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!

Review of Best Mother's Day Gifts 2011

Madison's teacher has done a lot of very cute and thoughtful (time-consuming on her part) things this year with her class--one of them being the Mother's Day gift that Madison brought home. It was a cute pillow made of two pieces of felt hand-sewn together and stuffed. Madison colored one side of the pillow with candy kisses and wrote a very fancy "I love Mom". I tried to include a picture but no matter what I do it appears sideways so I gave up. It is a really cute pillow that I can tell she put a lot of heart and soul into...but I think I love her card just as much! Of all of Madison's Moms, I'm the best one, it says! I also "Rock and Roll." It is nice that she gives me these positive reminders amongst the many eye-rolls I receive from her lately. She really is a huge sweet heart and she made sure I had a special day. She even made me a smoked ham and cheese frittata for breakfast on Mother's Day (thanks to the kids cooking class that she and Emma went to with my Mom). She has informed me that she is too old now to be called Maddy-Paddy but since this is my blog I figure I can call her anything I want....I love you Maddy-Paddy!


Emma's teacher at school has had them write in a journal every single day this past year. At the end of each month she brings a journal home and I look forward to that day all month. I think I'm going to continue this journal writing requirement here at home from now on. She writes the CUTEST things with the best spellings. This is the cover of their special Mother's Day journal. It included five entries all about me! (Luckily they were all mostly good--only one that made me feel a little twinge of guilt and the rest just made me smile.) My favorite entry is pictured below:


"I love you because you make me choos the rite and when I choos the rite I worm my hart up. I choos the rite evry sunday and it makes my church teacher imprest that I choos the rite evry day I am imprest to."

Notice the cute picture with the CTR ring. Reading this "wormed my hart up" most definately. Thanks Emma, I sure love you too!



Here is my cute Isaac relaxing for way too long on his throne. I was sitting in my bedroom feeding the babies, in direct view of him sitting on the toilet (since he always leaves the door wide open)....and I heard him talking, pausing, talking, pausing, etc.....


Then I saw his little dinosaur sitting below him on the yellow footstool. When I listened more carefully I could hear what he was saying: "Please bless Emma"....pause, pause....."Please bless Madison"...pause, pause....."Bless our babies Kate and Yiza"....pause...."Amen". "Yay, you did it little dinosaur!" This was right before bedtime on Mothers Day and I thought it was the greatest gift to end with. So glad I have my one little boy that makes me laugh every day. I love ya Isaac buddy.

After the dinosaur prayer I headed out to the kitchen to find that my one tangible gift of the day--CHOCOLATE--had been completely consumed by everyone else but me I suppose, the wrappers torn and scattered all over the counter and the floor. So it's good that I know the less-tangible gifts are the better ones, anyway.


The day was a fun one. This is a picture of the Mother's Day dinner that also added the day's greatness. The ice cream cake from Cold Stone was the highlight, Madison thought so as well. Just wanted to say--even though I'm a week and half late--thanks to my cute family for a wonderful Mother's Day!

PS. I think the babies know I love them since I kiss their fuzzy little heads about 500 times a day...but I love you guys too. And Kelly--you rock and roll also. My partner in this whole parenting thing...thanks for making me so happy! If I say I love you one more time, everyone reading this is going to throw up (sorry everyone) but I love you too!

Blessing Day

April 10th was a beautiful day! The day started at 3:30 AM for me.....it didn't have to start that early but I got up at that time because Kate and Liza said it was time to eat. When they were back to sleep, I decided that I wasn't the least bit tired and I might as well get ready for the day. So I showered, gave myself a facial, prepared food, picked up the house, painted my fingernails and toenails, read a few verses....it is amazing how much you can get done during the middle of the night. Anyway, I was so ready for the day by 7:00 when everyone else woke up that I spent the rest of the morning focusing on the kids. This made the whole day so much better! The babies were on a good schedule and happy and we weren't rushed. (Since then I've pulled a few more 1/2 nighters when I really need to feel productive)

The minute I stepped into the chapel I started tearing up. Each time another family member or friend walked in I teared up again. Then I'd glance at my two beautifully dressed girls and I couldn't keep the smile off my face either! Madison and Emma were so cute too. It was the first time we'd taken Kate and Liza to church and they were so proud to show them off. They both begged and begged to hold them all through the meeting. Isaac found Great-Grandma and Grandpa and decided to sit with them during church, and I seriously never saw him again until 4:00 that afternoon when everyone had left. So whoever took care of him all day and drove him to and from places, Thank you!

We had a fun gathering afterwards with family and food! My cousin Steph took some really cute pictures of the twiners (see below). Thanks to her and also to my Grandma who let us raid her house. I always wish I had taken more pictures. Steph did great with the little girls but I wish I had taken some of my older three kiddos and more of the rest of the family--maybe one with everyone that was there....but I didn't so oh well. But I will say that we greatly missed Mom and Dad Daniels--the rest of the family was there! Some traveled from Wyoming, some from Provo, SL, Rexburg, etc. I was so touched that everyone made such an effort to come and support us.

I've never really, REALLY looked at that big circle of dads, brothers, uncles, and grandpas gathered around the baby before. This time I was really struck by all of the priesthood holders with their hands on little Kate's head and I was in awe. Then I got to watch them again when it was Liza's turn. What a blessing it is to belong to the church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints! I felt such power during those blessings and was so grateful for the priesthood. I am so grateful for the families that I belong to! Thanks to everyone who made this day so special for us.

These pictures depict what a LONG (yet beautiful) day it was for Kate and especially Liza:


Liza: Not really sure about this, Mom.


Liza: Still not too sure, there's gotta be something else I'd rather be doing.


Kate: I'm trying my best to smile, Mom...


Liza: I'm hungry.


Kate: I'm your little angel.


Liza: Mom, HELLO! Are we done YET???


Kate: Liza, just try to be an angel like me.


Liza: Gosh, what time is it getting to be? I have an appointment with my bottle...


Kate: Sent straight from heaven.


Liza: Pa-TOO-IE on this picture taking stuff!


Yep, we're cute whether we cooperate or not.

A Day in the Life of Kate and Liza

Now that we're opening our eyes more often and learning what life is all about, I thought I'd tell you a little bit about it: (This is Kate, by the way. I'm the oldest so I get to talk first)


It all starts with this brother of ours, Isaac. By the time we're really awake, he's the only one around, besides mom anyway. But we can tell he really loves us. He comes in to our bedroom frequently and counts "One, Two." Just to make sure we're both still here. Then he usually asks our mom if he can "pet us." Isaac loves to hold us, but is pretty nervous about being "pluked" on. That is his word for PUKE. He gets really excited when this happens and he yells, "This baby just PaLUKED AGAIN!!!" He loves watching us get our diapers changed too. He always asks to throw the diapers away in the stinky diaper garbage can....but mom won't let him throw them away anymore because he always sticks his nose right in the can and then he has to run to the bathroom right after, gagging and crying "I'm paLUKING!" Luckily he has narrowly avoided doing just that, but narrowly! He is a pretty fun brother to have around.


Mostly our days are filled with eating. And our nights, too....this is a picture of how many bottles and other paraphernalia we go through during the night--however, the last two nights have been a little better--we decided to sleep until 2, giving my mom an extra long stretch of sleep and one less feeding during the night! But still, eating is right up there at the top of the list! Sometimes Grandma Susan or Great Grandma is here to help, and other times mom feeds us both at the same time. She's really had to improve on her multi-tasking abilities!



We've already mentioned eating and pooping, so sleeping is the other major part of the day. I don't know why this picture is sideways...but most of the time we sleep right next to each other like this.



We both pull some cute faces but Liza tends to giggle a lot while sleeping.



And I feel asleep during my bath one day and slept right through getting dressed and everything. Mom gives us baths so that we will wake up, but really I can sleep through anything if I decide to!



My sleepyhead sister...




Kicking and squirming around for too long tuckers us both out as well!



Bath time is is great because it really wakes us up (usually) just in time to see our sisters come home from school. That's when life really gets fun at our house.









We are trying to figure out how these guys have so much energy. Sometimes it gets so loud around here--usually I just fall asleep and ignore it all but Liza likes to stay awake and her eyes get really wide while she watches the chaos. Madison says she has "Bug" eyes.

Before we know it daddy is home. He cuddles with us, mom feeds us some more, we play with the big kids and then it's bedtime!


Wow, what a day! I'm tired, can you tell by my eyes? And Liza has her bug eyes on as usual. Isaac really loves these PJ's, by the way--he calls them his "bone jammies" and he wears them all day long. Madison and Emma take good care of us and we are really spoiled since there is always someone to hold us. I'll just sign off by saying life is good and I love my binky. Goodnight everyone.

How has a month already gone by???

Happy One Month Birthday to our little sweethearts! (A couple of days ago...I'm always running a little behind and it will only get worse)





They've come a long ways since those first few days in the nicu. I'm so glad those days are behind us! I know we were really lucky and they did very well and came home sooner than anyone expected them to, but that was still so hard to watch in the beginning, especially with little Liza. At one point she had lots more stuff hooked up to her than this picture shows--but that c-pap (the white cap thing that covered her eyes and squished her poor little face)--I could tell she really hated that and I felt so bad for her!



This is one of my favorite pictures so far--maybe it's just a good picture to me because I know how excited my girls were to finally see one of their sisters through the window. Isaac was there too and it was a special little moment. Kate was so little and I think seeing here then was pretty thought provoking for Madison and Emma. But then they REALLY wanted to see Liza. And they had to wait a lot longer to see her!



Here they are getting ready to have a bath (still in the nicu). I was so nervous to give them baths, dress them, etc--they were both so small. By now they've gotten bigger and I've gotten better at my job.



Here is Madison and "Super Kate". She got her nick name while in the nicu because she was like a little superhero, suprising everyone every day with her talents. The doctor would always say, "Another day or two and she's going to run out of energy..." He would try to prepare us to see her with oxygen and a feeding tube and all the stuff that Liza had. But she just kept plugging away. Just getting her 30 mL down at each feeding was exhausting for her--but she's Super Kate! And she's still out-doing her sister. Liza has all the baby issues (constipation, puking, spitting up, etc) and Kate just sails right through.

I guess while we're talking about Kate and her tricks, I should record for future remembrance her greatest one while in the hospital: The matresses in the isolettes at the nicu are rounded on the corners while the isolettes are square so there are little corners of the isolette where the mattress drops off--plus the babies are surrounded by the soft little tube things and they are tilted uphill....One day the nurse was hearing some pretty loud crying that wasn't normal coming from their room, so she walked in and was so surprised to see that Kate had pushed herself with her scrawny little legs over the tube and then uphill on the mattress until she fell off of it into the little corner and was squacking like crazy. The nurse said she had never seen anyone do that before, let alone such a little teeny one! Go Kate!

Here is Liza's best trick: (She deserves to be recognized for everything she did since she was so picked on up there) She didn't get to eat anything by mouth for the first week--since her stomach couldn't handle anything she'd just get her food through her IV and a feeding tube. But she was pretty determined to eat! I've never seen a baby root around with such a big open mouth trying to find something to suck on! Well she would work so hard on tearing all that tape off her face and pulling that feeding tube out. They finally started putting socks on her hands so that she couldn't pull on it. But one day she finally succeeded! She pulled it all out herself and they let her keep it out and start eating by mouth. She was so happy and so was I! She is the best little nurser out of all five of my babies. She was born to eat and she knew it! (Truly my daughter) Good job little Liza!



I got these two matching baby bouncer seats--of all the baby things that I thought about getting, these were really the only things we purchased besides the extra carseat. And they have saved my life already! I couldn't believe how tiny Kate looked in hers when we first brought her home!



Emma and Madison are both such awesome helpers! Liza still has her oxygen tube but might be getting it out this Monday. While Kate is pretty efficient at her job of being a baby--she just gets the jobs done--Liza is my little snuggler. Some days between the two of them (but especially Liza) I don't leave the recliner in my room because I just feed and snuggle babies all day. What could be more fun, really??! Liza is a little more needy but still doing so good. It is fun to see how different the two of them are.



Future babysitter....we'll have to pay her a lot to keep her around I'm sure!



I've been trying to get a good picture of them sleeping together--this is the best I've got. We've experimented with sleeping together and sleeping apart and although sleep is minimal either way, they definately prefer being together. While separated, they grunt at each other from across the room in their own little grunting language, getting louder and louder until you put them back together. It's cute to put them down for a nap while both of them are awake, and then go in a few minutes later to see them sound asleep, usually with hands intertwined or heads touching.



Can you believe all of these little monsters are ours??? Well, some little, some getting rather big by now. All female minus one, might I remind you. The teenage years will be full of drama. I always knew 5 was a good number for us (as crazy as that sounds)....I never thought I'd be able to bring all 5 of them here as hard as pregnancies were getting, but Heavenly Father knew of a great way to squeeze them all in. Thank goodness He's in charge! What a crazy month it's been, but I have already forgotten what life was like without precious Kate and Liza!

(Hopefully the way Kelly posed the babies is not a sign of the future! We have enough boxing and other negative behavior in our house we don't need to begin training at three weeks. They'll catch on just fine watching their older siblings anyway. "Protect the face, go for the nose and eyes first...."