Just Some PIctures

I know, I know, I never blog.  Do you?  I didn't think so.  Here are a very few pictures of a few things that have been happening lately.  I have a terrible camera phone, but that's the thing that is with me all the time.  So I take a lot of pictures with that, but I never put them on the computer.  Lazy and not tech-savvy.  These pictures are from random occasions when I've had my camera with me

We went to the Strawberry Festival last weekend with our friend Sarah.  We've been friends for a long time- like 18 years!  It's so nice to have her and her sister Emily to hang out with still and know and love.  Anyway, we went to the festival, and there was a contest for cutest berry baby and best berry hat.  You can't really see my hat- it's a strawberry fascinator with a giant strawberry flower and on the flower a little birds nest with a hummingbird and strawberry eggs.  Clever, I thought, but not crazy enough to win.  And Rose's costume, while darling, looked like everyone else's costume.  The winner was a chubby little baby with a berry colored tutu.  Oh well, there's no accounting for taste!  :)

Clark is a fun, interesting, and sometimes challenging person to be around.  Here he is in a fun mood- hunting for Easter eggs...

...and in an interesting mood? with a hat that he designed himself.

Our 3 oldest kids share a room now.  The girls generally more than tolerate him, and things are going well for now!

Search Engine

Do you find yourself sitting down to your computer- or almost sitting down to your computer- with the intent to type ridiculous questions into the search engine?

Where is my retainer?  While I'm at it- why is it not where it always is?

Where is that missing library book?  (followed by a real internet search for said book, when I give up and end up buying it to replace the book that we misplaced.)

What is happening with my friend?  How is her divorce treating her?

What time is Paul coming home?

How to make kids eat veggies

Why is Rose up early from her nap?

Make my kids do chores

Make time to fix hair

How to like doing service

How to explain to school friends about why we don't do Sunday birthday parties

The list goes on.  After my internet search doesn't work, I often resort to prayer.  I may have been using the wrong search engine all along.

It's Groundhog Day!

One of my favorite movies is groundhog day. Bill Murray living the day over and over again until he has perfected it doesn't get old to me.  What does get old to me is Sunday in church with Clark.  What will it take to perfect that day? Maybe aging ten more years? Other than that, I feel I am out of ideas and strategy.

Parents of boys/4-year olds, chime in here. How to reach reverence and respect. Is there a way?

Ramblings About Parenting

I'm recovering from being sick, so I felt a little smug when after listing all of the things that he had to do today, Paul asked me what my plans were and I said, "nothing".

I had big plans for that nothing, which, with small children at home, is never really nothing.  Gone are the days when nothing meant sleeping in, reading a book, taking a shower, and taking a nap.  But, even not having places to go and people to see felt pretty luxurious, and I was going to wallow in it.  Even at 5:30 in the morning.

But, this is where having 4 kids comes in.  You know, I feel pretty confident as a mom.  My kids are old enough now to make me feel pretty seasoned, motherwise, so I love to give unsolicited advice to other parents.  It's just one of the beautiful habits I have, and I know that the world loves to hear from me.  You lucky, lucky world!  I tell parents about my girls slowly overcoming their shyness.  I talk about different potty-training techniques and strategies.  I love to show parents how lucky they are to have one mild-mannered kid throwing a weak tantrum while I carry Clark screaming across the preschool yard, while keeping a grip on Rose too.  I am a parenting pro, you see.  And lest you forget, I have twins!  The point of this self-deprecation is to tell you that when people ask me how it is having 4 kids, I usually have some sort of blithe response:  "Well, you don't have them all at once, so that helps- except for the part where I started out with twins.  Ha ha!"  "Oh, it's much easier as they get older.  They go to school!"  "Well, we just love kids!"  "We both came from big families, so it feels normal to us!"  Truly, though, I love our family.  Parenting is hard, but the best thing that anyone can do.  You know that already, right?

Those Cuties

Anyway, having many kids ends up being all about the schedule.  A typical day for me involves waking up around 5 to feed Rose and putting her back to sleep.  Then reading scriptures, e-mails, and various time-wasters.  Then taking a shower and getting things going.  Making breakfast, lunches, and getting the kids off to school.  Changing and feeding that hungry baby, nurturing Clark, getting baby nap in, running errands, teaching Clark, playing, getting Clark to school.  Then 3 hours of quiet and a little bit of baby nap before I get the girls, get Clark, get home, get everyone doing what they're supposed to, make dinner, eat, clean up, nurture everyone and go to bed.  We don't even really do extracurricular activities because I honestly don't know how to fit them into our lives.

So, that's a normal day.  It's the weird days are what throw me off.  The choir concert that I attend without Paul because he has a meeting.  Sitting with Clark and Rose after bedtime is not so easy.  Doctor's appointments are tricky.  Days like today, where Grace had a breakdown 2 minutes before it was time to go to school because she was sick and didn't tell me and then later we had to get Camille from school because she was sick too, throw me for a loop!  Even though I love being around my girls, it wasn't the "nothing" day I was anticipating.  But, as I do at all times, I feel blessed that I was able to handle it all- all of the loops that life throws at me.

Dreams

I'm dreaming
about a
Bumblebee mixing
every flower mixing
every tree every
single thing
even mixing
Me!

        --Poem by Camille

I Just Found...

The best website for hands-on learners.  Clark would love everything on these pages.  I love the idea of getting the right tools to encourage kids to learn how to do things- from discovering nature around them, to helping in the yard and garden, the tools offered here seem just right.

My Babies!

I can't believe that my girls are almost 8!  We're looking forward to their baptism this weekend.  Crazy!

Here are a few facts about Camille and Grace:
Both girls love to read
They love to play handball ALL THE TIME
They hate cupcakes and frosting
They are great friends and wonderful sisters to each other and to their other siblings
They are good at school and make friends easily.

People always ask me if their personalities are different or the same.  As Grace and Camille are identical twins, it's easy to group them together, and I tend to think of them as one pretty often.  Their personalities are not night and day different (no evil twins here!) but of course, they are individuals.  I usually compare them to me and my sister.  Camille is a lot like me.  She is a great student, but she gets bored, and sometimes does the minimum to get through an assignment to get it over with so she can read a book.  She loves to take care of the baby, who can do no wrong in her eyes.  Grace is like my sister, Rachel.  She loves to be organized, and has certain spaces and things that have to be just so.  She is very reliable.  She chooses to be picky about what to eat and how to eat it.  Grace is an amazing sister to Clark and is always coming up with fun games for him to play.  If he develops a good imagination, it will be because of her. 
We love these girls.  They are much of what makes our home and family good, happy, and balanced.  We are so blessed to have them in our family!

 This is how the girls would end up every night, all curled up together...

 

 ...even after we put them to bed like this!

 

 At about 6 months.  I think that Rose looks just like them

 

 At around 3 with their favorite toys, Mother Cat and a Thomas train.

 

 During a princess phase.  Now they don't like dressing up very much!

 

 With Clark.  Looking at this picture makes me realize that I need to back off of Clark and his attention to Rose.

 

 At 5 with broccoli from the garden.

 

 The best big sisters

 

Just love these girls