cut some stones and laid a little path that leads to the water spickett (sp?) and hose so we don't have to get muddy every time we walk back there. He cut the hedges too. It looks great! That evening we had presents and cupcakes. The girls were thrilled! Kermit wished that I wouldn't take any pictures of him at his party...but his birthday wish didn't come true. I mean how could I blog about his birthday without a birthday picture? Sorry Honey. But his other birthday wish did come true. He had a relaxing, no commitment to anyone, low key, happy day with his family.

Happy Birthday Kermit! I love you so much! Your girls adore you! May 44 be as good as 43! xoxo from all of us!

(This is just a funny picture I thought I'd add...the girls loved "helping" to make the cupcakes!)

Mama said there'd be days like this...

2009-03-19T21:32:00.005-05:00

Well I haven't been good at keeping up with the blog lately. I guess the reason is, I've just been too tired. My three little darlings are terrible sleepers at night, which means Kermit and I also get terrible sleep. Add to the mix the fact that one of the kids has been a little stinker lately and there you have it, one tired mom that is too dead to the world to blog about anything.

Lucky for me last night was a full TEN hour sleep night! Yes, TEN lovely, blissful, uninterrupted hours of sleep. Yea me! Yea girls! Woohoo! =) I am a new woman! Add to that the fact that Avrie had a great day and I am even more thrilled to be blogging! Uh oh, it's 9:45pm and I think I hear my 3 little darlings. They are still awake, now one is screaming. Gotta go! Hopefully I'll be back soon with some great stories to share...and I've got some cute ones!

Junk Food Redefined

2009-02-26T15:55:00.011-06:00

Today Annaliese decided that since she is now five years old that she should be in charge of making lunch. Without any adult supervision she made PB&J sandwiches for herself, Addie & me. (Avrie passed on the offer.) When we were just about finished eating Annaliese said,

"Wow, Addie sure does like junk food."

What do you mean junk food?

"Yeah, I dropped hers on the floor. But that's okay because it looks like she likes it."

She was cracking me up!

The sandwich pictured above was mine...not bad. I just had to add a little bit more peanut butter when she wasn't looking. It was then that I saw a 1/4 jar of jelly....smeared all down the front of the counter, on the stool where she had stood and of course all over the floor. The very place where Addie's sandwich became Junk Food. Yum! =)

Four Night Slumber Party

2009-02-24T20:34:00.013-06:00

Friday morning at 5:30am we were awakened by a loud buzzing sound coming from our upstairs furnace. Usually not a good thing. Just as Kermit had predicted a few days before, our upstairs furnace motor had died. Long story short... Kermit fixed it but first we had to get the right motor shipped to the right address. You think that should be a simple thing....not exactly.

Sooo....luckily we only had four nights without heat upstairs. On the bright side, we had a blast having four slumber parties in a row downstairs. We pulled out the couch beds, watched movies, ate popcorn, sang songs, stayed up way too late, and woke up way too early. The girls really did love it. Kermit and I had fun too, it was just exhausting. I learned it's easier to take care of kiddie night issues (and we usually have several a night...eehem) when we are all in the same room together. If somebody needs mom and dad, they just crawl on over...no getting up in the night! Easy. I also learned that our couch beds aren't exactly the most comfortable thing I've ever slept on, so I am thrilled to be sleeping in my own bed tonight now that our heat is restored. The girls are bummed to not be sleeping all together though. Not to worry, we'll do it again! Let's hope it's not because the furnace blew up but just because it's fun!

Pictures from our slumber partying....

I love Addie's spread eagle in the picture above.

Below, notice the fresh snow outside the window.... it was COLD! Also notice where Avrie wiggled to in the night. Cute girls!

And here's Avrie helping dad fix the furnace. She LOVES helping dad! Why Kermit is in short sleeves, I have no idea! I think it must have been about 50 degrees at least!

We're all toasty warm now! Thanks Kermit for fixing it for us and for the fun times at our family slumber party (parties)!

Happy Birthday Annaliese!

2009-02-17T21:20:00.005-06:00

Today is Annaliese's 5th birthday. Wow, that went fast. It really makes me sad when I think about how fast she is growing. I'm having a hard time dealing with the fact that she's not a baby anymore. Silly I know. She is losing those luscious chubby cheeks that I love so much. She doesn't have those cute little dimples in her hands anymore either. Sigh... She's a beautiful big five year old. The one thing I can say is I do love watching her grow. I love watching her figure out the world little by little. She may not be a baby anymore but she will always be ours. What a blessing!

We had a wonderful day celebrating. We ran errands in the morning and she was sure to tell everyone we met that it was her birthday. She brought many a smile to quite a few strangers. We came home and decorated her cake just in time for a few of her friends to arrive for a little Outer Space Birthday party. We ended her special day with a birthday dinner of her choice. Kermit and I took our big 5 year old out to Portillos for a cheeseburger and fries. All three of us were in heaven.

Happy Birthday Annaliese! We love you!

"Valemtimes" Day 2009

2009-02-14T20:14:00.011-06:00

February 14 was a great day for us here. The girls were thrilled with their little heart gifts from parents and grandparents. Here are some pictures with some of their Valentine treasures. (Addie with her cool heart glasses, Avrie with her puppy love, and Annaliese with the chirping Audubon Society love birds in a "tree".)

We spent the day at the Adler Planetarium. Loved it! We're very into outer space these days. Annaliese has been learning all about the man's first trip to the moon with her dad. She was thrilled to see a real space capsule and video of Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong. Another favorite part for everyone was seeing the Sesame Street Star show. Very cute. All three loved it and even Kermit and I enjoyed it. Great day! xoxox

Garfield Park Conservatory

2009-02-10T21:41:00.006-06:00

Last weekend we had beautiful springlike weather here. We wanted to let the kids run around outside but the snow was melting everywhere and it was just too muddy. So where else can you run around and feel like you are outside enjoying a beautiful day without the mud and melting snow to deal with but the Garfield Park Conservatory. We love this place! It's beautiful and huge and they even have a little room for children to play in! Right now they are hosting a special event that was actually very cool to participate in called Sweet Saturdays. All around the conservatory they had little stations with volunteers set up in front of different plants used for making sweets. They would teach you about the plant and then give you a little taste. We tasted bananas, cocoa beans, coconuts, cinnamon, etc. It was such a good idea but my one complaint was that crowds were bad. If you think you might want to check it out next weekend I'd recommend trying to go right when they open or right before closing.

This picture was taken just after Christmas when we went with my parents. Less crowds and beautiful as ever!

Field Trip to the Museum of Science & Industry

2009-01-21T23:34:00.010-06:00

Before Christmas Annaliese's class at school took a field trip to the Museum of Science and Industry, one of my favorite museums to visit. I signed up to drive and brought the twins along for the fun. Annaliese's teacher wanted the class to draw pictures of their favorite Christmas Tree from the Trees around the World exhibit. It was cute to see all these little pre-schoolers laying down on the "clean" floor of the museum working on their masterpieces. The class got to go into the Idea Factory which is always fun. After lunch I took my three off on my own and we did our own exploring of the museum. It was definitely a mob scene that day but still we had fun. I do love that place!

All aboard the Potty Train...

2009-01-21T21:48:00.005-06:00

The last few weeks we've been working on PT. Jumbo marshmallows are the bribe of choice.

I knew that they were ready when one night after I lectured them for 10 minutes not to make pee pees (or anything else) in the bathtub....they each got out of the bathtub to take care of business. I could not believe it! They understood! They got it! I was almost jumping up and down! I know that they are now three years and ought to get it...but seriously they had NO desire what so ever to ever use the potty before. They like diapers. I also really had no desire to tackle training. I would rather change a diaper than an clean up an accident. So the real thing that pushed me to do this...Sunbeams. They are now Sunbeams. I'm pretty sure the other classmates all are potty trained...so a little bit of pressure to get it done!

Addie has done amazingly well! She takes care of business on her own! "I have to go to du toelet..." and off she runs. She also likes to tell me, "Go away mommy, I need privatcy." She's earned a whole bag of marshmallows on her own. Bravo Addie!

Avrie loves marshmallows...she gets a couple a day. She doesn't like a big fuss though. She tells me not to say "Good Job." She wants me to say nothing. So I try not to...but it's hard not to! She'll get it too I know. Maybe after Addie masters it she'll feel more motivated?

The funny thing is...they both still want to wear diapers like it is their security blanket or something. I have fancy princess pull ups and cozy cotton underwear but they choose to wear good old Mickey Mouse Huggies and rip them off when its time to go. I'm thinking once the diapers are gone...they will be gone. I know, cruel.

Inauguration Day

2009-01-20T15:13:00.009-06:00

I turned on the TV this morning looking for a local traffic report. I was debating loading the kids up and heading to a suburban shopping mall to do some returns, and a traffic report would help me decide. All I could find was LIVE Inauguration coverage, no traffic reports anywhere to be found. Annaliese became immediately captivated.

"What are all those people doing?"

"Why are the all cheering?"

"Who is Barack Obama?"

"Why is he the president?"

All very good questions.

We got comfortable on the couch as I tried to answer all of her questions. She was curious about each of the former presidents that she saw on the screen and wondered why they weren't the president anymore. I got to explain that every four years America votes for a new president. Who ever gets the most votes gets to be the new president.

"Mom, did you vote?"

"Can I go with you next time?"

We watched Sasha and Malia being escorted to their seats.

"Do they have a mom?"

We watched Michelle Obama being escorted.

"Oh, I get it...they're the Obama family just like we're the K__ Family! Now their dad is the new president, right? When is he going to be on?"

We watch, we watch, we watch....She waits, she waits, she waits....

Finally she gets to see who Barack Obama is. She was thrilled to be able to know who the new president of the United States is. It was the same kind of thrill when we watched the Olympics together this past summer....patriotic.

I was glad that we had this little learning moment together. I may not have voted for Obama but I do want him to be successful for America's sake.

I thought Obama's speech was appropriate and fine. I found his choice of words interesting as they were clearly meant for the world to hear, not just the America. I am glad I stayed home to watch this historic event with my girls instead of fighting traffic. I have to admit that there was one thing that got my goat a little. I don't think it was appropriate for Mr. Preacherman Joseph Lowery to take racial jabs in the closing prayer...the closing PRAYER of an INAUGURATION! Pretty low.

Before I turned off the TV Annaliese told me, "When I get older I want to go into that show." In other words...when she grows up she wants to go to an inauguration. I hope she gets to someday.

This afternoon I pulled out my photo album. I found pictures from 1997, Clinton's 2nd Inauguration. I was there. It didn't matter that I didn't vote for him either, it was just cool to be there. Patriotic.

Baby it's COLD outside!

2009-01-19T22:24:00.008-06:00

This winter has been so cold. The coldest its been in 12 years in fact. It's been a long time since I've seen so much snow too.

The things about snow and cold that make life bearable :

Cute kids in cute snow clothes

Lots of hot cocoa with marshmallows &

Fresh baked bread right from the oven

Oh yeah, and soft cozy fleece PJs.

Welcoming myself back...

2009-01-14T10:16:00.007-06:00

Time flies, eh? A month since my last post!

My parents were here for Christmas then after they left we've been SICK...all of us (coughing, runny noses, fevers, pneumonia, ear infections, PINK EYE, etc., etc. etc.) We're on the mend... and I'm back! =) This darn pink eye though...I didn't think I'd get it...wrong.

Lately with Avrie....

2009-01-14T09:48:00.003-06:00

12/17/2008 - Today Avrie ate string cheese for the first time EVER (knowingly). Also last week she ate and ate and ate corn and spaghetti pie! WooHOo! What's next? PB&J?!
12/15/2008 - When this girl is sweet...she is the sweetest thing EVER! She has been sweet the last few days. It's been heaven! love this girl!
12/15/2008 - Very good at coloring in the lines.
12/12/2008 - Today at ther 3 year check up she weighed 29 1/2 lbs. (50%) and was 37 1/4 inches tall (50-75%) . Her BMI was 15 (25%). Cute kid! Love her!

12/07/2008 - Her language is so cute. She loves talking and talking! Lots to say! She also loves to color. She is really good at coloring in the lines.
12/07/2008 - We started potty training, but we may have to wait for after the holidays to make any progress. I need to find a treat she's willing to work for.
10/05/2008 - Just spent the last 15 minutes mastering the art of tracing her own hand. "Look mom, I'm big geel!"
10/05/2008 - She calls the airconditioning "airplane machine". We laughed and laughed. Makes sense I guess.

Lately with Annaliese.....

2009-01-14T09:44:00.004-06:00

12/23/2008 - Got to go see "Welcome Yule" at the CSO with her dad. What a special treat! They both loved it.

12/15/2008 - LOVES the snow! I love how she is so excited to lay right on down just about anywhere to make a snow angel!
12/07/2008 - She is an amazing artist. I've had to teach her a few times that it is not appropriate to tell everyone that she is the most wonderful artist ever. =) (But it is perfectly okay for me to say so!)
12/07/2008 - She has found that coming in to bed with mom and dad at about 3am is quite nice. That's fine-whatever but I think we need a bigger bed.
12/07/2008 - She has always loved to tell stories. She has her sisters gathered around as she draws pictures on her doodle pad and tells stories about her drawings. So cute.
12/07/2008 - Is trying out some of the tactics that the twins use to get attention. What? Tantrums don't work...or do they! She's a sweetie though. Love her.
10/05/2008 - Sometimes when we take her picture, she will pose by closing her eyes and turning her head to the side and down. I always wondered why. The other day she told me that is how you look pretty. "First you close your eyes like you are asleep, then you turn your head like this mom. That's what you do if you want to look pretty."

Lately with Adeline....

2009-01-14T09:28:00.004-06:00

12/16/2008 - This girl cracks me up! She DANCES down the stairs! So cute, I need to get video.
12/16/2008 - Has been calling me "mudder" (mother) all week. Melt me. =)

12/15/2008 - Dress ups are her thing! I love to watch her pretend! She also LOVES to pretend she is a dog or cat...or baby....She just loves to pretend. Cute thing!
12/12/2008 - Today at her 3 year check-up she was 31 lbs. (>50%) She was 39 1/2 inches tall (95%) and her BMI was 14 (5%).

12/07/2008 - When singing you are my sunshine she says "You'll never know dear, how much I love with you...please don't take my sun sine away." MELT ME!
12/07/2008 - Is getting so good at drawing! She loves to spend time drawing over and over on her doodle pad just like her big sis.
12/07/2008 - Calls the little Mermaid - "little ermaid" - so cute! She also calls Belle from Beauty and the Beast "Tinker Bell" - silly girl!
10/05/2008 - Is very very in to Cinderella. The other day we read all 15 Cinderella books that we own. We also watched it twice. She plays with her little "cindawella" figurines. Dresses up like Cinderlla, (if it's Avrie's turn she will gladly be the "pwince"). She loves to wear her cinderella pjs.

Zoo Lights & "Is he REAL?"

2008-12-15T22:54:00.011-06:00

Back on the 5th we went to see Zoo Lights at LP Zoo. It was freezing cold but oh so worth it. There were no crowds and we got great parking thanks to the cold weather. The girls were bundled up from head to toe and didn't even mind the cold. They really had a great time. They were just so HAPPY. I love it when we have an outing that that goes so well and everybody is just plain happy. The girls danced together to the music playing over the loud speakers and just loved making a fuss over all the decorations. They also got to decorate gingerbread men cookies which was fun for them. We warmed up in the lion house with some hot cocoa...which 2 of the 3 spilled down the front of their coats. We saw Santa there. Annaliese told him she wants a jack in the box for Christmas. Afterwards she asked us if he was the real Santa. We told her he was a helper.

The next night Annaliese asked if Santa was real. I told her we would find out on Christmas if he left any presents. I kind of feel bad about that. At what age do you sit down and have "the talk"? Not to a four year old, right? I believed until I was 10 at least, but I never asked point blank. What to do, what to do. All I think to do is keep on focusing on what is real about Christmas- the the birth of our Savior. That I can do and that is what I love most about Christmas anyway.

Christmas Card Photo- Take 1

2008-12-08T01:22:00.005-06:00

Seriously, this is the best one from the 20 plus we took today. We'll try our luck again next week.

The reject pics always make me smile the most though. They're real. I have some awesome rejects from last year that I love to look at just for laughs.

How Lovely Are Thy Branches

2008-12-07T23:53:00.012-06:00

This week we decorated our tree. I love opening up the Christmas ornament box! Each ornament is wrapped individually in tissue paper and opening each one is like opening a little present. In each present is a memory from Christmases past.

A tradition my mom had for us kids growing up was to buy each child a new ornament every year, one that we got to pick out ourselves. She marked them with our initials and the year. Sometimes we would choose a traditional ornament - like an little angel or a shepherd but sometimes not and we would choose one that reflected what we were IN to that year as a hobby..... like a hot dog skier, a sewing mouse, a bunny rabbit cheerleader, a miniature piano, etc. I love finding the white lacy butterfly and the baby deer in a bulb that go back as far as I can remember. I also love finding the tiny nativity ornament that I brought home from primary when I was a sunbeam. Some are kind of tacky others beautiful, but to me it's such a nice way to have a piece of childhood and home with me for Christmas.

Kermit and I are also having lots of fun buying new ornaments. A few years ago we bought a ton of pretty crystally snowflakes on clearance from Pottery Barn. Last year we bought a ton of musical instruments. This year....TBD. Kermit and I both have pretty strong opinions about how the tree should look. Kermit likes a theme...I like the hodgepodge from Christmas past. So what do we do? Well, we try to shop together for new ornaments that we both like...AND we get two trees. A little one in the family room with all the fun memories on it and a thematic, fancy, sparkly tree in the living room to wow us every time we walk by.

Having the girls help us decorate was so much fun. All the ornaments ended up right at their level. The branches were so heavy from all the weight that the ornaments kept falling off. Kermit and I redecorated tonight. Both trees turned out just gorgeous I think. How lovely are their branches!

Hurrah for the Pumpkin Pie!

2008-11-27T22:54:00.013-06:00

We had fun this year for Thanksgiving. We invited the missionaries and a few families from our ward over for the feast. And oh what a feast it was! I think we should have Thanksgiving at least three times a year! I made the turkey, the stuffing, jello, green beans, a banana cream pie and little finger food appetizers (oh yeah, and "gravy" with help from McCormick and REAL gravy with help from the Turkey & Andy). Karyn made 2 amazing batches of mashed potatoes. Marjorie brought 2 YUMMY homemade pumpkin pies, marshmallow yams and rolls. We had a wonderful time visiting with our friends and watching the kids run wildly around. A fun day indeed!

On Friday Annaliese and I went to a special kids ballet/dance performance at a local theater with Alli & Karyn. Cute girls! This was Annaliese's first time to go see a real live show like this and to see the big stage, red velvet curtains, golden balcony, fancy schmancy art carved in the ceiling, etc. We loved the traditional ballet the most but they had all different types of dance. It made me want to go see a real professional ballet. I think next year we'll take everyone to see The Nutcracker. The best part of the show was during intermission. Annaliese and Alli joined a bunch of kids in the aisles to dance together. Annaliese has some moves! It was just too funny and cute! I wish I had video!

Not a morning person....

2008-11-21T20:51:00.014-06:00

I like to share funny parenting stories every now and then. I figure if it's funny to me now, maybe someday my girls will also find them funny. =) Here is one of the latest starring Avrie.

Wednesday morning Avrie woke up on the wrong side of the bed. She did not want to get dressed, she wants to be naked. I let her be naked while I get the other girls ready for the day. The other two are now ready and it is now Avrie's turn to cooperate. I have to physically push each of her limbs into her clothing as she resists and screams. Finally dressed. The girls all have on their winter coats and hats and they pile into our nifty triple stroller and off we go to take Annaliese to school. Avrie cries the entire way there, no screams. We get looks from other mom-looking people we pass that seem to say, "I've been there, glad it's you and not me." We also get a few looks from some young professionals that seem to say "What is wrong with your child!?" or maybe "What is wrong with YOU, what did you do to that poor devastated child?" That 2 blocks we walk seem to take forever. Luckily we make it to school just as my friend Karyn was arriving with her little Alli. I pass Annaliese off to Karyn who takes her in to school for me and then just keep that stroller going right on back home. Avrie still screaming (I think I hear her say something about not wanting to get dressed). We get home. I get Avrie out of the stroller, she runs to the corner of the garage. I get Adeline out of the stroller and take her in to the house. 2 minutes later I go back out the garage to get Avrie....she's standing there, not crying. Good, she's chilled out. Wait, her shoes and socks are not on her feet, nor are her pants or diaper where they ought to be. Hat off too. She is tugging at that darn jacket that won't come off - the zipper is jammed. Folks, it's 40 degrees! =) I tried so hard not to laugh! I pick her up and bring her inside. I think she thought I was going to punish her. Instead I take her jacket off, take her shirt off and pull out the potty training seat.
The rest of the day went much better thankfully. She had her first day of potty training and a good long nap. Whew.

Kermit has been away this week as he is every fall for annual partner meetings abroad. I've gotten used to having him help me in the mornings to get Annaliese to school. I've been spoiled. At night he is usually home in time to help with the bedtime routine. This week not the case. Boy do I miss him more than ever! Clearly they do too.

Oh one more story from the week flying solo without Kermit. This one stars all three Annaliese, Adeline & Avire!

Thursday afternoon we are invited to a friends house for a play date. The friend lives just 2 blocks away. I figure stupidly that we can walk. Long story short...we stay too long and the twins are nap deprived and overtired. When it came time to leave....lets just say that walk home was torture not just on them, but the entire neighborhood. The twins were crying, "hold me mommy, hold me!" Not just whining, crying. Annaliese got upset that the twins were upset. All three were crying, sitting on the sidewalk not moving. What's a mom to do without her stroller?!!! I had about 3 people offer to help me. I declined but we finally made it. All three girls were in bed and asleep before 7! Whew. Moral of the story...go nowhere without a stroller. Also, don't stay out "late" with overtired kids. Note to self! =)

Going Private?

2008-11-19T09:16:00.005-06:00

Hi everyone,
I'm thinking about making this blog private in the next couple of days. Going private means that only people that I invite via email to view my blog can access it. I'm not sure if I have an updated email list or not and I don't want to loose touch with you all just because I've gone private. Please email me or comment here with your email address so that I can send you an invitation!

Birthday Party Pictures

2008-11-18T22:26:00.012-06:00

Addie & Avrie with their cupcakes.
Making butterflies.

Tired Girls! 3 hour naps for both 3 year olds!

Three years ago....

2008-11-17T21:40:00.017-06:00

Three years ago (tomorrow to be exact) my twins were born. How grateful I am for these dear ones. I wanted to share a few excerpts from my journal written in June of 2006 when the twins were 7 months old. I always want my girls to know the story of their birth and a few of the many miracles we saw that allowed them to be with us today.

Avrie & Addie together for the first time since birth...

Approximately 2 weeks old.

June 2006-
"I’ve been wanting to write the story of their birth for some time now and share my thoughts and feelings. I almost can’t…..the whole experience almost doesn’t seem real, but when I start to think about each event that lead up to their birth and their recovery home….I shudder to think how lucky I am to have these two little girls.

I’ve always heard that a twin pregnancy had more risks involved….The word “risk” never meant anything to me before. I understand now…I’m glad those risks were taken obviously or we wouldn’t have our two baby girls but I don’t know I’d ever take those risks again. Life is too fragile and I love my babies too much to put anybody at risk.....

My whole pregnancy was a cinch. I actually didn’t gain that much weight and sometimes wonder if that had anything to do with this but I’ll never know. My body felt great.....I went in for a routine 30 week appointment for an ultrasound…all tests previous were normal….I thought it was strange when the tech kept asking me all kinds of questions about diabetes, amniocentesis, etc. It was a Friday. (I'm pretty sure this was the day of Grandma Bev's funeral, which I obviously missed.) My doctor was concerned and said it was serious. I thought she was being dramatic. She had me go in for a repeat test on Monday. That weekend I got a blessing before Kermit went out of town for the week to Boston. Mondays test came… I knew something was really wrong by the way the tech was acting. I was waiting and waiting to see the head supervisor/doctor but then after waiting forever they just told me to go see my regular doctor. She wasn’t in so I saw Dr. A. As soon as he looked at the report he said, "you need to go to the hospital right now. Baby A is very sick. She has fluid all around the outside of her lungs and heart compressing them. Fluid should not be there…this is called hydrops and it is very serious…call your husband you are not going home." Kermit was in Boston and caught the first flight home.
He stayed the night with me in the hospital. Megan our babysitter, stayed at home with Annaliese. That night I started contracting! I was given some medicine to stop contractions. I was given steroid shots to help strengthen their lungs because it was looking like they were coming soon. We waited, the contractions stopped. I was there for 3 days and they watched very closely little Adeline’s condition. It seemed to be stable. The fluid was there and not going away but she wasn’t showing signs of being stressed. Her heart beat was great. We made a deal that I could go home if I agreed to come in everyday for ultrasound and non stress tests. I did that for 1 1/2 weeks. The fluid did increase very little at first but then tapered off. I had gotten comfortable going in to the hospital every day, expecting that I would hear the same news I had heard previous day....that "the fluid was there but it wasn't any worse, Adeline is fine, go home and rest, come back tomorrow." I was convinced that I could get to 36 weeks... Then on November 17th I went in for my daily routine checkup…the fluid had gown substantially. Now Adeline had fluid under her skin on her head! They said her heart was still strong but wanted me to go to labor and delivery just to keep an eye on her heart. I was calm…I was exactly 32 weeks. I was huge and uncomfortable. I fully expected to be able to go home to Annaliese and Kermit.I sobbed when the doctor came in and told me that they needed to induce me. Adeline just had to get out if she was going to get better. I sobbed. I had been so tough and kept my faith…but the reality of delivering a baby that was so sick truly was frightening to me. Adeline needed ME! As long as she was in me her heart could beat and she didn’t need her lungs. After birth she would have to rely on her own heart and lungs that were in such critical condition. I cried and cried. Kermit was in Racine, WI on business. He cancelled his meetings and headed home.

It was evening by the time he arrived if I remember. They had given me my pitocin…that I actually didn’t really need…my body had already started labor again on its own. When it came time to break my water…whew…that was the hardest ever…there was no turning back these babies were coming and I was freaking. I couldn’t have done it with out Kermit. I was so embarrassed to be crying the way I was but I couldn’t stop. It was the most awful feeling I've ever felt. These babies weren’t ready! Neither was I!

I got my epidural shortly thereafter. At 11pm my doctor came in to check on me. She said she had been up all night the night before and that she really needed to go back home to sleep….that we didn’t want her there on such little sleep. I was so sad because she had been so cool to us all along and had been such a support. She had taken time at the end her exhausting days to visit with me during her rounds while I was in the hospital…she loved Annaliese and was great to Kermit. She tried to help us come up with names…etc. Now when it was time to deliver she had to go home to sleep. I labored all night and into the morning. At 5 am (now November 18th) I felt the need to push. The nurse said no way, you were a 4 less than an hour ago….I asked her to please just go get somebody to check me…I had to ask a couple of times and she finally did…it was time!!! I was a 10 and ready to go. They wheeled me to the OR where 20 doctors and nurses were…. I’m not even kidding. Dr. M (my doctor) was one of them! =) She got the call and came straight over….5 hours was enough sleep for her she said. What a woman! Dr. H was also there…he had delivered Annaliese so I knew he was good too. There were nurses attending then about 5 doctors and nurses for each baby…add that all up and yep…about 18-20 people. I pushed with all my might to get Adeline out. I think it was about 20 minutes of pushing. At 5:35am Adeline was born. They held her up for me to see then went straight away to the doctors waiting to save her life. She looked like a chubby little cherub. A lot like the way I remember Annaliese looking at birth. I remember saying that I thought she looked like Annaliese. Avrie was transverse so the doctor with the smallest hands (a resident) reached in and grabbed her feet and pulled her out 3 minutes later! Whew! Avrie was so little. She was beat red. TINY and RED! She was also whisked away to the other side of the room where her team of doctors were waiting.

I had done it. I had had a “normal” delivery with no complications just as I had been promised in a blessing I had received. I kept remembering that. God had promised me a normal delivery and I had had one….Now my babies would be blessed to make it and that promise would also be kept.

Dr. H kept going over to where our babies were being worked on to try to give us an update. Adeline’s chest tubes had been placed and fluid was beginning to drain…it was straw colored. That is all we knew. We had no idea that the team of doctors working on her little body didn’t know if they would be able to save her. It was bad.
They wheeled her off to another area of the hospital without saying goodbye. A few minutes later Avrie wheeled by and paused to say goodbye before heading up. It was up to recovery for me.

I didn’t go down to the ICU to see them. I felt the doctors would do better without the blubbering mother over their shoulders. Kermit’s brother Gabe happened to be driving through town with Kermit’s mother to move her out west for the winter. Just as they arrived at the hospital our Bishop showed up as well. The three of them (Kermit, Gabe & Bishop) went down together to see the babies and to give them blessings. I remember asking Kermit to tell me what the blessing said…he said he didn’t remember.

Next it was my turn to go see the babies. Dr. Beverly R. had told us everything they had done to try to save Adeline. (I took comfort in her name. It was a reminder that my Grandma Beverly in heaven was near and caring for my babies as their angel.) Dr. Bev explained that she had placed the chest tubes and had given her air but she had seen Adeline “posture” or show signs of oxygen deprivation and seizure. The fluid was draining. Adeline was the sickest baby in the nursery. Dr. Bev flat out told us she didn’t know if Adeline would make it. They were doing everything they could. Tests were being done to see if they could figure out the cause of the hydrops. Things did not look optimistic.

Kermit and I finally went down to see our girls. No pictures were taken. It felt like too sacred a moment to photograph. Adeline was right at the first bed as you entered nursery 7. A huge oscilating ventilator was shaking her whole body as it pushed tiny puffs of air into her frail lungs. She was on a sedation medication that paralyzed her keeping her from moving. She had an IV that fed her veins straight to her heart. Her knees were up and open like a W. Naked sitting on an open diaper. Tubes from both sides draining fluid little by little. She looked lifeless. She was so pretty. Her skin beautiful. Her chub wasn’t chub though…it was the ademia or swelling from the fluid. She had to live. It was surreal.

Avrie was so little, so red, on no pain medication, wiggle, wiggle, mad. She seemed to respond to my voice. I cried. She wore goggles to cover her eyes, she was under lights for bilirubin. Her legs were like a pincushion. Doctors tried and tried to get a central line in to her premptivley but could never get a good vein. Her ventilator was down her throat as well just with normal air flow rather than like Adeline’s. Avrie looked mad and so uncomfortable. She cried but no sound could be made with the tubes down her throat. She only weighed 3 lbs. 5 oz. 16 inches. Little. Neither girl looked good.

The next day we met again with a different doctor with a new update. Dr. __(Can't remember his name)___ had told us that in the teams had pulled out every trick they knew to help Adeline make it…he said that usually when they have to use these “tricks” as he called them they are able to tell immediately which intervention was the one that makes the difference…in the case of Adeline…they weren’t sure which one of their interventions caused her to turn around. Adeline was rallying beyond belief…stunning all those who had been present at her delivery. We know which intervention it was…her blessing. Though Kermit doesn’t remember the words he uttered in her blessing…he remembered that he felt she would be healed. She indeed was on her way.

It wasn’t more than a few days before Adeline was taken off the oscillator ventilator and moved to a nasal canula. It was a few weeks before she could be held due to the chest tubes….finally they came out and she was able to be held. She was getting stronger day by day. She was passing Avrie up in breathing and before long eating. She was started off on Portagen…a formula easier to digest than breast milk. Tests came back…no cause for the hydrops could be found. No evidence in brain scans of seizure, her heart strong, this little girl was strong and going to make it!

Avrie plugged away…breathing was never easy for her, eating never easy, keeping warm wasn’t easy. She was little. She wasn’t ready to be born but had to make due. One thing every nurse that cared for her said…this little girl is a wiggler! YES, I know! My ribs would agree! Every visit to the hospital Avrie always greeted us with wide eyes busy checking us out. Adeline was always asleep. The same is true today…Adeline my good sleeper…Avrie too busy looking around to sleep! =)

One day they were off their “ohio beds” and in to an incubator! =) There for a few weeks and then into open cribs! They were being fed every 3 hours around the clock. They were both now on Breast milk but bottle fed. What ever they couldn’t finish they would tube the rest through their NG tube (Nose). I would pump milk at home and bring it in to the hospital each day. Each day I would visit for a couple of hours. Hold each baby an hour each then go home. It was so hard. I felt the need to be there all day but just couldn’t. Annaliese needed me at home too. I was so worried I would have babies that were emotionless because their mommy couldn’t be there the way others mommies could be. I think I missed one day in 8 weeks…I couldn’t handle not seeing them….I had to go everyday. What mom wouldn’t.

Its late right now..I’m exhausted…but I wanted to get some of this documented before another 7 months slips away. I feel so blessed to have these dear babies. Its been a challenge everyday but one I am grateful for. Twins isn’t easy but is happy. I love these girls with all my heart. I thank the Lord for their safe arrival to our family. The priesthood is real and we have been blessed by its power. "

I know that God hears and answers prayers. Thank you so much to our family and friends who prayed continually for their recovery and our comfort. Thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Twins Birthday Recap

2008-11-16T22:16:00.010-06:00

Yesterday we celebrated the twins third birthday. What a great day! I hope it will be one they both remember. We had a little butterfly party with just a couple of their friends. We made a little butterfly craft, played a little butterfly game, ate a little cupcake with little butterfly decoration in them, tah dah!

I don't think I have ever seen Avrie more excited. She's just been bursting with joy over turning three. It is a pretty big deal to her. When she came downstairs for the first time in the morning she was so excited to see the decorations set up for the party. She did a little dance and just squealed and then plopped herself down on the ground making a super silly face and wiggled some more. She was thrilled!

Addie was cracking me up all week. She's been busy singing, "Happy Birthday to me" or "Happy Birthday to US" all week! =) She was very involved in making the cupcakes that we made the day before. Keeping those cupcakes away from her until the party was quite the trick. I literally had to keep the cupcakes hidden in the cooled oven to keep her from devouring them before the party.

I have to say that these girls are about at the peak of cuteness! They melt me and I love that I am their mother. Happy Birthday to sweet Addie and Avrie! I love you both forever!

Just what I needed

2008-11-13T18:23:00.005-06:00

Have you ever had a week of stress that just builds and builds? It's been one of those kinds of weeks around here. (Long story for another day.) Yesterday the girls and I were at a friends house for a little bit of fun and my friend commented how she liked Avrie's shoes. Yes, she is wearing two left feet, one that is at least 2 sizes too big! I still can't stop laughing! When I took this picture I could barely hold the camera still and had to quickly run to the restroom before I peed my pants.

I suppose it's really not that funny, but it was definitely just what I needed! =)

Fall in New England

2008-11-02T22:11:00.010-06:00

It seems that when ever we travel, it takes me at least a month to get the pictures posted. I wouldn't want to break with tradition....(I'm actually writing this on Nov. 16)

The first week of October we took a spontaneous trip to Massachusetts to visit Kermit's mom. This rural New England town is one of the best places to be for a week in autumn. It is just so gorgeous and peaceful! Kermit and I have wondered if we lived there would we feel the same way about it. Is it the contrast from the city that we love? Is it the fact that whenever we are there we are on vacation and so we only associate good feelings and good times? Does it matter? The fact remains -We love it! We had a great time and had PERFECT weather! Ahh. It makes me happy thinking back on the fun we had.

Twicker Tweak 2008

2008-11-02T21:01:00.016-06:00

Here are some highlights from our "Twicker Tweaking" (as Addie calls it). The weather this year was just perfect! Oh how I love a balmy fall day topped off with a balmy Halloween night!
Annaliese's class at school had a Halloween party. The twins always love the chance to visit her at school. School got out early so we had Alli and Ruby over for lunch and a play date for the afternoon. No Naps for the twins....I did try. They weren't going to need one anyway with all the sugar that would soon come. =)

At Annaliese's school party.

Alli the Pirate and Ruby the Princess with an elf hat and sunglasses!

The trick-or- treaters love our street because street traffic is blocked off for the night. The crowds are always huge but this year...WOW. We kept plenty busy just trying to keep track of our three. I think we only went missing one of them a few times, not bad. (Just a little stressful.) There were just SO MANY KIDS!

The girls were thrilled with their candy haul and thrilled even more that Michele and Daniel spent the evening with us. Michele's costume was so great! She got lots of attention. Some stray kids even tried to "solve the puzzle" - Um... please don't touch. It was so cool to be able to walk down the street with a Rubiks Cube! Thanks Michele & Daniel for coming! We had such fun with you!

I just loved this costume of Galinda the Good Witch...so I took a quick picture. She looked great from the front too! Her costume was also very popular! =) he he!

Happy Haunting Everyone!

2008-10-30T22:03:00.006-05:00

Tonight Kermit & I and the girls gathered around the kitchen counter to carve pumpkins. All were fascinated and excited as they watched. Kermit brought the three completed jack-o-lanterns upstairs to the girls rooms to light their bedrooms for the evening. Very cool indeed. Going to bed is fun again. =)

I also showed the girls their costumes for the first time tonight. Huge hit! A few months back I asked Annaliese what she wanted to be. She said she wanted to be a bumble bee again this year. I decided to have the twins be bugs too, one a butterfly and one a ladybug. Looks like they approved my choice. The costumes were immediately put on for a few hours of dancing fun before bed. Getting them to take these lovlies off for sleep was quite the challenge. I have a feeling these costumes are going to be worn every day until at least Thanksgiving.

Have a happy and safe Halloween!

Remember to watch out for Chocolate Coins- They've been recalled! Check out the link below.
http://www.snopes.com/food/warnings/coins.asp

The most wonderful time of the year

2008-10-18T20:57:00.008-05:00

I do love fall. LOVE it, love it, love it! Fall has finally arrived. The air is cool and crisp. The tree lined streets are glowing with fall colors (or will be soon). Sweater weather, hot cocoa, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin soup, candy corns, honeycrisp apples, country drives, walks through fallen crunchy leaves....these are all things that I just love about fall and what make it my favorite season. It truly is the most wonderful time of the year to me and puts me in the best mood. (Okay it ties with Christmas. )

I have found yet another reason to love fall even more than I already do. Pumpkin Farms! Today we took the kids to Goebberts Farm in South Barrington. What a perfect day! The girls had so much fun rolling pumpkins all around, touching all the different types of gourds, climbing on hay bales, getting a CAMEL ride and a PONY ride, going to see all the different baby animals, running through the cornfield maze, etc. etc. etc. I could go on and on. Lets just say - great time. We'll be going back again next year for sure. We saw Annaliese's teacher there with her niece and nephew which was also fun. We forgot our camera but Miss Trieu had hers. Here are some pics that she took for us. (I'm hoping to figure out how to download pics from our cell phone too.)

Goal Setting

2008-10-18T17:40:00.004-05:00

So we've had this piano for a few months now and we have been loving it. Kermit has been working on it's restoration little by little. His goal to rebuild all of the insides has been put on hold until after Christmas though. Why? Because I also have goals. I love Christmas music and I want to learn to play Christmas songs...and how would I be able to practice if the piano is out of commission while Kermit rebuilds it? So here we are in October and I'm practicing all kinds of Christmas music from the Hymn book so I can be ready the day after Thanksgiving. Kermit has been working on a few Christmas songs himself. He is working on some of the music from Charlie Brown Christmas. Yes, it is very Christmasy around here. My goal is to learn a new song every week.

Speaking of goals....kind of random but I made a goal to get a 72 hour emergency evacuation kit ready for our family. Done. (Oh yeah, I still need to make copies of all our important papers to throw in there.) The duffel bag it is packed in is bursting at the seams and weighs a ton. Among it's contents is the T-shirt that I am wearing in the picture below. It's the perfect T-shirt for such a kit don't you think? Our family received about a dozen of these fancy type shirts this summer. We have T-shirts with puppy dogs, cheetahs, more fairies, kittens, horses, wolves you name it - we have the shirt. So naturally I stashed some in the duffel for the kids too. If we ever have to actually use the kit, the kids will be excited to get to wear these fancy gems. Kermit says that if we are ever refugees anywhere, we will fit right in. =)

"Woohoo! We getta go with Mommy and Daddy on date night!"

2008-10-05T21:19:00.019-05:00

Avrie & Kermit

Huge Telescope

Addie & Kermit waiting for a turn.

Annaliese's turn

Addie's turn again.

A couple of weekends ago Kermit took us to the Dearborn Observatory in Evanston. Our girls love to learn about the different planets (especially Annaliese). This trip was a big hit. The telescope there is about 100 years old and very cool. We got to see Jupiter, also very cool. (Did you know that Jupiter has moons? It's true, we saw them.) I have a hard time comprehending how it is possible to look at a planet magnified so perfectly & so crystal clear. I'm sure that 100 years ago when this was cutting edge technology it must have been even more mind boggling. Well, it still is to me.

That night a photographer & reporter were there from the Associated Press. They were doing a story on light pollution. They took a TON of pictures of our family looking through the telescope. They asked Kermit some interesting questions and recorded his responses. They told us to google our names to see if the story gets picked up anywhere. If it does, I'll be sure to add the link.

Meanwhile...I love my space nerds!

Stinky Problem Resolved

2008-10-02T23:06:00.012-05:00

I'm constantly trying to keep the twins bedroom from getting stinky. It can be a challenge at times making sure the millions of diapers we go through get outside asap and making sure all those sippy cups get taken care of before turning sour under a bed somewhere. I'll admit despite my best efforts, their room still stinks on occasion and I guess they decided to take matters into their own hands.

HOW DID THEY KNOW? Emptying a container of Lavender Baby Powder throughout the entire room REALLY works! When I saw this mess I just smiled. It was beautiful. What a great idea. Why didn't I think of this? Good work girls! Seriously, thanks for helping me out.

P.S. Yes powder works, but another way you girls could help out with the stink problem is by cooperating when I potty train you next month.
(Gee, Maybe I'll wait until we have the potty thing mastered before I get drastic & have the carpets professionally cleaned.)

Little Pea

2008-09-30T22:26:00.013-05:00

We checked out the book LITTLE PEA from the library. Avrie loves it. In the book Little Pea has to eat 5 bites of candy for dinner before getting dessert(spinach). My little Pee-Wee is (still) a very picky eater. Thanks to this book, I we have a new trick for mealtime. Just a little reminder of this story and she will enthusiastically take 5 bites of dinner. Funny little Avrie! You are my favorite Little Pea! Here is a list of some of my favorite & most recent Avrie Moments.

09/28/2008 - All week Avrie has been asking me if she is a baby or if she is a big girl. She is determined to be big! "I'm a big geel!"
09/28/2008 - Something changed...my Sweet Avrie is back (has been for 2-3 weeks)! Is it the moon? She has been THE sweetest and THE cutest child I have ever seen!
09/27/2008 - I think she is ready for potty training, for sure! Tonight she was sitting on the toilet and she said in her oh so cute 2 year old toddler voice, "The poopoos are sleeping in my bum. They don't want to come out and play with their friends. They're scared." =)
09/28/2008 - The last few weeks have been a riot listening to her talk. First of all she has the cutest voice I've ever heard, second she can talk and talk and talk. She is beyond using language to get her needs met...she has stories to tell!
09/27/2008 - Avrie and Addie (and Annaliese for the matter) play so well with each other. I love to hear the little conversations that they make their toys have with each other. Very cute!
09/10/2008 - I took her for her first dentist visit. She gave me a scare because she mentioned a few times to me that her teeth were hurting...but good news, no cavities! She did great for the dentist too! Good job Avrie!
09/10/2008 - Cute little body on this girl. She was exercising the other day by punching her arms out in front of her and kicking her legs out one at a time. She was panting and so proud of herself for eckersizing. Too cute!
09/10/2008 - Okay, another thing I need to record is this girl singing Happy Birthday. SOOO CUTE! She loves to "make cakes" from Sand, or blocks, or other objects and sing happy birthday. Then she makes you blow out the candles. When you blow out the candles she knocks down the blocks, or dumps the sand, or destroys what ever the cake was made from. Too cute! Sweet voice too!
09/10/2008 - Likes to play with the doll house. Still enjoying dress ups but not as often as she used to. She is loving learning to draw. Whenever she draws herself...she always includes her birthmark. Cute as ever!
09/10/2008 - LOVE her little voice! She has been telling the cutest little stories lately! Sooo incredibly sweet! Need to get this on tape.
09/10/2008 - It's official, as soon as I admit Avrie has chilled, she sneaks back to her old tricks! NO more will I comment on Avrie's temperament good or bad! No more jinx!
08/16/2008 - It's official, Avrie has chilled out. She is a happy little girl with a little bit of spunk. Parenting her has become so much easier these past few months. I never finished the parenting books, I think she is just growing up.
08/16/2008 - I'm listening to her sing, "Old McFarmer had a pig, ei ei o." =)
07/15/2008 - Sings "Someones in the the kitchen with dinah strumin on the old banjo, singing, B - I- Bidel e i o. B. I. Bideli I OOOO B. I Bidleio OOOOO...."
07/15/2008 - Sings "There was a farmer had a dog and Dingo was his name-o. D-I-N-G-O..." =)
06/15/2008 - Loves dress ups. LOVES IT! (So does Addie)
07/15/2008 - We have been working on manners with all the girls. Finally understanding that grunting is not the proper way to demand a drink of milk. She politely says, "mommy, may I please have a drink of milk." =)
07/15/2008 - Has decided she wants to be sweet 90% of the day these days. I can handle that! =) Love that sweet little Avrie.
07/15/2008 - This girl is so ready to potty train. Waiting until we are back from all summer travel and she'll be golden!
05/28/2008 - At her developmental eval she did great. She scored right where she should for her age. Knows most of her colors too. Good job Avrie! =)
05/26/2008 - I was cracking up this week watching her march around the house banging 3 different musical instruments simultaneously, singing random songs. Very funny!
05/26/2008 - Still very much into her dress ups. Got some good pics this week!
05/26/2008 - Very much into hugs and kisses. Love it!
05/16/2008 - Very independent girl. Must dress herself.
05/16/2008 - Says her name "Aidwie" - very cute!
05/16/2008 - Says, "Clicke, clock" instead of tick tock.
04/28/2008 - Love her sweet little toddler voice. Just precious! I've got to get it recorded!
04/24/2008 - Has been sick! Luckily I took her in with me when Addie had a doc apt. to recheck for ear infection....Avrie has a double ear infection now!
04/15/2008 - Today Avrie saw a young baby picture of herself and Addie. She immediately pointed to herself and said, "That's Avie. I have birthmark owie right there." Then she pointed to her forehead. I asked who the other baby was and she didn't recognize Addie. I told her who it was, but she didn't believe me.
04/10/2008 - Has started that darn 2am awakening game again!
04/10/2008 - Has discovered my shoes. All day today she clacked around in some shiny white heals. Also today wore her sunhat and ballerina skirt all day. A sight to behold.
04/10/2008 - I can't get this one to eat anything but white doughy bread and hotdogs! She has texture issues I think.
04/10/2008 - Had her first hemagioma bleed a few nights ago. They weren't kidding when they say that they bleed! Avrie loved wearing a Dora the Explorer bandage. I think she just scratched it?
04/01/2008 - Great at counting to 20. Knows many of her colors.
04/01/2008 - Her language is getting so good! You can practically carry on a real conversation with her. Very fun!
04/01/2008 - This girl has the best head of hair! Love her long locks and curls at the bottom. I love how her hair sways back and forth when she runs.
04/01/2008 - I'm reading the "strong willed" parenting book. She seems to be responding positively already. Separately, she is getting better at ASKING for things nicely. =)
03/17/2008 - Still loving her pink blankie. She has two and has recently decided she likes one over the other. She will let Addie have the other one.
03/13/2008 - The last month, she has been sleeping much better at night. At last!
03/13/2008 - Hemangioma is getting lighter & smaller! =) It's still there of course, the pics of her without it are photo shop, but it really is looking so much better!
03/13/2008 - Loves to read. She will go pick out some of Kermit's books from the bookcase and just flip through and look at the words I guess.

Sweet Adeline

2008-09-28T20:38:00.011-05:00

Song Lyrics to "Sweet Adeline" Chorus

Sweet Adeline,
My Adeline,
At night, dear heart,
For you I pine.
In all my dreams,
Your fair face beams.
You're the flower of my heart,
Sweet Adeline.

(Sigh)...She really is the flower of my heart, that sweet little Addie! She seriously melts me! She is loved and adored by all! Once again... the latest and greatest list of some of my favorite Addie moments.

09/25/2008 - NOT shy what so ever! When she meets a new person, she is their best friend.
09/25/2008 - Loves, loves, LOVES princess dresses and dress up. Always loves wearing fancy accessories. Loves "Fancy Fancy" (Fancy Nancy) the book.
09/25/2008 - This girl knows how to make you feel just great about yourself. She ALWAYS compliments. "Mom, I love your necklace." or "Dad, I love your haircut." Thesse are both recent compliments we've received.
09/25/2008 - Little Swiper -Watch out! A number of times this week I've caught her snatch a toy from Annaliese and take off running (loving the attention). Big sister screaming behind her "GIVE IT BACK!!" Addie always gives it back (after I intervene) and gives her most "sincere" apology with a tiny little smile. TURKEY! =)
09/25/2008 - LOVES to have us watch her do whatever it is she is doing. "Watch Mom, watch me dance." or "Look mom, I made a tower!" Watch! Watch! Watch! And I do love to watch!
09/20/2008 - Shoe girl for sure! Insists on wearing shoes to bed! Not just any shoes...sparkly shoes. I got her some sparkly flip flops, now her favorite. She wears them to bed every night. Sigh.
09/20/2008 - Did I mention she's got a shoe thing going on? When our babysitter comes over, the first thing she does is ask to wear her shoes! Also likes to try on her speech therapists shoes when ever she comes over. I can never find my shoes either...thanks to little Miss Addie wearing them all the time and leaving them all over the place. =) (I seriously have to hide my favorite dress shoes...so that I can find them on Sunday mornings when I need them.)
09/10/2008 - This girl is crazy! Why won't she keep her shoes on....ever? We lost her crocs the other day in a store up in Wisconsin. Luckily the store manager found them the next day completely hidden. It took us a full week to get back up to Wisconsin to get them...but we got them back! Whew.
09/10/2008 - Such a sweet little girly girl...she found some size 10 sparkly shoes and loves to wear them, even though they don't fit. Good for dress ups and sleeping with. =) She also LOVES to wear MY shoes, scattering them all throughout the house, separating them from their mates. I eventually find them in the most random places!
09/10/2008 - Loves her teacher Miss Julie at Art class. It's pretty obvious her teacher LOVES her too!
09/10/2008 - Lately she has been really attached to her "Cindawella Baby". It's a very sweet little doll. Addie lost Cindawella for a few days...it finally showed up after searching high and low for days...stuffed in the pantry??? She said "Oh there you are! I missed you! Mom, she was on time out."
09/10/2008 - Finds little random toys that she will carry around all day. A little kitten figurine, a stuffed animal, a sparkling diamond "wing", whatever she is into that day and will just take it everywhere. She is funny because she'll set it down for a second and turn her back and forget about it for a second. As soon as she realizes she's not holding it..."Oh NO! Where's my_______!" Where's my ______! I can't find my ________!" She cracks me up! At night she does the same thing. She sleeps with her little tiny kitty...and wakes up in the middle of the night in a panic wondering where it is in her crib.
09/10/2008 - Early riser! How can this be? She did NOT get it from me that is for sure.
08/16/2008 - Still in her "I do it myself" stage. Must do all things herself...or else.
08/16/2008 - I think Addie is my other strong willed child. She just does her thing her own way. I'm glad to see her hold her own.
08/16/2008 - I don't think I ever mentioned that Addie likes to rub her fingers over her fisted knuckles when she is relaxing. Always has.
08/16/2008 - Doing so great in speech therapy. She has her K sound down perfectly in all words! We move on to S! Good work Addie!
08/08/2008 - Got her first haircut. So cute in her new little bob.
07/15/2008 - The past few weeks she has been SOOO independent! Nobody can help her to do ANYTHING..she must do it all by herself. Hope this stage passes by quickly.
07/15/2008 - Little bit of attitude going on with this little one. I swear Avrie and Addie trade personalities every now and then. It's like they KNOW how much I can take in a day. If Avrie isn't going to dish the full amount Addie decides to step up to make sure I get my full dose of toddler attitude per day. Silly girls!
07/15/2008 - Doing great in speech therapy. Says CAR properly! Hurray. Still working on other K words but she can do it! Starting on her S's now too.
06/15/2008 - Loves to wear dresses.
06/15/2008 - Amazing artist! She loves to draw on the doodle pad. She draws perfect happy faces (usually upside down, but perfect.)
05/30/2008 - Have I ever mentioned how this girl loves to jump? Her gross motor skills are quite good. =) At night before she lays her head down on her pillow she will stand up, jump straight up & throw her legs out in front of her so that she lands flat on her butt....after that she is ready to lay her head down. Funny girl!
05/28/2008 - Knows all her colors. Smarty pants! =)
05/28/2008 - Had her developmental eval this week. She scored right where she should be for her age! Good job Addie! She was really really good at naming all the different pictures! =)
05/26/2008 - Loves to draw on the doodle pads. She draws happy faces, often upside down but perfectly. Tonight she added legs and arms and hair. She is getting very good at drawing.
05/26/2008 - Loves loves loves playing in the hose outside.
05/26/2008 - Has her "L" sound mastered. Impressing her speech teacher. She can do her "K" but we are still trying to break her old habits and getting her to use her K sound. It's coming though. =) Her sentence structure and length of sentences is really taking off! She is growing too fast!
05/26/2008 - Has been unusually cranky this week. Funny girl had to take a few timeouts...she smiled the entire timeout so proudly...hmm.
05/16/2008 - Sweetest girl ever! MELTED grandma and grandpa's hearts in CA!
05/16/2008 - Loves to run and gallop and twirl her arms around! Very cute! Gives great hugs and kisses!
05/16/2008 - Has to give up sippy cups says speech therapist. Only straws for now!
04/10/2008 - The best eater ever! Why she is such a string bean I don't know! LOVES fruit! We call her "the little mooch" because if Kermit or I have food that she doesn't she will come beg for bite after bite until it's gone...like we never feed her or something!
04/10/2008 - Speech is coming along! She has her K sound in the middle and end of words. Getting better at the beginning of words. She likes her teacher a lot!
04/10/2008 - Has been sick with an ear infection and runny nose. She does NOT like to be sick!
04/10/2008 - Funny girl is copying Annaliese lately. She has been throwing tantrums "Annaliese style" this week. =)
04/01/2008 - This girl will figure out a way to get what ever she is after. She is a climber!
04/01/2008 - The other day in the car, she pointed up to a sign and said, "ABC's!" =)
04/01/2008 - TALL girl! I think she is growing!
04/01/2008 - Loves story time! Insists on several stories before naps and bed!
04/01/2008 - Loves little toy animals. She loves to take them and make them hug me while making little whiney baby doggie cries. nnnnn, nnnn, nnnn in a really high pitch. All animals need love.
04/01/2008 - Loves her doodle pad. She is getting dang good too! She draws happy faces!
04/01/2008 - Determined girl! Making progress in speech with her "K" sound. Good girl Addie!
03/13/2008 - This girl loves to accessorize. Loves sunglasses, necklaces, purses, fancy shoes, you name it, she loves it!

Annaliese, you sweet little dear!

2008-09-26T22:55:00.018-05:00

recent masterpiece

This post is long overdue! Here is my most recent list of the cute little things about my first born that I cherish and love...things I never want to forget. What a blessing this little girl is! I hope she will always know how much she is truly loved and adored.

09/25/2008 - This girl LOVES to be the leader when she plays with her sisters. The twins love following big sister around, doing just as she says.

09/25/2008 – As she has been since birth, she continues to be my little bookworm. She loves studying the pictures and loves hearing stories over and over again. She has many memorized and "reads" to her sisters.

09/25/2008 – Have I ever mentioned that this girl LOVES to tell stories! When you listen & watch her play, she is constantly telling stories and acting them out. "The girl jumped in ito the water" as she jumps off the ottoman "and swam without any floaties" as she flails her arms about. "When she got tired of swimming she decided to have some lunch" and she sits herself down for a tea party. She is a great little narrator.

09/25/2008 – Lately she has had a lot of questions about where she came from and why she is on earth. I had to chuckle when she asked if she wore a spacesuit before she came to earth.

09/25/2008 - Tonight she told me (after drawing an amazing picture on her doodle pad of a family of cats) that she was not going to draw anymore….just watch movies. “I’m going to watch movies all day and all night.”

09/20/2008 - I bought her a T-shirt that says LITTLE DREAMER on it. As soon as I showed it to her she put it on. She loves it and is her new favorite. She knows it's true...she really is a little dreamer.

09/20/2008 - Every time I trim her nails she claims it hurts! How can this be? She has gotten better at letting me wash her hair though. She likes to lay down for rinse. I think she likes to pretend she is floating in a swimming pool. =)

09/15/2008 - I heard her count to 100 all by herself for the first time! Way to GO!

09/10/2008 - Still LOVES to draw. I am amazed with her talent. Recently she drew a picture of piano hammers...yes you read that correctly. Funny girl.

09/10/2008 - Likes to ask what words mean. She never really got into WHY this or WHY that...she's a WHAT DOES THAT MEAN kind of girl. She's been experimenting this week with the word "jealous". Cute girl!

09/10/2008 - Just before school started we took her in for a cute haircut. I just love it! It makes her look a little older though.

09/10/2008 - Is turning into a cute little space nerd. She LOVES learning about the different planets.

09/10/2008 - Did I mention that a few weeks ago we watched her play soccer at the park for the first time...man, she is good. Maybe I'll end up a real soccer mom someday!

09/10/2008 - Cracks herself up when she asks me questions like, "mom, have you ever seen a cat with 7 legs? HAHAHAHA!" or "Have you ever seen a cow drive a car?" She kills me! =)

09/01/2008 - She has been enjoying the new piano. She was sitting down recently trying to pick out "Doe a deer, a female deer" and was thrilled with herself! I was too...after all that is my best song! =)

08/16/2008 - She is excited for school to start again soon. Is wanting to see her friends again. I've been watching her interact with other kids at the park and she is initiating some play. Good job Noodles!

08/16/2008 - Had a wonderful summer playing with her cousins. Really likes figuring out family relationships such as Aunt Erin is mom's sister, etc.

08/15/2008 - LOVES to sing and sing. Makes up songs, makes up words and sings them loud and strong. Occasionally she'll sing a real song like "I am a child of God" at the top of her lungs...as we stroll through the park. Thank you Annaliese. =)

08/15/2008 - For the week we were in California this summer, she took her very first swimming lessons. She was so brave. This was so difficult for her BUT SHE DID IT! She did NOT like getting her face wet but I am so proud of her! Next summer we'll go for round two! =) She wants to learn! Every bath night, she practices blowing bubbles.

07/25/2008 - Has been enjoying Art Class this summer! She loves working on projects. She gets distracted in class when she sees all the lovely confetti sparkles on the ground left over from other classes. She collects all the confetti and uses them in her own projects! =)

07/19/2008 - I woke up this morning to Annaliese leading her sisters in Ballet! So cute. Everyone was in tutus and Mozart was blasting. They were dancing all around. Too cute!

07/15/2008 - She totally gets the whole reading thing. She can sound out words. Amazing kid!

07/15/2008 - Loves making up stories. She will draw on her doodle pad and tell stories about what she is drawing.

07/15/2008 - Loved swimming in Uncle Tanc's pool. She wore a floater vest and did great! Need to get this girl in swimming lessons!

07/15/2008 - Likes to try to get me to laugh by asking things like "Have you ever seen a foot eat spaghetti?" or "Have you ever seen a reindeer wearing a necklace?" She cracks me up with the things that she thinks are hilarious.

07/15/2008 - Is loving riding her big girl bike this summer.

06/05/2008 - Today was Annaliese's last day of preschool. She was a little bit emotional about it. She perked up later when she learned to whistle! =)

06/05/2008 - Is really liking the fish that we are babysitting while the owners are on vacation.

05/26/2008 - LOVES making up songs. Today we heard her singing in the car about all the colors of the rainbow. "Yellow is the color of bananas. Black is the color of the building my dad works in. White is the color of the clouds. Red is the color of some cars. etc." Singing loud and strong. I wish I had video!

05/16/2008 - Spent most of the day today speaking another language...not sure what language though. She loves to pretend!

05/15/2008 - Clipped all 10 of her fingernails all by herself!

05/10/2008 - Cut a chunk of her own hair....luckily in the backish only half way up her hair....perfect start for her upcoming summer cut!

04/27/2008 - She was watching Kermit eat some leftover Tandori Chicken from date night. He was eating a drumstick. She examined it and asked, "Where’s the beak?"

04/24/2008 - "Mmmm....All these cookies are making me hungry!"

04/10/2008 - My picky eater has a new favorite food. Last night I put 6 grapes on her plate. "I don't like grapes!" You have to eat 4 because you are 4 years old. "I will eat three." She takes a tiny bite out of three grapes. I tell her she has to eat 3 WHOLE grapes. After she ate all three she said, "I'll eat four because I'm four years old." A minute later, “I’ll eat six because I like grapes."

04/10/2008 - Got a good report at parent conference! She is playing more and more with her friends and enjoying it. She is learning to read just from being read to! Amazing girl!

04/02/2008 - Has had a lot of questions about death lately. She started crying when on Kermit's birthday he said that he was getting old. She said, "Daddy, I don't want you to die." Too sweet. So from now on, you're not old unless you are 100.

04/01/2008 - I overheard Annaliese talking to her real friend about her imaginary friend..."Sally lives all the way to Paris. I mean, Sally lives all the way to London. Me and Sally are kind of the same. I know Rock and Blorda and Pally. Blorda has pretty bows in her hair."

04/01/2008 - Got her hair cut last week. Her second haircut ever. Very cute new style.

04/01/2008 - Enjoying school, play dates & music class.

03/13/2008 - At her 4 year check up she was 36 lbs. (50%) and 42 inches (90-90%).

My Girls

2008-09-12T22:32:00.009-05:00

These are pictures of my girls from this summer that I just love. You can tell they are just great friends and love each other. My dream is for them to remain best of friends their whole lives. I've found that having a sister is one of the best gifts in life...and they each have two.

I think His Tractor's.....So Cute

2008-09-12T22:05:00.012-05:00

Here are some darn cute pictures of my girls with Kermit on the old tractor this summer. I even gave it a go this year. I found it to be much more difficult than I thought. I felt exactly like I did the first time I ever drove a car. The shifting thing is very different, so is stopping and going. Practice is needed for sure. Maybe next summer I'll be able to spend a couple hours in a field practicing. I NEVER thought in a million years, I would ever want to learn to drive a tractor. IT'S FUN, the kids loved it too. Kermit loves it for sure! Okay, I'll just say it....I think his tractor's sexy....(blush, blush).

Golly Ball...

2008-09-12T21:43:00.011-05:00

Have you ever heard of Golly Ball? We're not sure why but that is what Annaliese calls bowling. =) Here are our pictures from a fun filled family day in Massachusetts. It was the Fourth of July and all of Kermit's family went with us. Our family Independence Day picnic and program were rained out....so a candlestick bowling we went. FUN! It was my first time...the gutter bumpers came in handy. =)

That night we did not go see fireworks...but we did end up seeing them a few nights later at a beach in York, Maine.....the girls LOVED that too!

Old house tour....

2008-09-12T21:36:00.002-05:00

Cool Beans

2008-09-10T14:13:00.011-05:00

To see something pretty cool click on the "Featured Video" thumbnail at the bottom left here.

Didn't he do great! Kermit has been busy with his corporate client work but his firm also has asked him to take on some recruiting in addition. This was his first time in front of a camera. He says he was nervous! I'm not sure why he would be...it's just a little old interview in Times Square for Businessweek... KERM, you did GREAT! XOxoxoxox No need to be modest here! Congratulations on a job well done!

The rest of the story...

2008-09-02T22:53:00.010-05:00

So to wrap up our California Adventure I just have to say...we had a blast! I was a bit nervous for this one. I flew ALL BY MYSELF with the little ones and SURVIVED! (I tried this once before and vowed to never do it again...it was bad news.) The kiddos were great. I sat in the aisle and Annaliese sat in the aisle across from me. The twins sat next to me in the middle and window seats. We kept busy with play-doh, stickers, fancy paper and markers, Richard Scary books, treats and of course...videos. We were on the 6am flight. Did I mention that the kids did great? They were so happy at 4:30am when we woke them up. They were so excited and ready to go! My dad was there when we arrived bright and early in LA and drove us back home. Byron's family had also just arrived on their flight at about the same time so he followed us back to Riverside. FUN TIMES WERE HAD!

HIGHLIGHTS...
*Cousin Corbin's 4th birthday party.
*Fun at THE PARK!
*Fun in the BACKYARD!
*Fun with COUSINS!
*Huntington Beach, playing in water and hot dog roast.
*Disneyland.
*More Beach (Annaliese and Avrie LOVED the water. Adeline, not so much.)
*Annaliese had swimming lessons every morning the week we were there! (She was so brave and determined! What a sweetheart!)
*Survived an earthquake
*Family photo shoot.
*Did I mention, Fun with COUSINS?!
*Dinner at The Elephant Bar.
*BIRTHDAY PARTY for mom!

Whew...all that in one short week. Kermit flew in and joined us on Wednesday night, so we all flew back home together as a family. We took the last flight out...got home after midnight...but we made it! The kids once again did great.
What a fun trip! Can't wait to do it again!

Happy 60th Birthday

2008-09-01T11:15:00.018-05:00

Better late than never, right. I'm only a month behind and determined not to get 2 months behind!
At the very end of July all of my side of the family gathered in California for mom's 60th birthday bash. A pirate themed 60th bash, no less. What a great time we all had. Mom is an August baby so all the kids went in together and got her a beautiful peridot necklace and earings. We also put together a scrapbook for her listing all the things that we treasure about her. No pirate party would be complete without a treasure hunt. My brother Byron dressed up as a pirate and helped the kids follow clues around the yard to find different hidden treasures. My kids especially loved that. Annaliese is still talking about it! They also had pirate boat races (raingutter ragata style). My mom's brother's and their families also came for the party. It was so much fun to see some of my extended family that I haven't seen in years!
It was a very fun day! Happy Birthday again mom! I love you!

Disneyland Photos!!!

2008-08-25T16:04:00.006-05:00

Time is flying by and I can't seem to keep this blog up to date. Here are some pictures we took from our last visit to California (End of July). We had such a blast. My kids keep asking to go to Disneyland again, as in right now. (Sigh)...I wish we could.

Back to School!

2008-08-25T13:54:00.007-05:00

It's back to school once again...my little baby is turning into a big girl right before my eyes and I'm freaking out a little. Look how big she looks! The haircut makes her look so much older...like 6 or something! NOOOOO! She's only 4 and the cutest age ever. Please don't grow anymore.

She did great on her first day back. She has her same teacher again this year. Many of the same kids are in her class again. She picked up right where she left off as if she hadn't been gone all summer. She goes three days a week this year, full day. I miss her.

Welcome to the Family

2008-08-16T16:46:00.012-05:00

Kermit found this little baby for a SONG on ebay. It's a 1901 Steinway Upright "Grand". He snatched it up and had it delivered from Tennessee. We weren't sure what kind of condition it would be in until it arrived. Let's just say we were pleasantly suprised and are 100% convinced that we got an amazing deal! We really feel like this old piano just belongs in the family.

Kermit has serioiusly been obsessing with it's restoration. He started with the exterior finish. It looks great especially considering its over 100 years old! He then read from cover to cover PIANO SERVICING, TUNING, AND REBUILDING by Arthur A. Reblitz. Before long he had the entire piano disassembled for a thorough cleaning and repair job. 100+ years of dust takes a bit of elbow grease to remove. I helped when I could and have a new appreciation for piano construction. It was really fascinating to see how everything fit back together. Last week we had it professionally tuned. Good report from the tuner. He thinks we got a great deal too.

Kermit will continue to obsess until it plays like new working to rebuild all the action parts. Both of us are obsessed trying to remember how to play the few songs we once knew. I hope that we can have Annaliese started up in lessons in the next couple of years. I'm thinking I'd like to take lessons along with her. Why not. =)

Reunion in Massachusetts!

2008-07-24T22:35:00.005-05:00

What a great time we had on vacation again this year! More pictures and stories to come but here are some family & group pictures that I wanted to share with everyone before anymore time passes.

What a great reunion. It was great to have all four brothers and ALL of their families in one place at the same time! Unfortunately we didn't get a family shot with EVERYBODY together but here are some that I did take. I know I saw Chau taking some pictures. I'm hoping to get a peek at those and maybe add them to this slide show if possible.

We also had fun with Uncle James, Elizabeth & Robert who came out for part of the time. (I especially loved Elizabeth's soap making demonstation!)

Miss you all! It was so fun to see you! WE LOVE YOU!
(If you want to leave a comment, please do! We love comments! I think you just need to set up a google account. I think that is pretty easy. ENJOY!)

Canoeing the Concord River

2008-07-24T21:24:00.007-05:00

We haven't been back from Massachusetts but a week or two, but it seems like an eternity has already passed! We had a wonderful time. One of our many adventures was canoeing the Concord River. The entire family participated & we had some fun times! I couldn't believe that NOBODY tipped over! Kermit & I had our three little ones all together in one canoe. I was in front, Kermit in back and three little girls in the middle. The girls loved dragging their hands in the water as we went along. They wished they had a paddle too. We'll have to remember that for next time. We canoed maybe 5 miles down to the Old North Bridge. At Old North Bridge the Ranger/Tour Guide gave us the history of the first battle of the American Revolution. Very appropriate for our Fourth of July weekend. =)
Paddling back was challenging. We were against the river current and against the wind. One crying 2 year old motivated us to keep on stroking like we've never stroked before. Whew! My muscles were sore! Boy we had fun though!
After everyone was back at the cars safe n sound we went out to lunch at a little restaurant in the Concord Town Center. YUM!
Great time! We can't wait to do it again!

(deep) Birthday Thoughts

2008-07-19T19:14:00.009-05:00

I remember when I was 20 years old sitting at church in a BYU singles ward. The girl speaking had just had her 25th birthday. She was going on and on about how blessed she felt to be 25 and how wonderful it was. She was saying how she just couldn't believe she was actually a quarter of a century old. The whole time she spoke I was seriously thinking to myself..."I would NEVER do that! 25 is SOOOO old. Why would anyone get up in front of a group of people and proudly announce that they were 25? CRAZY! That's just suicide! She's never gonna get married!"

Every time I think back on that moment I totally find myself just cracking up at myself! Silly me. =) Here I am at 36 proudly displaying my age for all to see. I wonder if there are any 25 year olds out there wondering why on earth I would ever admit to being 36. Maybe so.

I was talking to Kermit earlier this month about aging in general. It had been on my mind a lot knowing my birthday was coming. Also because this past year I've found myself dieting for the first time ever, buying expensive wonder face creams and noticing that the reflection in the mirror doesn't exactly match the image I think I should see. Jokingly, I told Kermit that if this is what aging was about that I didn't think I was up for it. Kermit had a completely different view to share.
He said that when he thinks of aging he envisions an elderly couple that has shared a wonderful life together. Though they are old everybody of all ages just loves them. They have had so many interesting life experiences together. They've had trials in life and grown from them. They've learned through the years who they are as individuals. They know how to be kind and have the time in life to share the knowledge they've gained through experience. A lovely picture. I was impressed with his views, especially because he is over 40 *gasp*! =)

So the last two weeks I've been rethinking things. Maybe he and I could grow to be that couple someday. I'll diet here and there and buy expensive face creams but the bottom line is time marches on regardless. All I can really do is try to enjoy the ride. Every year from here on out I will think of as another year of experiences. Hopefully I'll grow wiser in the process. I'm looking forward to the experiences ahead this year!

Catch up (and some Mustard & Celery Salt), etc.

2008-07-18T15:15:00.051-05:00

This a "Catch Up" post. I've been bad at keeping up with the latest this summer. So here is my attempt to catch up.

Here are pictures from our visit to the Chicago History Museum.

The kids had fun playing in the larger than life size "Chicago dog" (a favorite meal of ours actually). Don't forget the secret ingredient that makes all the difference in the world...CELERY SALT! I like my dog with mustard, fresh tomatoes, a dill pickle spear and celery salt. YUM!

Here are my little chicks at the Farm in the Zoo. They got to pet a real live chicken and of course view the newly hatched baby chicks. Also watching the baby piglets play was so much fun!

Picking Clovers. Listening for Who's.

Visit to the Brookfield Zoo. They have elephants which was very exciting! (Our LP zoo does not have them anymore...so sad.) The girls loved petting sting rays (sorry no photo) and these goats. They LOVED loved LOVED it! These goats were pretty mellow. Just our speed.

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Here is a family photo from the Train Museum in CA. This museum is perfect for the little kid in everyone! We went with my parents, Erin & Romney. We had a little picnic and then let the kiddos explore all around on the old trains. The girls LOVED playing in the little trolley above. We took plenty of pics that day, and some fun video. A good time was had by all.

Kermit's new find! A very cool old library card catalog file. 60 drawers. He has enjoyed the restoration process. Here is a before picture. We have it in our study. We love that all our pens, scissors, paperclips, glue sticks, tape, markers, etc. all have their own drawer. There are so many drawers that the kids even have a few for their own treasures. Love it!

We enjoyed a visit from Eric & Cheryl VDG. Eric was one of Kermit's best companions on his mission. They live in Nebraska now and have a darling little girl, Ava. We love the VDG's! A few years ago we discovered that Eric and I are actually cousins. Eric's mom and my mom have the same maiden name. We traced it back and sure enough 3rd cousins once removed. Here is a cousin shot of Ava and Annaliese. We sure loved having them visit!

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I couldn't resist adding this photo of topless Avrie making sand pies in her tutu and sneakers. Summer fun!

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So, I love pretty landscapes and yards. Every year I attempt a beautiful garden. This year no exception. I think the window boxes turned out the best I've ever done this year. I take multiple trips to Home Depo, spend hours and hours planting, replanting, planting again until I'm pleased with the results. My problem....keeping it watered! Maybe one of these years we can get an irrigation system to help me out. Until then, I'm trying to train the kids to help me out. I do just love it!

Here last but not least, I bid farewell to a dear friend. Suzy and Greg have moved their family to Switzerland. *sniff, sniff* I just love Suzy! She has been one of my truest and dearest friends. I met her when we first started going to Logan Square ward 8 or 9 years ago. She is just an amazing person! Always optimistic, very fun, happy, uplifting, tough, kind, honest, creative, just an AMAZING friend all the way around! *sniff, sniff*

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We share a passion...shopping for cute kid clothes!!! =) (Yes, it's true! We are both addicted!) Here we are in front of our favorite place to shop. Before she left she and I went out to dinner sans kids and had a lovely time. I MISS YOU SUZY! When can I visit?!