The Summer of '09

So here are some of the first pix of summer that I promised.

We are having a blast with our friends the Mansell's and wish they could move back to Texas!

The week wouldn't be complete without a girls night out! I don't know who's having more fun on this trip the kids or the moms!

The kids enjoying the pool and "Ariel's Grotto" at the Bills' house!
Such fun memories. We are so fortunate to have such good friends.

Schools out for the Summer!

Well, we made it though another year. The girls are so excited to get out of school this week they are beside themselves. Ill have to say that I'm anticipating it just as much. I have gotten so sick of the routine of getting up at 7:00am every morning and making lunches and doing hair and riding herd on kids. I'm really excited for the no agenda thing. I'm sure that by the time August rolls around I will be more than ready for a change BACK to the routine, but I'm ready for a break from the norm.

We are having our best friends come for a visit at the end of the week and think that it is the perfect way to kick off summer. The kids cant wait for them to arrive and neither can I! I have missed my best friend! A couple short weeks after they leave we will head for Utah for a three week stay. I'm super excited about that too. I have missed my family and the kids are dying to go see their cousins.
The girls will start some swim lessons when we get back from Utah and then tennis lessons in August, through our neighborhood tennis pros at the country club. I'm going to have to find a new piano teacher, because our current cutie is leaving for school. But I think the girls will have enough to keep them out of the bored category.

The twins are going to be fun this summer because they are such KIDS now. No more babies. :) :( I'm mixed about it, but they are such a hoot when they aren't being difficult. It will be fun to see them play and explore this summer. They will be the stinky little recess kids on the block. All the neighborhood kids live to play with them and carry them around. I will have to round them up like a herd of cats at the end of the day. We all love our new neighborhood and our street really makes me think of the street I grew up on as a kid. There are so many children and always someone knocking on the door to see if they can play.

So here's to the last week of school (which is a joke, I think even the teachers are ready to call it quits) and a fun and safe summer! Ill be posting some pictures soon of our latest adventures!

Rude awakening....

So last night about an hour after I decided to stow Breaking Dawn and hit the hay, we were LITERALLY blasted out of bed by the fire alarms. It was so loud and so abrupt we literally flew off the bed into standing positions. I don't think Ive ever seen Scott or myself move quite so fast, even when there was a tornado coming last year.
I was in such a dead sleep, it took me a second to think straight. I of course was sleeping in my underwear, and so I was thinking, if this really is a fire, do I run outside in my G's? I decided against it in a split second decision, so I was fumbling up the stairs trying to dress on the way. Of course the kids were blasted out of bed just as thoroughly as we were and were already on the move.

By the time I got to the top of the stairs, I knew we weren't in imminent danger and that there probably wasn't a fire. But the alarms just kept going off and it was LOUD! So I took the kids outside to the curb and waited while Scott investigated the problem. My poor kids were literally quivering with fear. You know how you get the shakes when you are scared.

Turns out it was a possessed smoke detector and even continued to sound even after we had unplugged it from the ceiling. Once one goes off, it sends a message to the rest of them and they all go nuts.
We finally did get everyone calmed down, including the possessed alarm, and said a quick family prayer then tucked everyone back into bed. Of course, I couldn't sleep a wink after being blasted awake like that so I seriously doubt that I got more than 4 hours of sleep.
I did discover a few things out of this whole experience though:
1. Definitely sleep with a robe and cell phone next to the bed. (the house phone was far away and I wouldn't have been able to call 911 if I would have needed to, I was tempted to go look for my phone)
2. At least the kids didn't hide when they heard the alarms. ( I was a little worried that they would mistake it for a tornado siren after our family night lesson on safety. The whole alarm thing threw them off , and they had a lot of question after that lesson. It was good to see that they knew what to do. The fire drills paid off)
3. I'm really glad Scott wasn't out of town when this happened. I would not have known to investigate for a faulty alarm. I would have called 911 and that would have made for a REALLY long night. On the other hand, him going back into the house to check was kinda risky, what if the fire was concealed. (it was pretty obvious that last night there was no fire, but that one needs to be filed for future scrutiny)

As always, something can always be learned from our experiences, but it was good to see that our preparations that we had made before the emergency had paid off.
Above all, I'm glad that Heavenly Father was watching over us and keeping us safe!
But I do have to wonder, WHY do those kind of things ALWAYS happen in the middle of the NIGHT????

What am I thinking??

So after many many promptings, about three dozen friends telling me to do so, and an itch I cant scratch, I have decided to endeavor writing a book.
I know, weird huh? I have been feeling very strongly about it for the last three months so one day I sat down and started writing. It was really weird. The story started flowing from me and I went back and read it and didn't even remember writing half of it. I'll admit though, I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'm trying to learn a little along the way. Which I surprisingly have, and on top of it all it has been really fun and interesting to learn it! Who knew?? I never would have dreamed that I was capable of such a thing.
So my story will be "My Story", the story of me. I thought it would be a good place to start. I have quite a tale to tell and who knows, someone else might want to read it too...But I wont care if anyone ever decides to pick it up. This is for me and my kids if they want it.
It has so far, been a really cool experience and I'm learning more about myself every time I sit down to the computer. An added perk is that I'm getting some closure on some of the things that were pretty traumatic to me. But it is strange, I feel inspired to write all the time, and when I have to stop I cant wait to get back at it. I wake up in the middle of the night and scrawl ideas on a notepad in the dark that have occurred to me in my slumber, and I'm remembering details that I thought were buried forever.
So if I'm bad about updating my blog, you will understand why. Who knows how long this process will take. Maybe Ill never get it done, but its really FUN!

Kids say the darndest things....

My post will be short today. The twins have been cracking me up with the things they have been saying lately and I had to record some of it, for posterity sake. (Sorry to all of you readers who have seen these comments on my facebook page, consider it a rerun.)

So today, me and the twins are at the store. I was looking for some night lights in the home improvement area at Wal-Mart and Gavin, pointing at all the toilet seats hanging up on the wall, and said "mom, are those the toilet plates?". It actually took me a minuet for it to register in my brain, and when I saw him looking at the toilet seats I couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Earlier on this morning, they were both sitting here watching Sleeping Beauty. It was at the part where Aurora is in the forest singing to herself. I joined in and started singing with her. Isabelle started crying and covering her ears. Writhing on the floor like she was in pain. She was crying, "stop, Mommy, Stop!". When I asked her why I needed to stop, she said "because I don't like it, its hurting my ears!". I guess I need a few voice lessons.

Last night, I was doing the bedtime routine. Scott is out of town and so I do things a little differently when hes gone. We will usually divide and conquer the kids at bedtime, each putting our share of them to bed. Our routine is to say a prayer with each of them and sing a song to each of them. Since I am the only one here, I decided instead of singing four separate times, we could just kneel in family prayer, together and then I would sing one song to all of them at the same time. The idea went over OK, although Isabelle thought it was family night and started leading the music and singing along. I shuffled them all up to bed and it came to Gavin's turn.
He took my hand as I laid him down then I gave him his two butterfly kisses, and an Eskimo kiss and numerous other pecks on the cheek, and a tickle under the neck, as is customary. When I started to get up he squeezed my hand and said, "mom, you need to sing me a closing song." That kid melts me in my tracks. I couldn't deny him.

I know I sometimes complain that it is hard, and I get irritated when they are all so needy. But there is nothing in this world that is more meaningful to me than my darling kids. Apart from my husband and God of course. But they are all pretty equal.
I feel so unbelievably blessed with every day I am allowed to be here with them. I know I will always be their mom, even in Heaven and the worlds to come. But do you really think there will be "toilet plates" there? Only those precious moments, can be shared here. I'm sure the moments we will share in the Eternities will not compare, but I will have these ones that will always be endearing and precious to me.