Finally... Potty Training Time

(Mar. 25, 2013)

I decided it was time to potty train Lincoln. I was tired of changing 4 diapers every day. Think about it... 3 a day for both Lincoln and Parker, plus 4 a day for Griffin and Oliver. That is 14 diapers. Every day. Unless there are multiple dirty diapers... then that number increases upwards toward 20.

I got them both bare from the waist down and we just hung out in the backyard. I had a bowl full of dum dum suckers. I borrowed a little potty from Audrey. We were ready. All morning, they both had tons of accidents. No big deal. No mess to clean up. It was on the grass or rocks and just pee. Easy. Around lunch time, Lincoln said he wanted a picnic on the blanket. So I ran inside to make a couple sandwiches. When I came back out, Lincoln was so excited! "Mommy, Mommy, can I have the big firetruck now? I went poop in the potty!" Sure enough, there it was. So the firetruck I bought last year (literally a year ago) and that sat on top of our kitchen cabinets (to help motivate Lincoln to want to use the potty) was finally taken down and opened and played with! I was so excited!

I thought since I was trying with Lincoln, I might as well try with Parker. Parker was asking for a diaper after not too long and also fighting me, so I decided it's not worth it. If he was my only concern, he probably would be trained by now. I'll try again in a few months or so if he seems ready. It is ridiculous to try to push it if the kid isn't ready!

Parker (left) & Lincoln (right)

Lincoln's First PB&J

(Mar. 23, 2013)

Lincoln insisted on making his own sandwich one day. He's gotta learn eventually, right? He was getting so frustrated it wasn't spreading on smoothly. "It's not perfect!" is a phrase we hear quite often around this house.

Playing Cars & on the Stairs

(Mar. 21, 2013)

Here is an idea of what goes on almost every day after the boys eat breakfast.

(I sneaked downstairs to film this through that open-window-thing-above-the-banister.) (And sneaked is, in fact, a word. Snuck is incorrect. That seems weird.)

And after they caught me...

I laid down on the stairs to hide, but they found me and then wanted a picture.

Amelia's Funeral

(Mar. 23, 2013)

I didn't take any pictures at the funeral. It was not something I thought of to do. Some people took pictures, so thanks to those people, here you are. (I scanned in the program.)

Funeral Program: Back (left) & Front (right)

Funeral Program Inside

All the cousins got a balloon to "send to Amelia in Heaven" at the internment in Pinto, Utah.

It was a really beautiful service. Very peaceful. Some that saw us there might not think we felt that peace since our children were acting like wild monkeys, but we did; it was wonderful to hear everyone speak and feel the spirit so strongly.

Both Ashley and Kurt spoke, something I don't know if I would be put together enough to be able to do. Two things that stuck out to me, were things Kurt said (not word for word). "I feel like I've learned more about the Atonement in the last week and a half than in my whole 30 years of existence on this earth" and "You can't choose what happens to you, what other people say to you, etc., but you can decide your attitude."

Thank you to everyone for your help, your prayers, your friendship. I am so grateful for Jesus Christ and the Atonement, and the peace it has brought to us.

Making Each Other Smile

(Mar. 23, 2013)

Oliver & Griffin are almost 8 months old in these pictures. They will be 9 months on May 3rd. Crazy!

Oliver (left) & Griffin (right)

Oliver (left) & Griffin (right)

I love Oliver's face in this one.

Tummy time.

Costco's New Daycare Center

(Mar. 21, 2013)

I was talking to someone (Camille?) about this and she said there is a Smith's in northern Utah that actually does this - um... AMAZING idea for grocery stores!! But seriously... you would probably get me to go grocery shopping almost daily. And most likely I would spend more. And if it was 30 minutes out of the way? Eh, a minor inconvenience. I would be your loyal customer. How has this idea not spread like wildfire yet? Especially in Utah (where there is an abundance of children)? I will be your first customer!

Future Garbage Man & Grandma Rachel's Push-Car

(Mar. 19, 2013)

For some reason... the boys like to play in the front yard more than the [safe, enclosed] backyard. Maybe because Lincoln's biggest toy, our garbage cans, are really fun to push around and tip over (and climb into, although I don't let him do that). This is usually after the garbage truck has already emptied them. I just need to train him to bring them back from the curb, right?

Lincoln and Parker always ask to go across the street, to "Grandma Rachel's house". It is only when her garage is open and they see this little push-car she has for great grandchildren who visit. If I'm in the mood, I let them. I guess I was in a good mood this day. I let him push around the garbage cans and go across the street.

Cheesy smile, Lincoln...

Motorcycle Races

(Mar. 16, 2013)

A quick movie of what we do when I get the babies to take a nap at the same time.

(These tricycles are "Harley Davidson motorcycles".)

Trip to SLC

(Mar. 16, 2013)

We stayed at the Slemboski's in Alpine when we went to visit Amelia at Primary Children's. It was our first overnight trip with the twins... which turned out well. We forgot our portable crib, but Natalie & Jimmy borrowed a couple from their neighbors. Natalie & Jimmy and Berlyn helped watch the kids so we were able to go to the hospital without dragging the whole crew there. Thank you! (Sorry if we scared you out of having babies, Berlyn!!!)

Ellie & Jet having breakfast

Jet feeding Griffin a bottle

In the hospital waiting room with Simone

Have you noticed my haircut yet? It's hardly done in that last picture... I'll have to get a better one. I cut off more than 12 inches! I was sick of it... and the babies loved to grab it. And I don't miss it. At all.

Stitches... again.

(Mar. 6, 2013)

The babies were sleeping. Rachel (across the street) had her granddaughter over with her kids. They were playing in her front yard. Lincoln & Parker saw them playing and asked me if they could go play. So we all went across to play. After 10-15 minutes I went to check on the babies, leaving Lincoln & Parker there. One of the babies needed a new diaper, and mid-diaper change I heard screaming and crying coming from across the street from Parker. I finish the diaper and run across the street. Parker has blood all over his chin... so we come home to put a band-aid on. I dabbed the wound and I could tell a regular band-aid wouldn't work, so I came up with THIS:

I was hoping the compression would help it stop bleeding.. but later that evening I checked (6-8 hours later...) and it was still actively bleeding. Insta-care. 3 stitches. Parker's stitches count is now 6. He has 2 separate scars on his little chin now. The first one was underneath. This one shows a bit from the front.

4 boys. What do you expect my blog to be about? Princesses and tea parties? (Well, actually... Lincoln does love tea parties at Mimi's house...) I'm sure this is only twice of many to come. Hopefully not.

Matchy Matchy

(Mar. 5, 2013)

Some more pictures of Griffin & Oliver. I find myself dressing them alike more than I thought I would. Most of their clothing is hand-me-down, but I tend to find clothes that are similar and dress them alike (not identical, but matching). Not exactly sure why... I do it with Lincoln and Parker sometimes, too. I guess it makes choosing an outfit easier...?

Can you tell them apart yet?

Griffin (left) & Oliver (right)

Playing Together

(Mar. 4, 2013)

This was the first time they "played" together for longer than a second or two. They were rolling to their sides to look at each other, and then they would smile at each other. It was really cute. They were 7 months old in these pictures.

Griffin & Oliver

big smiles for Mommy

Jumpin' Jacks

(Feb. 26, 2013)

I took Lincoln and Parker to Jumping Jacks (an indoor warehouse filled with bounce houses) and Lincoln was finally able to climb up everything by himself. It definitely wore him out, though! Parker, on the other hand, was not too impressed, but rather weary of an unstable ground. He liked it when I held him and we bounced or went down the slides, but other than that... everything was "too bouncy" - in his words!

Parker... always right by my side

Lincoln... always on to the next bounce house

This bounce house had a basketball hoop... Lincoln needs to work on his form. We'll give it a few years.

Happy Birthday, Parker! (& Welcome, Baby Cora!)

(Feb. 23, 2013)

We celebrated Parker's 2nd birthday by having family & friends over for pizza and cake. Parker loves Finding Nemo lately, so I made a Nemo cake for him.

Add caption

I'm having issues with blogspot... so I'm not sure if the video will work, but it's just Parker blowing out his birthday candle after we sing to him.

Kurt and Ashley couldn't make it... because they were in the hospital welcoming their new baby, Cora! Parker gets to share his birthday with his cousin. :)

Cora Anne

Happy Valentine's Day! + Newspaper Feature

(Feb. 14, 2013)

A little late? Whoops. We made Valentine's for family and friends this February. I even let Lincoln and Parker use the stamps to stamp out the names (under very close supervision). Mostly they just wanted to take the stickers and keep them for themselves (Lincoln, anyway..).

(I didn't make these - I just inserted their names.)

A friend in the ward, Lisa, found out we were doing this and since she writes for the local paper, The Spectrum, she asked if she could write a story on us. Sure! Why not?

Lisa Larson from The Spectrum, Feb. 14, 2013

Awesome, right? If you didn't notice (or couldn't read it..), she didn't mention Oliver, who was sleeping. Oh well. She probably didn't want readers to feel overwhelmed (or sorry for me!).

Drive to Pine Valley for the SNOW!

(Feb. 21, 2013)

I had promised Lincoln that I would take him to see the snow next time it snowed... back in December! So when it snowed on February 20th up in Pine Valley, we packed up and played in the snow for a couple hours. Pine Valley is about an hour away, and so we brought lunch with us. It wasn't nice packing snow since it was from the day before, but Lincoln had a great time playing in it. He came in the van once to warm up because he got snow on his bare hands. Parker loved it until his hands got too cold. After that, he spent the rest of the time in the van with the babies (also where I was most of the time!). I got them warm coats earlier in the season, but not very good gloves (um... we don't need them here!). So they did have gloves, but they weren't used to wearing them. After Lincoln got the hang of wearing them, he wanted to stay and play all day.

Parker in the snow

Lincoln scooping the snow

Lincoln taking a break for a smile for the camera

Lunch time for the babies (Oliver, left & Griffin, right)

Parker & Mommy hanging out in the backseat

Griffin

Oliver

Oliver (left) & Griffin (right)

Next time we need to go with freshly fallen snow, when there is a lot of it, and bring our sleds! Lincoln was pretty disappointed I forgot the sleds... but all the hilly roads in Pine Valley were bare anyway.

Tote Swimming

(2-20-13)

After the gym one day (where they let me drop off all 4 children and I have up to 1.5 hours kid-free!) we were planning on just going home like usual, but I had a thought to go visit Ashley. She works from home, so I figured it would just be a quick visit, especially since Ashley was 9 months pregnant (she had Cora 3 days later - Parker's birthday!).

It had been raining the few days before, so Ashley's unfinished backyard was very muddy. Ashley made us all waffles for lunch and before long all the kids were outside. I was about to stop them from getting muddy, but I thought, "What's the point of being a kid if you can't even get muddy?" So all 4 (Lincoln, Parker, Amelia, & Jet) of the kids got busy hauling mud into a big puddle, mud up to their knees and higher.

Ashley had done this before, so she got a tote from the garage and filled it up outside with warm water (an outside faucet with hot water? brilliant!). We stripped them down to their diapers and let them take a "mud bath" as Lincoln calls it. (Jet wanted nothing to do with it so that's why he's not in the pictures.)

Parker and Amelia

Parker, Amelia & Lincoln

I could not get them to look at me all at once!

Since Lincoln was taking a "bath," he needed bath toys. Ashley or I got a couple toys and added them to the fun. As soon as we walked away, Amelia had thrown them out of the tote. She thought that her two cousins and a tote full of warm water was more than enough fun! Lincoln was dramatic and wanted the toys back in... then Parker wanted out...

What was supposed to be a quick visit turned into a couple hours and lunch! I helped clean up and then we promptly left. I am so grateful I listened to that thought of visiting Ashley that day. We had a good visit with her and her kids.

Cute Babies

(1-23-13)

Behind again. I guess I'm not surprised... but you should be. Everyone always says I seem so put together. Like I'm not even phased by this... twins business. I must subconsciously put up a front. Not that I'm a total mess or anything. Because I'm not. I'm just blogging right now instead of getting something ready for dinner (and it's 5pm with a less-than-full fridge).

These were taken 2 weeks shy of the babies being 6 months old (3 months, developmentally).

Oliver (tongue out) & Griffin

Griffin (carbon footprint) & Oliver (home grown)