BOO

And we're off to Main St. for trick or treating!

I skipped the retirement centers and hospital trick or treating this year. It's just TOO crowded, and so opposite of what I want Halloween to be.

It should be all about WORKING for your treats. HUNTING them down.
NOT having them shoved at you as fast as possible to get it over with.
So going down Main St. to the various businesses means lots and lots of walking, not too much candy, and suddenly everyone's so tired it's time to go home!  :)

Brian wanted to get IN on the Halloweening.
So he took the kids out to go knock on the doors of a few of our neighbors.

The kids changed into WARMER costumes for this round. 

And Courtney chose to stay home with me!




















We also stopped by Smiths for some indoor trick or treating.

Love our local Smiths!

Brian thought it was really funny to come home and find me like this.  Honestly, I think it's more lame to NOT dress up as an adult than it is cheesy TO dress up.

I think this costume was designed to have lots of stuffing inside to plump it out.  Oddly, for some reason, I didn't need anything extra to plump it out. 

post-bath twins

There really is something unique and special about toting around twins.

Two little cuties, the exact same age.

They're getting so big, this doesn't happen very often anymore.

Enjoying it while we can!

Oh, and there's my 39th week girth in the background.
Lovely.
Made larger with bright yellow. 
Made even larger with crappy fuzzy ipad camera.

Get OUT, baby! SOON!

The Lily train has arrived!

My kids are thrilled to have their cousin here for a few days!
Papa and Nonny are enjoying their annual sibling reunion with Grandma Smith.

Having 4 kids really isn't that much more time consuming than 3, honestly.

This is an excellent confidence booster for our impending family addition.
Though I'll probably be humbled from that assumption around week 3 when the sleep deprivation really peaks....  if only baby could arrive potty trained....

Halloween party #4

Seriously. Party #4 already. And they've worn different costumes every time! We're still 2 days from the actual holiday and I'm already DONE with it :)
Talking Bennett into this clown getup was a bit of a challenge.
We compromised at just the jumpsuit, no hat or red nose.
So grateful to Emma-friend for inviting the kids here so I could have my 39 week checkup today solo! Love my kids...but they aren't the most patient patients at these prenatal appts.
(Appt went fine- everything looks great. No progress towards labor at all yet. Oh, and sadly, tested positive for Group B. Laaaame, but we'll survive!)

Napping BCBCB

What is it about Sunday afternoons that makes everyone instantly conk out....

I took this picture from the other side of the couch, where I was napping. Courtney was downstairs napping, and Brian had just gotten up from napping. We all finally woke around 5:30pm. Not exactly conducive to the usual 7:30pm bedtime. So we took the kids on a  walk around the neighborhood for awhile, even though it was dark, because we needed to wear them out  (and it was a beautifully amazing WARM Autumn night! Loved it). Some friends drove by us and yelled out, "Chelsea! Are you in labor?!"  I wish!!

Hiking w/ Daddy

When I left early Saturday morning with plans to be gone basically all day (LLL Leader Workshop in Park City), I was a tad worried.
I had no idea how Brian would handle taking care of the kids ALL day, with nothing in particular they had to do.

I came home to find that he had cleaned up the house, fed them decently, and taken them hiking in the beautiful Mueller Park all afternoon!
Nevermind that they looked a little raggedy.... they had SO much fun.
And I love him so much for being such a good Dad!

 

Spankys with my spankees

Just kidding. They aren't spankees (meaning=one who gets spanked). The thought of ever hitting my kids makes me shudder. I prefer punishments that I actually benefit from, like making them clean something or go to bed early :)
So anyways, last night we went out to Spankys in Bountiful. Cute little sandwich/icecream shop. VERY much old-school mom-and-pop style, but not with that cutesy feel to it. More like Vernal style restaurants (crappy customer service, unprofessional, nothing amazing about the food, etc). So if you're an uptight snooty person, you won't enjoy this place.
We got a coupon in the mail making it a killer deal to get subs there, so we went. Which my kids loved, but I've always had a disdain for restaurants in general. Chain restaurants especially, but overall - going "out to eat" is not something I've ever really gotten a kick out of. But like I said - they LOVE it. And tend to actually finish their food better.... so it's a win.
Another reason I was happy to take the fam out: I'm HOPING (praying!) it's our LAST Saturday night as a family of 5. I better be in labor or recovery by this time next week!!! :)

Napping Bennett

He doesn't do it very often,
but when he does nap,
it kinda makes my heart melt.
He's getting so BIG!  He looks huge to me lately.
It breaks my heart to think someday he's not going to be my sweet little napping baby boy.
I just wanna grab him off the couch and snuggle him.
(But then he'd wake up super grouchy at me so I've learned to just leave him alone!!)

Storytime at 3 Monkeys.

It amazes me how this storytime weekly event remains such a Bountiful best-kept secret. There are never more than 5 or 6 kids, and it includes a cute craft and a fun physical activity.
SO much better than crazy crowded storytime at the library, though we go to that occasionally too.
I love how Brianna so casually and lovingly has her arm around Courtney.
Can't wait to see how she loves on her new sister!
(NEXT WEEK!...we hope...)

Making play dough

This is one of those projects I've been meaning to do for literally YEARS. But with commercial playdoh being so cheap, and often given to us as presents, and infrequently brought out by me cuz I hate the messes.... the homemade project version hasn't been a priority.
But while doing my "nesting" around the kitchen I discovered that I had a small bag of flour, old food coloring, and a container of cheap salt that were pretty old and had literally never been used and had a 99.9% chance of never ever getting used. So all I had to do was buy the Cream of Tartar and we were set!
Brianna LOVED the project. She's just at that age where everything like this is SO fun and exciting.  Her excitement is contagious for Courtney (but not so much for Bennett).  We watched a YouTube tutorial on how to do it, and it turned out perfect.
And then of course, I turned my back for a bit too long and playdoh pieces somehow ended up in their hair, tucked in their play purses, trapped inside some lego pieces, and of course scattered on the floor and stepped on. Joys of playdoh.

Halloween practice

Painting twins

I'm so glad we have all hardwood flooring upstairs....

I've spent the last few weeks trying to get their "bins" organized. My mom is REALLY into using bins to organize everything. So she has purchased many of them for us. And I'm trying to utilize them well. These are their PAINTING bins. The idea is that the bins come out, they play, then it all goes back in the bins. So simply and easy? Yes, for the most part.  Mess-free?  NO. No no no. Still messy. No solution for the messiness.

Earning power

Brianna started off her day begging for candy. I informed her we didn't have any. She informed me the store a block away would have some. I informed her that cost money and she didn't have any and I wasn't going to spend mine on it. She asked how she could get some money.
Trapped. Dang it.
I don't want her having/buying candy. But I can't deny her opportunities to learn the value of working and earning and spending as she chooses. That's what my parents did for me at a young age.
So I directed her to an area of the backyard full of rocks and weeds. I want to make it a little garden area next Spring. I told her she could help me clear it. Brianna jumped at the opportunity! She spent nearly an hour out there and earned a dollar.
Here's the best part: we went to the store later that day and she got to choose what to spend her dollar on. I slyly directed her to the coloring/activity books first. She fell in love with a paper doll book.
Dollar spent!
Win!

Snuggly Saturdays

This is how I left my peoples before I headed out for my saturday morning pump class.

Veryvery tempting to just stay there with them.

We need a King size!!

SpiderBennett

We found this shirt in our Halloween box.

Though it's a little too small for him, he's obsessed with it.

And I'm obsessed with *him*.

Missing Maui

My Mom texted me this picture today. And I started crying. Bawling like a baby.

 
 

It's amazing how one little picture can make me SO happy and SO sad at the same time. So happy they're having this awesome adventure. So sad I'm not there with them. Regardless of how completely valid my reason for not attending the big Mother-Daughter-Maui-Trip is (wouldn't wanna go into labor on the beach... or would I?), it's just sad to miss this. My reaction to the photo really surprised me. And Brian. He didn't know how to handle me, cuz I don't do this. I'm not a crier. And I haven't hardly said a word about missing this trip for the past 9 months that I've known it was happening and known I would miss it. It honestly hasn't been that big of a deal to me. While a Maui trip with my mom and sister and sisters-in-law and their moms sounds absolutely amazing... the logistics would be crazy. Expensive of course, but that wouldn't have been too big of a deal. It would be the care of my 3 keiki. Brian's job isn't that flexible - he could only miss a day or two, or reduce hours a little and be way behind on his work. I'd have to find someone to take care of them. And that means either paying a lot of money and trusting someone fulltime, or dividing their time between kind friends, and owning those friends big time. All involve me missing my babies a LOT, and Brian needing to be 2 places at once. And I can't even imagine the night time scenes... Brian trying to get them all to bed, when so often they ONLY want ME at bedtime. I'm popular like that around here. It would break my heart if they were super sad and missing me while I was off playing on a tropical island. So really, part of me was glad that I had a perfect excuse to just skip the trip. And part of me - the part that had a meltdown at seeing this picture - is totally bummed.  Especially that the trip included a 5K fun run that I helped find and plan for over a year ago.  Sigh. No aloha for me.  Someday though! For sure! Because when Brianna saw me so sad, and I explained why, she said, "it's ok. I'm going to go to college in Hawaii just like you did and YOU will come WITH me just like Nonny came with YOU!" 
Love that girl!

Fall art

Brianna's obsessed with Fall leaves. She loves to collect them, color on them, throw them around, watch them fall off the trees... they're basically more exciting than Dora and Ponies combined.

She made this little picture for her Kindergarten teacher, and informed me that her teacher would "freak out about how great it is." 
I hope she did :)

38th week

I like to make totally normal facial expressions while taking selfies.

I texted these to my mom saying, "This is why I can't join you in Maui this week. The airplane seatbelts won't fit around my girth, and I'm NOT paying for 2 seats."

Seriously though, I really feel like I could do the trip. I feel fine. No signs of progression at all. Pretty sure baby is either too comfy to leave, or too scared of the wild noises she hears from her siblings every day to want to join them.
I still often do a double take when I walk by mirrors... like, "WHOA - who is that large woman who resembles ME?"  I'm just glad I don't FEEL as uncomfortable as I look :)

YeeHAW

This rocking horse was a lucky yard sale find.
$2, and had working batteries so the horse makes different sounds when they squeeze his ears!

Brianna wanted to dress appropriately for riding him.
Notice the pink cowgirl boots. Love those.

Neeeeeiigghhh

Rarrrrr

Oh, to be 19 again....

Our good friend Jules just sent this over to us.
She must have been going through old pictures and scanning/archiving them (something that's been on my own to-do list for literally YEARS. I have a big box full waiting for me to prioritize it).

Brian and I saw it at the same time and both said the same thing about ourselves....dang, I used to be scrawny!
 Then we had fun remininscing about the dating days.
Neither of us can remember exactly where this picture even was... I'm thinking Arizona, he says St. George....
 And we had several other memory lapses and debates over what happened where and when. 

It's too bad I wasn't into blogging/journaling very much at that time so we could figure it out! 
Oh well - it's all good memories, if nothing but a happy blur of them. :)

 

 

JOSH GROBAN!

This is the coolest story.
Short version: I was caller #10 on the radio and won Josh Groban concert tickets!!! We had a great date night.
Detailed version:  I was coming home from visiting my 90 yr old Grandma. I spontaneously decided to bring her lunch on a Friday mid-day, which I've never done before - I usually just stop by once or twice a week briefly. But I bought some yummy soup from Smith's deli and pumpkin breadbowls and decided to just go for it (the risk being that, of course, I'd need to bring the twins, and she doesn't tolerate their typical kid behavior very well at all). But I brought the iPad and knew I could turn on PBS Kids, and that worked quite well to entertain them after they "finished" their lunch in typical 3-minute fashion.
Grandma told me several times how much she appreciated the visit and lunch. And of course mentioned that no one ever calls her or comes over (which isn't true at ALL - she gets visits and multiple phone calls every single day. But seems to easily forget those and quickly complain about lack of daily contact with other humans). So I left feeling quite good about my efforts to help Grandma. I also left in my car, which is rare. I always ride my bike to her house. But it was cold and rainy that day, so I was in the car. On the 4 minute drive home, I happened to turn on the radio. Not something I always do. To FM100.3, a station I don't always listen to. And at that exact moment I turned it on, I heard DJ Rebecca Cressman announce, "We've got some tickets for the Josh Groban concert! Be caller #10 now!"  And I thought.... Ugh, I never ever get thru when I try to call in for these things. Why bother. But the thought of seeing Josh Groban again live prompted me to at least try. His concert last year in SLC was incredible. Not enough for me to be willing to cough up the $$$ to buy tix again, but enough for me to make the effort to try and win.
When I dialed and it started ringing, I froze. I looked at the number, sure I'd dialed it wrong and would be accidentally calling someone with a similar number. Then Rebecca answered and said, "You're caller #10! Congratulations! Who am I talking to?"  And that's when I started a mini freak out...."I AM?!?! Are you SERIOUS?! I won?! I'm going to see Josh Groban?!! AHHHHHHHH!!!"  I also spilled the leftover soup I was carrying on my lap when my arm flung up in surprise. It's amazing how much I really didn't care about that at all. I was in a state of bliss that lasted for hours afterwards, as I called everyone  (meaning Brian, mom, dad, Gma, Lindsay, Mere. That's my "everyone") and told them the exciting news. Brian wasn't AS excited as I had hoped. Apparently he thinks attending Josh Groban concerts isn't MANLY. I informed him that if he wasn't excited about it, I could find a replacement for him, which would save us money on hiring a babysitter.  He decided to start being excited about it.
Interesting side story:  I called Lindsay and squealed, "GUESS WHAT JUST HAPPENED!"  And her response - "What, did you win something off the radio?"  And I just stopped dead. "Um. Yes. Yes I did. HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT?"  And she was like, "oh, wow, I'm right! What'dya win?" 
Apparently I have a psychic family member. But just her, because I made everyone else guess, and no one got it right. Everyone else guessed that I had gone into labor and had the baby. Which wouldn't make sense at ALL, because I wouldn't be excited about premature labor. Babies need those last few weeks of cooking time.
Anyway, so we got a babysitter (just barely - our planned babysitter double booked herself and wasn't home when I called to find out why she was 15 minutes late! panic attack! So I ran across the street and luckily the neighbor girl was available. She made DOUBLE hourly wage for being awesome enough to drop everything last minute and babysit for us!!).
Our seats were decent - not awesome, but good enough to notice that Josh's hair was very greasy and his pants were way too tight and he has a serious double chin (not that I should be talking. With how lazy I've been this pregnancy, I pretty much have a triple chin).
We also ended up sitting right next to our good friends, the Holts. That was way fun. But we also sat next to some dude who sung along loudly with Josh. That was not way fun.
I wish that Josh had played my 2 favorite songs of his, "Higher Window," and "Thankful"  (Look 'em up on YouTube - so beautiful). But I really can't complain. He is amazing. What incredible talent to be able to open your mouth and have such beautiful noise come out. Though this comes from a person who opens her mouth to sing and the sound of dying cats comes out  (seriously, I'm the worst singer on the planet. I would WIN worst singer contests, if they existed).
And that is the story of our lucky lucky Josh Groban date night! Glad we got one last big adventure in before baby comes in a couple weeks!

Chunky necklace

Brianna made that big beady necklace with stuff she found from a new bin I've "organized" in the game/craft closet.

 

The label on the bin?

 

"Random crafty-type materials."

 

Very specific, right?

 

I've found it very helpful to label my bins more on the ambiguous side, so that I can throw just about anything in them and still feel like I'm organized.

 

I told Brianna I wanted to take a quick picture of her and her new necklace, and she insisted on having Courtney with her in the picture. I love that they're so close. It's so fun to see them becoming each other's best friend. They really love their sister  (96% of the time, anyway).  
 

It will be interesting to see how sister #3 fits in!

Man cuddling

These dudes have a sweet relationship.

Just recently Bennett has started consistently asking for Daddy vs Mommy when he gets hurt or otherwise needs something.

I don't mind sharing at all :)

Desperate times call for... Ponies.

My sweet little Courtney has been driving me nuts at night. Waking up, tiptoeing upstairs and crawling into our bed. Harmless and adorable...until she begins her periodic wiggling and kicking and sleep talking.
For this pregnant light sleeper, it's a sleepless-night sentence.
So we carry her back to her bed. Then she begs/cries/demands to have her back rubbed til she falls asleep. Sweet and harmless....until you're doing it for the 4th time in one night and saying "forget it" to the plans of a 6am swim workout and having nightmares of dealing with loooong nights of newborn care plus high maintenance 3 yr old soothing.
After last night's episode, I promised I'd get proactive today. So we had gentle loving conversations about what she was doing and how it was hard and sad for mommy. Then I drew her a picture and taped it to her wall, illustrating a sleeping courtney while the moon was up and an awake courtney when the sun rose. All in her OWN bed. Then the clincher- I busted out a present intended for Christmas (part of last week's killer yardsale spree). Two sparkling new blue and purple ponies. My Little Ponies. Her eyes bugged out and she squealed with delight. I pinned the bag up high in her room. I think she understands the deal - she stays in bed all night, she gets the ponies. So simple, yet so desperately needed. Let's hope this works, cuz my alarm is once again set for that early morning exercise I want so badly to do!!

Caught sticky handed

Two little hands dipping into two jars of peanut butter.

One mama pretending to discourage it but secretly loving the innocent twin pantry invasion.