Happy Father's Day

Ruth has been difficult these past couple of weeks.  Paul is finally coming home today after 5 days of travel. He was also gone last weekend and really hasn't been around much since April.  Today when I hopelessly failed at trying to get her to do ANYTHING, I concluded that it is because Paul isn't here.  This is a girl who needs her dad.  He is always looking out for her.  He seems to know just what to do to earn her respect.  I think he spoils her but maybe she needs that.  We are all happy to have Dad home.  I think Ruth is the happiest.  

Happy Father's Day Paul.  

what 11 months look like

Oatmeal Analogy

Every morning Paul eats a big bowl of oatmeal with berries.  He puts a little sugar & skim milk in it.  That's good, right?  Oatmeal is good?  But it could be better.  So, I come in and suggest he tries steal cut oats.  Maybe some almond milk and nuts.  He would be eating less sugar, more fiber, feel better and probably lose weight.  So, he concedes to my petition and tries it.  He eats it.  I grill him about what he thinks about the steal cuts oats.  I want him to love it.  I want him to get excited about it.  I decide I will serve steal cut oats to the whole family every morning.  I share this with him and he nods at my new ambition.  I get defensive because I want more enthusiasm.  I'm frustrated that I was the one who even had to think this up.  How are we married, we are so different?  Doesn't he care about our children's health?  Doesn't he want to be healthier?

The next morning when I come in the kitchen he is eating frosted flakes.  I get flustered and rant about how different we are, how he doesn't support me, how he doesn't listen, how he is selfish, etc.

I throw my hands in the air and pout in my room.  No breakfast is made for my children.  They have frosted flakes too.  I give up.   

Let's stop here. 

He eats oatmeal every day.  Which is good.  Why did I disturb this? (because I saw room for improvement)

My husband is good.  My children are good.  I see the good.  I also see the bad.  Even though the voices in my head whisper, "you could be doing better" or "you're not trying hard enough".  I will try to silence them.  I know they can lead me down a path of never feeling good enough.  Of always striving for better and not enjoying the present for what it truly is.  

I am ok with oatmeal in the morning.  I think once I truly accept that, he will start eating steal cut oats.   

*This is just an analogy that may only make sense to me.  Although the oatmeal eating is true, some of the other embellished details aren't.  

10 months

Eden's dance recital

Beauty School drop out  video HERE

Buzz cut

 The twin's hair was getting long.  I wanted to trim the sides up but scissors and squirmy babies made me nervous.  So, I got out the buzzers.  

Here is Sam before...

now look at him.

Ruth was trying to get them to smile.  She has so much fun playing with the twins during the day.See Ben doesn't like his hair long...

 now that's better.

No more baby hair.  They look so much older and bigger!  It is much easier to clean them up. They love to feed themselves and food gets EVERYWHERE!

Accomplished

I feel accomplished today.

I cleaned the church, took the kids to a birthday party, dug up 3 small trees and a bush, swept the front porch, took the kids on a bike ride (which included Eden & Ruth in the trailer...sheesh), attended a stake activity, picked up a friend's son and babysat him, read scriptures, played a game, laid church clothes out and got them all to sleep by 8:30pm.

...and you thought this blog was all about those twins!


P.S.  I have to give credit to Paul.  He cleaned all the bathrooms in the church , pulled one tree out of the ground, bathed the twins (and basically took care of the twins all day), made dinner and did a load of laundry.

9 months

Ben 19 lbs & Sam 19 lbs 11.8oz

The babies are 9 months.  They are so adorable.  Everyday I squeeze and kiss them.  Their little hands, those little teeth, their open mouth smiles.  They are really good babies.  They follow me around the house and put everything in their mouths.   We love them so much.

Pulling up

Ben is pulling himself up and standing.  Yesterday I walked in the kitchen and saw this.

 

 So far, Ben has been the ringleader.  He was the first to roll over, sit up, crawl and now pull himself up. He also popped his two bottom teeth out first and currently has two top teeth popping out.

Evidently Sam follows along. Sam is taking the lead on weight though.  It is fun to watch these two boys.

8 years

*July 2009 at Tomlinson's house. Pregnant with Ruth

Paul and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary on Tuesday.  My sister Lisa was here visiting so we had the best babysitter.  We recapped our years of marriage and what monumental events took place:

1: moved  to Midvale and had Eden
2: moved to Sandy and had David
3: moved to Mississippi and Paul started Law school
4: started MAC program and space law scholarship
5. had Ruth, waitress at Chili's, Paul graduated
6. moved to Indiana and started Purdue Accounting PhD program...not sure we could make it through the first year.
7. bought first home and mustered through 2nd year of school
8. had twins and Paul passed prelims

So, what did we do to celebrate these 8 fabulous years?  We ran errands and went to dinner.  I have never appreciated a quiet meal as much as I did on this anniversary.  One moment while I closed my eyes and leaned back in my chair the waiter encouraged me not to fall asleep.  I opened my eyes and just smiled...I don't think he understood the importance of how much I just wanted to be left alone.  It was fabulous to have a night out.

Paul was determined to have some 'fun' on our anniversary.  We went to Purdue and played pool and air hockey.  It was actually really fun.  I love you Paul E.

This year we also have had some scares concerning Paul's health.  I spent a few months wondering what my life would be like if Paul was terminally ill or even passed away.  I decided having him terminal ill would be worse than death.  I don't think I could take care of 5 babies and one sick husband but I would do it.  I would do anything for this man.  I also decided that I would be shattered and completely broken if he passed away.  I would be overwhelmed   I would be lost.  

That worry seems to have passed from us now by some miracle.  Just as quickly has his symptoms came, they went away.  I know that the faith and prayers of our family and friends is what helped us. It might have even healed Paul.  I learned that in a crisis I have a hard time turning to the Lord. I am more likely to just survive and muster through.  During this 8th year of marriage I plan on making a special effort to turn more to the Lord.  To pray more earnestly and be more faithful.  I have a blessed life.  I have a great husband.  I have precious children.  Life is good.

8 months old

These boys are both crawling.  They love puffs and baby food.  So far, they eat everything I give them.  They both have two bottom teeth and put everything in their mouths.  The past month they have fought sickness: pink eye, respiratory infections, runny noses and terrible coughs.  Despite all this they have been a joy.  Now for your viewing pleasure, I present the babies...

 Sam 17 lbs 14 oz

 Ben 17 lbs

 Ben

Sam

King Benjamin

Big Accomplishment

David received ALL green smiley faces in the month of February!  This is a big accomplishment for him.  He has been in kindergarten for 6 months and usually doesn't make it a week without a yellow marks.  He is excited to get a purple ticket on Monday.  I think he is starting to understand the rules and what is expected of him.  High five David.  

In other news.  The kids are working on filling their button jar to earn a family movie night in the tent (inside).  As encouragement to keep going, we watched a little bit of Anne of Green Gables tonight.  Once the popcorn was finished, David was gone.  The babies crawled around finding the tiniest things to put in their mouths and Ruthie kept asking a million questions.  These kids literally take ALL my energy.  Every night I am amazed at how tired I am.  I feel like I could sleep for the rest of winter.  They are so darn cute though.  I am trying to enjoy the moment and not wish away their childhood.  

Since I am too tired to even get out of this chair- I will continue.  We had a special stake conference today.  It is always nice to gather with other Saints and feel of the spirit.  Stake conference is all about endurance, I am prepared to handle the kids for 70 minutes during sacrament meeting.  Today after an hour pasted I felt like I was going to explode.  I was hot, the chairs were so hard (when did they get so hard?!), my church bag exploded on the floor, all the kids wanted to sit on my lap...it was just really long.  I was so tired.

Here's the deal.  Everyone has their own trials.  People deal with things all the time, things you can't see or hear.  Things that aren't so obvious.  I have come to understand the importance of not judging others.  On Sunday I like to watch families, I wonder what their week was like.  What their lives look like.  Then I think about myself.  Some weeks I feel blessed and thank the Lord for my amazing life.  Some weeks I sit in the chapel and just think about how tired I am.  I have realized how stress makes you so tired.  It also makes you selfish.  It is really hard to look past yourself when you are stressed.

I'll stop rambling now.  I am so thankful for pictures.  I love to look at snapshots and remember the good.  They give me perspective and help me love my children so much more.  It's easy to see how cute they are in a picture.

Growing

The babies are growing! 

Dance with Dads

Annual Dance with Dads at Earhart Elementary.

 Eden was so excited. She had her outfit picked out days ago.  She plugged in the hot rollers and was insisted that Paul wear his suit for their date.  Paul didn't go for the suit idea, so Eden settled in picking out his shirt.

They won 4th place (same as last year) in the dance competition.  These two crack me up.  Eden gets all her crazy personality from her dad.  They had so much fun.  Eden came home twirling with delight.  She pranced in with her clip on earrings Dad had bought her.  

I absolutely love him. 

Dance with Dads- video