Birthday Party!

We invited over some of Brooklyn and Bradford's friends (and their families). They did a pretty good job not attacking all the smaller ones.

We waited until Saturday so that Nicole could return from her Girl Scout camping trip. She ended up with pinkeye and spent the party upstairs anyway :(

The weather was gorgeous, in the 70s! The bigger kids headed outside and left the little ones inside. I thought I had all the babies in the picture and realized Liam was far away, can you spot him up front?
















My friend Julie followed our BYU Football theme and made a football field cake and cupcakes for us! (not making the cakes makes party prep so much easier-so does running your kid to convenient care and having your husband make the 7 layer dip and veggie tray).

Bradford and Brooklyn ready to try out cake and frosting!





They liked it.
















Then we opened presents. Toys, books, clothes and a lunch out for mom with friends (great idea Julie & Monica)!

We topped off a wonderful party with a BYU shutout!! After that Nicole was released from her quarrantine and we opened family presents, which the kids all enjoyed and I cannot currently find the picture of because I'm getting used to the new computer stuff (old computer, new operating system, picture system...)

One Year Old!

We made it! As you can tell, they are tired of their monthly couch photo shoots (yes she is reaching for the flower in her hair).



































Journaling: It has been fun to watch these two grow up. With my older girls I compared their growth and milestones with friends, with these guys, it's been fun to see how different they are from each other.

Brooklyn is still happy to crawl. She has some serious speed and it's fun to hear her hands slapping the tile and know that she's on her way. She has learned to stand in the middle of the floor and I look forward to her walking soon (mainly for the knees of her clothes). She loves the outdoors. We tested our little slide on Monday and she smiled as I slid her down.

Brooklyn grabs onto you like a monkey when you pick her up. The workers at the gym child care say she "molds onto you". It's adorable when she crawls to you, sits back on her knees and looks up to be held, saying "uh, uh". She loves books, mostly eating them, but also looking at them and paging through them. She prefers paper because it's easier to turn.

Brooklyn is tiny. She's long, so her 6-9 months clothes don't fit, but the 12 month is fine and sometimes a little loose. She hates shoes and socks and takes them off as soon as she can. Her feet look narrow.

Bradford is a solid walker now. He still runs into walls and the floor now and then. He's growing like a weed. He's out of his bigger soft shoes and will soon be out of his 4 1/2 wides. I've had to purchase new shirts for him to wear this winter because 12 months isn't big enough (especially for his head). He's better in the pants, but I don't think they'll last all winter. He will leave socks on all day and all night. He learned how to unvelcro his shoes, but I don't think he knows how to get them off.

Bradford also loves the outdoors and the slide and walking on the driveway. He listened to me a bit when I told him to turn around at the sidewalk.

Bradford loves to get into everything. Brooklyn follows, but I think he starts it. Paper, magazines, pie pans, drawers (any drawer), loose fabric... I never know what he'll come up to me carrying (screw driver, craft scissors... now relocated).

Bradford is still my "big baby". He's first to whine. He'll lay down and roll around crying to throw a fit. It takes a lot to keep him going, he's always hungry.

They beeline for any open door. They are even getting better about going down 1-2 stairs feet first.

Friday night we pulled out the formula and the milk and the bottles and sippys and officially started weaning. I have truly enjoyed nursing these guys. Other than the occasional bites, it's much easier to put them both on the pillow and relax in silence and lack of destruction for a few minutes, but I'm ready for the next step.

What I've learned: Bradford doesn't care where the food comes from, but he cares what temperature it is. He prefers warm. He's fine with a bottle or a sippy, so I'm doing sippy cups. Brooklyn is not liking the idea of weaning. She doesn't like bottles, or warm formula. I've had better luck with cold milk, but I still don't think she drinks as much as she would nursing (I haven't tried warm milk with him or cold formula with her, but I will).

Right now I am replacing the morning feeding (after breakfast, before nap) and the afternoon feeding (after nap, a few hours before dinner). I hope to add the after lunch feeding this weekend.

It's been a crazy year. HUGE thanks to my mom for all her time. Big thanks to my dad and Jeff's parents and all the others who came, helped, fed, took big kids, watched little ones, etc. We couldn't have done it without you!!

Cute Pictures

Tickle session-Nicole still begs to be ticked, frequently.




My boys.













Emma constantly cracks us up. She was tired, so she read herself a book, and took a nap.


In the second picture she is giving a talk. "Her" (Jeff's mission) scriptures are open, she has a microphone and she's even wearing a dress.



Not to be left out, Brooklyn found some flip flops and tried to figure out what to do with them.

Thoughts

I posted about Halloween and saw that I had only posted five times in October. This is how crazy life has gotten. Seminary is on week 10, which means I've been teaching/grading for more than 10 weeks. Some days I still feel like I'm just starting. There is so much I still don't understand. They have had two huge conference calls where we can also follow on the computer. They have both been so helpful (and long, like 2 1/2 hours).

I've been trying different tactics for grading, leaving multiple weeks open, waiting to grade... The one that was easier for me wasn't as good for the kids, so I'm rearranging again. It helped to get tips from the seasoned teachers on the conference call. Some said they spend 5 hours a day on Seminary! No, I won't be doing that, but it's making me try to find the best way to "reach" the kids in the time I do spend.

The basement: things are going, slowly. Our builder was doing two jobs for a while and it took his time and his energy. Things are back on track now and it looks like the storage room might be ours to load... this weekend (crossing my fingers, toes and praying reallllly hard).

Can I just tell you how hard it is to live like this? This isn't the first time we've had a crazy housing situation, but it's been years. Some of it is stuff (although I've gotten rid of plenty), but most of it is furniture, extra sofas, chairs, side tables... everywhere!! It feels so tight. I can't wait to have it all back in place. For example, there is a chair by the girls' bedroom so you have to turn sideways to get in.

And of course, our desktop computer decided to give into a virus. Jeff has worked feverishly to fix it (we have backups, we just want to be able to USE the computer). He was up until 2:30 last night monitoring it. He's amazing! Thank goodness for the laptop we bought last year. Especially with Seminary, I'd be in big trouble without it.

Emma also gave into something. We spent Sunday morning at "convenient care" (please just call it walk-in, k? it's not convenient). She complained about her shoulder, but they worried about her 101 fever (which showed up around the time we arrived). I decided on x-rays because I didn't have the twins with. Verdict: they think they saw pneumonia and maybe a separated shoulder. Orthopedic visit: no shoulder issues, probably aches from the fever. Antibiotics: 6 hours later she gets off the sofa and is doing much better (follow up Thursday). She was fine enough to ask me yesterday if we could trade the twins in for a dog and a cat (reading the Napping House).

As illnesses go, it hasn't been horrible. No one has thrown up, the twins are doing pretty well (runny noses) and wii fit just told me I lost 8 lbs in the 155 days since I last logged on.

Halloween Week

Brooklyn and Bradford had cute Halloween outfits and enjoyed playing with our Halloween balloon.

When Brooklyn got the balloon, Bradford found something else to do...

They both figured out how to get onto the little rocking chair, and proud of it!

Our ward had it's annual Chili Cookoff/Trunk or Treat. Jeff made chili, I made cornbread and we dressed up. Emma the witch and Eliza the princess (with Eliza the witch behind them-lol).

Jeff wore his Renaissance peasant costume from the dance recital. The twins were pumpkins.

Nicole was "Juliet" from the recital and her friend Hannah joined us as a pirate.

The weather was nice and we enjoyed visiting and trunk or treating and dancing to the Halloween music someone was playing.

Emma was still recovering from her fevers and napped almost daily.

We had some gorgeous sunsets, these two pictures were taken the same day. I wish I had a better camera, and I wish the neighbors had their dish in another spot.

Halloween finally came! After the baptism of a friend in Nicole's primary class, we headed out on errands and the girls picked up some treats at Toys R Us. We happened to drive by Sonic and their sign reminded me that they give free corndogs and soda to kids in costume, so we stopped for dinner. Jeff gave the lawn the final mow of the season and we headed out. It was cold! We put the twins in the stroller with the wind/rain cover and the girls had coats on. After half a block, Jeff took the twins home and the girls and I continued. 10 more houses later Emma was done. Nicole and I did a few more, but I was ready to come in too.

Every time we opened the door for trick-or-treaters, these guys tried to escape. Here they are helping Jeff hand out candy.

And heading up for a bath.

Although we have no photographical proof of our annual FHE, we did carve pumpkins. Nicole did a skeleton (L), Emma did a ghost-gave up and stabbed the pumpkin a lot (middle) and I did a cauldron (R).

Jeff did a BYU cougar sign. Nicole carved a cat for Brooklyn and we were too tired to do the Nauvoo temple for Bradford, maybe next year.

We hope you had a Happy Halloween too!

Quips

For the first morning in a few weeks, the twins weren't up before 6. I enjoyed sleeping in, but could have used another half hour. After nursing Bradford decided to empty Jeff's nighstand.

Nicole and Emma joined us and were around to here Jeff disciplining, "Bradford Jeffrey (our last name) the third!" (Jeff throws that in for emphasis and an extra syllable or two).

Nicole quickly corrected him "no, the fourth". Huh? She explained "he's the fourth kid in the family, not the third, Brooklyn's the third". Smart kid.

Later, Brooklyn threw a block at me while I was exercising (avoided the gym because her nose was a bit runny this morning) and drew blood. While I grabbed a tissue and ice, Emma disciplined Brooklyn. Some of what I overheard...

"Brooklyn, come here, Brooklyn, you need to apologize... You need to promise not to do it again... come to Mommy and say 'will you please forgive me?'"

(at least it's getting through, right?)

(there is a knot under the cut and it hurts when I blink, wonder what color it will be tomorrow)

What we've been into...

Not upto, into. With Seminary, Book Clubs, a baptism, blog book finally published (huge hassle-found new site to use), Enrichment, Achievement Days and more Seminary, it's been a busy week. And oh yeah, I'm keeping up with this...

After having a full breakfast (or so we thought), we found Bradford in the kitchen, on the floor, with Emma's oatmeal bowl. Empty. This kid is a bottomless pit.

We have had a few days of gorgeous weather after LOTS of rain, so we're enjoying it. This it the twins first time in the back yard with some serious mobility. It was fun to watch. Bradford fell more than usual with the uneven ground.

Yummy wood chips.

We had some friends over to play with bikes, scooters and on the trampoline. Very quickly it was boys vs. girls.

My friend Catherine's twins are moving around too, they were fun to watch with french fries and shoes. Good choices girls.

Halle! (Sorry Monica, Liam was sleeping).