A trip to the farm.....

This last weekend we went to the farm for a visit. I want to write about our weekend so we don't forget our eventful trip.....

This was our first trip where the twins were forward facing. Please don't lecture me on how the new suggestions are rear-facing until two. I know that-but I'm within the law and I have kids climbing over/under and pencils getting poked and messes with rear facing. The turn saved my sanity. Anyway, on our way down Ashlyn started to cry through the canyon. Her cry is AWFUL. We decided that it was probably the elevation and pressure in her ears. Just as we decided that we learned that it probably wasn't her ears-it was her tummy. She threw up all over her new car seat. And in the canyon where there's few places to pull off comfortably. We did the best we could but the car smelled awful the rest of the way there. I hope she's not like I was as a child or this will be what happens every time we go to the farm for the next twelve years!

Gage went out to do chores with Dale and while they were out there they came across a horse skull. Dale let him bring it back to the house to show us. I had just offered to teach a lesson in Gage's class about how teeth shape indicates an animal's diet. So we brought the horse skull (and a cow skull) home for the lesson!

Gage took his bb gun down so one of the first things he did was take it out to shoot birds. Uncle Jack kindly gave Gage a dead gopher to shoot at for Target practice. Then I took the twins up to see Grandma Winnie and when I returned I found Gage with Uncle Tom and Grandpa Dale dissecting a gopher. Gage identified for me the heart, lungs, liver, thigh, and rib cage. He was washing up in the bathroom and I said, "That was pretty awesome, huh?" and he replied, "Yeah, I can't WAIT to tell my friends!!" My mind went back to last year when he got in trouble for taking a picture to school holding the rabbit that he shot with Matt. The gopher dissection story was actually well received. I thought the experience was great for him.

That evening we were all getting ready for dinner. Matt was outside grilling and the kids were at the table playing while I fed the twins. It was time to wash up and I realized that Gracie wasn't at the table anymore. I sent Gage to find her and he found that she had locked herself in the room upstairs. It wasn't the kind of lock you can take a butter knife to, it was a key lock. She was hysterical. The light wasn't on and she was crying, "Get me out....please.....get me out". When I asked Debi for the key she had no idea that the door even locked let alone where the key for it would be. Matt sat next to the door and calmed her down as I took care of the twins. Dale found the key and she was set free in time for us to all have dinner-but it was certainly another event to remember!

Up at Winnie's the baby goats and sheep provided entertainment for Gage. Goats are actually pretty darn cute when they're tiny. Gracie was afraid of them. I held her hand in mine and let one come up and sniff our hands, she was screaming and telling me to hold her even though I already was. I can't believe I have a child who is that afraid of everything. Dogs, cats, baby goats....

But not getting up on a horse....

Even after she watched this horse buckle under Matt and get a little feisty when he got on, she still got on with him.

On our visit we got to hold Baby Ruby and hang out with Kalli and Jack at their house on Saturday night. We went to church on Sunday morning. The twins were all over the place and I was thankful that our church here at home has childcare. There was a basket of toys to play with but they kept wanting the items they aren't ready for. Jay was eating the crayons and Ashlyn wrote on her face with a marker that had lost the cap.

It was an eventful trip to the farm and the kids already can't wait to go back!

Love.

Catching up on the everyday plus some guy at Costco

A look at our more recent everyday stuff.....

We do things like go to the park.....while our house is being cleaned. I cannot keep my own house clean. Can't. It's impossible for me. So I give up things like new clothes and pedicures to get my house cleaned by someone else. For me, it's totally worth it.

We take our shoes off at the park......because I used to think that parents who let their kids be barefoot at the park were so gross. Now I keep the kids from wandering away and that's ALL I can do at the park. God knows how many leaves and little tiny pieces of colored rubber they've eaten-bare feet are nothing.

We go to Skywalk and JUMP. Not really. We went once and I will take the big kids again but it's too much with the littlest two.

Gracie likes to get all dressed up to meet dad for lunch. She chose this whole outfit herself. It's a little too much for me but I let her do her thing. I wish Tulare was in Fresno so we could do this more often. A trip to Hobby Lobby and lunch with Matt every now and again is a good change of pace for us.

We go on nature walks. I used to walk with Gage outside EVERY day. When I lived in the apartment I would walk to the grocery store, to get ice cream, to get a coffee, to just get out. Then when we moved to the house we walked the trail at least 3 times a week and talked about all the little critters we would see. It was SO nice to take him to this little gem of a trail, we'll for sure be going again soon. I miss being outside with him, he loves it so much. I blame it on school. It has taken our most precious resource-time.

These two spend a lot of time longing to be bigger than they are. They love to watch the big kids (in this case Gage and Matt) play outside. They usually get to go too but not when Gage is practicing catch with a baseball.

We forget to consider consequences.....she really thought she had a great idea here. She is the worst with this stuff. She climbs the barstools with absolutely no thought of "careful" and is always in some precarious situation like this.

We love to cuddle. These two are pretty lovey babies. Anytime I get down on the ground they are both all over me. It's the best and worst all at the same time.

I took the twins out to lunch for their first birthday. It's probably only the second or third time I've done this. I took Gage out to lunch almost daily. This trip was no joke. I had Ashlyn in the carrier, Jay on my hip and Gracie by my side. There was only one available high chair so Ashlyn sat on my lap until another came available. We left with more rice on the floor than in our bellies. But, they were very well behaved and I would do it again.

Gracie cracks me up. She was feeling pretty good in some red high heels.

We spend a great deal of time in mealtime mayhem. With three under three it takes much longer to clean up a meal than it does to eat it. I started giving the twins real food a while back and there was a major downside. They no longer let anyone feed them-they insist on feeding themselves. It's led to complete disaster every meal. 

Fortunately my kids are pretty healthy but sometimes it hits us. This is what sick Ash looks like, it's terrible.

We get all pretty and match for church. Not true. The girls rarely match because 90% of Ashlyn's wardrobe used to be Gracie's. I don't think we're too far off from them being the same size. This series of pics made me laugh, Ash was determined to get that necklace. 

We love to have parties at the potty. Gracie's getting pretty good at doing this on her own and we're big on keeping the door closed. When she forgets to close the door this is the result. Everyone in her business-she clearly doesn't mind.

This last weekend I had the four kids at Costco. It was on Monday; normally it would be slow but it was busy with the President's Day holiday. I always hear comments (sometimes directed at me, sometimes not) like, "She sure has her hands full" or "Oh my gosh, are they all yours?" but this visit to Costco I got something else. As I grabbed a year's supply of wipes, that only lasts us a few weeks, a family was walking by. They had two boys I would guess about four and six and a little girl around two in the cart. The dad walked by-looking right at my cart and I heard him say to his wife, "Look at those four kids.....that could be us". It wasn't in the tone of fear or pity that I usually hear, and it wasn't sarcasm either.  He was looking at my life with hope. The hope that he might one day have what I have. It was one of my first opportunities to have a stranger actually believe me when I say, "It's totally worth it"......

Love.

Our Valentine's Day babies turn ONE!

At the last minute we decided to do just little something for the twin's first birthday. So we had a very small, very last minute, very casual little party. We just had some of our in-town family over-The Dougall's, The Adolph's, The Jeff's and my brother and Lori were here. The Hallaian's had family in town and my sister and Phil had already made plans. We picked up Westwoods for dinner and I made the cakes from scratch. I wasn't going to bother with decorations but when I stopped in at the Dollar Tree for Valentine's I picked up tablecloths and Matt bought me flowers. Voila. 

 Ashlyn's cake

 Jay's cake

 It was SO hard to get a picture of them both......

Ashlyn made it clear that she was NOT going to wear her bow

 Jay was just busy being precious

Favorite Instagram pics from the first year....

 My attempt to get all the kids together....

The cake smash was telling. 

Jay just smashed his cake into oblivion. He would just pound the cake with both hands and laugh. Then he'd follow that with shoving a big piece into his mouth. Then he'd pound on the cake again and just crack up at himself. 

Ashlyn, on the other hand, had a few bites and kept looking over at Jay with a "What are you doing?" look on her face. It was perfect. 

I'm glad we did at least a little something to celebrate. Sometimes I play things down then I regret it later. For instance, being pregnant with the twins. I avoided the camera pretty much the entire pregnancy. Now I'm sad that I didn't take at least one good picture of myself looking like a school bus.

Our whole Valentine's Day was last minute. Gage's classmates got some random Valentine's with temporary tattoos. I HATE temporary tattoos. In fact, I have NEVER let my children apply one. But that's all that was left at Target at 4:30 the day before. I also saw many pics posted of what moms got their kids for Valentine's Day. Mine got nothing. Some of Gracie's friends sent her sweet little Valentine's in the mail. We're lucky I even got some for Gage to pass out at school, Gracie certainly didn't get anything to share! And Matt? Didn't get him anything. Not one thing. Just a card that I gave him a day late.

That's just our life-we can't have everything. But we have each other, and that's all that matters.

Love

Happy Birthday little love babies

A few weeks ago, as conversation turned to Valentine's Day, I told Matt that I thought our Valentine's Day last year was romantic. He replied, "Romantic? No. Special.....touching.....but I wouldn't go with romantic." I guess we have different ideas of romance.......

On Valentine's Day last year, my tiny little love babies, Ashlyn and Jay, were born.

I'm writing this without going back to re-read my post about the story of their birth; I remember it fondly and I like it that way. Maybe later.

Finding out we were having twins was overwhelming. It seemed like everyone around us worried about us, felt sorry for us, or just thanked God that they weren't us. We've made it successfully through the first year, and with more joy than we ever imagined.....

How could you not adore these two most fraternal twins ever?

Ashlyn has the sweetest disposition. Where Gracie cried at just the sight of her uncles, Jack and Tom, Ashlyn walks right over with her arms up wanting to be held. She also loves Grandpa Steve and has always loved her dad (Gracie may be Daddy's girl now but she didn't like him until she turned one). Ashlyn only makes a fuss when something is really wrong-she's hurt or needs changed. She's just a little bitty thing, but at 17 pounds she outweighs Gracie at one year. She's officially one year and still has not one tooth. Every now and again her hair looks a little red but she's still just a blondie I never knew I'd have. When she wears certain hats or bows she looks unrecognizable-without her ears she's just not my Ash. When I kiss her cheeks they are firm, like little Cuties. As Gracie does, Ashlyn loves her blanket. She shoves a little piece of the satin trim between her chin and pacifier when she's sleepy. She has gorgeous blue eyes and is so expressive.....

She makes faces that me think she really knows what's going on. I wouldn't be surprised if she proves to be the most quick-witted of our children. She's been the easiest of our babies to care for and she is so special to us all.

And Jay-he is SO funny to me. When we chose his name we searched the various meanings for Jay and we found-rejoice, joy, happiness, and victory. He has certainly lived up to the joy. Compared to Ashlyn he is more needy and requires more of my attention-but he's also VERY happy. Anytime you talk to him he gives back the biggest grin and you get to adore that sweet little dimple in his cheek. Just this morning one of the ladies at the gym daycare said, "Dusty he's always so happy. He's such a jolly little guy!" He definitely seems to be that "all-boy" that people describe. He's more active and gets into more trouble already than any of the others....

He just bulldozes over poor Ashlyn. When I kiss his cheeks they're so soft and squishy like a marshmallow. His laugh is something we all just can't get enough of.

The best thing about these two is the amount of joy they bring Gage and Gracie. Every mom with many worries about making sure that each child feels loved and has enough attention. The twins have been such a gift to Gage and Gracie that any less time with me is filled with even better time and experience with their siblings. Over and over I approach Jay and say, "Come here my little baby guy" or Ash and say, "Good morning my sweet baby girl". Gracie always says, "No, Mom! That's MY baby guy" or "Ash is MY baby girl". She means it. Gage has been SO proud of the babies, especially as they've learned to walk and now start to talk. Gage always tries to get Ashlyn talking and he'll tell me, "Mom, did you hear that?! She just said 'Hi' (he imitates her little baby voice). Did you hear her?! She said it. She really did!"

We've had a year of adjusting, moving, managing, laughing and crying. It has been a year of little sleep, learning to parent multiples and figuring out how to function as a "large" family. Best of all it's been a year of smiles, filled with more LOVE and JOY than I ever imagined.....

Happy Birthday my little love babies!

We love you dearly, xoxo