Genetics...

Are a funny thing...  

These girls are 3 1/2 years apart...

 And these girls are just over 2 years apart...

Brooke is the 2nd tallest kid in third grade and while lining up for the Christmas concert, the twins realized there are only 7 kids shorter (or the same height) as them in all of first grade...  Which makes them look a lot younger than Brooke.  And Sam is average height (while being barely on the scale for weight) which makes them look closer in age.  In another year or two, I'll have triplets...

(Christmas) Quote of the Day...

While talking about Santa and Elves and Christmas in general, the twins' pointy ears came up...
Alix - "Well, obviously we're half elf and half human!"

Duh.  (And if you hadn't noticed, and were wondering, both Erin and Alix have super pointy ears.  On both sides.  I remember, when they were born, seeing the first ear and thinking, "Sweet!  A way to tell them apart!"  I was wrong.  All four ears look exactly the same...)

Humble Pie...

 Or Christmas Cookie, as the case may be... Here's how the Great Christmas Cookie Bake-off of 2011 turned out...

Sam jumped ship and joined Team "Winner" for the day.  

The support staff in action... Alix, Erin and Sam all on Team Mom

 This is what it looks like when you poke yourself in the eye with a rolling pin... 

 All the younger competitors in their "uniforms"

 My finished product...

 The competition...  Team Dad

 The judging.  Judged by 9 blindfolded, unbiased judges.  Tom's mom played too and since neither Beth or Tom frosted their cookies (LAME! Who eats unfrosted sugar cookies??!!?) we had an unfrosted cookie judging.  

And the winner is...........

Kill me now.  I promised I'd put the results in, so to my eternal humiliation, here goes...
Beth - 1
Tom - 8
April - 0

But in my defense, everyone ate plates and plates of MY cookies Christmas night.  Apparently they are only good with frosting... I'll have to change my strategy next year... And suffer through the coming year as the loser.  And I will hear about it regularly... Awesome.

Update on Sam...

Sam had an appointment with her mito specialist Monday.  I always come out of these appointments not quite knowing how I feel.  We've been worried about Sam lately and it was good to talk to her doctor.  I'm not sure how best to write all this down for you, so bear with me... 

Some changes we've seen in the last three months or so-  1. Sam has lost her "r".  She can say the r sound at the end of words, but uses a w sound in the middle or beginning.  This is new for her and a step backward for her speech.  She used to be very clear and easy to understand and now half the time, I can't understand her.  2. (sorry to go here...)  Sam has a lot of trouble going to the bathroom.  She'll sit there for five minutes, pushing and crying and hurting and one little kernel comes out.  Also newish.  And really sad.  3.  Her circulation in her hands is not very good.  She describes her hands as feeling "frozen" or "locked" and they are often red at the finger tips and bone white everywhere else.  4. Her upper lip, from her nose to her lip has been turning blue.  Not all the time, but sometimes.  5.  She's had some really tired days.  On one of them, she fell down the stairs three times.  She just couldn't walk down them.  (She was not injured in any of her falls.  Good thing our stairs are split in two...)  

 So, here is what her doctor had to say...  Since she started preschool and has grown (a whopping 5 pounds in two years...)  her body could just be not compensating for the new growth and learning.  It takes a "tremendous amount of energy to learn and grow," he told us.  So he upped her riboflavin and if she improves, we'll know it was a growth thing.  If she doesn't, then we'll know her disease has progressed a little and this is the new normal.  Her also prescribed Miralax for her.  He said that 99% of mito kids take it and she'll probably need it for the rest of her life.  That's an easy fix that I am ok with.  The doctor reassured us that her fingers wont fall off, they are getting enough blood and oxegen, it's just her capillary's shunting blood to other places.  Another common mito thing, apparently.  He says she looks great and I agree.

Along with the worries, we've also had some great triumphs. =)  Sam learned how to pedal a bike (after working and working and working on this in therapy).  She can ride a scooter like a pro and really is learning like crazy.   She loves school and is doing really well at it.  Her toe walking is not gone, but a lot better.  She's still sleeping 16 hours a day, but when she does miss a nap, she can cope just fine.  We pay for it a little the next day, but she can function without a long nap and that is nice for all of us when things are busy.
I know this is long and complicated and possible doesn't make perfect sense, but hopefully you can get a picture of where Sam is.  She is a great joy and light in all our lives.  Some days are hard, but mostly we just don't think about it.  Any backward steps are scary and I'm still learning how to deal with those, but the forward steps are so fun, that it helps.  Thanks for loving my daughter.

Quote of the Day...

Alix, Erin and Sam were loving rubbing their hands all over Tom's face.  Commenting on his "mustache, beard, goatee and soul patch..."  (That's a lot of facial hair on one guy...)
me - "Tom, you are a patient, patient man.  I couldn't handle them touching my face like that. But I have more personal space issues than you do."
Alix - "You should have less issues..."

As queen I feel entitled to as many issues as I want...

The Double Pick

When one finger just wont do...

Who knew?

I am not a regular bread maker by any means.  I tried it the other day, for my brother Joe, who was in town for one night only... Some bread lessons I learned...

1. You can't really make three loaves of bread in a 9x13 pan, just because you only have one loaf pan.

2. Maybe number one really is possible, but only if you remember to stop raising your bread.

3. Bread is somewhat like a balloon.  Once it's been full of air and you touch it, it collapses.

4. Just because bread is ugly and flat doesn't mean it doesn't taste delicious...

Sorry, Joe.  I tried... Love you!

Grateful

For this family....

I love these people more than I can ever express.  I know I make them crazy, and the feeling is sometimes mutual, but I am so thankful to be their mother and wife.  Happy late Thanksgiving!

A (really) Bad Hair Day...

Some mornings, this is what if feels like to get all 4 girls' hair combed and done for school or church...

(But in reality, it's just the aftermath of the Halloween party... All the toilet paper from the mummy game went to good use the next day...)

Brooke

 Erin

 Alix

Nine...

Years old today.  Crazy.  How did my baby grow up so fast?

Instead of a party this year Brooke wanted to do a "girl's night out" with her best friend (since she's all grown up now...) 

We started out by watching Puss in Boots 3D.  The girls loved it.  This is them right at the beginning when the 3d was still new and crazy looking.

 We were going to go get pedicures next, but I gave them the choice of taking their pedicure money and  going shopping at the mall instead.  It took about half a second for both of them to choose shopping.

Posing with the mannequins at Old Navy...

 So thankful for good friends!  They got matching shirts at Aeropostale and had to change into them in the dressing room.  Then used the rest of their money and got matching pajamas at Justice... It took us two and a half hours to spend their $20.  But it was so fun to watch them.  It's a fun stage of little girl but with glimpses of what's coming...

 And we finished up the girl's night out with dinner at Old Country Buffet.  

It was a super fun afternoon with the girls and Brooke loved it.  And it was the easiest "party" I've ever planned...

I'm so thankful that this special girl is a part of our family.  She's the best biggest sister we could have asked for!  I love you, Brooke!!

Quote of the Day...

After Brooke's bus hit another car on the way home from school (everyone was fine...), Tom was wondering how all the mom's knew before the police.  I explained a few of the kids had cell phones and word spread from there...
Tom - "Cell phones?  Ridiculous!"
me - "I know.  Our kids will get cell phones when they can pay for them..."
Alix - " I want a cell phone!"
Tom - "Good luck getting a job to pay for it..."
Alix - "Mom doesn't have a job and she gets a cell phone!!!"

A gauntlet thrown...

Let the trash talking commence!  For several years now there have been some (unfounded) claims by Tom as to his superiority when it comes to making Christmas cookies.  The girls have loved telling me how his (nonexistent) cookies are better than mine.  Well.  Tonight the line was drawn in the sand.  This year we will be having our first annual Christmas Cookie Battle.  The girls all chose sides.... (cue Brooke making scary Dunt dunt duuuuunnnnn..... sounds)  Brooke and Sam chose to go with Team Tom.  Alix and Erin chose Team Winner.  Oops.  I mean Team Mom.  We're lining up some friends to do some anonymous judging and Sam has already come up to me, waved her arms in front of me, pinched my fat and said, "I just took all your power!"  And ran away.  If nothing else, this will be a fun couple of weeks gearing up for the big show down...

Family Pictures...

Spoiler alert - if you want to be surprised on your Christmas card, don't look at these adorable pictures... (If you want a Christmas card and think I don't have your address, leave it in the comments... I promise, if you leave it - a card will come...)

 Any guesses on who's who?  It's trickier when Alix's bangs are covered up... 

 I think the girls are delicious in their hats...  Could they be any cuter? (asks the slightly biased mom)

 A truly rare photo of Tom and I... And I'm not even wearing black...

I'm super happy with how they turned out...

Halloween Party 2011

As always, we had a great time at this years Halloween party.  It was a lot bigger than years past and I learned that my house will hold 23 adults and not too many more...

I was the Queen Bee and Tom was the Beekeeper... 

 My super cool drink display.  The "blood tubes" were my favorite...

 And Tom after he crashed to the floor during the "mummy game".  

 Here is the whole group of us.  Tons of couples came up with really great costumes this year, which makes it even more fun...

Can't wait for next year.  I'm thinking I might have to start booking the church... or something.... =)