Thanksgiving

Fact: Thanksgiving is Ryan's favorite holiday.

What's not to love......you eat yummy food relax and then eat some more.

This year we spent Thanksgiving with Ryan's family. We were able to have everyone there except for his brother Brandon and his family. It is very rare when we can all get together! The last time we were all together was when Ezra was two months old. It was most of the family's first time meeting the babies and it was our first time meeting our nephew Ashton. Everyone made tasty food. I made the rolls and a broccoli cheese dish that is one of my family traditions. I meant to take pictures.....but I didn't. I did bring my camera. I get points for that right?

I AM THANKFUL FOR.....

• Ryan: He is such a wonderful husband and father! He is a good person who wants to help others and does whenever he possibly can.


• Ezra, Levi & Lucy: These three bring so much joy to my life! I am so blessed to be a mother.


• Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ: EVERYTHING I have I owe to them!!!


• A home


• Cars. The night before Thanksgiving I was driving home and I saw a family bundled up and walking. I said a silent thank you as I sat in my warm car. What a blessing having a car or cars is!


• Food


• My church: I am a member of the church of Jesus Christ of later days saints.


• Friends


• Family

These are just a few things I am thankful for. I am truly SO very blessed!

Happy Birthday to......

ME!

I had a wonderful birthday! We started celebrating the night before. Ryan's parents made us dinner, STAKE, my favorite. Ryan's Dad makes the best stake. I can't order stake at restaurants anymore without being disappointed because it's not as good as Dennis makes it.

Ryan took the day off for my birthday so he could spoil me:) I was served breakfast in bed, Ego waffles and bacon. Ezra carried in a present for me to open, the third season of the Gilmore Girls. After I opened my present Ryan said I should head to the kitchen where I found this.....

Flowers (three different kinds to represent our three children), Sees chocolates (hand picked by Ryan so I could have all my favorites), and two more presents. The first present a shirt that I saw in the store, I told Ryan I liked it. Ryan went back to the store and got it for me ( I'm wearing the shirt in all the photos). The last present is something I've wanted ever since I first heard of them.....TOMS

Have you heard of them? Well the cool thing about TOMS is for every pair you buy a pair of shoes is given to a child in need "One For One". Learn more about the company at www.toms.com . I've been talking about TOMS so much that Ryan and my sisters decided to buy them for my birthday. My sisters called Ryan to tell him they bought TOMS in red so he wouldn't get them for me. Ryan called them back and told them he already bought them for me. My sisters "cursed" Ryan for being such a good husband and buying me the shoes. RYAN REALLY IS AWESOME!!! Still at the mall Ashley & Brennan decided to get another color. How sweet are my sisters and husband!?! I guess they love me :)

Myself, Ryan and the kids went to church as a family, what a treat! After church I was able to talk to The Aussies (my family). Later that evening we had dinner with our church friends, a thanksgiving potluck fest......great job everyone. My friends even made me a birthday cake, chocolate cherry with gnash on top, YUM!

After dinner we came home and my sisters gave me their gift (TOMS) and sang happy birthday to me with a candle on top of a poptart.

Ezra helping me with the candles

Thank you to EVERYONE who made my birthday wonderful! I had a great day!!!

By the way....I'm 26.

3 Months

Levi and Lucy are three months old! I must say it has been the longest/fastest three months of my life. Long because there is not a lot of sleep and there is a lot of feeding.....and fast because I am so busy ALL the time!!! It's very hard but I love it!

My friend Ashley made these outfits. Aren't they cute!?!

Ezra
He loves his his siblings but has been really rough with them lately. He is defiantly going though the terrible twos :( He is still a sweet boy......who likes to throw fits. I love him more than he will ever know!

LEVI

What a sweet smiley boy! I love to hear him laugh and see him smile!!! He was sleeping really well but has stopped:( I just love him!!!

LUCY

She has traded Levi on sleeping....she is now the "better" sleeper. (Someday I hope they will sleep at the same time:) She loves to giggle for her Daddy. I love getting her up in the morning, she gives me the biggest smile. She still spits up a lot:(I LOVE my sweet girl.

Just a quick update......That's all I have time for.

Well I've made it through three months of three kids under two. We are all alive and happy.....most of the time:)

I love these kids!!!

A Gift-It-Forward Birthday Present

First off HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!! Her birthday is really tomorrow (November 8th) but it is already the 8th in Australia where they live.

I have found a new website that I like www.helpothers.org It is full of stories of small and large acts of kindness. I've read these stories while up at night feeding babies. It has helped me when I am tired and grumpy to read them and think of others instead of myself.

I got this Gift-It-Forward idea from one of the stories I read. So here is the idea......Next Sunday (November 14th) is my birthday. I am asking you all for a present. The present I'm asking for is a act of kindness, not for me but for someone else. You can do something big or small ,the idea is just to make someone smile. They will smile and you too will smile. I am also going to be doing something for someone else too. It feels good to do things for others. It makes me happy. Knowing that you all will be doing things for others on my birthday will be awesome. We can make it a happy day for many, not just the birthday girl.

Alright you have one week to think of what you would like to "give me" I'm excited! Are you? Feel free to leave a comment on this post if you have any kind act ideas, leave a note so others can get ideas. You can leave a comment saying what you are giving if you would like.....but don't feel like you have to:) I will not be reading any of the comments on this post until next Sunday. It will be like opening a present.

Ok, now I've got to figure out what I'm "getting" myself.........Happy "shopping" everyone!

Our Funny Farm

Old Mrs. Petersen had a farm.......

WAIT....

WAIT...

WAIT...

OLD?

WHAT???.....

The Very, VERY young and NOT AT ALL OLD Mrs. Petersen had a farm......

E-I-E-I-O

And on her farm she had a....


CHICKEN


E-I-E-I-O
With a....

Bawk, Bawk

here

and a......

Bawk, Bawk

there

here a.....

Bawk

there a....

Bawk

everywhere a....


BAWK, BAWK!!!

The VERY young (and BEAUTIFUL) Mrs. Petersen had a farm....

E-I-E-I-O

And on her farm she had a....

LIONS

and

TIGERS

and

BEARS

OH MY!!!!

E-I-E-I-O

I say if Siegfried and Roy can have tigers in their backyard I can have tigers and bears on my farm! This is Vegas.

We had fun celebrating Halloween, despite Levi and Lucy still being sick.

October 22: We took Ezra to The Bass Pro shop to see the fish. He loved the fish and all the "stuffed animals". They had little Halloween activities going on but he was having too much fun running around to really care about that.
October 28: My sewing club girls had a party for the kids at the park. I took Ezra while Ryan watched the babies. I timed it just right, they slept the whole time! Ezra had a great time playing and I was thrilled to get out of the house!

October 29: I found out that a preschool was doing a free Halloween party, petting zoo, pony rides and Trick-or-Treating. I really wanted to do something fun and festive as a family that wasn't ALL about candy, since we still aren't giving Ezra sugar. The other great thing I was excited about was the fact that it was a outdoors event so we wouldn't be in a germ infested room with lots of people (these are things you have to factor in when you have sick babies). Well the event wasn't all it was cracked up to be. There were two ponies (which Ezra and Ivy never got to ride), NO petting zoo and there was only three places to "Trick-or-Treat". What they DID have was a little playground that Ezra and Ivy loved! Ryan played with the kids while I nursed the babies. Something I really wish I got a picture of is Ryan in Ivy's witch hat. He was a trooper and wore it for her....what a nice uncle! Even though it wasn't all we thought it would be the kids had such a great time. And that's what matters.

So much for my "safe" environment......This little girl all of a sudden came and sat SUPER close to Levi and sneezed on him!!! GROSS! Her mom totally yelled at her. I took his costume home and washed it. Now I guard the babies at outdoor events as well.

October 30: We had a Trunk-or-Treat at our church. Don't worry I kept my eyes on everyone and made SURE they would not sneeze on my babies! Ezra was SO cute! He would Say "Trick-or-Treat (person gives candy) Thank you, bu bye!" We were there for about a hour.....The babies cried about half the time (we were having a REALLY bad day). The BEST part of the evening was the huge container of pancit my friend Michelle gave to me!!! Totally made my day...really days because I'm eating some while I type. It was nice to have something special to eat:) This diet has been no fun! No treats for Halloween......a sin! If it helps the babies it will be worth it!!!

October 31: We stayed home and passed out treats to the kids.....AND adults...We had two women (in thier 30s) with no costumes on come Trick-orTreating! WHAT??? I made Ezra a jack-o-lantern pizza. For treats he had pretzels, raisins, fruit leather, cracker,cookies (NO sugar...I use banana and a couple tablespoons of honey to sweeten) and slushy (juice and ice mixed in our Vitmix). So he had his fair share of treats! I made Ryan a carmel apple and tried to not be too sad while he ate it.

Ezra LOVED the chicken costume!!! He would say "I Chicken!" and "Hat" (so I would out the hood on) The truth is he HATED the costume at first! I put it on him and he screamed until I took it off. So I had a brilliant idea....If I could get Ivy to wear it he would want to wear it. My plan worked like a charm. Now he wants to wear it ALL the time.

Here are a few more pictures....

Feeling festive!
Levi had Frankenstein socks on and Lucy had jack-o-lantern socks.

Jack

The Pumpkin King

Carved by Ryan

I never ended up getting to carve my pumpkin......the babies were having a rough week:(

At the preschool I was trying to get a picture of the kids next to the decorations. See how well it (did not) worked.....

My chicken wanted to run!

Happy Halloween!

Little bit of this and a little bit of that

Here are some photos from the past month.

September 30, 2010

Levi

I love those socks! The little toy was mine when I was a baby.

Ezra loves hats right now.

Ezra is wearing Daddy's hat and helping us do some baking.

October 11, 2010

Levi was sleeping and Ezra was playing with his little sister. They just looked too cute!

Lucy was all smiles during her diaper change.

October 12, 2010

Ezra and his old friend......

Swing swing

He climbed in nuzzled himself into a perfect position and put the blanket on top of himself..... (readjusting every three seconds)

Then he reached up and turned it on....

Then he gave Lucy and Levi a ride.

Ryan and I sat there and watched Ezra for about a half an hour cracking up the whole time. I REALLY wish we had a video because it was hilarious!

11 weeks

Levi and Lucy are 11 weeks old as of yesterday. They are STILL sick:( They still have the thrush and they have colds on top of that. Basically until we get the thrush cleared up they have NO immune system. So any little sniffle they EASILY catch. I took them to church almost two weeks ago and Lucy caught something that she still has and has shared it now with Levi. No one even touched them. Yes, that is how low their immune systems are. It scares me because it's now RSV season as well as cold and flu. I won't be taking them around people for awhile!!! If we go anywhere as a family it is either outside or in a large space where people won't be very close to them. I am currently trying to combat the yeast through my eating (as well as the medicine they get) I am trying not to eat yeast or sugar.....sugar feeds yeast. This includes natural sugar ie fruit. This is really hard for me because when I nurse I crave sugar. (To look on the bright side....if there is a bright side about no sugar or bread...I might loose some weight:) I'm just trying anything and everything I can to make these babies better. I bought some stuff to do a yeast cleanse but then I read on the back...."do not take if pregnant or nursing." I've got to say having sick babies for 10 weeks is really frustrating! They don't feel well so they get fussy and don't sleep very well. This is hard on the WHOLE family!!! I really hope they get well soon!!! If not we will be spending our holiday season as hermit crabs. I must say that I feel grateful that this is what we have to deal with! Things could be much worse!!! We are very blessed!!!

Now for the individual report.....

It is really important to me that they get as much individual attention as possible! The fact that they are twins is REALLY awesome!....But I just want them to be treated as individuals because they are two different people.

Levi

LEVI: BIG NEWS..... He rolls over from his tummy to his back! He did this for the first time just this week (Wednesday, October 20th). He has found his voice. I love to hear his coos! He also does big smiles. He is very strong and will push himself up for quite a long time. While he pushes himself up he moves his legs like he is going to crawl....not yet buddy....not yet! There were a couple of days this week where Ezra and Lucy were both sleeping so it was just the two of us. We had fun! I say we were playing "only child."I love you handsome boy!!!

Lucy

LUCY: Such a charmer! She will look you right in the eyes and just smile and talk to you. She is a wiggler! She almost always has her arms and legs going. She is starting to use her little voice. I love listening to her talk! She does seem to like tummy time very much. She spits up A LOT! Sometimes I think gee...I would have to feed her so often if she would spit up less:) I Love you Beauty Doll!!!

I told you Lucy is always moving

These pictures were taken October 14, 2010 one day shy of 10 weeks old.

The Love Munchkins' 4 week old photo shoot

Yes, I know that the babies are over 10 weeks old now and I'm just getting these pictures posted. I'm kind of busy ;) The photos aren't completely edited the way I wanted but that might not happen until they are like......four, so I decided to post them now. By the way my Aunt Kim nicknamed Levi and Lucy The Love Munchkins after seeing their pictures on facebook because they are always cuddling. I think it's cute!

I LOVE YOU!!!

The top picture is titled
"I'll take care of you"
All three pictures make my heart melt!

Sweet Angel Babies
The blankets were made by their Grandma Diana. Aren't they beautiful?!?

We LOVE Disneyland! We were going to go for Christmas this year like we did last year but going with four month old twins and a almost two year old didn't sound like fun. We even have a room reserved.....I still need to cancel that :( The Mickey ears are from my niece Ivy's Build a Bear.

Smiles

We love to shoot for a minute straight and see all the faces babies make.

Lucy & Daddy

Something you need to know is Lucy started working on Daddy at a VERY young age.....She will look right into his eyes, stick out her bottom lip and cry with real tears. This started at about two and half weeks old, No joke!

He says "Lucy you better stop that or I'll give you a spanking." He is joking of course.

Lets see how that works when she is sixteen and says "Daddy I want a car."

We have more pictures of Lucy for a couple different reasons. First, She was awake during most of our shoot (and being so adorable) and second she has all those fun accessories that Levi doesn't. Sorry Levi! Mommy and Daddy love you too!!! Poor guy was born and seven minutes later became the middle child.

Rock-A-bye-baby

In the tree top

Hey don't forget about me!

Ezra....

Our first love munchkin

While my mom was here she taught Ezra how to play with play dough. He loves it!

Ezra helping the babies be happy during the shoot.

These photos were taken by Mommy and Daddy. We love all of our Love Munchkins!!!