Since my camera is not working right now, I thought I'd borrow this picture from my friend, Kristie's, blog since her boys are four of my favorite boys...other than my own, of course.


I've gone through my files to find more pictures with "the boys" as they are affectionately called. Here's a picture of all six boys about 17 months ago. Look how much everyone has grown!







Here's one from this summer! (Doesn't Jonathan look really happy in this one?)

Funny story about this picture - when I uploaded it to have it printed at Sam's they were doing sample Christmas cards. They must have thought that all of the kids were mine because they chose this picture for our sample cards. I have one, and I gave one to Kristie.


TOMORROW: Fun pictures with Ally and Caden

I'm having camera difficulties....the cord that connects the camera to the computer (Travis - please chime in the name of that cord) isn't working. We bought a new one...it isn't working either. This leads me to believe that it's not a cord problem.

Here's some random pictures for your enjoyment:
Henry's First Attempt at Eating Cereal




It's Jonathan's turn to have cereal now!




Yummy! These feet taste good!



Gotta love those double carts at Sam's!





Happy 1st Birthday Henry!



Happy 1st Birthday Jonathan!

Last night as we were leaving Target, Jonathan wanted his coat zipped. He kept say, "Snap, Snap" which apparently means ZIP. After I got him zipped up, Rob asked him if that was better. He said, "Much, thank you!" We are amazed at their language development. :) I know that soon they will be saying things that we don't want them to say...but for now it's fun.

What are some things that you have heard kids say that would have been better left unsaid? Let's keep it clean here, people. **wink**

Rob and I saw this outfit last night at a department store. What do you think?? Easter outfits??? **wink, wink** Yes, this outfit is for a 2 year old BOY! I can't imagine my boys in these outfits because it seems to be for quiet boys, not for my yelling, running, eating mulch boys - not to mention that they were $32.00 each. We'd have to get shoes, too. Their tennis shoes just wouldn't work! Don't forget about the matching hat!

I called my friend, Jenn, to wish her a happy birthday tonight. After a few rings, I heard, "Hello?" I broke into Happy Birthday - giving it my all only to hear the voice on the other line say, "You've got the wrong number." I was speechless. I asked the girl on the other line when her birthday was, and she said it was in May. So I wished her a happy early birthday! You'll be glad to know I got it right on the second call!

Happy Birthday, Jenn! Can't wait to see you in March.

Here's Jenn with her nephew, William and her dog, Buddy!

If you've been around toddlers or pre-schoolers, then you probably know who The Wiggles are. If not, you can go to their website to be enlightened. Our boys really enjoy watching The Wiggles. Their shows are full of color, music, and dancing - things that every 2 year-old loves.

However, we think the boys are a bit confused. Whenever anyone sings a song (and there's a lot of that going on in our house), they always say "No Wiggles" in their sweetest voice to ask us to stop singing. It's quite funny! Those who see them on a regular basis, try it! Someone might tell you "No Wiggles," too.

Speaking of singing, I've noticed that Jonathan has started singing. Since he's beginning to string several words together, he's starting to make songs. It is priceless!

My cousin's in-laws' house was hit by a car on Saturday night. Amazingly, no one was injured in the house or in the car. Click here to see the unbelieveable pictures.

Here's another toddler incident for you.

On the same evening that the boys decided to use our wedding album as a coloring book (see below), we found Henry in the kitchen eating a light yellow, powdery substance. I yelled for Rob to grab him so he wouldn't eat any more of whatever it was. As Rob grabbed Henry's hand from going into his mouth again, I got some of the substance on my finger to try to determine what it was....Was it a cleaning substance?...I know the poison control number - 1-800-222-1222 - I've called that number before.. I sniffed it and took a sample....it tasted familar. Rob asked Henry what he was eating. Henry said, "CHESSE!" That's it! Grated parmesan cheese! They had dumped 3/4 of a container of parmesan cheese all over the kitchen and living room. After we laughed about it for a couple of minutes, Henry exclaimed, "MMMM cheese!" Our vacuum cleaner still smells like "CHEESE."

Pen + wedding album + toddlers = art?

Here's a comment from my friend, Kristie - my responses are in italics:

As the boys representative in this case, I have a few questions:
1)Where was the album located just prior to the incident? in a really stupid place - I've looked at it a million times and thought, "I really need to move that elsewhere."
2)Where was the pen located just prior to the incident? In Rob's bible on the end table.
3)Where was the mommy located just prior to the incident? I was cooking dinner and talking to Heidi on the phone.

This might just be a situation of unbearable temptation for my clients causing temporary insanity in which case they would no longer be able to make the connection between cause and effect or discern between right and wrong behavior.

(Don't worry, I don't believe a word I just wrote!)

Overall, we thought the incident was quite funny! We might not feel the same way if we didn't own the negatives and proofs from our wedding. We can just print more pictures....it will probably cost about $8 to fix the problem.

We had such beautiful weather on Thursday that some friends and I went to the zoo with our toddlers. I hope you enjoy the pictures of our time there!

Yesterday - 63 degrees and sunny. We even went to the zoo (pictures to come).

Today and tonight - 34 degrees (wind chill factor of 23 degrees) with heavy rain changing to snow and strong winds. Not much accumulation in the valley, but every grocery store in town will be packed with people tonight!

I've been tagged by my friend, Michelle, to post five random things about me. So here it goes:

1. I love Doritos dipped in peanut butter. Everyone thinks that's really gross! Try it!

2. My left foot is about 1/2 size bigger than my right foot. I always have to try new shoes on my left foot instead of my right one for that perfect fit.

3. I am legally blind without my contacts or glasses. Can you say 20:2000 vision? What normal people can see at 2000 feet I have to be at 20 feet.

4. When I was 11, I had two extra teeth growing in the roof of my mouth. Don't worry they were removed a long time ago.

5. My favorite restaurant is Don Pablos. There's still one on the east side of town if anyone is wondering.

I tag Kristie, Desiree, Shelley, Jenn, and Crystal.

In the spring, Henry and Jonathan joined the Birthday Club at Marble Slab Creamery. When you are a member of the birthday club, you get a free ice cream with mixin'. The boys enjoyed vanilla ice cream with sprinkles. If you have children under 12 years old, they can join the birthday club by going here.

Today, Jonathan went to see Dr. Preston Smith. He's another favorite doctor of ours....When you spend time in the NICU you get to know a lot of doctors.

Just in case you didn't remember (or didn't know), when I was 18 weeks pregnant I had an ultrasound that detected some problems with Jonathan's left kidney called hydronephrosis. It was retaining fluid and not able to flush things out. During the entire pregnancy, my OB kept saying that most of these situations correct themselves before birth. But every time I had an ultrasound - with twins and a kidney problem in one of the babies, I had them very often - Jonathan's kidney didn't improve. Actually, it kept getting worse. So we came to the understanding that when he was born he would probably have to have surgery (or surgeries) to save his kidney, or the kidney might be too damaged to save.

After a kidney infection at 2 1/2 months old, he was put on antibiotics so that he wouldn't have more infections and damage the already weak kidney. I remember looking at his ultrasounds at 3 months old and seeing infection floating around in his little kidney. It looked horrible! At 5 months old, he had surgery to try to fix the problem. Dr. Smith attempted to shoot dye into his ureter tubes to see where the blockage was. But the dye just stopped, showing him that the blockage was not your average blockage. After doing the surgery, he found that his ureter (the tubes that lead from your kidney to your bladder)was over two feet long and kinked up like a waterhose. Dr. Smith said that doctors were coming in from around the hospital to see this infant with two feet long ureter tubes. After this surgery, we were told that there was a possibility that he would have to have another surgery around 12 months old unless the problem was fixed.

19 months later and no other surgeries or infections, we have a very healthy two year old. On his ultrasound today, Dr. Smith said, "That kidney looks as good as it ever has!" It was very encouraging news! He wants to see him in 2-3 YEARS! Praise the Lord for Dr. Smith (and all the other doctors out there!)

Make sure you check out his website, Potty MD and University Pediatric Urologists.

Ok - so I didn't do the before and after pictures as I mentioned below. I couldn't find my camera when I was ready to start, and I didn't want that to stop me! HOw about some AFTER picures later?? BUT I have been working in my laundry room and master bedroom closet. In those areas, the big problem is CLOTHES!! So far, I've got two bags of clothes for the rescue mission; I've tossed at least on bag of garbage, and I've taken the boys' preemie clothes to the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) that they stayed in for 29 days. It feels good to get rid of stuff! Keep tuning in!

Rob ran across a news story about a book called Potty Time with Elmo. The story claims that when you push the buttons on this interactive book that one of them says "Who wants to die?" The boys got this book for their birthday, and I was very skeptical about the news story...usually these things are people making a big deal out of nothing. I checked our book, and it's on our book - Clear as a bell! Most of the books have been replaced with a different version. Apparently not ours....I emailed the publisher to find out what they will do to fix the problem. Here's a link to the story.

I called Turkey Creek Chick-fil-a, and here's the update. If you purchased something from the Turkey Creek Chick-fil-a or the Kingston Overlook Chick-fil-a (in front of Babies R Us) between December 20 and December 31, you can go back to those restaurants for that exact meal for free if you have the receipt.

Isn't admitting you have a problem the first step??

I am a packrat. I've decided to call myself that after considering it for several days. I believe there are different types of packrats. On one extreme you have those who don't throw away anything. They have every box and receipt from everything they've every purchased (which would have come in handy for me this once. I've been told by a trustworhty source that you can turn in your Chick-fil-a receipts from any Chick-fil-a for the month of December 2005 for the exact same meal FREE in January at the Turkey Creek Chick-fil-a. I think it's definitely worth checking out.) Back to being a packrat....These packrats have piles of things everywhere. Their cars are full of trash. You can't walk into their homes without meandering through a maze of magazines and furniture. They aren't trying to hide anything.

Then you have me. I am a closet packrat. I try to hide my excess stuff in nice Longaberger baskets. But next time you are at my house, just look in one of those baskets. What you will find is junk.... The problem is that I am a sinner. I am lazy and prideful. I want you to think better of me than I am - can you say "fear of man?" This problem isn't serving my family.

Here's what I'd like to try: I'm going to pick an area of my house and take a before picture and then, hopefully, an after picture. Also, we're going to have a garage sale in the spring to get rid of all this stuff that we don't need. I don't want to just fix the symptoms. I want God's help to see change in this area in my life.

Here are the areas that need attention first:
1. Laundry Room
2. Closet under the steps
3. Dresser in the foyer
4. Guest Bedroom
5. Master Bedroom Closet
6. Cabinets in Bonus Room
7. My stuff in the garage - that's a different level of need

For those of you that excel in this area, I'd love your thoughts and tips. I know you're out there!