This is how she scores points with Nonny

 

 

Tight hugs!

We're trying....

THIS is what rounding up everyone for Family Prayer looks like... on a *good* night!

Bam!

I really love playing Laser Tag! It's best a Laser Quest downtown, but Wonderland's Laser Tag is closer and better priced, so we headed there for our post-Thanksgiving fun!

MY creations

I'm pretty proud of myself! They aren't perfect, but they're pretty good for *ME* ! 2 pumpkin pies, 2 apple pies - 100% from scratch. No refined sugars at all - pumpkin pie sweetened w/ maple syrup, apple pie w/ concentrated apple juice. They were TOO delicious, I ate way too much. Oh well. Enjoyed every bite :) And the turkey-shaped veggie platter and turkey centerpiece - Pinterest inspired, of course. Where else do people get ideas these days?! They were fun to put together with the kids' help. Thanksgiving this year was awesome!! Loved being with my parents. And Lindsay, Dave, and Mere's families. First time for me to be in Spokane on Turkey day in probably.... 7 years?

Sonic with Cougar!

SAVANA!!! and lindsay

I'm so happy to finally meet my newest niece!!!
It's been killing me not to have seen her yet. Lindsay texted me cute pics of her almost everyday, but I wanted so bad to HOLD the little squishy in real life.
And now I have.
And it makes MY baby seem HUUUUUGE.

Savana is such a doll. A sweet, mild-tempered perfect little baby. I love her. And my Lindsay!

Time

If I had my way I'd spend all day sitting on this couch with my girls.

Gratitude Tree!

We made and decorated this tree last week for Family Night. We talked about the importance of having thankful hearts. Everyone wrote their names and what they're grateful for on the leaves.
Brianna worked hard to write and mail out 5 letters to relatives, sending them leaves and a SASE so they can add to our tree!

Turkey hats at childcare

  

 I love that our YMCA does crafts with the kids while I go workout!

 

 

 Mere and I tried out a new class today - Athletic Training - did 100 burpees, pushups, flys, plank walks, etc in sets of 10 with high knees cardio bursts in between.

Kicked my trash!  

Hangin out in the Mother's Lounge

 

Dinner Party 2!

I am really liking this dinner party group we joined.

We get together once a month with 4 other couples, rotate the host and dinner assignments.

It's so fun to play games afterwards! We played one called Definitions tonight that had everyone rolling.

 

We were in charge of hosting tonight and decided to host up at my parents house :-) Much more space :-)

8 kids!

This is what happens when i say YES to everyone who wants someone to watch their kids... :)

It was wild!

I still haven't brought myself to go look at the playroom downstairs... I'm sure it looks like a tornado went thru!

Shopping buddy

 

 

 

 

I'm so grateful that our local Fred Meyers has drop-in child care.

The twins love it!

 

But they don't take kids until they're 2 years old so Charity stays with me. I don't mind - I adore my shopping pal.

But I will be happy to pretend she's 2 starting sometime this Spring :)

First snow!

Pretty sweet to see their excited little faces look out the window and catch a glimpse of the white stuff.

 

I'm not personally a huge fan of it but I'm a huge fan of seeing my kids so happy!

ManTub

This warms my heart.

And almost makes me forget how much we're spending to keep this thing heated throughout the frigid winter...

Couch monkeys

I try to teach them to respect furniture. I really do.
 Obviously I don't do a great job at it though....

Bizzy kids

They're messy...but it's worth the mess to see them playing so well together!

Brussels Sprouts!

I didn't even know till now that this is how they grow.

On a big stick!

Who knew.
I've always just got them in a bag from Costco pre-picked.

   I love to cut them in half, toss them with coconut oil and sea salt, then roast them on my cast iron skillet in the oven. Yum!

Airplane!

Sleepover attempt fail

I'm not sure whose idea this was...but they both seemed pretty happy about it so we let them try!

The fun lasted about 20 minutes.
Then we couldn't handle their loud arguing over blankets/space/breathing and made Brianna return to her quarters.

Family Gratitude Tree

coming out of the closet.....

And then one day I walked into my closet and discovered that my shirts had multiplied out of control.  

I counted.  97 of them. Not even joking. This is ridiculous.

Your highness....

The girls got invited to their friend Maddie's birthday party. 

Princess themed, of course. 

Attendees encouraged to adorn their finest princess attire. 

Like every other little girl's birthday party. 

 What's up with this?? 

I don't remember ever doing this as a child! Is it just me?? 

Has the whole world of girls under 9 gone princess-crazy?!

 Or was I just deprived of it as a child.... 

Are there going to be any long term weird repercussions of this?! 

Or am I sillily overanalyzing things... and inventing words like sillily in the process... :)  

Too early

By 7am, all but my dependable sleep-in-er (courtney!) are in my bed playing.

Early morning snuggles

To the pool!

Taking these 4 swimming is quite the feat.

 The clothes changing, showering, trying to keep socks and shoes under control, pottying, drinks, getting them to LEAVE willingly when I decide we're done, parading out to the parking lot, seatbelts, 4 people always wanting to talk to me at once... It's craaaazy.

But worth the effort!

They're getting so good at swimming- like little fishes. So we'll keep going! 

Morning piano practice

Hopefully someday she will thank me for making her do this everyday!
Cuz right now... she definitely isn't thanking me :)

I gotta find a way to help her be more excited about this!

Someone thinks she's a big girl now....

 

Brushing her hair by herself.

Independence has begun! 

Bday gifts from Grandma!

Sammy's birthday!

Big girls don't cry....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Playgrounds can be rough!

Outings

Mom, Mere and Dad took the 3 girls to Disney on Ice!   Princess attire mandatory.

SERIOUS reading....

I loved Bennett's face as he was "reading" this Halloween book to me at the library.  VERY intense.


(We went for storytime, but ended up staying for quite a bit longer just looking at books. We usually NEVER get to do this, because a certain baby/toddler likes to wander around "rearranging" all the shelves. So I have to focus on containing her, and can't really just sit and read w/ the twins. But fortunately baby fell asleep on my lap nursing, so we got to stay longer! I couldn't get up.... but hey, it wasn't a bad place to be trapped :)

This just makes me happy

Sunshine, playground, and a "baby" who is just about old/big enough to actually play at the park with her older siblings!

 

WHEEEE!

 

MOPS!

  I went to my first MOPS meeting! Here are the twins coming out of it.  I made them pose for a pic so I'd have something to blog, since I didn't wanna be the weirdo inside snapping pictures. 

I'm so glad I found this organization!!

Though I'd still trying to figure out exactly what it is...

But basically, it's an international mothers-organization, with local chapters meeting monthly (here, at Colbert Presbyterian Church, but it's not affiliated directly w/ the church).

They have a speaker with a (typically secular, of interest to most mothers) topic, followed by small group discussions.

Yummy brunch, a "share table" (give and take, free things), and an AWESOME childcare while we ladies do our thang! My kids loved it. They said it was even better than Vacation Bible School (though it was likely about the same thing :)

I can't wait to go next month!

And I'm interested to see if this will lead to any religious discussions when my new friends find out I'm LDS :)  I wonder if the general at-large Spokane Christians still have crazy misconceptions and fears of Mormons....  I sure hope it's gotten better since it was when I was growing up here!   Cuz if I hear any more "so, how many moms do you have?" or "I heard you guys don't believe in the REAL Jesus..."  I'll go nutzo! 

Date night at Wonderland!

Laser Tag, arcade games, and froyo with my man! So much fun. And I love that we have the best babysitters in the world watching our littles.

Wet n' Wild Friday night at the Y

Bear repair!

When his little teddy got a hole, I almost tossed him in the garbage. Didn't wanna deal with those little inside beads spilling out.
But Bennett was so sad...
Instead.... duct tape to the rescue!

  

milk time

I have a newfound appreciation for breastfeeding after making it thru a rough "nursing strike" these past couple days.

It was sososo sad for both of us!

Thank you teething+cold virus. Ugh.
 

Hopefully we are on the way back to normal now.  
 

Bennett style

Swimsuit Edition

   

EXCELLENT Young Women!

"Young Women in Excellence" night with my lovely girls! Theme: Black & White.

Little Monsters