good times...

Molly and baby Ian

Senior yearbook/bribe picture

I love 'em and I miss 'em!  Thanks guys, for an awesome spring break!

silly family photo, but the best we could do!

Grandma and Papa babysat so we could go out, and it was heaven!  We laughed so hard and talked so much!  It's sad that you have to play "catch-up"with your hubby, but his schedule has been so crazy lately, we have been running in separate directions.  Our date was a BLAST!

where are we going? to the beach...

We headed to the coast for some fun in the, oh yes, sun, and rain, and clouds...things change so quickly there...here is our very WARM hotel pool...

very funny that I would be helping anyone to swim (I am a nose plugger)

my baby's first time on the beach...

so much fun in the sand!

Papa's kids!

spring break.........

We had visitors!  Grandma and Papa made the trek up, bearing gifts of course, and spent a fun-filled spring break with us!  We spent most of the week just hanging out together and catching up on lots of LOVES!

did I mention the gifts?  Olivia loves her new Webkin frog!

The first time Papa saw Ian (or Moose, as he calls him!)

Grandma loving Max

Papa loving an "on-the-go" Max

Papa reading stories with a princess on his lap!

brace face...

Olivia got braces a few weeks ago, but she wouldn't let me post it until Grandma and Papa saw them first...she surprised them with her new smile!

Four and a half months...

we are almost to five, I forgot to post four, and this fell somewhere in the middle.  At four months, he was 17 pounds 12 ounces and 27 1/4 inches long.  He is a hunk of burning love, and I enjoy every waking moment of him, as well as the sleeping ones.  He still wakes me up every three hours at night to verify that I still adore him, and his colic is officially vamoos.  I think he has dreamy eyes and possibly my older brother's good looks.  The cute picture is, of course, by Sue...

fallen off the radar...

I am back from my mini-vaca with some fun visitors and my bout with the nasty flu...I had to post a smattering of the fun we had and the places we went...all photos are courtesy of Sue, my camera has officially bitten the dust.

Multnomah Falls

Lincoln City 

Our hotel pool (warm enough to be a sauna!)

The Oregon Coast Aquarium

and, a whole lot of drawing with Uncle Dave.

We had lots of fun and enjoyed our guests all the way from Colorado, Uncle Dave and Aunt Sue.  They let us crash their party at the coast and we had a great time catching up!  We miss them and can't wait for their next visit.

I think I like him...

heaven

Two days straight of blissful, three children napping, happy mommy quiet time.  Heavenly. Today I sit at nap time and ironically read this (while eating chocolate):

My new strategy is this: we read stories and sing songs in M and M's room.  Then, I tuck Molly into her bed, and take Max to lay down on my bed.  Ian is napping in his crib in his little corner of Olivia's room.  Here a child there a child everywhere a child, child.  No monkeys jumping on beds, no mommy with frazzled nerves.  Two days in a row.  How many days makes a habit?

"There never was a child so lovely but his mother was glad to get him to sleep" 

Ralph Waldo Emerson

my woes...

 this is what my nerves resemble...

this has been one of those days, or several days, stretching into weeks... I am wound so tight I might pop.  Whose idea was this big kid bed thing anyways?  I want to go back!  Why can't the twins just stay caged until they graduate?  Seriously.  Every day, I read them stories, we sing songs, and I tuck them in for naps.  Optimistically.  Then, every day, as soon as I leave the room, they pull every book out of their bookcase, every article of clothing out of their closet and drawers, every toy and stuffed animal out of its basket, every picture off the wall (I am trying to paint a picture since my camera is broken and Olivia's is MIA).  I call to them from the bottom of the stairs, "stay in your beds....go to sleep please) which quickly turns into YELLING from the bottom of the stairs "go to SLEEP!  Do you want a spanking?" (it's a threat, and they know it).  Then, I go up and physically put them back into their beds, trying not to hyper-ventilate at the mess (I have OCD about clutter), and kiss them again.  This goes on for two hours, at which time they fall asleep just in time for me to wake them to take Olivia to swimming.  I can't relax during the ordeal because I don't know what havoc they are wreaking. Last night I went to check on them after they FINALLY fell asleep and Max was in his bed with a broken lamp and shattered light bulb all over his bed spread, glass spilling onto the floor. Holy crap, how was he  not a bloody mess?  I pulled off all his linens, took them outside and shook them, and vacuumed while they slept like little angels.  Pair these antics with nearly three weeks of Jon traveling out of town, and you've got a mom who looks like said ball of bands.  

My saving grace was a very good friend who had the little munchkins over to play today while I cleared my head.  Once again, how did I get so lucky to have the friends I do?  Also, another bright spot is that we have some fun visitors coming tomorrow who are going to whisk us off to the coast for the weekend.  I am hopeful that after this weekend I will be ready to take it all on again.  Wish me luck...