My Favorite 7-year-old

Emma had her 7th birthday recently! She is the cutest and most fun 7-year-old I know! She had a super fun birthday this year because:

1) Her birthday was on the last day of school so I made cupcakes for everyone in her class and she got to have a little party at school. Thanks Mrs. Miller, Emma will miss you so much!

2) Then we went to dinner that night. My grandma watched Kate and Liza and we headed to Chuck-o-rama which is now the #1 favorite restaurant of all time according the Madison and Emma. They thought it was the bomb.

3) Then we came home and she opened her presents. She is sharing her Just Dance Wii game with all of us since we all love it as much as she does. I think I'll reserve a post just for some quality dance moves caught on camera. It's pretty entertaining to watch! We decided that she also deserves a new wheel for her bike since the other one got crushed by the van last year so now she has a bike to ride!



4) Emma got birthday treats X4! Talk about sugar overload. She had cupcakes with her class at school, then cake and ice cream at Chuck-o-rama, and then we decided she needed to blow out some candles since she hadn't done that yet. So there were some little Pink Lemonade donuts sitting here--we put some candles in those and sang Happy B-day. The next day she had a cake for her friends birthday party too. Too many treats! We'll try to keep that under control a little better in the future...





5) She has so many cute friends, and 11 of them came to her party. I think that is the biggest birthday party I've hosted to this point, and I decide to do that the year that I have 4 month twins. My poor mom was here with the babies and they were NOT nice for her. I dealt with 12 7-year-olds for 2 hours and she dealt with the babies--we were both equally tired I think. But we played lots of fun games and had a fun picnic lunch. By-the-way, Walmart has these "6 foot" sandwiches for $25. We ordered one, thinking of Subway sandwiches (my kids eat about three inches at Subway)....well the sandwich was actually 7 feet 7 inches and it was FAT! Way fatter than Subways. A 1" slice was plenty for the kids.....needless to say we ate that sandwich for every meal for a few days. But the kids thought it was pretty cool to have a sandwich that long!


Emma was spoiled by her friends with lots of really cute gifts. Thanks friends, she really loves you all!


We love you Emma! I'm glad you had such a great birthday, and I'm extra glad to have you in our family! Happy Birthday!

Soccer/Mud

Well soccer season has come and gone! What I saw of it this year was 90% muddy laundry and 10% actual soccer playing. Since it was cold and rainy for most of the games the babes and I had to stay home a lot, but we did make it to one game with the entire family......well eventually, anyway.....

On one particularly sunny day I decided that we were going to get ourselves (meaning Kate and Liza and myself) to the game--Kelly was already there watching Madison play--and sure enough, we got there for the last half of Madison's game and Emma's game was starting shortly. I was feeling quite accomplished! And then someone asked "Where's Emma?" Ooops. I forgot her. She was at home wondering how she was going to get to her game since her mom had left her. So Kelly went and got her, only a few tears had been shed.....and THEN we were ALL there. I wasn't really surprised that I did that, considering that some days I feel like I have about 2 1/2 working brain cells--I'm just glad I left someone at home rather than at the store or the gas station, in the middle of the freeway, near the edge of a cliff, up a creek without a paddle--anything is possible these days.


The game will go on without you if you find some interesting specimen to study in the grass.


Emma was a real go-getter for her first season of soccer! She has bound and determined to score a goal (especially after Kelly waved $5 bills in front of the girls' faces and offered one per goal). She got a couple during the practices and then she just helped out a lot during the games. She played really well!


Brandon and Gina were awesome coaches and she had a very cute team. She loved every minute of it. We loved watching.


Madison and Sydney were on the same team again--which always makes Madison so happy and thanks Becky for driving Madison to most of her practices! It's always fun having friends to watch the games with too. Julisha came to watch a game or two and hang out with Madi and Sydney. I'm so glad Madison has such great friends close to home.


Madison improved a lot from last year, she had a lot more fun this year, too, I think. Last year I heard a lot of "I hate running..." comments and I didn't hear any of that this year! Except for the time her coach made them run laps around the field for most of the practice. I was glad to hear a little complaining that time, a little work is good for her.


It was fun while it lasted! Looking forward to next year's rain/mud/soccer....

Kate & Liza are 4 months old!

The twins had their 4 month check-up yesterday! I can't believe how fast they are growing up. They are doing so well and are getting to be more and more fun.

Liza weighs 12 lb 6 oz and Kate weighs 12 lb 1 oz so they are both around the 20th percentile. Which for my kids is pretty good! I don't think Madison and Emma were in the 20th percentile until they were almost a year old. AND--Liza is in the 77th percentile for length! That is definately a family first. Kate is 11th percentile for length which explains why she looks so much chubbier. She packs around just as much weight as Liza almost but is 2" shorter. I know what that's like, Kate. It's kinda crummy, huh? But good news for you--babies are supposed to be chubby! The chubbier and better!



Kate is really diggin the bumbo already. After about two minutes she starts to look like a bobble head....but I think she feels like such a big girl! She likes to sit up all the time so that she doesn't miss out on a thing. Kate has to start some physical therapy sessions now because she has something called tortecolous (spell?)--it's where they tip their head to one side always and the muscles in their neck get really tight and pull their head to that side more and more.....anyway, we have to get that fixed so that she doesn't end up wearing a helmet in a couple months! But other than that she is great!


Liza isn't so sure about the bumbo and she doesn't really care if she feels like a big girl or not. She's a little more calm and relaxed than Kate is, usually. She hardly ever cries but when she does decide to, watch out! She has a set of lungs on her and she'll scream for 20 minutes straight if she's mad enough. I can probably count on one hand how many times she's done that, though, thank goodness. She's a little more smiley than Kate is right now and she loves to tell little stories.









Some other things about them:
Kate's cry: sounds like the saddest "wah, wah"
Liza's cry: more of an upset "gggggggg" sound

When Kate drinks her bottles she gets milk all over her face. You can see the little hairs on her lower lip/chin because she collects milk there. It's just cute.

Liza's expressions. She makes so many truly entertaining expressions.

Kate gets so excited about toys already. She bats at them with her hands and loves watching them move when she does that. Liza couldn't care less about toys. She just wants people.

Liza is starting to blow bubbles and drool all over. Bibs are coming in handy!

They've been sampling a little bit of juice here and there. Kate can't decide half the time if she likes it but she'll eventually drink it (I try to get it down her so she'll keep pooping!). Liza hoards it down.

For nap time they sleep in separate places--one in the crib, the other in the playpen/bassinet. This is because they wake each other up and sit and stare at each other if they are together during the day. They are both really good at falling asleep on their own when I lay them down. They take two pretty good naps and a couple short cat naps during the evening.

They usually both go to bed around 9 and sleep until 4 or 5 (which is good enough for me!) Kate has this trend of being a night owl one night, staying up until ten or even eleven (crazy girl) and then the next day she crashes by dinnertime and never wakes up again until morning, except to eat a couple of times. We don't have baths for a bedtime routine because night-time is just too crazy with 5 kids to get to bed. But, I always wrap them up in a blanket and put them in their bouncy chairs in front of the recliner in my room. I sit in the recliner and they nibble on one last bottle and stare up at me like little birdies in their nest. I just think it's funny. Eventually when we've stared at each other long enough and they're tummies are full they drift off and I carry them to the crib.

I wish they would grow at about half the rate that they are. It seems like they should still be two months old, not four! They are my last babies--they have to last for a long time. Wishful thinking....they are both such little angels and we are so happy to have them!