TWINS FOR SALE!

Another episode of While Jeremy's Away!

People always talk about how their kids get into stuff, and I always think how lucky I am I haven't had these problems. I always say how Logan has so much energy and gives me a run for my money. He is now my favorite compared to Haylie and Hannah. So here is the add:

Adorable, sweet twins for sale, innovative, clever, mischievous, love to dance, will smile for food. They know how to dress themselves and open the refrigerator, they will get cereal on the table before you wake up. Earlier risers. Very fashionable. Willing to trade for housekeeping and cooking (except when I need to cook away my frustrations).

Here is the story that is prompting this add. Note it is my fault, well actually it is the fault of this dang computer, I wish I could just chuck it but alas it is my lifeline, and ultimately my fault. UGH! A few of my friends are in the process of moving and selling their homes. I am getting a little stir crazy so I was highly distracted looking at homes we could never afford in locations we could never live. I have this lovely baby monitor so I can hear what is going on in the back of the house. I hear the girls chatting and playing and think nothing of it, I am tired of fighting with them to take a nap. All of the sudden Miranda comes around the corner and says Haylie has black stuff on her face, but didn't get it from Miranda's room. I think great they got into my scrapbooking stuff again. I WISH! Here are pictures of Haylie and Hannah.

Of course Hannah is at fault when asking both of them but when you ask her alone "Haylie did it!" Miranda never got into my make-up, and Logan hasn't either. I guess the moral of this is that two minds are more mischievous than one. The twins are here to teach me I have been too hard on Logan, he is a saint!

Logan I am sorry for all the grief I have given you. Thank you for being a good kid and using quiet time wisely. You score BIG as my favorite child of the day!

I am a wimp.

Monday night I stayed up kind of late. It is usually not easy to go to sleep without your significant other close by. So I went to sleep around midnight. At about 1:30am I heard noise coming form Logan and the twin's room like someone playing with toys. I got up and turned on the bathroom light. and then heard little feet pattering. When I opened the door I saw Hannah climbing back into bed. I thought to myself "She is not feeling well, hopefully Lauren doesn't wake up, now I have to lay down with her for a while..." lots of thoughts for a quick period of time. So I lay down next to her and feel her for head, no fever. Then I ask her if she is feeling OK. No response. I took a good look and she was so OUT! I am not sure if she was sleep walking but it was a little disturbing. So I went back to bed and fell asleep. Then at 2:30am I woke up to another sound of metal being hit, kind of a tin-y sound. I got up again and everyone was sleeping peacefully, except Miranda who is falling into her Daddy's footprints and snores with the best of them! I got back into bed and and was really disturbed. Lauren started making noise so I though I would nurse her while I was awake. I heard another noise. I was starting to panic thinking about how was I going to get rid of whatever was making this noise. Then I saw the light...Logan has this metal tin on his bead filled with his prize possessions. He must have rolled over and hit it, making the tin-y sound. As you can tell I am a wimp and shouldn't be left home alone in charge of 5 little ones who have to protect me!

Toothless

Wouldn't you know crisis would ensue as soon as Jeremy left. Miranda has had 2 loose teeth for a while. The ones to the right and left of her bottom middle teeth, which have already fallen out and have grown back. Anyways we have discovered her top two middle teeth are loose too...back to my story. so Jeremy left on Sunday and I will we gone until tomorrow (I can't wait to see you honey!). On Monday Miranda came to me and showed me her tooth was supper loose, like hanging on by a thin root. She was able to bend it to a 90 degree angle and it was bleeding a little bit. For some reason I freak when my children are bleeding from something other than a skinned knee and fat lip. Jeremy has been the one to tie dental floss around the tooth and pull it out. So I told Miranda in a calm and rational voice "go work on it some more." Then I called Jeremy and left a panicked message he said it started something like this "Hi Jer we have a crisis..." I would like to think I didn't use the word crisis over something so lame, but I wasn't really in my right mind. He started to worry then heard it wasn't really a crisis. He told me I shouldn't use a word like that while he is not here to verify. So my calm cool collected Miranda comes back about 10 minutes later laughing with her bottom jaw poking forward trying to say "Mommy I lost my tooth." It was very cute. So I was saved again. The tooth fairy left her a whole dollar. She was thrilled and I had to let her know that the tooth fairy must think teeth are more valuable now then when I was a kid we only got quarters for our tooth.

She is TWO months!

Lauren was two months old on Tuesday. I took her for her check up and she is doing great. She got two shots and this oral vaccination for Roto Virus (I think that is what is was called). She didn't like the medicine and she really didn't like the shots. She did well and is growing wonderfully. She weighs 12 pounds 11.2 ounces, and is 24 1/4" long. So she gained 2lbs and 6.2 ounces from birth and has grown 2 1/2" in two months. I keep telling people she was supposed to be triplets with Haylie and Hannah but Heavenly Father knew that would do me in, so Lauren is just trying to catch up with them as quickly as possible. She is cute as pie "tootie pie" as Haylie always calls her. It isn't the best picture but the bed head cracks me up. Bed head or not she's a doll!

Barbershop

We played barbershop yesterday. Jeremy needed to get his haircut before his two week "business" trip. He is gone to CUNA school for the last summer, WA-HOO! Logan in the meantime needed a haircut really badly, we don't like long hair Logan, he is too adventurous for me. So we try to keep his hair short before his personality changes. Miranda has been begging to get her hair cut SHORT for some. We have finally relented. Here is a before and after shot of her. I tried to get her to not smile and be depressed for the before shot but this was the best she could do.

Snores

Last night we wnated to do a camp out and smores. I chickened out on the camp out but we decided to make s'mores. Logan was very excited and kept askeing when we were going to make "SNORES." Everytime Logan said it Jeremy would pretend to snore. Logan didn't get it at first then we explained it was S'mores not sNores. He laughed but continued to call it snores and Jeremy continued to snore on que. It was lots of fun. We also took the lazy way out and instead of a fire out side we used our gas sotve which is very simple. Thanks Jami for the idea! Here are a few pictures. Haylie and Hannah were already asleep plus it didn't seem like a good idea to let them put something in a flame!

I got some good pictures of Lauren so I had to add them. She is such a content little baby at only 8 weeks new.

Summer Fun!

It is hard to find things to do during the summer that don't break the bank. Last Thursday I decided to have the kids help me wash the car. They did an excellent job. Considering it had been close to a year since it's last bath I would say they did a perfect job. Here is a picture of us washing the car.

They did such a good it took a little elbow grease but they had the muscle to handle it.

The real reason I wanted to wash the car was to add another stick girl to our family. Our rear window is now complete with the seven Jacobs!

Finally Bragging Rights!

This is a post I am most proud to write! Jeremy is the king of spooking people and very hard to get back, ask his female co-workers. I finally got him. It was fabulous. Anyways Jeremy came home from lunch the windows were all opened and the fresh air blowing in but there was no car in the driveway. He called me on the cell phone which I answered happily. This is how the conversation went:
Jer: "Where are you?"
Me: "Home."
Jer: "Where's the car?"
Me: "Here."
Jer: "I am here, The car isn't here."
Me: "The car IS here."
Jer: "I am standing in the driveway there is no car."
He then comes barreling in the door ready to call the police for our stolen car. I start laughing. He continues to point at the driveway and says "the car is NOT here, April this isn't funny."

Insistently I say "Yes it IS, it is in the garage, come look."

He was so mad at me. It took him a good 15 minutes to calm down before he could eat lunch. I know it was cruel to carry on but He pretended to throw a spider on me and enjoys making me jump. His co-workers ask me if I know how to get him and unfortunately I have no idea. This seemed to work and it wasn't intentional.

So here is the back story: Before we had Lauren we decided we needed to clean out the garage so I could park in it. It was 95% cleaned up. A few weeks ago we finally got a new garage door opener. On Wednesday I had a bit of pent up emotions to deal with so I decided to do what was left in the garage, basically just push aside what was left in the middle. I put the car in the garage. It has thrown off a few people, but I am excited to be able to park in a contained area. Now I don't have to worry when I open the door if this is the one time one of the kids will run in the street.

Thank you Jeremy for cleaning the garage and taking care of one of my million demands. I love you.

My sweet Lauren

It is hard to come up with things to say about the kids to keep you interested or familiar with each of their personalities. Well Lauren's personality is the least influenced by me since she is still so new. 7 weeks and 5 days new to be exact. She is a sweet little girl. I was having an emotionally rough day (any cure for hormones?) I was having a hard time finding a reason to smile bless Jeremy's hear for trying. I looked down at Lauren and she gives me the biggest grin and starts cooing at me. She is the best example of unconditional love...or is it because I feed her...no it's definitely unconditional!Another thing is she sucks her thumb. I have never had a thumb sucker before. It makes me nervous. I enjoy the pacifier because I can throw it away, and I am not really in to child mutilation. So the pacifier is the better choice. Anyways it is so funny watching her move her hand across her face as she attempts to land her thumb in her mouth. Amazingly enough, when she wants to she succeeds. One praise to the thumb I can never forget to pack it. I can tell she is going to be a smart one. She will also always have a back up. I tell you I love this girl, and that is not because she looks just like me!

My Handsome Beggar

I think I have mentioned this habit before from our trip to Utah when Logan was "begging" Grandpa Alan for money. Well he got scolded for it and no longer begs for money. It has turned into a potentially far worse habit. He has metal detectors for eyes.

I was beginning to think we had a wonderfully behaved son when ever we went some where. He would hold on to the stroller as he has been scared into obedience to do. What I didn't realize is he was absent-mindedly holding on as he scours the ground for anything that may resemble lost change! He will be peacefully walking then stop and spread out his arms as if protecting everyone from eminent danger and yell "Money." That in and of itself is embarrassing enough as he leaves the side of the stroller where his other FOUR siblings are. Usually the money happens to be next to an occupied cash register where unsuspecting patrons are purchasing their goods. He will climb or reach between their feet to grab a penny. In fact I think he has gotten a few people to move out of his way. Jeremy and I are seriously thinking about taking him to the beach and renting him out for those of you who are interested in buried treasure. This boy can find it.

We think if we send him out for an hour a day we may be able to pay cash for our next home in no time! What are the child labor laws for that???

Busy, busy, busy

This past week has been a little busy, but not very productive. I have to say I have been exhausted. I usually revel in quiet time and brag to my friends how all the kids are asleep for about 2 hours of the day. Well with new baby comes new routines. As posted before the little girls (I need to stop saying "the twins...any suggestions?) are now in a big bed. They will not go to sleep unless I lay with them. You might say great the three of you can lay down together. Oh no! Lauren knows as soon as I fall asleep because she will wake up. In the meantime Haylie and Hannah need me to lay ON them so they can not move in order for them to fall asleep. As soon as they hear Lauren cry they are very concerned on the outside. On the inside they are thrilled because Mommy will have to leave to tend the baby. So I think well I will sit in here and nurse Lauren and watch the girls until they sleep. They have also learned while I am nursing I can't do much else as far a keeping them still or enforcing rules. So I might as well say good bye to quiet time as I knew it. I do have to say that Miranda will sit in her room for two hours reading, Logan will sit quietly on his bed and fall asleep after about an hour. The girls will at least stay in their bed, for the most part, when I am not in the room. The only problem is they wrestle with each other and talk non-stop. That brings me to a separate topic, I have 5 chatter boxes. Lauren just coos and it is cute but I look into my crystal ball and see very noisy car trips or none at all!

Back on subject, I have been exhausted, a little overwhelmed. frustrated that they won't all sleep on my schedule...starting to feel numb about what I am not accomplishing. So tonight I was sitting looking at the new Stampin' up Catalog (my therapy) and watching The Legend of Johnny Lingo with the family (I can still muti-task when I benefit from it ;-P). As soon as it was over and the music and credits started playing all four kids jumped up to dance and laugh. Jeremy even started dancing with the kids. I couldn't help it tears came to my eyes and the thought of how lucky I am to have this atmosphere in my home. It was like a scene from a movie where life is momentarily perfect without a care in the world. It was FABULOUS! I am so grateful to have a home where so much laughter and togetherness is abundant. I am thankful for my children who can frustrate me to no end, but still love me and give me hugs and kisses every night or run to me when they get hurt. For a husband who spoils me, even though the bathrooms are rarely cleaned, I never do laundry and he is lucky when dinner is cooked when he gets home. I think the subject of my blog was a little off but goes with my theme Busy...or Not?

I love the Farmer's Market

Since the summer is here I am trying to think of various ways to keep the kids busy and the house clean. I am succeeding at the first half rather well. One thing I decided to do was to take the kids to story time at the library and then to the Framer's Market where they play music. It was my first experience. I met my Grandma, my sister Katie, and her daughter Alani. It was fun to walk through the booths and sample fresh fruit. I found that the twins will eat about anything and so will Logan. Miranda on the other hand just likes to sample it then tell me she doesn't like it. We got to try white nectarines, peaches, apricots, blueberries, strawberries, and Bing cherries (I think that is what they are called). I had never tried a nectarine before and it was delicious. For $2 I got 2 nectarines, 2 peaches and 3 apricots. I also got some Mexican zucchini to make zucchini bread. The kids also got some flavored honey straws. My recommendation would be try the sour watermelon flavor and steer clear of the lime flavored ones YUCK! To top it all off Katie bought us some tamales and my Grandma treated us to some Kettle corn. It is so much better than the kind you pop in your microwave. Sorry Mr. Orville. As we were packing it in the cherry lady had three bags of cherries left selling them for $1/pound originally going for $3.25/pound. The only catch was you had to either buy 3 or 5 pounds. So I told my grandma they were $5 for 5 pounds of cherries, she told me I should get them, but I wanted to save my money to get $1 scoops at Baskin Robbins. So she said Here's $5 go get them, as I walk away she says here's another $5. So we ended up with 10 pounds of cherries. She took half to my uncle and Katie took about a third of the other bag and I got the rest. I felt like I got the best deal ever.

So know here's the treat for all you who are still reading. I made Cherry Pie filling. I didn't have a cherry pitter so someone suggested using a straw to push the pits out. It worked fabulous. I am not sure who to credit with this recipe I got at www.allrecipes.com. I then changed it a tad.

Cherry Pie Filling

4 c. Cherries, pitted

1 c. sugar (1 1/4 c. if using sour cherries)

1/4 c. brown sugar (I thought this sounded good so I added it, but it wasn't in the recipe I found)

1/4 c. flour

1/2 t. cinnamon

With some of the pie filling I made Cream Cheese Filled Coffeecake With Fruit Preserves and Crumble Topping. Of course substituting the preserves with my homemade pie filling. I also used the Bisquick coffee cake recipe for the cake part adding a little less milk and a little sour cream along with some cinnamon and again a tablespoon of brown sugar.

Then I made my very first fruit pie. I used Greta Cousins Recipe for the crust. I am not a crust fan but it turned out pretty good.

Pie Crust from Greta Cousins

2 c. flour

1 t. salt

2/3 c shortening

5 T. cold water

Cut together the first three ingredients, sprinkle water on top. Mix together wih fork until it forms a ball. Cut in half. Roll into ball and flatten on floured pastry sheet. Roll out into a circle to fit pie plate.

Having never made a pie before it was very easy and it turned out good enough to take a picture and post it here.

I look forward to getting some new fruit next week and trying something new. It is a wonder I have a hard time loosing weight. I wished exercising was as much fun and tasted just as good. Oh and thank you Grandma for the cherries, sorry I didn't bake the pie before you left. At least I know I can make crust so I will bake one when you come in the fall but with APPLES!

Blessing

It was a special weekend. My mom came to visit from Ohio. While she was here, along with my grandma, we decided to give Lauren her name and blessing. Jeremy gave a wonderful blessing. I always wonder if Jeremy will change the name on the church records so it will be different from that on her birth certificate. So far he has kept it the same. Ha-ha! The people in the circle were her uncle Chris, Chris Rossi, Tim Doll (who also gave a great talk that day), Matt Cook, and Max Cassie. Lauren was our first baby to cry during her blessing but it wasn't too loud that it could not be heard which was nice for me. Also aunt Katie was there to share this special time for Lauren. When we came home we took a few pictures so here they are.

Here is a picture of four generations.

Change is in the wind

It has been a little hard getting the kids switched around and settled down into their new bedrooms. Last week we set up the new bunk beds where Logan, Haylie and Hannah will sleep. We haven't got Miranda's bed frame yet so she is a floater right now. Today we finally put the twins' mattress in their bed frame. So tonight was the first night they slept in their new bed. It was a little rough getting them to sleep but no more difficult than when they were in cribs, in fact I was quite pleased. I went in to check on them an hour or so later and found the girls all crazy like in their bed. Hannah is laying sideways on Miranda. It is Miranda's leg coming out at the bottom. Haylie meanwhile is talking up half the bed with all measly 24+ pounds of her. AMAZING!



And just so you know Logan was not bothered one bi by sleeping in his own bed. He was the first one asleep, and seemed to be content with the new sleeping arrangements. While the girls were crazy n the bottom bunk he looked very peaceful on the top bunk.

WIld Thang...

My grandma went for a ride with her son, my uncle, on his motorcycle. They came by and we took a few pictures. It was fun pretending we were all hot stuff. All bark and no bite! Oh well it was fun to be a little rebellious. Some show it off a little better than others, Nana and Katie...what is with the tongue thing. Just kidding. Thanks Robert for letting us all sit on your bike.

When I was a little younger than Miranda is now (or a little older than Logan) I have a picture of me sitting on the back of my uncle's bike. It was cool to have the same picture with my daughter minus the wonderful colors of the early 80's. I guess it could have been the lovely oranges and greens of the 70's. Anyways here is a slide show of some of my crazy family.

Watching...

This is just a little vent because this is my online journal so feel free to skip it. It has been a rough week, I am glad to say it hasn't been my rough week per se. It is a time I hope will pass quickly but want to remember to be humble and know it can't be done alone. A very close person whom I love is going through a hard time. Just when you think it can't get worse it goes one step farther. I guess that is usually how a trial goes, you begin to feel like you must be made of rubber because you have to bend further than you thought was humanly possible. The term refiners fire come to mind. You need to be stripped down to barely hanging on than you get rebuilt in a way you didn't see coming before it all began. I guess that is how they purify gold or a similar precious metal. Burn away all the impurities then bend it, pull it and reshape it into something perfect, valuable and treasured. This person is struggling in so many aspects of her life but she is so strong. Sometimes these trials are to remind you how strong you are and let me tell you this young lady comes from strong, independent stock, that is for sure. The hard part for me is watching helplessly as she has to endure this for the most part alone. No one else can shoulder the pain except the Savior. As an imperfect being I can do nothing but show love.

It wasn't that long ago I watched someone else go through similar feelings of loss, who questioned their worthiness, usefulness, or even the decision that started the mess. Even though in both cases the decisions were honorable and filled with integrity. Things could have been a lot different had that initial choice been different but neither would come out better for having gone through it. I can say both have a testimony and that is what will get her through this time. Well, that and the love and support of those who truly love her and will be there to support her and catch her when times are rough. I hope they can make her laugh too, that is what gets me through my little rough patches.

Always have a spare...

I love my kids I really do...tonight Jeremy and a few friends are going to an A's game. I decided that we will have a kid friendly low dish meal. What can be easier than barbecue burgers and tater tots. So things are going great Lauren is still sleeping in her car seat and the rest of the kids are happily playing inside. As I am putting the cheese on the burgers the kids come out and play and like good mannered little children shut the door behind them. Can you see where this is going? As the cheese melts I go to get a plate and realize that all the doors are locked. That is right, tater tots are in the oven completely cooked and the burgers are on the grill with nothing to put them on. Miranda starts crying and says "See I told you daddy should have stayed home!" Sadly we have not, as of this post, given anyone a key to our house. I figure, well it is not a problem my mother in law lives about a two minute walk from our house, it will be cold cereal tonight and worst case scenario we hang out at her house until Jeremy gets home. Then I remember I have a sweet little one month old baby inside the house. Luckily we have great next door neighbors who happened to be home, I was able to call Jeremy and tell him to turn around. I can only imagine what the conversation went like when Jeremy had to tell a car full of guys that they had to turn around because April and the kids are locked out with the baby inside. They seemed to be good sports about it when he showed up. Our neighbors gave us a paper plate so the burgers were saved. The guys got here really fast so the tater tots, although well done, were not burnt and crispy on the outside and perfect on the inside. Oh and by the way Lauren was still sleeping peacefully when we opened the door. So my advice after this experience...make sure you have an accessible spare key!

The fun has arrived...

Well a few of us have made it through our pregnancies. This is a follow up picture to my My prego groupies blog entry. Here are the adorable babies and then a picture of the adorable mommies.


(l to r)Sophie April 12; Tyler April 18; My Lauren May 17; Alexandra March 12



Just a few more more babies to go, Natalie, Tara, Valorie!!!!!

Adults say dumb things too!

OK, I often share the funny things kids say, but as parents we sometimes have a lip of the tongue too, or a thoughtless moment. I had one I would like to share.

We have this really good friend. Jeremy and I were talking as he was reading their blog. I was commenting on how sad it was that his mom passed away when he was young and his dad is on his last leg. He himself is still young so to loose both parents before you are thirty is sad. Jeremy turned around and said that was a mean thing to say. I was confused, because his dad is an older man and health wise is not doing so well, they didn't expect him to live much passed Christmas. Then Jeremy kindly reminded me that his dad just had his leg amputated two or so weeks ago. He is literally on his last leg. Health wise he is doing good, my blunder was insensitive but it wasn't intentional. So I felt like a little kid speaking without thinking. Although it is a sad situation he married into a great family and has wonderful in-laws.

Funny quotes of the week

Logan was sitting at the table and asked "Why do we have Cabbages in our mouths?" I asked if he meant cavities and he said no Cabbages. So I asked what cabbages looked like and he described the filling Miranda just got in her mouth. So we got a little chuckle and embarrassed Logan.

Lauren was crying and Logan came to me in a concerned almost panicky tone and said Lauren is crying for her milk. Jeremy had been dying to ask this, he said "Where is Lauren's milk?" Logan without missing a beat said "In Mommy's milk thingies that hold milk!" I guess I have not been very modest while nursing.

I guess that is all for now. Life has been super crazy so I haven't had time to digest much and write about it. I can't wait until school is out...I guess that doesn't make life slow down, it just makes it hotter. Oh well.