Carving Pumpkins

We had a fun time carving pumpkins. Scott carved Audrey's. I carved Richard's. We purposely picked small pumpkins so it would go faster. The kids seemed to have a fun time.

She Dances!

The word on the street is that Audrey did EVERYTHING at dance today! I didn't hear it for myself, because I was at a class today and so Scott picked her up. However, he says the teacher excitedly came up to announce that Audrey participated! Yea!

Second try

We tried again to have Peter perform with his birthday cake. As you can see, he's still not excited. Marie can't wait to dive in.After attempts to feed him myself and help him realize the yumminess of the cake, I gave up. You can see he's not too excited about the whole event.

Marie was very excited. At least she likes my cakes! I think Peter doesn't care much for sweets. I tried giving him a cookie the next day and he wouldn't eat that either. Marie finished her cookie and then saw his cookie on his tray and started reaching for it and grunting. She apparently got my sweet tooth.

Haircut

Peter got his first haircut. He's the youngest of my children at their first haircut. Granted, his hair is still pretty thin compared to other children. Alas. He did much better than Richard did with his first haircut. Richard kept ducking from the clippers and whining. Scott held Peter so he wouldn't fall off the stool. Scott says Peter kept smiling. I guess he thought the clippers tickled or something.

lopsided

Marie has four teeth. They're all on the bottom. She has molars coming in. On the bottom. Where, oh where, are her top teeth?!

So, you can definitely see three of the bottom teeth. If you look closely, there is another that's cut through on the right side of her mouth.

The only way I can prove she doesn't have teeth on the top is to just show a picture of her wide mouthed smile. That's the best I can do!

Shy

Audrey is so shy. She hardly talks when she's with people she's unfamiliar with. She's been in nursery with the same leaders for 15 months, and they told me she's just barely starting to say a few words. On Sunday, they weren't there. The subs told me she wouldn't say a word. She still needs time to warm up to my parents and my sister's family that live 30 minutes away. She's a spazz and little chatterbox here at home. So, I know she has it in her. Does anyone have any tricks to help her confidence other than to just give her time?

Marie and Peter's Birthday

We made it through the first year! We were told that was the hardest time period with twins. Well, I would say definitely the first 9 months are hard. It seemed to get easier after that. I have grown personally and spiritually so much this year. I am grateful to everyone who made this year sane. I have so many people that I look up to ever so much more now.

The day started out at 3:00 in the morning. Marie woke and had a hard time going back to sleep. Then, Peter woke and had a hard time. Marie eventually went back to sleep. Peter didn't. I tried feeding him, nursing him, cuddling him, putting him back in his crib, and then cuddling him so more. He finally ended up in the play pen in the basement where he cried more. I don't know when he went to sleep but I finally woke him up at 9:50 this morning. The rest of the day was not that noteworthy. Since they don't know the difference, we didn't really do much to recognize the day.

Many of my family members came over in the evening for cake and presents. This is what Peter thought of everything.
We didn't really give exciting presents, because they don't need anything and I don't like to spend money for the sake of spending money when they don't even care. We have a tradition in my family where everyone says why they like the birthday person. So, we did that even though we didn't really give presents.They each got bears in suitcases from Scott's parents.My parents gave them a carseat since we only have one. My Mom was able to get Peter to smile. I made a chocolate cheesecake stuffed cake for the masses to share. I thought it was delicious! The babies got the same cake, but it only had a chocolate frosting.Peter wasn't feeling well. He hasn't really felt well for a couple of weeks. He doesn't eat well these days. This is what he thought of his cake.Scott stuck Peter's finger in the cake. Peter wasn't happy. We finally just got him up. We'll try again another day.Marie was much more interested.My Dad gave her a spoon to help her get a taste. She wouldn't let go of the spoon and seemed to try and eat with the spoon. I finally took it from her to encourage messy eating.

She didn't get really messy or really dig into her cake. However, she made a valiant effort and ate some. She was getting tired and probably wasn't hungry enough to eat more.

Happy birthday Marie and Peter! We are so glad BOTH of you are part of the family!

LDS General Conference

I love general conference! I love the spiritual upliftment. I love the promptings to be better. I love the reminders of how I'm blessed. I love that Elder Holland can so boldy declare the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.
During both the Relief Society General Broadcast and one of the general sessions, we sang the hymn "How Firm a Foundation." I love this hymn and its message.
Recently, I was deeply touched by the phrase, "As thy days may demand, so thy succor shall be." Tears came to my eyes as I realized how true this phrase is. I have felt a huge amount of help this past year. I have felt an outpouring of love and service from my family and my neighbors. People have been such an example to me. I have so many people that I look up to and admire for their willingness to serve me and my family. I have felt the Lord blessing me with the ability to handle situations that seem overwhelming. I know he has sustained me through the difficulties of my life.
I know the Lord blesses us "as [our] days my demand." I am grateful for the knowledge of the Gospel. I love my Savior, Jesus Christ. I am so blessed.

Walking!

Peter and Marie are both walking some. Peter walks about 50% of the time. However, if he wants to get someplace at a decent speed, he'll crawl. Marie walks about 25% of the time. Richard and Audrey both have fun helping them walk. I was able to catch Richard helping Peter while we were at my parent's cabin.

Audrey's birthday

We celebrated Audrey's 3rd birthday! She was very nervous about her birthday. She got so she would say she didn't want to have a birthday and wanted it to be Richard's birthday. She wanted us to give Richard her presents. I think the problem was that she remembered we had a lot of family come for Richard's birthday. Crowds overwhelm her and she easily gets shy. So, it worked out that not many people were able to come to her birthday.

We went to McDonald's for lunch. We did presents at our house when Scott got home from work.
She received a flashlight, sidewalk crayons, squirt guns, and doll accessories. I think she was excited about all of them.We then joined my parents at their cabin. My parents gave Audrey some shoes and mega blocks.I made her a peanut butter chocolate cake. I thought it was most delicious. I'm glad my kids let me steer them towards cake recipes I want to try.Here she is with her loot! The bag is her winter wardrobe. She needs new clothes every season. I figure a birthday is a good time to get them.