Cookie Monsters

So, here's a very long, drawn out background for a very short story.  Sorry, but sometimes it must be done.

Mia has been in Girl Scouts this year with her friends from across the street.  Her very savvy sales abilities got her father to order 12 boxes! (Aunt Kelli ordered 10, Dad, if you want to beat her you'll have to order at least 11).  The cookies arrived 3 weeks ago and 1 week ago, they were  all consumed.  Well, the twins can't be convinced that the cookies are all gone and are constantly requesting "keekees".   This would not normally be a problem because I would just make them cookies, but my oven broke last week.  Over the weekend their constant "keekee, keekee" convinced Aunt Julia to make them some cookies while we were at her house, but those lasted all of 5 minutes with 8 little cookie (and dough) eaters hovering around the kitchen, so there weren't any left to take home with us.  Yesterday I finally dragged my toaster oven out of storage and fired it up.  I can make 9 cookies at a time in that thing and it doesn't exactly cook evenly, but desperate times call for desperate measures, right?  So, amid squeals of delight, we baked ourselves some delicious, fresh "keekees".  The whole family was excited about them, apparently, because this morning there were no "keekees" to be found.  This afternoon we once again fired up ol' reliable and made more cookies.  Joshua wanted one right as the first batch came out of the oven.

Which brings us to....

Joshua:  Keekee pees
Me:  Not yet, the're hot
Joshua: Haht keekee pees.

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Mr. Jiff

The other day I was driving home with my kiddos when Mia, sounding rather annoyed, announced that Lucas was calling her "mischief".  I responded that "mischief" was probably an appropriate name for all of the children in the car and not to let it bother her.  Lucas, even more annoyed, yelled back, "no Mom!  SHE'S mischief, and the boys are Mister jiff." 

Picture This

My camera is broken.  I really wish it wasn't because there have been some crazy photo ops this week.  One day Joshua took all the clothes out of Lucas' closet and tried to put them all on. He got about 5 shirts piled on his shoulders.  And that was after he unfolded my whole pile of laundry and put all the underwear on his arms.  A couple days ago Lucas put a big cardboard box on its side and put pillows and blankets inside.  Then he and the 2 little boys climbed inside and "read" books.  It was so precious.  Yesterday I caught the twins sitting on the counter by the microwave with carrots sticking out of their mouths.  They were having a lovely chat and snack together.  (They are always on the counter these days.  In fact I think they are there right now and I should be getting them down instead of writing in here. Thank goodness for older siblings.)  This morning Joshua put an empty cereal box on his head like a hat so I had to find one for Joseph too and then they both put on a pair of my shoes and clomped around the house for a while.  Then this afternoon they sat in the opening of their cardboard box house, each holding a bowl of Cheetos Puffs, eating and chatting until their fingers and faces were covered in orange Cheetos mystery matter and the entire bag of Puffs was gone.  So, I really wish my camera wasn't broken but unfortunately the subjects of most of those pictures are the cause of the break in the first place.  Those two little angels are going to be the death of me!

Some pics

My brother Eric came and took some pictures of my family.  It was quite the chore to say the least.  The twins were due for their year and a half pictures, and that has to be the absolute worst age to get pictures. Times that by 2 and then add a Lucas who has never ever liked getting pictures done, and it was pretty much impossible.  Thanks Eric and Julia for doing such a great job with such difficult subjects. 

Joshua is always on the phone if he can find one.  If you get a phone call from us and nobody is there, it's probably Joshua.  I think poor Shelly Allen gets called everyday because she is the first one in our phones.  Sorry Shelly!


 

 

The family. (From left to right) Mia, Joshua, Isaac, Lucas, Linnaea, Joseph, Trevor

 



Joseph 19 months



Joshua 19 months







So sweet, right?

And it just gets sweeter!
(Except that Joshua is not hugging his brother, he's clobbering him with his head!)



"Ahh, hey bro, what's wrong?  why you cryin?"
(hehehehe)

 



The darling children
Trevor, Mia, Lucas, Joseph, Joshua

 



The End



Wait, how did it get to be November already?

photo by Eric Despain
despaindailyphoto.blogspot.com

Life is racing by right now.  I honestly cannot believe that Thanksgiving is one week away and Christmas is just around the corner.  Where did the year go?  The twins are the same age Lucas was when Trevor went to Kindergarten and now Lucas is in Kindergarten!  Where did the last 4 years go?  Things are a bit calmer now that the 3 big kids are in school.  I do miss them being around, but nap time is awfully nice and quiet.  The twins are crazy, crazy.  Joseph's new game is to push a chair over to the counter, climb up, open a cupboard and start throwing things down.  Usually on top of Joshua.  Yesterday I finally just brought all the chairs into my room and closed the door.  I'm sure it won't be long before he figures out he can just climb up the drawers though.  One day he pushed a cake off the counter and it smashed all over the floor.  While I was cleaning it up, he got down,  picked up a fistful of cake, smiled at me and said "wewcome mom", and walked off.  Yeah, thanks little buddy.  Really though.  It's really, really fun.  I keep telling myself the messes will go away and I will miss the mess makers.  All my kids make me so happy.  I can't imagine life without one of them.  We are so blessed. 

Family Vacation... Isn't it about TIME!

Having two small babies does not make one want to load a family up in a car with belongings to last several days and drive for hours and hours and hours.  No, it makes one want to stay home and tell people if they want to see you then they will have to load their own family and come visit you!  It also makes one feel a little stir crazy when one's family is used to traveling quite a bit and one's family hasn't been anywhere for almost 2 years (because growing 2 babies in one's tummy isn't condusive to travel either).  So, this 4th of July weekend we finally went somewhere!  We spent 3 whole nights in a condo with just our little family where we went swimming and hiking and slept in! We met up with some friends from the good ol' days and had yummy food and fun times at a park.  We went to a really neat children's museum, then we watched some great fireworks at the home of a wonderful, kind family.  It was so great to just get away from the rut of our life and enjoy each other's company.

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Eau de toilet

My life is embarking on a whole new level of chaos.  The rule last week was no children on the table!  Yesterday I changed that rule to- Fine! sit on the table, but I'm moving the sugar bowl first, and when you're ready to get down just let me know and I'll help you.  Please don't try to do it yourself.  Please....  Ok, you can do it yourself, but let me put pillows all over the kitchen floor first. I'm afraid I'm going to be on a first name basis with the 911 dispatcher pretty soon too.  How many times can you call them without having an emergency before they take you to jail anyway?  I used to change the boys' clothes when they got dirty, but now that it has warmed up they mostly just run around in their diapers.  I wish I could just run around sans clothes too.  My already huge laundry piles would be smaller if we all didn't have multiple wardrobe changes every day.  I've had one year olds before, but this is INSANE!  Every day I pull several things out of the toilets (including the babies), get barfed on, peed on, and sometimes a little bit of ickiness from their diapers shows up somewhere on my person. Starting to think that strange mystery odor in my house is not in the fridge, but on me!

From Tiny to 10

Trevor was born at 4:20 am, 10 years ago.  Of all my scary pregnancies and births, his was the scariest.  Partly because it was my first experience with child birth and I didn't know what was happening, but also because he was born the most premature, and when he was born he was not breathing and they had to revive him.  It was a very quiet room.  You never know the joy of a crying baby until there is no sound.  He didn't cry at all for days, and then it was just a tiny, small sound.  Now, nothing he does is small or tiny.  He's loud and happy, and life is one big, grand adventure for him.  He sucks information up like a sponge, always looking for something new to absorb, something to add to his already vast collection of knowledge.  He's also a very serious kid at times, and can often be found somewhere lost in a book.  I really love that kid.  I often wish I could be more like him.  Happy Birthday T.  I will always count you as one of my greatest blessings.

Friends

There is a road by my house that has a speed limit of 50 miles per hour.  A few years ago a friend showed up at my door to take me to get some ice cream and tell me that she was moving away to a teeny tiny town in Wyoming.  It kind of took the fun out of the ice cream.  We drove home on that road and she crawled along at about 30 mph much to the chagrin, I'm sure, of the drivers behind us.  I always think of that night, and her, when I am following someone going slower than the speed limit on that road and am happy for the reminder.  My mind then often moves on to the many good friends I've had along my journey, and the many goodbyes I've had to say over the years.  I have been blessed with good friends that have helped shape who I am now and am so grateful for the influence each has had in my life.  I am glad for the occasional reminder when someone helps me slow down, and remember.

Barfing and Hospitals (who needs 'em!)

What a month!  The night of the twins' birthday Joshua threw up.  We thought it was the cake and excitement, but the next day he was still throwing up and his diapers were, well, sick.  Joseph started in on it 2 days later, and for the next 2 weeks, I was cleaning up a lot of barf, and changing "sick" diapers, and I learned to never, ever, leave a diaper off a sick baby for even the tiniest of moments.  Very gross. Thankfully, Isaac was the only other one to get it, and it lasted only 2 days for him.  Joseph ended up being dehydrated enough that he was admitted to the hospital for IV fluids, only they couldn't get the IV in and we just gave him 1 tsp of pedialyte every ten minutes.  All day and night.  At the hospital.  With no nurses showing up except to take vitals every 4 hours.  Not sure why we had to be at the hospital for that one!  Anyway, a week after they stopped ralphing all over they had their 1 year well baby appointment where the doctor decided it was time to further investigate the sore on Joshua's bum that has been there for at least 9 months, maybe 10.  2 days later they did an ultrasound on it and 4 hours later Isaac was in the car headed for Denver Children's Hospital with Joshua so they could do an emergency surgery on his little hiney. He had a fistula that had abscessed ( it was an infection that went directly from his rectum out to his skin).  Anyway, the fix is to cut it all open and let it heal itself.  Without stitches.  It's almost healed and I am excited for him to have pain free diaper changes for the first time since he can remember.  I wonder if that's why he's been so fussy.  With all that going on, it is time for the end of school year activities, programs, projects, field trips, etc. and Lucas is getting tested and signed up for kindergarten in the fall.  I'm not sure which way is up or down or sideways right now, but at least we all seem to be fairly healthy again which I don't actually want to say too loud for fear of the germs hearing me and showing up again!  I'm pretty sure we'll all survive though.  If it doesn't kill you it only makes you stronger.  I think.

Two are 1

 

We survived the first year. The twins are 1 year old today!  (Phew)

My favorite 5

My little Lucas is 5 years old today.  He has been a little raging ball of fire from the beginning, but he also has the been the sweetest, most loving child I know.  He spontaneously gives me hugs and kisses and declares he loves me many times a day.  It takes a lot of hard work and coaxing, but if you win this kid over, he is yours for life! We are so grateful for the blessing he has been to our family.  Happy birthday my little Plum!  I'll love you forever and ever.  (He was going to have a batman cake, but then last night he decided to have a "church boy" cake!)

Weighing in at 6 lbs 1 oz, Lucas is my biggest baby!

5 years ago....