{sigh} A long long-awaited Catch-Up Post.

Watching General Conference.

I'm just going to jump in....

Otter looked just like a doll baby sitting there!

Back in March, around the time that I last wrote, Otter started to crawl.  Two weeks later Owl started (so both in their 8th month).  Now they are pros, of course, and are cruising and getting pretty sturdy.  No attempts at walking unassisted yet, but they like to do it if they have hands to hold onto.
 

... ransacking the house....

Babies make it difficult to work in the kitchen. 

I was trying to get a picture of the babies' mirror-image hair swirls.  Monkey photobombed : )

At the start of April Otter got her first two teeth, but Owl didn't get hers until a whole month later (so 9 months and 10 months respectively).  They really like to eat, but you can't tell...they are still super small.  We've really put a lot of effort into getting them to bulk up-- breastfeeding plus formula bottles,  and we add calories and fat to all of their food. We add ground flax to their applesauce, and coconut oil to their oatmeal. They also love avocado and whole milk yogurt.   It was very gratifying to see a good gain the last time we took them in.  They were 10 months and both were between 12.5 pounds and 13 pounds.  Of course, that's not on the charts yet, but it was a good gain.
 



When Monkey gives them cheese...  Constipation, anyone?

They really look alike when they cry.

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At the start of April we had spring break.  Unfortunately I was a little under the weather AND had layout...so the only fun thing for the kids was that Chick and Monkey both got to go visit Grandma and Grandpa N for a couple of days.  Easter was just before that, but that also was a pretty calm affair.  We went to a couple of fun parties the day before.

 

Moose was really excited to show his friends his bucket.

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The highlight of April was going down to visit Fox's family in Arizona.  We went so that Mr. Fox could help his sister and family remodel a house that they'd bought...so he was working most of the time, but I think it was more fun than his usual work at home anyhow.

That's the new house in the background.
And Chick and Owl in the foreground.

The kids and I got to just relax and hang out at Grandma & Grandpa J's house.  It was a little hotter than I like, but not too horrible.  We were still able to do things.  We went to the Phoenix Children's museum, played with cousins, went to parks, went to Krispy Kreme, went to see the Gilbert Temple (under construction), swam, went on walks, and went to go visit Daddy working at Polly and Ken's new house.  Their favorite thing was jumping on the trampoline with the sprinkler underneath.  They also picked tangerines with Grandma (and then made juice with them), and baked cookies in the solar oven (again with Grandma). 

I also got to go do some shopping by myself while Grandma watched the kids...and I also got to take a few naps and didn't have to cook every meal! It was quite relaxing.

 

 

They added all of the awning since our last visit.  It was a nice park before, but now it's the BEST EVER.
We were able to stay and play for a good long time and not even worry about sunscreen.
I think Owl and Otter were in that swing like that for at least an hour!

 

I love this picture. Cute people!

Storytime with grandpa : )

Milk time with Grandma : )

You can't really see them in the picture, but each of the kids got a big chunk of the material used on the outside of the temple.  They're sparkly and cool : )

We stayed two nights in a condo in Phx, and it was nice.  The cousins came and went swimming there with us, and we had a pizza party.  I always love the decor of the units, and the kids love having a TV in their room.
 

 

See that pile behind Polly? 
My one physical labor effort on the house was shovelling that pile out the nearby window
 

My SIL works for an airline, so our flights were free.  I was nervous about the flights with five small kids, but it really went pretty well...better than I expected.  The flight down was smooth and easy.  The babies were good as gold!  I was in a row with Monkey and Moose.  The cutest part of the flight was that as we were approaching Phoenix the plane was tilted down on our side.  Moose was looking out the window at the time.  An alarmed Monkey said, "Moose!  Get away from the window, you're tipping the plane!"

My awesome husband on the plane

The flight back went well until the end...when Moose didn't want to be buckled during the landing and threw a massive tantrum.  Then he wandered away from me in the airport and made the security personnel nervous to see a lone child.  And worst of all, while Moose was getting away from me in the airport, Fox had Chick and Monkey with him down at the baggage carousels...they wanted to ride the escalator and he said yes, but then they were both trying to get on first and Monkey fell and cut her lip, gums, and killed a tooth.  Everything has healed up pretty well, but the tooth is discolored.  She might have to have it pulled, but we're waiting to see.

Another funny thing about the flight: when we showing our boarding passes and waiting to get onto the plane Moose decided that he didn't want to wait.  He walked past us and got on the plane by himself.  He went in (wearing his Nemo backpack with a stuffed doggy peeking out), found a window seat, sat down, and got his seatbelt on.  A nice elderly couple sat down next to him.  He's an independent guy for sure.

 

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On the Saturday after we returned home Mr. Fox worked and I took the kids to the local YMCA for Healthy Kids Day.  The funny thing is that two years ago we took our kids there, but I never would have done it without Fox.  Somehow things that I wouldn't have done with three kids is suddenly ok with five.  It went fine (there was one sticky moment when the older two girls were hammering sailboats from Home Depot, and the baby girls both got fussy and wanted held, and the indepent Moose decided that he was ready to go to the next attraction and started walking off on his own. Those few moments are when I find the juggling to be difficult...but the rest of the time was super fun and everyone was well behaved and had a great time.  And the best part is that we got memberships and can go to the gym now : )

 

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I found out recently that my job will most likely be ending.  Technically I own my own business, and work freelance, but I contract out to design a monthly magazine for another company.  It looks like that will be ending, and they might send me work to do still, but it will most likely be less than it currently is, and probably not as regular.  That has pros and cons:  I really do enjoy my work, and I like the change of pace, and of course I like the extra money.  But I have trouble keeping up with my life, and sometimes I think that I will be able to establish some better habits if I don't drop everything for a week or two each month.

 

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A couple of days ago I went with Chick's kindergarten class for a field trip. (Thank you to my parents for babysitting the other kids so that I could go!) We went to Mukilteo Beach and saw all sorts of sea life.  I definitely want to take my kids back there...as soon as I figure out how to navigate a rocky beach with two non-walkers.

These were the kids in my group.  It felt like herding cats at times.

 

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I had a great mother's day.  No lavish gifts (not the pressure washer that I asked for), but I didn't have to cook at all, and I got breakfast in bed (Fox and Chick did it perfectly: grapenuts with banana slices and milk, orange juice, and toast with avocado).  I also got a picture that Chick colored for me, and some shells that she'd decorated for me at school.  Monkey made me a sweet card.   And I got goodies from church.  It really was a nice, simple day that highlighted the fact that I love being a mother.

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(They were playing store.  Monkey was buying the otter from storekeeper Moose)

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Lastly, I have two birthday parties this month.  That means that I am starting to freak out about getting things done on the house and yard.  We have barely done anything since the twins were born (not surprising...I'm just happy that we've survived), but we've done some good work in the yard in the month or so, and it's exciting to see some things improving. 

Hmm, guess that's it.   Stay tuned...I'm doing a separate post with pictures from the Phx children's museum.

There's my heart.

Double the Blessings

(the coordinated pacifiers were just a happy coincidence)

Owl and Otter were blessed at the end of September.

 

To be honest, I was pretty stressed leading up to it, because I'd procrastinated making the dresses mostly.  I also had planned to have a housecleaning service come clean the house for me, and then wasn't able to get them scheduled in time.  Also I got sick the week before.

 

All that said, I think that it was the nicest blessing day of all of the kids.  The stress continued up until we got to church ...late... and they had to switch around the meeting to do the blessing after the passing of the sacrament rather than before (with all of our visiting family looking around anxiously..."where are they?!"). 

 

But then the blessings were beautiful, and after that I enjoyed everything.

 

A funny thing about the blessings.  First of all, I can hardly remember any of either one...trying to remember one blessing is sometimes hard enough...two is too much for my tired brain!  But I had my sister tape it for me (hopefully she hasn't taped over it, since I haven't gotten it from her yet).  I know some feel that taping a blessing is taboo, but I'm ok with it in this situation.  Anyhow, the funny thing is that during Owl's blessing Fox called her Julia.  It's her middle name, but there's never been any discussion about CALLING her that, and he's never called her that before or since.  He denied it and says he doesn't remember calling her that...I think he just likes to give people something to wonder about ; )

When Mr. Fox saw this he said that he looks old and tired. 
I will admit that these few months have helped us both to FEEL old and tired,
but I still think he's a handsome devil.

Anyhow, then we finished out the meetings and everyone headed to our house for a luncheon.  There were Grandma and Grandpa J, Grandma and Grandpa N, my sister Laura, Fox's uncle Mark, and my sister Judy + family.  It was a much smaller group than for the others, but the food was delicious, the conversation interesting, and the happiness abundant (at least for me).

LOVE this picture of Owl with my goofy nephew Ben : )

Grandpa and Grandma N

Grandpa and Grandma J

Anyhow, the dresses.  I completely revised my plans for the dresses, because I'd procrastinated sewing them.  I decided to go with a simple shirred-top dress style.  I didn't use a pattern, and I made the dresses from an eyelet bedskirt that I'd bought at a yard sale for $1.  I love repurposing : )  Anyhow, I am happy with how they turned out, though they weren't as quick and easy as I'd expected.  And they aren't even the same, because I did one and then tried to improve upon it for the second.  There are things that I like better in one, and things that I like better in the other.  But I am happy with how both turned out.

Dresses with matching headbands and booties.

matching booties that didn't stay on well,
but were super adorable anyhow.

I know this isn't the best picture, but it shows Otter in her dress.
I love the sweet, innocent feel of white eyelet.

A note about the colors for the dresses:  I love both colors.  I kind of felt like the peachy color was more "Otter" and the bluer one was more "Owl"...but I don't want to type cast the babies before they've even had a chance to say what they like...so when it was time to get them dressed I just grabbed a baby without looking to see who it was, and I grabbed a dress, and that was that.  But it was contrary to how I had originally thought to do it...so I was confused for a lot of the day trying to remember.

 

It's enough to have to identify someone based on their clothing, but to have to go through the thought process of "that one is wearing peach, which I had in mind for Otter but today they are switched, so that is Owl" ...well, it's exhausting.  And I'd stayed up late making baby booties and headbands, and was recovering from being sick, so my thought process was a bit sluggish anyhow!  Long story short, I need to hurry up and get the babies' ears pierced, and when I do it, I need to make sure the earrings are what I really think fits that baby and not worry about it! sheesh.

I suppose it fits that Otter had the more watery color
and Owl had the more tree-ish color.  Right?
How much can I read into things?
wanna come over-analyse things with me?

 

Anyhow,  lunch was very nice and low-key, and then it was over and everyone left and I got to take a nap : )  and we ate leftovers for dinner.

the end.

Otter Pop.

Owly.

Playing Catch-Up

The problem with not blogging for a while is that I get so behind that when I do blog again I feel like I only can gloss over things.  Much of the random day-to-day things (that I want to remember later) get lost in the paring down. 

 

So here is a sad, little, glossed-over catch up post of things that have happened in the past month or so.

At the start of August we had several family reunions and family visits with the "Fox" side of the family.  It was so fun to see family that don't live nearby...and it had me wishing that they DID live nearby.  I loved seeing all of the cousins playing together!

Fox's sister Katie and her family stayed with us (visiting from Hong Kong).
Here are the four big girls watching a show on a laptop.

My kids soaked up all of the Grandma and Grandpa time.  I'm pretty lucky to have good in-law family.

 

 

Story time with Uncle Mike.

 



Grandma got her workout...Moose is no light fellow.

 



 

After all of the visiting and commotion ended, and the bulk of service from church friends was done, I was met with the reality that my home is all-crazy, all-the-time.  I became the tired, grumpy mama that I always am after having a baby.  I thought I'd get by without being like that this time...but all of the extra help had given me a false sense of my own competency.  Oh well, at least my kids are used to it!  (I'm very grateful for all of that help in the beginning, and I do still have some help...which honestly is the only way that I'm able to get through some days!)

 

The older three kids spent a couple of days up visiting Grandma and Grandpa N, which was very relaxing and quiet for me.  Mr. Fox and I even went out to dinner for an anniversary date...about two months late (because the babies were born on our anniversary).

 

At the start of this month I resumed doing my layout work...which kicked up the level of crazy to a new high.  But we made it through, and I think it'll get easier from here on out.  I've been very blessed to have a job that I enjoy, that helps me to continually learn new things and develope talents, and that I can do from home and while being a mom to five kids.  Sometimes it's a real juggling act though.

We also started school, but I'll do a separate post for that.

 

Sometimes you need to be fancy.
And have fancy stuffed animals.

 

I love it when my kids play together nicely! 
Costumes are a bonus happiness.