36 weeks

you wouldn't think being 36 weeks could cause such commotion at the grocery store, but I can't go anywhere without at least a dozen people asking me when I'm due and how far along I am.   you can see the pity in their eyes when I tell them I'm not due until September 26th but then they quickly confirm that I look great when I mention that I'm having twins, then it's back to pity when I tell them I have 3 other children at home...  we are of course thrilled to have 5 kids.

For the most part I feel pretty good.  My back gets sore so I usually lay down on my side about 2 times a day to relieve the pain.  it's hard to sit or stand or lay for very long.  nothing fits,  I have 3 shirts that almost fit.  they only show a little of my belly some of the time. I'm almost always hungry,  I eat constantly, I can't help it.

I feel a constant flow of movement in my belly.  The girl moves quite a bit more then the boy. Sometimes I worry about that. but I usually feel him just enough to know that he's okay.

my feelings vacillate between being really excited to meet these two sweet babies and feeling a bit over whelmed thinking about caring for twins.

sleepless

Tonight is the night before school starts,  the kids are excited, if not a bit apprehensive about what tomorrow will bring, Dallin's not sure how he feels about school happening everyday, he doesn't mind it for a day or two but to have it keep going, until next summer, that's a bit much.
 Katelyn has come out of her bed no less then 3 times to ask me what first grade will be like,  I tried to assure her that it will likely be a lot like kindergarten except she'll do even more fun things and read even bigger book, at which point she burst into tears exclaiming,
 But I"m not so great at reading big books!

 I tried to reassure her that she was one of the best readers in Kindergarten and that her teacher would help her do anything she didn't know how to do.  I remember being awake a lot the night before school started, worrying about many of the same things Katelyn worries about.  
tonight I can't help wishing I could always be there to protect her from the bully and mean girls at school as there are bound to be some.  

last night as Cameron and I were out on a date, I had the most awful thought, What if Katelyn marries someone I don't like.  for a brief moment I thought, maybe we should let her live with us forever, Currently that's her plan.  maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea. I'm not sure where that thought came from and Thankfully we have a while before we have to worry about that.   she is such a sweet, wonderful girl, I love her so much,  and I know that I can't be there to always protect her,  she will make mistakes, have her feelings hurt, and she will learn and grow from these experiences, who am I to deprive her of some of life's greatest joys by trying to protect her from life's most difficult challenges,  We are very blessed and I know that Heavenly Father will continue to bless us. These are some of the thoughts running through my head on this   sleepless night.
Meanwhile, Dallin and Grant have been asleep for well over an hour, clearly not all of us have sleeping issues the night before school starts.  I love my sweet little boys, just as I love my sweet little girl. And I know they will have a great year of school... even Grant who will get to be schooled in the loving care of twins... lucky guy.

swim Lessons!

The kids did 2 rounds of swim lessons this year, the first round was a bit crazy,  only because there were a million other kids taking swim lessons, okay not a million but Grant had 10-12 and he was in the beginning, non-swimming level, Dallin had 8 in his, just-barely-can-swim level and Katelyn had 4 in her swimming-like-a-champ level.  Granted they did have 2 teacher for each class, regardless it was still crazy.

In the second session Katelyn and Dallin both had one other person in their level and Grant was alone in his class.  so they moved Dallin up to Katelyn's class and the other boy in Dallin's class down to Grant's level with still 2 teachers per level.  it was Great!

if not a bit cold...

since she was itty bitty Katelyn has been a fish in the water, she loves it and can swim everywhere in the pool, she is amazing.  she loves to dive deep and get things on the bottom of the pool.

 Dallin started swimming a bit last year but was just getting the hang of it when pool season ended,  so I wasn't sure how good he would be this year, but he picked up right where he left off and is now swimming like a champ.  he has a bit of a funny frog like kick that I smile at every time I watch him, but it works and it gets him where he wants to go, He and Katelyn swim all over the pool,  I still keep a close eye on him because there are times when he tries to tread water in the middle of the pool for so long that when he tries to swim to the edge he is tired and calls me over to help.

 Grant loves swimming and has gotten good at it.  he can swim about half way accross the pool, not too bad for a 3-year-old.  he hasn't quite figured out how to take a breath while swimming so when he swims to me he  stays under water the whole time, but that will come.  he loves to turn around while he is swimming, he'll be swimming to me and then decide to turn back to the wall.   he loves to dive for rings in the water,  and he is really good at it.

 going off the diving board.

my 3 little swimmers, growing up and saving China.

Cake Decorating

As my due date approaches, time is ticking and I am feeling the desprate need to actually do the things I've been meaning to do, you know the list, the one you have for when you have time, someday, well I've realized lately that "that day" either needs to happen now or it will be a while before it does.
  one of the things on my list is to take a cake decorating class,  I have always liked artistic things and I've played around with cake decorating for a while  but I wanted to take a class or two before I am completely swamped with caring for twins.  so I did it.  Above is my first cake.  among other things we learned dots.  or blobby balls, or what ever you would like to call them.

we did Cupcakes the 3rd week,  the day after this class we had some kids over to play and Katelyn never tired of telling her friends that her mom makes the best cupcakes... if only she would stay this easy to please...

then the last class we did a final cake, I had done a lot of research on the internet to find something that looked nice but wasn't actually too complicated.  This is what I found from Fantasticake.  It looked easy enough, yet very cute.

well... this is what mine turned out like...

It actually looks better in the picture then it did in real life.  Granted I had to do it from memory because we did it in class and my printer is down.  but still, I think it will be a while before I go professional...

 The class was fun and I would totally do another one when I can. 

The morning Fortress

We've always had a variety of things for breakfast, waffles, pancakes, eggs and toast, sausage, oatmeal, french toast,  you get the idea.  But many mornings we have cereal and even though my kids pick the same cearel every day: Dallin-honey bunches of Oats, Katelyn- Strawberry awake (Walmart's special K with Berries) and Grant- Honey nut cheerios, I still get out every box of cereal from the pantry and line them up on the table so they can "choose."  If ever I just pull out the cereal they are bound to choose, without lining up all the different choices, tears and sure to fall.   so lately the kids have decided to create Fortresses with the boxes,  they set them up and hide from us as they eat their breakfast in seclusion.

 Dallin's always the first to finish and always the best at remembering to put his bowl in the dishwasher.  

 Katelyn was the first to start this fortress idea,  she loves to hide behind her boxes

Grant is so happy in the morning,  he only likes to eat a few bits of breakfast and then come back half an hour later "Starving"  we're working on that...

They all have so much fun.  I love listening to their conversations, they love each other so much.