Team Andros

V-Day Love

2012-02-14T20:17:00.001-08:00

We started feeling the Valentine's Day love about a week ago. My parents sent the kids an early Valentine package last Monday, and if your kids are anything like mine, they love getting mail, especially packages.

Chloe distributed everyone's wrapped gifts to them.

Inside, there was a Valentine book for each kids, some "Tangled" fruit snacks and some Valentine themed window cling decorations.

The kids all took turns putting up the window cling things.

The books were a total hit. I LOVE kid books and unlike most kid things, I don't think you can have too many kid books. We have been reading these books non stop since we received them. My kids never seem to tire of the same book over and over, and these ones were especially cute. Leah and Lexi have slept with their books almost every nap and bed time for the past week. Unfortunately, Lexi, in true fashion, has ripped off all the lift up flaps on the Dora book already. She rips at least a few books a month and it never ceases to annoy me. We just can't have nice things! :)

Nana and Papa Andros stopped by for 2 nights last week before they flew off to sunny Hawaii and brought the kids some delicious Valentine sugar cookies. They were gone in about 3 minutes.

Last week, our favorite local Grandma Cynde offered to watch the kids so Ben and I could go out for Valentine's Day. This was an offer we couldn't refuse. We decided to go out last night, the day before Valentine's Day to beat the crowds of couples out on actual Valentine's Day.

Call us crazy, but we spent our date night out food storage shopping. With Ben unable to lift much or sit for very long, a movie or any fun activity that required much physical strength was out. So we took a different route. Every February we get our American Express rebate check in the mail and for the past 5 or 6 years, we have been using our rebate money to stock up on our food storage. It's like free money to spend on something we are really passionate about. We went to two different Costco's (regular Costco and our favorite- Costco Business) and filled up the back seat of the car- AND

the entire trunk, too. Unfortunately, Ben is still under strict lifting restrictions due to his recent back surgery (nothing over 20 lbs), so I was the one loading and unloading 4 different times all the food, which included roughly: 125 pounds of dried beans, 125 pounds of sugar, 100 pounds of flour, and about 50 or so other odds and ends. Our food storage shopping is a big undertaking, so it was so nice to be able to do it kidless. Really nice, actually (especially with a handicapped spouse). :) And as unromantic as food storage shopping for Valentine's Day sounds, seeing our garage shelves stocked up top to bottom with food for the next year or more is such a great peace of mind, and peace is love, right?

We enjoyed a nice dinner after our (my) hard work at shopping (just kidding, honey). The kids had quite a fun evening with Grandma Cynde and much prefer a babysitter to us anyway, these days. It was a win win for all of us (except Cynde, maybe. My kids are obsessed with her and they all started cheering when she walked in the door. Watching our zoo is not for the faint of heart and she handles them so well. She is probably always exhausted after watching them, but we always appreciate it. We love her!)

This morning, I surprised the kids by decorating their bedroom doors with hearts. A heart attack, really.

They loved it and were very surprised to see it. Mitch asked at breakfast, "Mom, why did you put hearts all over our doors?" He was probably surprised because I am constantly after them to NOT put stuff on their doors.

I had every intention of making the kids a fun Valentine themed breakfast, but Chloe, bless her heart, had already fed everyone cereal by the time I got downstairs this morning. She is my Valentine, that sweet girl.

Mitch and Chloe both had school today- what a fun day for school! They both came home from school with lots of candy and Valentine's, and within minutes, our house looked like a Valentine tornado had hit it.

A cute mess, but a mess still the same (did you know I despise messes?)

While Mitch was gone at school, a sweet little girl from our ward and in his Primary class (whom Mitch adores), dropped by a Valentine and a cookie for him. I teased him that his girlfriend stopped by while he was gone and he was not happy about me calling her his girlfriend. He was excited that she dropped a treat by and ate the cookie faster than you can say "she's not my girlfriend."

After the kids were in bed last night, Cynde set out some Valentine treats for the kids that I let them have after school today. You would have thought it was Christmas with how excited they were. And then we got another card from my parents with stickers and cards for the kids. We really felt the love today.

For dinner, amongst the tornado, we had a heart shaped pizza from Papa Murphy's. Cheap and yummy. And cute, come on.

After dinner, (as if any of the kids needed anything else with sugar in it), I gave everyone their own heart shaped sugar cookie.

Mitch started the "crazy eyes" pose.

And of course, we all had to do it.

Chloe then brought down a Valentine for the whole family. The book my parents sent her last week was about a kid who wrote mean Valentine poems to a few kids in his class. Chloe copied one of those poems for all of us for a joke. It reads:

"Roses are red

You wet your bed

I think that you have rocks in your head."

Nothing says love quite like that. And we've had a LOT of love lately. Happy Valentines Day!

January

2012-01-28T14:37:00.001-08:00

Oh, January, January. It has been quite the month, for so many reasons.

We started off the month with Ben having surgery. The weekend before he went under the knife, he decided to make us, for the first time ever, some baby back ribs.

Oh my, were they delicious. Finger licking good, really.

Hats off to the chef!

2 days after the ribs, on January 9th, Ben went in for back surgery- a microdiscectomy. The procedure involved surgery on his lowest disc in his back (the L5S1 for you medically knowledgeable people). He has had back pain/problems for years and has a family history of degenerative discs. He has tried all types of treatment- physical therapy, medicine, cortisone injections. All of those would help for a short period of time, and then the pain would come back. It has gotten extremely bad in the last 2 years and there have been periods of time where he was in so much pain that he couldn't walk or function at all. We finally decided to see a neurosurgeon who suggested this surgery. After exhausting all of the alternatives to surgery, we decided it was time to do something that we told would take away all the pain!

Ben did great in the surgery- the doctor said everything went just as planned and there were no surprises. Ben walked himself to the car to go home and was given strict orders to walk and walk and walk- the best thing to help him heal. His restrictions are many- no bending, twisting or lifting at all for 3 weeks, and then no lifting over 20 lbs for 3 months (which means, in a household of 4 small children, no lifting of any of the kids until April!) He was also told not to sit at a 90 degree angle at all for a week. Luckily, laying in bed was perfectly acceptable and he has done lots of that over the past 3 weeks. I'm just guessing here, but I'm pretty sure he's watched at least 30 movies in 20 days. Ahhh, the life of a recovering patient! :)

And my angel mother was here the week Ben got surgery. She volunteered to come to watch the kids so that I could be with Ben during surgery and help get him settled the first few days after. She was a lifesaver, truly. She has a very giving heart, is so helpful when she's here (she cooks, cleans, entertains, you name it, she does it) and my kids adore her. It's a win, win for us all. Thank you Mom!

My kids love playing games and after my own maternal Grandma, I have never seen a woman so willing to play game after game after game with young children. She's amazing! Here she is playing "Don't Eat Pete" with the kids, with M&M's and Swedish fish.

Lexi looooved the Swedish Fish!

January 14 was Chloe's first ever piano recital. Ben was able to come and watch, just 5 days post surgery, but with 3 restless little kids to battle through the recital and Ben not able to sit down, we we weren't able to get a picture of Chloe actually playing during the recital. Here she is practicing before it started, with her teacher blocking her view. Her teacher is very sweet and extremely positive with her students. We love her.

Here are all the kids after the recital. My favorite part of the recital was that the teacher made all the kids either bow or curtsey after their performance. I thought it was cute, especially since Chloe was embarrassed to do it!

My little piano playing girl

Afterwards we had a little dessert buffet mingle. We called it dinner and the kids loved it.

The next day, Sunday, the national news broadcast snow hit Seattle.

My kids were so excited to play in it. The big kids each got a new coat and snow pants for Christmas this year, to go along with the snow boots they received last year. We don't get much snow, so we have never been very interested in buying a lot of snow gear.

The babies were happy to play for maybe 15 minutes- they had no snow gear and got cold pretty quickly.

They wore rain boots, jeans over leggings, 2 jackets and gloves and a hat.

We very much dislike our sloped driveway, but it is great to sled down on.

We also get great use out of our beach body boards in the snow. Multi function objects are my favorite!

The neighborhood kids all had a great time playing together.

The next week is when things got a little crazy in our January. On Monday, the 15th, Ben started to feel...funny. He started having some pain in his back and backside, whereas up until then he really had felt pretty amazing. His incision was very tender and "burning" a little, as he described it.

On Tuesday, we went into the doctor (when more snow hit- this is as shot of the conditions as we drove), as we suspected an infection. Our suspicion was confirmed and he was put on an antibiotic in pill form. After having been off his post surgery pain killers for 5 days, he had to go back on them to treat the worst pain he'd had since surgery (very frustrating). While laying on his back felt wonderful last week, it was very painful to do this week as his incision, now infected, was very, very sore. He also got a fever that night and was pretty miserable for a good 24 hours. We felt like he was taking a huge leap backwards in his recovery.

Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, the big predicted snow storm hit our area. School was canceled for 3 days in a row.

All things white and untouched- very pretty.

Thursday was when the freezing rain hit and turned everything to ice. It was crazy, to say the least.

Our poor Japanese maple tree in the front yard did not fare well- the ice was too heavy and snapped off about 3/4 of the tree limbs. We will have to wait and see if it will even live through the Spring and Summer.

Later in the week as everything started to thaw out, you could go outside and just hear snapping and crackling everywhere as tree branches snapped off all over the area. Driving around our city was like driving through a war zone- huge tree limbs and branches were everywhere. It was devastating to see. It will take a long time for the Seattle area to recover from the damage that was done to our beautiful nature. To add to it, hundreds of thousands of people were with out power for days and some for over a week. We were very fortunate to never lose power ourselves, but I had many friends who were without.

The icicles were HUGE!

Our van was just a sheet of ice! I have never seen anything like it.

The doorhandles were completely frozen over with ice. I couldn't try to pull the handle open even if I wanted to.

The top of the van looks like snow- but it was ice/snow, with a layer of solid ice right below that, with another ice/snow layer, then more ice.

It started to thaw out on Friday the 20th and I took it upon myself (just to get out of the house for the first time 3 days and have something to do) to de-ice the car by hand. It took about 1.5 hours and it was like what I imagine chiseling through an igloo would be like- with an ice scraper.

Although the ice did a lot of damage, it sure was beautiful.

Another shot of our poor tree.

And Ben- what a trooper. Since he can't really help put the kids to bed, he does the best he can. Chloe and Mitch have a hard time falling asleep together (they play, fight, etc), so Ben takes Mitch into bed with him every night and has the magic touch. Mitch is out cold within 10 minutes most nights, and then I transfer him to his bed after.

Since he wasn't allowed to sit at a 90 degree angle for the first week, and now feels pain from his infection when he sits at a 90 degree angle, he either eats standing up, or kneels on a pillow at the table.

Since laying down is the most comfortable way to relax, any time Ben needs to "sit down" he has to do it in bed. The kids love taking turns laying with Dad and watching TV, playing the iPad or snuggling with him. This day, the 3 of them pretended to be asleep.

2 weeks after surgery, we headed back into the doctor's office for an incision check. There we were told that we were being referred to an infection control doctor, who would oversee the rest of Ben's recovery from the infection. It was not until our appointment on Wednesday, the 25th with the infection doctor (over a week after being treated for the initial infection) that we were told that Ben's infection was a staph infection (and maybe it's called "staff" infection is you catch one at work).

The more we learned about staph, the more upset we became. Staph infections can be very serious and very dangerous. Ben's staph was in his blood stream, which is pretty serious. The frustration and anger comes from the fact that the surgeon's office did a swab of the incision and sent it off to the lab to see what kind of infection it was over a week ago and we were never told it was staff until 8 days later. It only takes 2 days to get a culture result back and due to the bad weather, the doctor's office didn't find it important enough to check the lab results and put everything off until the next week. We now consider ourselves very blessed that Ben is not sicker than he is and that nothing more serious developed, as the original antibiotic was not treating the staph infection.

Due to the delay in treating the staph (due to negligence by our doctor's office), we were told by the infection doctor that a pill form of antibiotics would not treat the staph. Ben would have to have a PICC line placed (peripherally inserted central catheter)- or a form of intravenous access that can be in place for longer periods of time. His powerful antibiotics would be given through the PICC line once a day for 6 weeks. We were told we could learn to do this at home ourselves, or come in to the office everyday for 6 weeks. That was easy- we'd learn to do it at home. Lucky for us, my sister and brother-in-law are pros at everything related to PICC's. Their baby has had a PICC for almost 9 months. I called her immediately upon receiving the news and she calmed my fears (it was overwhelming at first) and told me I could do it and gave us lots of tips.

Talk about another set back. We really hope this will be the end to the drama of post surgery. We never imagined all of this, but are truly grateful that nothing more serious has happened (it could always be worse) and that we are hopefully now getting the treatments that will get him all better.

We had the PICC placed that day. Here it is right after it was placed, waiting for an X-ray to make sure it was placed correctly (it goes up his arm and rests right up by the heart).

The X-ray showed it was in the right place, so the next thing to be done was start his first fusion (receiving his first round of antibiotics through the PICC). The nurse had me do, telling me what to do step by step. I'm glad Ben was listening- it's nice to have someone else know what's going on.

After a 4 hour appointment, and being sent home with a week's worth of supplies, we finally left to pick up our kids. A very sweet friend was wonderful to watch them for 5 hours. We had no idea we would be gone that long and she was a gem for being so flexible and willing. Having our kids at that appointment would have been a nightmare. We have been overwhelmed with the love and kindness showed to us by so many these past few weeks. So many people have done so much- watched our kids, taken Chloe to school, brought in meals, called and texted to check in on us, brought us needed supplies during the ice storm, and on and on. We are so grateful for everyone.

Here is the finished product- the blue thing is where the antibiotic goes in.

And not to forget, here is the original wound (covered for your sake- it looks nasty right now due to the infection)- it was what got us into this mess in the first place!

A shot of the PICC uncovered- it looks worse than it is. All the dried blood got trapped under the dressing and will stay there until the nurse changes it next week.

The kids have really been troopers with Ben not being able to pick them up and play with them like they're used to. I was really worried how the babies would handle it, as they don't understand as much, but they have been so cute and done way better than I ever imagined. They ask to see Ben's back "owie" (now 2 owies) every day and they repeat, as they've been taught- "Daddy's owie- don't touch!" They were fascinated with his PICC. Leah called it a "snake."

Thursday was our first time to infuse all by ourselves. Here are all the supplies.

Here he is all hooked up, trying to control the flow of the medicine.

They did not send us home with an IV pole, so we got creative and used the lamp in our room to hang the antibiotic bag from that.

Works great!

A successful first infusion! One day down, 41 to go!

The next day, I was able to go with Mitchell to his preschool field trip to the local public library. They learned about trains. Here they are making a train together.

Then they read books and sang songs about trains. He was so well behaved. I was so proud of him. And Ben was able to stay at home with the babies while they napped, so it was just me and Mitch, which rarely happens.

We haven't had much "away from home fun" since Ben's surgery, so this past Friday night, we got some burgers and fries and headed to the church gym for some family fun. Ben worked on ward clerk stuff, and the kids ran around the gym and played with some balls.

They had so much fun. It was a perfect free activity. In our next house, we will definitely have a full sized gymnasium! :)

The kids kept themselves happily entertained, which allowed me to read my book. Perfect for everyone.

We're ready for you, February!

Christmas Break

2012-01-12T19:35:00.001-08:00

We had such a wonderful Christmas break. The day after Christmas, we packed up and left to go to Idaho. It was hard to leave our gifts and treats at home, and no fun packing for a long drive the day after Christmas, but it was so worth it.

We arrived at my parent's house Tuesday evening just in time to eat dinner. After eating, we had Christmas, part 2. The kids opened gifts from just about everyone, we opened our gifts from my parents, and my parents opened their gifts from us.

Grandma Dewsnup had late birthday gifts for the twins to open- aren't those little crocheted hats adorable? They especially loved the box of Mike & Ikes to share. Classic pic of my twins- Lexi cheesing it up, Leah crying.

Aunt Amanda had darling little purses waiting for the girls. They loved them and use them at home as little diaper bags for their baby dolls.

Papa and Grandma gave them little puppies that sing and talk. They were a hit as well. The puppy sings some of the twins' favorite songs, like "The ABC song" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider."

Ben and I got some great gifts from my parents, but nothing compared to the surprise gift my sister Amanda pulled out for me- a collectible figurine of 2 women with turquoise dresses, big hats and purses. The bottom had this saying:

"A sister is more than a wonderful friend."

This figurine depicted me and my sister perfectly- right down to the long, old fashioned dresses and wide brimmed hats (ha ha). I now have the privilege of finding just the right spot to display this priceless gift. Thanks Amanda! :)

Grandma and Papa definitely spoiled our kids! Everyone got things they have always wanted.

We had such fun week. We had no where to go and no plans, which was super relaxing. I rarely got out of my sweats, much to the displeasure of my husband. I wear "lounge wear" a lot at home if I don't leave the house, and Ben noticed an increase in this over Christmas break. Good thing I rock out a pair of sweat pants! :) Ahh, he knows it and loves it!

While we adults played a lot of board games and watched a lot of movies, the kids, and especially the 3 little boys, played lots of Mario Kart. They all thought they won every game, but sadly came in 12th (last), 11th and 10th place almost every time.

They also spent some time playing on the 2 iPads we had floating around. Amazing that a 3 and 4 year old can operate an electronic device of this nature almost flawlessly. Maybe it's equivalent to a pioneer boy being able to hitch up a team of oxen by himself? :)

I was so excited to get some snuggle time with my sweet little nephew Jackson. I have only met him once and didn't get to spent much time with him, so I loved every minute of holding and playing with this little angel.

I even got a smile out of him here!

Chloe was also quite smitten with Jax. She wanted to hold him often.

She was especially happy to get to feed him one day. The twins were fascinated with him too, but I never got a picture of them with him. They are really in to babies right now.

Oh, he is a sweet baby.

Leah stayed true to her new behavior- she became almost instantly obsessed with Uncle Neil. She needed one day to warm up to him, then almost wouldn't leave him alone.

When she got hurt one day, she wanted him to comfort her over me. She wanted Neil to get her food, hold her and play with her.

It was super cute. Lexi, out of character, wanted nothing to do with hardly anyone this trip except a few people. She was pretty cranky and not acting herself at all.

Grandma D. won her over with yummy snacks. Grandma always has been good with the treats- she pulls them out of no where, and they are endless! That's what I love about my Grandma!

Aunt Catherine took the kids on lots of 4 wheeler rides.

Hang on, Mitch!

It was cold in Idaho, but dry, which allowed the kids to play outside. And they did- a LOT.

Mitch loved playing with my parent's dog Jimmer (and the neighbor dog that was over all the time).

And as I've learned from the past, Mitch is happy with a mound of dirt. He and the dogs had a good ol' time outside on that dirt mound.

Mitch would throw something, and the dogs would go chase it.

Every time we go to my parents house, we can't help but covet their yard. My kids love being outside and really thrive on having lots of outdoor space to run around on. Even in the dead of winter, my children will spend hours outside and love it.

A fun Burley tradition is feeding my parents' neighbors horses. My kids never tire of that.

The kids put on a musical performance one day. Chloe played a piano solo.

Then my very talented nephew and niece sang a beautiful Christmas song, accompanied by their mom. Very impressive to hear a 10 year old and a 7 year old sing parts, be in tune, and have a song that long memorized. It was awesome.

One night we went and saw a light show that was synchronized with Christmas music playing on the radio. Mitch, Grandma and Chloe quite enjoyed it.

We got Blakeslee family pictures while we were home, as all of the family was there- all 19 of us.

Grandma & Papa and all the Blakeslee grandkids (almost half of them are mine!)

The week went much too fast. The night before we left, a big wind storm hit and we woke up to snow the next morning. Mitch and Chloe excitedly put on their coats and snow boots and played in the snow while we packed up. Mitch had fun playing with Papa, too.

We stopped in Tri-Cities on Saturday night to break up the trip. It was fun being with all the Andros grandkids on New Years Eve. All 11 of them together: Two 7 year olds, a 5 year old, two 4 year olds, a 3 year old, four two year olds and the sweetest 10 month old baby.

Feeding time at the zoo

The peanut gallery

Baby Preston and Aunt Bethany

The first two Andros grandkids

The break went way too fast and we had some wonderful, quality family time. As a mom, Christmas is a lot of work to put on and can be hectic and stressful at times, but it is always worth every effort in the end, and it always goes by way too fast. I'm always ready to put the tree and all the decorations away after New Year's Day, but it is always a little bit sad that each year keeps passing by more quickly.

Happy New Year!

Christmas Day

2012-01-02T15:00:00.000-08:00

Our kids are early risers, so Christmas morning begins early. But it's the one day a year that I don't mind being up early with the kids. We did tell Chloe and Mitchell that they couldn't get out of bed even a minute before 6:00 a.m... They came into our room at 6:02. We waited to wake the babies up just before 6:30.

We got our traditional family picture on the stairs. Boy do I look tired... and boy does Lexi look grumpy. Who can be grumpy on Christmas morning??

The kids were sure excited to see what Santa brought them.

The big kids ran to the stockings while the babies ran to the table to see if Santa had eaten all the cookies (they couldn't stop talking about it on Christmas Eve). He had eaten all of them, and had even left a note.

Everyone was pretty pleased with what Santa had brought them in their stockings.

We have one glide/balance bike already, but Santa knew with two competitive twins that we would likely need a second one this spring and summer. He brought in the old green one, which Lexi already claims.

And Leah tried out the new red one.

Mitch was thrilled with receiving the Cars 2 DVD from Santa. Just what he wanted.

Chloe got a note from Santa, explaining his gift to her (and the lack of her desired Barbie Dream house).

Santa brought her knee pads, elbow pads and wrist pads to go with the new roller blades we got her. She was very happy and never once complained about not getting what she asked Santa for.

Lexi, always cheesing for any camera, loved the sheep pillow and blanket set from Nana and Papa.

Leah got a cow one!

Mitch finally got a T-Rex. He has been obsessed with dinosaurs this past year and has longed for a T-Rex of his own (real or otherwise).

Ben got me a cute new jacket!

It was so fun to watch the twins open gifts this year. They just loved opening them and all the candy in their stockings the most.

The cutest part of Christmas morning is seeing how excited the kids get over gifts. They were especially sweet and loving with each other when they opened a gift they had given another sibling. Here Lexi hugs Chloe after opening a toy phone from her.

While I made breakfast, the kids played with their toys. Chloe took her rollerblades for a test drive inside.

Leah and Lexi got new baby dolls from Ben's grandparents. They came with bottles and binkies and they were a hit!

For breakfast we had our traditional breakfast cake for Jesus. We lit candles and sang happy birthday to him.

The kids loved blowing out the candles!

Breakfast was a hit! Since we are early risers, we had presents opened, breakfast made, eaten and cleaned up by 9:00 a.m. That gave us plenty of time to get ready for Church at 11:00.

Having Christmas on a Sunday was wonderful. I was not looking forward to having to get everyone dressed and presentable (and dragging ourselves away from our toy fun and comfortable clothes), but it made our Christmas Day so much more spiritual and great. The musical program was fantastic and so touching (I was teary eyed by the end of the opening song). It was the perfect addition to our Christmas morning and the best way to really celebrate the birth of our Savior.

I didn't think we'd have time to get pictures of everyone in their Christmas clothes, so we took pictures of the kids the Sunday before.

We were so ahead of schedule on Christmas morning that we got another one of all the kids

And a family shot too.

After church, we came back and quickly changed back into our comfy clothes, then spent the rest of the afternoon eating treats, playing with new toys and spending time together.

Before bed, I had all the kids get a traditional picture in front of the tree with all their gifts.

Chloe

Mitch

Leah

Lexi

My favorite day of the year went by much too quickly, but it was such a wonderful day.

Christmas Eve

2011-12-25T20:27:00.000-08:00

We started our Christmas Eve celebrating a day early.

On Friday, since Ben had the day off work, we got donuts (from Legendary Donuts) for breakfast. Yum. It was a hit and a great surprise for the kids!

At naptime for the twins, Ben took the big kids to the cheap theatre to see "Puss in Boots." This was their second surprise this day and they were thrilled.

On Christmas Eve afternoon, I took the big kids to a local LDS bookstore to see Santa again. Mitch asked for "Cars 2" DVD again. This Santa had no idea what that was (I could totally tell), but gave Mitch a cute ornament and some chocolate.

Chloe then told Santa, (again) that she wants a Barbie Dream House.

And they got a quick picture together.

Back home, we had a fun day just being together. The kids love to wrestle with Ben, and many times throughout the day, he was being jumped on by 4 kids at the same time.

Isn't that why there is dad's? I got down on the floor for a second to join the fun and with even 2 bodies on me, I was done. Not my thing.

We played LOTS of Mario Kart Wii. It is so fun now that they kids can play it. Mitch is hilarious- he is definitely improving, but still finishes last 95% of the time. But he is so excited if he ever gets any points.

He concentrates really hard!

We do our big Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve (so we don't have to do any big cooking on Christmas Day). Ben used one of his Christmas gifts early to make our Christmas ham- his new Traeger grill. It was delicious.

Dinner was yummy!

After dinner, Ben read the nativity story in Luke. We have talked about the nativity story and Jesus' birth a lot this month and I am amazed at how much my kids know, and that they really do understand the real meaning of Christmas. Sure, they love Santa and I think he is a fun and wonderful part of the magic of Christmas, but they know that we celebrate Christmas to remember the birth and life of our Savior. We have Nativity puppets and the big kids put on a number of puppet shows for us this month. Amazing to hear my 4 year old tell about the journey to Bethlehem and the angel announcing the Savior's birth.

After, I played the piano and we sang lots of Christmas songs/hymns.

4 happy kids waiting for their next surprise!

We pulled out our Christmas eve package and they were all anxious to see what was in it.

First their was a DVD. It was "How the Grinch Stole Christmas."

Then came new snowman pajamas for everyone.

I have never seen those kids change into pj's so fast- they were all so excited.

Next we hauled in all the presents from the garage to put under the Christmas tree. We couldn't put gifts under the tree until tonight, as we have two 2 year olds who would likely unwrap everything early). Here is Lexi telling me this gift is "heavy!" One handed, too- no wonder it's so heavy!

Andros Family- Christmas Eve 2011

Everyone settled down to watch "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" while I washed dishes (Leah helped).

Lexi clutching a nativity puzzle piece in one hand, and clutching Mitch's hand (fingers laced) in the other.

After the movie, everyone grabbed a quick treat before bed. Thanks to all the many, many treats brought over by friends and neighbors, we had LOTS of yummy things to choose from.

Then we got cookies and milk out for Santa, and the kids told me what to write in a note for Santa.

Cheese!

Our Santa note

The kids all told our elf Nicky goodbye as they headed up the stairs- this was his last night here until next year. We sure appreciate his diligent, watchful eye all month. He didn't make ALL the bad behaviors stay away, but he definitely helped.

Love the shot of our lit up tree. One of my favorite things about the Christmas season is seeing a Christmas tree lit up in a dark room. It looked extra beautiful last night and I was sad to know that it would soon be put away for the season.

Ben read the kids "Twas the Night Before Christmas" as they got into bed. The babies had a hard time settling down to go to sleep. They kept asking if "Santa eat cookies? And milkies?" They asked me that at least 30 times each. After shutting their door, I heard them talking about Santa and the cookies to each other. It is so fun to have them starting to get into all of the Christmas fun.

1st Grade Christmas Musical

2011-12-14T08:52:00.000-08:00

Monday night was Chloe's first grade Christmas Musical performance. These little first graders must have been working really hard at school- I was amazed that 100+ first graders could sing and do choreography in sync so well. It was quite impressive. And downright adorable, too.

Each first grade class was a different animal. Chloe's class was bears. She's on the top row, right in the middle of this shot.

This did some homemade sign language during the songs.

This is my favorite shot of the whole night- Chloe signing her little heart out. Every one of those first graders did, actually. Love it.

The grand finale song! It was a great performance.

Weekend Get Away

2011-12-12T14:11:00.001-08:00

We don't normally travel anywhere in the weeks before Christmas. But this year was a special treat, as we were invited by Ben's sister and her family to join them on a weekend get away to Discovery Bay, near Port Towsend, Washington. We have never been to that part of the state and were excited to see it. It was just a short 2 hour drive for us and we enjoyed gorgeous views and scenery all weekend, and spectacular company.

We stayed in 2 fantastic little "apartments" all weekend- our family in one, the Taylor family in the other. Each place had 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, a full kitchen, laundry room and living room/dining room area. Our rooms were right next door to each other and we were just steps away from the pool, so the kids were in heaven.

When we arrived Thursday night, it was too dark to see anything. But this is the view off our back balcony that we got to enjoy early the next morning.

The Sound, right outside our window. Gorgeous! (As the babies called it- "The beach!"

There were 7 kids between the 2 families and all of the kids are usually early risers, so our fun together started before 8:00 most mornings. Who gets to see and play with cousins at 7:30 a.m.? It was so fun.

Our poor upstairs neighbors probably did not love our early risers.... The 7 of them were not quiet. Oh well.

With full kitchens, we cooked and ate every meal at our condos. The kids were all good eaters and loved eating with their cousins. Chloe loved to ask multiple times a day, "Are we going over to Dave and Meredith's to eat, or are they coming here?" Not living in the same town as any cousins, this weekend of having some right next door was a real treat for us.

Our first adventure we went on was to a place called Olympic Game Farm in Sequim, WA. Sequim was just a short 30 minute drive and the Game Farm was so fun. It's a drive through zoo where you stay in your car and literally drive through a farm. For the first half of the tour, the animals are loose and walk right up to your car. You are allowed to throw bread to the animals and the kids loved that.

You are driving really slowly (you have to with 8 different animals crowded around your car), so we let the kids out of their seats- a baby on each lap- so they could enjoy it more.

So when I say there was animals right by you, I wasn't kidding. The llamas were the most friendly and would stick their head as far into your car as you would let them (well, as far in as you had your window rolled down). The llamas were hilarious- they tried to force their way into the windows constantly and would even run after the car when we drove away.

Here is Dave and Meredith's van- completely surrounded by animals. And that is a yak heading straight for our our van, head on.

This zebra was quite taken with us and tried desperately to get in.

The most aggressive, and annoying animals, were the birds. There were hundreds of them flying around and they would sit all over our van. We could hear them on the roof of the car constantly, and we had one sitting on our hood almost the entire tour. They were very aggressive with the bread we would throw and if you didn't throw it fast enough, they would swoop in and eat it right out of your outstretched hand. It caught a few of us off guard a number of times.

Lexi was one of the unsuspecting victims of the birds, and she was totally innocent. She had her hand resting on the window at one point, just watching everything, and a bird must have thought her cute little white hand was a piece of bread because it swooped in and bit her hand, leaving scratch marks on her fingers and hand. It scared her pretty badly and her cut up little hand looked painful. Poor baby.

They had beautiful peacocks all over the farm and they loved the bread too. I fed one and it snatched the bread out of my hand almost faster than we could get a picture.

Group shot of the kiddos- 4 two year olds, 2 four year olds and a 7 year old.

Leah is notoriously known for taking her sweet time warming up to people. But she has come a looooong way in the past few months, and this weekend proved that. Upon arriving Thursday night, she would not even look at Meredith or Dave and would cry when either of them would talk to her. But Friday morning, she instantly bonded with both of them, especially Uncle Dave. She went from not wanting anything to do with him to obsessed with him in 12 hours. She would barely leave his side for the rest of the weekend and would cry when he would put her down or leave a room. She rode on his lap during our second drive through the farm.

The Kodiak bears were hilarious- this one sat down like he was human, and another one would wave at us and make silly tongue expressions.

When it was time to go, Leah didn't want to leave Dave's side, so we let her ride with them back to the condos. We did a twin swap- they took one of our twins, we took one of theirs. John and Leah in one van...

Henry and Lexi in the other van. They held hands the entire way home.

This was our view in the daylight- and we had a gorgeous weekend with lots of sun.

These two 4 year olds were a hoot together- they loved making forts, swimming, eating and mostly playing on the iPad any minute their parents would let them.

The kids' favorite weekend activity was swimming at the indoor pool. They would have went 4 times a day if the adults had been up for it, but it's exhausting watching 7 kids 7 and under in a pool for more than a few hours a day. And it was freezing cold outside, but Leah, sporting just a swimsuit, had no issues with the coldness. She was just excited to be going swimming!

The babies did not love the pool the first night, but after that they loved it. It has given me hope that I may be able to sign them up for a swimming class this summer with the older kids and I could finally enjoy swimming lessons solo on the sidelines!

Swimming with Daddy is fun!

Dave and Meredith pack quite a fun pool bag- lots of water toys and supplies. My kids loved their collection of goggles.

When Ben was busy, Leah begged for Dave in the pool. With a set of twins of his own, Dave always has at least one kid in his hand and more often than not 2 in his hands and one on his back or shoulders. He never hesitated to pick one or both of my twins up when they were begging for him, even if he had a few kids of his own in his arms. (Lexi was equally as obsessed with him, but I didn't happen to snap any pictures of her with him). Thanks, Uncle Dave for all the love and attention you gave my kids this weekend. They love you!

Our Christmas Elf, Nicky, surprised us and showed up at the condo Friday morning, and the next 2 mornings we were there as well. The kids were thrilled!

On Saturday, we headed into Port Townsend. I was told what a cute little town it is, and as we drove through it I could already tell that I would love to spend more time here, probably without kids- there was lots of cute little shops that were calling my name, but taking any children in there would have been death.

We went to Fort Worden State Park instead. It was cold, cold, cold but we had fun anyway.

We saw a light house in the distance and decided to walk along the beach to get to it.

Ben drew a line in the stand and had the kids stand behind it for a rock throwing contest.

When we reached the light house, there was a spectacular overlook of the Sound. Perfect place for a family picture.

Me and Leah in front of the light house.

Light houses are so neat to look at. So historic looking.

We were all frozen through after walking to the light house, so we left the state park and decided to get some ice cream to warm us up. ha ha. We found a cute little ice cream shop in downtown Port Townsend. It was a hit.

Sunday was checkout day and time to go home. But to extend the fun, we decided to take a ferry part of the way home. We drove to Bremerton and took the ferry from there over to Seattle. Here we are waiting in line to drive on to the ferry.

After you drive your car onto the ferry, you can get out and go up top and walk around.

The kids loved looking out at the water. It was cold outside and with the wind blowing, it was down right bone chilling. Staying behind these windows helped protect us from the cold.

Andros Family

Taylor Family

It was really neat to look over the railing directly into the water. Also kind of scary, especially with young kids with us.

We could spot Seattle from miles away. I snapped this shot of Chloe with the Space Needle in the distance.

We docked at the water front in downtown Seattle and drove our cars off the ferry. Back home and back to reality. We had such a wonderful time and it sure was fun to have a weekend get away with the Taylor's. It was great to get away from the hustle and bustle of planning for Christmas and relax for a few days. Being with family sure helped me remember the true meaning of Christmas and how wonderful and important it is to be with family, especially at this time of year. Thanks for inviting us and for a great weekend. It was the perfect pre-Christmas present!

Santa and Christmas Lights

2011-12-07T13:42:00.000-08:00

We have a really great homeowner's association. They put on multiple events every year, including a "Donuts with Santa" day. This is such a fun and convenient way to get a visit and picture with Santa. We have never had to brave the lines and crowds at a mall.

After a short wait (which goes by fast when you have donuts and juice in hand, and tables nearby to color pictures on), Chloe went first. She told Santa she wanted a Barbie Dream House. What?? She told him that last year as well and I was shocked to hear it again. She has 2 or 3 barbies, but she rarely, if ever, plays with them. She definitely doesn't play with them enough to get a dream house for them. Santa wrote her a note last year saying that instead of the Barbie Dream House, he thought the gift he got her would be more fun. She didn't complain. Can Santa write that 2 years in a row?? We had a talk on the way home that just because we ask Santa for something, does not mean we will get it. Sometimes Santa knows things that are better for us, or that we will like just as much or more.

Mitch was next and had absolutely no apprehension about talking to the big guy. He was very anxious to tell him what he wanted for Christmas- Cars 2 DVD. He's so easy.

The Big Guy with my Big Guy

Then it was the twins' turn. Oh, my babies. They were so excited to see Santa while standing in line and kept waving at him and saying "I see him! Santa! Santa!"

But as soon as they got up by him, it all fell apart. We plopped Leah up there first.

This lean back, stiff bodied reaction, combined with the look on her face, says pure terror. She couldn't even really cry she was so scared. Sad for her, but hilarious, too (she'll think so too in a few years).

Wish I could have gotten a shot of her face on to really show her reaction- just a look of being completely afraid. Santa is laughing in this picture too, if you can tell. He was such a kind and patient guy.

I wanted a shot of them each with him individually, but I knew if we took Leah off, we'd never get her back on his lap and if Leah left, Lexi wouldn't stay. Lexi didn't like it at all either...

And then came the tears and screaming from Lex.

The best shot of the day- face shots of both of them in tears and terror. Santa deserves a medal for putting up with crying babies everyday for a month, especially this Santa. He was so patient and would hold on to the kids firmly so they wouldn't fall off or escape while they screamed so the parents could take their precious picture.

And a group shot- 2 happy, 2 terrified. Isn't this what Christmas is all about? Torturing toddlers all for the sake of a picture and memory? I think so.

But all was made right when Santa's helper gave all the kids a candy cane afterward.

For FHE this past Monday, we had our traditional "Gifts for Jesus" lesson, where each one of us writes down (or draws) a gift that we are going to give Jesus this year. (Ben helped Leah with her gift and Leah announced it to everyone proudly "Be less whiney"). After writing them down and sharing them with the family, we put them in a special Jesus tin/box and hang it on the tree to help remind us of our gift we are going to give Him this Christmas season.

We then opened our Advent Calendar treat for the night and it said to "Take a drive as a family to see Christmas lights." The kids all got in their pajamas, then we headed out to drive around our awesome neighborhood to see everyone's lights and decorations.

Everyone loved it, especially the babies. They kept yelling "Oooh, Christmas lights!" "Look- Santa! A snowman!" and repeating whatever they heard us saying like "Oh, the colors!"

Some of the houses around here are pretty impressive. This was the best house we saw that night.

7 year old Baby Girl

2011-12-06T10:23:00.000-08:00

Time just keeps flying by. I have a 7 year old now and am in disbelief that next year she will be getting baptized. Whoa...

Chloe turned 7 on December 2nd.

She started off her birthday morning with a 7:00 a.m. dentist appointment. And she didn't complain at all. What a trooper.

After the appointment, we still had plenty of time to kill before school started, so I took the birthday girl (and her siblings) out for breakfast at Starbucks for hot chocolate and donuts. (I always feel weird going into Starbucks since it is famously known for their coffee, not their hot chocolate, and we don't drink coffee. Just feels strange to be holding a coffee cup as a non-coffee drinker).

Don't know if you can tell from this picture, but my "baby" is wearing 2 retainers! She started orthodontics a few weeks ago on a recommendation from our dentist after noticing Chloe had a terrible cross bite. She got her retainers just 2 days before her birthday and she was so excited about them. And after just 24 hours of wearing them, her teeth had already moved significantly and she no longer cross bites. Amazing. Money well spent.

The kids loved it!

For dinner, we headed to Red Robin to celebrate. We love Red Robin, especially since they give free meals to everyone on their birthday and our dentist and orthodontist give free kids meals as well. We fed the entire family that night for $10 with all our free stuff.

Back home to open gifts.

Chloe has been wanting a watch for a long time.

I love her excited reaction upon opening a pair of "Ugg" boots (they are not Ugg brand, but that's what she calls them and has been begging for some for months).

She has also been wanting an umbrella for months. Thanks Grandma and Papa for making her day!

The twins were very anxious to help open gifts and Chloe let them help on the last present.

Hooray- a new coat! Chloe outgrew her old coat about a year ago. It's been freezing cold here lately, so it will be put to good use.

All her new loot. The cute little pink and purple box in front was a jewelry making kit from Nana and Papa. She made a bracelet and necklace that very night. A dream come true- she loves jewelry.

Birthday girl with her favorite pals. Mitch was not happy about getting his picture taken (he was sick that day).

We had such a busy week that I was not up for making a cake. When I asked Chloe would kind of cake she wanted me to buy, she shocked me when she said she wanted a strawberry cheesecake from Costco. Our kids are not big cheesecake fans, at all. Chloe will try just about anything one time, and when we have cheesecake she nibbles on a piece, but it is not her favorite. Ben and I would give our right arms for cheesecake, so we weren't about to argue with her decision. She later told me, "Mom, I picked cheesecake because I know you and Dad love it." What a sweetheart.

We let the birthday girl stay up late on her birthday since there was no school the next day. She put on her pajamas and her new boots and stayed in them until going to bed.

This past weekend, we took some 7 year photos of our big girl.

Ben's favorite

My favorite.

What a sweet girl we have. Our favorite things about this girl:

She loves to read. At her most recent parent/teacher conference, we were told she is reading at almost a second grade level. She can now read to herself and loves to read to her younger siblings, but still loves to be read to.

She loves to learn. She is at the head of her class and excels at almost everything (science is currently the only subject she has any trouble with). Her teacher said that Chloe really needs to push herself to continue to excel because everything at school comes very easy to her and she is above grade level.

She loves to draw, color and create. We find piles and piles of art work all over the house from our little Picasso.

She is a great friend. Her teacher recently reported how sweet and helpful she is with so many kids in her class. She has been recognized many times at school for her kindness and going out of her way to help and befriend others.

She is always anxious and eager to help at home. She loves setting the table, helping with dinner, vacuuming, and can pick up and tidy an entire room in minutes.

She is a great little piano player and can memorize a song after just playing it a few times.

She has always been our best eater. Even if she doesn't love something, she will always try it and is the only child we have that can be talked into finishing an item she doesn't love. She eats and loves almost every single vegetable. Her favorite veggie is green beans, with a close second being corn. Her favorite food is homemade baking powder biscuits. She requests them on a weekly basis.

She loves being outside and enjoys camping, riding her bike and playing with friends.

She loves to talk and is very curious. She likes to know what we are doing, where we are going and why something is happening. She sometimes has to be reminded that certain things are not her business. :)

Although strong willed and loud at times, she is our peace maker and is very sweet to help out when she senses we are stressed or busy. She loves to compliment me and Ben, and has become very good at thanking us for gifts, special privileges and fun activities she gets to do.

Happy Birthday, Chloe girl. May your next year be as great as this one was!

Bucket List

2011-12-02T14:38:00.001-08:00

In 27 years of life, I've only been able to cross one item off my "Bucket List." The summer after I graduated from high school, my family went on a trip to New York City (and other eastern cities/states) and I was able to see my favorite major league baseball team, the New York Yankees, play live at historic Yankee Stadium. Amazing.

That was almost 10 years ago. Since then, my Bucket List has been set aside and been replaced with equally amazing things, such as meeting and marrying the man of my dreams and raising 4 beautiful babies. But through the years of changing diapers, making meals and sweeping floors, my Bucket List has always been on my mind, begging me to cross another item off its enticing list.

This past Thursday, December 1, I was able to cross another item off my bucket list. I have always loved sports and have been fortunate enough to attend a number of professional sporting events. But the only pro games I've seen have been in basketball and baseball. Not living anywhere near a pro football team growing up, and knowing that nearly 90% (or more) of NFL games are played on Sunday, I knew this item would be difficult to cross off my list.

Since moving to the Seattle area 8 years ago, I suddenly lived within a short drive of a pro NFL team- the Seattle Seahawks. Ben and I became very excited of the prospect of one day being able to attend a Seahawks game together. But we quickly remembered that the NFL's primary day to play was on Sunday, and although a Bucket List always require great effort to achieve items on its list, I knew I wasn't going to ever attend a Sunday game. We knew that some NFL teams occasionally get a non-Sunday game. It was rare, but there was still hope.

Married life quickly became busy for us- I was in school, Ben with a new job, and then the kids started coming like rabbits. We would check the Seahawks schedule every year and were disappointed to find that for many years in a row, they didn't have one non-Sunday game. One year we found a non-Sunday game, but we had 2 infant twin babies that could not be left without me for that long.

Finally, this past August, we checked the Seahawks schedule and were shocked to find that they had not one, but three non-Sunday home games this season. We knew that this was the year. The dream almost didn't happen- the day tickets went on sale, we got online and on the phone and within 5 minutes, literally, of the ticket office being open, the cheap seats that we could afford were sold out. But as luck, and the Bucket List angel watching over us would have it, 4 tickets together, in our price range, became available. We talked some friends into going with us (thus the 4 seats together) and we were set. Boy were we excited. And 3 months was a long wait.

But it came!

In front of Century Link Stadium

We are very familiar with this part of downtown Seattle, as the Seahawks stadium is right across the street from Safeco field, where the Mariners play. But we never go downtown in December, so it was neat to see the Christmas lights up on trees and other seasonal decorations.

We were almost at the very top of the stadium, but it was still an awesome view! We had a great view of the jumbo tron, which was fun.

And a fantastic view of Seattle, too.

The Seahawks, who have been struggling this year, scored a touchdown just minutes into the first quarter. 4 blue Seahawk flags were run onto the field in celebration.

We had a great time with our friends Ashlee and Josh. They are fellow football lovers as well and this was also their first NFL game.

It was FREEZING cold (39 degrees to be exact). During half time, we all got up and walked around for a minute to try and stay warm. It was ok that it was so cold- it was totally worth it.

All 4 of us.

From the way they played against the Philadelphia Eagles (also a struggling team this year), you wouldn't know the Seahawks are having a losing season- they played a great game.

The Seahawks are known for their loud, sold out crowds. They are so loud, in fact, that their fans and crowd have become known as the 12th Man. The fans have had such an impact on the success of the football team that the number 12 was retired in 1984. In 2003, the 12th Man Flag was made and at every home game, just before kickoff, the flag is raised in honor of the 12th Man. Celebrities often are asked, if in attendance at the game, to raise the flag. The night we were there, Bill Russell, retired NBA legend, raised the 12th Man flag. The fans were very excited about that (and so was the usher by our seats, for that matter).

It would have been cooler to have a 12th Man jersey on, but all I had was a Matt Hasselbeck one (yes, I am aware he no longer plays for Seattle). Still pretty cool to me, though.

The Seahawks went on to win 31-14 in a very exciting game. We had such a great time and it really was a dream come true.

One last shot of Century Link field as we were leaving the game.

Walking back to our car, we came across a Krispy Kreme and it was calling to us. We were more than happy to wait in a long line- it was warm inside and we had a front row view of the donut making magic. Perfect ending to a perfect night.

Bucket List:

1. Watch NY Yankees play at Yankee Stadium- CHECK

2. See an NFL game in person- CHECK

Now on to the next!

Christmas Setup

2011-12-01T09:27:00.000-08:00

We LOVE setting up the Christmas decorations right after Thanksgiving each year. When the big kids were really small, we just set up the tree and other decorations after they were all in bed. But now that they are older, we do it as a family (usually for Family Home Evening). The kids love helping, and this year Mitchell was especially anxious to get them up. We went out of town for Thanksgiving weekend and upon pulling up into our cul de sac this past Sunday night, he noticed that almost every single one of our neighbors had some sort of Christmas decoration up. He immediately hollered, "Mom! Why don't we have our Christmas stuff up? Everyone else does!" I tried to explain that we didn't have ours up yet since we were out of town. He pestered me about putting them up all the next day too, promising he'd help with everything.

Monday night, he held true to his promise.

Everyone helped Ben "fluff" the branches on the tree.

We have 2 sets of grandparents and a set of great grandparents that give the kids a new ornament each year and being a date obsessed person, I label the child's name and the year they received the ornament, and who it was from, somewhere inconspicuous on the ornament so we can look back and remember who's is who and how old they were when they got it. You would have thought it was Christmas morning already with how the kids reacted as Ben handed them ornaments to decorate the tree with. They were thrilled as they inspected each ornament and discovered which ornaments were theirs and which grandparent (or sometimes parents) gave it to them.

The kids were especially excited to be handed an old ornament of mine or Ben's that we had as children.

Mitchell found an ornament with a picture of Ben as a boy and was convinced that it was him.

The babies loved hanging ornaments.

They also love taking them off and playing with them.

After the lights were put on and all the ornaments hung, Chloe got to top the tree with an angel ornament we found among our collection. In our 8 years of marriage, we have never invested in a nice, special angel tree topper. That is on my list to do for next year.

I love seeing a lit, decorated tree for an entire month. I'm anxious for Christmas to be here, but don't want December to go by too quickly. A Christmas decorated house is one of my favorite things in the entire world.

As we were cleaning up, Mitch found the empty Christmas tree box and hid in it. Leah found him.

He fit, with plenty of room to spare.

Last year, our "Elf on the Shelf", Nicky, came to our house for the first time. The kids have been asking for over a week when Nicky will come back. I kept telling them that I guessed it would be soon.

This morning, the kids came downstairs to finds Nicky, a note and a gift on the kitchen table.

They had enough self control to wait until the babies were awake and until I came downstairs to open the gift. I was impressed. And Chloe was able to read the entire note to everyone. (I love having another reader in the house!)

A group effort in opening the gift found a new Wii console. Our Wii has been broken for about a year and we have missed it. Ben set it up before leaving for work and the kids played Mario Kart while I made breakfast. As Nicky said in the note, this early Christmas gift is to help remind the kids to be good this month, as he reports their behavior to Santa every night when he returns to the North Pole. Here's to hoping it works!

Thanksgiving Weekend

2011-11-29T18:12:00.000-08:00

We spent Thanksgiving at Ben's parents this year in Tri-Cities. It was a great weekend away and just what we needed- lots of relaxing and time with family.

Chloe helped set the table for Thanksgiving dinner.

The twins played with Aunt Bethany while dinner was being cooked.

We tried grabbing a quick family photo before dinner was ready. Mitchell had fun trying out different faces- not one of them was a normal smile. Thanks, bud. Leah was totally zoned out.

Here are the two magnificent cooks- they worked all morning and afternoon to make a delicious dinner for 23 people. 23! Very impressive and very delicious.

Leah refused to try anything on her plate and Lexi stayed in her chair for at least 45 minutes, trying almost everything I put on her plate.

My little Turkey's- they each got a little candy/cookie turkey before bed and it was the best part of their day.

After dinner, it was time for some much needed relaxation for all (especially the two hard working cooks). Chloe and Stella played Uno attack.

With 2 iPads floating around, there was lots of entertainment for all.

Evie and Papa took a nap.

Later in the evening, some of us played "Thanksgiving Bingo." It was a hit! There were prizes for the winners of each round. That was my favorite part of the evening.

Later in the evening, the men played some Xbox. I'm pretty sure that's what the pilgrims did after the First Thanksgiving, too...

The rest of the weekend was filled with lots of time with cousins, lots of shopping, and an incredible amount of yummy food.

The boys, cuddling together watching a movie.

The girls had no trouble keeping themselves entertained with games and made up activities. They all found hats and thought that was hilarious.

The next day, Stella and Chloe played beauty shop and styled all the younger girls' hair. Lexi was super excited about her hair style.

The boys watched movies, jumped on the couches and played Angry Birds on their mothers' cell phones.

A great weekend with great food and even better company. What a wonderful family we belong to! Happy Thanksgiving! (Time to warm up the treadmill...)

Thanksgiving Indians

2011-11-23T13:44:00.001-08:00

One little...

Two little...

3 little Indians

4 little Indian Andros'.

Mitch made an Indian vest, headband and necklace at preschool, and all of my little Indians loved taking turns wearing it. We are all looking forward to Thanksgiving tomorrow- lots of yummy food, fun with cousins and family and LOTS of relaxing. (Can you say pumpkin cheesecake??)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Double Trouble at 2

2011-11-21T15:43:00.000-08:00

An update on the twins is long over due. I failed to do one at 18 months and I'm really kicking myself that I didn't- there are so many memories that I wanted to remember about new things they were doing and now I have forgotten a lot of them.

One of the cutest things the babies used to do as they started to talk (that I don't want to forget) was they both called each other "Leah." Leah is much easier to say than Alexis or even Lexi, so Leah called Lexi "Leah" and Lexi also referred to herself as "Leah" when asked what her name was. When asked where Lexi was, Lexi always knew her own name, she just couldn't say it for quite some time. It was quite hilarious and a very cute stage they went through.

The terrible two's with twins have brought new light to the phrase "Double Trouble." These two sure are either naughty naughty or loads of fun. All toddlers can cause trouble, but these two are much naughtier and mischievous than my older kids, by far. It must be that it is more fun to do things you know you shouldn't when you have a partner in crime. Some of their favorite naughty things to do are:

Write on their bodies.

This is just the tip of the ice berg- many times, if they are just in diapers, they will write on their bodies from head to toe. And then cry when I try and scrub the pen off (which does not come readily off, by the way).

They LOVE to take off their clothes and diapers. My other kid NEVER did this. Ever. I find at least one of them naked at least once or twice a day. Being naked and not potty trained means I also find potty accidents on the carpet as well, not to mention in their beds, their favorite place to strip.

They love to color on the walls, and carpet. Chloe and Mitch did this once or twice each, total, but these little beasts have done it countless times. I have been lucky when it's washable marker and come right off, but their latest creation is still on the wall, in 3 different places (and it's NOT coming off. Those walls are on my list to repaint soon).

Starting in September, they got in the habit of playing instead of napping. They are both in separate cribs (and thanks to a crib tent they can't climb out), but that doesn't stop them from entertaining each other across the room. They would jump and holler and giggle and play (and take off their clothes and diapers) for 2 hours or more, instead of sleep. This made for cranky babies in the evening and a cranky mom. I was desperate (and not about to give up on naps) so I recently moved Leah into our closet for naptime and now they are both back to taking 2-3 hour naps everyday. Amazing.

They are obsessed with lotions and creams and will sneak into them whenever they can and smear them all over their faces. It's usually not so bad until they do it with Desitin and toothpaste. Of course they aren't careful and the Desitin and toothpaste get spread on every other surface within arms reach and trust me, Desitin does not come out of any surface without a fight.

Some of the cute things they are doing these days: (it's not all naughtiness!):

When they were born, I rarely bought 2 of anything the same, except clothes. They shared everything they had and were totally fine with. As soon as they hit 2, they got very competitive and quickly learned the phrase "mine." Of things we didn't have 2 of the same, they noticed and would fight over who gets it. It has taught sharing on a whole new level, which is great, but there is definitely some things that would be easier to have 2 of.

At a class I go to, we have what's called a "Share and Care" table where all the moms can bring items they no longer want (that you would otherwise take to Goodwill or sell) and then you can take anything of anyone else's that you need/want. A few months ago I found these 2 pairs of pajamas that were both the twins' size. They were cute (and free) and they really needed pj's so I grabbed them and didn't think twice. When it came time to put them on the girls for bed the first night, they both immediately fell in love with the snow man pair and only wanted that one. A cat fight started immediately. We are now "sharing" these pajamas- Leah gets the snowman one night, then it's Lexi's turn the next night. At the beginning, whosever turn it was to NOT get the snowman would cry and the other one would cheer "My turn, snowman!" They would even go around the house during the day anticipating their turn with the snowman pair that night. It would really sting when the snowman winner for the night would turn to the other one and defiantly say "MY TURN, snowman). Now Lexi, our little peace maker, has decided to be excited about whatever pair it is she gets to wear. "My turn, kitty!" Leah still only wants to the snowman, if she had a choice, but another good lesson in sharing is happening. (But never again will they get different pajamas! Drama, I tell you). The same thing happened with two different Halloween books I bought them for their birthday. We had to share those books every other night for quite some time. (Guess who will be getting the EXACT same things for Christmas this year??)

They are talking like crazy. There really isn't anything they can't say and our favorite thing to do is ask them to say something and listen to them say it. I love that they can communicate so well with us and tell us what they need.

They are in the "I do it" stage. They insist on climbing in their own seats in the car and helping to buckle. If I'm in a hurry (which feels like always in the car) and try and do it for them, we have 2 total meltdowns. They have to buckle themselves in their high chair, until they finally realize they can't and then later ask for help.

They LOVE books and would listen to book after book after book if we had all day. They have their favorite books memorized and will say it with me when I read.

They also both love to sing and it's so cute to hear them sing songs they are being taught in Nursery. We sing a song (or 4) before bed every night and it's the best part of my day. Their current favorite songs are "Twinkle Twinkle little star," "Itsy Bitsy Spider," "Jesus Wants me for a Sunbeam," and "Heavenly Father Loves." Leah is also our little soloist. She goes around the house and sings made up songs constantly. Sweetest little sound, that is.

They have learned the sneaky art of blaming each other for things they actually did. When I smell something ripe in the air, I ask "Who has a stinky diaper?" Often time, they will both tell me it was the other one. I found a ripped up, broken book one day and asked "Who ripped this book?" (I saw Leah rip it earlier) and Leah replied "Lexi broke it." This is only bound to get worse as they get older, right? Oh dear... Pretty funny right now, though.

As they phased out of the stage of both calling each other Leah, they went into pronouncing Lexi's name "Lecki." It also sounds a lot like "Lucky", so Lexi has picked up yet another nickname and is now "Lucky," "Luck", "Lucky Duck" and "Luckster." We love nicknames at our house. Which is also why we call the twins by their middle names when we feel like it and Leah now doubles as "Jane" or Janie girl" and Lexi as "Grace" and "Gracie girl." When they call each other Janie and Gracie, it's hilarious. Ben wonders how our children even know their names when they each have 20.

One of the most fun parts of having twins is the built in playmate. I LOVE that. It's so fun to see these girls play together and entertain (or cause trouble with) each other.

It's so fun to watch them make up their own fun, together.

See? Who says twins need 2 of everything? It's more fun to find ways to share a toy made for one!

This summer, we spent lots of time outside in our cul de sac riding bikes. These wiggle cars are the best $20 I've ever spent. This provided hours of entertainment a day for the twins (and my other kids).

When Mitch learned to ride a big boy bike this summer, he was done with his glide bike (which was the reason he never needed training wheels) so the twins "shared" it. They loved it!

Leah's turn!

These girls are the best sleepers. Leah used to be a short napper, but ever since I separated them for naps, she has become a fantastic napper again. Lexi has always been an amazing napper, and they both are champs at bedtime. They go to bed at 6 p.m. and wake up between 7 and 7:30 the next morning. I go in and check on them every night before I go to bed and if they wake up (I like to stroke their faces and hair), they have no problem going right back to sleep. They will sometimes stand up and give me a hug, then lay right back down with no problem.

These two are true Andros'! They love Costco, just like any Andros. They know the route we drive to get there and right before we turn into the parking lot (before the store is visible) they start yelling "Costco! Costco!"

When we eat at Costco, (which is super often, too often probably), their favorite food is the frozen yogurt. I always get them vanilla so they can't stain their clothes with the chocolate.

Speaking of eating- sometime during the summer, they started preferring to eat at the big table like big girls. They still use their high chairs at dinner time every night, but it IS easier to have them climb up and down from the table by themselves instead of spending so much time buckling and unbuckling both of them. And have I ever mentioned how messy of an eater Lexi is? Oh my! It's probably due to how quickly she eats- there just isn't time to be nice and neat when you can down an entire bowl of food in 1.5 minutes. Leah, on the other hand, is so clean and tidy when she eats. She has less stained clothes and mostly no mess to clean up when she's done eating. I love it. She really knows the way to my heart.

They love cereal- their current favorite kinds are raisin bran (they call it "raisin cereal"), cinnamon life and chocolate cheerios. They sometimes eat it for multiple meals a day. Fast & easy- why not?

The girls are at the stage in life where they are excited to help do things. Lexi saw me getting ready to take the garbage out one day and helped me drag it outside.

They are big helpers when asked. I love that I can say "Will you go throw this in the garbage?" And they happily do it. I will enjoy this stage while I can.

The helpful stage also comes with an extremely competitive stage. This competitiveness comes from my side of the family (Ben reminds me of this weekly). There are some things that they can't always do at the same time and praying is one of them. They started praying this summer and it is adorable, really, but with it came fighting. Both of them want to pray at every prayer and if they don't get a turn to pray, they pout and whine and say "I pray, my turn pray" during the prayer given by someone else. On their turn to pray, they very sweetly say what words we tell them too, and Leah has even said an entire prayer alone. If it's the twins turn to pray, we do let both of them pray, one at a time or it gets ugly. If we let Lexi pray first, Leah gets very mad and will often still be upset about it during her turn to pray, and then she says a very pouty prayer to let us know she is not pleased with going second.

I made the mistake months ago by saying at bedtime "Who wants to read their book first?" They were being slow and I was trying to hurry them along, but this backfired, as they both screamed to be first and cried when they weren't first. I later learned to trick them by saying "Leah is first, then Lexi is first" and they bought it, even though one of them still really isn't first. They use the "I first!" phrase a lot throughout the day.

They are smart girls- they know which bed is their own, which car seat is theirs, which sippy cups, which baby dolls and which shoes (if they are different colors). If one of them takes the other's stuff, a loud "HEY- THAT'S MINE" can be heard throughout the house.

This summer, the girls started to get more efficient at playing on playgrounds alone. I am a mom that likes to sit at the park and watch my kids play and relax or read a book, and am so happy when my kids are old enough to play without help or me constantly being by their side. This fall, on nice days, they are able to do almost anything at the park by themselves and it's fabulous.

They love playing the piano, too.

For all of their naughtiness, they sure can be sweet as pie. When they share with each other without being asked, it is so sweet. And they have learned how a hug and kiss can make anything better, and they use each other for that. They have also learned that they can hit, bite or steal a toy from each other and if they just say "Sorry" and give a hug and kiss, then it's acceptable. They'll learn...

Somedays I have 2 little monkeys. They love to crawl on things and especially hang from anything they can.

They loved our little outdoor picnic table this summer and many a lunch and snack were eaten out there.

Some days they hate being touched by each other in the car and other days they hold hands for the car ride. So sweet to turn around and see the hand holding.

Blackberries grow like crazy around here and we went berry picking a few times this summer. The babies insisted on each carrying their own bucket and then would just eat the berries as fast as they could pick them.

Their Nana gave them each a baby doll for their first birthday (in their respective colors of pink and purple) and they love these babies. Leah is very attached to hers and has to have it to sleep with every nap and bedtime, and often brings it in the car with us. Lexi sleeps with hers most of the time too, but is ok without it. Grandma made them little blankets to go with them this summer and they love swaddling their babies and carrying them around.

With 2 very pronounced mullets, we discovered that both girls have enough hair now to make adorable pony tails with.

October 2011

The girls were in very good moods one evening and really hamming it up for the camera, so I decided to get a picture reenacting a pose from the spring of 2010 when they were 8 months old and just finally having mastered sitting up.

June 2010

The twins LOVE Chloe. Love. Love. Love.

Chloe is so fun. She will read to them for 30-45 minutes at a time (especially if it means she can stay up past her bedtime to do it) and has recently started giving them piggy back rides, which they love. Sometimes if they get hurt or are sad, they will request Chloe over me. Leah one time wanted Chloe over me and screamed out, "My Chloe, my Chloe!" Chloe plays school with them and house. They must have learned how to play pretend from Chloe because one day I heard the babies playing together and they kept calling each other "Allie," a pretend name Chloe uses for one or both of them when they play house. It was hilarious. The babies kept coming up to each other saying "Bye Allie" and then hugging and kissing each other.

The girls have learned how to copy cat good and bad behavior from all of us. Here they were copying Chloe's gymnastic moves.

They quickly caught on to making faces one night at the dinner table and then were too silly and distracted to finish dinner.

Sporting Chloe's glasses.

They love saying "Watch Mom" and "Watch Dad" when they think they are doing something clever or cute (they also learned this from their older siblings0. We love watching them grow and can't wait to see what the future holds for these little twin girls. I'm pretty sure it will come with lots of "My turns," "I firsts" and I do its!"

Twins' 2 year stats & Photos

2011-11-17T15:31:00.001-08:00

The twins had their 2 year doctor checkups and photo shoot just days after turning 2, but I am just now getting around to posting them.

The stats at their checkups:

Leah:

Weight: 24.8 lbs (> 25%)

Height: 33 1/4 in (> 25%)

Head: 46 3/4 cm (25%)

She is an extremely proportionate girl.

Alexis:

Weight: 26 lbs (25-50%)

Height: 32 1/2 in (10-25%)

Head: 48 cm (50-75%)

Here are the best shots we got from their photo shoot.

My favorite ones were the hugging and kissing ones.

Oh wait, just one more kiss Leah!

Got it!

Leah did a great job- she sat and smiled so sweetly the entire time.

Her hair was a bit static prone during the shoot (maybe it was the wind, too), but it's ok because I'm just glad she is getting more hair and it shows in these pictures!

This was our favorite shot of our little Janie girl- the lean in smile was too cute.

This was our best shot of Lexi all day- she is big into saying "CHEESE!" whenever she gets her picture taken which is super cute, but not so great for a photo shoot.

See what I mean? 80% of her pictures turned out like this. Overly cheesy.

More CHEESE

A half cheese.

Love these little squirrels of ours.

2 year favorite activities and new behaviors update and more pictures to come.

Camping (In November)

2011-11-17T14:26:00.000-08:00

My big kids love to camp. Ben loves to take them camping. So what do you do if they all want to go camping when it's freezing cold, rain ridden November??

Ahhh, garage camping. You'v heard of car camping- this is a close cousin.

It kind of worked out nicely- no traveling involved, no packing of food and clothes, no bad weather to deal with, and a very nice bathroom just a few steps away.

They started off with some hot chocolate around a "camp fire" (lantern).

Mitch sporting a chocolate mustache.

Then Ben broke out the flashlight- always a crowd pleaser.

The kids took turns making scary faces and shadow puppets in the dark.

After reading scriptures, they all hopped in the tent and went to sleep.

Coolest Dad of the year award? Ben. See here for his first nomination.

Chloe's Soccer Season

2011-11-03T11:11:00.000-07:00

I was a little nervous for soccer season this year. October was an extremely busy month for Ben at work, with a few personal activities planned for him as well, so I knew I would be doing a majority of the soccer practices and games alone. We started off the season with 2 practices a week from 6:30-7:30 p.m. I was already not loving that from the start- does her coach not know that the Andros children are in bed by 6:00 p.m.?? (I know, I know, welcome to the real world). In the beginning, I dreaded taking all 4 of them out past their bedtime but fortunately, my kids all loved soccer practices. The 3 non-soccer players would each bring a ball of some sort and play happily the entire hour with little to no help from me.

Ben captured this awesome picture one night at practice. If that isn't a shot worthy of advertisement for the World Cup, I don't know what is!

Chloe's first game was the last weekend in September and it was a hot, Friday evening. The other team only had 3 players, so Chloe's team split up and wore the other team's jerseys (blue) and scrimmaged against each other.

It's crazy to look back at these pictures taken just one month ago and see all of us in shorts and Chloe with a bright red, heat exhausted face. (It is now in the mid 30's when we wake up in the morning).

Funny enough, the first game was the only game the twins attended. Ben made it to half the games and 2 of the 3 he made it to were during the girls' naptime, so he took Chloe and Mitch to the game and I stayed home with the babies. The ones where Ben was out of town, the babies stayed home with Grandma Cynde. They enjoyed that much more (she spoils them) and I was much better able to enjoy watching Chloe play rather than chasing babies.

Her last game was just this past weekend. I put this picture on because I thought it was quite comical how much taller Chloe is than the girl right in front of her. Her age group is kindergarten and first graders. Chloe looks like a 5th grader compared to that girl!

Chloe had such a great season. Being competitive and a sports lover myself, I always want her to be better and more aggressive and hustle just a little more, but she really did a great job. She had a number of games where she scored most of the goals.

Mitch isn't much into watching sports yet. Here he is at the last game, playing on the baseball field. He entertained himself with a ball, some rocks and lots of dirt. I love that he can self entertain- he is the best one in the family at that.

The whole team! They were a cute bunch of girls with some really great players. Her coaches were amazing. They were super organized and really encouraging, all while really pushing the girls to pay attention, be aggressive and learn more. All of the hard work they put in and all the time sacrificed to coach the girls is admirable.

After the last game, the team all met up at Round Table Pizza for a pizza party. The coach gave each girl an award/certificate. What a great season!

Halloween Happenings

2011-11-01T13:12:00.000-07:00

Halloween is such a fun family holiday. My kids look forward to this day just as much as Christmas. As soon as I put out my Fall/Halloween decorations in September, one of the big kids would ask almost every single day if it was Halloween yet.

A new, fun tradition my Dad started with my kids a few years ago was to send them a pomegranate in the mail right before Halloween. My dad loves pomegranates and traditionally eats them while he watches the MLB world series every year. The pomegranates are extra tasty if our Yanks are in the playoffs and world series. Sadly, they made the playoffs but not the world series this year...

The kids love that my Dad also decorates the pomegranates. This year he sent 3 of them- one was labeled "Chloe, "Mitchell" and the 3rd had a face on each side for "Leah & Lexi."

My favorite thing about the Halloween season this year was the twins' obsession with pumpkins.

We've had a pumpkin decoration on our porch all month, and then just last week added 4 tiny ones from the pumpkin patch. For the past month, every time we leave the house (which is at least 2 times a day to take and pick up Chloe from school), the babies have to say hello to the pumpkins and kiss them. Yep- a whole lot of pumpkin smoochin' going on around here.

Each girl knows which little pumpkin is hers and puckers up, 2+ times a day.

Can't forget the big pumpkin, too!

Chloe's school does not allow anyone to dress up for school on Halloween except the kindergarteners. Instead, they have a spirit day and the theme was "Hawaiian." So Chloe got to wear her grass skirt, lei and a Hawaiian bow. Before leaving for school she asked me, "Isn't this a costume? I'm dressing up." Good point... but the school is trying to respect all of the families who don't celebrate Halloween and I can imagine that Halloween would be a day where nothing productive was accomplished with 25 kids in costumes.

For dinner, we had a Jack-o-lantern pizza. Very cute and very tasty.

Cheese (pizza)!

After dinner, all the kids scrambled to put on their costumes.

Lexi, one of our pumpkins. This costume has been worn by Chloe and Mitchell 4 times before. The best costumes are the ones that keep on giving!

Chloe, 2006, not quite 2 years old (she also wore it in 2005 but I didn't feel like scanning in that non-digital picture).

Mitch, 2008- 1 year

Mitch, 2009- 2 years

Leah, pumpkin #2.

Chloe, the witch (3rd year in a row for that. Easy! Love it).

Pumpkin sisters with pumpkin buckets. They were so excited. They had rehearsed their lines all day. "Trick or Treat." "Happy Halloween!"

Mitch, the pirate.

Poor Leah- right before dinner she complained that her tummy hurt and kept laying down on the floor as we were getting ready.

A group shot before we head out!

This was the twins' first time trick or treating, since Halloween was on a Sunday last year and we didn't go out. They had no fear of strangers. Anyone who is handing out candy is a friend to them.

We stopped by and saw Grandma Cynde next. The kids were so excited to show her their costumes, and she of course spoiled all of them with handfuls of candy.

Off in the dark to trick or treat. We live in a fabulous neighborhood to go trick or treating in.

A few memories of the twins' first trick or treating experience:

Besides having no fear of knocking on door after door of mostly strangers, they were also quite the little chatterboxes. After getting their treat, they would both stay up on the porch and talk and talk and talk to the homeowner. "Look- I pumpkin!" "I have hat!" "Candy in here" (pointing to her bucket). They were also very sweet to say "Thank you, you're welcome" (all one word/phrase for them) after receiving their treat. Lots of "Happy Halloweens" were said as well at each door, along with repeating whatever the other person told them. They were once told "Have fun, you guys" and so both babies repeated that phrase 10 times each as we headed to the next house.

If no one was home, they would say "That house broken" (over and over). My favorite thing of the night, and also the most embarrassing thing, is Lexi has quite the sticky finger. Most people are so sweet to let the kids pick out what treat they want, all while saying "Help yourself!" Mitchell and Chloe were pretty good to just take one (or two if the homeowner said so), but if the candy bowl was still within grabbing distance, you can be sure that Alexis was grabbing fistfuls as fast as she could. She of course said thank you over and over, but Ben and I had to be ready to run up to the porch and drag her away before she picked everyone clean.

But those little troopers walked almost the entire 1.5 hours by themselves, which is pretty good considering how heavy their buckets were at the end. I carried Leah for the last few houses but she would always get down and run up to the door unassisted.

Did the sticky bandit come away with the most candy? Probably!

With 4 capable trick or treaters now, we came away with loads of candy. And fortunately (but mostly unfortunately), we got terrific candy this year. Every year we seem to always get a good sized portion of junk candy- cheap suckers, flavorless jaw breakers, Sponge Bob gummy crabby patties (so gross looking- who spends the money to buy that disgusting junk?), peanut butter flavored taffy in the orange and black wrappers, etc. This year, I only saw 2 or 3 things total that were junk. Happy Halloween and happy eating!

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-28T09:27:00.000-07:00

Tuesday was Mitchell's preschool field trip to a local pumpkin patch. I was excited to be able to go with him. Chloe's same preschool class went 2 years ago to the same place, but the babies were just weeks old and I stayed home with them and Ben took the big kids.

Chloe and Mitch, October 2009. Mitch is the exact same age here as the twins are now.

2009

We started off our day with a cow train ride. Mitch and Leah shared Bertha.

Lexi shared a ride with a little girl from our ward in Betsy.

It was a bumpy ride and I didn't realize they rode so far away from the parents. I have to wonder if Leah cried... I'll put my money on yes.

The kids then got to play in a big pile of corn. Mitch and Lexi loved it. They crawled back to me when it was time to get out.

Leah did not love it. The feel of the corn and the uneasiness of it under her feet was too much. She would venture out just a few feet then come back crying.

The goats made up for the bad corn experience. Leah loved the animals. Both girls did. They would excitedly say in a high pitch voice "Hello goats!" "Hello rabbits!" And so on.

I assume Mitch loved the animals too, but I didn't get to enjoy a lot of the activities with him because with 2 slow toddlers, we were always at the tail end of everything and Mitch tired quickly of waiting for us and ran ahead with the rest of the group for all the activities.

The hay ride was next. Mitch and his buddy Jacob ran around all day having a great time together.

The kids all got to pick out a pumpkin next. I love the small, kid sized ones they got to choose from.

Leah found a teeny, tiny one that she could easily carry.

Alexis was so excited with her find.

This was the best part of the day for the twins- they are obsessed with pumpkins lately, so getting one of their very own was thrilling. It was my worst part of the day- I did not plan/pack well for this activity. After picking out pumpkins, we had to walk up a big hill. Mitch refused to carry his pumpkin and Leah refused to let me carry hers (meaning she tired of holding it and walking, and was super slow, but still insisted on carrying it herself), so I had 3 pumpkins (albeit small but still took up all my arm space) and then had no hands to help the babies up the hill. Why didn't I bring a back pack?? Lexi, sensing my need for help, found a very sweet friend of mine from the ward and went right up to her and held her hand with no invitation, and then clasped hands with my friend's mother as well, all the way up the hill. I was grateful for that, but felt terrible too because my friend also had her baby and her preschooler. She insisted it was fine and I did think it was cute that Lexi had no fear of finding someone who could help her when her own mother could not (Thanks Melissa, you are wonderful!) We finally made it up the hill, but it was not pretty...

We had a great time and although I didn't see Mitch much, he had a really good time.

And here's a shot from another day of my very own little pumpkin patch. A sneak peak of the twins' Halloween costumes... They love pumpkins, I tell you.

Mitch 4 year photo shoot

2011-10-25T20:37:00.001-07:00

Along with 4 birthdays in 8 weeks at the Andros house, Fall is also the time for every child's new year/age photo shoot.

We came home from church on Sunday and it was still light AND not raining AND Ben was home... a rare combination in the fall and winter here in Seattle. We decided to jump on the opportunity and get Mitchell's pictures taken.

These first two shots portray exactly how Mitchell felt about this unannounced photo shoot... I can see it in his eyes- death to Mom.

Oh the torture.

I actually love this one- very GQ.

And oh, the fake, forced smile. Still cute, though.

This picture depicts classic Mitch- in his own world, doing what he wants even if it's not what he's supposed to be doing. "It's just what Mitch does." I love it.

A real smile from my buddy!

Getting tired of all the smiling, so he really cheesed it up, hoping it would be the smile to end all pictures. (We're just glad none of the bulging veins in his neck exploded).

As handsome as ever, our Mitch-man. Here's to a great 5th year for him.

A Toy Story Birthday Party

2011-10-24T12:48:00.000-07:00

I let my kids have their first friend birthday party at age 4. Luckily Chloe and Mitchell are on opposite years for having friend parties. With their birthdays only 6 weeks apart, I don't know if I could handle it.

I was very excited for Mitch to have a friend party. As the middle child (not really in terms of number, but his position- an older sis and the twins if you count them as one) he gets over shadowed a lot. Chloe has lots of "Chloe only, oldest kid" only activities and privileges- soccer, piano lessons, lots of fun school activities, etc. And the babies are so needy, especially with two of them and so they require lots of time and attention, so Mitch often has to wait his turn for attention and help the most. (One of the most used phrases heard in our house is me saying "It's not your turn. You're next. I'm helping so-and-so and I'll come help you next.") So for Mitch to have something just for him was exciting for him as well as me and Ben.

He asked every day for 2 weeks if it was the morning of his party yet. And for 13 days I had to say no...

His best buddy Jason moved away this spring- not super far, but far enough that we don't see him very often. Mitch misses him like crazy and constantly asks when he can see Jason again. He is down right obsessed with him. When I told him a few days before the party that Jason was coming to his birthday party, he was ecstatic, and then proceeded to ask me every day "Is today the day Jason comes?"

On the morning of the party, starting at 8 a.m. he asked "Can I start watching for Jason now?"

Lucky for Mitch, Jason was the first guest to arrive and the two buddies were happily reunited for the first time in months.

The party was a Toy Story theme, going along with Mitch's latest obsession. The invitations were Toy Story and most of the games as well. We first had the guests sit down and color a Toy Story coloring page. The sweet girls at the party sat so quietly and colored so nicely. In the background you can see the boys pulling out all the toys.

Before anyone got too rowdy, I had them all sit in a line as a group. What a cute bunch. Mitch is sitting in between Jason, his BFF and his little friend Brynn from church, who I'm pretty sure he has a BIG crush on.

The first game we played was "Pin the Sheriff badge on Woody." We spun the kids around 4 times (one for each year Mitch is) and off they went.

None of the kids even tried to feel for where the paper was on the wall. The first place they touched, that's where they stuck it.

I turned around during the middle of the game to find 3 of the boys wrestling. Mitch, Jacob and Jason used to be in nursery together and their nursery teachers tell hilarious story after hilarious story of these 3 animals wrestling and tackling and jumping on each other.

Here is the wall after all the kids had placed their badges. Woody is right in the middle of the page. Only one star made it fully on the paper and one other was touching. Pretty funny.

The next game we played was a relay race. We split the teams in to an even four on four- boys vs. girls. The girls got Woody and the boys got Buzz. When I said go, the kid holding the toy ran to the front door, then back, handed off the toy and the next person went.

Mitchell and Kylee were the last legs of the first race. Mitch was more worried about Buzz's flying form than he was about winning (classic Mitch). The girls won. Both races.

The next game was a Toy Story jumping game. They all got on the couch and while jumping off yelled "To Infinity and Beyond." The boys absolutely loved this game (it was Mitchell inspired).

The girls enjoyed it too, but most of them would either quietly whisper something or not say anything at all.

Next we played "Telephone." The first phrase I started was "There's a snake in my boots," a saying of Woody, but that was too easy for them. The next phrase was just a random one but when it got to Mitchell, he changed it and whispered to the next person "There's a snake in my boots." He thought he was hilarious by doing that. He tried doing it a third time too but I caught him.

Telephone is particularly funny with 4 year olds who are still mastering speech and words anyways.

Garrett & Mitch

Next we opened gifts. I was super impressed with all of his gifts- such thoughtful gifts and Mitch was so excited about all of them (and so were the babies when they saw them all later).

Mitch & Brynn

Mitch and Jason had to hug after opening the gift Jason brought

Abby & Mitch

I loved how enthralled the kids were with watching Mitchell open the gifts. And how mature and sweet they all were about them being all for Mitchell. I've noticed that at all my kids' parties.

Mitch & Eliza

Mitch & Kylee

Mitch & Jacob

Then it was time for cake. I made each of the kids a Toy Story alien cupcake.

We were especially excited that Jason could eat one. Up until a few weeks ago, due to allergies, he was not allowed to eat anything with eggs in it. He was the first one finished with his cupcake!

We then put on the movie "Toy Story" (naturally) to let the kids watch while they waited for their parents to pick them up.

Such a sweet group of kids. Everyone had such a fun time and it was a great afternoon. To infinity, and beyond!

Mitch's 4th Birthday

2011-10-23T21:16:00.000-07:00

My baby boy turned 4. He is my favorite little boy. (I can say that since I only have one boy). I told him he was my favorite boy once and he said, "What about Carter?" (his same age cousin). I love Carter, too, but Mitch is MINE. And he's getting big and older and there's nothing I can do to slow it down.

3 was actually a rough year for us with him- lots of changes for this boy and he wasn't sure how to deal with them. It was his first full year of no naps and that was hard on his little body. He is a great night time sleeper, but he started resisting naps right after he turned 2. That is also the age when he started sharing a room AND bed with his older sister (thanks to twin baby sisters being born) and if he'd nap at all (after a 2 hour fight to get him asleep), he then wouldn't be tired for bed and would pester Chloe and neither of them would fall asleep until 10:00 p.m. It was miserable for all of us. So the only way to get around that was to quit taking naps, which is hard on a boy who still could have used a nap. He also discovered leaps and bounds of energy this past year and became my jumping, throwing, running all over the house boy. Last week at the twins' 2 year well child check, Mitch climbed up on the exam table and at the top of his lungs yelled "To infinity, and Beyond!" and was about to jump off (no fear) before I stopped him (barely). His increased energy level was also coupled with a bit of an attitude and an urge to whine, back talk and throw tantrums. All normal for a 3 year old, I get that (and 3 years old was also hard for Chloe, too), but harder this go around with 4 kids instead of 1 or 2. And if anyone knows our Mitch, we gotta love him, but boy is this kid SLOW. He does not do anything quickly if he doesn't want to. We have tried every strategy we know to get him to move faster, but, in Mitch's words, "That's just what Mitch does."

But for all of his struggles, this boy is sure a sweetheart. He is our little buddy and we seriously cannot imagine our family with out him. He has so many sweet, cute and hilarious "classic Mitchell" things that are so endearing.

Since the babies turned 2 the week before and got 2 days of celebrating, Mitch should get 4 days for turning 4, right? Well, it happened that way, unintentionally.

Nana and Papa Andros came into town the weekend before his birthday and brought belated gifts for the twins, and Mitch's gift. So 4 days early, he celebrated for the first time by opening their gift.

A razor scooter- he loves it! Chloe has one and he likes to be just like her. He test drove it around the house.

The twins opened their gifts- adorable Nana-sewn dresses and little music/talking monkey and panda bear toy.

Mitch and his best pal Papa.

Day 2 of celebrating was on his actual birthday, the 17th. I hung this super cute birthday banner for his special day, made by my amazing friend Holly. I love it! I always put up a birthday banner for my kids, but the one I have been using since Chloe was a baby is old and not cute.

The birthday boy was extra spoiled this day. Nana and Papa were still in town, which is a treat in and of itself. Not living super close to family, we never have family in town on birthday's. It has only happened 2 times before and Mitch has been on the receiving end twice now.

Nana and Papa took him to McDonald's for lunch- he was in heaven!

They let him play on the playland toys for hours (3 to be exact).

They got Happy Meals for lunch. The food came in a Halloween bucket and the handle doubled as a mask.

After McDonald's and a trip to Costco for free samples (we Andros' love a good Costco run), they headed to the park to take advantage of the gorgeous weather.

With 3 sisters, Mitch doesn't get much special alone time with adults. On his birthday, he got Nana and Papa for 5 hours all by himself. Happy Birthday, buddy!

We ate dinner soon after he got home, then time for presents!

I was so excited to have him open presents- he is super obsessed with Toy Story lately and has been saying for months that he wants Buzz and Woody. My parents got him Woody (he was so pleased).

And when he opened the Buzz Lightyear that we got him, he screamed. So excited.

He certainly got spoiled. Love seeing my kids so excited to open gifts. It is one of the most fun things about being a parent, I think.

We also got Mitch a stand/holder for his homerun ball that he got last month at the Yankee/Mariner game. I made him his own baseball card online. It doesn't mean a whole lot to him now (he doesn't quite get it all) but we're hoping someday he thinks it's cool (I do!)

The back of his "trading card."

Leah LOVED the car rug that cousin Carter sent. All the kids have loved playing with it.

Alexis loved Woody and immediately got attached and thought it was hers.

Mitch was seriously in high heaven and could feel the Buzz Lightyear force with him, because with no prompting from anyone, made lots of excited gestures and movements in his pictures with us.

He flew Buzz around the house for the rest of the night.

I had to convince him to put his toys down to come have cake. He requested a Tiger cake for his birthday (his favorite animal) and when he saw what I had created he said, "Mom! I wanted to have tiger teeth on it!" Oops...

He also got Toy Story socks and Toy Story pajamas and he of course wore them to bed that night.

He also slept with Buzz for the first 3 or 4 nights after his birthday. Buzz has a button you push that says 4 or 5 different sayings and Mitch has all of them memorized.

His 3rd day of celebrating came the next day at Preschool. He got to take a birthday treat (pumpkin shaped sugar cookies), but his teacher said he refused to wear his birthday crown.

It was also his show and tell day and I asked his teacher if he could bring in our little pups. Mitch was actually disappointed that he couldn't bring Buzz... he was almost in tears.

Mitch sat at the front of the room with the pups in a basket and explained what he had brought.

I then passed out a pup to each of his 5 classmates. Mitchell refused to even touch them. I don't know why. He is usually very excited about the pups.

He wouldn't touch the one in front of him either. Too much attention, I guess. His classmates loved it though. It was so cute to see how excited they got about it.

And a random picture of Mitch at his 4 year well child check that same day. They did an eye test and had to patch his eyes one at a time. He hated the 5 shots he had to get, but getting 5 stickers helped make up for it a little bit.

Happy Birthday to my favorite little buddy. Coming soon... celebration #4.

2 Girls turn 2!

2011-10-06T21:35:00.000-07:00

It really can't be so... but it happened. My babies turned 2. My younger sister informed me that I no longer have babies (sad!) She's right- 2 year olds aren't babies anymore, but they are MY babies and we will probably call them the babies for awhile longer.

The girls' actual birthday was today, but weeks ago, we found out that Ben would be traveling out of town for work and that he would be leaving the morning of the babies' birthday. Ben simply suggested we celebrate a day early so he could be there. Of course I wanted him there to celebrate with us, but in my neurotic, controlling head, having to celebrate on a day other than their actual birthday made me crazy to think about. Weird, right? I know, I know, I have issues with things like that, but that's a whole other post. As an adult, I am fine to celebrate my own birthday on another day- heck, a week late or early is totally ok. But for my kids, we have always celebrated on the child's actual birthday. Living away from our parents and siblings, we have never had to work around anyone else's schedules and have always been able to celebrate on their actual day, which makes me happy (and keeps me out of the looney bin). I know it's not a big deal at all- my kids would never even know the difference, especially a 2 year old, but I know the difference, and being a controlling date and numbers freak, it really bothers me (to put it mildly).

Luckily, I had a few weeks to prepare for this change of date and in the end I was just glad to have Ben there to celebrate with us (and secretly glad it was just one day difference than a week. I might have needed therapy for more than one day.)

Anyway- we celebrated as a family yesterday, the 5th and I made myself pretend that it was their birthday (I wasn't fooled) and treated them as though it was.

The birthday girls eating their breakfast cereal of choice- Cinnamon Life.

I kept asking them throughout the day "Who's birthday is it today?" Leah kept replying "Cynde?" Our adopted Grandma Cynde had a birthday last month and we took her over a treat on her birthday and Leah is still remembering that.

Also, when asked how old they are they both reply either "Good" or "One!" We've got a whole year to master saying "Two!"

I surprised the girls with a birthday bath- they love baths and we don't do them very often because they are such a mess (water covering every square inch of the bathroom) and time consuming. They loved it.

They got dressed in their party outfits- Lexi in her color, pink, and Leah in her color, purple. These have been the girls' colors since birth and they know it. Their summer shoes were these colors and they knew which shoes were their own. They also have identical baby dolls, one pink and one purple, and they know which one is Leah's and which one is Lexi's. I love it. (This goes along with my controlling mind problems).

I then painted their toe nails in their color. They were so excited and I was amazed at how they sat so perfectly still while I painted.

They turned out super cute.

We headed downstairs and I made their birthday cake, and let them lick the batters. They were so excited with that too and kept begging for more.

They kept looking in the oven to check out the progress of the cake.

My plan was to put the girls down for their naps and then decorate their cake. Things didn't go as smoothly as I had planned. They talked and/or cried the entire time in their beds. I kept thinking/hoping that any minute they would calm down and go to sleep (at least one of them!) but no such luck. After 2.5 hours, I went in to get them up and found Leah completely naked and Lexi half undressed. No wonder they couldn't sleep! Leah just wanted to be in her birthday suit on her birthday, I guess.

Needless to say, decorating the cake was not as easy with 2 tired toddlers running around. But I went with the cupcake cake again- I am loving this new found way to do cakes. There are so many ways to shape cupcakes into fun designs and so easy to serve it too- no cutting pieces of cake, no plates or forks. Just pull a cupcake off the board, eat it and you're done.

The babies like butterflies, so this was a great cake for them (in their colors of pink and purple, too!)

The no nap was really hard on Leah. I tried getting a birthday picture of the two of them but she was not having it.

Finally, a good one!

Our pizza and milk dinner- a family favorite!

Leah did not eat more than one bite of dinner and was sobbing after 10 minutes. Uh oh... the party had just started. I was pretty nervous.

But as soon as we started opening presents, she calmed down and the rest of the evening was fine. The girls opened Grandma and Papa Blakeslee's gift first and the candy tied to the front of the gift was more exciting to them than the actual present.

After they ate all the candy, we got them interested in opening gifts. It was so fun to see and hear their reaction to the simple gifts we had for them.

Hooray for books!

They love their play kitchen, so a play toaster was a hit.

So was the mixer!

We also gave them some new tennis shoes and they could not wait to try them on and run in them.

Finally, a happy shot of the sweet birthday girls!

Opening their last gift together.

Grandma and Papa got them play cupcakes. Here they are trying to blow out the pretend candles.

Amazingly, I got them to sit together for a group shot with all their gifts.

And a quick shot with their biggest fan.

Then it was cake time- finally! They watched me make the cupcakes earlier in the day and asked every 10 minutes if they could have a "muffin."

They loved the candles, especially after we lit them.

We sang to Leah first, then let them blow their candles out, then sang to Lexi and let them blow them out again. They asked to do it over and over.

I love Lexi's face here- pure joy. Oh, the simple things of life!

Blow!

Leah went in face first.

The frosting was their favorite part. They would ask for more after just eating all the frosting off.

After cake, we packed our tired babies up to bed. What a fun and memorable day.

Today, on their actual birthday, I knew I wanted to do something to remember it by.

Since Ben was flying out in the afternoon, he stayed home this morning and we went out to breakfast. The babies were a riot in the restaurant- every time the waitress came to our table they would yell and wave "Hi!" And every time she walked away they would yell over and over "Bye! Bye!"

We dropped Ben off at the airport, Mitch off at school, then came home to have naps. I was nervous of having a repeat of yesterday, but luckily they slept today and kept their clothes on.

When they woke up, and before we picked up the big kids from school, I gave each of them another cupcake and 2 candles so they could blow them out. It was a hit.

Leah had a hard time blowing hers out, so Lexi stepped in to give her a hand. The look on Leah's face says she does NOT appreciate this, but she was actually excited when Lexi got it blown out.

After dinner, Grandma Cynde came over with gifts for the girls. They were thrilled to discover books and an extra special treat- their very own container of Bee Bar hand and body lotion bar. Cynde has one of these that she brings to church and a few months ago she started getting it out during sacrament meeting when they girls got restless and they absolutely love it. They will rub that lotion bar all over their bodies until they are greased up like a pan of bacon.

The babies knew just what to do with it- Lexi rubbed it all over her face.

And so did Leah. It was the perfect gift for them and so cute for them to have their own.

Leah admiring the card from Cynde with 2 cupcakes on it- one for each baby!

Lexi gave Cynde a big hug and kiss after opening presents. The two of them have always had a special bond.

Leah loves Cynde too (she talks about her all the time) but is not as lovey dovey as Lexi and we had to talk her into getting a picture with her. We were so glad to have Cynde stop by on their special day. She has helped with these girls since the day they were born and is truly a member of our family.

We headed off to Chloe's soccer practice after that, and when we got home we found some bags, a card and 2 balloons on our door step waiting for us.

The babies immediately started playing with the balloons and loved them.

Inside the bags we found a carton of ice cream and gifts for the babies. I was absolutely baffled at who could have dropped this off! I opened the card to find out it was from a member of our stake presidency and his wife. I was really touched by this generous and sweet gesture. I had no idea they even knew it was the twins' birthday and for them to stop by on their actual day was very touching, especially with how busy the two of them are.

I was originally planning on putting everyone straight to bed when we got home, but we now had some Rocky Road ice cream that needed to be eaten. No one complained about this change of plans!

As I was putting the girls to bed, I held each of them individually for just a minute, remembering 2 years ago when they were born and how it felt to hold each of them for the first time. Having twins has been such a unique and special experience. They have each been a true blessing in our family and I can't imagine life without either one of them. The hardest part of having twins has been watching them get older, quickly, and not being able to to do anything about it.

What a fabulous 2 days of celebrating we have had. 2 days of celebrating for 2 girls turning 2. Happy Birthday to my sweet babies.

Work From Home

2011-09-28T14:14:00.001-07:00

On Monday, Ben came home from work early and worked from home for the rest of the day. He rarely works from home (a few times a year at most) and we love having him here.

He set up his work laptop on the kitchen table and Lexi quickly found the toy laptop and sat down next to him to do her work, too.

She sat down and started "typing" away. An urgent email to send off, I'm sure.

The reason Ben came home early was to oversee the labor of our dog having pups.

Having pups is like Christmas at our house- the kids are so excited for the first few days and beg constantly to go out and see the pups and hold them. Leah loves to be front row to puppy watch.

They are so cute when they are tiny.

Holding pups- a family affair!

Leah is positively obsessed with the pups. She would crawl right in the box with them and stay the night if we let her.

She needed no prompting to kiss the puppy, over and over.

Lexi, when asked to smile for the camera.

More kisses

Daisy had a big litter again- 10 pups in all, but 4 were still born for unknown reasons. It was very sad, but we are glad the 6 we have are healthy and are getting plenty of love from 4 little munchkins. It's a great experience for our family, as the kids are a big part of taking care of the pups. They feed them (when they are old enough for solid food), play with them, help clean up after the messes they make and help take care of Daisy. Here's to another season of raising pups in the Andros house!

Piano Lessons

2011-09-21T14:53:00.000-07:00

Last week I signed Chloe up for piano lessons. This summer, she showed a big interest in playing and would sit down numerous times a day and play around on the keys. She was very interested in playing actual songs like "Mary had a little lamb" and "Twinkle, Twinkle little star" and would ask me to show her what notes to play to make that song. She soon had "Mary had a little lamb" memorized (and would play it loudly over, and over and over and over...)

With this new found interest, I decided now was the perfect time to sign her up for lessons, which she was absolutely thrilled about.

We found our teacher through a recommendation from a friend. One of the things that enticed me about this teacher was that she comes to your home to teach lessons, if you want to do early morning lessons before school. I originally thought this would be perfect for us, as all my kids are early risers, especially Chloe, so we would be up and going anyway. Another big perk- I wouldn't have to load all my kids up in the car to get her to her lessons. But after talking about it with Ben, we thought having lessons in our home might be distracting for Chloe with all the kids running around and being noisy. I would hate for Chloe's lesson to be overrun with loud siblings and ruin her special time. We opted for taking lessons at the teacher's house where it is quiet and distraction free, and I think going to someone's house teaches extra respect for the teacher and something special just for Chloe, away from home. (Although if we tire of taking her back and forth once a week, I'm sure we can always switch to having it our home and keeping the kids away from the piano for a half hour won't be hard).

Yesterday was her first lesson, and I dropped the younger kids off at a friend's house so I could go with her and get to know the teacher a little bit and see her teaching style in action.

Chloe sat right down with no hesitation and answered every question and did everything she was asked. The teacher was very sweet, patient and positive. She is fantastic with kids and so upbeat. Chloe kept saying "oops" in an apologetic way every time she made a mistake, and her teacher praised even her mistakes and calmly told her it takes time to get everything right and that she is just learning. I walked away being very impressed and feeling very excited about Chloe's future in piano.

Chloe came home from her lesson and immediately sat down and practiced her new songs for about 15 minutes.

She learned which fingers go on which keys today and she payed very careful attention to her finger work during each song.

This morning, as soon as the babies were awake, Chloe practiced again. She practiced so long that I had to insist that she stop to eat breakfast and get ready for school. Let's hope her desire to practice lasts.

Here is her first song she learned to play called "Recess," appropriately titled for one of her favorite activities at school.

Tickets

2011-09-19T12:53:00.000-07:00

For the past two weeks, we have really crammed a lot of events that require tickets into the last bit of summer. Lucky for us, most of the tickets have been half price or on sale (and in one case FREE). Can't beat a good deal on a fun activity.

Our first ticketed event was the Les Miserables play we went to at the end of August (see here). That was the FREE event.

On September 1, the Ringling Brothers & Barnum and Bailey Circus came to town. We went 2 years ago and loved it, so we decided to get tickets and go again (half price!) I would have to say that the show 2 years ago was better, but this one was still amazing and we had a great time. Notice our random seats? We are way up at the top on folding chairs behind a rail. We decided to go last minute (like 5 hours before the show started) and this was the only seats together that they had left. It actually worked out great for us- there was plenty of open room behind us for the babies to run around when they got restless.

Leah loved sitting on Chloe's lap and really got into it.

Chloe was also impressed with some of the amazing acrobatic events and animal tricks.

Lexi, by the end, was exhausted. The show started and ended way past their bedtime and her short nap that day did not adequately prepare her for this.

The next day Ben's sister and her family came into town and the day after their arrival, September 3, we headed to the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium. (Discounted tickets for Pierce County residents, which we are).

We were quite the attraction ourselves- 2 sets of twins in a group of 7 kids six and under. We saw a number of other sets of twins that day and had many people comment to us that "It must be twin day!"

Lexi and Henry loved feeling the shark teeth in the aquarium.

A group shot- amazing that we got everyone together and standing somewhat still, even for 10 seconds. Two 2 year olds and two 1 year olds makes for some hard pictures.

Mitchell could not wait to see the Polar Bears (or Holar Bears as he pronounced it) and asked every 5 minutes if we could go see them. They were one of the last animals we saw that day. When we finally saw them, they weren't doing anything exciting and I think it was a bit of a let down for Mitch. Oh well- we got our picture taken in front of this Polar Bear painting.

The whole gang, minus Ben's sister Meredith who was taking the picture.

This was Meredith and Dave's first time visiting us since their honeymoon 6 years ago (first visit with kids) and we couldn't let them come see us without introducing them to our favorite restaurant "Zoopa's."

3 days after the Taylor family left, my parents came into town. We got tickets to the Puyallup fair, naturally. This is our 5th year in a row going with my mom and dad and it has become tradition and we love it. (Half price tickets on Groupon for these and the kids were all free.) 5 years ago we had just Chloe. Packing 4 kids around the fair now (instead of just one) is a bit trickier but still lots of fun.

Monday September 12 we headed off to the fair!

Gotta milk the cow!

This was Mitchell's first time milking the fake cow at the fair and he was a natural.

We always get the free milk samples by the cow barn, and always get ice cream, too. This year they had strawberry for sale and it was yummy!

The day we went, there was a special on ride tickets. We let the big kids ride a few rides and they loved it.

Can you see Mitchell's face here? He and Chloe were in the front row of this roller coaster. He squealed with delight on each and every ride. Totally worth the money to see that.

The next night, September 13, we kept with tradition and bought tickets to a Mariner game. We have been going to a Mariner game with my parents each year dating all the way back to 2004. We may have missed a year, maybe two, but not many. And my parents often plan their visits around when our family's favorite baseball team is in town- the New York Yankees. I always root for the Mariners, unless the Yankees are in town. And they were in town this night!

You can't see it (it was a cool day), but Mitch has on a Yankee shirt and a Mariner hat, Chloe a Mariner shirt and a Yankee hat, and my parents both with Yankee shirts.

Yankee shirt for me, Mariner hat for Ben.

Before the game, Ben tried his hand at throwing a baseball to clock how fast he can throw. He was sure that he could throw it faster than before and kept wanting to go back and try it again.

So in all the years we've gone to a game, this was the most historical game we've ever attended. In the second inning, Robinson Cano from the Yanks got up to bat and hit a home run into right center field. We were sitting 4 rows from the center field row, but the ball dropped right between the right field bleachers and the center field bleachers to where no one could get the ball. The grounds keepers snatched the ball up and then began looking around for someone to give it to. Lucky for us, we were the only family with kids in our section (attendance was shockingly low that night, and probably all season with the Mariner's record, and it was a school night), so Mitchell was picked out of the crowd to receive the home run ball.

Here is the Mariner's worker handing Mitchell the ball.

So... if anyone is a baseball fan, you know how rare it is to get the home run ball. Rare is an understatement. Lots of baseball games don't even have a home run hit in the game, and if one is, it can be hit to numerous places in the park where hundreds of eager fans are waiting to catch it.

Mitch didn't quite understand what was going on, but boy were all of us excited. No no, we were ecstatic. Getting the home run ball is a true baseball lover's dream come true. We were all living that dream that night. We didn't catch it live off the hit (which would be amazing) but being picked from a crowd is really awesome, too. Go Mitch! A Mariner's worker gave us a little card that authorizes that we got the home run ball, writing the date on the card and who hit it. It couldn't have worked out better that it was hit by a Yankee too- our luck was so great! While Derek Jeter is my all time favorite Yankee, Cano is my little sister's second favorite player. She was in tears when she heard that Mitchell got his ball. (I think I would have been in tears had we got Jeter's ball).

We love sitting in center field. It's close to the Mariner Moose Den, and we went and visited him later in the game. Mitch is obsessed with him, as is shown in this picture. Instead of looking at the camera, he couldn't take his eyes of the Moose.

Papa, Mitch and me with the famous ball! Mitch kept asking to hold his baseball periodically throughout the game, but we were very hesitant because Mitchell loves to throw things and we were nervous that he would throw it back out on the field. He did NOT understand the significance of the ball by any means. To him it was just another ball.

To say that my dad is a die hard fan would be an understatement. He has followed the Yankees religiously for 40+ years. And by follow I mean he watches every Yankee game that is aired on TV, and if it isn't aired on TV, he listens to the game on the radio. He plans his schedule around when they play so he can be home to listen and/or watch. If the Yankees were in the World Series growing up, it was a sacred holiday in our home. If they lose important games, he is bummed for days or weeks. He yells at the TV screen and cheers loudly, just as if he were at the game in person. He knows every rule about the game, knows stats on every player who ever played for the Yanks, and can recall the major and historic years of Yankee history.

In the above picture, my dad is sitting at Safeco Field watching the game AND listening to the radio broadcast of the game on his phone. This night, the Yankees famous closer, Mariano Rivera, (number 42), was ready to make some history. The current Major League record for saves is 601. Rivera had 599 going into that game. Dad was listening on the radio to hear what was being said about Rivera, as there was no mention of it at the game that night as the Yanks were the visiting team.

Here is Rivera, trotting out to the pitchers mound from the bullpen in the 8th inning.

At the mound, ready to go.

It was a close game that came right down to the wire, but the Yanks held on to win 3-2 (ending the game with throwing out our favorite Mariner, Ichiro who was trying to steal second) and Rivera picked up his 60oth historic save. Only one man has more- Trevor Hoffman's career record of 601- which since that game, Rivera has gone on to beat with 602 career saves and is now the all time leader in saves. Amazing! Above, all the Yanks rushed out to the pitcher's mound to celebrate their win and this milestone.

It was an awesome game and we were so lucky to be there to get a Yankee home run ball on a historic Yankee night. Goooo Yankees! (And Mariners, just not tonight!)

(The twins were home with a babysitter- our two older kids have all gone to games as babies, but two babies at once has proven to make some events unbearable, so we were more than happy to leave them home. Sleeping in their beds at home instead of being tortured to stay awake until 11:30 p.m. made them happy too, I'm sure.)

Our next ticketed event came this last Saturday, September 17. This past Spring, Ben found a great deal on Groupon (we love Groupon!) for a 90 minute horseback trail ride at a local stable. We have both ridden horses before, but not for years and years and the activity sounded too fun to pass up for the good deal that it was.

Ben rode "Rosie"

I was with "Roader"

We had the host quickly brief us on controlling the reins, and then it all came back like riding a bicycle.

The 90 minutes took us out in "country" land (if you can call any land in Auburn "country")

And then wound us through some forested area, which was beautiful. We also ended up on city sidewalks for a few minutes, with cars passing by. It was such a fun time.

The only thing that could have been better was if we could have ridden side by side each other so we could have talked more. We were asked to stay in a single file line, as the horses follow each other. It was fun to go back to my Idahoan/country roots for a few hours!

Most of our ticketed events were family affairs, but a few of them we got sitters for. On Saturday, we were lucky enough to get our favorite local Grandma to watch the kids while Ben and I went horseback riding. Grandma Cynde is an amazing person and a close family friend. She is always more than willing to help out with the kids when she can (at church and at home) and we love and appreciate her! Thank you Cynde!