{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.

Mama needs a new pair of shoes

I love several pair of Naturalizer shoes, and have entered a couple of giveaway contests.  One is HERE on Momma in Flip Flops2.

All kinds of festive.

It would seem that we've had a lot of little celebrations at our house.

It started with Valentine's day.  I put up a few decorations, with the quasi-promise that next year there will probably be more.  Chick, who loves decorations of any kind, added a few of her own.  My favorite was this:

"Anyone who can only think of one way to spell a word obviously lacks imagination." -Mark Twain

Chick and Monkey had a great time making valentines for their classmates.  I was pleased to see that they were fairly self-sufficient in getting it done.  I'd do whatever parental prepping was necessary for each step, and then they'd take over from there.  We made our version of one that we found on pinterest (of course?). 

For my family I gave them each a Doctor Who card that I printed out.  They loved them : ) 

Aside from that I did fun foods.  Heart shaped pancakes with strawberry syrup for breakfast with pink smoothies (that I added too much beet to, so they tasted a bit too much like dirt....).

Lunch (and preschool snacks) were heart-shaped foods-- cheese, strawberries, apples, summer sausage, cucumber, tortillas, (bread).  It was very pretty and fun, if I say so myself.

Dinner was heart-shaped calzones. 

Dessert was heart-shaped chocolate cake with a poured-on frosting, and I used the roses that I'd made when learning to make roses for Chick's birthday cake.  With all the candy consumed that day, though, we saved the cake for the next day...the kids were already a bit too hyped up to have dessert. 

The older girls and I watched "The Princess Bride" for a valentine movie night.  It was the first time for them.  They liked it, but didn't realize that it was funny!

Next up: hooray, the babies are eating solid food!  Not a lot yet, but some.  They started out with sweet potatoes.  Since then we've added avocado, banana, oatmeal, yogurt, and applesauce.  Feeding them is a family affair sometimes : )  And, at 8 months old, they finally broke 10 pounds!!  Owl was 10#3.5oz, and Otter was 10#4.5oz.

And I took a ton of pictures of them one day, so here's a little compilation.

They haven't been sleeping so well...  Boo.  Still no teeth (I was hoping that was causing the sleep disruptions).  Also still no crawling, but they are so close...sometimes they'll take a "step" or two to crawl, but no significant distances.  Owl will dive forward, get back up, dive forward, etc. until she gets close enough to grab things.  And if she's grabbing a person, then she'll hold onto your hands and drag herself forward.  It's pretty funny.  They look so delicate, but they are surprisingly strong.

naptime for all.  No one got smothered...it looks like it, though, in the picture.

Something else pretty momentous: Foxy got rid of his red truck!!  Once upon a time we went on our first date in that truck, and said our first "I love you's" in it, and took some kissy engagement pictures in it.  It was a strong manly truck.  Sexy even.  But ten years later?  The only thing that resembled those good old days were the pictures that Fox had stuck to the dashboard.  Here's one.

I'm glad that Fox is still in my life, but the truck?  I may or may not have danced a jig as they hauled it away.

 

This is a bit out of chronological order, but here is a picture of Chick with the quilt that her Grandma J made for her!  Isn't it beautiful?  She loves it.

 

 

The older three kids do a LOT of playing dress-up, and lately have a lot of pretend weddings.  They've asked to use my wedding veil, but I was hesitant to share.  So I found one at the thrift store for $2.  I used it as leverage: keep the bedroom clean for a week and the veil is yours.  Worked like a charm, but the next day the room was a mess again.  Sooo, the new rule is that they can play with the veil ONLY if their room is clean first. 

 

(Along those lines, I've confiscated clothes that were left on the floor...poor Monkey barely has any clothes left.  She's a slow learner, I guess.  If you see her in dirty rags one of these days, you'll know why.)

 

Chick, Monkey, and I went to see a BYU Young Ambassador's performance the other week.  I knew the girls would love it, and it was nice to do something special with them, since Owl and Otter still take so much attention and care.  I often have to say, "I can't do x because the babies need to be fed (or changed, or take a nap, or are fussy and need held, etc)." And the older kids all take it in stride and still love their babies (and still love their parents).  So it was nice to give them a much deserved night out.

 

Chick brought "Zero the Hero" home from school...isn't he cute?! (I'll be writing a separate post about education stuff...it's been very much on my mind lately).

Our last celebration: Dr. Seuss's birthday! 

We started out with Green Eggs and Ham for breakfast, along with Lorax mustache straws for our o.j.

I put up some Seuss quotes on the wall, but that's all the decorating that I did for this year...next year I hope to step it up a little more.  Maybe red and white streamers or something.

At any rate, for the "appetizer" at dinnertime they had fishy crackers with a counting worksheet.

Dinner was alphabet soup, and Lorax scenes made of oranges, carrots, cucumber, bread, and cheeses.  It's not NEARLY as cute as the one on pinterest.  It didn't matter.  They saw it and were excited, and we had a lot of "Look, it's the Lorax!" type of exclamations.  Well worth the effort.

Dessert consisted of red and white jello parfaits with laminated Cat in the Hat pics on top.

Motherhood is so much more enjoyable when I get to be creative...even if the creativity is for things that don't matter in the least (though I have fond memories of my Mom decorating for holidays...so maybe it does matter after all).

And will you succeed?

Yes! Yes, you will indeed!

98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.