Spring Break

The six older kids are out on spring break and I have been trying to keep them busy and out of my hair.

Corey has been working all over the state and he needed to head down south.

I took this as the perfect opportunity to not be left alone with all the kids to have some quality family time, so we tagged along.

I took these five kiddos through the Oregon Caves.

That was super cool and very interesting!

We then drove farther down south, through the Redwood forest which contained some of the biggest trees thatyoueverdidsee.

From there we headed over to the coast, just in time to see the sun setting.

We ate dinner on the beach...a little cold but beautiful.

After dinner, we realized how far away from home we were. Ouch.

We actually didn't make it home until almost 2am. **Yawn**

Planning even a day outing like this requires so much advance prep.

We didn't buy any food at all while we were gone.

Not because I didn't feed them although that would have been easier

Instead, we brought along all our own food.

Turkey sandwiches, strawberries, granolie bars, pumpkin muffins, apples, blond brownies, burritos, dried fruit and nuts.

I cooked a turkey and made sun-dried tomato/mozzarella cheese bread for the sandwiches. I've already shared the granolie bars recipe and at some point, I'll get around to posting the pumpkin muffin recipe. They are delish and healthy. Weird, huh?

I made 150 burritos and froze most. The rest of them we took for dinner.

My teenage boys refer to the blond brownies as "a little slice of heaven". They are that good. Healthy too? I think not.

Who's ready for the next adventure?

Not me!

At least not yet.

I'm still recovering from this one...

Teenage boy appetites

They are a force to be reckoned with.

Joe recently made himself a "sandwich" for lunch.

Whole wheat bun, turkey, cheese, sprouts, spinach leaves, tomatoes, pickles, mayo, mustard...it was a doozey.

Apparently, a toothpick was not enough to keep it together.

I walked through the kitchen just in time to see what was holding his sandwich together.

A skewer!

I still can't believe that he ate the entire sandwich.

And that afterwards...he was still hungry...

Teenagers Everywhere!

The twins are both in student government this year.

The freshman were assigned the "Spring Fling" dance.

Usually the freshman assigned dances never come to fruition.

The last time a freshman class actually had a dance, they came in $280 in the hole.

But this year's freshman are not an ordinary class.

As a group, they are motivated, organized, thrifty and smart.

They needed to hire a DJ, plan refreshments, make/buy decorations and advertise.

They had a "work party" at our house to make the cutest lil' Shamrocks with glitter edging.

I came downstairs to find my foyer full of teenager gear.

I went in my dining room to see teenagers...everywhere...

I went into my kitchen to find a couple of teenage boys eating my peach cobbler out of the pan.

Ummm...make yourselves right at home?

I helped the kids with the refreshments and was asked to chaperone.

How did the dance turn out?

THANK YOU FOR ASKING! THEY DID SUCH A GOOD JOB AND THE KIDS HAD SO MUCH FU...

WHAT?

Oh, sorry.

I didn't realize that I was yelling.

You see, my eardrums are still bleeding from the loud music.

And, m...m...my b...b...bones are st...st...still vi...bra...ting...from the boom boom boom.

And, I'm pretty sure that is a good indicator that I am old.

The dance wasn't heavily attended (which is par for a freshman organized dance).

The upperclassmen are too cool to attend.

But they still made money.

And they had fun.

And it was a good experience for them to plan an event.

They are already talking about planning one next year.

Hopefully my eardrums have recovered by then...

Back from Boise

What a fun weekend we had!

I'm not sure who had the most fun...

Joseph who got to swim in a regional meet against really great swimmers

Me and Corey who got to hang out with our fav peeps that drove up from Utah

Levi who got to play with his cousins all weekend

Hannah who got to hang out at my parents house

Lily, Matthew, Joshua and Liz who stayed at the house of some wonderful friends of ours

Or, Michael and Timothy who stayed at home with an Oregon Duck football player and his wife

Everyone had a blast!

These are the memories that will last a lifetime.

As far as Joseph's swimming, he had only been 15 for 10 days going into this meet.

He was in the 15-21 category. So, basically, he was the low man on the totem pole.

He held his own and we were so proud of him.

The specifics on where he placed?

To be honest, I don't really know. I think the highest he placed was 10th and I'm not sure about the lowest, 16th? I don't keep very good track of placement, his time is more important to us.

I think the best race that he had was when he anchored the 200 free relay. That relay team took 4th place and was very fun to watch.

I guess I take Joe's physique for granted. At meets like this one, all the swimmers look like Joe.

But at school he sticks out. He is very humble about how he looks and seems even a little embarrassed about it. He never walks around with his shirt off, which I think would be rather arrogant.

He did say at school, after PE class, when he is getting dressed, people stare at him. He said that even the older kids do double takes.

I guess not many kids his age have six pack abs. I don't even want to think about how many hours he spent in the pool in order to look like that.

There was a little 8 year old boy at the swim meet that kept calling Joe, "The Ab Master". It was very cute. It made Joe smile, which is nice to see.

I told Joe that he had better enjoy his abs now, while he is young.

Because things change.

For normal people anyway.

Corey's brother and wife drove up from Utah to hang out with us all weekend.

While Joe was with his team, after the meet, us adults went to the movies and bowling.

It was so much fun! We sure do love those guys!

It was fun to go, but it sure is nice to be back.

I guess there really is "No place like home."

Off to Boise

I had to hit the pause button and take a quick break from my crafting and get ready to go out of town.

High school swimming is now over but club swimming goes all...year....round...

There are two different long seasons, short course (all meets are in indoor "short" 25 meter pools) and long course (all meets are outdoors in 50 meter pools).

At the end of each season are the championship meets.

We are at the end of the short course season and the twins already had their club state swim meet.

It is all according to how fast you swim and how old you are. In order to qualify to swim at regionals or nationals you have to meet certain time standards. It really doesn't matter what place you come in at during state..

The twins were 14 during the club state meet and got to swim with the other 14 year olds from around the state. Joseph placed either 1st or 2nd in all his events and Michael placed in the top 10.

However, they have since turned 15 and now must meet higher time standards to advance to regionals.

Michael did not qualify but Joseph did...in five events.

I have to admit, I was a bit shocked surprised but really happy for Joseph.

He works so hard, he really deserves this.

So, this weekend, both Corey and I are headed to Boise to watch him swim against some of the other top swimmers in our region.

We have farmed out our kiddos to four different households and have a really big football player coming in to house sit for us.

I'm so grateful that we have people willing to accept bribes help us so we can go do this.

I'm excited to get away, excited to watch Joe swim but am feeling a bit overwhelmed trying to get everything ready.

I'm also really missing out working on my craft projects. I am working on some really fun things!

In the meantime, I've some bloggy goodness all set to post every day.

Can't let my blog get all lonley you know.

But, it will be fun trip, I'm sure of it.

Here's hoping that he swims fast!

Happy Birthday Michael and Joseph

The twins just turned 15!

How this can be, I'm not sure.

They were just destructive toddlers a few days ago.

Homemade biscuits and gravy was what they requested for dinner.

The birthday boys

My Irish triplets.

Is there such a thing?

Irish twins are kiddos born less then 12 months apart so twins and a sibling born less then a year apart are Irish triplets...right?

Or maybe, it should just be referred to as insanity.

Because that, it definitely was.

Our Lily Pad

Levi and Hannah

Please ignore the grossness of this room.

We are getting ready to tear it all apart.

I swear.

The head honcho and Matthew (who has food on his face)

If you look reeeeaaaal hard at the Ficus tree in the background, you can see the pink price tag from Goodwill still on it.

I should probably take that off, huh?

Lily Pad, Joshua and Matthew

Michael and Hannah Banana

My 15 year old twins.

That sounds weird to say that.

They are talking about getting their driver's permits.

Heaven help us all.

Please excuse the bum ugly wrapping paper on their presents.

I found it at Goodwill for $1.

Happy Birthday Twinerds!

Swimmers, Medals and Trophies, Oh my!

Joseph's goal going in to State was that he finish higher than he was seeded.

In the 50 free, he finished 11th and he was seeded 12th. No PR, but he was happy and it was a fun race to watch.

In the 100 free, he didn't really have a great swim and even though he was seeded 9th, he finished 12th. He was not thrilled.

I kept reminding him that he is only a freshman. He just expects a whole lot of himself.

The relays were what ended up surprising everyone.

Our medley relay, early in the season, was just not up to par. The problem was that we didn't have a strong backstroker. Our breast, fly and free legs were excellent but you can only make up so much ground when your first swimmer, the backstroker, comes in last.

At the tail end of the season, the coach made a hard decision. He took out the backstroker, who is a seasoned senior and replaced him with Joseph. He then brought in a different freshman to swim Joseph's free leg. The senior was very bummed.

This was done in hopes that we would be able to make district finals.

They ended up making state...barely. They were seeded dead last.

At the prelims, on Friday they surprised everyone by coming in 6th and making the finals.

At finals, they ended up being fifth overall.

Not too shabby for a team that wasn't even supposed to make district finals.

As for the free relay, they were seeded 6th at State. At finals, they all totally ripped up the pool, each leg putting up a PR. Joe barely out touched another team to snag 3rd place. They swam so fast that they broke our high school 200 free relay record.

After the relay was finished, Joe had a swimmer from the relay team that placed 4th come up to him. He wanted to know how Joe was able to beat him. It sure did make Joseph feel good.

The most unexpected thing was, our school only had four male swimmers make it to state. But those athletes did so well that their boys team ended up taking 4th place overall and get to bring a really nice trophy back to their school.

It was amazing!

Joseph is still on cloud 9.

He's already talking about next year...

Swimming Districts

Both Michael and Joseph swam for their high school team this winter.

The much anticipated district meet was last weekend.

This was the first time that the twins were requested to shave in preparation for a swim.

I eagerly signed up to do the honors.

But, I waxed their legs instead of shaving them.

Waaaahaaaahaaaaa!!!!

Oops, sorry for the evil laugh, it was just so much fun.

I asked them if they needed a stick to bite on but wanting to look tough they declined.

Joseph insisted that it didn't really hurt that bad.

I know better.

Michael gripped the counter as I ripped off each strip.

Michael is a much more hairy individual then his twin.

Each strip resembled a piece of Sasquatch pelt after it came off.

It was actually kinda gross.

I'm just sayin...

After the waxing, they got shaved.

We went over their legs again and then arms, backs and chests.

Whew...

That took awhile.

The twins are just average sized freshman.

Unfortunately, the taller you are and the more mature you are, the faster you can go.

Joseph insisted on swimming the 50 free and the 100 free, which are the most highly contested events. He was also in two relays.

We knew that he would have a better chance of making the state playoffs in different categories but he didn't listen to us loves the sprints.

He swam on Friday and made the district finals.

He was the only Freshman to make the finals in the 50 and 100 free. Both of his relay teams also came back for finals.

Here he is getting ready to swim in the finals.

Michael swam the 200 free and the 100 free.

He made the district finals for the 200 free. He was the only freshman to do so.

He qualified for the consolation finals in the 100 free.

Here he is getting ready to swim in the finals.

Michael placed 10th place at districts in the 100 free.

In the 200 free, he swam against three juniors and two seniors in the finals.

And he still came in 4th!

Here he is accepting his ribbon for his 10th place finish in the 200 free.

Hopefully he'll grow before next year.

Joseph, the only freshman in his events, placed 5th in the 50 free and 4th in the 100 free.

Here he is accepting his medal for his 100 free finish.

Joe is 5'8" tall and he still looks like a total shrimp standing next to all those older kids.

The relay teams came in fourth for the medley relay and third for the 200 free relay.

In each event, only the district champion is guaranteed a spot in the playoffs. We have four districts in our state, so that is four automatic spots. Eight more swimmers are chosen, all according to times swam at districts.

So, if you come from a really fast district, most of the top finishing swimmers will qualify.

But, we didn't know how our district compared to the other districts.

Now, we just had to wait until state wide results were posted on Sunday to see if they had qualified for state.

Here is his relay team.

Sunday night, we got "the call"

Michael didn't time out high enough to make state but he doesn't swim year round like most of the other swimmers.

However, Joseph made state...in both his events...and both his relays made it.

He is the only Freshman to make state in the 50 free. There is only one other freshman in the 100 free.

This is going to be crazy.

He left on Thursday.

He is super pumped.

I'm headed up Friday morning to watch the prelims.

He is going to have to swim faster then he ever has.

Fingers crossed...

Eagle Court of Honor

Recently we celebrated the twins making Eagle Scout by holding an Eagle Scout Court of Honor.

The twins were awarded their Eagle Scout awards and then we all hung out enjoying some gourmet desserts.

The only hiccup in the whole thing was when the twins were given the Mother's pins to pin on me.

They both scrambled to be the first one to get to "pin" me. Joseph shoved Michael out of the way and announced that because he was the "older twin" (hello Joe, only by a mere minute) that he got to pin me first.

Michael allowed it, but when it was his turn, he loudly proclaimed, "I'm pinning mine higher".

Nice that my Eagle Scouts are such a good example of maturity.

Sigh...

Here are the centerpieces that my brother and sister in law made.

We ripped boards off of our old barn don't panic, we are ripping it down eventually anyway and printed out all the words from the Boy Scout Law. The words were glued to the wood and each table had a different word.

We went to the scout store and bought the 12 Eagle required Merit Badges and each one was glued onto a barnwood plaque. Each table had a different one.

See how I slipped in a fleur in the background of the merit badge plaques? I just can't seem to help myself when it comes to fleurs. I wonder if there is such a thing as fleuritis?

Jo-Ann's Fabrics had actual official Scout fabric. I bought a bunch (with my 40% off coupon, of course) and cut out squares for the centerpieces.

We used three different sizes of canning jars and filled them with rocks and battery operated candles (from the dollar store). Then, a flag went into each large jar. Each table had a picture of the twins in their Scout uniforms, in frames that I also picked up at the dollar store.

I'd been buying cheesy ceramic eagles at Goodwill here and there, and Corey rounded them all up and spray painted them with a bronze paint. This way they would resemble a much more expensive (cough cough) and regal looking bronze statue.

Some random pinecones and knots rounded out the centerpieces, making for a really cute display.

Thankfully because it was a lot of work for just one night we have other Scouts working towards Eagle so I know we will be able to reuse them.

The twins with their Nana

The twins with their best buddy, "Just-cool"

Up and coming Eagles (the one on the right is my Timothy)

Corey's aunt and uncle, along with his dad and grandpa

I have no idea what is going on with Matthew here...

Corey's brother and sister-in-law came from Utah. Have I ever mentioned how much we love these guys?

Our beloved Nana and Uncle Al.

The standard "say cheese" face from Levi

My dad with his buddy, Levi

Poster that my awesome brother and sister-in-law put together for the twins

Pictures of their Eagle Scout Project

Table where we displayed the twins' Award Books, Eagle Scout Project Books and Scout binders.

The twins' Cub Scout uniforms. It feels like they just turned eight and started Cub Scouts. How can they already be Eagle Scouts?

Proud Parents!

Mr. Frost

Recently, Joseph was elected "Mr. Frost" of his freshman class.

Every year the high school students in each grade vote for their "Mr. Frost" and the winner is kept a secret.

The parents of each Mr. Frost are notified and arrangements are made for a surprise early morning visit, videotaped, of course.

Because my Joseph is not normal gets up super duper early every morning to either run or go to swim practice before school, the wake-up crew had to come to our house first.

When they arrived at 3:30am ugh, all dressed in black, video camera in hand, they snuck up the stairs and into Joseph's room.

Then, it sounded like all hell broke loose when they went bursting into his room. The air horn, hand clappers and war cries woke everyone up. Sigh.

But Joseph was already up and out of bed, getting ready for the day.

At the school wide assembly later that week, they showed the video of all the "wake-up calls".

The student body president announced that Joseph was already awake and that she thinks that he never sleeps.

By the end of the week there was a rumor floating around that Joseph was really a vampire.

High school totally cracks me up.

Here is Joseph talking to the Student Body Prez during the school assembly.

Here he is sitting next to the Sophomore Mr. Frost, who happens to be Joseph's friend.

All four Mr. Frost's (sorry the lights were out because the video was being shown and it is also making the Prez's eyes look really wiggie.)

Some great memories!

My eternal family

One of my in-laws wanted this pix taken. Four generations of family. Actually, my entire family as well, except for me. Still scratching my head on that one.

Great Grandpa with Lily Pad

Levi with his bio grandparents. We are forever indebted to these people. There are no adequate words of appreciation. They could have stepped in and raised this little boy. But they let us. There are truly no words...

My twinerds

Corey's grandpa, dad and our Michael

I love this one of Great-Grandpa with Matthew

Levi with three of his bio siblings. Wish I could show you a better pix, they are all beautiful children. But, I am respecting their privacy.

Levi destroying smelling the flowers.

Joshua and Lily Pad (who has a massive shiner)

My eternal family