Long Overdue Cont....

Hey There! So this is what the rest of us have been up to. Our life has mostly focused on the twinnos for the last year but we have managed to have a little more fun as well!

BIRTHDAY TIME

Mikayla wanted warmer weather and we headed down to the valley. We got to see family and the Harmon's - wonderful friends that we met at Duke!
Merrill was next with his german chocolate cake, of course!
Nano wanted to go to the valley and enjoy Amie and Jeremy's "water park"! He shares his b-day with Uncle Jeremy and we all had fun celebrating together!
No picks of Cami's....just getting older! :)
Neah's pics are on mine or Merrill's phone, something was up with the camera but we got some cute pics of her just being her cute, fun self!
The babies one year party is on the next post! Can't believe we've made it a year with them already...sad to say most of that year is a blurr...I do hope I enjoyed the moments while in them since I can't remember them now!
Josh turned 8 and had a wonderful baptism. We had lots of family come and he was so excited to make this important step in his life and path back to our Heavenly Father. WE are so proud of you son!
Love you all!! Can't believe you kids are all growing up so quick...just a reminder for me to enjoy it more and lighten up a little bit! ;)

FUN WITH EACH OTHER AND FRIENDS

We have been able to enjoy one another and even make a few crazy trips! We went to CA and saw the Beck's (sadly, no pics with them!), we went to Sea World and spent lots of time on the beach! We went to Lake Powell with Christie, her kids and also met up with Lindsay and Brooke and their kiddos. Sadly their husbands weren't able to come and Merrill only came for a little while, but us ladies and kids had one adventure after another! :) The Aldriche's also stopped by on their trek west and the kids and I enjoyed a day at the Grand Canyon with them! (Never fear, Merrill & Eric got a bike ride in before they left!)
The kids enjoyed school. Merrill went with Mikayla on a field trip to the Grand Canyon, Mikayla took 1st place in her first science project for their science fair, Nano had an awesome Kindergarten graduation, Josh & Nano played football & soccer endlessly with neighbor friends - sadly no pics -, Neah helped me with the babies, and Merrill & I got to go to CO on a work trip with only the babies! Oh yes and we can't forget....we bought our house that we hope to stay in for a very long time!! (we've been in 5 houses in the last 3.5 yrs) - no pics of that either...I'll work on that!

COUSIN CRAZINESS

We are loving being closer to family! We made a trip to UT and a great time there and then multiple trips to the valley to spend time with family there! We love you all and love all the fun we have!

2 HALLOWEENS?

Yip it's true! We let our kids get sugar overloads twice! We had Merrill's family reunion over Halloween and so we did some trunk or treating there and then Halloween night at our place! All with family! It was great!

BABIES NOW

They are getting into all sorts of trouble...now watch out when David gets his brace off this week! I'm really in for it then!

Long Overdue Update!

Here is a little bit of an update for our crew! I have the babies from 3 months until their one year old b-day. Yah, sorry about that! Can't believe I haven't posted anything in so long!

3 MONTHS

4-6 MONTHS

7-9 MONTHS

10-11 MONTHS

ONE YEAR B-DAY PARTY

Singing and Dancing

Merrill was playing dressups with Lynneah. He was the fireman and started singing the song from George Strait. All the kids got in on the action and when Merrill couldn't remember all the words they listened to it on the computer.

Mikayla is a huge help with the babies, especially when Merrill is gone on all his trips. One night...the other kids needed all my attention so watching both babies fell to Mikayla. I could hear her singing to them but only when I came in to the living room did I get to see that she was singing and dancing for the babies. It was classic and they LOVED it! Thanks Mikayla, I love you!

2 months

Here are the babies at 2 months. We think they are pretty cute. These pictures show their personalities so well! David's pretty chill and just takes things as they come. Alyssa always has those wide eyes making sure she doesn't miss anything!

I also caught a few pics of Josh and Neah helping out with the babies. Thanks kids!

Christmas

We had packers come and pack us up the week before Christmas. Merrill's parents were so wonderful and came to help the kids and I on the flight back to AZ while Merrill stayed and extra couple of days finishing things up. I don't even want to think about what the plane ride would have been like with me and my 6 kiddos by myself - seeing how 2 of those six were only eight weeks old and still feeding like crazy! Thanks so much Mom and Dad! We had such a blast in Show Low for Christmas and Curty and Crystal were so nice to drive up with us to Flagstaff and help us unpack lots of our stuff! And thanks again Grandpa and Grandma for watching all the grandkids while we did this, minus the twinnos, of course! They were willing....I didn't want to pump that much!

Neah, we love you...

This post is mostly for Neah! All the kids have done so well with the addition of our sweet twinnos. I knew the oldest three would have no problem and welcome them with open arms...I wasn't so sure about Neah though. But these pictures show that she is still her sweet self and the babies have helped her to be not so Mommy needy. She is a great big sister and loves to help out. Although, I do love the picture of Neah giving David a hug. You can see she was helping him "play" with one of her princesses. Then she went in for a love and, with all that hair, when the babies see that coming they just close their eyes and hold their breath! All that hair is quite smothering for these little ones. But they do love her and she gets lots of smiles from them!

Oh and I got an extra picture from Christmas in there as well! - 2 lazy 2 take it out :) Merrill thought this picture of David and I was hilarious! Our mouths are both open about as wide as they get when asleep! I guess we were both just a little bit sleepy.

Blessing Day

The last weekend Amie was with us we got to bless our little twins. Michelle and Dave came over from Tacoma and brought Landon and Mireya over for a fun weekend. We are already missing our time with Michelle and Dave so much. During those 2 1/2 years we spent in WA, my kids and I have grown really close to them. Lynneah often asks when we can go to Aunt "Chelle's house" or "Unke Dave's house". When I remind her we live far away now she responds the same way every time. "Last time we live close."

Sorry, no pic here. I"m trying to put more on the cute sayings and doings section of my blog so don't forget to check that out! Lynneah was funny today while eating her "tookie"

Josh the Birthday Boy

Joshua Jay! We sure love you buddy! You got 2 friend b-days in a row, due to your being sick when you were 5. I think it was great though that you got to have one last party with your friends there in WA! You boys have so much fun together...I knew you would make friends quickly here in Flagstaff, you are good at meeting new people and inviting them to play with you. I know you miss your friends in WA and often talk about some of your fun times together but just as I thought you have great friends already here. You are a wonderful friend, brother and son. We are so lucky to have you in our family!

Thanks for taking it easy on me this year...you didn't even want a pinata and you let me make your lizard cake from cupcakes! :)
HAPPY 7th BIRTHDAY SON!

Holding our Twinsos

After my Mom left...I had a few days to do it all by myself and then Merrill's sister Amie came to help. She was wonderful! We had quite the adventures while she was with us...including a fun trip to Tacoma for Thanksgiving, a not so fun trip to the hospital for Alyssa, Josh's b-day, blessing the babies and just lots of fun with Aunt Amie! Thanks so much Amie! And Jeremy for letting her stay so long! :) We also, found out while she was there that she was pregnant! What great news that was! We are so excited for you guys!

After looking at pics, I realized that I didn't get pictures of the kids holding Alyssa when she was born because she was in the NICU, so I thought before she got too big I'd get some pics of her and her siblings. Then, Lynneah usually picked to hold Alyssa at first so when she wanted to start holding David, I had to get a picture of it!

Fun Times

These two have some awesome faces. David has his old man brow furrow that I finally got on camera and Alyssa has an awesome scowl...I haven't got that on camera yet.

I love pictures with them together...they both had awesome milk drool but you can't really see it in the pictures. ;)

They are becoming so alert at short intervals each day. Here are some fun pictures we caught.

Neah and Nano

Here are these two having a little fun! Nano was practicing his Kung-Fu skills and Lynneah was hillarious and so sweet. Alyssa was in the swing and Neah sat in front of her singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star to her over and over...I recorded it and this picture is her showing Alyssa the recording! So funny! ;)

David's trick

We've found David is not too picky! He will suck on anything! ;) I love how Alyssa is striking a pose already in these pictures.

It has been fun to see the difference in these two already. David is very similar to our other baby boys...very mellow. And Alyssa...well she also is very similar to our girls...more high maintenance. :) I'm so excited to watch them grow! And boy are they! :) This week at the doctor David was 5lb 12oz and Alyssa was 7lbs. Way to go kids!

Grandma's B-day

We got to have grandma here for her birthday and we had fun making her a chocolate/cherry cake with whip cream frosting. Lynneah decided we should only put 3 candles in for grandma. We are so spoiled to have so much help with our twins. My mom is hear for another few days and we'll have her for almost 3 weeks. Then my dad will be here this weekend too. Then we have Aunt Amie coming out for almost another 3 weeks and then we get to get ready to put the house on the market and move to Flagstaff just before Christmas!

We like to keep things exciting here!

Still Sleeping

Merrill had mentioned in an earlier post about this twins first hair wash and half bath. They slept through the whole thing and kept sleeping afterwards! We even got a smile from Alyssa. :)

Halloween

Here are the kids for halloween! Merrill was the awesome costume expert this year. He went to target and found pajamas that the kids could use to dress up. Mikayla was a monkey, so yes those are monkey ears not mouse ears....:) Josh was agent P, Nano was Mario and Lynneah was Minnie Mouse! And thanks to Bethany for the cute pumpkin and monster outfits for the twins! Unfortunately, for the ward party Josh was sick and didn't get to go. We had Lynneah, Nano and Josh take turns with the flu! Of course, the week we bring home twins, we get sick kids. Friday night was horrible. We were up feeding babies and between feeding we were cleaning up puck and diarrhea! Makes for a very exhausting, not fun night!

But Josh and everyone else was better by Monday night and they were all able to go trick or treating with dad!

We also have Nano and Neah helping us decorate for halloween, the bat on the door and the purple leaf by the front door was the extent of it! :)

Oct 24 2011

So here's the story of our twin labor and delivery. We'd seen a specialist the week before, when I was a 35 weeks. He said their stomachs were not growing in proportion with the rest of them and he'd recommend to my doctor that he take the twins at 36 or 37 weeks. So that is what we were planning on. I had my next doctor apt the following Tuesday. Sunday Oct 23 I was 36 weeks and well I didn't make it to that doctor apt. but I did see my doctor in the hospital Monday when he delivered our twins.

Labor and delivery went great. I went into labor at 4:00 am Monday morning and by 4:45 I'd already had 4 contractions and they were getting pretty hard. So, I decided to go put in a load of laundry since we didn't have any clean clothes for the twins to wear (luckily Merrill had taken them out of the attic Sat), but half way down the stairs and another hard contraction later, I decided to go wake up Merrill and call our friend to come stay with the other kiddos. She got to our house and we were at the hospital by 5:15 am. I was already at an 8 at that point and they were trying to hurry things along. I decided to get an epidural this go around but was a little nervous about it. I don't do well with medicine and I didn't know if I'd know when to push and all that...but we felt if anything went wrong, I'd want that epidural. So they hurried and gave me the epidural, which actually slowed my contractions a bit...so they gave me a little bit of pitocin and then we went into the OR (luckily we didn't need it).

The epidural was wonderful...strong enough to not feel the pain but I could still feel the pressure of contractions and knew when to push. It all was great! We got into the OR and 5 min later it was time to push. The doctor had broke my water for our little boy shortly after I got the epidural and he was the first to arrive. Only one big push and at 7:43 am out came David at 4lb 13 oz and 17 in. Then he broke my water for our little girl and I had 4 pushes to get her down in position and then 2 more big pushes and out she came at 7:49 am. Alyssa was 6lb 2oz and 19 in. Merrill got to cut her cord and made the comment of how much bigger her umbilical cord was than David's. No wonder the guy was so small...check out the picture of the two cords...his is so thin compared to hers.

We got them both into our room and I got to have David on my chest and start feeding him. Then they got Alyssa over and she still hadn't had a good cry yet and was grunting a little. I tried to feed her but she wouldn't latch on and then they did another blood sugar and temp check. She was way low for both so they said she needed to head over to the NICU. At least we had her with us for a little bit. Merrill went over there with her and said it was really sad to watch them try to put her IV in her little frail hand. They finally got it after the 5th try...so sad! They said her lungs weren't quite strong enough because she was the bigger one and David had been under stress for a little while and he was a little stronger because of that...even though he was smaller...he was a fighter! :)

We got to go over and see her in the NICU as often as we were able and Tues night they let me go in and feed her. By Wed night she was able to come back in the room with David and I and then Thursday evening we were able to go home. Overall it was a much longer hospital stay than I'm used to but we have 2 beautiful, healthy babies! They are so sweet and so much work!

I didn't realize that preemies had to be woke up every 3 hours to feed no matter what time of day it is. So we wake every 3 hours and supplement as often as we can...the first few days we were home, we tried after every feeding and by Sunday they were spitting up quite a bit! I think they were tired of being force fed. But we went back to the hospital for another weight check and they were doing great! When we left the hospital David was 4lb 9oz and at the weight check he was 4lb 14 oz and eating about 1 oz every feeding! Alyssa was 5lb 11oz when we left the hospital and she was 5lb 15oz and eating 2 oz every feeding! So yes they are super stars and we were all glad to know our hard work was paying off. I was glad to hear I could slow the pumping down to twice a day and just focus more on breastfeeding.

So we are all doing great and are very tired. But David and Alyssa are so cute and so worth it! Enjoy the pics!

Twins Come Home

David and Alyssa came home on Thursday evening and they are both doing great! They are eating like champs and growing well.

This evening, Cami gave them each a half bath - i.e., washing their heads, faces, and necks. Both of them stayed totally asleep during the whole process.

The twins are here!!

David Merrill Birdno & Alyssa Gene Birdno

For vital stats and pictures, see:
http://web.me.com/birdnofam/images/twins/index.html

Even through she is much larger than David, Alyssa is in the NICU. They needed her to improve her lung capacity and get her blood sugar up. Things are coming along well in the NICU, and they are optimistic she can get out later today. They decreased her I.V. and she is feeding from a bottle pretty regularly. If they can cut off the I.V. totally and her blood sugar stays up, she will be able to come into Cami's room.

Twins Pics

I get an ultrasound just about every time I go into the doctor now and they give me updated pictures most times. Usually our little guy is so smashed below his sister that we can't get any good pics of him. But the other day we got a good 3-d one of him...sis wouldn't cooperate that day but we did get a profile of her and I always love their little heads together....they are already scheming!

Take 2

Here's Nano's actual first day of school and getting on the bus. Nano and Josh both had the spiky hair going on that day! :)

"THREE!"

Wow Neah! You are 3 - that went too fast, it always does though. We got the camera working for your b-day and got lots of pictures of the big day. You totally understood the concept this year. You woke up and I asked you what day it was, your reply, "It's my birthday! I'm three! I get to open presents!" and you ran downstairs and got on the couch. :)

We had so much fun with you today! We played games with you all day and had three of your friends and their families come over for a BBQ and your pinata and cake. Your favorite color is "Paypule" (Purple), so the mickey mouse pinata and cake had to be "paypule" too. You didn't want a "Huge! pinata yike Nano, just a yittle one to hold." So we made it just your size!

We love you! Happy Birthday!

First Day

School has started up again and this year the kids get to ride the bus! We have a neighborhood school that is .3 miles away but is under construction this year. The kids get bused across town to an old run down school with no AC! You'd think they'd fix this school up first since this is the routine for all the remodels of the schools around here...but anyway. The kids are loving the bus ride, are adjusting to the heat in the building and learning to jump rope since their playground is a parking lot! :)

Nano didn't get to ride the bus the first week. He didn't get to go to school until Friday because of the staggered start they do here for Kindergarten. He was very bummed! He was excited to be able to ride his scooter most of the morning and practice his jumps off our steps though! ;)

Big Helper

I love it when the kids help their Daddy with projects. I have a picture of Josh, Nano and now Neah helping mow the lawn! Just so cute! Thanks for the help kiddos!

Nano's b-day

So, the camera wasn't working at all for us on Nano's b-day...seems like that happened last year too. Sorry buddy! I wish we had more pictures for you of your b-day...we got them with cell phone but can't put those on here. Luckily we got a few videos to put up.

But I hope you had a great b-day anyway! We got to go to a splash park, eat lots of pizza, break the Night Fury pinata, eat the Bone Knapper rice crispy cake and play with friends! We love you buddy! I can't believe you are 5 and able to go to Kindergarten! You are so excited though and I love seeing all the new stunts you learn to do as you grow. Lots of them do frighten me but you usually seem to pull them off. You got a scooter for your b-day and have learned all new tricks on that. The skate park is a favorite place now and I love to see the thrill you get from going off the big jumps! Way to go buddy!

We love you! Happy Birthday Son!

Bird in the trees

So our camera got messed with again.....Nano was just trying to jump and then....well anyway. :)

My parents are letting us borrow their camera for a while but it doesn't have the zoom Mikayla wanted. She was trying to get a picture of the bird's nest from her bedroom window. But she decided to take the video instead....she's a little embarrassed that I'm putting it on because you can hear her chomping her gum! I just think it's cute! ;)

The 911 Call

Sorry, not pics for this one just a great story!

So lately Mikayla has been threatening Nano that she would call the police if he doesn't leave her alone....and then she proceeds to pretend to call them and tell them her brother has robbed a bank or something like that! Which Nano unfortunately believes and gets very upset about....well this time he decided to do something about it.

So Monday night, Nano was harrassing Mikayla again and this is how it played out:

Mikayla pretended to call 911 and tell them that Nano robbed a bank. Nano was upset and instead of telling us this time, he convinced Josh to call them back and tell them that he didn't really rob a bank. Josh dialed 911 and hung up because he was too scared, but since he actually dialed the number, it went through and they called us right back. Merrill was upstairs and answered the phone call of "this is 911, what is your emergency?"

So after a long lecture from us and losing all privileges for the next day, we decided to have them go apologize at the police station the next day. The kids all decided what they were going to say to apologize and this is how that went:

Mikayla went first and said, "Sorry, I fake called 911" - after which she got a lecture and the policeman thought he was done. Then Nano pipes up, "Sorry, I told Josh to call 911" and Josh said, "Sorry, I called 911". Then Neah said, "I didn't do it, it was hair "her"". At this point the policeman was trying not to laugh and still look stern and after replying, "this sounds like it was a joint effort" gave them all another lecture about when they should actually call 911. After which, he gave them all free slurpee coupons and stickers for being so brave - I wasn't so happy about that and wonder if they learned their lesson.....I guess time will tell!

Family Photos July 2011

While my sister Amy was here for a Ragnar Relay, we had her take some family photos. She did a great job. Thanks Amy!

Surprise Ultrasound

I've been a real slacker in going to the doctor this pregnancy. I've felt great and so felt no real need to go soon. It took a while to find a doctor, I wanted one that would let me run during most of my pregnancy and would let me do my thing. So I asked around and got feed back and then it still took me a long time to call one. Finally when I did, they couldn't get me in for three weeks.

We had a trip planned to UT and we had wanted to find out the sex of the baby before then so we could tell all the family....but that didn't happen. Instead we just got everyone's predictions...that was fun too. The predictions for our family came in as we expected, Mikayla wanted a girl and the boys a brother, either way we figured it was a tie breaker! Lynneah, however had been telling us for the past two months that it was a girl baby and a boy baby in my tummy. We just figured she was combining what Josh and Mikayla wanted.....little did we know we should have listened to her more closely. I think the veil is thinner for our little ones and they remember more than we do.

We went to the first doctor's apt and did our ultrasound. He put it on my left side and we saw a baby right away. He was looking for the sex and baby wasn't cooperating but he hadn't looked all over my tummy yet...so I said, "We have a little girl who thinks we have two in here, could you just check and make sure there's only one for us." All he did was slide it a little bit over to the right and said,"Well, she's right". Merrill thought he was joking, I was just stunned! So here are the pics for you to enjoy! Lynneah was right! We have a girl baby and a boy baby on the way, due Nov 20!

When you open the page, the 3d pic at the top left column is our little boy and top right column is our little girl! I put the picture with their two heads next to each other because I think it's so cute! Their swapping secrets already!

They are both measuring great for my 22 weeks and are looking great! I feel so blessed! Very overwhelmed with the idea! But very blessed!

Merrill is still not so sure about this whole idea. The kids asked him, why he's not excited and he replied, "I'm scared to death guys! One baby is a lot of work, but two!" They all just laughed....but how right he is!

Finally back on the Blog!

Okay guys...I just spent lots of time getting this blog back up and running! We got a new camera at Christmas and now we have lots of pics, as you can tell from all the posts. I updated from Aug so I think I put 37 posts up! Good thing I had lots of time on the airplane on the way home from Hawaii! I could get all the posts ready and then today I uploaded them all. Enjoy and don't feel like you have to look at every one of them!

Sorry it took so long!

Hiking in Hawaii

We just had the most awesome week! My mom was amazing and came to watch our kids for a week while Merrill and I went to Hawaii. Merrill and I had a wonderful time and the kids loved the time with Grandma...it was a win win!
Scroll down...the next 7 posts are Hawaii also...we took over 200 photos!

We got to Hawaii Tuesday night and Merrill had conference stuff all day Wed. I got to sleep in and go on a run along the beach. Then I looked at all the shops and hung out on the beach all day. It was a great day topped off with dinner at a fancy Japanese place where they grilled the food in front of you. I've never been to one of those and I loved it!

Then Thursday was a full day! First, we went on a run together along the beach - Merrill had to go way slow for his pregnant wife - thanks honey! ;) Then we got to go hiking to Maunawili Falls. A none tourist hike which was so beautiful but super muddy! We had to hose down our shoes afterward! But the view and hiking in the jungle was well worth it!

Then on the road again, we saw some awesome boats that some amazing Hawaiian made!

Goat Island

Thank you Lindsay for telling us about goat island! We loved it! We didn't get pics while we were on the island because part of the fun of the island is walking out to it and falling in the ocean...we didn't have our waterproof camera yet. Lindsay told us of an island you can walk to it you find the coral path! Hooray, we found it and had a fun time walking to the island. The beach was so fun and we only saw two other people - fishermen.

Walking around the island was so fun. On the rocky side we saw lots of crabs and even an eel that had been washed up by the waves. Merrill REALLY wanted to hold it! I REALLY didn't want him to. Then just as he was getting close enough a wave washed up high enough to get the eel wet and he slithered off as Merrill jumped back up out of it's way. I was happy to see it go! :)
The waves hitting the rocks were so powerful and it was amazing to watch!

Then on the way back to shore...we lost the trail for a bit and went swimming. I saw a turtle swim right in front of me! Little did we know how many more turtle's we'd see snorkeling. Merrill was a little jealous that only I saw the turtle that day....snorkeling made up for it.
Thanks again Lindsay...we loved it!

We also went to the "Ha" performance at the polynesian center which was very fun. VERY touristy but fun. We loved all the fire dancing best. It was great! We didn't get any pics though...they weren't allowed! :(

Pearl Harbor

The next day we went to Pearl Harbor. That is a very humbling place. Thinking of all the people who gave so much for our freedoms is always very humbling. I take it for granted far to often. What a great memorial to them. These pictures do not do the place justice.

Sunset Beach

After Pearl Harbor we went and scouted out our next sites for the day on the North Shore. We had some yummy shrimp for dinner at one of the shrimp vans on the side of the road. They have their own shrimp farms and they catch the fish and cook it for you...it is so yummy! We had it two nights in a row!

Then we headed to sunset beach - thanks again Linds! I was too busy eating my shrimp and taking pics that it got to dark and only Merrill got in the water that night. But we had a great walk on the beach. Also, if you enlarge the first two pics....you can see whales out in the distance. We saw them just as we got there! So wonderful...I love watching whales! And the sunset was beautiful!

Hawaii fun

I wanted to see a pineapple plant...so we headed to the Dole plantation. I didn't know they great on shrubs...I thought it was a tree!

We saw lots of different birds, one on top of the shrimp contraptions...

You'll have to watch Hawaii Five-O to get a better picture of the king Kamehameha statue in front of the capitol bldg....

Waimea Valley and Beach were beautiful and Merrill loved jumping off the big rock, notice the post below...

We finally got a picture of me enjoying the shrimp and more beautiful pics of the ocean and some surfers!

Merrill jumping off the rock!

Baby and I decided it wasn't a good idea! :) But Merrill on the other hand....

Temple & Tabernacle

The Temple grounds were beautiful. We loved walking around them and enjoying the views. We were able to do a session also and the inside was so beautiful as well.

We went to church in a beautiful bldg as well. I think they called it the Honolulu Tabernacle. What an amazing place to attend church!

snorkeling

We went to Shark's Cove to snorkel and it was amazing. The pics are awesome of all the turtles we saw...but don't do the fish justice. The colors on the fish were so bright!

We went out the first time snorkeling and had a ball and decided we needed to buy an underwater camera and go out again. The first time out we saw a HUGE turtle . We went to go over a coral and there is what feeding on the coral! It scared me it was so big...and the fact that we came up on it all of a sudden! It was a great though...I just gave it some space and watched it move. It was so fun! I guess we were in the water a little too long though...the only thing that got burned on the trip was the back of our bodies! We look great! :)

Thanks again for the great spot to go snorkeling Linds!

All in all, what a wonderful trip! We were sad to leave but excited to see the kids! Thanks again Mom - and Dad for letting us have her for a week!

Open gym fun

The kids got the camera again and and had some fun. We've been busy getting rock out of our backyard and when we were taking pictures to put them up on craigslist, Nano wanted to lay on the rocks! What a poser! For spring break we did 5 wheelbarrows full of rocks each day, in between all the fun activities! The kids were awesome and by the end of the week we had all the rocks gone and twice as many as in the picture. We didn't get a picture of it because some friends came and took most of them already. What amazing kids!

Merrill got a german chocolate football cake for his b-day. Happy b-day honey! We love you!

Joyschool

Nano and his joyschool friends have a lot of fun! Here we made huge bubbles and did hand and footprints. So fun!

Our girls!

Mikayla loves playing the piano and loves that she gets to use some of Bhakka's and Aunt Rita's old piano books.
Lynneah is all about clean toes these days. She will stop in the middle of whatever she's doing and clean out her toe jam...it's awesome!

Open gym fun

On Wed gymnastics has open gym where young kids can play on all the equipment. The younger kids love it because, after watching Mikayla during the week, they finally get to try some of the fun stuff!

Gym video fun!

The kids love to go to open gym and play on all the gymnastics equipment. The tramp is a favorite!

Gymnastics

Mikayla's been doing gymnastics for about a year now and she loves it! She's learned a lot of cool things and it's fun to watch her. She had a day where she got to show us some of her stuff. The other kids got to do some of it too. It was a fun day!

Mikayla is 9!

It's January again and my baby is one year older! Mikayla you are just getting so big and so amazing with every day. Here's our day to celebrate you! You are such a great big sister, such a fun friend and such a helper to your mom and dad. Now that you are older and get to stay up a little later, we love the time that we get to spend with just you. I love all your jokes and the great ideas you come up with for creative things to do and say. Thanks for being patient with me when I forget that you are getting older and forget to treat you as such. We love you pumpkin!

Your party was fun, even with your annoying orange cake and annoying grape pinata! :)

Presents Again

We left early for Christmas break so we didn't get all the packages before we left. The kids were okay with that and loved being able to open presents all over again! Thanks so much Bhakka and Boppa!

Christmas again at home in WA

We got to open packages from Bakka and Boppa when we got home. Here is Josh trying out his new skate board. He's found a way to ride it in the house!

family fun

Here's just a glimpse into the fun activities of the trip.

Dec 25

Christmas morning with so many little kids is awesome! How blessed we are!

Nativity photos

I love having kids act out the nativity. They are so cute all dressed up and I think it helps them understand better what happened on that special night when they get to act it out.

We also had a few songs and thing afterward but those didn't get on the video just the nativity. They did a great job.