Establish a "..house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God."...AND A HOUSE OF FUN! (Doctrine and Covenants 88:119)
Once school got started back up (on the 9th!!!! Crazy they went that late into January), I'm once again enjoying the company of my four "at-homes" during the school day.
I enjoy the "schedule" aspect of school being back in, but for some of my kids the early mornings can be a little much. #neverhidesherfeelings
It's back to watching these crazy girls do their thing during the day....... like the boss-princesses they are.
I came in the room and saw the twins looking through the stairs so intently.
Then I heard the giggling of the older two.
Kellyn and Everly kept sliding down the stairs on their bellies giggling and giggling......entertaining the twins forever. Pretty sure I got the whole kitchen cleaned while this kept up.
Hands DOWN the trickiest part of my during-the-day routine is keeping track of this hoodilum....
(who seems to think tights are pants)
This. girl. is. trouble.
And the VERY reason there are gates on my kitchen doors. She's sneaky, cunning, she's doesn't care and OH so stinkin' cute, darnit.
It's safer if I keep her by me.....but then....well, she is BY me.....and ON me.
Like when I'm pumping....
But while I'm hooked up to the wall at least I know where she's at if she's on my shoulders.
Oh, and an interesting thing about her. The past few months we've noticed her eye. Her left eye is VERY subtle-y two colors. Like half of it is green and half is blue. You can't tell in real life unless you look really close....but I love it.
Kellyn is the star of her own movie all day long. She's singing, talking, ordering, giving lectures and laughing with no one in particular. Just kinda in her own world where she reigns supreme.
Oh. and DON'T interupt her either. #youwillpay
Kellyn is also VERY extreme. The happiest of happies where you can't even see her eyes because she's smiling so hard and enjoying life......and then there's the ultimate puddle meltdown. There's the kissing with the fiercest of love on my cheek to the most PENETRATING stare from across the room mouthing the words (while putting her hand on her hip), "I will punch you".
You see, she isn't allowed to say those mean things to Mommy like threatening to punch me, or wanting to choke me, or kick me, etc.....and she'll get a good taste of vinegar in her mouth if she does. So she has resorted to mouthing the words....because technically they were never "said".
Don't worry, I will give her future husband fair warning of this pendelum child.
She also seems to have inherited Aleeya's sense of style.
Which is a good thing. The world needs more smiles and this girl when she goes to church (I let them pick their tights and dresses) ALWAYS seems to bring smiles to people's faces.
(Pic after her Sunday nap)
Speaking of church.....her class gets substitute teachers a lot. Without FAIL the substitute will seek me out to tell me how much they LOVE Kellyn and her happy, bubbly and LOVING personality. (Read: smiling, always talking and answering and getting up in the middle of the class to keep giving the teacher hugs and touching her magical earrings).
Being home with these 4 girls is fun, exciting and never dull. I look forward to the time with my "at-homes" though.....and glad when school starts again so I can enjoy this show. :)
The first part of January we actually had some snow here.
The kids were SUPER excited to go out and play (football) in it.
And others were trapped inside. :)
There was enough snow (AND PLENTY MORE) to make snow cream. We probably had it 4 times over the two days. haha
The boys walked around to the neighbors to ask to shovel their driveways for $. It would've been awesome had they just done it for service....but I can't help but admire their entrepreneur spirits.
Certain females in the this house juuuuuuust can't stand it too long out in the cold (it must be a female gene passed down from me) and played with the teachers chair for hours.....rollercoaster style.
a lot of games too.
A week later we had an ice storm. It was legit. The roads and trees were COVERED in ice. It was kinda magical really. Aleeya would go outside and find a leaf on the tree and then peel off the ice part. It was the perfect shape of the leaf!
And lucky for ME my freezer became filled with them!!!!
Shortly after the New Year I made some joke to Brooks about being GLAD 2016 was over.
It was a hard year afterall.
The first 5 months being unbelievably uncomfortable with the twin pregnancy, their births, then of course caring for TWO newborns.....oh and 8 other kids.
The move to St. Louis right after..... and then another move 4 weeks later.
A week later finding out my dad had a terminal condition and the next month his death.
When I told Brooks that, he said, he (we) had a great year:
TWO healthy babies joined our family in a birth that was exactly how we wanted.
He started a specialty in Pathology he was SUPER excited to start.
We moved closer to a temple.
Everyone in our little family has been protected and enjoyed quite a bit of health.
Huh.
He was right.
I never considered myself a pessimist, but I think it's an easy place for my mind to go recently.
But Brooks' comment has really made me think this past month. Yes, 2016 wore me out. Yes, it was HARD. Yes, I felt in WAY over my head most of it and I still do! In fact, I have things less together than ever before.
But BECAUSE I didn't, I also learned more and I also felt more Heavenly help.
I realized more than ever that my patience stinks and that I can't really keep my family safe and happy and put together as I should.....
but I CAN when I rely on help from Heavenly Father.
My reliance on Him is more crucial and necessary to me now.
I wouldn't have learned that nor been as humbled as I needed to be without 2016.
2016 will be a year to remember for me and I'm SO grateful for it...... all of it.
Something I wrote on Facebook at the first of the year:
I am feeling quite reflective at the start of 2017 thinking of goals I would like for this year. A lot has to do with the “Reflections of the summer of 2016” my mother sent to me for Christmas of her memories before/during my Dad’s passing. I understand more than ever that peace and comfort is ONLY attained through and in Jesus Christ. That the greatest strength comes through humility and submissiveness. The things that matter in life aren’t really things…. they are relationships, loved ones and my connection with my Heavenly Father. I have actually never felt more peace during a ‘storm’, than during my last visit with my Dad. I have never FELT or seen more peace from another individual either. He repeated probably 20 times during my visit that “Jesus Christ is the key to happiness” and to stay close to Him. He is the KEY. My year of 2017 I want to feel even MORE peace, which means strengthening my relationship with Him. It means more time in the scriptures, more time in his Holy Home….the temple and more time loving my fellow men. And because my focus will be more on those things, I will feel peace during whatever this year or each day throws at me…..and my capacity for love and kindness will increase. THIS is my goal..... PEACE....... I know where to find it too.
Before we moved to St. Louis the kids an I got into watching Food Network shows. After watching a season of Cupcake Wars and that the winner was in St. Louis, the kids said, "PLEASE when we move to St. Louis can we go there?!?!?"
We never really got around to driving everyone downtown for a cupcake....nor did I really want to budget in a ridiculous cost for a baked product. (#cheapomom)
So when Brooks and I were thinking of something fun for us to do as a family to celebrate paying off our debt it was a no brainer that we could go to Jilly's.
(please notice Kellyn's striped tights. She has Aleeya's natural sense of "style")
The cupcake was the size of Everly's head!!!! They each got their own.
I was in charge of testing everyone's.
They were good. But we all agreed they weren't THAT good. I mean, it was a large cupcake. No one's socks were "blown off" (as Emerson would say) by them.
But it was still fun.....and out of character for us in a very celebratory manner.
The babies enjoyed having the older kids home all day too. I never really saw them except to change their bums. (Aleeya is STILL the only kid that I can get to do that.....oh, and Everly.....which is kinda a recurring problem)
I went to look for Wynn to put her to bed three days in a row and I found her asleep and snuggling Aleeya in her bed. So sweet. I can't even get her to fall asleep on me.
New Year's Eve (instead of New Year's Day this year) had the big football games.....and more particularly, the CLEMSON one.
I don't have any Clemson attire for the babies...... I know, I should be fired from SC...... but the babies DID put on their South Carolina flag shirts one to celebrate.
Made by the lovely Sylvia who actually was visiting from SC that day.
(Wynn in the white bow)
And they wouldn't be true southerners if it wasn't monogrammed!
Cute little hiney initials.
There was a LOT of food ready for the game. Iris and Aleeya made the bacon/wienies.
And Everly was in charge of guarding all the food.
#INHERDREAMS
Eatin' and watching the game.....
And clearly not watching their plates, because Iley got her hand on a chicken wing and was NOT about to let it go.
Then Wynn got in on the action
They loved them.
#likefatherlikedaughters
It was an awesome game. After I was pooped and was ready to go to bed. The younger kids went to bed but the older boys wanted to stay up and watch a movie until midnight. I told them I was done. Brooks said they could stay up and watch one as long as it was in Spanish. So they picked "Penguins" in Spanish and Brooks sat out there with them. I felt bad (and I have FOMO) so I went out to join them. Brooks said, "I stayed out here because I think one of us should at least stay up if they are."
Sound parenting.
That is until ten minutes later Brooks was zonked out on the couch.
Looks like I was going to be the one staying up......which was fine, because that movie is hilarious.
I think I've only seen Brooks stay awake through 2 whole movies our whole married/dating life!
I don't LOVE big cities, but I will say, there ARE more sounds and fireworks/booms when it hits midnight here.
December 23rd the twins turned 7 months. And although them seem to be in every blogpost....because they basically rock and are everyone's favorites...... I wanted to note down what they are doing now.
These two are obsessed with our two steps in our living room (it's a sunken in one....totally lame I know). You put them on the floor and like a magnetic pull they have to go to the stairs. Wynn mastered them first with iley sitting there watching over and over again. I hated it because it involved many tumbles down. Then all of a sudden one day iley did them on her first try as if she had watched Wynn enough to know how.
Wynn also showed Iley how to stand up and now NEITHER of them will sit down when try to put them down. Their legs go all stiff because they want you to hold their hands so they can stand. They can't stand up w/o anything, obviously, but they are ALWAYS crawling to the nearest wall, railing or chair to pull up on. Here is Miss Iley May.
#yummychubbythighs
And Miss Wynn. She pulled up on the door and let out an excited gasp when she saw her reflection.
All my kids have done that when they noticed themselves, but I find it odd she would be that surprised when she stares at a mirror everyday looking at her sister. haha
Wynn kissing herself.
These two rarely are apart. They are cruising everywhere but usually stay in the same room together (unless they have a sibling entertaining them). But if Wynn crawls out and iley notices , she will start making some whining noises until they are in the same room again and then stop as if nothing ever happened.
Here they are as I'm keeping them out of the kitchen while I sweep. They are REALLY fast in grabbing things from my pile and since I'm double teamed, my hockey skills aren't up to the task in keeping them out of my pile.
And of course, EVERYTHING in their mouth.....even the gate door.
(Wynn is on the right)
I don't even have to look too hard anymore because their faces are looking a little different to me. Or shape of head verses eye shape, etc. But if I see one in a room by herself (like I just found wynn in my shoe closet this morning) it takes me a little bit to decide who it is....usually I just look at the ear to confirm. Side by side though, I can tell who is who.
the girls love sucking on and chasing Royce's Bey Blades. Iley is going to town on this one.
I don't have much patience (and my high chairs haven't arrived yet) for the whole baby cereal/baby food thing......nor have I really ever with my kids. But these two DO love their crackers....animal and graham crackers the most. They also like a big hunk of juicy fruit to suck on. Everything goes in the mouth and nothing ever gets spit out
They never really cry......unless they fall down the two stairs in the living room or off a bed. Can you blame them? They lay next to each other drinking their bottles, (I'm STILL pumping. They get about 50% pumped milk and 50% formula each day) first one done usually bats her sister's away and tries to get it, I change their bums and then they're off exploring. They go in the rooms with all the action and just plant themselves.
3 naps every day. One a hour and a half after they wake up in the morning, afternoon nap when Everly and Kellyn nap and one around 4:30 while I'm making dinner. They go to bed around 7:30 every night. During the holiday it's been nice because they wake up when they want to and not when I rip them out of bed (6:30). Now they sleep until 7:30 and play in their room with Royce until he is allowed to come out at 8. It's a pretty sweet gig to wake up to a brother waiting to play Bey Blades with you.
The girls are starting to come to me now.....not just come....sprint-crawl. Last night after I drove the boys to Young Mens at the church, I came home and saw the babies in the hallway. I said, "Where's my Babies??!?!" like I do and they both turned around and started crawling to me in speed mode.
(fuzzy pic....Aleeya had my phone)
And they made it to me!!!!
Oh man, I just love these two so much. #highlightofmyday
And I HAVE to include the cutest thing that iley started doing just this week.
They never really fuss when I put them down. Especially Wynn who drops on her belly with thumb inserted. Iley will usually quickly go to a sitting position and then I walk out and never hear a peep from either of them. (one sleeps in a crib the other in a port-a-crib)
Well recently Iley has started whining a little bit when I would put her down first. Then I would leave the room to go grab Wynn to put her down. As SOON as I put Wynn down, Iley would stop whinning and go right to bed.
I thought it was a fluke.
Then it kept happening every time Iley would go down first.
She wouldn't stop "talking"/whining until Wynn was in there too.
If I put Wynn down first and THEN brought Iley in, there was never any fussing.
With them being in different heights of beds I guess I didn't realize they noticed the other was there much, but I guess Iley has. And calms down immediately when "Big sis" (as we call her) is brought in. I don't even have to touch, calm or lay back down "Little Sis", she just immediately stops her noise, lays down and goes to bed.
I have a feeling seeing this twin-bond will be my favorite part of raising these precious babies.
The kids wrote a letter to Santa asking that he come on Saturday the 24th this year. They were wondering if Santa GOT their letter....especially Iris. But got it he did, and he CAME a day early!!!!
Even using my phone to take a picture....that Kellyn can't stop looking at! That sneaky man.
The entryway to the living room was wrapped in wrapping paper but I was on the other side of the room video-taping their entrance.
It was EMERSON'S reaction I couldn't get enough of.
He and Camden had been saving their money up for 5-6 months to earn enough for this certain huge Lego set. They almost got enough before I convinced them that they should buy other things that last longer than Legos.....Anyway, they got the set they've been wanting for over a year.
And here's the video of their entrance. I also love Bronson's smile and "whoa" after seeing his UNC shoes, the girls squeals and Camden telling me Santa must've forgotten he doesn't like beef jerkey.....#jerk
Iris for some reason was SO happy about the Tic-tacs in her stocking and wanted me to take a picture of her with them.
And now for a few pics of some of the presents......
the girls with their dress-ups.
Bronson with all his clothes (I can't believe I have a kid at this level!)
Camden with his Steph Currys..... why is my camera so blurry in all these pics. Darn.
Everly loved just pushing around her baby in her shopping cart...and heels. Because who doesn't go shopping in heels?
I know I said it above, but Emerson seriously gives the BEST reactions. He wanted a huge stuffed animal....like a lot. I'm sure he didn't think it would be in the box. But as soon as he opened it, his hands went up to his head again (like they did in the movie). He is SO funny.
Clearly he is pleased
Iris and Aleeya got some soft mermaid tails.
One thing Aleeya asked for was a "teacher's chair". I know it sounds ridiculous and we weren't going to get her one until I saw how her hiney was glued to it when we went to the hotel last month. This is her reaction when she opened up the box and saw it was a "teacher's chair".
I call it the disappearing-grateful-eye trick
The kids got these small packages from my mom/Grams. When I helped Royce open it up I saw a little baggy of bottle caps and then this:
It was my dad's handwriting and it hit me hard. I obviously wasn't expecting to receive anything with his handwriting on it and immediately my eyes told me so. What a treasure.
It's a pamphlet he actually wrote in 1969 about how to properly flip bottle caps. And he WAS an expert having nailed the mailman or any passer-by from his roof with my older brothers.
The girls got bracelets to remember him. My favorite was the colorful one Aleeya and Iris got with the Brazilian coin on it reminding them of their worth.
The babies just crawled around in all the paper and finding things to suck on. They were so good and didn't even "ask" or want a bottle for over a hour after they woke up.
Iris got the kitchen she wanted.
The boys with all their new shoes/socks and hoodies.
Here's Kellyn trying to find someone to give her silly string to because she didn't want in on the upcoming silly string war. #prissyprincess
We ate a quick Christmas breakfast pizza meal
and then the kids were off to their rooms or other areas to play with their goods.
The boys of course to their Lego-den
and recruited Bronson into helping them.
the finished product
The good thing about being in a larger family is that SOMEONE always has a gift that will be fun to play with. So it's like they get a lot of gifts if you include everyone else's. haha
Here are the girls and Royce playing with his Bey Blades
Iris playing with Kellyn and Everly's tea sets...and then later moved into Iris' new kitchen with actual food from their stockings. The endless binge-tea-set-eating lasted all day.
The mermaids
My tired man....
Now she is Minnie, pushing her twins.....
More Bey Blade playing......#hoursofplaying #nokidding
And some more....
I love this picture of my bookends..... even if Bronson is feeding Iley some of his pixie stix. :/
I don't know what Aleeya loved more.....the teachers chair, or the actual BUILDING of the teacher's chair with Dad and his drill.
The beautiful thing about Christmas and what I probably love MOST about it, is that it is SO relaxing and enjoyable for me. We stay around the house and play all day. I curl up with my new book from Pat and then fall asleep for a nap. We just put out Clementines, pistachios, Izze drinks and Christmas goodies (from friends and neighbhors) to snack on all day. No making of food is required after breakfast. We don't have to get ready for anything, no errands, no one leaves or no one comes over. No texts from work or phonecalls saying he needs to come in. It's like a little bubble of perfection. And everyone is actually playing so nicely together......one day of the whole year. And it's BEAUTIFUL.
Once the twins were down for afternoon naps we had our annual silly string war outside.
(the kids didn't know Brooks and I each had an extra one) haha
Royce was so funny running up to me giggling and then spraying me as he would run away laughing some more. He was laughing a lot.
Oh, until he got hit in the face and then it was a LOT of losing it....in this position
#andthegamewenton
Bronson kept getting Aleeya good. Enough that retaliation merited a little extra help from Dad.
I love the smiles
Speaking of wars......our big gift to the kids this year were Lazer Guns. We got 8 for Brooks, myself and all the kids through Royce.
They turned out to be the biggest hit of all!
In fact, even Aleeya said it was her favorite gift.
Here the kids are ready for another round around the house.
The BEST was when we all went outside and played teams: front yard verses back yard.
Boys verses Brooks+girls
Our team BARELY won with barely winning four out of seven rounds.....thanks to Brooks climbing up on the roof and playing sniper on the boys.
The lazer tag went playing well into the night for us and was quite entertaining for my neighbors too.....one actually came out on his driveway to watch us play for a while with a big smile on his face.
These things have gotten so much use in the past week.
On the actual Christmas Day, December 25th we got all dressed up in our green and red to head to church. These girlies look so cute and fat in their coats.
There was much grumbling when Dad told them I was going to take a picture with them standing by the tree. Here is Brooks explaining something to them, probably in the form of, "Just smile quickly and it won't last long" he should have been saying, "WHY ARE YOU SURPRISED?!?!? You KNEW Mom would want one, so SUCK IT UP!"
Aleeya was NOT happy and "was NOT" going to smile......oh wait, apparently if I yell "Christmas Boogers" it makes her smile.
The church service was beautiful with a lot of music. My favorite was the violin duet of Away in a Manger, (When I told Brooks I loved that he said, "I just can't get into the violin sound.....it sounds like a lot of screeching to me" #uncultured) and tied with the beautiful words of testimony given of our Savior Jesus Christ. I really felt buoyed up and reminded of the real Reason for this Season.
As Emerson said, it was kinda the "best Christmas ever".
