Birthday #3!!

Well here we are! Their 3rd birthday. At their 1st birthday party, I cried. I told Steve, "what if their aren't anymore." "what if their 1st birthday is all we get." We decided at that point to move forward. And here we are. 2 more years later. They are amazing!! Our last 3 years have definitely not been boring, but we wouldn't want to be bored. Our life's now are stable. They will always be somewhat day to day. That is just a valuable lesson God taught us. To live in the moment.
Happy Birthday Sweet Baby Girls!! Thank you Jesus for blessing us more than we can ever comprehend!!
The WAY early days :) WOW, MaMa!!

The ladies just home from the hospital.

1 year old! Pure naughtiness and Cheeks.

Age 2, bathing beauties!

Age 3, You've come a long way ladies!!I am in awe and all I can say is PRAISE THE LORD!! He is truly amazing and has cared for our every need.

Summer update!

WOW, no blogging for 20 days! What have we been doing? We took busy to a whole new level. But I must define busy :) This isn't bad stuff, it's all fun. With 5 kids at a range of ages, there's always something to do. We started off summer break with camping at Hungry Horse. We have camped with the same group of people for many years. We had 8 trailers and 30 kids. The kids always had someone to play with and I never once heard that they were bored. I absolutely LOVE the group that we camp with and I can't wait to go again next year. It's amazing that I didn't take pictures, but I guess I must have been doing other things.
When we got back from camping the girls were signed up in sports camps. So that has kept them busy and out of trouble all week. They just have fun learning the sport and being with their friends. I also went back to work after 12 days off (that's right 12!) I got spoiled and it was hard to go back. Usually I look forward to going back, but the girls are at fun ages and I had a great time being home. But once we are back into the swing of things, it's all good. The girls help around the house and we've come to the conclusion it's going to be chaos when everyone is home. Leah has turned into the babysitting queen and she loves every minute of it. She's doesn't babysit for her sisters much but for others :) Her and her sisters have differences of opinions, but I guess that's all part of sisterhood.


Fathers Day was amazing!! I am always in awe as to the wonderful men that have been put in our life. My dad, father in law and husband are all amazing men. In church they said "a father is a glimpse of our Heavenly Father." I told Steve, that's a loaded statement and alot to live up to. But we are blessed by then men we have and we see our Heavenly Father in all of them.
Steve and I have always been practical about gifts (if we buy any). So I planned to get him clothes, because he needs them. The girls were like, "BORING!" So he got clothes AND a remote control helicopter. The clothes are laying in a heap, on the floor, haven't even been tried on. The helicopter, however, has a special place on top of the fridge and gets played with daily. I guess the girls were right :)
Brooke is doing well. Being a normal "almost" 3 year old. She was discharged from Ottawa Area Center therapy. She tested out of most of her skills at over 3 years of age!! So she is an almost 3 year old, that is smarter than the average 3 year old, the size of a 1 1/2 year old, and an attitude of a 6 year old. Quite the combination, but we love it all. Macy and Brooke are cognitively the same, just different in size. So it's a riot to watch them play and interact. They know each other better than we know them. Twins is definitely a blessing and I am SOOOO glad we were given the chance to have them.


Brooke did have her Intensive Feeding Clinic Evaluation. It was over 2 hours of questions and watching Brooke. And in the end she was approved. I was told we should be honored, she is an excellent candidate for this program. Honored was such a strong word!! I wasn't feeling the joy that I thought I should. So I called my trusty therapist again, aka my hubby :) After talking it through, it's all good. I just had to release the emotional part of it, so I could see the big picture. What did I want out of this evaluation? Well, I guess I wanted her to qualify. If she didn't qualify then our options would be much narrower. So, we put her on the waiting list and she should get in the end of 2012. I told Leah, "I won't say, I'm not going to do this," because that always comes back to bite me. But I will say, "I REALLY don't want to." It will consist of 6-8 weeks, everyday, going to Mary Free Bed for 6+ hours a day. So, that's that. We put her on the waiting list and see what the next year + brings. My prayer is that she starts eating. I really feel, deep down, Steve and I can do this. But if we need the help, I pray I let down the barriers and accept the program and life style change for a short while. I just don't think food is worth this much thought :) It seems like breathing, it's just something you do.

This is Macy riding her "big"bike and Brooke giving her a push start. Right after this picture she fell over. Oops. But she got right up and rode again!


Funny story here! We were at the beach watching Leah's friend play volleyball and the heaven's opened and here came the rain, in sheets! All you could do was laugh and get wet. Leah managed to keep her and Brooke somewhat dry. But we didn't melt and we laughed alot! Even Grandma Blueberry was soaked. The things she does for her grandkids :)



Ash is almost done with softball. 5-6 year olds playing ball is adorable!! They are just cute and will listen to anything their coach says. They are very serious ball players!!

We have managed to make it to the beach a few times. It helped that Grandma Blueberry was camping there. Macy did not like the waves. She was convinced they were going to get her, hehe. Brooke didn't make it down to the water yet. That water is just soooo dirty. Maybe by the end of summer I'll get over that :) We'll keep trying.

That's all! We have managed to stay busy and I realize how much I love summer and seeing people. Winter gets long but summer totally makes up for it!!! Brooke's next appointments are July 8. (Good Day, Me and Steve's anniversary, whoo hoo). Enjoy God's creation!

Piano

Tonight was Steve's mom piano recital. Ever since I have known Steve, his mom has put on a beautiful piano recital. As a mom, I have fallen very short of piano lessons. I took lessons for 9 years as a child. I learned the discipline of practice but I am by no means a pianist. I can play a mean theme song of Cheers, and some hymns. But I would get so angry practicing, I would beat on the keys and get stress in my neck and shoulders. I did not like it. So after Leah took lessons for a few years and started to display the same stresses I let her quit. I couldn't bear to watch her struggle and not like it. And likewise with the other kids. Ashley did play today and I hope to make her experience better. But tonight I learned another lesson. Steve's grandma always helped his mom with the recital. Grandma passed away in September. I told my girls this week, we need to step it up and help. The recital was beautiful, the kids played amazing and I loved listening to them. Steve's mom has an amazing talent that she shares with these children. But when someone who has always been there isn't there to help it hurts. No matter what age you lose your mom, there is always an empty space. Steve's grandma was an amazing woman, who worked and gave to others. Steve's mom is passing that on. Thanks mom for sharing your talents and teaching others children.

I felt like a traitor posting a yellow tractor, so here's the green one :) The girls "patiently" waiting for their ride.

Parties, picnics and PLANTING!!!

"SCHOOLS OUT FOR THE SUMMER" I use to LOVE that song when I was in school (yes it dates me). As a mom, I STILL love that song. I had to apologize to my children in mid May, when I quit school work. Megan came home and was upset with her spelling test grade. I said, "honey we studied those words everyday!?!" She proceeded to explain to me I didn't change out the spelling words and we studied the wrong words all week. OOPS. My bad! So, why not have a party on the last day of school. Megan and Leah each had 5 girls over night. That's right, 12 girls! What a riot!! I laughed and laughed. And I realize what great friends our girls have. Ashley decided she was heading out, and went to sleep at Grandma's for the night. She had big fun!!



On too picnics......my parents have a pond. The big fish were eating the little fish, so they got a bunch of guys and a net to catch them. They looked like fishers of men :) The fish they caught, they cleaned and fried. Along with burgers, hot dogs and lots of other food. A picnic isn't complete without CAKE!! Because someones turning 40, June 16 :) Yup, my big brother!! My brother is an amazing example of who I want to be. He is extremely caring and giving, with a big heart. He is a role model for a wonderful family. I remember talking to Leah awhile back and something came up where I needed help. Leah said "call Uncle Brent." I asked her why and she said, "you always call Uncle Brent." I asked her what that meant and she said, "that's family mom." I LOVE that! My brother does mean the world to me. Even if he is going to be old :) At least we get to eat more cake.

I Love these pictures :)


Planting.........OH YEA BABY!!! The tractors are running. I am LOVING seeing the tractors in the field, the dust flying, the smell of dirt. I told Steve I think this is the happiest I have ever been for planting season. He said its the happiest he's been to be planting. It seems strange that they are planting in June but it's not our timing. Once the bean planter was by our house I texted Steve a picture (Steve was in another field at the time). I almost feel that it's wrong to put the picture on here of a yellow tractor. But I did it anyway :) Isn't it pretty? Only country girls get excited about this.

The girls are keeping me busy, so don't get too much down time. That's ok, it's all in fun. Brooke did go to clinic today. Still waiting on some lab results. I wanted to take her off some of her prophylactic meds. The answer was "not yet." They want to see her TREC numbers go up first. That could take awhile. They asked the MD if we could lift some of our restrictions. He said yes, as long as she isn't in crowds or around sick people. HMMMMM, well that told me to keep doing what we are doing. We can go to a store/restaurant if it's not busy and no one is sick. So even if there is no one there, my mind goes to, what if someone in the last few hours was here and sick. So, we'll just stick to what we know. We don't need to go to stores or restaurants. We have our church routine down, where we alternate Sundays home with her. And it's summer. We can be outside and do pretty much whatever. So I thanked them, and Steve and I decided not to rock any boats. Next appointment is July 8. She has gained 2#. Praise the Lord!! Steve hadn't been home much and he told me she felt heavier (I thought he was weak from lack of sleep :) He was right. Brooke also see's endocrine MD July 8. They monitor her growth.

Have a great summer! Enjoy the beautiful weather. Oh I almost forgot!! We have landscaping!! I will have to post pictures soon. Thank you Clearbrook Landscape. I think our neighbors thank them too! We were looking pretty scary (that's a whole different post) Good night!!