Wow, with Baby Fest amidst all the usual craziness around here, it almost felt like my blog belonged to someone else. Not in a bad way, but as I’m sure you all noticed, it definitely WASN’T business as usual!

I thought I’d kick off being back to our regularly scheduled programming by updating all of you on an overview of what we did in January 2009 .  As usual, it will be pretty random and rambly.

Bugs (age 2 in January-age 3 now) had an infected ingrown tonail.  This may not sound like much, but we have never dealt with anything like it before with any of the boys so it was actually a first!  The biggest problem was that although he and Monkey run around barefoot all day/every day, I didn’t notice this thing until it looked awful.

Let’s just put it this way … I took one look at it and made a call to their pediatrician since at the time I had no idea what it was!  I simply explained that I had no idea what to do with it so I had made an executive decision that it was now HER problem .  It’s ok, she’s fine with that and thankfully, I don’t make many visits her way (which amazes her every time).

While we were there I mentioned a little problem he was having with his finger that had been burned a couple years ago and it was decided that back to the hand specialist we will go *sigh*.  Thankfully though I have been continuing to watch for the one concern that they had mentioned might come up (though they thought if it was going to happen it would happen sooner) so I knew what I was seeing.  It has to do with the skin that is scarred not being able to stretch with his growth spurts – so we’re hoping and praying for a simple solution!

Sir Lion (age 5) has been struggling with his behavior a bit.  Nothing entirely new, but he had been doing so well, we had almost forgotten the absolute strength of his type A personality and heardheadedness.  Right now his coping (or rather “getting out of” ) technique is fall-into-a-puddle-on-the-floor-and-make-eyes-produce-crocodile-tears-while-wailing.  It is a very pathetic and forlorn way to deal with anything that comes your way though, so we’re trying to help him understand that there are much better ways to handle your problems (or assumed problems as the case may be).

CJ (age 13) had his learning evaluation done by a specialist early in January.  We paid for it out of pocket and the results were informative and eye opening.  The gentleman who did the evaluation was very professional and did an amazing job with our teenage son!  While he was being evaluated I sat in the adjoining waiting room and since the door was open the whole time I heard everything.

The evaluation took 3 hours plus the time he spent with us afterward explaining everything.  So, now we are waiting to meet with the school to decide what we are going to do to get him on the right track … or even if they are able to do so (in which case we will continue with our own plan).  They still don’t seem to quite understand that what they decide has no bearing on what we end up deciding to do with our son.

If their plan doesn’t sound right or educate our son, then we have manyother options.  The funny thing is that they just don’t seem to get it … ultimately, it is my husband and I who are responsible for this child, and we will do whatever is necessary to ensure that his education is not failing.

Tater and Salesman are busy in basketball!  Get this … their daddy got roped into coaching.  Shocking, I know!  Thankfully, the season will be over the end of this month and we will be mainly sports free until July when football begins.  I have a sneaking suspicion that none of our boys will be playing basketball next year.  In the meantime though, hubby is doing his level best to coach these children (you should know that he didn’t play much basketball growing up, making this all the more ironic) and help them have fun playing the game.  It’s been a rocky season between weather related cancellations and confusion as well as serious schedule delays and changes.  Definitely making it a challenge on our end.

Well, that’s all the kiddos.  We are still praying for a resolution on the house stuff and what we are going to do.  Frankly I think we prefer to move at this point so it’s all about having someone come along and simply decide they want to buy this.  With the market being what it is, agent fees don’t work, so it would have to be God!

I hope you all had a wonderful January!  Do you post family updates on your blog?  Feel free to leave a comment with a link to your family’s latest update .

When I was little I used to think that stars were white apples. They are white and sort of shaped like apples so I thought that’s what they were.”

Keep in mind that this is coming from a 10 year old … not so very big in my opinion, but apparently very close to adulthood in his .

Never could I have imagined the crazy and amazing adventure that my twins – Bugs and Monkey – would take us on.  For the past three years we have watched them grow, learn and love.  Ok, and I’ll admit that there are MANY times that I definitely do NOT think of them as angels!

On February 1, 2006, they were born … it was 6 weeks early so they were considered preemies and spent 2 weeks in the NICU.  They weren’t as early as many babies and spend much less time in the NICU than many multiples.  They cried immediately after birth and continued breathing on their own the whole time in the NICU, they simply needed to “wake up and eat”.

They weighed 5 lb 10 oz and 5 lb 8 oz, which although tiny for me, actually was a great size for newborns as early as they were.

Now at age 3 they are happy, healthy, very active little boys that are amazingly intelligent!  So intelligent in fact that it is sometimes more than challenging for me to keep up with them!  Whenever their grandmothers spend time with them, they just end up shaking their heads and saying “I don’t know how you do it, I’m exhausted after only an hour.”  Yes, I’m quoting them verbatim and yes, they say that every time!

I pray daily for their safety (primarily from themselves as their antics tend to be on the dangerous side), for their future, for their happiness and that most of all they are healthy happy God fearing young men who follow the path He lays before them!

So today my little ones, I just want to say that you are a blessing and a joy and we thank God for the way you added to our family.  Bugs, be sweet, be kind, be loving and be a friend.  Monkey, stay true to your personality and you’ll go far!  For both of you, love others and remember that without good people around you, you cannot get very far in life.

We’ve been having a pretty good cold snap in our neck of the woods for the last week or so and from what we have heard it is scheduled to continue until about Christmas eve or so.  Not that it would be the first time that the snow magically disappeared just as Christmas arrived, but I think my kiddos will be very disappointed if it does!  I actually do NOT remember EVER having this much snow in this area and I’ve lived here my entire life.

Anyway, CJ has been on a search for icicles for the last few days.  He’s been bringing us little ones (about 6 to 8 inches or so), holding them under his nose as though they were growing out of his nostrils.  What can I say, he’s 13 and almost everything is ewwww (to me that is, funny to every other male in the household *sigh*)!

Today though, he found a monstrosity.  Think I’m joking, just take a look ….

Keep in mind, this is a 5’9″ boy holding this lovely icicle!  We measured it and it is a full 2 & 1/2 feet long.  Crazy!  I can only imagine what it would have looked like next Tuesday after 4 more days of snow!  I’m sure it isn’t the biggest icicle people have seen, but for us it is mammoth.

It is so cold that the boys haven’t even been wanting to go out in it much.  Today the snow was getting very deep though, so the older ones braved the buckets of snow still being dumped on them for about 20 minutes and went out to see what it was like to walk through it.

We’ve had a couple of firsts with this winter storm.  Not the first snow by a long shot, but one of the longest, coldest and deepest snows I’ve experienced.  We also encountered our first experience with frostbite (minor and totally treatable, but still …).

So, as I watch the snow continue to fall in floaty continuation, I can’t help but be VERY thankful that we are warm and cozy in our little house!  Hubby braved the snow today to get a couple things from the office and pick up a few groceries so that we are prepared for the rest of the weekend.  Once he’s home I’m hoping we can all just settle in and relax for a few days .

I hope all of you had a magnificent Thanksgiving Weekend!  It definitely seemed longer, but somehow still went by all too quickly!  It’s been a while since I’ve done a family update, so I wanted to take a few minutes to do that today.

Hubby is in the Christmas spirit big time this year!  Christmas-time was always his favorite thing, he is almost like a kid and gets very excited.  Four years ago, when we sold our previous house, some of you know that we hadn’t found another house to purchase yet, so we ended up living in a 32 foot travel trailer for 3 months.

After that, even when we purchased and moved into the house we live in now, there’s always been something to distract us … Christmas 1- pregnant with twins … Christmas 2 – infant twins … you get the idea.  This year though, Hubby announce that, “I’m not sure why, but this year I’m excited about Christmas”.  It was music to my ears.

Sure enough, over the weekend he made a wreath … rather large, but it’s fun.  He grew up making wreaths each December, so it’s pretty much a tradition for him and he’s really quite good at it.  I need to find some fun things to decorate it, so once it’s done I hope to put up a picture.

He also wants to do a traditional tree this year and string popcorn and cranberries, something he has never done before and .  We’ll also use simple red and white ornaments that the children can’t break (or it doesn’t matter if they do).  Since the twins are very likely to pull the tree down on themselves, I don’t want to use many of my nice ornaments until they are a little older.   I would also like to make ginger people to decorate the tree, so if any of you have a good recipe or know of a good kit, please let me know .

Everyone has remained healthy, but a few skin issues for CJ and Eli (my oldest and youngest) prompted us to the doctor this morning.  Looks like CJ has been having some sort of allergy to something for the last 3 months or so.  The only thing that hasn’t changed is the shampoo, so in addition to putting him on something to help clear it up, we’ll be changing that for him.

While we were there the Twinkies got flu shots!  I’ll be posting a little more about this later this week though, so I’ll tell you all about it then!

So, now I’m off to do a little Cyber Monday shopping – I’m primarily looking at www.VisionForum.com, www.ToysRUs.com and www.Walmart.com today.  Amazon.com is usually where I shop, but they haven’t offered anything fun since Friday – so sad.

I hope you all have a wonderful week and I look forward to sharing more great At Home for the Holidays posts with you through the week .

As of this morning, I am now officially the mother of a teenager … you can probably hear my screams of denial if you live anywhere in the United States or Canada!!  All month I have been kicking and screaming my way to this day.  CJ has even been teasing me about it!  It’s definitely not easy when your baby hits those dreaded numbers combined. You’d think he is my youngest, when in reality I still have five more yet to reach that milestone.

It doesn’t matter that he passed me in height last spring (he’s now 5’9″) or that his shoe size is already one full size larger than his 6’2″ father. Nor does it matter that as a 7th grader, he is already wearing a larger pant size (30w 32L) than his Dad wore all through HIGH SCHOOL, this is still my baby we’re talking about.

As he crosses this milestone I can’t help but think back through the years a bit. This young man was born 9 days late, but obediently (ha ha) listened to my pleading that he not be born on Halloween. Even though my water broke and I went into labor late on October 31st, he wasn’t born until the next morning.  Since he was born weighing 10 pounds, we were eased gently into parenthood, and we definitely weren’t afraid we’d break him.

He continued to be a solid little guy as he entered toddlerhood running, and sang his way to being a preschooler. When we pull out old family videos from when he was about three you’ll always hear him singing in the background.

As the oldest…like his dad and me…he has to go through everything first. But he usually takes it in stride.

As he passed the age of 7 his passion for football became more and more apparent. We have been thrilled to watch him thrive particularly in that sport and achieve great things even this year as part of a 7th grade team that ended the season undefeated (only the second time in the school’s history).

Overall, School has been challenging for him over the years, and we continue to help him work with his dyslexia and overcome the unique hurdles it presents him with.

We absolutely couldn’t ask for a better big brother for our Twinks. They love him and really look up to him … sometimes even preferring him over mom or dad.

And although we don’t always see his best attitudes and behavior, I cannot fully express how thankful we are that others regard him as a kind, sweet, generous and polite young man.  I am often amazed by the realization that although he is (gasp) a “jock”, he always sees the best in his peers, fully accepting them for who they are, even if others don’t consider them “cool” or “popular”.  I have also discovered that he has absolutely no tolerance for meanness in his peers and detests kids who pick on others.

I pray daily for his future and for wisdom to help shape him into the man I can already see him becoming. I also fervently pray for him to make good decisions as he leaves childhood more and more and becomes more mature.  Right now he’s waffling back and forth a lot between being a kid and being an adolescent.  It’s a little awkward and there’s a lot of moodiness involved, but when he sits next to his Daddy or I in the evenings after all the other kiddos are in bed, we cherish those few minutes with him … he seems so grown up in those moments!

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. – Jeremiah 29:11

Heavenly Father, bless this boy of ours, help him to become the man you created him to be!  You know what you have in store for his future and I pray that you will help us to guide him into his full potential in you!  Bless him each day, let him feel your hand on his life and his future.  Help him grow closer to you and know you like never before in this critical time of his life.  Thank you so much for blessing us with this treasure we have in our son!

Getting interesting, funny and touching messages and school papers from our children is possibly one of the best parts of motherhood.  Over the years the boys have written or brought home papers that are inspiring, interesting, hilarious or sweet.

Our second son, also known here as the Salesman is in 4th grade this year.  He’s one of those children that picks things up quickly and can complete assignments and tasks with little effort at school.  This is NOT the case with all of our children, but for him it comes easy.  So easy in fact that I often have to warn his teachers that he will only reach as high as they set the bar.

Anyway, the first week of school he wrote a funny little paper that I wanted to share with all of you.  I will type it in here EXACTLY as he wrote it … misspelled words and all .

Why am I here in 4th grade? To learn.

Why do we have to learn? To get smarter.

Why do you have to get smarter? To get a scolership.

Why do you need a scolership? So you woun’t be poar.

Why can’t you be poar? So you can pay for food.

Why do you need food? To live.

And there you have “The Salesman’s view on life and future 101″!

Doesn’t it seem so simple through the eyes of a child.  Obviously he’s only referring to the importance of an education here, not all the other things we need to live a well-rounded life (something that I’m seriously going to be drilling into him).

If you were to meet the Salesman you would almost immediately be struck by one thing in particular.  He’s very confident, he doesn’t question what his future holds.  In his eyes, anything he wants is attainable simply because it is what he has decided will happen.  He hasn’t had his hopes and dreams smashed, crushed or even poked at yet.  Reality isn’t exactly at play with him either, but I have to admit that he is very fun (and amusing) to watch and listen to.

Since I am a little too no-nonsense and all-logic type myself, it is fascinating to watch my son (who, incidentally, is A LOT like my younger sister) as he dreams.  I mostly listen and joke around with him, tempering a few of the more extreme ideas here and there and instilling a little wisdom where I feel led.

Each child is so very different, but I wanted to point out today that I find it amazing that we get to participate in our children’s hopes and dreams.  Do you have a dreamer?

Boys and food are a funny combination … especially snacks.  Why is it that snack foods reign supreme in a boys life? 

Fridays are an interesting day around here since all of the boys get home 2 hours early.  This last friday was the first time that our oldest son didn’t stay after school for football practice, so we didn’t have kids to run all over town … it was divine! 

I served popcorn for snack and they sat in the middle of the living room floor huddled around the huge Tupperware bowl we serve it in.  The second bag was slower getting out of the microwave so I let them go ahead and get camped out and I’d bring it in a minute.

As I entered the room there was only one tactic that would work to get the popcorn from the bag in my hands to the bowl surrounded by various sizes of boyhood.  Open and pour from above. 

You would have thought the popcorn was gold nuggets from the sky LOL!  They were so excited about the fresh popcorn filling their still half-full bowl. 

Boys and food … just sayin’!

Get out of that boy’s way! 

Our oldest son had his first 7th grade football game yesterday and it was so very exciting for him.  After fearing that he may not even be able to play because we thought he might have a broken wrist … he didn’t.  We took him into the walk in over the weekend to have it xrayed and it was fine, but I think he was sure he was going to die if it was.  He’s had that disappointment once before, so to relive that with this child who is more passionate about football than just about anything else would have been tragic (more in a dramatic way than anything but still). 

He had told us he was going to play a lot, but I didn’t think anything of it.  He was rarely on the sidelines, even with his arm looking like a marshmallow!  Yes, they had wrapped the living daylights out of the thing (literally) and had cleared the setup with the referees to ensure he could play.  It was the funniest thing, but he rarely came out of the game, so he was more than elated! 

They won!  Now it’s all about keeping his big head to a minimum .  There are worse things though I suppose LOL!

I admit it … I’m a little afraid and intimidated by this particular mountain of a task.  Monkey and Bugs are two and a half now …. definitely time to be considering and entering into this lovely little phase of life. 

Toward the end of last school year, I put it off saying that it is so much easier to potty train when it is warm and they can run around in their little skivvys without fear of frostbite.   But then I decided to put it off again because … well … let’s face it, having 6 children using one toilet is NOT the greatest time to train. 

I tend to do the no potty seat, no pull ups method of training.  They learn to pee sitting, then not too long afterward very quickly go to standing.  I’ll admit though it has been a couple years since the last potty training experience and although I have trained 4 boys already, the thought of training twins who simply must do everything at the same time (their choice, not always mine!) is almost too much to handle.

So I’m joining Works-For-Me Wednesday’s backward edition this week to seek out other moms who have potty trained TWIN BOYS!  Throw it at me girls!