Monday, June 15, 2015

Rebecah's Preschool Graduation

Rebecah's preschool graduation was on Friday, June 12th.  The school year has flown.  Rebecah enjoyed preschool and made a lot of friends.  I didn't feel like I was as much a part of her preschool year as I was last year since she just took the bus to and from school.  She will continue to attend preschool until the last day of school for the district which is the 24th of June.

Here are some pictures from her special day.  

She looks so grown up!

Walking in for the ceremony.


Going to receive her "diploma".

Standing with her class.


Posing with her diploma.

With her preschool teachers:  Ms Desirae, Mrs. Allison, and Ms. Nicole

The graduation ceremony was about 15 minutes in length and then the rest of the time there were inflatable toys to play in and other carnival games.  Each child was given a book about Kindergarten as they left.

In the obstacle course jump house.


Playing a game.

The babies were good sports!  Aren't they cute?

Playing beach ball with Mom.  One of her favorite activities.

Rebecah is so excited to start Kindergarten in September.  I think she is ready for her next big adventure.





Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Whetstone Gulf State Park and Joseph's Birthday


We celebrated Joseph's birthday toward the end of May on the 24th.  Our celebration actually started on the 23rd with a hike at Whetstone Gulf State Park.  Joseph wanted to go hiking so we borrowed two baby carriers and off we went.  It was a cool day with temps in the upper 40s to lower 50s so it was nice not being hot.  Kimball refused to wear long pants and long sleeves so he actually complained the entire hike about being cold.  It was very un-Kimball like because I don't remember him ever complaining when being on a hike.  Hopefully he learned his lesson about listening to Mom and Dad when we recommend dressing warmer.

The hike wasn't as pretty as I thought it would be.  We were supposed to be hiking above a gorge.  Joseph said we just didn't go far enough since we turned around early for the cold one.  Rebecah did GREAT on this hike.  If you remember last year when we went hiking I would have to bribe her with snacks, but this year she didn't complain until the very end and she said she was cold just once.  We were actually walking through a really windy part of the trail so it was cold.

The babies did great.  Lincoln started off on Joseph's back, but he ended up in the front carrier with me.  He is a Mama's boy after all!

Here are some pictures of our trip.  My favorite pictures are the selfies Joseph took with each of the babies!

Annika and Joseph.  She is such a trooper.  She rarely
 complains or cries, but when she does....watch out!

Lincoln started off all smiles, but I think he was just too uncomfortable in the back pack.

Along the trail.


You can't see us very well.  Since we both had to carry a baby we didn't want to be burdened
with our nice camera so we just used the camera on Joseph's phone.

Sitting by the stream at the base of the trail.

After our hike the kids played on the playground.  This was Kimball's
favorite part.  He waited a long time for the chance to use this.  
Joseph's actual birthday was Sunday.  He requested cinnamon rolls for breakfast.  I put cream cheese frosting on them and they were quite good, if I do say so myself.  We ended up eating lunch with a Cambodian woman from church.  She fed us so much food we just had fruit and cake for dinner that night.  We had to make sure we got the "good stuff" first.

The birthday boy.  I think he looks pretty well preserved for 34!


I love this picture.  Annika is so excited to see the candles.
 She wasn't as close as she seems to be.
 Joseph requested a chocolate cake with a Reese's filling/frosting.  It consisted of chopped Reese's peanut butter cups, cream cheese and cool whip.  I was glad he requested this because I had been in the mood for it and almost made it for Mother's Day until he said he wanted it for his birthday.

Not the best of Lincoln or Joseph, but we get so few pictures
 of ourselves holding the babies so I wanted to include it.

We are so glad that Joseph is our husband and father.  He takes his roll as patriarch of our family very seriously and he works hard to provide for us.  The kids love all of the time that he spends with them. We always miss him when he is at work.  I couldn't imagine my life without him by my side.


Monday, May 18, 2015

7 months old

The babies are 7 months old now.  Time continues to fly by at unbelievable speed.  Lincoln is still very much a mama's boy, but he will still go to most people, especially if I'm not in view. He is fairly mellow and content to just sit in the same place.  He pivots around, but doesn't roll over often.  None of my kids have every rolled across the floor like you hear some babies doing.  Fine by me.   His first two teeth popped up this month.  He loves being outside and having his diaper changed.  He is doing better at eating food, but prefers all of his fruits and vegetables mixed in with his cereal.  He loves to chew on anything he can reach and exam them.  He still isn't sleeping through the night, but he does now take all of his naps in his crib.  We have come a long way from the babies only sleeping in their car seats to both sleeping in the same room in their cribs.  Lincoln loves to cover his face when he sleeps and it makes me very nervous.  Once he is asleep I always go in and uncover his face, but when I check on him again he has recovered his face.  


 

Both babies loved chewing on the tape measure and examining it.  I took it away from Lincoln so I could take pictures without it and he cried like his heart was broken.

 


Playing together surrounded by pillows.  They still fall back
occasionally so we try to keep pillows behind them.

Annika is the life of the party.  She is full of energy and fire, just like Rebecah was at this age.  Annika is quick to smile and goes to just about anyone.  She is usually happy, but she can go from happy to Hulk in a matter of seconds if something upsets her.  She definitely lets someone know when she is upset.  She is moving all over the place.  She will roll around, but not to get places.  She likes to scoot herself into a corner of her and then cry because she doesn't like her head pushing against the bars.  She loves solid foods, but we struggle to get her to drink enough during the day.  We have to be very careful to limit her solid food intake so she will still drink enough milk each day. 

Annika's favorite game is to steal Lincoln's pacifier from his mouth and put it in her own mouth even though she is holding her own pacifier.  She will do it over and over and Lincoln just cries.  I'm sure he'll fight back soon enough.  I know, I know, not very sanitary, but when you have two babies it's hard to be germ free.  I realized just recently that they suck on the same toys and I can't be washing toys constantly trying to keep their germs of each other.  I do try to keep their spoons separate when I feed them and when I can I TRY to keep Annika from stealing Lincoln's pacifier.

 

 

We love our babies so much.  They are a joy and a blessing in our home.  I wouldn't trade all the sleepless nights if it meant not having these two as part of our family.  We love having twins!

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Trip to Hong Kong

Joseph recently returned from a trip to Hong Kong.  He went to visit his parents who are living there for 2 years while they serve a mission for our church.  His parents have been in Hong Kong about a year so Joseph went to visit them and see Hong Kong.  Joseph would have liked to have me along, but I wasn't about to do a 17 hour flight with two babies.

Joseph was gone Friday to the following Thursday and it was plenty long for me.  He was only in Hong Kong 4 days, since traveling took so much of his time.  Joseph was pretty tired during his trip and the few days after.  I didn't feel too sorry for him since I was the one left at home with 4 kids, two of those who don't sleep through the night yet!  I understand tired!  I am glad Joseph was able to do this trip since he really wanted to do it.

Joseph was able to visit quite a few things with his parents.  They went to the Stanley village ( a shopping area), Victoria Peak (the tallest point on Hong Kong island), the Asia Area offices where Joseph's parents work, the Hong Kong LDS temple, other temples for the various religions in Hong Kong, a fishing village and other fun things. 

Here are just a few of the pictures from Joseph's trip: