Sunday School Picnic

Here is Elianna with her Sunday School class at their picnic on Sunday

Creative Block

Elianna found a rectangle-shaped scrap of construction paper. She held it up and said, "I'm going to make a project with this!" Feeling quite pleased to see her creative juices flowing, I asked her what she was going to make. "A door!" she replied. Hmm... turning a rectangle into a door wasn't exactly how Picasso got his start. So I asked how she was going to do that, hoping for a bit more creative genius to show. She looked at me like I was an idiot and said, "I'm going to draw a doorknob on it!"

Good thing!

Selah was pushing the envelope a bit one day, and I told her in my best "stern mom voice" to come here now. Sensing that punishment was near, she gave me her sweetest smile and said, "Mom, I want to hug you." She ran up and started snuggling me, and I couldn't help but laugh at her devious little self. Seeing me smile, she sat back and said, "Good thing I'm 'have'!" (As in, I was telling her to behave, and she heard it as "be have."

Uncle Jonny's home!!

We had a lot of fun with Uncle Jonny during his leave in May. It went by WAAAAY too quickly, but we did try to do as much as we could cram in. We went to Chuck E. Cheese, Toledo Zoo, a couple parks, shooting, and even a long weekend up north. The girls were very excited to see him. Elianna especially has had a hard time with him being gone. The boys were pretty indifferent - I think they'll be more interested when they're older! ;0) We are so proud of Jon and how well he's doing. He was in the toughest platoon, but in the end he was glad for that. I was very disappointed not to be able to go to his graduation!!! Here are some pictures of that:



Sarah was very proud of him, but then he told her they needed to get serious.





The cool thing was, Jon was here for Mother's Day, which happened to be my first Sunday back to church! The twins were cleared to be around people on May 6th, so the timing was perfect. We talked Mom into coming to church with us, so the whole family could be there for the twins first Sunday/Mother's Day! Here we are at church for the first time as a family of six!

And here we are with the fam. The funny thing was, we took a few pictures before we realized we forgot the girls! They were still in their classes... Ooops!


Without Girls:

After remembering we have two more children:

Uncle Jonny with the munchkins

Me and my wittle bwother

Mommy's Helpers

So far (knock on wood) we have not had any real jealousy issues! The girls play outside most of the day, so I'm guessing that helps. They are always kissing and cuddling the babies, telling them how much they love them, and asking to hold or feed them. Elianna also helps a lot around the house. She empties the silverware in the dishwasher, cleans the toilet, puts away laundry, and is an excellent gopher for baby supplies. She is also the best at making the boys smile or getting them to quiet down and take their pacifier when I can't. Her latest skill is peeling carrots, which she is really good at! Too good, in fact. If you don't take the carrot away she peels it down to the core. Selah (she of the perpetually dirty face) is the lovey-dovey snuggler, always rubbing their hands or kissing their heads. She's also a good gopher if she doesn't lose her train of thought, which happens frequently.

Adorable... when sleeping!

Aaaaah, precious peace and quiet! Oh, and the kids are cute, too.

Fashion Statement

I always promised myself I wouldn't be one of "those moms." You know, the kind that lose all sense of style when they have kids. I figured I could always squeeze in enough time not only to see that I am presentable, but that my kids are as well. I mean, how long does it take to make sure their hair is done, their clothes match, and their face is clean? Apparently too long...

Dandelions

We have decided to forego the fertilizer/weed killers on our lawn this year. I would like to say it is solely in the safety interest of our children, but it's also because we have neither the time nor money to waste, er, spend on that this summer. The plus side is, Elianna and Selah were THRILLED at the flowers growing all over the lawn! Wild violets, snowdrops that escaped the garden, and of course dandelions, to name a few. They begged me every day to pick dandelions, until they literally stripped the yard bare. (How's that for an all natural weed removal.)

First Smiles

Levi

Micah

Still Alive

Yes, we are all still here! Unfortunately blogging has taken a back seat to sleep on those RARE occasions when I have a free minute or two. (And I literally mean minutes...) The boys are up to a whopping four hour sleep stretch, but that still leaves me and Daddy a bit groggy, to put it politely.

Today, however, Grandma has taken the girls out and Daddy is watching the boys. Although there are about 27 things I should be doing (14 of them pertaining to laundry) I have decided it is time to start sorting through pictures that have been building up on my camera and random CDs since February. There are over 800 of them, so this will take a while!!! I will post them as they interest me, so they will not be in any particular order.

Overall, the boys are doing GREAT. They are gaining weight and so far seem to be developing normally! Their latest thing is grinning, which is just too cute for words. Levi is over 10 1/2 pounds (his thighs are like hams) and Micah is almost 9 pounds. They are nursing more and more, and I am really hoping they will get to the point where we can eliminate (or at least greatly reduce) the pumping/bottle feeding. Ugh. Have I mentioned I detest pumping?!?!

They both have mild torticollis and plagiocephaly, with Levi's being worse than Micah's. (Crooked neck and lumpy head, to the layperson.) They will be starting therapy for that soon, and I have already been given certain things to do to correct it. (One is lots of tummy time, which they both hate after about 5 minutes.) We caught it early enough that it should be fixed simply with positional therapy. It is very common in preemies since their little heads are softer and their necks are weaker.

The twins are also off quarantine, and we have been enjoying that!!! It was especially nice on Mother's Day to eat my dinner warm while Aunt Coco and Leighanne held the boys for us. What a treat!!! Now I am just waiting for them to get colds from being out and about so much lately... I will blog our adventures as I post pictures.