FHE

Everytime I see my cousin Beth I think "I need to blog again".
So since I got to see her last week, here's a blog!

I just have to write about this most awesome FHE (Family Home Evening) lesson given by Captain America tonight. It was his turn for giving the lesson and I really hadn't prepared anything with him. But C.A. quickly decided he wanted to play a game, and he had it all worked out, every detail, in his head. Here's how it went:

Dad and C.A. went upstairs to draw pictures for the game - pictures of "good" things like reading scriptures, paying tithing, and Jesus, and pictures of "bad" things - like kids fighting and being mean, and older siblings ordering around younger siblings (hmm). He also had one of the war in heaven (I'm not sure if that one was good or bad.)

C.A. taped the pictures in hiding places on the walls and furniture while Superman and I closed our eyes, and then the game begin! Superman and I were the ones playing (since Dad and C.A. were in charge and the twins are too little). We had to find the pictures, preferably the good ones, and the one with the most good pictures won (especially if you found the prize picture of Jesus with children). I guessed I didn't really have my game on, and Superman won in all respects.

To reward the winner, Captain America presented Superman with his prize - a hand-cut piece of paper that sort of resembled a trophy! Superman was ecstatic, literally.

Then it was time for my prize. C.A. presented me with a square piece of paper with lots of cuts all over it. He explained that this was the loser prize - and that it was a tool that Satan uses to get us to do mean things. I hesitently asked if it would make me do mean things, and was assured it would not. I took it and said "Um, thank you, I love it." Captain America responded, "Mom, it's not a very good prize." "Oh," I said.

The moral of the lesson - do good things, not bad, and find Jesus.
Makes pretty good sense!

I LOVE FOUR YEAR OLDS!

Captain America

Since I didn't get to really include him in the last blog, I just am going to add a quick post about my buddy here that makes me laugh more everyday than anyone else. I love this kid.

Here's what we've jointly decided to write about him.

Captain America is really awesome.

He is really fast.

And he loves to play on the computer and wants mom to get off so he can have a turn.

Milestones

All right a new post! Are you proud Aly?


So I have to write something because my heart is so full! What is it about being a mom that turns you so mushy? But it can't be helped, nor would I want it to.



First milestone to report is that my baby twins turned one. Wow!


We did the whole experiencing cake for the first time thing. (For those wondering, we did NOT let them experience fire via birthday candle, I just can't keep up that tradition!) It was a great portrait of their personalities as (Oh, I just realized I need names for them!) As we put the cake on their high chair trays, Amazing Kid dove in, getting messy and loving each bite. Incrediboy gingerly touched his cake and then decided to have a little taste. But after a few bites, decided he didn't like it and threw it off his highchair.




The one-year-old milestone is a big one for me, one I've been looking forward to for, oh, about one year! Not that I didn't love and adore those early times with the babies, and two is twice as fun, it really is, but.. Well, I heard that it gets easier after one, and there have been a few days that I've really held on to that promise. Has it gotten easier? Yes. Not all at once :) or every day, but in general, it has. Yay! And still really fun.


OK, but I do have to say that to every one who tells me "Once they start playing together, it will be easier than one!" my question is, "Do you have more than one?" Because I wonder if they've noticed that children who can play, can also fight. And in fact, that devolps a lot sooner, Oh, I'd say right about one-year-old. And they can be really mean to each other and make each other cry. Often. Throughout your day. And they don't understand what "soft" means. Or time outs. Or taking toys away, or any other form of discipline. They only understand that pushing and hitting might get them the toy, and why the heck is mom so upset all the time?


OK I've vented :)

Second milestone - hubby turned 31! Yay! I threw a surprise party, because, hey, who expects that at 31? :)

OK, third one has my heart right now. I just sent Superman on the BUS to Kindergarten. YIKES! YAY! YIKES! Talk about mixed emotions! The transition went smoothly. No tears even. (I'm talking about me, obviously :)) Superman was as excited as he could be. He woke up at 6:30 this morning, and when I told him it was too early and to go back to bed, he kept popping back in every 10 minutes just to check. Finally he just camped out by the clock announcing each time a minute had passed until I got out of bed and started helping him find things to do. Finally the magic time of 8:20 came and we sent him on the bus. I did resist the temptation to load everyone in the car and follow, so I'm hoping everything worked out and he got there OK.

He's such a great kid and I think, oh I hope he'll like school and have good experiences and be good and not get corrupted and just... be happy. SUCH a mushy mom is me! Oh, but we love our kids don't we? It never ceases to amaze me just how much love I have for them, and amazes me even more that someone must love ME that much! Both earthly and Heavenly parents. How lucky we are.

2 hours until my boy comes home - I better find something to do and quite staring at the clock! :)

sleep

Well now my family is blogging, so I feel like maybe I should start up again! I guess it has been over a year, maybe time to post. :) I don't even know if this still works.

Sleep seems to be the bain of my existence right now. Getting those I want to sleep to sleep when I want them to sleep so I can sleep! Why is it so hard? I thought if I did "cry it out" techniques sleep problems would magically disappear as a reward for having to sit through that misery. But while it definitely helped, my babies are still having problems. So I feel jipped.

Maybe dealing with the nap gambles and heartaches are just one of the things that God has us go through so that at the end of the day, we love our babies that much more. I've thought about that philosophy a lot. If babies were easy, we'd probably still love them because how can you not love something that cute? But I think maybe not as much. After sacrificing sleep, hot meals, your favorite clothes that are now spit-up stained, your body shape, time with yourself, time with anyone else, your cell phone that now has a fuzzy sound due to too much baby slobber, did I say sleep?, at the end of the day, its pretty hard not to love ferociously that little being who you know is worth all the sacrifice and much more.

Anyway, I think that the key to my problems might just be consistency - the one thing that I can't seem to do. But maybe with these little twin boys I'll just have to overcome that weakness and figure out how to perfectly follow a schedule. Another reason to love them. :) And seriously, how can you NOT adore such darling boys!!!

Spring and babies

My Sister just gave birth to a baby boy, what a wonderful thing in spring when new life is all starting to come out! This is her third baby and first boy so and I am SO excited for her!

I too have news. I am expecting again, (yay!) but not due until I've gone through spring and all the heat of summer with a big belly. It's been a really fun pregnancy though, and I want to write about it.

Being my third pregnancy, I started off feeling very confident. How nice not to have to worry about all the goofy little symptoms that I now recognize as "normal". I went to my first doctor visit feeling like a veteran, ready to tell the doctor what to do.

On this visit, my doctor decided to do an early ultrasound to find the baby's due date and make sure that there was a heartbeat and all that good stuff. I had my kids with my on this visit, so I kept pretty busy trying to threaten 2 yr-old Capt. America so he wouldn't play with the machinery while the doctor set up and asked me routine questions about how I was feeling.

I had just finished telling the doctor that inspite of the usual tiredness and morning sickness, I was feeling just fine, when she looked at me funny, asked, "Are you sure?" and turned the screen toward me.

There went my confidence.

As I looked up on the screen, all I could say was, "You're kidding." The doctor replied, "I'm not kidding." I said again, "You're KIDDING." "I'm not kidding." I think we went through this six or seven times until finally I could manage to ask, "Why do I see two of them?" She smiled.

My next thought was - hey, twice the chance for a girl! So I asked, "Fraternal?" "Probably identical" she said. (Dang - although identical twins sounds fun, I just new that with my luck, at least one was going to be a boy, so identical would probably mean two boys.)

At this point the Captain was really starting to mess things up in the room, so I had to shift my attention towards my children and try to somehow listen at the same time to all the things the doctor was telling me - something about an earlier due date, gaining weight, and trying to find someone who could be "me" when I couldn't be. I didn't know if she meant before the twins were born or after. I think both.

The doctor gave me a book about expecting multiples and a big congratulations, and I walked out of the room dazed and in shock.

I waited until I got home, and then immediately called my husband's cell phone. He answered and replied, "I'm in the bedroom." "Oh." click. He had been sick and had apparently gotten bad enough to come home early to rest. So I told Superman not to say anything to Dad, and went to the bedroom for a "chat".

"So," I said to the object under the covers, trying to sleep, "I just got back from the doctor's office."
Object: "That's great."
Me: "I got an ultrasound."
Object: "zzzz...."
Me: "Do you want to see it?"
Object: no response
Me: starting to pull his covers off and more aggressively bug him, "Maybe you'd find it interesting."
Object: "Ok, sure, whatever. Let me see"
With a big grin on my face, I showed him the picture of two little beans with the word, "Twins" printed across it.
Object: Studies the picture, squints, looks again. Finally says, "I think I need to go back to sleep."

Of course I didn't let him, I made him wake up enough to let me freak out a bit and talk with him about all the crazy stuff like - "Holy cow, we're going to need another crib!" and "Good thing we decided to get the minivan!"

And so it has been a very different pregnancy for me after all, just when I thought I knew what I was doing. It has been a lot of fun, although I've been really tired, and at 19 weeks, I'm already into my larger-sized maternity clothes! I've gone in and out of stages of giddiness and sheer panic, but mostly it's settled into a happy excitement as I get ready for not just one, but two little souls to join our family. We feel so blessed and lucky.

And yes, I was right, our last ultrasound indicated that we'll most likely be having two more little boys! I couldn't be happier, I'm so glad I like being a mom of boys.

Now to find two more boy names....

Season blues

So I figured I probably should blog again, for September is upon us it seems! I find myself grasping for the last straws of summer, not wanting to admit that it's over.

Funny, when I was in school, I loved fall and couldn't wait for back to school. I was, admittedly, a complete and total NERD and I LOVED school. I especially loved a fresh start at school where I wasn't behind on any of my assignments and was starting out the year with straight A's. I can feel those same feelings vicariously through Superman who just started preschool last week. I had to resist every urge in my body to take him school shopping, realizing that for 3-yr-old preschool, he needs absolutely nothing and the cost of preschool is inhibiting needless spending. I still bought a pack of new pencils for myself though :)

This year though, in spite of my excitement over a son in sort-of-school, I am dreading the end of summer. Or, perhaps more correctly, I'm in flat-out denial of it. Maybe it's because I just moved from a place where summer weather lasts until October, so this September stuff is feeling like a jip. More likely, it's just my procrastinator personality. I realize that I never went to the free summer movie, I never made it to pick berries, and I scarcely used my mother's day present BBQ. And I never went to the water park, and my two for one coupon is going to expire, I hate that!

So I'm doing the only thing I can do - embrace denial! I bought a clearance "slip n' slide" and I'm having a fun-in-the-sun party tomorrow, yay! My kids don't know summer is over, why should I tell them! Maybe I'll make it to the waterpark afterwards too, if my kids aren't frozen icicles by then. Isn't that what wet suits are for? :)

Soaring with the Sparrows

It's been SO long! I'm learning that keeping a blog is indeed much like keeping a journal. I stink at it. But its fun to do when I have a sec to do it.

We've been traveling a bunch. Being closer to home means that we get to attend every reunion, wedding, birthday or other family event that comes up. Which I love, but it does mean less time at home.

This is what happens when you don't weed for three months.

I do have a few fun things to report.

We have a bird nest! At first I thought the place the birds had chosen was a funky, new-age bird feeder left by the previous owners. (After all, birds were clearly attracted to it, always going in and out and such.) Then my husband kindly explained that the object of discussion was actually our gas-fireplace vent. (Oh! It looks just like a new-fangled bird feeder.) Good thing its summer!

First we saw a lot of sticks appearing and the birds busy at work. Then one day we heard the little peeps - so cute!!! When mom would return you could see little beaks poking out with wide-open moths. But if you tried to go near, it was amazing how quickly everyone would hush-up and freeze. Soon the birds got big enough to see over the top, and then one day they were gone. I'm so glad ours don't leave the nest that quick! It was sure fun to watch though.

As those little birds we're learning to fly, Superman was also practicing his flying. He told me that when he grows up, he's going to fly for REAL. He'll also fly his school bus to school apparantly (I think that one must have come from a show somewhere.) Whenever he sees a picture of Superman, he wants to know if its the REAL Superman. I'm never sure how to answer that!

Captain America meanwhile is trying to jump. He works so hard to get both those little legs off the ground at the same time! If he succeeds, unfortunately, the landing seldomly goes as well and he usually ends up on face or back. But he never gives up and I sure admire his efforts! He discovered this afternoon that a more effective way to jump is to hold onto the rails of his crib, which allows him to lift both legs, put them down whenever and whereever he wants, and has the added benefit of giving a springy uplift! He was ECSTATIC about this discovery at nap time. Mom, less so.

I hope all friends and family who read this are doing well. Love ya all.

Fun Days

The city where I live is a fun community. Yesterday the city hosted a "FUN DAY" including a breakfast, parade, carnival, Rodeo, etc. etc. Since we are new to the community, we didn't know just what to expect, but we excitedly woke up early Saturday morning, ready for a day of adventure.

First stop - pancake breakfast! My husband dropped us off cause it was his day to sleep in, and not even pancakes were takin' him away from that. So I headed off with Superman and Captain America in the double-wide stroller and set out to find the grub! We must of hit the one lull the whole morning because there were no lines anywhere! We headed towards one end of the rows and rows of pancake turners, grabbed three plates, and somehow I managed to balance pancakes, sasages, hashbrowns and eggs for three while pushing a stroller through grass - now THAT is sheer motherhood talent! Suddenly a guy talking very smoothly into a microphone came up and said, "Let's talk to this little boy here!" (Like I said, for that particular instant, we were really the only selection). He held the microphone near Superman's face while I silently thought, "Oh dear, it'll be a miracle if he talks!" Much to my surprise, Superman did whisper his name and that we were eating pancakes. I even got to say a couple words.

Our great debut was on a live AM radio staion that few were likely listening to. But the fun came when a few minutes later my cell phone rang and it was my husband. An avid AM radio fan, he just happened to be listening to that station after he dropped us off, and heard his family's two seconds of fame! So the only one that would have cared, heard us! That was really cool.

The day was a blast! Extremely sticky syruppy kids, good music, my boys first carnival ride (singular- that's all we had energy for) and cotten candy. (That stuff is SO sugary! My first time looking at it from a parenting point of view! :))

The highlight of the day was the coolest, craziest parade ever. The first part is a typical parade where Superman mastered the art of waving and looking cute at just the right moment to maximize candy thrown. The end of the parade is a MASSIVE water-fight between floats and attendees. The final "floats" are the city firetrucks where the firefighters literally hose the entire audience down! The cutest scene ever was Captain America firing away with his 3-inch, red squirtgun taking on a fire fighter with a giant hose. It was so awesome, I have never had more fun getting wet in my life.

My husband and I walked home from the parade pushing two sleeping kids, and felt very sureal, as we always do with these parent moments. But so happy with our little family and our fun day.