Girly Party

Claire took the cue from Andrew and figured out that if she wanted to have a birthday party, she needed to tell her friends about it, plan it, and then tell me she needed help with invitations.

About seven girls, mostly classmates showed up--not without drama. One of Claire's usual hang-out friends (I won't say best friends) gave her official notice that she was not her friend anymore. This girl is always trying to make Claire chose between friends and telling her who she can or can't hang out with. Of course, they'll be buddies again in a week or two.

Those who came over had a good time. They were dressed or accessorized in princess style. Claire shared her tiara. We ate Cheetos and Doritos with a variety of sodas. Then, since Claire does not like frosting on her cake, but didn't feel it would be acceptable to serve fronstingless cake, she asked for donuts.

I did not direct any activity, I just let them play. Well, I did teach them how to jump together on 1-2-3 on the trampoline. It all went rather smoothly. I think I have a developed a party parenting guide for my life. When the kids are old enough to do their own party, they can have one. Anastasia and Amelia will have no streamers and party hats surrounded by 3-year-old friends.

The gifts were nothing extravagant--thankfully, since the party was nothing extravagant. She had opened most of her presents from us the night before. I gave her a mini backback printed with 101 dalamations for carrying her Littlest Petshops to her dad's house, which was kind of a hint about her other present. Years ago we made the kids get rid of all but 3 stuffed animals and 3 kinds of toys (barbie, Lego, Hot Wheels, etc). Claire has often regretted one of the animals she gave away. It was a spot-developing Oddball from 102 Dalmations. Well, I found it on ebay.

I am really irritated with the way most of the pictures came out, though. Besides the trampoline, this is the best one.

Wasgonna

I was gonna blog, but I just read and commented instead now it is 11:00 which I have set as a limit for myself, However, today was Claire's birthday, and tomorrow is her party. More details to come....

Fever

I don't know if I'm feeling well. I should be sleeping now, like everyone else in the house, but I am much more driven right now to get things done than to get rest. Maybe it is late-spring fever.

Yesterday I finished sewing the rest of the 7 hats and blankets for the service project, did 7 loads of laundry, made banana bread and lasagne before Mike got home at 5pm. The babies slept a lot, and I even slept in until 9am. (Isaac wakes us up at 6:50 before he leaves for school to say prayer, then I make sure the other kids are on track for getting ready, feed one or two babies if that happens to be the time the wake up. Then the babies and I go back to sleep and Andrew and Claire see themselves off to school. When you have great kids, you don't have to be a great mom.) I don't know what I did after Mike got home--oh yeah, I rode the kids about doing their chores and Isaac about doing all his catch-up homework in between reading/writing emails/blogs.

Today I did not sleep in, which I regret a bit, but the girls were not as cooperative today. I gave them baths and showered myself, then I got myself all dirty moving my new/used bedroom set out of the garage and into my room, which required a lot of cleaning and organizing, as well as moving out a bookcase and moving and cleaning the dresser that was already in my room. I also moved my cedar chest to the end of my bed to clear up wall space.

Then it was time to take the kids to scouts, scouts, and achievement days. I stayed for Andrew's first pack meeting and got my bobcat pin. What I did not do, however was go to the scout shop and get him his book and uniform. Mike had the babies at home.

The babies are starting to teethe and are cranky. I could not do as much as I have if the kids were not helping me with them here and there. When they are not here, the girls trade being in the swing, bouncy seat, walker, Claire's bed/ homemade jungle gym and my bed. They also take turns sleeping. They are not doing it together too much lately.

I weighed them yesterday and Anastasia is about 15 lbs and Amelia is an extra 1/2 pound.

Field Day

Claire and Andrew had their Field day last Friday at the elementary school. They had bouncy slides, obstacle courses events and games. I signed up to volunteer for some of the activities, but I could not find the event that I was listed for. I just stayed with Andrew's class and helped here and there.

Mikey and Lexi had the day off, so Mike had picked them up Thurs. night. They went with me. Lexi stayed with Claire. Mikey was with us. He is in the green shirt. The guy in sack race next to Andrew is his teacher, Mr. Wu.

The babies--especially Anastasia--were exhausted from the muggy heat by the time we were done. We were out there for three hours. Somebody must have collapsed from heat exhaustion because when we left there was an ambulance and fire truck in the school parking lot.

Claire was in the nurses office herself before I arrived. She was lifting her friend and the two of them fell over. Claire got a big scrape on her cheek from it. I got a couple of pictures with my camera phone.

Today being memorial day it is the anniversary of my first meeting with Mike, and today, for the first time in forever, it is just he and I at home. All the kids (except the babies, of course) are with other parents. That will end tonight, but we are enjoying a little time to ourselves.

Service Project

I did not do much with this blog this week because I was working with high school classmates to get a blog started for us. The beta version of it was linked over there on the right, but I have updated it now. One classmate has responded so far. There were only 29 of us, 26 of whom graduated. Two of us are working together to reconnect the group.

Then, Thursday and Saturday I was cutting out and sewing flannel for a Relief Society service project. We are making wraps, clothing, caps, and blankets in iddy bitty sizes for parents whose babies are stillborn or premature and die. The parents often want to hold their infant's body and say good-bye to them and take pictures. The hospitals are not equipped to provide anything for dressing the babies, so we are donating them as a Stake to one of the local hospitals.

I cut out 18 cap and wrap sets and have sewn over 1/2 of them. It makes me sob to think of what they are for. It could be really depressing, but I hope that the sweet little items will be the bright spot for those in such a dark time. I have thought about you quite a bit through this, Dove. I am so thankful for my own sweet babies and that all of my children have been essentially complication free. It helps me treasure them more.

Seeing Family

So, I rushed up to Idaho thinking that it might be my last opportunity to see the last of my grandparents since grandma has been loosing weight steadily and can't get any nutrition from her food. Gwen said that everybody visiting has totally revived Grandma. She spent a lot of time with us at Kim and Gwen's. Saturday we went to her house and Devanie and Mom and I helped her re-frame and hang her family pictures. Dad was finishing up changing the fixtures on her bathtub and Jared arrived with his family and they fixed the fence that had been blown down and cut some trees.


It was great to see Jared and meet his family. One of his daughters was listening to Crazy Frog on Hailey's MP3 player and I thought of how much my kids liked Crazy Frog and some of the other silly songs they have listened to and/or watched on YouTube. The it occurred to me: not only have I never met Jared's wife or four children, but I haven't seen Jared since the advent of public access internet. That struck me, because as much as the world has changed, and even as much as Kim and Gwen have changed their house with add-ons, and even with as many children have been added on to the family, nothing has changed. It still feels like family and time stands still--or we freely drift into other time periods.

Leonard and Kelli got there in time for the BBQ at K&G's. We didn't know when LeeJoe would get there, so I suggested we save some of the Jello salad. Jared's little boy, Jackson, finished it off and Devanie licked the bowl- ha ha.

LeeJoe arrived late Saturday evening with his family and we did our usual obscure and random reference conversation that you just have to be there for. We laughed until we couldn't keep our eyes open any more. About 2:30 AM we went to bed.

My cousin Krishaun (K&G's daughter), her husband Ben were there with their 2 kids most of the weekend. Her sister Lara had to work so we only got to see her on Sunday afternoon, but her husband Mike and daughter, Jasalyn, (another flaming redhead) were there on Friday as well. Their brother Andy was there most of the time. He is now serving a Family History mission in his stake since he has Cerebral Palsy and can't go on a regular one.

Each night that we were there, Devanie got out the Cookie Lee Jewelry and we shopped and played dress-up. Grandma was there for it and I commented that it was her fault we were all so enamored with the collection of costume jewelry. She has always collected such things.

Devanie and I were among the last to leave on Sunday night, around 7:30. There was more silliness and Nibs consumption, but not so much since I was exhausted from all the activity, little sleep, and multiple baby interruptions in the night. With things as crazy as they were, the twins got off schedule. Small price to pay. I am thankful for the opportunity to see everybody. Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name, and they're always glad you came. Now I am going to check what Devanie had to say about the whole trip.

At Devanie's

So I got into SLC airport around 8:30 or 9:30, I don't remember, and there was a time zone change. Devanie picked me up and we prepared to crash at her house. The next morning we doodled around and waited for Hailey and Sierra to get done with school so we could leave. Anastasia and Amelia enjoyed watching the big screen in the basement and swinging in the posh baby swing with music and lights features.

Devanie had to make a poster for enrichment. I helped her cut out a couple of things and gave her input that she didn't need, and took pictures of her while we made fun of the way some people pose for pictures and it makes their double chins look worse.

We got on the road about 2:30, I think, then we stopped to take care of business for Devanie, so I got to see her boutique. It was only a 2 1/2 hr drive, but we managed to do a lot of laughing and downed about six packages of Twizzlers cherry Nibs.

When we got to Kim and Gwen's, Devanie and I were expecting grandma to be there. They had not told her that I was going to be there, so we quietly opened the door and to the corner of the living room before the kitchen where everybody was. I was the one who got the surprise though. When I saw Kim stand up, I felt really happy to see him because I wasn't expecting him to be there, but then I realized that I thought it was Grandpa Leavitt who died in 1989. It was shocking how much Kim looked like his dad the way I remember him.

Traveling with Twins

It was so good to see so many of you last weekend. I think I am going to do this in a couple of posts.

I was able to go to Idaho over the weekend because my father-in-law is a pilot and he has a few buddy passes to give to friends or family. As great as that is, the disadvantage is that you fly on standby, meaning that if the plane is full, you don't get on, and if somebody else needs your seat, they get it.

To get to Idaho, I was listed for the 6:15 flight. However, the babies overslept and my alarm was not set so we just barely made it in time for the 7 o'clock flight. It didn't do me any good because it was full. I would not have been able to get on the 6:15 flight if I had made it because the 5:30 was canceled. So, I got extra, much needed, sleep at no loss. There was finally space on the 9 o'clock flight. I got to Houston in time for the 11:00 flight to Salt Lake. Again, to no avail, since there was only one seat available for me, and I needed two--one for me and Amelia, and one for Anastasia in the car seat.

The next flight was not until 6pm. So we spent 6 hours in the Houston airport. We managed to park ourselves on some seats in a hallway where I was able to doze off for a few minutes. The rest of the time I found nice people to chat with, or funny people to watch. The babies did great. I had my double stroller with one baby sitting in it and the other baby sitting in the car seat set in the stroller. Each time I boarded a plane I rolled the stroller to the door of the airport, had somebody help me fold down the stroller while I held one baby in hand and set down the car seat with the other baby. Then they checked the stroller as baggage.

The hardest part of it was going through security, where you have to fold up the stroller and lift it onto the conveyer, while holding two babies because the car seat also needs to go through the x-ray. Again, the secret of my success is nice, helpful people in the line behind or in front of me.

Lots of people offered to help in any way throughout the trip. Most notably, a lady in Salt Lake on my return flight. I read her boarding pass and noted the name Lindsay, but I think that was her last name. She said she was the mother of twins, but they were 20 now, one of whom was on a mission and the other was a girl. We chatted for a while. She was behind me when I asked about the likelihood of me getting on. I was told there was *again* only one seat when I needed two. The lady jumped in and asked if she could take the other baby as a lap child so we would not need a seat for her. That's what we did. We were not able to sit together, and I did not get to talk to her again when we boarded, but thanks Lindsay. She handed the baby to the stewardess and rushed to her connecting flight.

Parting Shots

Here are a couple of pictures before I go. I will be out of the blog world for a few days. Andrew had his second grade program last night. I'd like to say he was cute and did a great job, but mostly he was a goof and moved his jaw up and down while the other kids sang.

The other shots are the babies at play.

Special Day

Sunday was supposed to be a special day for Mothers. It was not my day alone, though. Not only did I have Mike's mom in town, but it was the twins four-month day. The thing that made it a truly special day is that Andrew was baptized. That was a pretty good Mother's Day.

Mike performed the baptism, Grandpa Skembo, did the confirmation. Grandma Skembo conducted the music, Arren Quigley gave the opening prayer, I gave the talk on Baptism, Scott Q gave the talk on the Holy Ghost and did a great interactive lesson that Andrew will probably remember a long time. Isaac offered the closing prayer and Elaine Janis, one of the Young Women played the piano.

I have been writing this blog for over 24 hrs now. There is more I wanted to say, but let's just publish, shall we?

When I Grow Up

Most women freak out when they realize they are becoming their mother. I have had my share of "I'm my mother" moments. But I have to say, when I grow up, I want to be like my mom. She is brilliant. I am so proud of what she has done in the last 10 years. She went from a desperate financial situation to a savvy investor. With the pittance of a retirement that Dad got from his years of teaching, and a good line of credit, she has become a Real Estate tycoon. It is a wonder to see her work through the loan and acquisition process. I don't know if she watched Real Estate videos or listened to wealth building audio, but what she did on a wing and a prayer is everything those people suggest.

She is a force of nature. She is a whirlwind of energy, a mountain of will, a flood of action. None of them can be stopped or moved. That's my mom. When she puts her mind to something, it gets done. If something is not right, she'll speak up or fix it. Superheroes stand with their hands on their hips, cape flapping behind them. My superhero does the same, but it is a loud floral skirt that flaps behind her.

It's not unusual for moms to teach and love their children. Mine certainly did. Though she was nothing like the image of Mormon perfection, she was a model for service and selflessness. She taught me like no one else could, the importance of being beautiful on the inside; how to get past the petty concerns of youth that some women never grow out of; how to love the unlovable; that every human being is a child of God, worthy of respect and honor; and most importantly, that I am a daughter of God who loves me and actively seeks for my success and is always there in my time of need. She taught me through prayer. She taught me through faith. She taught me through her mighty actions that there is nothing she would not do or give up if God asked because she is His daughter. She acknowledges His hand in her life and seeks to show others the love He has for them--not in some sweet and delicate way, but with power and conviction. She fears nothing. She is steadfast and immovable.

When I grow up, I want to be my mother. Happy Mother's Day

Double-Tagged

There are two different Surveys that fellow bloggers have tagged me with. First Melanie's, then Arren's.

2 names called: Mom, you with the face
2 things you are wearing: pajamas, cookie lee jewelry
2 things have in your relationship: Tension and Release
2 favorite things: Babies, my used to be babies
2 things did last night: Got a massage, Went to Razoo's (Cajun). Thanks Scott x2
2 people talked to last: Amelia, Anastasia
2 things do tomorrow: View houses with Realtor, Pick up in-laws at Airport.
2 longest car ride. Marshall TX (Near Shreveport, LA) to Boise, ID. Marshall to Milford, CT. Both trips in 5 pssngr.Nissan with self and 4 kids.
2 favorite holidays: The ones when I get to have all my kids.
2 favorite drinks: All I drink these days is water and generic Tang.
2 favorite foods: Ice Cream, Candy
2 places I'd rather be: In the mountains. Under the stars.


Next Tag

5 JOBS I'VE HAD IN MY LIFE

1. Mom
2. Customer Service and Multi-purpose towel folder at BB&B
3. Dance and integrated arts teacher.
4. Chocolate Nugget candy packager and cashier
5. Babysitter--Those are the only jobs I've had.

5 MOVIES I WOULD (OR HAVE) WATCHED OVER AND OVER:

1. Disney and/or Pixar classics with the kids.
2. Princess Bride
3. My Fair Lady
4. Sound of Music
5. The Grail

5 PLACES I'VE LIVED:

1. CC and Dayton, NV
2. Ft. Huachuca, AZ
3. West Point Military Academy, NY
4. San Antonio
5. Dallas

5 PEOPLE WHO EMAIL ME REGULARLY:

1. Vic Johnson (Motivational thoughts)
2. Derek Gehl (Business tips)
3. Windy Moikeha (Relief Society communications)
4. Gerry (Networking/health nut)
5. Deborah Mabry (my Realtor)

5 OF MY FAVORITE FOODS/RESTAURANTS:

1. Food isn't a big deal to me
2. The Italian restaurant in Dallas that serves Spumoni Ice Cream
3. Jason's Deli
4. All the wonderful things I've never tried
5. Crappy value menu fast food.

5 PLACES I'D RATHER BE RIGHT NOW:

1. See
2. Above
3. On American Idol (tragically too old)
4. Dancing
5. Family Vacation or Second honeymoon--doesn't matter where.


5 THINGS I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO IN 2008:

1. Being sealed to my husband for eternity
2. Countless milestones with my babies
3. Moving to a bigger, less expensive house???
4. Daily showers
5. Comments on my blogs--Kim is the best.


5 FRIENDS I WANT TO TAG:
javascript:void(0)
Publish Post
1. Let's
2. Not
3. Perpetuate
4. This
5. Silliness

2 out of 3

Just to follow up, I got the laundry done and cleaned out the fridge. I have cleared out unusable items and rotated the contents, but I have not taken out the shelves and scrubbed everything down for--oh, probably a year. There was some definite eyewww!

Amelia rolled over by herself yesterday. They are both so big that size one diapers and 0-3 months clothes just don't fit anymore. That is to be expected since they will be 4 months on Sunday. That is also the day Andrew will be getting baptized. He is all kinds of excited.

Isaac has taken all of his TAKS tests (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills). He got a perfect score on the Reading and missed one on the Math. I will be getting the results on the Science and Social Studies tests fairly soon. Tragically, the kid may not pass his grade because he has a hard time turning in assignments.

Claire is doing a great job of keeping her room clean these days. She has also become a prolific writer or poetry and romantic prose. She puts pictures on the paper as well and has her work all over her wall.

List

I am going to do three things around the house today.

Fold and put away remaining laundry
Clean out linen/game closet
Clean out fridge.

Hopefully I will be able to get a nap, since last night's sleep consisted of five 1-hr naps. However, I find that if I keep myself busy, I don't feel as tired and I get a sense of accomplishment from whatever I do; whereas spending all day thinking about how tired I am, trying to get the babies to cooperate with my desire for sleep, and only getting a short rest, only makes me more tired and irritable. We'll see.

Is Today Over?

I did it. I managed to orchestrate getting 9 children (remember we had a guest) and myself up and ready for church before 9:15 for the 10:00 conference that was 1/2 hr away. I even managed to bathe the twins and get full makeup on myself. Everybody did a great job of getting themselves together. When we got to the coliseum with about 6,000 other people, we had to walk about 1/2 mile to get in--in heels, mind you--with 2 babies and diaper bags. Okay, I cheated and left my scriptures at home. We all shared the load with babies and bags.

I called around a little bit to get help with transport, since I only have an 8 passenger van (with 10 to go). Mike was working, so he couldn't take his car. Claire and Emylie went with her friend, Megan's dad.

We got home, had our Sunday tradition, macaroni and cheese, followed by ice cream, because Mikey asked and I wanted it. Then it was time to get Mikey and Lexi back for the birthday party his mom had arranged. I left Isaac, Emylie and Andrew at the house since they are of "responsible" age. When I got back, there were 3 neighbor kids in the yard, plus Megan. I sent everyone home because I was ready for some peace and quiet. It took a little while to get the babies situated and some other needs taken care of, but once I did, I took a nap--a glorious, nearly two-hour nap.

Then Arren came over for out bumped-up Family Home Evening (since Emylie is here until tomorrow and the other kid driving happened earlier) for the third week running. While she was making the refreshments, I was making dinner. By the time it was done, and we had eaten it, being nearly 9 PM, we were finally ready for home evening. Coincidentally, that was about the time Mike came home from work. My poor, dear love. He took about 1/2 hour out for that, but was back on his computer doing at-home work. Then his boss called and asked Mike to come over to his house so they could work on a presentation (one of two) that he is doing tomorrow morning.

Anyway, Claire did the lesson. She prepared her brothers and sister to act out the parable of the Good Samaritan. Then we ate Arren's delicious cake.

Skip forward. Now I shower and go to bed. Maybe my husband will be home by then.

Mad house

Today was nuts! I should SOO be in bed. We woke up "early" because Mikey thought it was Christmas. Mike made the mistake of telling him what we were doing the night before to celebrate his birthday. I made him sit down and eat the pancakes I made for breakfast.

The boys went to Woodward skate park at the mall and the girls went to the rest of it. The boys were at the mall by 9:30. We girls (Me, Emylie, Lexi, Claire, Anastasia, Amelia, and Lynzi--Lexi's friend [see Lexi's blog]who is staying the weekend) went in a separate car and took a little longer to get ready. We didn't get there until 11:00.

A friend of Mike's and his 3 kids came over after the boys got home. About the time they were leaving, Arren came over because we told her to, since her husband Scott is out of town. That's a lot of people (15 to be exact) in our little house. And it's the babies who take up the most room.

Tomorrow is a tri-stake conference at a stadium a little ways a way, and I have no idea how I'm going to get everybody there because Mike has to work tomorrow.

Did I say I need to be in bed? I mean it.

Rollover Minutes

Anastasia can roll over! She did back to belly Wednesday and did belly to back this morning. That was after I played rollee with her. I lay them on the bed and say, "rollee!" while I hold their hands and roll them over a couple of times. Amelia is responding to it and getting an idea of how to move her body to roll over herself, but she needs a little prompting. They are both having a fabulous time grabbing at and kicking things.

Amelia is the queen of crunches. When you set her on a pillow, she takes advantage of that angle and tries to sit up. When I help her sit, she does a good job of holding it by herself--when she is in the mood, of not distracted by the world around her. If she moves her head, she falls.

They both love to say "hi" and smile at people. They also try to say "I love you the way I have coached them. It comes out, Ih uh oo. Though the consonants are not connecting, their tongue and mouth are forming in the right direction.