Fun Times = Fun Pictures

We love the weather as of late. we cant get enough of being outside! The twins are LOVING the trampoline, they are so daring and try to do everything their older brothers do.

One of these days I am going to do a detailed update of all the kids...one day....right?

To sum it up, we are BUSY, BUSY, BUSY! I just finished this semester with straight A's! Bow business is booming and growing, and we have a meeting next week in NYC with Bloomingdale's!!! So excited for that, if you have any "must-see" or good eats suggestions let me know! I just turned 33! i really don't feel that old. AND, the twins are turning 2 in a few months!! Party!

Silly Little Lola.

Jumping Bean.

WEEE! notice the dirty knees. She has 3 brothers.

Oscky found the dirt.

Didn't take long for Lola to join in...

Handsome Little Aug.

A centerpiece I did for a wedding.

A picture of the solar eclipse from our house. kind of cool?

33 years of fun.

Easters {in pictures}

You would never know that this was taken in a vacant dirty lot next to our house and that Lola's face was filthy, with sticky candy and dirt! But it turned out so cute!

Augy checking out his Easter stash.

Oscar decided to ditch out on the Easter egg hunt, and play in the dirt instead.

Milo holding tight to his Easter egg finds.

Augy. love this kid.

Oscar and Lola's new favorite thing: Ring Around The Rosie!

week re-cap {in pictures}

We offically have WALKERS! both the babies have been doing little steps here and there for months now, but they would never just walk freely. Well, just this week, while we were playing with the kids outside, Lola started to stand up all on her own and start walking! it was crazy because she had never done anyhting like that before! and the best part was that we have it on video! it is so cute.

Exactly on day after Lola decided to start walking, Oscar started doing the same. I really feel like they are so much happier now that they can walk! I probably will be regretting it soon, but for now it is a welcomed change.

Augy started pre-school this week, and he absolutely loves it! It is so great for him to get out and be with kids his age, and have a little structure. Plus, I love the one-on-one time I have with the babies while he is gone. While he is not at school, he is constanly riding his power wheels, he is obsessed!

 (this is a really poor picture) This is Milo and his map of Utah made with rice crispy treats. He was so excited about this.

Russ took the boys dove hunting, and "we" (meaning Russ and Milo) enjoyed some homemade dove nuggets. mmmm?

 This is a creepy spider the boys found, we kept it for a day, then let it go...far away from our house.

 Beautiful September sunset view from a park by our house...

Lola doing her baby Yoga :)

And last but not least... Russ and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary last Monday! (we look like babies in this picture... )

Quick Photo Update

Ok,  I don't have time to do a "real" post, But I just had to give a quick update... and of course, pictures help make my humdrum life seem a little more fascinating!

- I am happy to report, we are having MAJOR improvement on the sleep situation here! I will write a full post later, but lets just say, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! yay me! but I couldn't have done it without all the helpful comments, THANK YOU!!

- Other big news... Oscar is officially crawling! he decided the army crawl wasn't getting him around fast enough and decided to kick it into high gear and go for it! not only is he crawling, but he is trying to pull himself up on everything! which is causing some bumps on the head, here we go!

- We have had a busy week, with some walks, (when the crazy weather decided to cooperate) this is a picture of the babies first walk outside in the stroller, they loved being outside! I can not wait for the weather to warm up!

- Auggie is driving me crazy! This kid has so much energy, I really need to find a way to harness it and use it to my benefit.. (like to pull the car, so we can save money on gas? just a thought...) But he says the cutest things, and loves to sing. His favorite song is "all the small things" by Blink 182, to hear his little voice sing all the words is just adorable!

- Milo, Milo, Milo... really, the sweetest, kindest, most thoughtful, tender-hearted kid you could ever meet. He is so talented and artistic. However, he is struggling so hard with his spelling and reading! I have talked to his teacher and expressed my concerns, but she doesn't seem to be as worried as I am about it. We have the biggest struggles during homework time, that one of us usually ends up in tears about it. I don't know if he needs a tutor, or if I just need to learn how to teach him better? He has a really hard time focusing, but only when it comes to spelling or reading, he is excellent at math. does anyone out there know of any teaching tactics that I could try with him? books to read? tutor for hire? ugh.

- I made a bouquet for my sister-in-law's winter wedding, She is getting married on the top of a mountain, and skiing down in her wedding dress! I cant wait to see the pictures! These were just some picture I took with my camera...

- I really am having to much fun with a little girl. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my boys, but I love playing dress up with my little Lola, she is such a good sport!

 It is Spring break this week, and we have ZERO plans! I better get creative real quick, or we are going to go crazy!

Thank You! And the Plan...

I cannot even express how thankful I am to everyone who responded to my "sleep" post! That is exactly what I was hoping for. I needed to hear ideas, things that worked, things that didn't work. I think I have come up with a plan of attack... I really am thinking that the quickest way to get the best results, is going to be.... wait for it.... CIO. I know I said that I wanted to stay away from that, but after reading all your comments and doing a bit of research, I think that I am looking for fast results, and that seems to work the best. BUT, in order for me to feel comfortable while doing that, I need to purchase some video baby monitors. Several times when I have gone in there at night, I have found them with their arm stuck under the bumper and through the railing, or their favorite blanket all tangled around them, so I feel like if I could see them in the middle of their cry-fest and know that they are not in any danger, then I can feel a little, just a little, better about letting them CIO. So My husband supported me in my neurotic idea, and ordered some video monitors from Costco. The only problem with that, is that they wont be here for a few days!
So my question now is, is there anything I could be working on in the meantime? I was thinking about doing a few things till we did the CIO when the monitors came:

- First off, I think I will push their bed time a little earlier, like have them in bed by 7:30.
- Next, I liked the idea of doing the dream feed around 10:00, that way if when they do get up later, I will know that they are not starving.
-No more night-feeds. since we will be doing the dream feed I am going to trust that they are good enough to go all night without eating.
- When they do get up in the night, I will continue to what I have done before, and let them try to work it out themselves starting with 15 min, and working the time up from there.

I think that if I start out with those things until I get the monitors, it will make it an easier transition for the shock of the CIO nights.... I hope? I don't know why, this is such a big ordeal to me? I never had to do anything this drastic, or thought out with my other boys? maybe I'm just being over dramatic? or maybe the exhaustion is getting the best of me? I just really need to get this under control.

also.... Some of you had asked what our daytime schedule was like so I thought I would post it.

8:30-9:00am : Wake up
9:00am :  eat 1 jar of baby food each mixed with a little mixed grains
9:30am :  have a 6oz bottle
9:30 to 11:00am :  Play time! which consists of jumpers, walkers, tummy scooting everywhere!
11:00 to 1:00pm: I make them 2 more ounces to top them off before nap, I feed them and put them in bed and they usually always sleep 2 hours for this nap.
1:00pm :  wake up, eat cereal snacks while auggie eats lunch
1:30pm : have an 8 oz bottle this usually takes them a while to eat. they kind of eat, play, eat,  play..
1:30 - 3:30pm : PLAY! this is the time, we would go for a walk if the weather is nice, or I take all the kids to the grocery store = chaos.
3:30pm : Nap time, this nap is usually 1 1/2 hours, but sometimes can be 2 hours
5:00pm : wake up, eat 1 jar of baby food each mixed with some rice cereal OR if we make something baby friendly for dinner they will have a little of that.

5:30 - 7:30pm  :  have a 6 oz bottle play, play, play...

7:30pm : Tubs... start bedtime routine...

Lets hope that I can get these books off the night stand for a while... I'm sick of them.

Well maybe not ALL of them. I need that last one (Beyond Time Out) for this crazy kid, that will be in an upcoming post.. one thing at a time. It never ends! geeez!



Auggie in his mid-dance pose. Always moving, always naked.
love. this. kid.