Cooking With Mom

Last night as a part of Family Home Evening I made brownie bites with Emma and Elizabeth while Ryan took a turn feeding babies. The girls really LOVE cooking with mom. I don't know about any of you other moms out there, but this is one of those activities that I both enjoy and makes me cringe at the same time. Can anyone say MESSY? And you really never know how the recipe will turn out with the exacting measurements of 5 and 3-yr-olds. Even when I do the measuring, getting all of the ingredients into the bowl can be tricky with little helping hands.

Elizabeth calls the spatula a "shovel." Every time I bake, she wants to "lick the shovel" which leaves Emma with the bowl and/or other baking utensils.

I took a couple of the left-over brownie bites to Bachelor Nite. Hello girls-night!

Baby Blessings

Today the twins had their baby blessings. We had family come from out of town this weekend. It was great to have everyone together. We took over an entire middle row in the chapel and a chunk of the meeting for two baby blessings. We are grateful the weather cooperated enough for our family to join us on this special occasion.
At the end of sacrament meeting, the closing song was, "I Am A Child Of God." This is one of my children's favorite hymn. Every FHE includes this song as either an opening or closing song, so we are very, very familiar with this song. Well, Elizabeth was so incredibly excited to have a song she knew, and Emma was scarcely less excited. We sang with GUSTO. Ryan said he could hear Elizabeth sing over the rest of the congregation from the front. Bro. Linde, who was leading the song, was grinning at us, so I would guess it was audible to him as well. It cracked my father-in-law up, and he thinks that his ward will have to sing, "I Am A Child Of God" soon so the primary children can join in. (He's the bishop of his ward, so he's pretty confident he can make that happen.) I'm so glad my family provides amusement for all...

Deep Thoughts From Ryan

In Sunday School last week, there was a discussion about why one shouldn't "cast pearls before swine." Some one's answer was that a pig wouldn't appreciate something as fine as pearls. Ryan leans over to me and gives this insight: "Unless you are Miss Piggy." I can't argue with that.

Christmas Dresses 2008

Here are the annual pictures of the girls in their Christmas dresses on the Sunday before the holiday. Elizabeth was stoked that she got to wear Emma's dress, since Emma had outgrown it.

We took pictures of the twins after church, once they were fed and had their diapers changed. Only problem was Maddie was ready for another nap, not pictures.

Decorating Cookies with the Clauses

Yesterday the Darigold cheese factory hosted cookie decorating with Mrs. Claus. Santa put in an appearance as well. This is a very fun weekend here in town.

This is Emma's pile of sprinkles and goodies, or rather- her cookie. When the girls got home, they picked off all the goodies, licked the frosting all off and then took a couple bites of the cookies.

Santa and Elizabeth. Elizabeth couldn't look at Santa while she was on his lap, and Emma wouldn't even stand by Santa. They love Santa from a distance. I really wanted Emma to tell Santa what she wanted for Christmas. I'm still not sure what Santa is bringing the girls yet. Since we don't seem to want to talk to Santa in person, perhaps we will be writing a letter to him. I need input!

Santa, Mrs. Claus and a helper.

Happy? Christmas

For our Christmas cards, I thought I would take a picture of all the girls in front of the Christmas tree in their Christmas dresses. Good idea in theory...

These were some of the better ones. Not quite what I had in mind.

I think a good caption for this picture is: Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Men

I think we will need to try again. I just don't know if I have the energy for another episode like this.

Baby Shower and One Month Old!

Yesterday the high school (where Ryan works) threw us a baby shower after their teacher's meeting. It was so nice of them. We are now the proud owners of a double stroller. Hallelujah! I'm stoked about that. Thanks Voc department! And thanks to everyone else who came. And we've already started in on those diapers... Since Ryan has worked here, this is the 3rd set of twins born to members of the faculty. They've all been in the vocational department thus far. But now a member of the math department will be joining in the fun next year. :o)

The cake. I didn't catch it with all the decorations still on it, but you get the general idea. Very pink, right? (Yea, Ryan)

Emma was camera shy yesterday.

Here are some of the attendees in the library. (Whoa, is that food in the library??)
Today the twins are a whole month old. I can't believe we made it. I guess that means that we might survive. There are times I wonder and feel so overwhelmed.

People ask if we think it would be easier to have twins as your first, or if it would be better after you've already had one, or two in our case. Honestly, I can't imagine being a new mother for the first time with twins. I was so scared and neurotic and afraid I was doing something wrong with Emma. Knowing I've (semi-) successfully raised two children past the infant and toddler stages gives me a certain amount of piece of mind. And I know that the sleepless nights and incessant crying will pass. And I know that sometimes babies just cry (thanks for that Emma) and there's not much I can do about it. It's still hard.

On the other hand, having had two kids before the arrival of the twins presents its own challenges. For one thing, there is NO QUIET around here. Elizabeth chatters ALL DAY LONG in an effort to get my attention. And the adage "Sleep when the baby sleeps" doesn't work so well for me. My day still has to start at a particular time to make sure Emma gets off to school, that Elizabeth makes it to the bathroom first thing, etc. And then that potty training seems to wear off a little for a certain member of the family. (No, no, it's not Ryan) It is getting a little better again, so we are hoping that it stays that way.

I've had so many "I'm a bad mother/wife" moments lately. Like when I was feeding one of the babies and I couldn't walk Emma down to the end of the road to the bus stop. I stood at the front window, nursing a baby, watching my poor 5 year old tear up walking away from the house and weeping myself. Or growling at Elizabeth for jostling me as I try to sleep on the couch while bouncing one of the babies in a bouncer. Or letting Elizabeth watch the 2nd full length movie of the day. Or the fact I've vacuumed maybe once since the babies came home. Really, the examples go on and on. The table only needs to be washed every other day, right? And as long as the laundry gets washed, why bother folding it?

Annie and Maddie are getting so big. They are so beautiful and sweet and innocent. I am so invested and wrapped up in all my girls. I love them all so much. As crazy as my life is right now, I wouldn't trade any of it. They are so worth it.

Irish Road Bowling

We went to visit Ryan's family for Thanksgiving. While we were there, we had a family road bowling game after Ryan's dad got done with work. Here are some of the pictures from our adventure. Emma, Megan, Brynne and Elizabeth

Everyone from the back

Check out Ryan's profile. Can you guess what's under his coat?

I just liked this picture.

Brynne

Michael

Another profile shot. A question: Is Ryan having gastric-intestinal fit from eating too much turkey?

And what do I say about this?

Ok, so the answer. The twins are wrapped up in a Snuggly (Ryan) and Moby Wrap (me) and hidden under our coats to protect them from the cold and wind. Don't we look goofy? We are an equal opportunity household. :o)

Laughs

Danae: Ryan, did you have lunch?
Ryan: Yes.
Danae (sensing that was a lie): Oh really? What did you have for lunch?
Ryan (quietly): Oh crap.
Emma: Daddy had crap for lunch!!

It's Autumn Time

Elizabeth had fun playing in the leaves yesterday while Ryan raked the yard. As you can probably tell, it was well past time to rake the yard. Lots and lots of leaves....

You may have to look a little harder at this picture, but the top of Elizabeth's head is poking out of the top of the pile of leaves.

This picture doesn't really belong to the rest of this post, but I thought it was cute.