The Sweetness at the bottom of the pie

I just totally *lifted* my post title from the title of a book that I haven't even read...but I do like the title and I do think it applies to my day yesterday.  I didn't actually have any pie, mind you, but I did have a lot of sweetness.
The sweetness started at 5:30 a.m. when I got to wake up and have my lovely pregnancy insomnia at a more reasonable hour and with the company of my husband.  We watched a show together on the laptop, and then I went back to sleep for a few minutes while he got up and took care of the kids.

The sweetness reached maximum sweet when it was time for me to wake up and Chick came in to talk to me.  She told me how many days until her birthday, and that she knew I was tired and that the babies needed breakfast, so she was going to bring me breakfast in bed.
Monkey helped her.  Breakfast consisted of: orange juice, peanuts, blueberries, crackers, and wheat chex.  All but the o.j. was served dry on a plate, atop a bed tray.  The girls stayed and talked to me the whole time that I ate-- explaining how they decided on each type of food, why it was healthy for me and the babies, etc.  Monkey kept touching it.  I suspect the presentation and content of breakfasts in bed will get better as the years progress, but the sentiment and effort will never be beat.  I sure love those girls.

During breakfast in bed I was informed that when I got up I was going to make them pancakes and Daddy was going to make bacon.  Pancakes weren't really in my hurried morning plan, but I didn't want to mess up their plans, so I made time for it.

After breakfast, dressing, and getting a salad tossed together, I ran the kids to my aunt's place for a few hours.  Then I was off to a Relief Society function "Demo, Dine, & Design" where I saw how to do several things, ate a DELICIOUS lunch, visited with great sistas, got a lot of good twin advice from a mom of twins, and learned how to Nifty Knit.  (Since then I've finished two baby hats...pretty quick and easy!)  It really was fantastic and relaxing. 

Then I went to the thrift store to take a quick look at their maternity clothing (I got all of mine out, and though there are a few pieces of which I will never tire, I mostly felt uninspired by the wardrobe in general).  I was pleasantly pleased with the selection that I found at the thrift store.  I walked away with two new shirts, black yoga-style pants (which I intend to live in), a new dress that will fit a REALLY BIG belly (I think), black slip-on flats, and a baby layette pattern that I doubt I'll have time to sew, but it was so precious that I couldn't resist. (http://images.patternreview.com/sewing/patterns/newlook/6310/6310.jpg)

Then I picked up the kids.  They had a great time, and my aunt was still alive, so it was a win-win-win for all of us.

We hurried home to make homemade pizza and take baths, and when we got home I was greeted with a working HH who... (drum roll please)...was working on the living room ceiling!!!!!  Hooray!!!

And that is my day.  It was really great, and such a nice way to round out a very eventful week.  Though the week had some hard things, it really turned out well.

The eventful week continued

Yesterday was a monumental day too. 

It was our first trip to the ER!

Moose fell when coming into the house, and got a nice little gash in his forehead.

We headed over to the hospital that, thankfully, is just around the corner from us.  The girls were excited because they are always asking to go inside!

Here's a before picture--cleaned up, but before they'd glued it shut.

Here's the after picture, when he was finally getting the juice box that he'd been asking for through the whole ordeal.  Isn't he cute?  He's a real stinker, but I'm pretty smitten with him anyhow.

The kids had fun looking at the fish tank, and they each got to pick out a beanie baby.  And the front desk ladies were pretty excited for us when Chick told them that there were TWO babies in Mama's tummy : )

He left the bandaid on and was good about it for the rest of the day.

That evening I left to do a few errands, and when I came back the kids were all in their room for bed, but no one was asleep yet.  Moose was calling for me, so I went to say goodnight to him.

I opened the door to find this sad little bloody face (HE wasn't sad, he was actually quite happy, but his FACE was sad).  He'd taken the bandaid off before bed, and then must have been picking at the glue when he went to bed.  It was all over his pillow and face.

We ended up cutting some bandaids into strips to use as butterflies, and then I put gauze and medical tape on his HAND, as a decoy.  It must have worked, because when he woke up in the morning his hand was bandage-free, but the butterflies were still on his forehead : )

My Crazy Roller Coaster Day

When I think about things that happened this morning, it's hard to believe that it was today...so much has happened today.

Well, first of all, let me tell you that I am expecting!  I'm 11 weeks along, and have known since week 4, so I've known for a while now.

This morning I was having some cramping, and then at lunchtime I started bleeding.  More than spotting (which I don't do anyhow). 

Of course I freaked out, cried, called my Mom, my Husband, my Midwife.

My midwife set up an ultrasound, I took the kids to a friend's house, and off I went.

And I sat.  In the radiologist's office for two hours.  waiting.  Trying not to think about what was probably happening (I didn't want to cry in the waiting room, you know?!!)

Finally it was my turn.
"Let there be a heartbeat!" I though as I lay down on the table.
And then the picture appeared on the screen. 

Beating hearts.  Two of them! 
Two active, kicking, wiggly babies!

All I could say was, "Oh my goodness!  Oh my goodness, are you serious?!  Really?!!"

I'm excited, and terrified. 
I can't keep up with three kids, let alone five.
We'll need to get a mini-van. 
It'll be my first hospital birth (but hopefully not my first c-section). 
We had D names picked out, but now we need E names as well.

Crazy realizations keep popping to mind.

I don't feel like I've really had a chance to process it, and I'm sure the coming months will be quite an adventure (for that matter, the coming YEARS are likely to be an adventure!).

But there you have it.  My roller coaster day.  And my big news.  times two.

The Freaky Friday Birthday

My Mother was born on Friday the 13th.  Obviously, she's never considered that a bad thing.  So on the years that her birthday falls on Friday it's an extra special birthday.

Like this year.

My sister cooked up the idea to have a Freaky Friday dinner out. 

We all were to dress up like my Mom.

Judy, Mom, Aunt Diana, Me, and Marlene. 

My brother, Mike, deserves extra points, because he went with a vintage Halloween costume look that not only took lots of guts but also lots of planning and preparation.

Me and my Dad.

Some people gave Freaky gifts to go with the theme, but I had already decided what I wanted to give to her.  I made her this bag.  Each branch on the tree represents one of her children.  The leaves are the grandkids, and the grass squares at the bottom are great-grandchildren.  Each sibling has a different fabric for their kids/leaves.

My machine quilting leaves a lot to be desired, but I think the sloppy look works this time?

Anyhow, the evening was a huge success and we all had a really great time. 

Mike prepared a quiz game, and another novelty game.  He gave each of us a slip of paper with a crazy sentence on it.  We had to then use the sentence in conversation without anyone calling us out on it. 

My sentence was, "I am a space cowboy." 

 My brother Evan had, "Pigs lead a luxurious life." 

My aunt's was "I sometimes wear my underwear backwards."

I don't remember the others.  But all three of those were used successfully.  I had to work mine into an elaborate story about teaching preschool.  My aunt thought it was funny that she could say hers without it seeming at all odd.

Field Trip: Burke Museum

A couple of weeks ago we went to the Burke Museum at the UW for a preschool field trip.  It was a pretty cool museum, seen at the warp speed of 4 year olds.  They had a fun time dressing up and playing instruments in the Carnival area.



Cute little first-borns who have a love-hate relationship sometimes because they each know their own minds : )

Our preschool class: Hyrum, Colin, Chick, and Claire.

At one point I noticed that I hadn't seen Monkey for a while (yeah, mother of the year right here), and went to find her.  She was sitting on this little chair cutting out a mask.  Concentrating very hard.  She really likes to cut things.

 The reason that we went to that museum was the Native American items, because they'd recently learned about Native Americans (though Chick had still gotten confused about Indians being from India....  At least she's in good company; Columbus had the same problem).

This carving came with a story from Heidi (one of the other moms/teachers).  It was funny-- kids running chaotically around until she started talking and then they were mesmerized for the duration of the story.  After we'd gotten home, Chick said that was her favorite part of the museum.  She remembered all of the story.  {You can read it HERE}

On our way out, Monkey wanted to sit on the bench, so I put Moose there too, and they posed themselves.  I totally love this picture.  Chick is not pictured, because she was busy running ahead and consequently getting in trouble.

A Party for Monkey

Monkey's birthday was at the end of November, and due to holidays, the party was scheduled for the start of December.

 Then we *thought* we had the chicken pox, but it turned out to be a contagious fever paired with rashes from a new detergent.  But at any rate, due to illness we postponed the party to the start of January.

Last weekend I finally got to do Monkey's Madeline party!!  Here's the rundown:

As each girl arrived she got a capelet and hairbow from the Boutique.

Once dressed they sat down to color pictures to put in the Louvre Museum, while we waited for the other girls to arrive.  The pictures were an assortment of Madeline images and famous paintings (with the emphasis on french, or that are on display at the Louvre).

Once they'd all arrived and gotten dressed we lined up in "two straight lines"
 (Miss Clavel must have really had those girls TRAINED, because straight lines are NOT easy)
and walked to the "museum" and admired the artwork that they'd done.

Then we all settled down and I (dressed as Miss Clavel, btw) read "Madeline" to them at the "bookstore." 

After we'd read the book we went to the Eiffle Tower and they each got to take a turn playing mini-golf.  I didn't get any pictures of them playing, but it was a hit : ) 
Here's a picture of the Eiffle tower that I made.

Next we went to the Flower Shop.  Marie, the flower shop lady, helped them assemble their bouquets.  They were so cute!  I'd made a simple striped awning, and we used twinkle lights, and silk flowers in mason jars.  The girls got to pick a few flowers, and we taped them with colored electrical tape.

After they had made their bouquets we played musical chairs...set to the Madeline soundtrack.

Monkey had her meltdown moment when she was eliminated.  She'd been pretty clingy at times during the party, and I think it was all just too overwhelming for her. 
Thankfully my SIL took Monkey and calmed her down while I got out the food.

Then we dined at the "Patisserie."  We served Chicken salad on Croissants (as well as croissants with just butter), grapes, cheese, and lemonade with strawberry ice cubes.

(table decor on the card table)

And then cake and ice cream, of course. 

I'm really happy with how the cake turned out.  I had taken an actual picture from the book, covered it with a sheet of wax paper and traced the outlines with black gel writer icing stuff.  Then I transferred the image to a solid green frosted cake, and colored in the picture with the appropriate colors.  In retrospect, the picture was so simple that I could have freehanded it easier (the wax paper stuck to the green icing a bit)...but it was fun to try a new process.

After they'd all eaten we went to the "Toy Shop"  and Monkey opened her presents.  She got really nice presents, and we've had fun playing with them in the last couple of days : )

And then I turned on a Madeline video,
which they sat and watched while we waited for the parents to arrive.

Only a few moms stayed for the duration of the party, and they were very appreciated.  However, the girls were all SO well behaved, that it all went great and it was fine that there weren't many adults! I had been nervous about having "12 little girls" (though with the postponed date, one little girl couldn't make it...so I put a wig on Moose and he became our "12th girl"...I foresee therapy in the future!!) 

 The girls were polite and sweet and calm, and appreciated everything. 
The timing worked out perfectly, too.  It really was a dream party. 
When I was making things for it I kept thinking how it would be wasted on such a young crowd (mostly 3 yr olds) but a lot of them love Madeline like we do, and in the end I didn't regret any of the prepwork and effort.

Anyhow, the girls got to take home the capes, hairbows, bouquets, and a set of Madeline blocks that HH & I made.

I can honestly say that I couldn't have done it without the help of these two wonderful women: my Aunt and my Mom.  My Aunt played the part of the flowershop lady.  My Mom came the day before the party and helped with last minute prep & childcare, spent the night, and helped with everything (food prep, Moose, etc) before and during the party.  THANK YOU to both of you!!!!