Tom and April

Quote of the Day...

2012-01-26T21:45:00.000-08:00

Brooke and her friends are very much into playing with makeup right now. Every time we have someone over, they play "salon". And come out looking like zombies (on purpose) or clowns (thinking they're glamorous...). So I was teaching Brooke and her friend how to really put on some makeup up. I finished Brooke and when she walked out of the bathroom, her friend said this...

"Whoa! You look just like your mom. Right down to the really big nose!"

Uh huh. Sorry Brooke... =)

Inside and Out...

2012-01-17T16:48:00.000-08:00

It's snowing here in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. We're predicted to get over a foot of accumulation tonight...

Which is about what I have in my living room...

(That's a lot of coats, snow pants, mittens, hats, mittens, boots, mittens, hats and mittens... It's wet snow. One pair of mittens lasts about half an hour...)

Great Joy

2012-01-15T13:53:00.000-08:00

I was reading my Patriarchal Blessing the other day and it reminded me that I would find great joy in the raising of my children. Great Joy.

It's good to be reminded. Great Joy. I choose Great Joy over frustration and impatience. I choose Great Joy over dishes or house work. I choose Great Joy over sadness or loneliness. I choose Great Joy over feelings of inadequacy or doubt. I choose Joy.

Scrappy - But Loved....

2012-01-08T17:35:00.000-08:00

Some of you, in our ward, might have noticed a difference in the girls' appearance at church since the start of the new year... We moved to 9:30 church, I have ward council meeting at 8, but leave the house at 7:30, so I have time to put up the 90 chairs needed for primary. Which leaves Tom in charge of getting the girls ready.... He doesn't even complain! =) Or do a check before they walk out the door... Today's fashions included -
Sam - Wearing a long shirt (not a dress) over tights and boots....
Brooke - Noticed on the way to church her white shirt had a big spill down the front. Luckily, I don't clean my car very often so a handy scarf was found and used as camouflage....
Alix - Cute, purple dress. Pulled out of the laundry hamper. With awesome chocolate milk spots on the front...
Erin - Adorable.
1 out of 4 isn't bad...

Holiday Boredom Buster...

2012-01-01T18:41:00.000-08:00

School's been out for a few days, you're feeling a little bored? Why not jump off the top stair and down into a pile of beanbags and pillows...

Erin

Sam isn't quite strong enough to jump from the top, so she'd jump from four stairs up. She did tell me this - "My leg muscles aren't very strong, but my tummy has BIG muscles!"

Alix

Erin again. I got the best shots of her. She's a very photogenic flyer...

Brooke

And when you tire of flying through the air? Why not take a break in your very own umbrella fort...

I greatly appreciate that my girls can make their own fun... =)

You Didn't Learn The First Time?

2012-01-01T18:33:00.000-08:00

We had some friends over for NewYear's Eve and while the adults played games downstairs, the kids pretty much did whatever they wanted upstairs... At one point, Alix came downstairs crying and saying she'd bit her tongue. I took a look and she really had! All the way through the tip. I couldn't imagine what she'd been eating to bite her tongue so hard (and they weren't supposed to even have food up there). In response to my questioning, this is her answer - "I pushed Erin off the bed and when she was falling, she grabbed onto me and then I fell too and bit my tongue when I hit the floor." Hmmm. Seems to me like you deserve it. But here's a kiss, now go play...
An hour or two (or three - who can keep track of time?) later, some of our friends' kids ran down to tell me Alix had a really bad bloody nose. So I go check it out. She really did! Blood gushing all over the place. What happened? Here's her answer - "Erin pushed me off the bed and I landed nose first, really hard!"
Nice. Charming, sweet, lovely daughters that I have... In their defense, they weren't fighting, it was some sort of "game" they were playing. But really? You didn't learn the first time?

Genetics...

2011-12-28T23:22:00.000-08:00

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...

2011-12-27T12:23:00.000-08:00

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...

2011-12-26T14:57:00.000-08:00

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...

2011-12-16T19:25:00.000-08:00

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...

2011-12-09T13:53:00.001-08:00

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

2011-12-07T07:13:00.001-08:00

When one finger just wont do...

Who knew?

2011-12-04T19:25:00.001-08:00

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

2011-11-29T21:54:00.001-08:00

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...

2011-11-22T12:23:00.001-08:00

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...

2011-11-18T15:47:00.001-08:00

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...

2011-11-17T18:00:00.001-08:00

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...

2011-11-13T19:28:00.001-08:00

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...

2011-11-07T19:56:00.000-08:00

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

2011-11-07T19:39:00.000-08:00

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.... =)

The Oatmeal Diaries...

2011-10-30T11:49:00.000-07:00

In an effort to eat more healthily I introduced oatmeal to my girls today.... Here's how the morning went -

Brooke - Oatmeal's not so bad. I like the peaches.

Tom - Sorry, this is real oatmeal, it has no peaches. Or cream.

Brooke - What!??! She looks in the pan... Gross!!!

And thus the tone for the morning was set...

Erin was a champ and ate her whole (tiny) bowl without complaint. The only sign of how much she didn't love it were her flared nostrils with every bite.

Alix ate half her bowl and then had a melt down. Brooke just melted down from the get go. We'd told them they had to eat their whole (really, really tiny) bowl or they wouldn't get a homemade cinnamon roll afterwords. (I know, not healthy, but baby steps...) Brooke then pulled the "I'm full and you've told me to quit eating when I'm full" tirade. Fine. If you're full, quit. Then you can have your leftover oatmeal for lunch. (gag) "What if I'm not hungry for lunch?" Then, please enjoy your rubber for supper...

Sam cried, but we were able to feed her (like a six month old...) her entire bowl.

Alix FINALLY finished an hour later, but at least she can have a sandwich for lunch now. Brooke has a bowl of delicious, rubbery, cold oatmeal to eat for her lunch. Super fun. Now I do understand how they feel. My mother force fed me oatmeal my entire growing up. Which is why my children have never, until today, had real oatmeal. But I ate some too. And I'll be they didn't even notice my nostrils flaring... (oatmeal really is disgusting... some things never change.) Won't the girls be excited when I tell them we're having oatmeal at least twice a week?

I had no picture of the girls where they were all suitably miserable and whining. So you get another pumpkin patch picture... Maybe on Tuesday (our next scheduled oatmeal experience) I'll take a picture...

Siiiigh....

2011-10-29T14:33:00.000-07:00

That's a siiiiigh of pure bliss.... Isn't this time of year the best?

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-29T13:39:00.000-07:00

I love taking the same pictures, at the same place, year after year and watching my girls grow. The Pumpkin Palace is one of those places...

Saw dust pile...

Bowling...

A little rodeo action...

Pumpkin Tea Party anyone?

Can you tell Brooke is being Grumpy Dwarf?

I really love these guys...

The winners through the corn maze. Not being poor sports at all... The twins and I raced against Tom, Brooke and Sam. We killed them...

One of Brooke's favorite activities...

Finding just the perfect pumpkin...

Posers...

We don't even have to carve one of the pumpkins this year. It came with a face...

And just to prove that I was there too...

Footprints...

2011-10-26T19:47:00.000-07:00

Some people make footprints in the sand. We choose to make them in road dust...

Hand it Over...

2011-10-18T14:27:00.000-07:00

The Mom of the Year Award that is... Here's why...

Yesterday I sent the girls off to school and got ready to go the gym. Right as I was leaving, I got a call from Sam's preschool. "Mrs. Bishop? Were you aware that Sam's right hand is all red and swollen and hot?" Um. No. "Would you come and check her out please? We're kind of worried about her." So I go to check her out. They were right. Her right hand was all swollen and red and hot from the knuckles on her hand, up all 4 fingers. Huh. How did I miss that? So I take her home and call the doctor. With this girl, you just can't be too careful... "Bring her right in, please. We take these kinds of things very seriously!" Of course you do. So off we go... I had no idea what could have happened, but her (very astute) father mentioned she'd fallen off her bike a bunch of times on Saturday. Sure. She totally broke her hand and all four fingers and we're just figuring that out now? Yeah right.... Well actually, Yeah right. They ruled out infection because there was no scratch or means of entry for infection. So she either sprained her hand and all four fingers or broke them. Well. Don't I feel the tiniest bit stupid? So we go get xrays... Turns out her hand isn't broken, just sprained. Makes me feel a little bit less like a loser... But I will tell you that this girl has the highest pain tolerance in the world. Remember her UTI that she had for months? And we only knew cause it almost killed her? So in my defense, she never favored her (red, hot, swollen) hand. She never complained. She never anything. So there you have it. For the seventh time (this year...) please hand over the Mom of the Year Award...

Peanut Butter & Jelly...

2011-10-14T10:35:00.000-07:00

Brooke has been blessed with some really great friends. Here's a conversation we had the other day after school...

Brooke - "So, today I had some papers hidden in my shoe..."

me - "What? Ummmm. Dare I ask why?"

Brooke - "So I can draw on the bus. (duh!) But anyway... I forgot all about them until Sydney pulled colored pencils out of her boot!"

They were meant to be friends. Some things just go together... (thus the title - in case I'm not as clever as I think I am, and nobody but me gets it...) (And yes, they are the same age. Brooke is about 6 months older, but on the (freakishly) tall side and Syd is on the (adorably) shorter side...)

Just like daddy...

2011-10-11T15:53:00.000-07:00

One measuring cup full of cake batter later...

"Now I look just like daddy!"

Warning!!!

2011-10-07T20:06:00.000-07:00

Woman Driver Ahead!!

So today the girls and I were Halloween shopping. Which means I was driving around in our Suburban. I do this all the time, you think I'd be good at it... We were parked at the Spirit Halloween store (note to self - never again take Sam in there. She'll still be having nightmares 6 halloweens from now...) After we were done, I go to pull straight out. And go up over a curb. Oh snap. There must be one of those parking cement things there. Oh well. I drive a suburban for a reason, right? I can go right over those things. Turns out it was a flower bed. Whoops.

I wish...

2011-10-07T13:42:00.000-07:00

That you all (y'all for the southern followers of this blog...) could sit and take a ride in my car with me and the girls. They all sing. Different songs. At the same time. And not even trying to annoy each other. Just (kind of) quietly to themselves. For the entire ride.

It makes me smile. (Just like this picture of them waiting to see Lion King 3D.)

Quote of the Day...

2011-10-03T13:06:00.000-07:00

We were driving by the Seattle Temple on Sunday and I was talking to the girls about it when Sam interrupted with this...

"Why is that angel holding a gun?"

Hair Ball...

2011-09-26T20:49:00.000-07:00

During dinner (the most delicious pulled pork BBQ sandwiches....) I heard horrible gagging and coughing noises. I look over at Sam only to find her pulling a goodly portion of her hair out of her throat. She'd swallowed it with her sandwich. I asked her if she was ok, and she said, "No! I am not ok! I just swallowed my hair!" Point taken.

This picture is just to show how much hair the girl has to swallow...

Perspective...

2011-09-24T16:02:00.000-07:00

One story, Two perspectives...

His (some random guy doing yard work...) - Screeeech! A car slams on the brakes and stops in front of his house. A woman flies out and starts pounding something with... her shoe? Now she's shaking the car door. She lets out a little scream, jumps back in the car and takes off...
Mine - I'm just driving to Winco. Calmly. Not really paying attention. When a LARGE cat face spider drops down in front of my face. (There's the Screeeech...) I jump out and the spider fell off my shirt and onto the driver's seat. So I (not so) calmly take off my flip flop and start trying to kill it. Apparently if you try and smash a spider on a padded seat, it will fly through the air and scare your pants off... The spider is now on the door. Thinking a little clearer, and not (quite so) panicked, I decided to shake him off, rather than squish him and have to clean up guts. The spider fell off, almost landing on my flip flop-less foot. (There's the jump back into the car... and the scream...) And off I went to Winco...

Flashback...

2011-09-19T13:11:00.000-07:00

To when my family looked more like this...

I took a trip to Canada to see my grandparents when the twins were about 9 months old. (give or take - who can remember? I was TIRED back then...) I had to go without Tom and the drive is about 13 hours (What was I thinking?). We stopped at a McDonalds in some town in Canada. It was rainy and mucky and slushy outside. Brooke might have been three by this point... I grabbed the twins and had one on each hip. They weren't walking at the time, so I couldn't put them down on the nasty, dirty, slushy ground. We walk in (like we weren't a freak show) and get in line. Brooke wrapped her sweet little arms around my legs. And proceeded to pull my pants down. To my knees. With a twin in each arm and no way to pull them up. Did I mention the place was packed? It was awesome. Looking back I can't stop laughing as I write this, but I was mortified that day. I managed to lean a little one way and grab some pants and pull them up a little and then lean the other way and pull them up a little more. And so on, until I was fully clothed again. Like I said, awesome.

This story is just too good to not have it documented in our blog books... So enjoy the flashback and my humiliation...

ABC's of summer...

2011-09-08T19:03:00.000-07:00

In honor of school starting, I thought I'd give to you our ABC's of summer. Just keep hitting "older posts" to get through our summer of fun... Don't worry, not many words, just pictures... Enjoy. We certainly did!

A is for...

2011-09-08T19:00:00.000-07:00

Ahoy There.

B is for...

2011-09-08T18:56:00.000-07:00

Best Friends.

C is for...

2011-09-08T18:50:00.000-07:00

(Canadian) Cowboy Hats

D is for...

2011-09-08T18:47:00.000-07:00

Dash Point State Park.

Our favorite beach. Ever.

E is for...

2011-09-08T18:42:00.001-07:00

Enormous Flower Basket

F is for...

2011-09-08T18:41:00.001-07:00

Four Generations.

G is for...

2011-09-08T18:39:00.001-07:00

Gone Fishin'

& Giant Swing

H is for...

2011-09-08T18:35:00.000-07:00

Hanging Out

& Huckleberry Picking

I is for...

2011-09-08T18:29:00.001-07:00

Indian Village.

At the Calgary Stampede...

J is for...

2011-09-08T18:27:00.000-07:00

Jump.

K is for...

2011-09-08T18:19:00.000-07:00

Kousins

at the

Kabin

(and yes, I know this one was a stretch...)

L is for...

2011-09-08T18:16:00.000-07:00

Lemonade Stand.

Each kid made $1.50...

M is for...

2011-09-08T18:12:00.001-07:00

Mustache.

And you thought we had girls...

N is for...

2011-09-08T18:11:00.000-07:00

Neighbors

Nailpolish

O is for...

2011-09-08T17:59:00.000-07:00

Oobleck.

and also Gak....

P is for...

2011-09-08T16:53:00.000-07:00

Pool.

Where we spent the majority of our summer...

Q is for...

2011-09-08T16:49:00.000-07:00

Quads.

So fun...

Guess who learned to drive herself?

R is for...

2011-09-08T16:44:00.001-07:00

Rollerblades.

S is for...

2011-09-08T16:40:00.000-07:00

Sisters.

T is for...

2011-09-08T16:33:00.000-07:00

Trampoline.

Coolest. Place. Ever.

Even the mom got in on the action...

U is for...

2011-09-08T16:28:00.000-07:00

Underground.

We went through the Lewis and Clark Caverns...

V is for...

2011-09-08T16:24:00.000-07:00

Volleyball Camp.

She loved it...

W is for...

2011-09-08T16:21:00.001-07:00

Work.

We painted the entire cabin this summer...

X is for...

2011-09-08T16:19:00.001-07:00

Xtreme (shaving cream)

Enough said...

Y is for...

2011-09-08T16:16:00.000-07:00

Yawn.

Extremely tired children...

Z is for...

2011-09-08T16:13:00.000-07:00

Zen.

It wasn't all craziness!

Back to School

2011-09-03T11:20:00.000-07:00

We've had such a great summer, but we were all ready for school to start on Thursday...

Erin, Brooke, Alix and Sam

Alix has discovered a new love for skinny jeans. She started first grade. All day school. And even better? She gets to eat lunch at school! They twins have been waiting and waiting for this day to come.

Sam started preschool...

Erin and her blingy shoes. She and Alix are in the same class again. They sit at different tables and have different friends, so as long as they love it, I love it. One class to volunteer in, one class to make cupcakes for and the same homework every day. They are pretty independent from each other, so it works for us all.

Waiting for the bus. (Even though they all could have come with Sam and I, since Sam goes to a special preschool that is at the girl's school...)

Brooke started at a new school this year. She tested into the Quest program (smarty pants) and is now in a 3rd/4th split class for "highly capable" learners. She was nervous to go to her 3rd new school in 4 years, but loves it. She knows more kids than she thought she did and even rides the bus with some of her best friends from church.

Guess who was feeling shy when we dropped her off with her teachers? She warmed up quite a bit the second day. =) So far, she loves it. She was really, really tired the second day, so we'll have to see how her endurance is once she's been going longer term. She'll go 4 days a week and has Wednesdays off. She'll need that extra rest day, I think.

But for 2 1/2 hours in the morning, I have NO children at home. NONE. First time in almost 9 years... I can't say I mind, but the house is oddly quiet...

Perspective...

2011-08-30T14:54:00.000-07:00

The girls and I were sitting at a red light when a most attractive and fit (shirtless) man jogged by. I was sitting there enjoying the view, when from the back seat I heard...

"Gross!" "That's disgusting!" "That guy doesn't have shirt on!" "Ewwwww!"

Can't wait to replay this scenario in 10 years or so... =)

(As i have no picture of the aforementioned hot guy, I will give you one of some manly men I actually know... They are waiting for an impromptu race; muscle car -vs- new car... too bad the new car won...)

Aging Gracefully...

2011-08-26T19:47:00.000-07:00

It's been a little rough getting old(er) around here lately... I present to you three case studies in humility...

1) The above picture is one Sam drew for her developmental preschool testing. Here's the conversation that went along with it...
teacher - "Who is that a picture of?"
Sam - "My dad."
teacher - "Shall we add some hair next?"
Sam - "My dad doesn't have any hair..."

2) While sitting on her father's lap, Brooke made the following observation...
Brooke - "The only long hairs dad has are his eyelashes and in his nose..."

3) Brooke had a couple of girls over for a sleepover and I introduced them to "The Princess Bride". I was telling them how it was kind of an older movie and how much I liked it as a kid...
Sydney (in disbelief and disgust) - "Does that mean it's in black and white?!!?"

Looks like we can have our Humble Pie and eat it too! :-)

(yet another) Quote of the Day...

2011-08-20T09:52:00.000-07:00

Driving home from vacation, Sam threw up most of the way... (super fun...) Which led to a discussion (or seven) on whether or not she had the stomach flu or was carsick. Turns out it was the stomach flu. Erin and Alix have been up all night throwing up. Which concerns their baby sister. After Erin's latest episode of puking, Sam put her hands of Erin's cheeks and asked her -

"Are you getting house sick?"

Quote of the Day...

2011-08-19T10:22:00.000-07:00

My cousin got married yesterday (congratulations, Noel and Chanel), so I came downstairs freshly showered and with makeup on...
Brooke - "Whoa, Mom! I didn't know it was Sunday!"

Perhaps I've been taking summer casual a tad bit too far...

Quote of the Day...

2011-07-30T10:17:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, there were three little girls sitting in the tub... Being girls, of course, they were joking and laughing. About poo. Poodles, you might think? Poof balls? Nope. Just poo. Super lady like...
me - "Girls. Be appropriate."
Sam - "But mom, appopwiate just isn't fun!"

Close Shave...

2011-07-29T12:44:00.000-07:00

It all started innocently enough...

Then the gloves came on...

After that, it was all a blur...

Tans were erased...

The yard overtaken by zombies....

It was awesome when people drove by...

Charlie's Angels - Zombie Style!

I say "z", you say "zed"

2011-07-26T00:20:00.000-07:00

After much too long, we were able to take a quick trip to visit my mum's family in Calgary, Alberta Canada. It's been five years since I've been up. Too long. But it was great to see everyone, and finally, everyone got to meet Sam. Here are some of our favorite times...

Bedtime. Sister's sleepover, all the way! (and Mischief and Mayhem thankfully stayed in Puyallup. The girls were amazingly well behaved. I mean - they're always this good... cough. cough.)

The girls had a great time blowing bubbles and doing sidewalk chalk for their great-grandparents to see.

Boom Boom and Baba with Sam.

Grandpa showing the girls his "toy car". Aka - the Smart car.

Waiting for the C Train with my parents and Auntie Cheryl. On our way to the Calgary Stampede!

Who knew we'd all look so sexy in our cowboy hats?

The girls watching a little rodeo action - the grandparents watching a little climbing action

Cheaper to feed than draft horses...

Brooke and Erin. The girls all love the military section of the Stampede. They could have stayed for hours.

Love those girls!

My favorite shot of the whole trip... (Erin)

4 generations. So lucky to still have my grandparents. I have such wonderful memories of them growing up, I'm happy to have my children make some as well.

I also bought a year's supply of Canadian chocolate bars... We won't wait five years again before the next visit! Thanks to mum and dad for driving up to see us. The girls always love to see you! Thanks to Auntie Cheryl and Uncle Jim for playing with, and loving my children and for the wonderful chance to see all the family at your house. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for letting my children play with your "snatcher", for playing "whale" and for making delicious pedahe. I love you all!

Sister's Sleepover...

2011-07-22T23:44:00.000-07:00

The girls wanted to do a "sister's sleepover" (code for - "we really don't want to go to bed yet, and think we'll get away with more mischief and mayhem if mom thinks we're having a party...). So of course, loving mischief and mayhem, I said "Sure." I'm so glad I did. This is how I found them...

Brooke was reading to the littler girls and they were planning on sleeping this way. Unfortunately, mischief and mayhem (I should capitalize those two words - Mischief and Mayhem - and claim them as my fifth and sixth children...) soon arrived and they played until around 11:30. But I love it when they love each other. Makes me feel like I might just be doing something right...

Any Excuse For A Party...

2011-07-08T20:31:00.000-07:00

And what better excuse than the Birthday of our country?

We started the party a couple of days earlier by painting our annual handprint shirts.

All decked out for the ward pancake breakfast. (I love Brooke is confident enough to go in a beard and mustache and be willing to laugh at herself. Something I am trying to teach all the girls...) And yes, once again, Erin is the one with the grumpy face... She didn't want to wear her shirt. Too bad...

Alix, saying I love you

Erin turned out to be a major pyro. She lit most of our family's fireworks.

We had a great time with a bunch of friends. Massive water fight, silly string fight, face painting, bike parade, a little pool time, a bunch of great food, some good basketball & and some gorgeous fireworks to top it off. I really do love an excuse to have a great time!

Quote of the Day/Alphabet Soup

2011-07-06T12:37:00.000-07:00

Alix and Erin (to Sam) - "Owen is you best friend?"

Sam - "Yeah..."

Alix and Erin - "So, he's your BFF." (and yes, somehow they really do talk in unison...)

Sam - "No. He's my EFG!"

Greatest day ever...

2011-07-02T07:34:00.000-07:00

(next to the one when the kids are FINALLY old enough for nursery) is when your child is fully potty trained. I was a little worried about Sam, so I've waited and waited to post this, so as to not jinx ourselves, but, by jove! I think she's got it! She's in panties all day and even at night. It's been a couple of weeks since we an accident...

And if you ask Sam, she'll tell you that her potty train says, "Choo Choo..."

Quote of the Day...

2011-06-26T17:05:00.000-07:00

Our family is learning the Articles of Faith. So far we know the 1st, the 8th, and this is Erin's version of the 2nd...

"We believe that man shall be punished for their own sins, and not for Sam's congestion..."

Round 'em on up!

2011-06-24T09:59:00.000-07:00

Around here, you graduate from kindergarten with a Kindergarten Round Up. It's super cute. All the kindergarteners sing cowboy songs and dance the Virginia Reel. What's cuter than 75 kindergarteners in cowboy hats and bandanas? Not much...

Erin on the left - Alix on the right

With their teacher, Mrs. Dent

All the kindergarteners from our ward (minus two who were outta there quick...). All of them, except 2 boys were in the same morning kindergarten class with the twins. Helps school not be scary when you know half your class already... :)

I still do hold them both. Usually when they're tired, but still, fun to have proof...

I can't wrap my mind around the fact that Erin and Alix are going to be first graders. It's crazy. I'm pretty sure they're still 4 years old...

Quote of the Day...

2011-06-22T23:45:00.000-07:00

After finding Brooke, once again, asleep for the night in my bed instead of her own...

me - "Brooke, why are you always in my bed asleep when there's a babysitter over?"

brooke - "Pretty much, I'm just taking advantage of the babysitter..."

Tell it like it is, girl, tell it like it is.

(Brooke dressed up for "baby day" at the school.)

Just Smile and Wave...

2011-06-21T11:49:00.000-07:00

The girls were playing dress-up and decided to wave to all the neighborhood cars that passed by... so this was the view as you drove by my house the other night...

Charlie's Angels.

A tap-dancing vampire.

The purple ninja.

Quote of the Day...

2011-06-09T21:57:00.000-07:00

Some of the girls at Activity Days were telling me how cool some of my jobs have been and how fun I am now...

So Brooke added... "Yeah. My mom's real aDORKable!"

Looks like my star has fallen... :)

Can you read this?

2011-06-06T19:47:00.000-07:00

Gotta love how a second grader's mind works.

(this is a couple months old, but I just noticed the picture...)

Planting...

2011-06-03T20:49:00.000-07:00

Our garden. After a poor Polly Pocket growing season last year, we decided to not try and grow Polly Pocket for a second year. But we did plant corn, beans, peas, cucumber, zucchini, rainbow carrots, radishes, tomatoes, peppers, sweet onions, watermelon, and cantaloupe. Now we wait...

Rules to Live By

2011-05-31T17:06:00.000-07:00

1. The family that works together, stays together.

2. Pies, in mud form, are calorie free

3. Cleanliness is next to Godliness
4. Watch where you sit
5. After the rain, comes the sun.
6. Gotta love some girls who like to get dirty...

Short and Sassy...

2011-05-31T17:04:00.000-07:00

Brooke loves her new haircut and I promised some grandma's some pictures... :)

Crazy Does It...

2011-05-31T17:01:00.000-07:00

The girls had "Crazy Hair Day" at school recently... What was crazy was how much longer it takes to make their hair look bad than it does to make it look good...

the front view...

and the back...

Quote of the Day...

2011-05-25T16:23:00.000-07:00

Sam was at therapy yesterday and stuck out her belly, rubbed it in a circle and walked around saying...

"I have biiiig boobs! I have really biiiiiig boobs!"

Big boobs and sweaty armpits. Apparently, she's a very small teenager...

Sisters...

2011-05-17T13:18:00.000-07:00

(overheard) Quote of the Day...

2011-05-11T23:42:00.000-07:00

Alix - "You be the princess!"

Erin - "I can't be the princess!"

Alix - "Whatever. Be the princess!"

Erin - "I can't be the princess. I'm NOT a princess!"

Alix - "Why aren't you a princess?"

Erin - "Du-uh. Because I don't have a tiara!"

If only I had know that's all it took... I would have gotten myself a tiara long ago... (And yes, they really do talk in all exclamation points.) (And I know this isn't that funny, but I really like the picture and needed something to go with it...) :)

Thank You.

2011-05-08T20:11:00.000-07:00

To the woman who helped me grow...

Who loves my children...
And showed me what it is to be a mother.
I love you mom! Happy Mother's Day. I'm the woman I am today, because you taught me how to fly.

Quote of the Day...

2011-05-05T09:35:00.000-07:00

My girls were asking questions about our neighborhood volcano, Mt. Rainier...

Alix - "So, there isn't any lava up there now?"

me - "No, honey, there hasn't been for years and years."

Alix - "Like, since I was born?"

me - "No. I mean for hundreds and hundreds of years."

Alix - "So, like, when Grandma Beth and Grandpa Albie were little?"

Real Men...

2011-04-30T20:11:00.000-07:00

Use a Little Red Wagon as a wheelbarrow... :)

Our friends have our wheelbarrow right now, so Tom's been improvising. But this is his project...

That's a lot of 65 pound bricks. You work on this project, you're man enough to use whatever you want for a wheelbarrow...

Doing great!

2011-04-28T09:08:00.000-07:00

Sam is SO MUCH better. It's amazing what not having an infection will do for you... I would say she's back to normal. She's funny, she's laughing, she's talking. She even jumped around the store the other day. She's sleeping well and her grumpy times are due solely to being a 2 year-old. Her endurance is close to what it was before. She still tires easily, but it is much more of a normal fatigue for her and not a scary one.

I am so thankful for all your prayers and loving words. Our family is doing well and it is so nice to have our Sam back. She'll go in for extensive lab work in May, just to check things out, but for now, life is back to normal. :)

Easter Fun (and Utter Chaos)...

2011-04-27T13:58:00.000-07:00

We decorated eggs....

and then sponsored our 5th (or so) Annual Day-After-Easter Egg Hunt.

I got a little carried away inviting people this year... In my head it was going to be sunny and the kids could all play outside and it would not be Utter Chaos. I was wrong. It poured all day and all 27 kids and 18 adults were stuck in my house... And trust me Utter Chaos deserves to be capitalized... But it was a lot of fun. We pot-lucked for dinner first and then the dads hid the eggs in the rain. Then 27 kids took off out the door...

Luckily we have this empty lot next to our house and we used that this year... There were hundreds of eggs to find and all the kids went away happy.

Here's the annual picture. We tried for tallest to shortest, but really, there were just too many kids... :)

I'm grateful for good friends who are willing to come and play with us, even when my house is a tad too small...

Flour Power...

2011-04-27T13:44:00.000-07:00

When we were kids we used to play this awesome game called... The Flour Game (fancy, I know...) I recently remembered it and thought some traditions just have to be passed on...

You start with a packed bowl of flour, turn it upside down on a plate and then stick a penny on top of the flour. Then you take turns around the table cutting away little slices of flour...

Until you have a wobbly, little flour tower...

Keep taking turns until... Ooops! Someone knocks it off. Then that person must pick up the penny with their mouth out of the flour...

Some people loved it...

Some people didn't...

Which is why our good friend, Matt Bishop, who was playing with us, had to get Erin's penny for her. Thanks for being a good sport, matt! The girls loved seeing him all flour-y.

Then Sam and I knocked it off the next round and Brooke thought she'd give me a little help...

I love things like this, that I did as a kid and now get to do with my own children. We'll definitely be doing this for another family home evening soon...

Race Day...

2011-04-27T13:31:00.000-07:00

I've been "torturing" Brooke lately by making her run with me. It's been a little rough. Or a lot rough. But we found some friends to run with and it hasn't been quite so torturous...and for my birthday she gave me what I wanted: Her to run in a 1 mile fun run with me. It was the highlight of my birthday.

Here we are before the race... Brooke's still not too sure...

The funnest part of the race was running through some horse stables.

Sprinting to the finish line.

She did it!

The girls did so great. I was so proud and they were so happy with themselves. The fastest mile they'd done before the race was 14:30. Brooke ran this race in 12:01! My pregnant-with-twins best friend couldn't even keep up with the girls at the end... Brooke was really tired toward the end and really wanted to walk, but just kept on going and even sprinted at the end. I am so proud of her for not giving up. Now we're on to bigger and harder things. A 5k in June... Anyone want to join us?

Update on Sam...

2011-04-15T15:31:00.000-07:00

Sam hasn't been doing very well for the past couple of months. She exhausted. An hour of OT is too much for her and she just shuts down after about 40 minutes. Her endurance is much less than it used to be. She'll play with her sisters, but is really, very happy to just sit on the couch. Often she ends up like this...

About a month ago, she was sleeping 20 hours a day. It was crazy. She's back to her "normal" 16, but isn't sleeping well. She tosses and turns and wakes up several times a night. Which means we're both functioning at our very best. (I really think there should be a sarcasm font...) Sam really is the sweetest girl, but has been horribly unhappy lately. Not herself at all. And not two-year-old grumpy, but an "I'm feeling horrible" kind of grumpy. Sam got quite sick with Strep Throat a few times this winter and often looked like this...
The poor girl has giant black bags under her eyes and looks tired all the time. Now the good news is her vision is still fine, her left side is working as well as it ever does and her actual development hasn't gone backwards, even with all the sleeping.

We went to the doctor today and she has a horrible urinary tract infection. And it looks like she's had it for a while. Which is actually more good news. This is an actual reason WHY she's been having so much trouble. Which means that maybe her disease isn't progressing quickly and this might not be the new normal... Maybe her body just can't run itself and fight an underlying infection. I can deal with that. What was hard to deal with was Sam not being herself. The last couple of days she's been more herself and laughing again and being funny. I cried one night when I realized how much I'd missed my sweet daughter.

She's on antibiotics now, and we'll see how she responds and hopefully goes back to normal. Life is a strange challenge with this girl. I don't know what to expect with her, but I do know that she brings a light to our family that we would be lost without. I will keep you all posted on how she responds to the antibiotics. Thanks for caring about our "Sam-I-Am".

Quote of the Day...

2011-04-13T11:15:00.000-07:00

We'd been talking about middle names...

Alix - "I know what Brooke's middle name is... Cookie!"

Close enough...

Shhhhh.....

2011-04-12T21:27:00.000-07:00

Ever have one of those days where it's just TOO MUCH? Too much noise. Too much mess. Too much chaos?

We (meaning the "mean, old mom") had one of those tonight... So I instituted "whisper night". "But mom, it's not night yet..." said Alix.

"Too bad. It's close enough," whispered mom.

And so we whispered all night. It was kind of fun. Even Sam (sort of) got in the spirit of things. Everything is so much calmer when all you can do is whisper. The wrestling stopped. (And you thought I had all girls? I do. They wrestle. Crazy.) The arguing stopped. It was great. We might have to do this again. Tomorrow? :)

Got facial hair?

2011-04-11T08:16:00.000-07:00

Like father...

Like daughter...

Who knew Tom and Sam would have matching goatees one day?

I miss you...

2011-04-04T21:58:00.000-07:00

Sun. and Warmth. and Dirt. and Heat. and Light.

I'm over you... Rain. and Mud. and Gray. and Cold.

This family is so ready for some good weather... It really can't come soon enough this year...

Quote of the Day...

2011-03-30T16:52:00.000-07:00

Somehow we got on the topic of bums and how they are muscles...

Alix - "Wow, Mom, your bum must be really, really strong then!"

Yes. Yes it is...

Not my fault...

2011-03-23T15:08:00.000-07:00

If anyone has any doubts as to who is to "blame" for our family having 4 girls, here's the proof. It's Tom's fault. This was his car at the end of our Life game for Family Home Evening on Monday.

I really am, apparently, just along for the ride!

Tom and his Ladies in Waiting...

Going Green

2011-03-23T15:00:00.000-07:00

We love a good excuse to party. St. Patricks day was our latest excuse...

Brooke and her friend Kate leprechauning it up

Erin on her way to school

Alix on her way to school

and Brooke - on her way to (you guessed it...) school

We had our annual Green Day Party and even had some green chicken this year. It tasted good- if you could get past the color... Also lettuce wraps, green mashed potatoes, green pesto pasta, green bread and green cookies. And lots of great friends, all "going green..."