R is for Random

• I would love to repaint my entire house. But I really want to repaint my kitchen, but haven't the foggiest idea what color to paint it.
• I think I am going to do the Beth Moore James bible study at our church. Has anyone done it? Reviews? To be honest, it gives me anxiety to think about having to go, I feel as though aside from about mommy things, I really have had no practice talking to others.
• We need to win the lottery. I can hear the wind howling outside our house, our windows leak, and I think we need some more insulation.
• Giving up complaining for lent has been going well, it is actually somewhat difficult,  but its amazing how many opportunities I have had to pray for others lately.
• Karter had "Dress like your favorite Character from a book" day today. This mama could not find a creative bone in her body, So I sent him in his Cars shirt with his favorite Cars book. I never let him wear the shirt to school so he was excited... I am still experiencing guilt for not making him a proper costume. sigh. I did however pray for God to bless his teacher with many healthy children so she would someday understand the value of more than 2 days of notice. :)
• I am currently wearing a pair of maternity capris, they are comfortable, and I don't care if my babies are almost 7 months old.
• I took L&M to weigh to grow last night. Luke was 16lbs4oz and Max was 19lbs 8oz. There is over 3lbs of difference between the two of them.
• I love making our own baby food, I cant believe I hadn't done it before.  I get kinda crazy about it though, like at first I was afraid to microwave any of it because I didn't want them getting any micro-waves... then I realized that I was still drinking a pepsi and who knows whats in that... not to mention i was going to have to start spelling my crazy with a capital C.
• Today I am trying to get them to nap in their cribs. Up till this point they have been napping wherever, in the swing, in our bed, on the couch, on the floor. Its not going so well. Max has slept for about 45 minutes today, and Luke has slept a total of 10. As I write this he is jumping in the jumperoo in hopes of getting him tired enough to take a good afternoon nap.

Update-- After almost falling asleep in his jumperoo and then crying for an hour because he was mad about being in his crib Luke slept for 1 entire hour.

• This morning I watched Max on his hands lift both his stomach and his but off the ground. I am not nearly ready for this. My house, is NO WHERE near ready for this.
• I think the concept of pajamajeans is a good one. I hate wearing sweats all day, but hate getting my jeans dirty.
• I have a HUGE box of baby clothes that L&M have grown out of.  I need to get them all pulled out, matched up and photos taken of all of them so I can get them on the MoM's for sale site.  A better alternative would be just running across someone who is expecting b/b twins in June/July/Aug and selling ALL our stuff. 
• i made some rockin brownies today. 

So Proud!!!

Guess who one the Groovy Kid of Character in his class for this month at school?

This Kid!
I am so proud of Karter!  He was awarded this certificate for being a caring friend.  He really values his friends at school so I am not really surprised but wanted to brag about him for just a minute.  As a reward for winning he gets to go have donuts this morning with his principal and school guidence teacher.  He was so excited (donuts are difinately one of his love languages)

Way to go Karter!  I am so proud of you for so many things, but now I can add being a Kid of Character to that list!!!!

6 month professional photos.

Photos of my children cover all the walls in our home, but as a mom of 4 boys, having our pictures taken can be a daunting task.  Inevitably someone is crying, someone is cranky, someone would rather play in the wagon instead of getting their picture taken.  It can be embarrassing, and is usually exhausting. But those pictures, are usually some of the ones I cherish the most. Mostly because it is a reminder of just where we were in that time of our lives.  For Luke and Max's six month pictures, I wanted a great set of photos, for a great price.  I choose to have a friend from high school, and fellow mom of twins Audrey, from Audrey Oliphant Photography take snap their cute faces... well almost...

The afternoon went about how I had expected, Luke was crying, Max was grinning with his tounge hanging out.  Audrey remained unphased (even though I was starting to stress) and continued to snap her camera taking some uber-cute pictures of my boys.  There is no butts about it, she got some cute shots....

I am so impressed with how she captured each of the boys' individual personalities.  Forever and ever when I look at these pictures I will remember what my boys were like at 6 months old.  Max, learning to stick his tougne out, smiling at everyone, chubby rolls on his thighs.  And Luke, learned how to sit up this month, he is sensitive, needy, a hard case to crack but once you get him, the smile you get makes my heart flutter, oh and dont forget those beautiful blue eyes.

I am so thankful I chose to have Audrey Oliphant Photography capture an important moment in my children's lives.  She is great to work with, her studio is clean and inviting and her photo composition is outstanding.  I can not wait to hang these pictures on our walls in our home and I am sure to use her again for all of our family's photography needs. 

he has been on a roll....

Gav has been on a roll here lately. This kid is too funny!  Some of the stuff that comes out of his mouth, I just can't figure out where it comes from.  Here is a few of the funny things I have heard him say the last few days....

-to the tv "Ugh, he is cutting medicare and thats MEAN!"

"ugh, it was really cold out there no thanks to that lady and her truck" (in refrence to the lady who parked her huge red truck 5 inches away from my van today)

"Hey mom, do you think octopuses can fart?"

Complaining...

I opened up blogger today and I was going to write an entire post complaining about a  list of things of things that I have decided were unfair.  Stupid stuff mostly, like about lego stickers.  I also had planned to write a post about Lent.  So instead, I am going to write a post about both. Let me start by saying, I am not affiliated with a church that participates in Lent, but I really like the idea of it.  I also really don't understand to much of the in's and outs of it, and growing up, I really just associated Lent with upcoming Easter and cheep fillet of fish sandwiches at McDonalds.  Now as an adult, even though I do enjoy a fish sandwich this time of year, I do like the idea of giving up something to spend more time in prayer. 

I usually try to give something up for Lent, (last year I gave up at-home parties) but I never have a REALLY good idea of what to give up until the week before Easter. Honestly, this year I was going to give up facebook.  But, I decided that some days, facebook is my only contact with adult humans, I need it for my sanity right now.

This year, for Lent, I am giving up complaining.  Instead of complaining about lego stickers, I am going to pray for the boy who gets them, and Thank God that my child is well behaved without needing bribes. Instead of complaining about not hearing from a friend, I am going to pray for that person. Instead of complaining about a night of no sleep, I am going to thank God for healthy babies.  Instead of complaining about my messy house, I am going to praise the Lord we have a home that is warm, and we can fill it with love and laughter .  Already this has proven to be a hard task, but I am not complaining. lol. 

I encourage each of you, my 23 readers, to find something to change in your life for the next 40 days.  Something that, instead of doing, you will use that time to spend getting closer to Jesus. 

Wedding weekend!

Sam's wedding is over and was a success! I am hoping to get a post out with all the details here sometime this week, but until then, here is a few pictures for our family scrapbook!  You can see more pictures on her AWESOME photographers facebook page HERE!

Hoffert Girls

Gav and Delaney-- Dont they look like they could be twins???

My nephew and my boys!

The Cousins

This is my parents telling me I am not to plan another wedding EVER again! lol! (even though it turned out A-mazing!)

Max's funny faces

Max has been making some funny faces here lately the last few days he has found his tounge and loves figuring out how to work it.  Here are a few of his funny faces.

Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!  We have had such a great day.  The boys had fun at their school parties, Scott and I exchanged our cards and had a wonderful date night/day on Saturday.  We went to Menards for a screen door, Target for a new high chair, Latin King for dinner and the Home and Garden Show or inspiration... or as it turns out at least 5 calls on my cell phone each day telling me that "you were enrolled in a contest for free siding/windows/roof etc-- this isnt a call saying you have won, but we just need more information before we hold the drawing"  le sigh.

I've done a lot of thinking today about how I used to HATE Valentine's day. I remember in college throwing an anti-Valentine's day party.  I hated love, I was annoyed by friends and their dozens of roses, boxes of chocolates and well thoughout date nights.  I was lonely, I can hear the voice of one of my friends saying "sabrina will probably be married before all of us" as if that was so hard to believe that I would ever get married.  Looking back, I probably could have tried really hard to have a boyfriend, but looking back again, God was saving me for the right person, for Scott, who brings me dozen roses, buys me a funny card because he loves them and a serious lovey-dovey card because I love them.  Who is patient and kind, and is truly my best friend.


Because there are 2 Valentines Day items on my   2012 Must take photo challenge  I am excited to get to cross a few off of that list... note to self... start working on crossing those off.  I am hoping to get some awesome pictures this weekend so I can cross WEDDING off the list.  We got the older boys some treats for a Valentine's day gift. We really like to make this day a special day for them, mostly because, while its nice to have a special day carved out of our busy schedules to remind each other how much we love one another, it is more important to try to let the people we love know how much we love them every day of the year.

These are Karter's Valentine's treats for his party!  His friend in his class is gluten free and we found this kettle corn...I can hardly stay out of the stuff!  It's great and has the perfect salt/sweet flavor combination.  This is the brand we got, in cute little Valentine's day packages.

These were Gav's Valentines.  When I first saw this idea on pinterest the person used sweedish fish.  I couldn't find any individual packages of those fish, but did find these Goldfish crackers at Target. Score!

The boys wrote Valentines day cards to each of their teachers and teacher helpers.

Karter's Valentines day treats!  I got the boys teachers a bottle of hand soap with a card that said "I was soap'n you would be my Valentine!"

Treats from Gav's class party.  I helped with his class party for Valentine's Day because I helped with Karter's class for their fall party.

Luke and Max tried on their outfits for Sam's wedding this weekend and they fit perfect!!!!

what 6 month looks like in our house...

I havent gotten many good pictures of the twins lately mostly because this is what 6 months looks like in our house:

Sigh, this too shall pass.... right???

6 Months!

We have survived the first half of our first year together!  My mind has been so busy with planning and preparing for my sister's wedding, and finding Karter a soccer coach and taking care of babies that it wasn't until this morning that I realized I never sat down to write this post.  The month of February is jammed packed with stuff to do.  My sister is getting married next weekend so we have tons of stuff to do to get ready for that.  So far the boys have done a great job with me not being as available.  I am hoping that continues through the wedding weekend.  We have hair cuts, church pictures and I am getting the boys's pictures taken by my friend who is following her dream and opening a photography studio.  Her work is truely amazing and she has a great eye for capturing such special moments.  I encourage you all to go like her facebook page!

This last month has been one of many firsts for Luke and Max.  Both boys are really starting to develop personalities. Both boys are primarily breastfed, they share a 6 oz bottle of formula at night.  Also this month we gave baby food a shot.  We started out offering oatmeal (we skipped rice cereal) and I made baby food for the boys. I made plums, and sweet potatoes and most recently butternut squash.  So far they haven't tasted anything they haven't liked!  I am working on a post about our adventures in making baby food, however I don't think its fair to call it an adventure because its so gosh-darn easy!
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Homemade squash from the other night.

Both boys have started trying to sit up on their own. The other day Luke was pushing himself up on his elbows trying to sit up.  They aren't very stable yet but I just cant believe they are getting so big!  They spend the majority of their floor time on their tummies, this past week I have noticed they are lifting their butts off the floor, I am almost considering tying a brick to their leg, I am just not ready for them to be mobile.

They have both become very interested in what Karter and Gavin have been doing!  Just recently they decided they love the bigger boys's Cars laptop.

Here is what the boys are doing this month:

Mr Luke:

• This is how Luke has spent a lot of this month, in the moby, he wants to be held, to be bounced, to be snuggled.  He has learned this sad little poutie cry.
• Luke is definitely my little eater, for being such a little guy he sure knows how to put away the food.
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• At six months old he was 15lbs5oz and 25 & 1/2 inches long
• He wears a size 3 diaper and his clothes are 6 months
• He has found his feet and can almost get them up to his mouth.
• Luke started using a sippy cup this month
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• Luke has decided that sleeping through the nights is for the birds.  As in, he quit doing it, and for the record, it's exhausting.  I cant even tell you what time he wakes up because I don't even open my eyes on the way to his room.  He isnt hungry, he just wants to cuddle in our room.
• He has become quite the talker!  I try and try to video him but he just gets quiet and stares at my camera.  I did catch him the other day while I was videoing Max in the jumperoo.  If you listen closely you can hear Luke "bossing"

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Mr Max

• As you can see in this video, Max loves jumping in his jumperoo.
• Mr. Max is really starting to talk more, he makes the sweetest sounds, I love it.
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  Max weighs 17lbs5oz and was 27 & 1/2 inches long
• He wears a size 3 diaper and mostly wears 6 month or 6-9 month clothes, as I have been packing up the 3 month outfits I have been pulling out some 9 month outfits that are on the smallish side.
• He also started using a sippy cup. However, as of lately, he has gone on sort of a formula strike.  He definately prefers getting his milk "from the tap"
• We are really going to have to focus on baby proofing our house because Max is rolling.  Several times this month I have put him down on his blanket, went to change the laundy, and have come back to find him on the opposite side of the living room.  Once again, I keep trying to video tape it, but he just stops and stares at the camera.
• Max has got a great laugh! 
I love this video, particularly because I love love love watching my husband act like a goon.  For someone who wasnt ever sure he wanted to have kids, he is such an amazing daddy, and watching him be silly with our babies....best ever.
I still need to take their 6 month pictures with their stickers.  They have a dr appt Thursday(well baby with shots-boo), so I am hoping to snap some pictures Friday morning!