Spring Break

I wasn't looking forward to Spring Break. I wanted to avoid crowds so I figured we would stay home and stay in our pjs a lot. The week started that way, but by the end was very different. You could say Spring Break broke us. In some cases, quite literally. But, we are (mostly) back on track:

MONDAY:

Bball in the backyard. Rachel asked for a whistle so she could play "coach". 

What should I do, coach?

"Um, crawl around the table and then put the ball in backwards"

 We had a very nice picnic. We had a slight quarrel between the penguin and alligator, but Winnie the Pooh quickly intervened.

 The most exciting part of Monday was supposed to be a trip to Wal-Mart, but Ryan stepped in and hiked up Lone Mountain. We all thought there was a chance they wouldn't make it, but lo and behold-they did! I was even able to drive by on my way home from the store and wave to them at the top. Now whenever we pass it Ryan says, "Raise your hand if you climbed that mountain!"

We then went out to a celebratory dinner and stroll at the bookstore. Whew, long day!

TUESDAY: No pictures, but we went to the park in the morning and swimming in the afternoon. Then we all collapsed.

WEDNESDAY: Easter Egg Hunt, (see last post), followed by story time, followed by baths and bed:

 Not that a bath does any good!

THURSDAY: We utilized all 8 seats of our car and a friend and I went with our 3 kids and 3 babies to the Discovery Museum. Oh wait. There were over 1,000 people there. And no parking. And I forgot my pass. And so we went to Burger King instead. And Ryan's assistant Melissa, has been bringing her puppy over. I wish I had a picture because he is cute! And our kids get to play with and take care of a dog without us actually having to have a dog!
After all that, we still had T-ball practice, and Ry and I were lucky enough to get to go to the temple. It was really nice.

FRIDAY:
Now it starts to get interesting-all of this outdoor activity has led to some pretty severe allergies around here:

Her eyes were not quite as poofy, but still pretty bad

I planned Friday morning to be very low key. Let the kids watch tv and catch up on housework. Adam insured that it really happened. When I woke up, he was sleeping on the couch. And very soon after that--waking up puking his guts out. All morning!

BUT- by noon he did a 180. Kept everything down and felt good enough to still go up to Mt. Charleston with Ryan and friends. I had a very nice evening at home with babies and a good friend.

The week before they had gone to the "caves", so they definitely have gotten camping out of their system:

SATURDAY:
I woke up in a really good mood. Which is good because the day quickly took a turn for the worse. Ry took the kids to his magic show and I got my cleaning and laundry done. Then I entrusted all four children into Ryan's care in order to go see The Host with my book club. For some reason, I was extra nervous. I made sure my phone was in my pocket so I would feel it vibrate, and sure enough I received a text from Ry. They were on their way to the urgent care. I didn't get the whole story until I left and met up with them. They had been chopping the wood they brought back from the mountains. They took turns with the hatchet. Then, they got distracted and Dora needed saving and Adam threw his hands up to save her, and....Rachel's face was the casualty. Yes, Adam cut his sister in the face with an axe!

While posing for these pictures, she asked," Is Adam going to pretend to hit me?" "NO!" We both said very quickly!
Thank goodness it wasn't worse and she didn't need stitches-just steri strips. And hopefully after four days all will be healed.
Luckily, a trip to Yogurtland made everything better. And a very grateful and sad Mom and Dad settled in for a very bad night of sleep (darn babies!)

So you can imagine why I woke up on Easter morning less than rested or at peace. But, all's well that ends well. Hope your spring break was full of lazing around in your jammies. I sure wish ours was!

2+2=4

It's no secret that we have trouble having kids...but apparently we like to make up for that fact by having them two at once! Here is the story...

After a couple of years of not worrying about it and just raising the kids we have, we decided to start down the path of fertility treatments again. This meant saving up a ton of money. So in the meantime, we went for the cheaper option of clomid. We had no hope of this working. It didn't before-so why would it now? We prayed and visited our expert Dr. D to see if we really wanted to spend all of our savings on doing IVF. It wasn't clear what we should do until a morning in early May changed everything. 

I was fed up with feeling sick and wondering "what if" so I bit the bullet and took a pregnancy test. When it was positive you wouldn't have been able to scrape my jaw off the floor. Even the doctor's blood test wasn't proof enough for me. It wasn't until I saw this, that I believed.

I have seen enough twin ultrasounds that I knew exactly what I was looking at. But I still had to have the doctor confirm it. I have been in a state of shock and worry and denial and happiness ever since.

This is a scary thing. The last thing we want is another life threatening stay in the NICU for these little ones. And we barely have room in our tiny house. And we already have been neglecting them...Do I know where all my ultrasound pics are? No. Have I carefully recorded their heartbeats and measurements? No. But despite all of the shock and the worry and the planning, you need to know this:

This is a miracle. And we love these babies. And we absolutely give credit to God for sending them here. So if you could just pray with us that we can last until they're big enough to come out, we would appreciate it. They are due in December, by the way. But I'm thinking we'll have Thanksgiving babies. And we will be doing plenty of giving thanks.

Detroit

Zoe Annette Livingston is the newest addition to our family. We were thrilled to be able to go spend the weekend with family and attend her baby blessing with almost all the cousins...

All cousins except for Josie...if I knew how to photoshop her in, I would

Aunt Emma was so nice to make play doh with these guys. They LOVED it!

We had a really great time. It was so fun to watch the kids play and get along so well. And that baby is just about the cutest thing ever. When we got home, Adam cleaned his room and said, "My cousins are coming to spend the night this week!" I hope someday they will. And although it is fun to have an even 4 boys and 4 girls in the family, we found out that Eric and Jenny are contributing grandkid #9 to the family...so maybe the next reunion will be in Kansas City!

Ironic

If you know us, you have come to find out that we don't do things like everyone else. This post is no exception. It's ironic that we just painted and redid our bedroom. Because now we have to do it again--in our new house.


No joke--we are moving. By April 1. Into this house. Across town. If you are gasping right now, don't worry. We only made the final decision a few days ago. It's a long story. But we are excited about it. And slightly terrified.

The next three weeks are going to be a blur. So if anyone wants to babysit, clean, pack, paint, repair, call companies, or hold us up when we're about to fall over from exhaustion--feel free to come on by!

And as soon as we get our new house company ready (so in another 6 years) we'll have you over!
front

master bath

kitchen

main living room

master bedroom

office