Lately and Randoms

I hope everyone has had a GREAT start to their summer! Brianna has only been out of school for a few days, but we are loving summer so far! I have a bunch of random photos from the past couple of months that I want to share, so I thought a "Lately and Randoms" post was in order. 

Our house has a main level and an upstairs, and the little girls' favorite place to sit and play is at the bottom of the stairs. I find them there all the time! We have a gate blocking them from going upstairs (mainly because we have walk-out attic access up there), but it doesn't stop them from sitting on those few bottom steps.

Brooke, Brecklyn

They are just so silly, and I love watching their relationship continue to grow, especially as their language skills develop. Listening to these two have conversations is so entertaining! 

Brecklyn, Brooke

Brecklyn, Brooke

I told a fellow twin mom the other day that I feel like I'm living a social experiment raising twins. It's so interesting! 

Brecklyn, Brooke

Brecklyn, Brooke

Brecklyn, Brooke

Brecklyn, Brooke

mostly just Brooke, haha

I love watching them discover things together. The morning sun pours in our bathroom, and we can often see dust particles sparkling in the air. I caught the girls trying to catch the sparkles one morning . . . so cute!

Of course, I'm still amazed at how quickly they can find trouble together. Some days, I feel like I can't take my eyes off of them for a minute without them getting into mischief. This day, I found them in their {home made} diaper rash cream (that we never use anymore because they are daytime potty trained) after I noticed it was suspiciously quiet in their room. 

They had rubbed it all over their legs and part of their arms. 

They told me it was their sunscreen :-). Thankfully, they didn't get it on anything but themselves and it's not harmful.

I've mentioned on here several times that I take all my kids to a chiropractor for monthly adjustments. Sometimes, I wonder why I pay for a chiropractor when the girls can obviously just adjust each other :-). 

Brooke adjusting Brecklyn

Brecklyn adjusting Brooke

A few weeks ago, we had a very scary incident take place at home. Brianna and Brenson were in the backyard playing while I was in the living room with the twins. I stepped out on the back porch to tell the big kids something, and as soon as I did, I heard the storm door lock. I turned around and discovered that Brooke had locked me OUT of the house. I figured if she could lock the door then UNlocking the door would be no problem, but the lock on that door sticks and Brooke couldn't get it to unlock. I tried every door we have, and even had her come to the front door to try and unlock it, but with no luck. The toddler twins were locked IN the house while me and the big kids were locked OUT. It was not a good situation! My phone was sitting inside, so I finally ran across the street to the neighbors' house to call Chris. He was about 30 minutes from home, and we decided I would just sit outside the back door and watch them the best I could. Brecklyn was pretty upset because she wanted to come outside and be with me, so she just mostly sat by the door and cried. Brooke took the opportunity to get herself a snack, play with Brianna's Lite Brite (that she knows is off-limits because of little pieces), and make a mess. It felt like the LONGEST 30 minutes, but Chris finally got home and we got back in the house! I thought this mess wasn't too bad for 45 minutes of toddler twins left on their own!

Since then, we have fixed the lock on the door (it no longer sticks), and taken a few other precautions to make it much more difficult for something like that to ever happen again!

The weather has been amazing this month, and we have enjoyed being outdoors a lot! Play dates at the park are always a hit!

Brecklyn, Brooke

Brenson

We've also been enjoying some crafting sessions at home. It makes me so sad to think about Brenson not being home with us during the days anymore when he starts school in August :-(.

Once in a while, I have the opportunity to spend some one-on-one time with the kids. It's a rare treat that we always enjoy! This month, I had a little date with Brenson, and we both loved it!

Bren is definitely a Momma's boy, while Brianna and Brooke are Daddy's girls through-and-through. Brecklyn can go either way, but lately she's been loving some time with Daddy <3 .="" nbsp="" p="">

At the very end of April, Brianna had our first ever case of strep throat. She was miserable for several days, and I just felt terrible for her! We missed her spunky little personality.

She missed three days of school, but thankfully was well just in time for us to participate in "Pastries with Parents" one morning at school. 

Mornings can be pretty rough for me right now, so I wasn't able to eat any of the pastries. BUT, we are so grateful for these special opportunities to spend time with our girl at school!

I knew she was feeling more like herself when she laid out on the coffee table to do her homework :-). And yes, we were still running the fireplace once in a while, even at the end of April!

Living in Oklahoma, we expect a little severe weather during the springtime. It seems like every spring we have several days where we hear the tornado sirens and have to take cover. Most of the time, the tornado warnings happen at night, but just a few weeks ago we had to take cover in the middle of the day. Brenson had gone to work with Daddy this day, the twins were napping, and Brianna was at school when the sirens sounded. I got the twins up and read books with them in our "safe" spot while the storm blew through. 

I discovered, though, what a terrible feeling it is to not have all my babies with me in one place during a situation like this! I hated that Brianna was at school and not with me. It wasn't too much comfort to me to receive this text message from the school district: 

However, I did feel tons better when I received this photo in a text from Brianna's teacher. I'm so thankful that she took the time to send this to me, and that I could see Brianna was not scared or upset.

Pick-up did end up being a bit delayed this day as we waited for the severe weather to pass. As Brianna was being walked out to our van, the teacher walking her asked, "Were you scared today?" Brianna responded, "Of what?" Lol. That's my girl . . . she doesn't get worked up easily during these situations. Of course, several students were upset and scared, and I felt for them!

About ten days ago, my dear friend Tia gave birth to her sweet baby. Miss Caroline is just beautiful and perfect, and we are SO very happy for them! 

I was thrilled to go to the hospital the evening she was born to love on her for a bit. On the way home, though, I drove into a terrible storm and honestly questioned if I was going to make it home or not that night. Gotta love the springtime!

Of course, these storms are often followed by gorgeous reminders of God's love and faithfulness!

Finally, this past weekend we took a major step in our house and put the twins in toddler beds. We decided to buy toddler beds instead of just taking the sides off of their cribs because we plan to use one of the cribs for baby Seven. We thought it would be easier on everyone to just do one transition instead of transitioning from crib to bed with no side and then transitioning again to a toddler bed in a few more months. Everyone was excited to help Daddy put the new beds together!

Daddy, Brooke, Brenson, Brianna, and Brecklyn

Brecklyn

Brooke

Brecklyn and Brooke

So far - aside from the first nap - the girls have done great in their beds. When I put them down for nap for the first time (Saturday) in the beds, they tested me by getting out of their beds and playing multiple times. However, they learned quickly that I wasn't going to put up with any monkey business, and they have since stayed in their beds really well. Brooke has said several times, "I don't like my big girl bed!", but that hasn't stopped her from sleeping in it. I can't believe my baby girls are out of their cribs *tear*! I'm looking forward to setting one of the cribs back up for Seven in just a few months. That has definitely made this transition easier for ME, haha!

Too Cute to Punch

Happy St. Paddy's Day to everyone! It's been a while since I've been able to sit down and post on this little blog of mine, but it's not due to lack of good intentions. I think it's pretty safe to say that my hands have been full during these last few weeks, and the need to sleep is winning out over my desire to blog. However, I'm going to do my best to keep up with posting as I truly am grateful to have this record of our lives.

Since today was St. Paddy's Day, I wanted to do a little something special with the kiddos. We are really getting into a good routine now that I caring for all four kids on my own every day, and it's so nice to think that I can start doing more projects again with the big kids. They were very excited to be crafting with Momma again, as well!

This craft included painting paper plates a rainbow of colors. The colors were really supposed to be in a stripe pattern, but Bren isn't quite there yet with his motor skills.

Brianna, however, did a great job at painting in stripes.

Then, I cut out "pots of gold" from black paper, and we glittered the tops of them.

We cut the paper plates into spirals, attached the pot of gold, and strung a ribbon through the top. The end result was a super cute rainbow spiral for St. Paddy's Day that we hung in the big kid room.

Brianna's rainbow spiral:

Brenson's rainbow spiral:

This morning, Chris took Bren to breakfast (in effort to spend a little one-on-one time with him) while I stayed home with the girls. I served Brianna Lucky Charms and green milk for breakfast :-).

After Chris got back with Bren - and before he left for work - I had him snap a quick photo of all of us in our green gear. Brianna said, "We have to wear green so we don't get PUNCHED!" Haha! I explained that there would be no punching (or pinching) in our house!

Momma with Brianna, Brecklyn, Brooke, and Brenson

 After Chris went to work, I finished getting all the kiddos ready for an outing because they all had appointments with the chiropractor today. This was the first time that I ventured out by myself with all four AND we actually got out of the van. I've taken them all out a few times myself, but it's only been to run errands that don't require us to leave the vehicle (I'm so thankful for drive through banking, pharmacies, library book returns, etc).

Waiting for our adjustments at the chiropractor's office (Brianna holding Brooke):

Brenson is always ready for his adjustment!

He gets adjusted like a pro! When we very first started taking him to the chiropractor, he was scared to lay down on the bed. To help distract him, we would have Brianna peek at him from under the bed. She still does it even though he doesn't need it now :-).

Brianna also enjoys getting adjusted!

This was Brooke's second adjustment. She actually fell asleep during it! It makes me feel really good knowing that it doesn't hurt them at all if they fall asleep during the process.

Sleeping away!

Brecklyn was also adjusted today, but for some reason I didn't get any pics of her? Because of the trauma to her hip during delivery, she's been adjusted almost every week since she was two weeks old. She also falls asleep during her adjustments sometimes.

Overall, it was a successful outing! I was pretty worn out by the time we got back home, but it was certainly a confidence boost to do it on my own.

Not long after getting back home, my friend Amy came by with lunch and St. Paddy's Day treats for the big kids.

She stayed all afternoon and it was so nice to be able to visit with her! She got lots of baby snuggles.

The big kids always enjoy having company.

My sweet baby girls looked too cute in their green . . . love them!

Brecklyn, Brooke

We don't generally go over-the-top for holidays, but it's fun to do a little something special. I hope you all had a great day, too!