Happy Birthday Thing 1 & Thing 2

My "Thing 1" & "Thing 2"

Well I have no idea where the time has gone, but Audrey and Lydia are now one! I can't believe it. They are getting so big and changing so fast. I need to find a way to freeze them in time. Their birthday was Friday the 14th, and we celebrated in Dr. Seuss Style on Saturday the 15th. It was a great party. We had invited friends and family alike and everyone enjoyed their stay. That is everyone other than the girls. They were both in bed before the end of the party. Audrey wasn't feeling well that morning and she wasn't too thrilled to see so many people. When I made her stick her hand into her cake she began crying and it didn't stop till she went to bed. It was her party and she did "cry if she wanted to!". Lydia was just tiered so by 1:30 so she was off to join Audrey in bed.

Uh mom...I got stuff on my hands...

The "smash" cakes.

Lydia enjoying her cake.

The party theme was "Thing 1 & Thing 2". We had a bounce house for the kids and several games for them to play. The girls each had a "smash" cake to eat and play in while the rest of us had cup cakes. We had three kinds to choose from, white cake with cream cheese frosting, vanilla bean with cream cheese frosting or "thing 1 & 2" cupcakes with red velvet cake and cream cheese frosting complete with cotton candy for the blue hair on top. The thing about these cup cakes is that you have to make them just before you are ready to eat them. The moisture from the frosting melts the cotton candy leaving you just a pile of blue sugar on top. Really cute idea for about 15 min.

"Thing 1 & 2" cupcake

We had a pizza, salad, fruit k-bob, & veggies for lunch. I think everyone had a great time. The kids made their way between the bounce house and the drink bucket. Stopping along the way for some games. Pin the hair on the thing, cat in the hat dress up relay, and balancing book relay.

Before everyone left we gave them a bag to fill full of red and blue candy. We also gave each family a Dr. Seuss book to take home. I wanted to give everyone a book, but couldn't afford to, so we gave one to each family.

The site of the party. This is the "green" space in our development. Thanks for the shade dad! What a life saver. He even colored it in the coordinating color of the party!

The girls got some really cute things from our guests and family. Thanks to everyone who came. It was a lot of fun! I have to say that I'm a little sad about the girls turning 1, but excited for the new things to come.

Mothers

My mom. She is the best. She is the kind of "hands on" mom you wish for. She was always around when we were kids. She was the room mother in our elementary school classes. She was our tour guide when we were kids out on summer break. Always planning fun things to do with ALL 4 of her children, by herself, I might add. She was the one who checked up on us, she was the nurturer. She still is. She is the best grandmother I could ask for. She willingly came and sat with my THREE kids under THREE for 8 days, by herself. She loves me and my kids. She gets down on the floor with the kids and plays with them. She remembers all their birthdays and holidays and is sure to drop something fun in the mail so my kids know her well. She's AMAZING! I love my mom, especially now that I am a mom. I now know all the sacrifices that she made for us and NEVER complained about. She still makes sacrifices for us, and she still never complains. She does it with a smile on her face. I can't even express how blessed I am to call her MY MOTHER! Happy Day today mom! LOVE YOU! To the moon and back...

kiddo update

Lydia is becoming a parrot. She has taken to shaking her head "NO" when we say the words. She is also getting really fast at the army crawl. It's really fun to see the girls progress these days. It's amazing how fast they are learning things.

Audrey, still content to sit, is starting to move a bit more. She's just taking her sweet time. While she is still upset by Lydia taking her toys, or moving away from her, she is getting better about moving on her own. She has also started to clap her hands which she is very pleased about.

Myles is still growing like a weed. He's as big as a four year old. His speech is getting better and better. He is gaining more words each day. Not all that intelligible, but at least he is trying. His vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds!(He doesn't qualify for speech assistance from the state, he isn't deficient enough so we will continue to work on it ourselves)

The kids are doing great. I love my job. It's great to be a mom.

Happy 40th Bjorn!

To celebrate Bjorn's 40th birthday, we traveled with our good friends Emily and Steve, across the "pond" to beautiful Ireland. Thanks to the generosity of my fabulous mother, who stayed with my three kids, we enjoyed 6 wonderful nights in a fantastic country. We got a fabulous deal on a total package that made this trip possible. Thank You Adare Manor! We loved your fabulous grounds and the home away from home that you provided us with. Here are a few pictures of the beauty of this country.

(Our first stop was Dingle. It's one of the last few places in Ireland that still speaks and teaches Gaelic in school. They have some signs in Gaelic too, but since it's a large tourist spot many have english translation under it. This area once had a population of about 40,000, but because of the potato famine they now have only about 10,000. It's a very sleepy little sheep village. We really enjoyed our time there. )

This is a common sight along the coast of Ireland. There are some cliffs that are even taller than these.

The "rock of Cashel", a beautiful spot that was taken by many over hundreds of years.

Is this road one lane or two?! Silly me, it's two! And don't forget that we drive on the left, from the right side of the car, and shifting with the left hand. Good job Steve!

The beautiful Manor that played host to us. It's a fabulous 800+ acre estate. We didn't stay in the manor itself, we had an entire villa to ourselves. We did tour the Manor and we also had a fantastic three course dinner in the main dining hall complete with candle light!

These are the Villas. They are a 2,000 Sq. Foot home with 4 bedrooms, 4 baths, kitchen, dining, living and sunroom. We all loved it.

This ruin is on the property. It sits on the Maigue River, a world class trout and Salmon river. We even saw two fly fishermen one morning.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! Our morning started earlier than Bjorn and I would have liked. Myles woke us up at 6:15. Not willing to come back to bed, we all went down stairs for the egg hunt. Then the babies awoke and were excited to see what the fuss was all about. Can you tell from the pictures of the girls that they were not quite awake yet.

With no church to get ready for we had a nice leisurely morning while getting ready to listen and watch conference. It was great, watching and eating while being in your PJ's. I think this is how church should be every week.

After conference we had some friends over to the house for traditional Easter dinner complete with another huge egg hunt outside. What a great day! I Love holidays now that Myles is getting older. It's fun to see the excitement on his face.

Ireland to come, stay tuned!

"Chompers"

So the girls both have two bottom teeth now. It's really been fun to stick your finger in there and have them chew away. Well, no more. It's now not safe to put your fingers into their mouths. They can and will bite you, HARD.

10 month check up

The girls had their official check up yesterday. It was the 9 month check up, but we couldn't get in till they were 10 months. So here are the stats. Audrey is 30 inches tall and weighs 19#15 oz. That puts her in the 50% for weight and 95% for height. Lydia is close behind at 29 1/2 inches tall and 19#2 oz. Which places her in the 50% for weight and 90% for height. The Doctor said we have beautiful slender girls. Not skinny, slender. I had to laugh that they are so tall. He keeps asking me where we get such tall kids from. I DON'T KNOW! Myles is still a giant at 39# and 40 inches tall. Off the charts for him.

On a more serious note the doctor detected a slight heart murmur on Lydia. He just wants to watch it for the next little while, but we may be going to visit a Cardiologist in the future. It isn't the kind of thing a parent likes to hear from the Pediatrician, but I'm trying not to get to worried about it and just wait till we have more information. Anyone an expert in this area is welcome to send any and all information my way.

The girls are doing great! Hitting all their Milestones and are just a general delight to have. They couldn't be more happy babies. Lydia is "soldier crawling" all over the house, while Audrey is content to sit still or roll to her destination. Most of the time she doesn't move at all. They both have two teeth on the bottom and are "talking" a lot. They love to be near each other but and are not so nice to each other when it comes to hitting and kicking.