Now you see it, now you don't

This morning as we were almost ready for church, Brenna fell off our bar stool and bit through her lip. I took her to the E.R. while Joe took the other kids to church.
An hour and a half later, and a mix-up at the hospital (they admitted Braelynn on accident instead of Brenna. One of the fun things about twins. The insurance denies claims all the time and I get to call and get it straightened out) we came home with 4 stitches in her lip. Not bad. Last time we had stitches it was Samantha about three days before I had the twins and it was almost twenty stitches.
Brenna did amazing, by the way. The Dr. kept commenting on how surprised she was that Brenna was doing so well. She whimpered just a little bit for a few seconds when they gave her the numbing shot but held so still the whole time.
Fast forward to tonight, eight hours later. Samantha tells me that it looks like Brenna's stitches are coming out. I brush her off (good parenting skills) because, to be honest, Samantha worries about EVERYTHING. Until I see her and notice that they really are coming out. Back to the E.R. we go. Two of them had come out. They decided to take out the other two and just glue it shut.
Maybe we can get an award for having stitches in for the shortest time period? Good thing I took pictures of them this afternoon.

Bed, anyone?

Recently the kids have been asking to switch beds and/or sleep on the floor. Since it is summer vacation, and nothing pressing going on, I let them. They have their warning, however,that if they wake up cranky, then they loose that privilege.
Last night as Joe and I were heading to bed, we did the usual checking on the kids. Out of five kids, only one (Brenna) was in her bed and that is because she fell asleep on the couch during family movie night and I put her there!
Maybe if we got rid of all the beds...

10 K

This morning I ran my first 10 K race (6.2 miles)! I am not really a runner (Sadly, I don't look like one either!) so I had to work really hard for those six miles the last few months. There was such a sense of accomplishment when I would knock down my time by a few minutes or run a route that I hadn't run for a few weeks and be able to go further than I had before.
My goal was just to be able to run the whole way, which I did, and I made it in 1hour and 6 minutes, making it just over a 10.5 minute mile, which for me was really good.
Joe and the kids got up early to cheer me on at the finish line. I am not going to post a picture of me, but here is one of my cheering section.

A cute story of Braelynn: Last night we were up late to watch the fireworks that celebrate the opening ceremonies of the Utah Summer Games. I would not let her go play in the trees with the older kids and their friends where I could not see her and she was sad about that. I was giving her hugs and mentioned that it was hard to be a little girl and not be able to play with the big girls. She broke out in the saddest little heartbroken cry your have heard and looked at me through her tears and said "Mom I am not a little girl, I am a big girl...(insert more tears and repeating the previous phrase in various forms)...and then "why would you say that to me?"

Monkeys in Trees

Can you see my little monkeys in my tree?

Brenna and Braelynn have learned the fun of climbing in trees. They are really good at climbing up but are still mastering the art of climbing down. Hence the scrapes and bandaids all over their arms, and the hole that I found in Braelynn's underwear and cute stretch pants today.

Swimming Lessons

We just finished swimming lessons. I like to get them done early so that we can practice the things they learned all summer. That and we get 5 free passes for every kid that is in swimming lessons, that means 20 free swim passes this year! Oh, yea!
Tyler and Samantha learned lots of new things and progressed a lot. Brenna and Braelynn just had a lot of fun. I had forgotten to bring the camera every day except today (the last day) and Tyler and Sam didn't do the diving board today, so no pictures of them on the diving board.




Brenna and Braelynn wouldn't jump off the diving board, so they got dropped in!



On Braelynn's second time at the diving board, her teacher didn't catch her in time and her face went under water. She came out sputtering and crying. I gave her hugs, and then her teacher felt bad and gave her hugs. Brenna stood by her queitly touching her shoulder. As soon as we got done consoling her, they joined hands and walked off a little ways by themselves for a few minutes and then re-joined the group. I love how they are very supportive and look out for each other.

Just What the Doctor Ordered

We had been suffering from extreme cases of irritability, short tempers, grumpiness, and all around orneriness.

Rx: Hills, fishing, and family time at Red Creek
It worked like a charm! There have been absolutely no mean words, fights or disagreements. Yea, right! They are siblings, after all! But it has been drastically better.

We caught 5 good sized fish, ate dinner consisting of roasted hot dogs, strawberries and chips with smore's for dessert.

Me? I spent a great deal of time sitting in a chair reading with occasional fishing. It was a beautiful thing! I don't usually (well, never) take the time at home to do that, there are always too many things to do.

Braelynn enjoying her smores


Roasting hot dogs

Braelynn playing with worms

Brenna


My fisherman. Tyler can do it all, tying knots, changing his hooks, baiting, everything.

My Home

As I was doing dishes today, watching my kids outside playing in our freshly mowed lawn, I was struck by how much I love my house. It is small but it holds so many memories. This is where WE are. My family. Us. I would rather be here with them than anywhere else without them.
When our house was being built, 13 years ago, I remember coming here with Joe, pregnant with Veronica, and looking out that window imagining this moment.
Hard to imagine that it has really been that long ago. It sounds cheesy, but things change so fast. I want to freeze time. I love where my kids are at right now. They all have challenges (Problems, issues, whatever you want to call them!) Some of those things are hard right now, really hard. Most of them I don't know how to fix or help them with. Maybe that's why I don't want them to get older. I've heard it only gets more complicated!
But home is where we deal with these problems as individuals, as a couple and as a family, hopefully helping us to grow closer in the process.