Sister Time!

This year my sisters & mom & myself have decided to participate in the 3 day walk for the cure, supporting the Susan G. Komen foundation for breast cancer. We are a little late getting started, but we are really excited to start training, and to get the opportunity to do something together, for a really great cause. This Saturday we are having a garage sale in Coolidge to raise money for our registration fee as well as going towards the $2300 each that we have to raise to be able to walk. If you have ANYTHING that you can donate to the garage sale please let me know. I have a trailer and I can come and pick things up. Hopefully after Saturday I will have a link on my blog that you can go to if you would like to donate money to meet my $2300. If you have any questions please let me know! :) Thank you in advance for your love & support!

MaKennas 1st recital

June 7th was MaKennas 1st dance recital. The girls & I had so much fun cheering her on! She did an awesome job and looked WAY adorable in her costume. We love you Kenna girl!!

"Lets Go GNO!"

My awesome sister decided to ask Emmy & Liberty over to rock out to the 3D Hannah Montana concert Saturday night. They had so much fun dancing and singing with Hannah! Thanks Tiffany & McKenna for the invite!!

Meet Jacob Twilley (could he be any cuter?!?) He is Liberty's future husband! (they are 4 months apart..I think) Here is the story as told by Michelle, Jacobs beautiful mom:

"We went to Kristina's and hung out for a while. (for Rykers blessing) The kids just played and played. As we were leaving Jared (Jacobs Dad) made the comment that Liberty was so cute. One of Kristina's little girls. He always would ask if we could take her home with us. We would also joke that we were going to arrange for her and Jake to be married. :) Well as we were leaving their house we asked the kids if they had fun. Well some how the subject of Liberty came up. We asked Jake if he liked playing with her and of course he said yes. Then we said do you want to marry her? He was like "Yup." For Jake that is something. We would always tease him about other little girls and he would say no. So from that moment on Liberty has been his 1st love. Here are a few situations that prove she is his first love. Picking flowers in the yard. "Mom this flower is for when I marry Liberty."Playing in the toy room with little Mega Block people. One is a boy and one is a princess. "This one is me mom and this one is Liberty."Sitting in the car driving. Jake is singing in the back. So I turn down the radio to hear what he is singing. "I'm gonna marry Liberty, I'm gonna marry Liberty." Over and over."

Ok, so we had Jacob & his sister Aubree (who is Emmys age) spend the night Mon & Tues and this is the conversation I had with Liberty this morning (after they went home) while I was cleaning the bathroom and she was taking a bath.

he he, Jacob really wants to marry me

I know, but not till your older right?

yup! How old are you mom?

29 (don't tell my kids I lie about that, hehe)

Ok, so I have to be 29. How old do boys have to be?

Um, they have to be home from their mission. (we have also managed to brain wash our little ones in telling them you are not supposed to kiss until after you are married; shhhhhhh!)

Ok, so I will go on my mission, and then I will be a mom. Then I will go to the doctor.

What will you go to the doctor for?

Duh mom, to get the baby out...you know that!

Oh yeah

And I will name her Cassie (my sisters name)

What if it's a boy?

It won't be, it will be a girl. How many kids did I say I wanted Mom?

15 (its always 15 if you ask her!)

Oh yeah. And I won't live here any more.

Where will you live?

I dunno, somewhere.

Will you live close so I can see you all the time?

Um, I could drive to your house

OK

And the kids could spend the night at your house!

Ok, that would be fun!

I sure love that little girl. She always talks about how she is going to be a mom, what her girls names will be (she NEVER has any boys when she talks about it) stuff like that. I love it!

My Science Boys

At the end of the school year (I told you I am WAY behind) Austin & Mason did science projects (Hunters class did a class project....no display; tear)Austin studied the Vikings and learned about their inventions and where they lived. Part of his display was a Viking ship he built out of Lego's....he is pretty good at that stuff I must say. Mason studied Volcanoes (I don't know much about the things he learned b/c they did it as a class instead of for homework like Austin) He had to have a little "bio" about the scientist and that was fun putting that together with him. I was really proud of both of them. This was our first experience with big projects and with 3 kids to help...WOW it was a lot of work. I told my Mom I feel like I am back in school myself. Hopefully I will be more organized the next time around. (oh, and guess which one Devin helped on while I was at work???) ;)

My very bad day! **a MUST read**

OK, I try really hard not to blog about bad days that I have because quite frankly I enjoy trying to keep up this "act" of what a great mom I am and how well I handle everything. HA! But after the events that unfolded today, I couldn't help but preserve it for all time. :)

The day started out at 3:00 am when I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep for an hour, after being up once already to feed Ryker and fed him again before I pulled my butt out of bed at 8:00. I went to get groceries and came home to Devin telling me he thinks he is taking our cat to the pound b/c he peed on the carpet upstairs and my WHOLE house reeks of cat pee!!! NASTY! Then Devin was off to work and I proceeded to clean up spilled milk, sweep up the cookies that Devin fed the twins for breakfast, wipe up the go-gert that Brigham splattered all over the floors and walls, got Brinley off the counters 3 times, fed Ryker, all the while my children are raiding the grocery sacks and eating yogurt, making bagels, eating cereal and I am listening to "mom, can you, mom can you, mom can you" about a hundred times. So after all of this I clean up the bagels, the cereal, the yogurt wrappers, re sweep the floor, get Brinley off the counter 3 more times, put the groceries away (that have now been sitting on the counter for over an hour) and change Ryker who has peed and pooped through his diaper, through his jammies and all over his new swing. SO I send Austin & Hunter outside with the twins and finish cleaning up Ryker, feed him (duh, now he's empty), call the pharmacy to try and straiten out some problems getting a prescription AND open the front door a hundred times for the kids b/c the door is broken and you can't open it from the outside, only from the inside. Oh wait.....the story is just getting good!! Finally the house is calm, Ryker is sleeping clean and peacefully in his swing and the boys are outside playing in the water and the girls are on the front porch painting their fingernails. Emmy knocks on the door to let me know that Brynn is pouring polish all over the porch, so I go outside to bring her in the house and as the door shuts Mason says, "mom, who is going to let us in the house?" Holy crap, my baby is inside, along with my phone and the door is broken!! So me and my 7 children proceed to try and break into the house. We try the side door that only has a deadbolt and a missing handle (just installed last week) but only Mason & Emmy can fit their hand through the hole and they aren't strong enough to turn the lock. The other door is locked and latched from the inside. So after 20 min. of that not working I realize that the window to the playroom is wide open b/c of the the cat pee situation. So Hunter and I get a ladder and Hunter goes up the ladder onto the roof and in the window. Out pops his head a minute later to inform me that the door is latched and he can't get out of the room. Yup, b/c I didn't want anyone going in there so I latched it. Next plan.....the boys bedroom window is broken and you can just push it open. So Hunter tries that but the window is stuck against the bed and only opens about 5 or 6 in. so he can't fit through. I have now done all I can think of and despite the fact that there are no cars at my sister in laws house next door, luckily she is home and she brings her house phone over to me. I fill her in and she says, "oh, do you know where Devin is?"...time for a little back ground; long story short....... a few months ago someone in the company drove Devins truck through a red light, picture taken, Devin gets a ticket, Devin hasn't taken care of the ticket yet, gets licence suspended, registration has expired on truck, no money to register it, insurance has expired on truck, no money to get the insurance re newed. Back to currant situation; Devin is now sitting on the side of the road somewhere b/c he has just been pulled over and the cop impounds his truck and leaves him there. So here I am still locked out of the house, husband is stranded and baby is still inside! FINALLY Austin & Hunter figure out how to get their window open and they let us in the house (it's now been over an hour in the lovely AZ heat!) .....did I mention that now the glass in the window is broken? I quickly feed and put all little children to bed to try and catch my breath (after I feed my sweet Ryker who THANK GOODNESS slept in his swing through the whole ordeal) I feed and clean up the rest of the kids, help kids do chores, clean the kitchen, switch over the laundry, re sweep (how many times is that now??), check my e-mail and start making me a yummy "fix my bad day dessert" that I will eat all by myself tonight when all little children are in bed...ok, I might share with Devin, after all he was stranded in the heat for 45 min. waiting to be rescued. :) So by this point you would think my wonderful day would be over, but I guess my sister cursed me when she said, "ok then, (after filling her in on the days events) I will make sure to call back in a few hours to get another update" The twins get up from their nap, I still haven't finished the dishes, Devin gives them a "daddy trail mix" of goldfish, pretzels and marshmallows. He leaves to go pick up my prescription from the pharmacy that after 4 more phone calls it finally ready, I feed Ryker again, finish my dessert (bed time is coming soon right?!?) clean up water that the twins have dumped all over the floor (of course along with marshmallows & pretzels) help Brinley clean up the entire container of goldfish from off the floor (duh....older children are incapable of putting it away when they are done instead of leaving it on the coffee table) and I hear a crash in the piano room that is housing ALL our crap that we cleaned out of our "storage" room last Saturday, that can't be put back in until I re-paint the walls, that didn't get done this week b/c Devin got the stomach flu. Brinley & Brigham have climbed over the folding table that is acting as a baby gate and Brinley has shattered a cute pumpkin decoration for the fall. Ok, clean that up, no big deal, it was only a few dollars at Walgreen's. I get Brigham out, somehow get sidetracked for 2 min., go back to get Brinley who has now opened 4 bottles of craft paint and has started painting the floor!! So it is now 6:30, goldfish remains have still not been swept up, I will probably feed the kids something wonderfully nutritious for dinner (you do know I'm joking right?), I'm sure I will clean up 2 or 3 more messes and re sweep yet again, hopefully finish my dishes, feed Ryker 3 more times, and maybe just maybe get to take a shower. And you better believe I am eating ALL of my "fix my bad day dessert", and NOT after kids are in bed....I am having it for dinner dang it!!

My mom said (as I was telling her about my adventures) "I can't believe you are laughing" and my response was, "only to keep from crying" :) Don't forget to check in tomorrow to see if we decided to have any more fun before bedtime comes! :)

Happy 2nd Birthday!

I can't believe my twiners are 2!! On May 23rd Brinley & Brigham turned 2. They are such little toddlers...babies no more. :( I am hoping and praying that one day soon their trouble making days will subside, but I think that is wishful thinking! Brinley still loves to Mommy every one and her new favorite is to tilt her head to one side with her disappointed face, no idea where she got that ;) and say, no, no, Brigham, huff, and walk away while shaking her head. Geez!! She is only 2, I can't believe she acts like that already. Brigham is such a boy and reminds me so much of Austin. He loves everything boy and he is so sweet. Last year I did a list of things I loved about each of the kids on their B-day, this year I decided to (for journal purposes) remember afew things about their birth. So feel free to skip all the boring details!

First a funny story. All the time that my parents lived in Arkansas I would tease my mom
that she had to hurry and move here so i could have my twins. I got pregnant with the twins within a few months of them moving here!! Crazy huh!!
When I was finally aloud to go into labor (after 3 weeks on bed rest) it was still a long process. I got to the hospital maybe around 6 pm and AFTER calling all my family and having a room full of people waiting to meet the twins, my Dr. decided not to come and break my water till morning. So I got my epidural, everyone went home and I tried to get a little bit of sleep. (Like that was really supposed to happen when you are at the end of a long wait for 2 babies!!) I think I slept for about 2 hours. The Dr. came in around 5 am and broke my water, so I re-called everyone and told them that it would be really soon. Thank goodness my Mom & Dad were only about 10 min. away b/c everything else happened so fast! The next thing I knew I was being taken to the operating room (no hospital delivers twins, any more, in any room but the OR in case of emergencies). Devin was left in my room to get his scrubs on and wait for my mom. They get me in the OR and start getting me ready and I will never forget the flood of emotions that followed. It was quiet and cold and kind of scary in there. I was all by myself wanting Devin to come and hold my hand. The pregnancy had been such a long journey that I kind of didn't do much thinking about actually taking home two babies. The realization of how much our lives were going to change hit me like a ton of bricks. I was so glad when my mom & Devin finally got into the room. Brinley Kristina was born at 7 (I think, I am going to have to look that up!) with hardly any effort and no pain. I mean seriously, she was 6lbs. 15oz and I was used to 8 and 9 lb babies! Then Brigham decided that he loved having all that space to himself and did this cool flipping trick so he was no longer head down. Yipee! So the Dr. had to reach inside and grab his feet and pull him out. That might sound like no big deal, but it was the weirdest experience of my life, one of which I will spare you the details of. :) Brigham Devin was born 9 min. later weighing 6lbs 10oz. He was such a cute tiny little man with the most beautiful head, b/c he was never in the birth canal! Unfortunately I didn't even get to hold him b/c he was having difficulty breathing. I think they held him up for me to look at as they were taking him out the door. So we snuggled and took pictures with Brinley, happy that my two babies were finally here, safe and sound, AND that I was able to have the delivery that I wanted. Throughout the whole pregnancy I was so grateful for how well everything went and that the babies were so healthy. Brigham was in the NICU for about a day and a half. His lung had actually collapsed and re-inflated, but had no ill or lasting effects from it. It was a bit scary to take home two little tiny babies, but it was such a joy to sit at home and have everyone take turns holding a baby. It worked out great that two people could love on a baby at one time!! I am SO incredibly grateful for the experience of having twins. I STILL look at them and think "I am so blessed that I got two at once!" I hope to have the chance to do it again some day. Yes folks, you heard me right...I would love to have twins again!...it is so worth it! Happy Birthday my sweet babies!

4 months old already!

I know the last post was about Ryker, but dang he is cute! :) I can't believe how fast he is growing! He is such a wonderful baby. He LOVES to talk and talk and talk, to anyone who will listen. He has started grabbing for things and getting a hold of toys and blankets to chew on. I am pretty sure he is going to stay my baby forever! He doesn't even try to roll over (probably cuz he never gets laid down!) and he still sleeps with us. I know, I know, I have to quit that....it's just so easy and he sleeps so much better. He has slept in his own bed.........twice. hehe :) Devin put him in the twins high chair and I almost started crying he looked so big I told Devin to get him out of there! I love spending time with him and he absolutely loves his family. He is such a joy to have in our home.

What cute kids!

I sure love these two! They can absolutely drive me crazy, but it's moments like this that I treasure. I was SO happy that my camera was sitting close by & I snapped this. We were working in the house on Saturday & Devin was using a saw.......well Mr. Brigham does not love loud noises so much; the vacuum, saws, the air compressor, the car wash, etc. So when Devin started up the saw Brigham started screaming and Brinley immediately ran over and put her arm around him to comfort him. How sweet is that?? On Sunday Brigg was having a crying fit in nursery & was lying on the floor crying, so Brynn stopped what she was doing so she could sit next to him on the floor & rub his head and pat his back. I guess I just get all choked up when they do things like this because the way they fight sometimes (and not to mention all the scratches that Brigham always has) I just wasn't sure we would ever have moments like this. :)

I'm back.....I think

Yipee!!!! I finally have my computer up and running! I have been going through serious withdrawls from not being able to blog!! I was having issues tonight loading pictures so I don't know if there is a problem with the site or a bug I still need to work out on my end. Hopefully tomorrow I will get it figured out and I can start catching up on my posts. We have been up to a lot so I have lots of catching up to do!