Lily Bug is 2

Lily Pad recently turned 2.

She had arrived at the terrible two's long ago.

I just can't wait till the terrible three's.

Yes, that was dripping with sarcasm.

Since her birthday was in the middle of the week and we were quite busy, I threw a strawberry cake together and slapped on some cream cheese frosting that I had in the freezer.

She didn't care that the cake looked like a five year old had made it.

Besides, it still tasted yummy.

Here she is staring at her candles in wonder.

We said "blow out the candles Lily!"

She heard, "go ahead and lick the cake Lily!"

We bought her a new baby stroller and it came in a large box.

It was bigger than she was.

For some reason, the sight of her little toes peeking out from underneath the box really cracked me up.

The sad state of our leather couch is not as funny.

We call this one "Deer in the headlights"

Finally, sweet success...

Happy Birthday Lily Bug!

Dancing Partners

These two like to dance.

I think it's super cute.

And it's pictures like this that will make for really great blackmail photos when they are in high school.

Still wishing that we could get Levi to look normal when we take his picture.

Also, the pink in Hannah's hair is not permanent. Just wanted to point that out...

Baby Faces

I know that she can be a lil turd.

But she sure is cute...

I'm pretty sure that we are all ruining her.

And, someday soon? we'll pay for it.

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...

Stairstep children

Since Lily Pad just had her St. Patty's Day birthday, my youngest four kiddos are now...

5, 4, 3, and 2

We couldn't put them in age order in this photo because, even though Hannah is 4 months older then Levi she is waaaaay shorter.

Blame DNA.

I know I'm biased, because I'm the mama after all, but I sure think they are cute.

When kids say something that makes you sad

I love this little guy so much.

He is so smart.

He gives the best hugs.

He tells me several times a day that I am the "best cooker in the whole world."

He also tells me that he doesn't like having brown skin.

That he wishes that he had white skin.

We tell him that his brown skin looks like chocolate.

And everyone loves chocolate.

That lots of really great people have brown skin.

That people go out in the sun to make their skin brown like his.

He has taught me a valuable lesson.

That just because Corey and I don't care what color a person's skin is doesn't mean that they won't care.

I just wish I knew what to tell him to make him proud of who he is.

We love him just the way he is.

I just want him to feel the same.

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...

Question of the day...

How many kids can fit on a 3 person couch?

A lot, apparently...


Life is officially kicking my bum.

I thought we would have a small break in between winter and springs sports.

I was wrong.

I still haven't recovered from the grueling high school winter sports.

Joseph had his last swim meet on Sunday and started track on Monday.

Michael has his last swim meet this weekend and spring soccer starts the day after.

Both Joshua and Timothy start soccer next week.

And, then Liz asked to play softball.

In case you are keeping track, that is five different teams.

I'm thinking about waving the white flag.

Just not sure if anyone would notice...

Well, this is a new recipe...

Take 1 cube of chalk from the pool table...

Add one mischievous, almost 2 year old...

And you get...

Never a dull moment...

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."

Matthew and "As-Cool"

One of the twin's best friends was here the other day and when Matthew hopped up on his lap, I grabbed the camera for a quick picture.

"Look at the camera! Say cheese!"

Ummmmm...Matthew, you are covering up Alex's face


Are you kidding me?

You can't peel your eyes off of the TV for two seconds so I can get a decent picture?

Look.at.me.

When I said "with your eyes open", I didn't mean manually!

For the love of all things holy and good in this world and before I give in to my urge to beat you just look at me.

At least fake looking normal!

That's better.

Thank you.

Geez...

Michael

Michael is an athlete.

He...

loves soccer best.

was the only Freshman to see playing time on the varsity field this last fall.

was voted Best Offensive Player of the JV team.

scored 1/2 of the goals for the JV team.

was very sad when soccer season ended.

Then, winter sports came around.

He couldn't decide which sport to choose, basketball or swimming?

He joined the club swim team in a nearby town (that his twin is on) and started swimming every day before school.

He then signed up for high school swimming too.

Swimming both club and high school at the same time is a common occurrence.

But, the basketball court was calling his name.

So, he talked the athletic directer into letting him play basketball too.

They said that they would let him because he was a freshman but next year he would have to choose.

I told him that he would have no social life.

He said he didn't care.

I already told you how his high school swimming went. (Only freshman to make the district finals in the 200 freestyle and 4th place at districts).

Basketball is now over.

He was awarded Best Defensive Player of the Freshman team.

So what are his plans for next year?

He still can't make up his mind...

EEG results were normal

Almost gave me a heart attack when the doctor's office called and said that we needed to make an appointment to go over the test results.

Because if everything was fine, why would they need us to come in?

Corey called them back and asked for results over the phone, which they gave.

Everything looks normal.

They just asked us to keep an eye on her.

Humph...

Like we don't do that already.

Oops, was that my outside voice?

My weekend

This last weekend we...

Went to two basketball games

Watched Liz's performances

Doesn't she make a cute ballerina?

We buried our cat, Spook, back by the garden.

Took the entire fam damily out to dinner for my birthday. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Stared, depressed at the growing mound of empty casserole dishes.

Counted eight meals left out in the freezer.

Had a good cry

Got to work cooking

Made 10 beef and bean pies

Two double batches of Taco Chili

Four batches of red potato soup

Four lasagnas

Eight bean and biscuit casseroles

And someone just informed me that it's going to get worse before it gets better.

Huh?

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!

Playin' Dress Up

Hannah loves to dress up.

She is almost always wearing a princess dress.

She is as sweet as can be.

Thankfully, this is not a look that Levi tries to pull off everyday.

Except for the yellow and green hair...

That we wouldn't mind.

I'm just not sure that Buzz Lightyear would agree.

Go Ducks!

We are headed out to Lily's appointment...

I'm confident that everything is fine but it would be nice to have that confirmed.

Happy thoughts....