How to save a Peep on Easter...

Start with a Monday night Dinner and Family Home Evening. A Lesson with Friends (Jen and Shawn and their four kids) designed to remind us all of the true meaning of Easter. Follow-Up with the Activity of decorating Easter eggs. Be sure to end with the traditional refreshments for such an occasion a Easter egg hunt where the kids eat enough candy they are guaranteed to stay awake for days. (remember a Peep is not designed for a hunt as they do not fit easily in plastic eggs)

Next Mom was so prepared for Easter that she knew to wash and style the girl's hair on Friday because there would be no time on Sunday morning. I even got them to try on their Easter dresses for pictures. Phoenix was happy to strike a pose yet Avery whose hair was tight and hurting did not want to be bothered by a photo shoot! (During the photo shoot the Peeps are double bagged...first in a tied WalMart bag and then in a tied garbage bag in the basement storage so as not to arouse suspicion of any kind)

Add three excited children the night before who didn't want to go to bed but rather wait up to "catch the Easter Bunny". Gently Blend with that two tired, horrible parents who slept in too late and in a mad rush to get everyone to church did not allow their children to touch...look at...or breath on their Easter baskets until after church. Even though the poor kids had looked around the house and found their individual baskets "hiding" places...imagine the childhood torture! Those slightly sugared marshmellowly yummy Peeps staring up at them! We are the worst parents ever!


Mix in three color coded Easter baskets. Flavor with child's favorite color Peeps... (Avery=Purple, Phoenix=Yellow, Stone=Blue) (What??? I thought this was "Save a Peep" It's not looking too good for the Peep's right about now)

Since Avery's birthday falls in the same month as Christmas try and distract her with a gift she has been believing she could not obtain for the next 11 months. (And you thought the Peep was toast!)


* 5
* 4
* 3
* 2
* 1


And her purple Peep's are Toast! Avery literally devoured these pour little morsels all 10 of them within 2 minutes. I had never seen anything like it. I grabbed the camera and started to take pictures. The flash didn't even seem to detour the hungry beast. The whole time she ate the sound of a continuous "MMMMMMMMMMM......MMMMMM" was coming from her lips and it only got louder and softer with the amount of food in her mouth at a time. All I can say is I so wish I would have captured this little gift on video! But I will share what I do have with you...enjoy!

Twin V. Twin

My little Miss Cy is becoming quite the character. While Zion seems to have the market cornered when it comes to the talking/babbling she on the other hand is the expert on getting what she wants. She has the loud cry and will use it with a quickness to get them up either in the morning or from nap time. Cy screams away while Zion just sits there and watches contently as she does his job for him (such a man for you!) She is a very happy, giggly baby and will flirt her way into anyones heart with a smile and a bat of her long eyelashes to get you to notice and pay her some additional attention. Zion loves all toys that make that crinkly noise and plays with them constantly. If Cy is within arms length of Zion she scopes out his toy with ever such detail and pounces when the getting is good leaving poor Zion with the look of utter confusion...while he wonders for two seconds where his toy has gone until he hears it next to him and can see his sister playing with it. The sad thing is that he cannot retrieve it as he has not yet acquired the skills of snatching as his sister has. Cy can also sit up really well (assisted by something or someone) as you can see in the pictures. She seems to have much more control of her body than does Zion up until this point.



Although Zion can and does give kisses/slobbers freely and Cy doesn't even seem to know that she can give them only the enjoyment (giggles) she receives when they are given to her. Zion is really laid back for the most part except when it comes to food. He is a very impatient little boy in that area...which I find to be a bit funny as I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. It really is interesting to me how children are born with quite distinct personalities from the get go. Zion doesn't cry about much unless of course you try and feed his sister prior to feeding him. It is not a pretty site! Cy took a clue from him and now she also doesn't prefer to be feed second either. To combat this issue and the fact that both babies are not very good feeders (they do not open their mouths to be feed...like baby birds. They wait for you to pry it in) I started to make "Baby Shakes" if you will. In a bowl I put cereal, formula, and baby food and then I place it into the baby bottles add hot formula and shake. I cut a bigger slit in the top of the nipple to allow for easy feeding as the "Baby Shake" is much thicker than formula and my babies can eat at the same time and are becoming much more full on less milk and we are no longer burning through our astronomical formula bill per week anymore.


It was so interesting the other day. I mean I have two babies so I compare their development and I guess I just figured that since they were about the same developmentally that they were about "normal" if you will. I mean I know that they are preemies and all but I guess I didn't really know what that meant even though the doctors had explained that they did not expect them to catch up to their counterparts until at least the age of two. At a Relief Society dinner on Tuesday night there was a woman there with her child who was a month and a half younger than my children. He was sitting up on his mothers lap by himself with a whole dinner roll in his fist eating it by himself...I was dumbfounded! My children can barely sit up by themselves (Zion really cannot!) They do not open their mouths to eat. They take 4-5 hour naps in the middle of the day (don't get me wrong...I am not complaining!) I guess I just had no idea that even though they were weight wise catching up to the rest of their age group that developmentally they were still so far behind. It doesn't bother me that they are behind at all I guess I was just really shocked...even though they had told me apparently I just never put 2 and 2 together. Zion has cut a tooth and is also starting to push up into the crawl position and rock back and forth on his knees and elbows. It is really cute to watch...it is kind of like a car reeving up its engine but it cant get off the starting block. Usually this adorable rocking motion ends in the inevitable face plant. As I watch this happen over and over to my dear son it always makes me a bit excited for the day he (A) might actually get off the starting block and (B) a slight twinge of pain for the impending face plant...Yet I am always reminded that this is such a metaphor for life! How many times in this boy's life will I sit on the sidelines and have to watch with excitement and pain for the face plant of life as he learns to be a man. More than likely too many to count. But today I will enjoy him and all of my beautiful children learning a growing within the safety of my home for all too quickly will they be swallowed up by the "real" world and hopefully I have prepared them enough to be able to face plant and stand back up, dust themselves off and do it all over again!

Guess who turned 40?

I don't exactly know what exactly I was doing a month ago today but it certainly wasn't blogging about my beautiful Husband's momentous fortieth birthday.

I must say I felt a little bad as I wanted to make a much bigger deal about this day than I actually did but quite frankly I allowed myself the out of...my life is crazy!

(Mitchell could have cared less and thought his birthday was perfect. He really is very low maintenance with regards to this subject. He would have been happy gift or not, cake or not, dinner or not. Now birthday sex...that's a whole different story :)

That's right I allowed my husband's big day to be diminished by my needs. Hence the statement that I heard over and over growing up "life isn't all about you...Chris!" I would beg to differ though...if I am the one living my life, and I am the one responsible for my choices and my consequences. Then I would be the one eventually either handling my family or in the psych ward...right? It is my belief and my ultimate responsibility that I must first look out for my needs because if I am not okay then I cannot take care of all the other things and people who count on me. So...life really is all about me! But I digress.....


Mitchell's big day...We did our "normal" birthday deal...at dinner we have your favorite meal and your favorite cake. You have balloons tied to your chair. After dinner there is cake and gifts. Same every person and every year. If it is a special year then there may be additional festivities like a party or such, but we still have the same "normal" birthday day

So Mitchell's day was the "normal" day! We have planned a NFL Package Trip to see his Eagles play as part of his birthday present but we will probably intertwine it with our Anniversary as it's our 10 year this October and I love football just as much a Mitchell does...if not more!

I also wanted to throw him a birthday party. Mitchell has an amazing bond with "the group" of kids he grew up with. They all still keep in touch with each other and are great friends. It will be really fun to get everyone together who is important to Mitchell and have a big ole' party. I wanted to do this in the summer as a BBQ. Then, the kids will have the park to play in, my ghetto pool and trampoline can entertain children and adults alike and if I choose to have the party over the 4th of July the fireworks literally look like they are going off in our backyard. If I had done it in February I would have had to entertain everyone myself with games and whatnot and let all the kids and adults alike tramping through the house all day. Not to mention me and my anti-social issues. It just sounding like a nightmare...quite frankly...it still does! Which is why I opted out of a Birthday Party on or around his actual birthday.

So that is right...Mitchell turned 40 a month ago. We had a great day but it looks like his wife to save her sanity is making the day last all year long and really...isn't that better that 24 hours of fun anyhow?

From the mouths of babes

Stone had the talk on Sunday and did a spectacular job! I am so proud of Stone and his ability to understand what is truly important in this life at such a young age.


"My talk today is about following Jesus Christ.

I choose to follow Christ by being baptized and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, when I turned eight years old. It was a very special day for me because I had prayed for a long time that my Dad would be able to baptize me. A month before my birthday he joined the Church and was able to perform my baptism.

We are now working towards being sealed as a family in the temple. I can do my part by keeping the covenants I made at baptism - going to church, treating my family kindly and repenting when I make a mistake.

I promised at baptism to follow Christ and Heavenly Father promises that we can return to live with Him.

I have a testimony that Heavenly Father loves us and answers our prayers. I also know my family will be sealed in the temple so that we can be together forever through the eternity's

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ's name...Amen."

It's Tally on the Telly!

I guess it's time to Blog again when I am getting phone calls from Florida wondering if I have fallen off the face of the earth. I must believe it's a "mother of twins" thing and she's afraid I have curled up in the fetal position somewhere and am refusing to come out. As far as I can tell...we are still doing well and I so enjoy having two babies at once! Our lives are run of the mill, out of control but I do believe that is par for the course for some of us lucky folk so endowed by the Creator. Nothing is really happening around the house but so much is always going on so...I will share!

*Cy cut her first tooth @ the bottom right front and she has started positioning her hand in such a manner that I swear it looks like she's trying to wave at me from across the room in her Exersaucer.

*Stone (against the advice of his mother) changed his Webkinz password without telling me what it was and subsequently forgot it. (This would be the second time...and after lots of days and many prayers he finally remembered...which is why we made the rule no changing you PW...but if you must change it tell someone who will help you remember it) Let's just tell it like it is... all hell has broke loose at the Mitchell home! He spends hours dreadfully upset about lack of knowledge which has simply leaped from his head. Phoenix cannot be seen playing her Webkinz for fear she will remind Stone of his loss and the chaos will reignite. The PW has escaped him now for over two weeks and he even missed his Webkinz birthday which was so traumatic he cried most of that afternoon as he finally explained through tears that "his Webkinz would be so sad that he was all alone on his birthday". My dear Stone! I swear just when I think the whining and crying is going to push me to snap on him in anger he says something so sweet and kind...So "Stone like"! That's my Boy! Stone also started a Blog and he is loving his new outlet to share all his art work, favorite things and new ideas! He is looking forward to adding music, an end of school count down, and a few other fun things.

*Phoenix learned how to access her schools website and enjoys e-mailing her teachers both past and present several love notes daily. It was really cute at first but lets hope they still think so :)

*Zion has learned to give open mouthed, soggy kisses and I love them! He also has been babbling "dadadadada" Which Mitchell would like to claim as his first word being obviously..."Daddy" but I beg to differ!

*Mitchell started a Blog and is a bit of a Geek about it. He is constantly pulling stats and running reports that I never even knew existed. He also checks for comments often and enjoys getting them. So if you are visiting his blog leave him a message. It makes him happy:)

*Avery is refusing to sleep now-a-days and her normal fall asleep time is starting to creep up to around 10:30pm. She is in love with macaroni and cheese and eats it at least two meals a day.

*The twins also started to eat baby food which is quite a task. It has doubled if not tripled feeding time and has increased my amounts of dirty laundry and dishes.

*Me...well I started walking again @ 5:30am. It's pretty sad when the only quiet time you get you have to wake up before the damn birds to get it :) I am also really grateful for this life my Heavenly Father has blessed me with and the strength and endurance he grants me on a daily basis so that I may accomplish all that he requires of me.