Update from Colin...

He's in Oshkosh!! I got a call not long ago that they have arrived.

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So after an overnight stop in Brookville, PA, three hours of traffic in Chicago, an overnight stop in Milwaukee, WI, and about 1000 miles - Colin and Co. have made it to their destination and are at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, WI!

Colin sounded happy and excited about finally being at the end destination. I can't wait to hear from him tonight with another update. :)

Colin leaves for Oshkosh....

My big boy is gone!!

After months of planning and thinking about this wonderful opportunity, Colin has left on an adventure with his grandparents to EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, WI. http://www.airventure.org

He will be gone for 2 weeks - I know he will have a great time, but how am I going to manage with out him??? This is the longest he has ever been away from us. Things are not going to be the same around here without him. Colin is my little BUG! I know he is 9 now but he still is my little guy and quite a Momma's boy! He is such a cute and inquisitive kid. So full of wonder at everything. He loves nature and bugs. He is also very artistic and loves to create things and find out how things work. I am going to be pretty lonely without my pal.

Anyway, I guess I need to give some background here. "Oshkosh" is an aviation festival that takes place every year in WI. It is the heart of the general aviation world for a week and it truly amazing. I am more than a bit jealous that Colin is going.. without me!! ;) People from all over the USA and world flock to Oshkosh, WI for a week long airplane fly-in. It has daily airshow and tons of exhibits and things to do. Here is a little movie http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1412255721?bctid=1381694270 That might explain it better than I can.

They will camp there for the whole festival. Grammie & Poppie will be volunteering with the EAA to help run the festival. There are so many wonderful opportunities there for Colin to experience from air shows to airplane displays to museums. I can't wait to hear all about it each day when he calls to check in. But for now, Colin and Grammie & Poppie are in off on a fabulous adventure in airplane land....

The Bread... Part 2

It appears that he can be taught!

Lol, I always knew he could...

No seriously, Bill is a wonderful husband and a fantastic father. He is my other half in all ways... he really does more than his share of work around here and I couldn't do any of it without him.

Honey, Love you Buckets!!

Cosmic Cooking

As I was preparing the marinade that my soon to be pulled pork would cook in all night, a marvelous and mysterious sight appeared.....

The orange juice that I added swirled with the teriyaki and other ingredients already in my crock pot. I can only guess that someone was trying to tell me that my meal would be out of this world!

Any one want my COSMIC PULLED PORK RECIPE? It's guaranteed to be out of this world!!LOL

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY PAYTON & SYDNEY!!

I can't believe that today has come! Can it really be a whole year since I delivered my two precious daughters?

What a wonderful year it has been.... what an incredible blessing to have twin daughters! Having the girls has been so much fun, and a lot of work too. Of course it is the best kind of work! I remember those early days of round the clock feedings and being up every hour to nurse someone. Even not remembering which baby woke up when because I was so tired. A few times I accidentally putting one baby down on top of the other sleeping baby because I didn't remember which one I was nursing! LOL.

It has been an incredible first year watching with wonder as they grow. Those early bleary eyed days of watching for that faint first smile or a small coo of happiness. How quickly they blossom from these tiny needy swaddled caterpillars to wiggly giggly crawling beings in your home. It' now almost like having two little doggies on the floor.

Some of my best time with the babies have been while nursing them. The first time they were brought to me in the hospital I had them both latched on and nursing. It was glorious! Early nursing twins was a bit of a challenge mostly because it was an around the clock venture. I still have the little memo note pads that have long list of P & S with feeding times and L or R. I had to write it down or I would totally forget who ate when.

I am not a schedule type person so I did most of the early feedings one at a time allowing each girl to follow her own biological clock. Finally toward 2-3 months I nursed them together more frequently and now tandem nursing is all I do. It was during one of these nursing sessions that they noticed each other for the first time. It was an amazing moment! They were just 3 months old and Sydney unlatch after suddenly seeing Payton for the first time. She kind of cooed at her. Payton didn't respond. The very next time I nursed them together again, she did it again and Payton unlatched and cooed back as the two locked eyes for the very first time. It was beautiful and amazing all at once. These two little beings had shared a womb, shared a bassinet, and had been sharing a crib for 3 months holding hands most of the time yet they hadn't even consciously known the other one was there. This simple first acknowledgement was so precious to behold that it brought tears to my eyes.

I am proud to say that I have breastfed these babies for an entire year and they have not had one drop of formula! I was so worried in the beginning. I wondered if I could possibly make enough milk for them both but that proved to not be a problem. Not only did I make enough, I made too much!! I was even able to pump enough so that each time they had infant cereal, it was mixed with my milk too. At one point I had over 1 gallon of milk in my freezer for them. I was so worried that I would get called away for an emergency and not have enough for them so I pumped and froze milk frequently. We still enjoy our quiet milk time together.

My girls are growing into active and happy little souls. Payton is definitely the dominate twin. She is bigger and robust. Her personality can be summed up nicely with the word gregarious. There is always a huge beaming smile on her face. She is content and silly too. She tends to be a bit rough with her sister and thinks nothing of pulling Sydney's hair or biting her. Poor Miss Sydney. Payton likes to be the center of attention and will shout out "Hi Ya" to everyone we pass in the stores just trying to get some attention - as though being twins wasn't enough to stop every shopping old lady!

Sydney is shy and a bit reserved. We call her our drama queen. Everything that happens to Sydney is a big deal and she usually erupts in tears. Just putting her in the car seat can be a personal offense to Syd. She is very sweet and silly too and loves to laugh and play peak-a-boo. She looks at things with an intensity and really likes to study her surroundings. A smile from Sydney in public is a real treasure as she only gives them out sparingly. At home they come easily but are often a bit shy and coy.

It has been so neat to see these two little personalities develop as they grown up side by side in the same atmosphere. It is an neat and special joy that mother's of multiples get to witness and treasure. As a mom to many, I often wonder if the situations of a child's early days have made that child who they are or if it is more a product of their personal identity. With twins, you get that unique ability to watch as two totally different little people blossom out of the very same set of situations. It has been really marvelous to watch.

I guess with time being short and things to do, I will end this entry with a slide show of the last year... I hope you enjoy it!

The bread....

As I have outlined below, I have many children... all of varying ages but all wanting one thing right around 12 o'clock - LUNCH. Now at my house there are very few choices in things that I do for the kids. I allow them to dress by themselves and choose what ever they want to wear. They can also choose to be good little children (and have a fun day) or naughty little children (and suffer the consequences). When it comes to meals however, I set out a few choices for breakfast - cereal, breakfast bar, or whatever the hot meal of the day will be, pancakes, etc - and lunch - peanut butter and jelly, grilled cheese or cold cuts if we have any. Dinner, however, is a no choice meal. "You get what you get and you don't get upset!!" as my children can chorus for you in unison!

Anyway, yesterday I started the mission of feeding the group their lunch and came upon this:

What on earth was I going to do with that pathetic collection of bread?? My children will eat the heals (Yup, I have convinced them that the "un-cut" pieces of bread are extra special - pure genius, I know!) Yes this was my last loaf of bread but who would leave slices like that in the bag and not tell me we were out of bread??? Hmmm let's think here, it wasn't the kids.... Ahh must have been the 'big kid' himself. Nice! Ok, so I salvaged what I could and made the babies a pb&j and the other kids had their sandwiches on hamburger buns, thank goodness I had some.



Oh, the big guy, yup, Bill got a 'nice' text from me about this situation and has vowed never to eat bread again!! Ok, maybe never is a bit extreme but he promised to not leave me with usable bread again.



And the irony of this whole story... the thing that really got me going was that I was at the grocery store the very moment that he was making his sandwich and using the last of that bread.. yup, thank for the call to tell me to get more!! ;P

Beginning again...

Ok ok, so it has been a long time since I have posted here... there are many reasons. Most are pretty lame but some are legit. I did forget my Blogger password for a while... then remembered it suddenly. I guess that's Mommy Brain for you!! I also had a total computer failure and lost all my emails and contacts but hey, I needed to purge my address book anyway. (As an aside, if you haven't gotten any emails from me, that might be why! LOL). I guess my life with 5 kids has been pretty busy for these last few months... ok, almost a year now!

I guess I should update.... here are my kids...

Colin who is now 9 (posing the "inchie")














Braden who turned 7 on June 13th














Haley who is 4 1/2 (in her dance costume from June's recital)



















and our babies... Payton & Sydney who will be 1 on the 13 of this month.














Our school year ended on June 22nd and for the first week or so we were just free wheeling and enjoying a nice relaxed summer pace. What a nice treat to have no where to go!! No kids to get ready?? No hurry up and get your shoes on (repeat ten times!!)?? No "Mom, where's my back pack?"? Ahhhh, summer!! I do so love it now that the weather has warmed up and the sun has begun to shine again. :)

But it didn't last long and as of this Monday the 'big' kids have half day summer camp at the elementary school that is just down the street from us. So we are off to walk and ride bikes/scooters every morning to camp by 8:45am. Yup, its back to the rat race. This being the 4th day of camp I think I finally have the routine down and can manage to get all of us dress, fed, and outside for our departure time. It might not be a well oiled machine yet, but we are working on it. It is a 5-10 minute walk down to school and I have been enjoying the exercise of walking both ways twice a day. The girls seem to like the sights too but are pretty tired and ready for morning nap right away when we get home. Of course I then get my tea and computer time in silence... ahhhh!!!