Are you Kidding me #23

Just the other day I was saying to Seth, "I wish the girls looked more identical". So tonight Bella and I tried an experiment. We put them in the same clothes and covered their hair. The hair is usually how people tell them apart.
Well I should be more careful about what I wish for.
I sent out a text asking people if they could tell them apart and everyone who responded got it wrong. That made me second guess if I was right. I wasn't smart enough to check after I sent the text.
So any guesses?

Everything Comes Full Circle

This is picture from a birthday party Bella went to last week. I usually don't post pictures of her at parties, but this party was different. The b-day girl in the middle is Jaci and the other little girl is Ivy. These girls belong to two very good friends of mine. Friends I've had since jr. high!
As I was watching these girls play, before we left, I started talking to my friends mom (Cindo) and we both kept saying how crazy it is that Lindsay and I have kids. When did we get old enough to have kids who play together?
The girls had so much fun and I love that they all play together!

hApPy BiRtHdAy ClaiRe!!

Dear Claire,
What a year you're had. You've grown up into such a curious little girl. Always trying to figure out how things work. I love the way your mind works. I wish I could be inside your head for just one minute. Then maybe I'd understand why you colored on the walls, wiped poop on the walls and your crib, and used my favorite Mac makeup to color yourself and my room. I can laugh at these thing now. I think it's because of your sweet little attitude. Everyone who meets you loves you instantly. Your smile and laugh is contagious.
You make our family that much better.
We all love you so much!!
Love,
Mom, Dad and sisters!

Last night we had both sides of our family over for cake and ice cream. Claire loved her 2 cakes. Yes that's right. She had 2 cakes!! Kim must sure love her to make 2 cakes.
Then this morning Claire opened presents and had breakfast in bed. Breakfast being a lose term, since it was a cupcake. Bella reminded me that she didn't get to wear the birthday crown this year. Sorry Bella. Maybe one day she'll understand that my head is barley screwed on these days, and she's lucky I remember half the things I do.
To top off the birthday celebrations, we're going swimming at the rec center tonight. Can't wait!

The proud parents!

The 2 cakes!

A few things I'm going to try a little harder to do this year....

• Not lose my patience as much. (Shocking, I know. how could I possibly lose my patience with 4 kids under 5?)
• Get to know the twins as individuals and not just as "twins"
• Appreciate my husband more
• Do something about my flabby arms (I'm shooting for Jennifer Aniston arms, even though I can't stand her. Her arms are amazing!)
• Study, not just read the scriptures
• Continue to stay current on blogging and scrapbooking
• Stick to the budget and save more
• Make more time for family (parents, siblings & in-laws)
• Read more books
• Do more than one push up without dropping dead (Thanks BJ Blaser for reminding me of that this past Christmas)
• Spend more one on one time with each child
• Learn how to dress myself (I stink at this, as many of you know. I'm saving my time with the personal stylist, that I got for Christmas from Laura, for my b-day)

I know I've been a mom for a long time when....

I dream about Dora! (yes, that really happened last night)

A moment of silence please....

Our beautiful, amazing, envy to all of our friends and family, HoT tUb has died! I knew it could happen I just wasn't prepared for it so soon.
It was here when we bought the house so who knows how it old it really was.
We had a good 3 years.
Hot tub may you rest in peace.
PS
If anyone knows how to remove this extremely heavy piece of equipment, or knows what we should do with it, please let me know.

Traditions

This is our first year that we will be staying home with just our little family on Christmas Eve. In years past we've always had somewhere to go.
I'm actually really excited about staying home and starting some traditions of our own. The only problem is.......I don't know what we should do.
Seth and I have been trying to think of things we could do with the kids and traditions we could start to make our own, but we can't think of any.
So I thought I would ask people what they do. If you don't mind sharing and don't mind if we steal your idea, then please share it.

Merry Christmas! Love, The Browns

Blog Etiquette

I feel I need to blog about this subject because of a conversation I had last night with my parents. We were out to dinner and they started talking about something that was on my blog. Well, this was a surprise to me because they never leave comments, so I had no idea they even read it. Apparently, they read it regularly. Thank you, by the way.
I think I speak for anyone who has a blog, when I say one of the best things about it, is reading the comments.
I can't count the number of times Seth has said to me "so and so loves your blog and reads it all the time". Again, this is a surprise to me because they NEVER leave comments.
You know who I'm talking to people. (the person at church today who will remain nameless, who said they liked something on my blog, but admitted they didn't leave a comment).
I understand that not everything on my blog is comment worthy. But if you like something I've said I would LOVE to know about it. I in turn will be better about commenting on your blogs.
Thanks for letting me vent. (another great thing about blogs)

Santa Claus

Taking 4 small children to see Santa is serious business. I had to call for reinforcement (thanks dad). But it was totally worth it.
This is the first year that Bella has really gotten into Santa. She's been asking all sorts of questions that I have no idea how to answer. Like, is it Santa at the mall or one of his helpers? How can he watch everyone? What's it like on the North Pole? Do other people live there?
It's so fun to watch her as she thinks about everything and gets so excited.
Of course I want her to remember what's most important about Christmas, but watching her eyes light up as she thinks about Santa is so fun!!

Lets Talk Tiger

I know we're all sick of hearing about this, but it doesn't seem to be going away so I'm going to put my two cents in. This is what I would want to say/ask Tiger if I could:

• Why did you get married? Seriously, you have money, looks, talent and you could have any woman you want. So if you want them all, then why get married?
• I don't feel bad for you. Not one bit. I've been hearing some reporters saying you deserve privacy. I totally disagree. For 2 reasons. 1- You're a celebrity/sports figure and that comes with it. 2- You picked trashy women to be with who want to be in the spotlight. Your fault. Although I do feel for your wife. She deserves privacy.
• I think it's fair if some of your sponsors have dropped you. At first I wasn't so sure. After all you're a sports figure and we all know that's how you guys are. But the more I hear about this story and after I heard the voice messages and text messages, I'm totally disgusted. After all it's one thing to assume that all of you are like this, but hearing the voice messages and seeing the trashy girls is another thing. I know you're an amazing golfer, but now when I see your face all I will think about is what a scum bag you are.

Okay I've judged him enough for one day.

hApPy BiRtHdAy BeLLa!!!!

Dear Bella,
I can't believe you're 5 years old today! Where has the time gone? It seems like just yesterday you were 8 weeks old and we moved into Laura's basement. Even in my darkest days, when you were a tiny baby, I would hold you and know that everything was going to be ok.
I am so thankful for you more every day. You teach me so much. Just the other day you told me you knew what the word testimony means, because you have a testimony of Heavenly Father and Jesus. Nothing could make me prouder of you!
Your family loves you so much!
Love, mommy & daddy Breakfast and presents in bed per tradition

*Wish me luck in the next few days. Tonight we are taking all the kids to CPK for dinner and tomorrow Bella is having a birthday party with 11 kids in the gym at the church. I'm really nervous about that for many reasons. The biggest reason is because I really have no idea what the kids are going to do besides a pinata and cake and gift bags we made. So if you have any ideas for 5 year old party (boys are invited too) please let me know.

Headlines I can't stop thinking about...

So this is what happens now that I'm back to the gym in the mornings. I watch the news and can't stop thinking about the stories. And since the news is mostly depressing I start my off thinking about how the world must be coming to an end because of all the bad things that are happening. So here's a few of the stories I can't stop thinking about from the past few days.

• Max Hall: okay cougar fans, seriously, he was kind of a jerk.
• 4 Police Officers Killed in Washington: I can't stop thinking about it. So senseless.
• Shaniya Davis: If you haven't read this story it's pretty hard to stomach. Her mothers behavior is unforgivable in my opinion.
• Nutty Putty: What an interesting story. I feel for his pregnant wife. I've actually been inside this cave; maybe it's a good thing it's closed.
• Tiger Woods: Hmm...what really happened?
• White House Dinner Crashers: The more I read about these 2 the more I dislike them. But I am kind of glued to this story since they somehow managed to get passed all the security.
• Adam Lambert: Gross. I was a fan when he was on American Idol. He is so talented. But now I'm totally grossed out.

Happy Thanksgiving

I know this is cliche but I truly am so Thankful for my little family! They mean the world to me. Especially my amazing husband who has to live with 5 women.

Don't you wish you were us?

This is Claire after she colored herself with my lipstick and blush. The bottom picture is my bedroom wall and my bathroom. She also got the carpet and mirror.
I'm sure you're thinking, we deserve the parents of the year award, for watching her so closely. We thought she was watching a movie with Bella on our bed. And yes, Bella was in the room for the whole thing and never took her eyes off the show. This child can not be left alone for one minute! Seth spent the night cleaning Claire and then the two of us spent the night cleaning our room.
Seriously, don't you wish you were us?
I can almost hear you all laughing. The mess maker

I have twins?

For some reason I still haven't grasped onto the idea that I am a mother of twins!! Some days I think I get it, but most days I am still shocked when I go into their room and see them. Like this morning for example.
I came home from the gym and peaked in their room. This is what I saw. (The flash woke Syd up) But they were both sleeping in the exact same position! I don't know why that still surprises me. I mean they're identical, I guess it's normal that they sleep alike.They also had a 2 month check up today. They are both doing great! When Syd was born she weighed 4 lbs, and she is now up to 8.14! When Bre was born she weighed 5 lbs, and she now weighs 9.4! They're also sleeping through the night. Both of them! Hooray!!!!! On a side note I've had to eat my words. I shouldn't have been so vocal, when I said I wasn't a fan of matching clothes. I know I told many of you I would never dress them alike. The reason I said that was because I feared that because they are identical, dressing them would only confuse people. But, lucky for me most people didn't listen to me and still gave us matching outfits. Well, the point of this story is that I finally broke down and dressed them alike. And I LOVED it!!! It's so fun!I know I'm a nerd.

Ahh..I feel much better

Today was such an exciting day! Our little Bre has slept through the night 4 days in a row!! Hooray!! Syd is close but not quite there.
So that's exciting news but the real exciting news was I had a day basically to myself. My friend Kim called this morning to ask if she could take the twins for the day. What? Who does that? Of course I said yes, as fast I could before she could realize what she was getting herself into and change her mind. And I'm not kidding, maybe 2 minutes after she called my sister in law Kelli called to see if she could take the girls for a day. Then, not kidding again, my friend Amber called to see if she could come hold babies or take the girls. I couldn't believe I had 3 offers in one day!! How lucky am I?
Since Kim had the twins and Bella ended up going with grandpa, after preschool, it was just me and Claire. We both took a much needed long nap and then headed to Cutlers for a cookie and some alone time. It was great.
I feel so relaxed and ready to tackle another day.
Thanks everyone who made it possible.

Look who turned 40!!

Sesame Street has been on the air for 40 years! What a great show. I'm a huge fan and so are my kids. I feel like now days it's hard to find kids shows that really teach something and send a good message. But Sesame Street does just that. I remember watching it as a kid and I love that my kids can watch it as well. I think Santa might be giving the 40th anniversary DVD to Claire.

A few years ago I tried to convince Seth that we should take a family vacation to Pennsylvania to go to the amusement park, Sesame Place. But, he didn't go for that.

I was listening to an interview with some of the people from the show and I learned a few new things. For instance, did you know Maria's name isn't really Maria? Of course I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was. The minute I heard her voice on the radio, I knew it was Maria. I also learned the Oscar was orange in the first season.

So here's to you Sesame Street and 40 more years!!

Mission: Successful!

I've decided I have 2 choices for my new life 1) Stay home; and be happy staying home or 2) Learn how to go places with 4 kids.
I just can't stay home. I don't have it in me, so I've opted for choice #2.
A few days ago I had a successful trip to Costco with all of them, so I thought I was ready for something a little more challenging...the zoo!
So I loaded up my herd (I copied your phrase Amy) and we headed out. It was a beautiful day for the zoo and there weren't to too many people, so it was great. But I must say, the reason this day was such a success, was because of Bella. She was such a great helper. She pushed Claire in the stroller and was very obedient. I was so proud of her!

Now with 2 outings under my belt, I think I'm slowly learning how to be a parent of 4!

Ocotber has come and gone..

I'm a little behind in my posts. Considering it's November and I posted nothing about Halloween or anything that we did in October. So here's a re-cap.

played in the leaves in the back yard decorated sugar cookies

went to the ward Halloween party and trick or treating.

If you were at the ward party you saw my costume. The saddest part was I had puppy costumes for the twins, but they never actually went anywhere and I didn't dress them up for a picture. (I wanted to return the costumes since they didn't get worn). Oh and if you're wondering why Bella isn't a puppy, it's because she would have nothing to do with my theme for Halloween. She wanted to be a cat and that was that. Although, it was a great idea since she already had the leotard from dance, and the cat ears were in the play room. We kind of pooped out on Halloween this year, especially since usually we all get dressed up. I just keep reminding myself that next year will be better, since I won't have 7 week old twins.


and last but not least, what would Halloween be without a trip to Gardener Village? So much fun!