Smiles!!

We have to say that life is better when there are smiles all around! So these aren't the best pictures of the twins but you take what you can get, and these smiles melt my heart!

Um... she reminds me of someone....

Oh yeah me!

cute boys too! We love smiles. And yes, they are sincere. Maybe not Turner's but it isn't because he isn't happy, he is just 4 and forgot how to smile once a camera is placed in his face.

Dinosaur park

What do you do when you have all been sick with a cough but you want... no NEED to get out of the house? I had thought about taking them to the children's museum, we have a membership to the one in Ogden and Salt Lake but I thought that other parents might not appreciate it if my kid coughed all over their kid... so we decided to enjoy the beautiful weather that we have been having and pack up and head to the dinosaur park. It is basically a dinosaur museum with then outside they have walking trails with dinosaur statues and a dinosaur themed park. It also has a place where you can "dig up" dinosaur bones. It is pretty cool for 2 year old and 4 year old boys. We really enjoyed ourselves. The twins did what they do best, slept in the stroller! Best of all, we were outside and had less of a risk of spreading our sickness! Turner wrangling the dino!

Max becoming a paleontologist... with his water bottle in his hands :)

The boys with the pteranodons... a favorite thanks to Dinosaur train! Who knew they were SO HUGE! No wonder that baby T-rex fits into the family.

The best part was the robot dinosaurs... they really freaked the boys out! It kinda cracked me up!

I shop there for this reason...

Walmart, what kind of feeling arise when you hear the name of that store? Cheap clothes made by small Chinese children? Boogers wiped on clothing merchandise? What you need NEVER in stock? Big powerful company putting your neighbor out of business? I have to admit that I have had similar feeling towards Walmart in the past. But then something happened... I got married and poor so I started shopping there more often. Then I had kids and got even more poor, then I no longer had time to run around to 3 different stores to shop sales and found out that Wally world PRICE MATCHES! Then I had 4 kids and I can buy most things I need in one store, and I can fit all my kids in the ginormous family cart. I can't even put all my kids in a cart at Costco! I love Walmart!

This may look crazy but compare it to my earlier shopping trip to Joanns. I had to get some material for Halloween costumes. I put the car seats in my top twin tool... the double snap n go. Which we scored at a yard sale for $8.

I then bribe my two oldest with a trip to McDonalds if the behave. Don't judge me.... I knew I would have to feed the babies before I could make it home and so McDonalds and the mall are the best options for me- the kids can play while I nurse 2 babies. So I have the two babies in there with two older ones holding on and trying to push through the small bolt lined aisles. It worked great (I had done Joanns once before with flying colors) UNTIL I needed to get 3 different colors of felt by the yard. Those bolts are HUGE and LONG. Plus I had two other materials which were super slippery. I had tried to stack them all up on the handle. It wasn't working very well as I kept hitting things on all sides of me. I am trying to get to the cutting counter and I can see the take a number dial in front of me. I tell Turner to run ahead and "get a number" so he goes in front of me and starts grabbing sale tags off of sewing machines... duh mom he was just doing what you asked, there are numbers on those! Finally I push my way up to the dial just to have a lady with one small thing in her hand walk in front of me and snatch a number. The other ladies at the counter had PILES of bolts. Poor Cooper kept having bolts fall down on him. After I got the material cut, we played a little choo choo train as Turner held my pockets and Max held onto Turner's hood on his sweatshirt. We were probably 15 feet long from Amelia to Max and the most entertaining thing in the store.

So the worst part was after Joanns, after Walmart and we finally got to McDonalds. I was nursing Amelia and she had just finished so I was going to get Cooper. I thought I had pulled my shirt back down but I had a button-up sweater on and a nursing cover so I guess I had been lulled into a false security. Max happened to bump his head and was running to me, needing a kiss to make it all better, so the whole PlayPlace was looking at me and I bent over and my nursing cover went one way and the sweater went another and I had NOT pulled down my shirt, or pulled up my bra. One guy in specific was looking straight at me- for a second, before he quickly looked away... that is what gave me the clue that my shirt had indeed not been pulled down. I was hanging out like a picture in the National Geographic. So how are your shopping trips? :)

GO AWAY STREP!!!

Poor little guy! I hate it when my kids are wiped out with a fever!

Turner is taking Max's temp. I didn't have the heart to tell him it was suppose to be in the armpit :)

This is us having yet another PJ day!

So I have taken advantage of the fact that we are having yet again another sick day at our house to catch up on blogging. I think there are at lest 10 new posts published today. It has been kinda crazy around here for that last 2 months :) for 3 weeks in a row now, someone at our house has come down with strep. I hope we are done with it since babies rarely get it, and Josh has never had it. Or else we are only half way done :( As long as no one is sick though, it hasn't been too bad around here. I have been able to nurse, we get out once in a while and it really isn't as hard as I thought it would be... except when Josh is in school at night. That is the toughest time for me. So, if you have any sick days at your house, you can take the time to read all of these posts! But for the most part, I need to document this time... it will all be a memory tomorrow.

state fair

I tell you, if I ever wanted to know what it was like to be different, I now know. I have never got so many stares in my life as I did when we went to the Utah state fair! Josh and I each pushing a double stroller walking next to each other. The great thing about being different is that so many people come up to you and chat it up! I really do love the "twins ice breaker." Probably more than most. "yep, they are twins" "yep, a boy and a girl" "yeah the other two are mine also" "no they aren't identical" "yes I do have my hands full" "yes I am busy" It is funny how similar the conversations are with most strangers. We went to go see this and a few other paintings done by our friend Joey. This isn't the best picture of the painting, we got in trouble for taking pictures of other people's artwork. But it got a blue ribbon and we were so happy for him! It really is an amazing water color :)

Antelope Island

I have to admit that Labor day weekend I was feeling sorry for myself because we really couldn't do anything fun. We normally go camping on Labor day but camping wasn't going to happen with a 5 week old twins and only 5 weeks post op. So we decided to have a staycation! On Sat. we went out to Antelope Island. We had been given this Car-i-oke book and we jammed out there! This is what the babies did the whole time (besides eat)

We went out to this old ranch and had a terrific time!

We also got the new Disney Sing it and had a fun singing contest. It was a great weekend and we almost didn't even miss camping!

Just chillin'

This is my cute nephew Camden Rex Robbins that came out with his mom to help take care of us!

um.... need I say more?

The twins... being twins

Couldn't do it without him

Some people say that it is easier to have twins the first babies and I think maybe for some reasons that would be true. But if they had an awesome helper, big brother like Turner and even Max they may change their mind. I can't even tell you how helpful Turner is, I am so glad that I have him to help me everyday! Turner also taught me a lot when he was a baby to help me know how to take care of two babies at one time. I am so blessed!

Max has been interested in helping me nurse. The other day I was walking out of the room with a baby in hand and I was telling him I needed to feed the baby. Max started insisting "no mine" I didn't understand at first but then he lifted up his shirt and I realized that he was wanting me to use "his" to nurse the baby. If only it worked that way :)

Josh's birthday

August 22nd was Josh's 32nd birthday. It was exactly 3 weeks after the twins were born. Both my sisters happened to be here that weekend thank goodness. They made him his favorite, Bananna Cream Pie. We had a great time celebrating with family. I am so glad that this goofy amazing man is my husband and the father of my children. He works so hard for our family and I can't wait for more birthdays to come!

I have got 4 adorable kids!

Sister sister... wasn't that a TV sitcom?

Well, my parents are on a mission in Austria. Who has twins without their mother? Well, I did. Not by choice obviously but it is the blessing/challenge that the good Lord gave us. I had gotten too confident in my parenting ability when I had decided that I could handle having a baby while my parents were gone. I figured I could handle it on my own; that I would be alright. Well, when I discovered that it was twins I knew that we were the farthest from alright I could be. I am so blessed that both my sisters decided to fly out, on their own dime mind you, and come help my little family. It was even cooler when they overlapped a couple of days. These pictures may be mostly Natasha because she is the only one that gave me pictures (hint hint Nicole) They were an amazing help and I feel very blessed that they were able to come!

My boys got very attached to their Aunt Natasha and Nicole and I pray that someday we can all live closer together instead of in 3 separate states!

1st Baths

There is always something so precious about a first real bath. Both Cooper and Amelia loved the bath and didn't even cry at all. My sister Natasha was the photographer and she has got some talent! She got all paparazzi on us and that is just how I like it!

coming home

Coming home from the hospital was very scary. I no longer had a 24 hour nursery to send my precious babies to. I no longer had others looking after my 2 older boys.

It was very overwhelming when we loaded up the car and looked back to realize we now filled up a minivan. After 5 days in the hospital though, it was nice to be home. Once we took the "tags off" (you know all those ID bracelets) it was great to feel like they were finally here and ours.

As helpful as the nurses were, I was glad I didn't have to account to anyone about how much they ate, how many diapers they had etc...

They settled into the pack n' play in our room. There they stayed for 2 months. We laughed that Turner stayed in our room for 6 months, Max for 4 and the twins for 2. I guess if we have anymore they may just go into their own room from the start :)