If there's clutter.....

There is only one place that I can stand clutter. It's my nightstand, and it can only be books. Stacks and stacks of books. The library is one of my very favorite places to go. I take my kids at least once a week, and I hope it instills a love of reading in them. If not, I hope it teaches them to take advantage of the incredible FREE resource that it is. Books, movies, music, cultural passes, information, activities. All free, and just waiting to be taken advantage of. I could write a book on all the resources available at the library and still not tap into everything that it has to offer. I particularly love my cities library. I can go online and reserve any book I want. Then, once it has been pulled from the shelf or sent in from elsewhere, they send me an email notice that my book is ready to be picked up. Then, a few days before my articles are due I get an email notice that they are due. I really couldn't ask for more than that. I've said this before, but I LOVE books. I love that there is a book for every season, mood, whim. Right now I'm on a murder mystery kick. Love Mary Higgins Clark because her books have great plots, are easy to read but are as clean as a murder mystery can possibly be. Some weeks I can't stand "easy" reads and only want the classics or non fiction. Take Henry James for example. Most days I don't have the patience or serenity to read something like Portrait of a Lady. Or Fyodor Dostoevsky. I love a murder mystery, but it almost killed me to get through Crime and Punishment. I really like Leo Tolstoy though.....Or the Transendentalist writers. Like Emily Dickinson, can tolerate Thoreau but really don't have the energy for Emerson. Isn't it great though that there is something out there for everyone? If I had all the time in the world, I'd spend a lot more of it at the library, and next time I have "alone" time and all my errands are run, you can bet I'll be at the library.

From the mouth of my babe

I know this is not politically correct, but I found it so random and funny that I had to record it. Emma was talking to Grace and Garrett about things with brains and explained, "only humans have brains. And midgets and orphans."

Tulips, Tulips and more Tulips

Yesterday we picked Grace up from school early and headed to the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm. 40 acres of tulips. I think that says it all. Definitely not a sight I'll soon forget. Now, the hard part is deciding which pictures to post!

Easter

More thoughts to come, but thought I'd at least get the pictures up.

Some of this, some of that.....

Garrett's new do....

Grace caught me on my birthday. Although not a good picture, it's the only one taken on my birthday. You know how they say a picture tells a thousand words? This one screams that I look tired, that I need to exfoliate (didn't realize my face was so dry), that my face is still bruised and a tad swollen from my extraction AND that I'm 32!!!!!

Toothless Grace with pierced ears.....

I'm cringing as I write that I'm offically 32! Why does it seem so much older than 31? I had a great birthday. Jeff spoiled me and made me breakfast, lunch and dinner. I had so many phone calls from those I love which I appreciate so much. I missed most though since I was busy laying around downstairs watching Conference and the phone was upstairs and everyone knows how much effort it takes to actually get up and find the phone.......ha ha.

Big news! Grace got her ears pierced and she's literally over the moon. She hasn't stopped talking about it. She actually made a list of people she needed to call to spread the news!

Next big news! Jeff cut Garrett's hair for me. Jeff loves it long, I like it better short, and it was really a selfless act for Jeff to cut his hair just because I wanted him to. He looks adorable, but like a different kid.

Touching traditions

It hit me today that my grandparents have a birthday tradition for me. Every year without fail they call me and sing Happy Birthday to me over the phone. Usually my grandma tries to pull a April Fool's joke, too. Today I got such a touching phone call, early. It was my grandparents singing me Happy Birthday. I missed the call, but now I can listen to their song again on my voice mail. Here's hoping my Birthday is as Fabulous as they wished it.

"I didn't do it"

Of all my kids Garrett is turning out to be the biggest shirker of accountability when things go wrong. That's putting it nicely. The other way to put it is that he is our biggest liar when mishaps happen. These are two conversations we had today.
First. I walked into the kitchen and Garrett had made a huge mess on the floor. I didn't even have to ask what happened. He just said, "me no do it. Emma did".
I knew for a fact that Emma did not do it, so I told him I knew he was lying. He said, "I no lie, Emma lie". I had to laugh at that.
Later. Garrett and Jude are playing and pull out a bureau drawer. I ask what happened. Garrett says, "me no do it, Judy no do it. I no know who did it". Please.

On to other matters that we're not supposed to talk about (for good reason) but I just can't NOT talk about it. I bathed the twins, took Jacob out of the tub and wrapped him up while John was standing up on the side of the tub waiting for his turn to get out. I dry Jacob off and turn around to get John and he hands me a log. Can you think of a better way to start the day than getting handed poop?

And lastly, I have to have oral surgery next week to extract my wisdom teeth. One is coming in and I've had a headache for over a week as a result. So, Monday is the big day. I'm a little scared, but feel kind of like I do at the end of a pregnancy. I know that what is to come is going to be painful, but I look forward to it because once that pain is over, the other aches and pains will be gone. I'll be glad to be done with these headaches.

A Mouth Full of Money

Grace showed me her wallet yesterday.....full of money. From what? Loosing teeth....lots of them. I think she's up to 8 now. At the same time she lost 2 teeth, the twins each got two more on the bottom taking their totals up to 8 teeth a piece each for the twins and 8 lost teeth for Grace. This is beside the point of my post though.....I've been thinking. Why is Grace getting paid for her teeth? Shouldn't I (or Jeff and I) be getting the money? We buy her tooth brushes and toothpaste, we take her to the dentist and pay for cavities and cleanings. And WE have to make sure she brushes them twice daily. So, I want to talk to the original Tooth Fairy and ask what SHE was thinking?

First (but perhaps not last) Mohawks

Jacob (L) John (R)

John

Jacob

The boys got their first haircuts today....well most of their hair, that is. What was left made mohawks, and I think they are so cute I made Jeff leave them for the day.

the shatoe beehind me

Grace and Emma were very busy last night writing their very first pop lyrics. They sang it to me, and it was amusing, but mostly just adorable. I had to record the words as copied from the original:
the shatoe beehind me
the shatoe's beehind me look't so scary so I triyde to tell them they are butifel butt thay wudend say a thing
no! no! no! no! no! no! no!
ya thay wudent say a thing
ya!
thay wudent say a thing

In case you need a little translation, shatoe=shadow and wudent=wouldn't. I love the contraction she made out of looked (look't), too!

How does one fall asleep eating?

Had to add this one. I couldn't believe it when this happened the next day. John (L) Jacob (R)

One of my favorite scenes is a baby who has fallen asleep in their high chair while eating. Grace did this all the time, but the twins NEVER do. So, I was a little surprised when I saw that John had fallen asleep eating. If you look closely, you can see a green Cheerio in his mouth. Too cute.

Portrait of a sick kid and his sidekicks.

Jacob doesn't look very sick, does he?

John

love this shot of Garrett

Emma decked out for spring

Grace-our resident school ditcher. She claims her stomach hurt this morning. I claim she was faking.

Just had to capture all their mugs today. Poor Jacobs' cold/virus settled in his lungs and he has pneumonia....I guess this is a testament to the fact that premature babies who needed breathing assistance really are more suseptible to respiratory virus' even if they are fat little sausages 15 months later.

Spring is in the air!

It has been a gorgeous week. Spectacular. Clear skys. Sunny. Perfect temperature (65 degrees). Look what's popping up in our yard to wish us a happy spring.

My heart stopping moment....

I think the title of this post says it all. I came downstairs to see what John-scratch that, Jacob was doing and found him like this. My heart literally stopped....for a second and then I realized what a perfect photo op it was. Luckily I had a helper that stood by the table to make sure Jacob didn't fall off.

What would I do?

What would I do if I was stranded on a desert island with no vacuum? The same as I am now....dying a slow death. ha ha. As each day passes I'm slowly going insane. My vacuum belt fried and so rather than find an Oreck store locally, I ordered new ones on-line. Big mistake. This means that I haven't vacuumed in two weeks. IT'S KILLING ME....just so you know.

A Switcheroo

One view of the boys room. It is hard to tell, but it is a cowboy themed room.

Entering the room..

Grace's room.....her favorite piece is the lamp.

One side of Emma's room.

The other side.

We've been busy the past few days....last night I decided that we should switch the kids rooms around. We decided to eliminate the nursery putting the three boys together in the two adjoining rooms. We then moved Emma into Garrett's old room and Grace into the twins old room. Grace LOVES her new room and it brings me so much joy to see how happy she is about it. Jeff spent the morning hanging curtains for her (and Emma and the boys), putting on her new bedding and putting up a pink message board. And, it is organized so well, which makes me extra happy. The part that makes me sad though is that she is growing up and getting so independant. She knows that it is a big deal to get her own room (must mean she's growing up) and she appreciates it. Now, that is BIG! She's also lost two teeth this past week.

Garrett isn't sure what to think about sharing a room. He keeps saying, "No baby, that's mine". I asked him if he liked his new room and he said, "No, I no like my bed in Emma's room".

I think this new arrangement will work out really well though. The twins are always wanting to play in the playroom, but to get to it, they had to walk through Grace and Emma's room and always found things to get into. Now I don't have to worry about them getting into the girls things.....well, unless they leave their doors open....

I'll post pictures tomorrow for those few of you who actually care. LOL.

Grandpa's

This is Emma's tribute to her grandpa's.

Today I was at a Mommy and Me class that I help with monthly and one of the helpers was a grandpa aged man who is so sweet and wonderful with the kids. He helped Emma with her craft and all the while he got her to talk, talk, talk. It was such a blessing to have him giving Emma some one on one time since it is rare these days. Anyway, she said a few things about her grandpa's that I have to record here. The conversation went like this,
"you can call me grandpa if you'd like...it's easy and I'm a grandpa".
Emma, "No, I already have grandpa's".
I guess I loved that she gets enough love from her grandpa's that she doesn't need to take on any others. Of course the response she gave wasn't kind in the strictest sense, but she was honest and I know he understood that she had no idea her response could have hurt his feelings.

Later on, I heard Emma tell him that one of her grandpas has someone elses heart, and although this is true, we've never told her that. I've always just said that he got a new heart, or if I'm talking to another adult, a heart transplant. I guess I was just struck that she knew his new heart used to belong to someone else.

Honesty

My "delights"

I've been thinking today about a lesson I read about honesty. It reminded me how important it is to Jeff and me to raise honest children. Children that don't have to think twice about doing the right thing. I love this scripture found in Proverbs:

"...they that deal truly are his delight" (Proverbs 12:22).

I pray that my children will grow up to be honest individuals who truly are His delight.

He's following the leader.....

John walked tonight. A lot. Today I was by the stairs and I saw Jacob walk around the corner from the kitchen, down the hall and into the family room. So weird. Now John is following his lead. John is so cute. He claps for himself after he reaches his goal. They're OFF!

Oh, and did I mention how BIG they are? Jacob is 22 lbs. 11 oz., and John is 21 lbs. 15 oz. They will be 15 months next week. I can't believe it. Also, Jacob's head has levelled out on the growth curve and so if it continues like this, we have one more worry we can cross off our list.

Friends.....

To my kindred spirits; my friends:
Love this quote.
What is a friend?
A single soul dwelling in two bodies.
-Aristotle

family anagrams...

I saw this on my friends blog, and I thought it was so funny. Here's the website to check out your own: http://wordsmith.org/anagram/index.html
Angie Lee:
a gene lie (my favorite)

Jeffrey Lee:
fee jeer fly

Grace Lee:
race glee

Emma Lee:
am eel me

Garrett Lee:
late regret (2nd favorite)
rage letter

Jacob Lee:
cajole be

John Lee:
eel John

Jacob is walking!

Jacob
John with his walking machine....

Tonight we were over at the Bush's house and Susan was playing with Jacob. Ryan called to Jacob and he walked over to him with a unique side step, but like he's been doing it for awhile. I couldn't believe my eyes. After he realized that he walked across the room to Ryan he practiced some more. Jacob is now a walker....not just a kid taking steps sometimes. Walking. My twinnie is walking.....any bets on when John is going to follow Jacob's lead?

Oh, for anyone with computer savvy out there...how do I flip these pictures right side up?

Best Friends

Yesterday I asked Garrett who his best friend was. Without hesitation he said, "daddy my friend". I asked him if I was his best friend too. He said, "no, you not my best friend". I had to laugh. One never has to worry about a child trying to be diplomatic. I'm glad that Garrett has such a good friend and daddy.

Garrett turned 3 this month and got some really cool toys.......here's a picture of one of them.

comparisons....

Everyone asks me about Jacob and John's personality differences. Their temperments are quite similar though, and until recently there were alot more similarities than differences. Here's a few new developments though:
*Jacob is our more aggressive twin when it comes to toys and food and basically anything he wants. As you know from a previous post, he's also our selective biter.
*John is hands down our cuddle bug. He loves to give hugs and kisses on demand.
*John is our fit thrower. And this is very recent. If he really wants something and things don't go his way he lays down and thrashes around for a bit before going on to his regular business. His temper is sparked more quickly than Jacobs. John also crys the loudest right off the bat when he is mad.
*Jacob is our messy eater. You'd be amazed at their different appearance after eating the same meal.
*John uses more words and sounds than Jacob and knows how to find an on/off switch on an electronic device quicker than you'd believe possible.
*Overall, Jacob gets into more mischeif than John.
*Both are just plain FUN!

Toe biting fetish?

I'm starting to wonder about Jacob. Does he have a toe biting fetish, or what? When we were in CA my sister was feeding her baby in her high chair while Jacob was standing up and playing by Sofia's feet. All of a sudden, Sofia starts crying and there's Jacob standing innocently by with her sock in his hand. I apologized for him and thought, "hum, I need to keep an eye on this". Today, new house, new baby. Baby is sitting in his high chair happily drinking his bottle when he starts to cry and Jacob is once again standing by with a sock in his hand. I go over and sure enough, there is a tooth mark in the babies toe. Fast forward. Floor play time. Again the baby starts crying, and there is Jacob with the babies sock in his hand and there is another bite mark. Are you kidding? The weird part is that he doesn't try to bite John's toes. Or his own.

Then I'd really start to worry.

Vacation bliss...

So, here we are, half way through our vacation. We've accomplished half of what we wanted to, and the rest has come to a standstill. Our 15 hour drive down turned into 17 and we rolled into town during the coldest week of the year. Despite the cold, we braved two days of Disneyland clad in coats, hats and gloves and the twins caught something pretty dreadful.....the last fews days have been spent cleaning up vomit, administering fever reducing medicine, and going through about 50 diapers each day....it's so sad to see the boys so sick. And, you should see my hands. Yikes!

the way it goes

When John started climbing the stairs I tried working with him to teach him to crawl back down. He would have none of the instruction. UP, UP, UP! I gave up. Then one day I'm watching John climb the stairs, he gets half way up and then starts climbing back done. Mission accomplished, although it wasn't my instruction that taught him to do it. A few weeks later, Jacob starts climbing the stairs. I try the climbing back down instruction with him. Nope! UP, UP, UP. Last night I see John climbing down the stairs. Jacob decided he wanted to go down too, so down he went. Hum!!!!! How do they learn these tricks?

My hands.....

I know this is random, but I've been paying a lot of attention to my hands in the past few days. I don't take very good care of my hands or feet for that matter, and in the winter they crack and bleed. I have cracks on all of my fingers and one particularly bad one on my pointer finger right where it bends. I've felt a dull throb in my hands for days, and many activities each day cause sharper pains that make me take notice. Because of this awareness of my hands that the pain brings me, I've been thinking about them A LOT. Where would I be if I didn't have my hands? I couldn't change diapers (one of the causes of the cracks-washing after diaper changes), I couldn't cook dinner, I couldn't clean my house, I couldn't do laundry or dress my children. I couldn't do any of the day to day tasks that are required of me. Most importantly though, my sense of touch as I know it would not exist. What would I do if I couldn't caress my children's faces with the tips of my fingers? What would it be like to not be able to feel my husband's stubble or baby soft skin after he shaves? How could I test the water temperature with one finger, type or do a million other things that I use my hands for? TODAY, I am thankful for my hands.......which begs the question.......if I'm so thankful for them, why don't I take better care of them? I could really get Jeff going on this one.......but that's a whole different post! :)

Ever wonder?

Ever wonder what 3 days worth of laundry looks like for a family of 7? Wonder no longer....and, in case you are thinking "that's not that much"......there are 3 more stacks behind the ones you see.

Note to self......

*Stop buying Charmin......although soft and thick, it clogs the toilets.
*keep Juanie (that would be baby B) away from all power switches on computers. Desktop, notebook, it's all the same. He can turn them off in an instant.
*even if you are tempted to let the kids eat a quick something in the car, don't do it. You'll pay later.

2007 is here!

Ok, Heather! This one is for me, but the credit goes to you.

Lists: 2006 & 2007

2006
*Grace: finished kindergarten in Oregon, met lots of new friends. Took a German class, started ballet and joined Brownies. Grew and grew and grew.

*Emma: started ballet, began Sunbeams, and had about 7 UTI's and a million doctors appointments. Kept a smile through it all.

*Garrett: started using his words and really developed his sense of humor.

Jacob and John: cut 6 teeth, learned to crawl, stand and climb stairs. Started eating table food and graduated to whole milk.

*Angie: settled into new home, met lots of new friends, became a blogger, and stayed active on monoamniotic.org.

*Jeff: began a new job with Target, honed his interpersonal and management skills.

2007:

*Grace: moving up to CTR 7, continuing ballet and brownies and learning to be a better reader. She will also begin 2nd grade this year.

*Emma: Will move up to CTR 5, continue with ballet, and start Kindergarten.

*Garrett: work on his speech and continue to be a bundle of energy.

*Jacob and John: learn to walk, run and TALK!

*Angie: (this is my hope list)
read my scriptures more, have FHE more frequently, make more diverse dinners, be more patient, and SERIOUSLY consider loosing a few pounds.

*Jeff: I'm assuming he'll continue doing all the great things he already is, but I'd have to ask him his New Years Resolutions! :)