Happy 1st Birthday Miles & Bennett!!!

This last week was activities that kept us busy.  On Monday I was able to finish up almost everything for the twins' birthday party.  They are having their big party this upcoming weekend, but I wanted to do a little something on their actual birthday too.  We also had two hair appointments during the day.  I took Lincoln in the morning and Jackson in the afternoon to get them all spiffy looking since they both had Christmas programs on Tuesday.  Jackson's program was in the morning and we were actually the first ones there.  That never happens and probably won't happen again.   The program is a cute little production that the 2nd grade class has been doing for several years.  Jackson got to be in a group of break-dancing elves.  I think anyone who wanted to do it, could.  But in Jackson's mind, he was picked specifically for this part because of his great break dancing abilities :-).  I do have to admit that he is pretty good.  There were two groups of break dancers and it was pretty entertaining to watch.  There was a line to do the worm which was hilarious.  Jackson had already informed me that he wouldn't be doing the worm because he didn't want to have to wait in the line.  He had enough moves anyways :-).  He was excited to have both of his Grandmas there to watch.  Lissy and Amanda came along too and Amanda was brave enough to bring all of her kids.  They did great.

Doing the "sprinkler"

That is Jackson doing the flip

That night Lincoln had his program at school.  Since Carson is attending the same school while he is back, he got to join in the fun too.  It was neat that they got to share this experience because it will probably never happen again.  It is always hard to get pictures though.  I felt sorry for the grandparents that came because I don't know if they could see anything.  I had to go off to the side to get any pictures or video.  Lincoln really enjoyed the program though.  He did a great job and Andrew and I were relieved that we didn't have a repeat of Jackson's first Christmas program.  He just glared at everyone :-).  And Ellie was sad (she actually cried) because she didn't get to be in a Christmas program this year.  At the Primary school, the second graders are the only ones who do a Christmas performance.  The kindergartners and first graders do programs in the spring.

In preparing for Lincoln's program I could not find his black dress. shoes anywhere.  I just assumed we had some since I am sure Jackson had some from the same age, but they were no where to be found.  So he ended up wearing his cowboy boots and was happy.  Then after the program, as we were walking back to the car, we discovered one of the passenger doors had been left open during the whole thing!  Thankfully nothing happened to our car.  I'm just surprised no one shut it.  I think Ellie left it open because she thought Jackson was behind her, but he ended up going out the other side.

We had a lot going on Wednesday.  I had to send Jackson to school with his food donation for the school food pantry that his class is doing instead of teacher gifts/class gift exchange.  Ellie had to take stocking stuffers for her class.  They also had to take some items for the staff appreciation lunch that the PTC was putting on at their school.  Then we were also in charge of snacks for the church's after-school program which meant snacks and drinks for 80 kids.  And lastly, our small group put on a dinner at the church for the college students that volunteer with the church.  It was Reading Day for them in between finals, so we thought a home-cooked meal would be a nice break and a nice way to say thank you.  It went pretty well and Andrew was great and took care of the twins the whole time.  They wanted his food and wanted out of the stroller :-).  Later that night, I was playing around on the floor with the twins and Bennett kept standing up on his own.  He would hold onto my legs and then stand up and then fall back down.  He was very proud of himself and even started clapping as he was standing.  They are both doing more of the standing on their own and have maybe taken a little step or two.  But it was also as they were going down.  So they are getting closer to walking as they celebrated their first birthday on Thursday.  It doesn't bother me at all that they aren't walking yet though.  A little less mobile is fine for now :-).  But it is so hard to believe they are one now!  That first year went so quickly.  It is still fun to look back at the chaos of that day (here is a link).  I joke that I am thankful that I had a strong amniotic sac, because if my water had broke they probably would have been born in our bathroom.  We were so nervous about having twins, especially with them being number 4 & 5, but we are now so thankful we get to experience this.  They are definitely more work than just one baby and it can get overwhelming at times, but they bring us so much joy.  They definitely complete our family and I just love to sit and watch them play even when the fights break out.  It is so amazing how alike they are and I love when they interact with each other.  Their main way of interacting right now is clapping together, so when one starts clapping the other one will sometimes smile and start clapping too.  And I love that when I get down on the floor, they get so excited and come charging at me.  Even if it is for diaper changes.  I usually have one hanging on my back as I change the other one.  I love it!  And they have started their version of dancing-a little rocking back and forth and bounching up and down.  Bennett says "Daddy" and some sort of mix between Mommy and night-night.  Miles just kind of babbles.  We think they are learning to wave bye-bye. They just aren't too consistent on it yet.  But they both love Itsy Bitsy Spider and clap and try to do some of the actions.   So we celebrated them on Thursday.  We started the day with a quick photo shoot with Lissy.  I'll have to get the pictures from her to put on here.  We didn't get too many but they were cute.  We put them down for a nap and I ran to the store real quick.  They didn't sleep well for that nap or their afternoon nap-maybe teething and it seemsl like everyone around here has a cold at some point.  I was worried they wouldn't be in a good mood that evening but they did fine. We had a Winter ONEderland theme for their birthday which was fun to do.  I put up some of the decorations I made for the party and have left them up.  They also got to wear the shirts I made for them that go with the party theme.  They washed well and are ready to go for the next party.  We just ordered some pizza and my parents, Lissy, Molly, and Amanda and her kids came over.  It was a good change of scenery for Amanda's kids and they brought over their gifts so the twins aren't overwhelmed with gifts during their big party.  We didn't get them too much.  I bought them these little race tracks on clearance last year after Christmas, so they each got one of those and a little barn toy.  All the kids enjoyed the toys and helping unwrap the presents.  For their big party, they are getting two gifts that I got on clearance last year too that they can share- a toy truck and wheelbarrow toy for the summer.  And we didn't have cake since I thought we would get enough of that this upcoming weekend.  So I made chocolate-frosted peanut butter bars and they loved them. 

Lincoln wanted to take a picture

Friday morning we headed to my dad's office for their one year appointments.  They had to get four shots each and they were pretty sad.  Thankfully my dad held one of them while I held the other.  Their measurements were the same again.  Their weight was 19lbs 11oz which puts them in the 50th percentile and their length was 31 1/2" which puts them in the 90th percentile.  They slept well after we got home from that appointment.  I was able to put together our little gifts for some friends that morning/afternoon.  I ended up just doing little pans of peppermint rice krispie treats and some chocolate-covered pretzels.  Ellie and Jackson delivered them for me when they got home.  Jackson delivered to the Wilsons in the next neighborhood over and was back pretty quickly.  Ellie had three houses to go to in our neighborhood and didn't come back for a while.  I finally sent Jackson out after her (I was on edge, as I'm sure everyone was as all the news was coming out about the horrible school shooting in Conneticut, my heart just aches as I type this) since she was on her bike and I wanted to make sure she hadn't gotten hurt.  As I watch him ride down the street I notice he didn't have a coat or shoes on.  I guess he didn't mind.  They both showed back up a little later and Ellie proceeded to tell me that she stopped at the Mareks house for a bit and they offered her some of the rice krispie treat and then the LaBeths gave her one of the pretzels.  I think Ellie enjoyed her delivery job :-).

Friday night we joined Andrew's family at Milano's to celebrate Mary's birthday.  And then Andrew took the three oldest out to the ranch Saturday morning.  While he worked they got to make gingerbread cookies with Granny and they loved it.  Jackson brough out his ninja cookies cutters that Lissy gave him so he could make gingerbread ninjas. They ended up being out there most of the day.  I took the twins to my parents in the morning and then helped out at our church's food pantry.  They were also giving out Angel Tree gifts that morning so they were needing extra help.  Our small group usually tries to help out a family at church during Christmas and this time we ended up taking all the people off the Angel Tree that had not been chosen yet.  Our own family did a couple before we decided to do it as a group and I think our group was able to help close to 30 people.  We have such an amazing and generous group.  And then Leah was awesome and did all the shopping.  She said she didn't mind doing it because she loves to shop, but that was a lot.  We even had a little money left over that went to good use when we had a family come in towards the end that had not been there before and therefore weren't on the Angel Tree.  They had a four-year-old daughter and Leah got some requests from her and was going to pick up some stuff for her and leave at the church for them to get. 

After I was done with the food pantry, the twins were napping so I made a quick trip to Aldi.  We now have to get 6 1/2 gallons of milk a week-that gets kind of heavy :-).  I was glad I was able to get that shopping trip done and then the twins and I headed home.  Throughout the day I was able to get some stuff done for Christmas and then we went back to my parents because Amanda was making dinner for everyone.  Todd came into town for the weekend and took over care of the kids. 

Sunday morning we were all ready go to the early service at church and I went to get the twins up and it looked like Bennett had pink eye.  His eye was swollen and matted shut.  After cleaning it up, I thought it may not be pink eye and just something to do with his cold.  It started looking better throughout the day too.  But just to be safe, I stayed home from church with the twins and Andrew took the older ones.  I got to listen to the sermon online though and it was a good one.  Our pastor was just starting a new series on peace, love, and joy during the Christmas season.  Sunday's sermon was supposed to be on joy but he didn't feel like it would be appropriate after the shootings.  So he talked about peace instead and how our worldly peace is so fleeting and not the same as heavenly peace.  After Andrew got home, we headed out for some errands.  We hardly ever do this as a family anymore, but it was nice.  We ran to Home Depot to look at some shelving and get a few other things.  Then we picked up some Wendy's for lunch and stopped by the office so I could get my work that needed to be done.  Andrew headed back to the office after we got home and I worked on some Christmas gifts and finished up laundry.  It wasn't until after everyone was in bed that I got to finish stuff up though.  I was able to finish up a couple picture banners I was making for the twins party and then I had to do the office work.  So it was a late night, but I'm glad I got it done.  But I am a little worried that I haven't started any wrapping yet.  I am hoping I can get to it later today but have a few projects I want to work on before that.  And then we have a few things going on throughout the week that make me wonder when I will fit the wrapping in.  It will probably be some more late nights.  I just want to get it done soon so I can enjoy some Christmas time with the kids :-).