Extreem Nesting

My mom has this story she likes to tell about me and my sister Lindsey.  When we were little we would play "store."  We each would set up a little store front with things to buy and our mom would come be our customer.  She would go to Lindsey's store first.  Lindsey would be sitting like a little lady at the check out counter. She would help my mom pick out things to buy, tell her the prices, ring her up, and take her money and make change.  Then my mom would come to my store.  No one would be there.  Instead I was always working on something to try to expand the size of the store.

I have very few memories of playing "house."  I never had the patience for it.  Instead I built houses.  I was, and still am, an expert house builder.  I perfected the blanket house during winter months.  During the summer I built houses outside using random boards and old chairs.  As soon as I was done with one house I'd start fiddling around with it to try to make it bigger and better.  Every few days I'd tear the whole thing down and move it to a new location and try again.  Once there was a huge windstorm.  Several real houses in the neighborhood lost shingles.  But my little house, put together without any nails, didn't fall over.  A few side boards fell down, but the roof stayed on.  My mom said that if there ever was a natural disaster I was in charge of providing shelter.

I never lost the itch to make where I live better.  My second year of college I rearranged my dorm room every other month or so.  The year I met Brandon I moved 5 times.  In the almost 9 years since moving out of my parents house I've never lived anywhere longer than 2 years.  I don't have any desire to settle down and buy a house yet, but when I do it will have to be a project house.

With that preface it should make perfect sense that even though I'm almost 35 weeks pregnant I've decided to move . . . .downstairs.

Why are we going through all the hassle of  moving just to go one level down and two apts over?  Well I'll show you.  Take a look at these stairs that I have to navigate every time I want to leave my apartment.  Now remember I have twins.  Twins that are walking.  Twins that can't navigate stairs very well. Twins that like to walk out the door with me, and then run around on the landing until I catch them both, and carry them BOTH down the stairs.  And if that isn't a fun enough mental picture you should remember that I'm having another baby really soon.

So that is why we are moving. When we first rented this apartment we didn't know I was pregnant.  Otherwise we would have picked a ground level apartment from the start.   I figure a week and a half of hassle is worth it for at least a year of stair free life.  Plus it's giving us a chance to go through some of our stuff. And we get to rearrange the bedrooms again.

Last Saturday we started packing.  The girls loved playing with the empty boxes.

 Here is Charlotte helping my friend Steffani pack.  We packed mostly non-essential stuff like DVD's and books.

 This week I'll gradually get everything else packed up.  Here is my rough plan for the week.

 The girls are loving all the boxes that they can play with.

And here is a sneak peak of our new apartment.  It's the lower one on the right.  I'm so excited for the trees that will be right out side out back door.  I'm also really excited about the back door.  I can hardly imagine opening up the door and letting the girls run out without worrying about them falling down the stairs.

Of course I am almost 35 weeks pregnant so I'm relying on other people to help me out.  You are welcome to join in.  Friday at 10:00 we will be getting the new apartment ready to move into (light cleaning, putting contact paper on the shelves, installing child-locks, etc.) and cleaning the old apartment.  Saturday at 10:00 we'll do the big move.  And next week we'll be unpacking.  Contact me if you need my address.    

Writers Block

This is not the post I planned on writing. But apparently I can't write right now. For the first time in a long time it's actually hard for me to think of things to say.  I think it's caused by the fact that a lot of random people have been telling me they love my blog.  Suddenly I feel pressure to write something meaningful.  And I can't seem to do it.  So while I work out my issues here are some random thoughts and random pictures.   

Sometimes Brandon and I pause from the craziness of taking care of the girls and say, "remember two years ago when we were bored?"  As proof here is a post from exactly 2 years ago.  It's all about the vacation we were planning 3 months in the future.  I'd already reserved all the campsites.  (Okay to be fair I am already planning this year's vacation too.  But it's not as far thought out yet.) 

We didn't find out I was pregnant with the girls until April 23, 2010.  Baby C is due April 4, 2012.  Most likely when he is born it wont even have been a full two years since I was wondering if I was infertile.  Yeah, take that as a warning about how fast life can change. 

Here's Lydia in one of my favorite outfits.  She is so much fun right now.  She can say Booh for Book, Deea for Dog, and Yeh for Yeah.  She still really loves her baby doll.  She's also started noticing babies and baby dolls in books. I'm really interested to see how she reacts to Baby C.

Here is Charlotte, or Charrie as we have started calling her more and more. She looks kind of ornery in this picture, but she is usually a happy baby.  Recently she started folding her arms when ever we say a prayer.  It is the cutest thing ever.  I wish I could take credit for actively teaching it to her, but she just learned how to do it on her own.

Here's Lydia with her favorite things - her baby doll and a book.  About two weeks ago she fell in the tub while Brandon was filling it up for a bath.  She's been afraid of baths ever since.  But gradually we have coaxed her back into liking them again.  (Hint: New bath toys and blowing lots of bubbles to distract her)

I hit 34 weeks on Wednesday and I feel amazing!  Last time around I only had 2 weeks left and I was getting pretty miserable.  This time I feel like I can last another 6 weeks.  Brandon and I went to our very first Labor and Delivery Class.  We learned a ton!  We were also only people there that already had kids.

The class was held in the same room that they have sacrament meeting in at LDS hospital.  As we sat on the floor and practiced relaxation techniques I thought, "When I was bearing my testimony here I had no idea I'd be doing this 15 1/2 months later."

And finally here are my future rock climbing electrical engineers.  They've learned how to climb the end table to play with the light bulb.  Toddler twins are so much fun.  There never is a dull moment!

Inspiration: A Gift of the Scriptures

When I was 10 years old my parents gave me my very own scriptures.  They had previously belonged to my Aunt Diane, and for a while the cover still had her name on them.  Soon my Dad had her name taken off and my name put on.  The scriptures were a pretty maroon color.  They even came with a matching case.  They were also huge.  They had to have been about 10 inches tall and 6 or 7 inches across. They weighed a ton which I liked because when you are 10 physical weight equals importance.  Best of all they were a "quad" meaning the Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price were all in one book.  None of the other kids my age had their own quad. All through the rest of Primary and the Young Women I proudly took those scriptures to church with me each week.

In 9th grade I started taking seminary.  I was faced with a dilemma. I needed scriptures in seminary, but I also needed a set of scriptures to study at home.  At first I brought my beloved quad with me to seminary and then took it home on weekends. But gradually I stopped doing that.  The scriptures were just too big to comfortably carry around in addition to all my school books.

By the time I was a Sr in high school my quad stayed at home.  In seminary I used my "girls camp scriptures."  These were scriptures that were old enough to comfortably take camping.  They weren't fancy or even very nice looking anymore.  The Book of Mormon had been my dad's at some point, and his notes were in the margins.  The cover was pretty beat up so I sewed a new one out of pink suede.  The bible was one from DI that I'd bought so I wouldn't have to worry about it getting wet.  It had the name Linda Kay on the cover.  She'd marked her scriptures in crayon.  I sewed a suede cover for that book as well, but it didn't fit quite right and I never had time to fix it.

These old scriptures became my favorite scriptures.  They were the ones that ended up with all the good markings. When I graduated from seminary they became my church scriptures.  My old quad was still important to me, but it was too big and heavy to be of any use on a daily basis.  Eventually I gave it to my Mom who liked the bigger print in it.

For almost 10 years I carried around a pink suede Book of Mormon and a Bible that had someone else's name on it. I took them to church each week, and proudly read out of them.  At night I'd read them.  One year I read the Bible dictionary for my scripture study and marked it up almost more than the actual scriptures.

And then I had twins.  I stopped bringing my scriptures to church because the chances of opening them were next to nothing.  I also started doing my personal scripture study with the girls each night.  I'd just read out of a regular Book of Mormon that I kept in their room.  My old beat up scriptures were forgotten.

I didn't realize how forgotten they were until I found a pink suede Book of Mormon under the Relief Society Room pulpit.  I left it there after teaching 2 months before, and I hadn't even missed it.  I soon discovered that my Linda Bible wasn't in my scripture case either.  

On the first Sunday in February I taught again.  As just a silly aside I mentioned that I'd misplaced my scriptures after the last time I taught.  I told everyone about my missing DI Linda Bible and jokingly asked them to be on the look out for it. I didn't think I'd see it again, but I knew I could get another one from the DI.

The next Sunday, Sister J who is one of the Sr Missionaries, came up to me while I was trying to get the girls settled in nursery.  They were crying and I was distracted.  So when she said, "I have something for you" I didn't even have time to think.  She put a set of scriptures down in front of me.  It had the name "Valerie Illguth" engraved in gold on the cover.  The first thing that went through my mind was, "That's not mine.  It doesn't say Linda."  And then I realized what I was looking at.

"Oh my gosh!"  was all I could say.  Sister J gave told me she loved me, and hurried out of the room while I was still in shock.  I just stood there and looked at the perfect sized maroon quad that had my own name on it.  I couldn't believe what I saw.

Sister J didn't know it, but she gave me more than just scriptures.  I'd been feeling a little alone the last few days.  I was wondering how I was going to handle taking care of three kids under the age of 2.  In theory, I knew that the members of my Branch would be willing to help me, but I didn't know for sure.  I was wondering if I would be able to depend on anyone.  This gift let me know that I was being watched out for, that the people of my Branch would take care of me, and that they loved me.

I know that we can always find the answers to our problems by reading our scriptures.  Now I know that sometimes scriptures themselves are the answer.  

And what about the Linda Bible?  Well, my visiting teacher found it a few days after I was given my new set. So I still have my old scriptures with all the markings and notes I've put into them over the past 10 or so years.  And I have a brand new set that I can start reading and marking up.

Well somebody has to be in the 5th percentile

All of you out there who have above average sized babies should thank my undersized ones for filling in the lower percentiles.  If it wasn't for tiny kids than your kids wouldn't seem so big. 

The girls had their 15 month check up yesterday.  I've compared them to their one year stats because it's been a while since I calculated percentage changes and I'm going through withdrawals.  

Charlotte at 15 months:

Head     46.5 cms              65%

Weight  22 lbs 8 oz            40%

Height   30 1/2 inches        45%

Charlotte at 12 months: 

Head     45.5 cm  60%
Weight   20 lbs 2 oz 30%
Height    29 1/2 in  55%

Percent changed

Head -    2% increase

Weight - 11% increase

Height -   3% increase

Lydia at 15 months:

Head     45 cms              20%

Weight  19 lbs 12 oz         5%  (Oops, I thought she weighted more. We already turned her car seat)

Height   30 1/4 inches      40%

Lydia at 12 months: 

Head    44 cm 15%
Weight  18 lbs 2 oz 5%
Height  28 1/2 in 25%

Percent changed

Head -    2% increase

Weight - 9% increase

Height -  6% increase

Here I am at 33 weeks.  My next checkup is next week.  Maybe I'll have gained weight this time.

Here is a video of the girls.  It's kind of long so I understand if you don't watch all of it. I'm putting it up here mostly unedited so my mom can have something to watch while she recovers from surgery.

My Birthday

The little part of my that is ALWAYS writing has gone on vacation for a while.  I don't know where she has gone.  All I know is that when I get a quiet moment to myself I don't have a voice inside my head that starts composing.  Instead I think about other things, craft projects, dinner, moving downstairs, ect.  I guess it's good because I really need to focus on those things.  That's why I've only done one post a week lately.   My internal writer will be back, you can count on that.  But for now she is taking a break.  

In the meantime I guess I'll talk about my birthday.  I turned 27 on February 7th.  I really don't have any thoughts on being this age.  I don't feel old, I don't feel young, I just feel me.  

Brandon brought home dinner from Chipolte Mexican Grill so I didn't have to cook.  The girls slept through dinner so it was just the two of us.  I'm on the phone in this picture because I was taking care of something for my RS Meeting that night.  Why did I plan a meeting on the night of my birthday? Well originally Brandon didn't have a job so we were going to celebrate during the day.  Then he got a job and we moved the festivities to Saturday.  

Here I am at 27 years old and almost 32 weeks pregnant.  (By the way at my Dr's appt on the following Friday I hadn't gained any weight since 2 weeks ago.  That's despite eating most of those cup cakes you see in the picture above and half the cake in the picture below. The baby grew so no one is worried.)

 When I got back from my RS meeting Brandon had this coldstone cake waiting for me.  His parents had stopped by and since I didn't know they were coming I missed them.  Note to self: Don't plan activities on your birthday.  Note to Brandon: Tell me when people are going to come over so I can see them.

 On Saturday my parents came to spend the day with the girls while Brandon and I could go celebrate.  We started out at the World Wide Leadership Training meeting for the church.  We both had to be there and everyone we would have asked to babysit had to go as well.  (That's what happens when you live in a small Branch)  My Dad had to go to the meeting too so my Mom watched the girls while the three of us went to the meeting.  It was really good.  Then we came home, had lunch with my parents and the girls, and then left.

We saw Mission Impossible 4 which was awesome!  Before the movie the theatre played a 15 minute program about TV shows.  They also played commercials.  Brandon and I haven't watched TV in over 5 years so we were pretty entertained by the commercials.  They are probably ones that you are completely sick of, but we were laughing our heads off.

After the movie we went to the mall and window shopped, and ended up buying a camping water filter.  We've been looking for a good priced one for years, and it's on our tax return wish list.

Then we went to dinner.  I had wanted to go to a certain place, but then found out it was out of business.  We went somewhere similar and felt like we got ripped off. But we still had a nice time together.   Note to self:  Don't go out to eat fancy pizza.  Your homemade Pizza is better and cheaper.

Then we went back home, checked on the girls, and got ready for our Stake's Dance.  It had a 50's theme.  I squeezed into my sister's poodle skirt - thank goodness for elastic.  Here are me and Brandon together. Brandon is in jeans and I'm in the skirt.  Another note to self: Check the pictures Mom takes to make sure there is more you and less window.

The dance was really fun.  They had ice cream parlor style refreshments and I ate WAY too much.  I also got into the YMCA dance a little too much and basically had to sit out every other fast song.  But it was great to slow dance with Brandon.  We commented on how odd it is that we don't really know anyone our age in the stake, but we do know the Stake Presidency members and some of their wives.  

When we got back home the girls were fast asleep and my parents had enjoyed their day with them.  Thanks Mom and Dad. 

And here are some cute pictures of the girls.  They found these boxes and enjoy sitting in them.  Brandon played with them last night during family home evening.  

I don't have a picture of this, but Charlotte loves books.  She'll sit in her box and read them.  This is how she reads a book.  As she turns the pages she will say, "Booh, Booh, Booh, Booh." "Booh" is still the only work the girls say.  They do occasionally say MaMaMaMa and DaDaDaDa at the right times.  Even though they aren't talking much, they do understand a lot.  I can ask them to clap or give me a kiss and they will.  If I tell them it is time to eat they will run to their high chairs.  And if I ask for a book they will go into their rooms and get one, or two, or five.

Lydia is still pretty attached to her doll and likes to have her around.  Here is a funny story about Lydia.  Last night Brandon saw a spider on the wall and showed it to Lydia. At first she thought it was okay and smiled at it.  Then without any warning she screamed and ran over to me.  She was so terrified of the spider that she was shaking.  Brandon had to kill the spider and even then she was still upset.  Then today she was standing in the same place where she saw the spider and she was whimpering and looking at the wall like she was scared it would come back.  I tried telling her it was gone, but I'm not sure she believed me.  About an hour later she noticed some dust hanging from the ceiling and got all worried about it.  I had to wipe the dust off before she would calm down.  I don't know what made her scared of spiders, but she is.  

And finally, here is a movie of Brandon playing with the girls and their boxes.  Enjoy.

A typical day (finally)

I am pleased to announce that for the first time in a LONG time I have a daily routine again.  Or at least something resembling a predictable routine.  It's been three months since the last time I did one of these so here you have what one day with 15 month old twins is like- specifically what Friday, February 3, 2012 was like.  There are two things you should be aware of as you read this.  1. Nap time usually goes a lot better than it did this day.  I'm going to blame the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle for the way I appear completely inept at putting my kids to bed.  And 2.  I deliberately picked a day that I didn't have an visitors, dr's appts, meeting, or any other outside interruptions planned.  So don't start worrying that I'm some sort of hermit.  Anyway, here is a typical day.  Enjoy it while it lasts because the next time I do this I'll have a one month old baby boy gumming up the works.  

6:45 I hear a baby cry once, but that is it

6:50 Brandon's alarm goes off

7:10 We get up and have marshmallow maties for breakfast.

7:30 Brandon leaves. I realize I might be able to shower before the girls wake up

7:40 I get out of the shower and the girls are just starting to make noise. Actually it's just Lydia who is crying. Charlotte is reading a book in the semi dark. I give the girls bottles.

7:55 The girls slide off the couch and start playing in their room. I go sit on the couch and they bring books and linky toys out to me.

8:10 Lydia goes over to her high chair and starts trying to pull herself up into it. This means she wants to eat. I put her and Charlotte into the chairs and give them banana slices which are always a favorite. Then I give them some marshmallow maties. They've never had these before, but they soon figure out how good they are. I do my makeup while the girls eat.   

 8:25 The girls are done with breakfast and it's time for diaper changes.

8:30 The girls play on the window seat.    

 8:33 I got into my room to get something and the girls follow me in. I put them on the bed and make the bed while they play with all the displaced pillows. Then we have a tickle fest.

8:40 Then I get them out of my room and shut the door. We go into the living room where Charlotte climbs up on the chair and Lydia pulls off the table cloth. I move the chairs to up against the wall and ignore the tablecloth.

9:00 Both girls start acting tired. Charlotte lays on the tablecloth and Lydia rubs her eyes. I decide it is time for them to go back to bed. I lay down on the couch.

9:15 I hear the girls making noise and roll over to see what time it is. It's only been 15 minutes! Are you kidding me? Usually they sleep for at least an hour in the morning. I get the girls up and they play while I lay on the couch.

9:45 I know that Lydia is poopy, but I'm not sure about Char. I don't want to get up and do anything about it though because they are playing so nicely. I wait until they inevitably start fighting about something (binkies) and get up to change their diapers. Lydia gets mad at me for taking her picture and not letting her play with the camera. After I'm done with Lydia I find Charlotte cuddling with a blanket. I decide to try nap time again.   

 9:55 I put the girls down and they are quite.

10:10 They are making noise again. I decide to quit deluding myself and give up on getting anymore sleep today. I get the girls up and feed them peanut butter bread and more bananas. While they eat I pick out their clothes and start getting everything ready for their bath.

10:25 Bath time is a fairly intense process that I attempt on my own only because our apartment is laid out with a lot of doors that I can shut to keep two naked babies contained. Here are the steps:

1. Start filling up the tub while girls are in high chairs.
2. Make sure there are clean clothes at the changing station (dryer top), clean towels in the bathroom, and wipes in the bathroom.
3. Shut my bedroom, the girls room, and the bathroom doors.
4. Get the girls out of their high chairs. They should start walking toward the siren call of running water.
5. Once the girls are in the laundry room/hall area shut the door to the living room. Now they are trapped.
6. Open the door to the bathroom.
7. Quickly lay the girls down on the bathroom mat and undress them and remove their diapers. (This is where the wipes come in handy)
8. Put the girls in the tub and give them a bath (that's the easy part)

 9.  Once they are done with the bath, get them out and wrap them in towels. Let them wander back into the hall/laundry area. Shut the bathroom door and trap them again.
10.  One at a time put the girls into diapers and get them dressed for the day.

10:55 Bath time is over. It ended with Lydia bonking her lip on the edge of the tub and starting to bleed. This is the second most panic inducing end to bath time. (The first was when Charlotte pooped in the tub)

11:00 The girls are acting a little ornery so I give them bottles and we all chill out on the couch.

11:05 I'm bored so I put on Wall-E to entertain us all. The girls play while I lay down.

 12:00 I make Macaroni and Cheese for lunch. I think this is the first time I have made Mac'n'cheese in over 15 years.

 12:15 I put the girls in their chairs and feed them lunch. While they are contained I get everything ready for a walk. I make sure I take the stroller downstairs while they can't get out. Last time we went on a walk I had to leave the stroller at the top of the stairs while I chased the girls around the second story landing. I took them downstairs then ran back up and got the stroller then chased them around the breezeway and between buildings. I don't feel like doing that ever again!

 12:30 Getting the girls into their coats and down into the stroller is a lot less eventful this time. We are on our way on the walk in no time. The girls fall asleep while we walk.

1:10 Back home from the walk through the neighborhood. Charlotte stays asleep while I carry her up, but Lydia wakes up.

1:20 I try nap time again. I make a few quick phone calls to touch base with some people about the RS Activity I am planning for Tuesday.

1:25 Phone calls are done and the girls are laughing. I get them up. (I promise, nap time is usually a lot easier to predict) I turn Wall-E back on.

2:10 Wall-E is over. Charlotte is over by the book cases. She points and me and then pats the ground. This is the first time she's ever asked me to come to her. I come over and sit with her while she shows me the toys she is playing with.

3:00 Try nap time again and this time it works!!!!!! Finally I can go do what I want/need to get done. I start working on some curtains that I am making for my friend. I work on them while listening to Wall-E with the directors commentary. (I love commentary)

4:10 Done with as much of the curtains that my brain can handle for the day. I start working on my RS lesson for Sunday.

4:30 I decide that I should lay on the couch and “ponder” the things I have studied. Of course that turns into a nap.

5:30 Brandon comes home. And wakes me up. Oops! Usually I have dinner ready by the time he gets home.

5:40 The girls are awake and they are ornery. Brandon tries to make them happy while I make pizza. In the end I am with the girls and Brandon finishes the pizza.

6:10 Pizza done and the girls are still ornery. They calm down as they eat.  (They stole our forks during the meal - they are still eating everything with their hands)

6:45 We are done with dinner and it is time to go out and have some fun. We all go window shopping for some things that we would like to get with our tax return money. We go to Target, Joann’s, and Smith Marketplace. We splurge at Target and buy the first and second seasons of 3^rd Rock from the Sun. At Smiths we by a foam pad so we can start making a cushion for our window seat on Saturday.

8:40 We are home. The girls show no signs of being ready for bed so we let them stay up and we all watch 3^rd Rock. Well Brandon and I watch it. They girls just play. 

9:30 Girls are starting to act tired so we give them their tooth brushes (Which they LOVE) and put them in their pajamas. 

 Then we put them to bed and do our whole bedtime routine of: singing a hymn, reading a chapter in the Book of Mormon (we recently finished and then started over), reading a page from the conference edition of the Ensign, writing in our little journal, and saying a family prayer.

Charlotte and Lydia go through their routine of looking through books, passing binkies back and forth, dropping binkies on the floor and asking for them back,

poking each other, trying to throw everything out of the crib (this is mainly Charlotte's pass time), and finally laying down - and then popping right back up.

10:10 The girls are basically asleep by the time we are done. We don't hear from them the rest of the night. We go back out to the living room and kitchen and do a quick clean of the apartment.

10:25 The apartment is clean and we sit down to watch more 3^rd Rock (It was totally worth buying)

11:40 We head off to bed. I check on the girls and make sure they are covered up for the night.   

6:15 Girls awake and time to start another day. At least it is Saturday!

Lots of pictures

This is for those of you who like pictures of the girls with my posts (cough, Lindsey, cough)

Here are the girls playing with their new favorite toy that is actually a toy.  (The favorite toy that is not really  a toy is a collection of business cards.)  This is a really awesome hand-me down from my cousin Lucy.  She's outgrown it so her Mom gave it to the girls.  When Brandon saw it he said, "I've always wanted to play with that.  I'm so excited we have it now!"  At first the girls didn't understand that they would have to put the balls into the toy in order for it to work.  Charlotte would hold three balls and push the button waiting for more balls to appear.  She couldn't understand why there weren't any balls.  After about a week both girls have the toy figured out and they love playing with it.  

Brandon designed and built these end tables for Lucy and her sister Maddie.  He saved the design so one day he can make some for our little girls.

Isn't this the cutest thing you have ever seen?  I came home from running an errand and found my three favorite people all hanging out and happy together.

Brandon has a full time job now so I have hours of time to work on projects.  The first thing I did was go through all the girls outgrown clothes and get them sorted.

It took me all day, but everything is all boxed up according to size.  What did the girls do while I worked on this project?  Well, they played in the living room putting stuff in and out of boxes.  Yeah, we are all a little OCD in this family.

The next day I tackled all the craft stuff.  Call it nesting or whatever, but I just needed everything put back into its proper place before I could start any new projects.

I went through all of my fabric and threw away all the pieces that were too small to do anything with.  I was able to condense all my fabric down by one box.  

I faced my fears and cleaned out the fridge.  (Don't panic, this picture was taken after the fridge was clean, but before we went grocery shopping.  We do have food.)  I found myself asking terrifying questions like, "Didn't Mom give me this bottle of salad dressing after a party last Christmas?"  Needless to say, lots of stuff was thrown away.  So far Brandon has only missed the maraschino cherries - and that was only because I told him I threw away the jar that had 3 left in it.  

The girls have kept me busy as well.  Here is Lydia wearing an outfit that Charlotte usually wears.  It threw me off all day to see her dressed like Charlotte.

Here they are eating cheerios.  They love when I put little piles out for them.  

My mom comes out to visit me on Tuesdays.  We call it the "Hold a Twin" visit because the best way anyone can help me right now is to just hold a twin and entertain them while I hold the other.  Here we all are having lunch.  

Charlotte was sporting this awesome asymmetrical hairdo with flat hair on one side and gravity defying curls on the other.  Her secret is to put tuna noodle casserole into her hair. At this meal she added refried beans.  

Lydia likes to copy everything Charlotte does (and vise versa) so she was covered in refried beans as well.

On Saturday we went on a car ride up Emigration Canyon.  Somehow Emigration Canyon wasn't on our vacation to do list last year- even though I've never been up there. I just finished re-reading Work and the Glory #9 and I wanted to see Big Mountain, Little Mountain, and Donner Hill.  We stopped at Mountain Dell Reservoir and brought the girls up to the front seat with us so we all could have a snack.  Lydia stole my apple and wouldn't give it back.  

Charlotte ended up with a handful of carrot and celery sticks.  (Her signature move right now is to cram as much stuff into her left had as possible and still hold out her right hand for more.)  We are in the beginning stages of planning our annual road trip vacation.  This year we are going to go to Colorado to, among other things, visit my sister in Fort Collins.  We figure its a good idea to start taking the girls on drives that end with snacks in the car.  That way they will be used to it when we do it hard core on the trip.

And here are the girls and Brandon making cookies for our Family Home Evening activity.  Now that Brandon is gone most of the day we suddenly see the wisdom of having home evening.

Well that's it.  I don't have a picture of myself today - it was one of those days where I didn't feel like getting pretty, and so I'm NOT taking a picture.  I'm 31 weeks along.  Amazingly there are still people who are surprised when they find out I'm pregnant.  Apparently, we didn't do a very good job of telling people.  I blame the fact that Relief Society no longer has the "good news minute."