Slice of life #1~ The First

A friend of mine has started a blog about sharing a slice about ourselves our of our lives.  You can visit it here.

This week it is about our first something.  I was in a car accident almost 2 weeks ago and I have been thinking about my first car accident 15 1/2 years ago when I was 16.  In that accident my grandfather's car that I had been driving was totaled and I was lucky that I had been wearing my seatbelt or I would have been threw the windshield.  I ended up in a ditch after spinning several times because someone clipped my rear bumper as they tried to cross the road after I had gone by.  My accident this time was not so bad.  Just a hole in my tailgate of my van and some damage to my bumper.  I was rear-ended at a stop sign by a 16 year old and this was his first accident.  I am glad that he didn't have to have his first accident be one with a lot of damage like mine was.  I was so nervous to drive again after the accident almost 16 years ago, this time I was fine just shook up a little.  I am  glad all is well.

Mother's Day!

Today is Mother's Day.  And I am grateful for the opportunity I have to be a mom to 4 sweet little kids.  For Mother's Day I celebrated yesterday for the most part.  I went to lunch with a long time friend and then I went to Costco in Lehi and I bought a new cookbook about preparing meals and freezing them two weeks in advance.  I had gone to school with the author so it was great to see her again after so long. And then one of my favorite artist was at Costco too, Greg Olsen.  I bought a new picture of Christ knocking at the door that I had never seen before and he signed it for me, now I just have to get a frame for it.  Then I came home and spent the rest of the day with Dan and the kids.

Today, we went to church and we stayed for the whole thing.  This is saying something.  You see we have sacrament meeting last and so by that time the twins are ready for naps, but won't sleep in our arms so we usually leave right after the sacrament is passed.  Today the kids did fairly well threw the whole meeting.  I really enjoyed our Sacrament meeting today.  The songs were wonderful and then instead of a flower they gave us a church DVD called On the Lord's errand about President Monson.  We are planning to watch it tomorrow for FHE.  It has been a good day!

I want to say thanks to my mom and to my mother-in law for the love and support they have given Dan and I over the years.  Thank You and I hope you both have a great Mother's Day!

Happy Mothers Day Everyone!

Did Something new!

Well today I did something new with the kids.  I loaded up the three girls into the double stroller and Dillon walked along side of me and we took a walk after Dillon got home from school.  We walked over to Seagull Book and Tape and bought my new Anita Stansfiled book on CD so that I have the 3rd one in the series.  The kids did great and I had a nice walk for exercise today.  Thanks kids for being so good  on our little outing!

She is finally walking!

Well Irene took off walking on Tuesday, yesterday and today she walked almost everywhere, just a few times has she dropped to her knees to walk.  I think I am going to have to get leashes before we go to the zoo so that they have that option.  Maybe we will rent one of their wagons instead of taking our strollers. Hmm... just something to think about.  I am glad to see her finally walking!  Now she has to catch up to Ruth as Ruth is practically running as she has been walking for 2 months now.  Way to go Irene!

Check up time!

Today I took Jennilyn, Ruth and Irene in for checkups and shots.

Jennilyn weighted in at 30 lbs. I didn't get her height.

Ruth weighted in at 19 lbs 12 oz and 29 1/2 inches long

Irene weighted in at 20 lbs and 29 inches long.

Yes, that is right everyone, Ruth has always been smaller weight and height wise to Irene, but not anymore.  She is 1/2 inch longer then Irene and is only 4 oz smaller.

But all three girls were cleared with a clean bill of health!

Our little Ruth

Today I want to write about Ruth.  She is my third child and the oldest of my twins.

Ruth is a very lovable little girl.  She loves to walk and smile and cry and threw herself on the floor when she is not getting her way.  She also like to say bye and wave, but she has a new favorite word that I hear a lot from her two older siblings, if I ask her to come to me or try to give her something she doesn't want she says "No" and then she repeats it "No".  She sure is a cutie though  and I love her!

I think they are starting to get it!

A few things have happened this week that have made me smile and made me think, maybe there is light at the end of the tunnel with having 4 kids ages 4, 2 1/2, and twins 14 months old.

1~ Even though Dillon won't take himself to the potty yet, and we still have poop accidents, we are having less and less of pee accidents.  I am finding that if I tell him it is time to go potty and count to 3 he then will go sit on the potty chair by himself and go.  We have started working on Potty training with Jennilyn as well, but it is slow and going.  But I am starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel, I am hoping to have Dillon and Jennilyn completly potty trained by Summer,  but we will have to wait and see.  I am also thinking of starting potty train the twins this fall.  Who knows, maybe I can be diaper free by this time next year (maybe wishful thinking).

2~ We have had an issue of the kids helping to clean up their toys.  I have seen them help clean up at church, Dr's office, School, but not at home.  It frustrates me to know end.  Well yesterday, I brought into the house a sturdy toy chest with some toys in them from my friend Janet, who had it for her nieces and nephews who are all grown and don't come to visit anymore.  The kids have loved playing with the toys she gave them, but last night when I asked the kids to help clean up the toys so that I didn't have to look at them all night or pick them up myself.  Dillon and Jennilyn both starting singing/saying  "clean up, clean up, everybody clean up, clean up, clean up everybody do their share".  And they cleaned up all the toys all by themselves.  I was so proud of them.

3~ Ruth has been walking everywhere for the last month.  Irene likes to walk on her knees.  The last few days she is taking a few steps and today she took five steps and then was down on her knees walking, but I think give us another month and I will have all 4 kids walking.  Watch out Papa Jack you won't be able to tell them apart once that happens, but at least I do try to dress them different colors to help!

Happy Birthday BSA

As I am up with a cold that isn't letting me sleep, I have been reading articles and hearing of events this summer to celebrate the 100th Birthday of the Boy Scouts of America.

Now I know that I am not a Boy Scout, but I was raised by one, who I love dearly!  The things I have learned and the things I have had the opportunity to do because of him and his participation in Boy Scouts have taught me, and blessed me in my life.  I am looking forward to in 4 years having my own son participate in Cub Scouts and start to teach him and have him learn from his grandfather some of the things that I learned.

Happy Birthday to the Boy Scouts!  May you have many more years of great youth and leaders come through your programs!

Shopping with Mommy

Dillon and Jennilyn went shopping with me the other day.  They had a little kids cart that Jennilyn loved pushing around and Dillon could push the carts that have two baskets.  They had fun.

A fun weekend!

Well we had a fun weekend.  I got some good laughs from my kids and such.

It all started on Friday, Feb 13.  We got our federal tax return back.  I was so excited.  As soon I as saw that it was in the checking account I sat down and put some into savings and then payed off a student loan that I had been paying on since May of 2002.  It felt so good to get that loan paid off!  Now just two more loans to go and we will be debt free!  Then I paid for our plane tickets to Minnisota for this summer, which we are really excited to get to go as Great-Grandma Burke, Aunt Jennifer, and Aunt Annette have yet to see the twins, and they will be 18 months old when we go, but that is ok, we are looking forward to getting to see everyone out there, and go to Dan's cousin Beckie's wedding (Nova's side of the family).  Then while my friend Janet was here watching the kids, I went looking for the new vacuum that I wanted, but none of the stores carry it in stock, I had to order it online.  So while I was out, I went and bought sandals for the kids for this summer at Payless Shoes with their Buy one get one 1/2 off.  That night after dropping Janet off at home I stopped and bought Dan a new pair of dress pants,  myself a new purse, and a sweater for both of us to wear in our family picture in a few weeks.

Then on Saturday, we ordered our new vacuum on line and I should have it by Thursday.  I am really excited about it.  Then I went to the mall to pick up some new Sunday Shoes for the twins so that they had some nice shoes for the pictures (that I forgot to get the day before), and I was looking for some hoodie sweaters for the kids as Dillon's was too small for him, but he loves it.  So I went and got the hoodie sweaters at 60% off and then went into the Payless in the mall looking for the shoes as I had a 15% coupon that had been emailed to me that morning from signing up at the other Payless store the day before.  But they didn't have any shoes in the twins size in stock, so I went home and went online and ordered the shoes from payless.com  and discovered a sweet deal.  They do the same sales as the stores and I can use the coupon's they send me, but I can have them shipped to my local store for free, plus I had a bigger variety to choice from then in the store.  We have decided that this will be the way that we will buy shoes for the kids in the future for the time being.

After lunch we loaded up the kids and went to Ikea and had fun walking around.  It had been awhile since we had gone together and looked at things.  When we got the the children's bedroom set display it was so cute and I wish I had thought to take a picture with my phone, but Jennilyn went and crawled in one of the beds and laid down like she was going to take a nap, and then Dillon joined her.  It was so cute and other people commented on how cute it was.  The kids really liked the little kids beds and the lights they could turn on and off, and of course they loved the toys area.  I now know what to get for their easter baskets.  We then stopped at Winco and got a few things for dinner and then we came home.

Today being Valentine's Day we went to church, then came home and had lunch and then all the kids took a nap.  I should have too, but I stayed up and watched a movie with Dan.  But later after dinner, I went and took a 2 1/2  hour nap, so now I am wide awake with the family all in bed.  After dinner I gave each of the kids a Valentine cookie.  They all had fun eating them.

So we have had a fun weekend and have enjoyed spending time with each other.  Tomorrow is President's Day, and Dillon doesn't have school, but Dan has work.  For some reason I don't remember President's Day falling the same weekend as Valentines Day before, oh, well.  Hope  you all had a great weekend!  Maybe we can get together with some family and do something.

"Mommy, I'm scared!"

That is it!  No more watching Monsters Inc. in my house for a while.  It is one of the kids favorite, but all I am hearing the last two days are "Mommy, I'm scared! There are monster's in my room!"  Tonight as I type it is midnight and Jennilyn won't go to sleep because of the monsters.  She has never had this problem until now.  All the other kids are sound asleep like good kids and no, so is awake.  So I just put her in my bed with Daddy and I am coming to sleep on the couch as there isn't much room in my bed for me to be comfortable sleeping with her on one side and Dan on the other.  This is crazy, I don't seem to remember being scared of monsters as a kid, but Dan says that he was.  She even has to have the blinds pulled up so that she can see outside that the monster isn't there.  Crazy little girl, and I love her, but I want some sleep.  Please Jennilyn go to sleep so that Mommy can get some sleep too!
Good Night my little ones!

Ruth & Irene

Here are some links to YouTube to watch the girls as they are learning to walk.

Irene walking on her knees

Ruth Walking Feb 1, 2010

Ruth Walking part 2

Frustrations!

Ok, I know I usually use this blog to keep you all updated on my family, but tonight, I think I will use it to help put my mind at ease and hopefully I can go to sleep.

Toady about 3:30pm my neighbor on the north side of my apartment came and asked me if I was the mother of twins.  I said yes, and she said that the kids kept ponding on the wall and she had ponded back trying to get them to stop as she was trying to sleep.  Now realize that because of my hearing disability I don't hear everything going on in their room.  I have heard a little pounding in the past but I just thought someone was hanging something up.

This neighbor told me that she has complained to the apartment manager about the kids pounding on the wall and the apartment manager told her I had little kids running around.  I kind of get the feeling that the manager feels that since it isn't after the 10pm noise curfew that kids will be kids.  The neighbor was very rude and left before I could say anything back to her.

So I went back and checked on the twins who I feel haven't been sleeping very well today and they were both wide awake, so Dan and I moved their cribs around in their room, which I don't like the new set up since the perfect place for their beds is along the wall that shares's with this neighbor.  Now remember this is the only bedroom wall that shares with a neighbor as we are on an end unit.  Now I have a crib on the opposite wall and one in front of the window, which I can just see Ruth breaking the blinds.  The other set up was a lot better for the use of space, but hopefully with the change she doesn't complain about the kids banging on the wall.  All afternoon and evening I have been trying to figure out what they could have been banging to make the noise and I realized tonight that they have been hitting the wall with their bottles after they were done with it as they try to slide the bottles down the back of the crib to make it hard for mom to get their bottles.

These apartments are actually  very insulted as I don't hear my neighbors very often.  I think we are seriously going to think about trying to buy a house with in the next year as the kids are getting older and need to be able to go outside and play more then I have the ability to let them do right now.

On a brighter note, I was fixing dinner yesterday and Ruth walked from the couch in the living room all the way into the kitchen.  That was the furthest she has ever walked.  She will be walking everywhere soon I can tell.  Irene still likes to walk on her knees or crawl, but I don't think she will be far behind her sister.

Well thanks for listening to me rant!  Now maybe my mind will settle down and go to sleep.
until next time.

It's about time!

I think I am finally getting some success with potty training!

Yesterday, Dillon went on the potty both pee and poop and he only had one full accident while he was with the babysitter Janet and one that she got him on to the potty just as it was about to happen, so he was only just a tad wet.  She then put him into underwear again and he fell asleep on the couch were he was when we got home at almost 11pm. (The temple was the craziest I have ever seen it last night we had to wait over an hour just to get into a session, because of a Stake Temple night taking up 3 of the evening schedule's and the SLC Temple was close so you had a lot of extra's that way too but it was so worth going).  Dan moved Dillon and Jennilyn back to their beds in underwear and all.

At 7:50 this morning we had visitor's  in our room...As Dillon tried to climb up in bed with me I felt him and he felt completely dry!  I was in shock!  I then asked him he needed to go sit on the potty and he said yes, and ran to his little potty.  Sat down and went.  Also Jennilyn was completely dry too.  I had already decided to send Dillon to school on Monday in underwear with backups in case of an accident, so now I am really excited to do that as I feel that he is finally starting to realize when he needs to go and such!

This has been a long road, but I think by golly he is getting it!  My goal to have him potty trained by summer is looking like it will be a reality!  Yea, Dillon I am so proud of you!

Never too early to learn

It is never too early to learn to hand sew.  Jennilyn's child safety harness doggy had a small hole in the paw and since I washed it this week, I finally took the moment to sit down and sew up the hole.  Jennilyn decided she wanted to help me so I let her help here are some pictures.  I love the way she tries and learn how to do things.

Sleep Baby Sleep

Because of some bad actions by my two oldest kids all of their toys were put away in the storage room until they earn them back as a result I came in to check on Dillon & Jennilyn about 10pm and this is what I found.  Jennilyn sleeping on top of a book and Dillon was asleep in his bed with his blankets pulled up, and a book opened beside him.  I didn't think to get a picture of him, oh well.  Sweet dreams my little ones!

Happy 1st Birthday Ruth & Irene

One year ago today I welcomed into this world, Ruth & Irene.  Happy 1st Birthday girls!
You both have 4 teeth on top and 3 on bottom and Ruth you have a 4th one coming in.  Ruth is starting to take steps and I think you will be walking very soon, Irene has no interest in taking steps yet, but walks everywhere on her knees, just like Jennilyn did.   Also if either of you can get some leverage, wither a toy, pillow or step stool you climb onto your brother & sister's bed, the couch, and the coffee table. You both love to climb.We love you girls!  You are growing up so beautiful!  I can't wait to see what you accomplish in the next year of your life!
Love your Mother,
Annette

Ruth & Irene's 1st Birthday Party

Happy Birthday to my two little twins!  I love you guys!  I am so glad you are mine!  Today we had the twins birthday party even though their birthday isn't until Jan 20th.

New Years Eve 2009

We had a candlelight dinner with the kids of spaghetti, homemade breadsticks, and home canned grape jucie.  It was a great night togeather and after we put the kids to bed we stayed up until about 12:30 am ringing in the new year watching Transformers Revenage of the Fallen.  We have not stayed up that late for a very long time, and we were up by 7:30am as we had babies awake.  What was funny is that the babies were up had breakfest, dressed and put down for a nap before Jennilyn and Dillon decided to wake up after 10am they never sleep that late.  Enjoy the pictures!

Christmas 2009 Pictures

We had such fun with my parents and most of my sister's and their families. I am sad I didn't take more pictures, that is my New Years Resolution to be better at taking pictures.