6th birthday party

I can't believe my babies are 6 years old. It seems like just yesterday we were living in Spokane and going to see them every 3 hours in the NICU. They have come a long way from 2 lbs. 11 oz. and 3 lbs. 4 oz. We are so thankful for them and love them VERY much!

We had a fun friend party for them (Scooby Doo theme). It started with a pinata.

The kids were NOT HAPPY to find out that the pinata was filled with dog food and a clue. What would a Scooby party be without a mystery to solve?

The note read, "THERE WILL BE NO FUN TODAY-I HAVE STOLEN THE BIRTHDAY PRESENTS! THE ONLY WAY TO GET THEM BACK IS TO LOOK FOR THE CLUES TO SOLVE THE MYSTERY. YOU MUST COMPLETE THE GAMES IN ORDER TO EARN MORE CLUES.

GOOD LUCK."

THE PHANTOM

P.S. YOUR FIRST CLUE IS THIS…

Scooby is hungry for a bone, just above his chin.

But we will use tape, and not a pin.

We then played a round of pin the bone is Scooby's mouth. Saige won.

The next clue:

That was fun for Scooby’s tummy

Who opens the next clue? The best looking mummy!

Saige won again!

The next clue:

We are not sure where the phantom went

But there may be a clue in this Scooby doo present

Then we played the game where the present is wrapped a bunch of times and when the music stops a layer is unwrapped.

The next clue:

“Don’t Eat Scooby” is what we will yell

The last one to play will have a clue to tell

Then we played "Don't eat pete" but the pictures were of Scooby Doo Characters.

The next clue:

You are good at these games, and it really shows

The presents are hidden, where Mom washes clothes.

The next clue:

Now that you’ve found them, we hope you’ve had fun

The fun is not over, we are not done

You are great crime solvers, really a team

Now it is time for some cake and ice cream!

The girls had an AMAZING cake! It was the best part of the party. I wish I could say that I made it but clearly I did not!! It looked great and even tasted good.

Blustery Day

It was very windy here yesterday......

FINALLY!

This past week Saige FINALLY lost her first tooth, although, she didn't actually lose it-SHE PULLED IT OUT!

She came home from school with it in a plastic bag and she was VERY excited. She only needs to lose one more to even the score and then we can be 'fair' again!

1st quarter awards

Saige got an award today at the 1st quarter awards assembly. We are so proud of her!

Had to chase Madi down to get a picture of her also!

1st lost tooth

Last week, Madisen lost her first tooth. This produced both much excitement and much sadness in our household. Madisen couldn't be more proud. She shows EVERYONE she meets and cannot quit talking about it.
Saige couldn't be more sad. "I wanted to lose a tooth today too! IT'S NOT FAIR"!
I have heard the phrase, it's not fair, more times this week than I have in my entire life combined.
She is right though, being a twin isn't fair. They have to share a birthday, a room, toys, books, clothes, friends, etc. However, they are still individuals and I am afraid the first lost tooth is only the beginning. We have many 'it's not fair' days ahead. Another day like this is coming soon because Madi is going to loose her 2nd tooth before Saige looses a first. She has another one that is barely hanging on!
But, we are excited for Madi. I can't believe how much older it makes her look-SO SAD! The tooth fairy came and I have to tell you that she was a bit disappointed. There must be a wide variety of tooth fairies out there because although she got a dollar, (much more than I got as a kid-inflation!) she informed me that her friend got $5 and a pack of gum.
Thanks alot Laurel!

Pulley

The girls came running in today and told me they had made a pulley.

Pretty fun-except for the ladybug inside the bucket that has to be pulled up and down all day!

WHOOOPSY!

Yesterday the girls were out in the front yard riding their bikes up and down the sidewalk. The weather was so nice and we all wanted to be outside. I was sitting in a chair on the front porch working on the laptop when Madi rode on the sidewalk in front of the house next door. Our neighbor was out in her driveway getting something out of her car. Madi was ridding by her and waived and said, "Hello".

Our neighbor said hello back and turned around to walk back in her house. Madi turned her bike right around and when she got in front of our house she YELLED up to me, "Hey Mom-our neighbor isn't mean".

Well, my neighbor wasn't to her front door yet so she OBVIOUSLY heard. I am on the porch with my finger up to my lips trying to tell her to SHUT UP! When she saw me do this she said even louder, "But Mom, she's not"!!!!

Here I am, worried about the kinds of things my girls are learning from other kids at school when really I should be worried about the things they are learning at home!

Team Phil

Everywhere I go I see T-shirts, jewelry, and pretty much everything else asking me if I am Team Jacob, or Team Edward. Although I have ready the Twilight series and it was ok (very embarrassed to admit that on my blog) I didn't consider myself team anyone.

Then, I watched a show called Modern Family. I now consider myself part of Team Phil. He is the funniest character on TV right now-even beating out Michael Scott in my opinion.

I don't watch many TV shows but this one is truly funny! I am just posting this today to let you all know that you should give it a try. It's the season premier tonight so don't miss it!

Silly Madi

I just have to write tonight about Madi. She is so much fun. She came in dressed like this for school on Friday....

Too excited to wait for Halloween to wear her new cowgirl hat. She stood in the mirror for a few minutes, played with her hair, and said over and over again how cute she looked! How can I argue with her? She really IS cute! (I didn't really let her wear it to school).

*Madi wrote this in her journal*

This picture has a story. A funny story. In the moment, however, it was not funny at all.

I was sitting at the computer desk in our office with the blinds open. All of the sudden I look up and there is a strange man looking around in my garden. I am looking at this guy, trying to figure out if I know him or not. After a few seconds, I am sure that I do not know him. Madi is in the backyard playing so I tell Saige to go tell her to get inside RIGHT NOW. I am at the front door trying to see if this guy has a car. He does-a red jeep parked in my driveway. I am trying to get the license plate number while listening to Madi tell Saige (in a very sassy voice), "I don't have to come inside, your not the boss of me" and on and on and on.

Well, the guy is now pulling away and I am yelling at Madi and explaining the situation to her. Then I immediately call Brett to tell him about what is happening. He says, "Oh, ya. Forgot to tell you about that".

Apparently, it was our friend's dad who was coming by to pick up some stuff that Brett had borrowed from him. Brett thought I would have already left to take the girls to violin lessons so he didn't worry about telling me.

I'm so glad that it was someone who was supposed to be here. Madi's words make me laugh out loud every time I read them!

Two Weeks Down

We made it through the first two weeks of school and it wasn't easy!

Friday was the first day that Saige didn't cry when I dropped her off. At least we are making progress, right?! I think part of the reason was that they got to swim on Friday. Can you imagine trying to keep track of 90 kindergarteners in a swimming pool-all at once? Stresses me out just thinking about it. I am so glad they are both good swimmers.

I already hate that they are in school, learning things from other kids. These are the funny things and problems that we have had already:

*We had to talk to the teacher already because a boy in Saige's class was kissing Madi in the swimming pool (on the cheek-thank heavens). Seriously. Already? They are in Kindergarten for Heaven's sake! The problem is that this is the same boy that has been SO good to Saige. He is so cute with her-especially when she is sad when I drop her off in the mornings.

*We were a bit worried that Madi wouldn't stick up for her sister and possible ignore her on the playground and lunch. Well, I heard them talking the other day and this was the conversation:

S "I got in trouble in class today"

M "What did you do?"

S "Nothing! I didn't do anything wrong and my teacher still got mad at me!"

M "Are you mad at her?"

S "No. Not really."

M "WELL I AM"!!!

I guess we don't have to worry.

*Madi really wanted to each school lunch on pizza day. So, I put some money on her account so that she could do so. She told me a few days later that she really liked eating school lunch. When I asked why, she said, "I like it because my mom wasn't there telling me what I had to eat"! OUCH

*Madi said, "Mom, Drew in my class says that Justin BEAVER is boring!" I asked her who she thought Justin Bieber was. She said, "I think he is a rock star or something"

I am truly proud that she doesn't know for sure!

Best Sister Ever

I was just cleaning out my purse and found this note. A few weeks ago, we got a motel room in Provo and my mom, Stef, Mia, Madi, Saige, and I all went shopping. We had SO much fun. When we were packing up I found this note in the motel room (hence the Marriott paper!) and had to save it.
It has been so hard on all of us to have to split them up for school because they really are best friends. However, seeing how well Saige is doing (sarcasm intended) just proves to me that we are doing the right thing. Having twins sure makes things complicated sometimes but we wouldn't change it for the world. We love them so much!

Who knew?

Why didn't anyone tell me that day two would be worse?

I couldn't get Saige to stop crying today when I dropped them off at school. And last night she broke my heart when I asked her why she was scared and her response was, "YOU JUST LEFT US THERE"!

Well, today when I 'just left them there' Saige wasn't the only one crying. After doing so well yesterday, I can't stop crying today.

Any advice on what I can do to help her? She is SO sad and I feel like the most horrible mother in all the world.

Sad day for me :( First day of kindergarten

Where has the time gone? Seriously.

I hate it.

Today was so hard, but I did not cry (yet). It was heartbreaking. Saige looked like she was going to throw up when I left the classroom but neither of them cried. There was one boy in Saige's class that was FREAKING out! I felt so bad for his mom (and his teacher)!

I feel like an empty nester:(

HAWAII

WARNING: LOTS OF PICTURES

Hawaii was AMAZING! Having the girls there made it SO much fun. They were excited about everything. We went snorkeling and they did pretty well-all of those lessons in the pool (that they did not love) really paid off! We had a very lazy vacation-laid by the beach and pool a lot. The girls' favorite thing that we did was the Luau. We were all very sad to have to come home.

On the airplane-I bet Madi asked a million questions. "What is this button for? How much longer? Can you turn my light on? When do they bring us snacks?" On the way back I couldn't get her to go to sleep because she was afraid she was going to miss the snack! She is her mother's daughter!!

Mia did NOT love her first encounter with the sand

Then she decided to taste it!

Which made her turn into a mermaid!...


Just like her mom :)

Mia just kept saying, "No No No No No No"

She didn't like Grandma's snorkel mask!

Lunch at "California Pizza Chicken" (inside joke) in Kailua

Luau Fun

Madi and Saige with "The Chief"

Grandpa wearing Grandma's pool hat. Good thing he doesn't ever look at this blog-he would kill me for putting this on here!!

Pali Lookout

Matsumoto's

We LOVE Matsumoto's. My favorite is Melona with Ice Cream, of course!

Laie Temple

One of the only requests for the trip that my girls had was that they wanted to drink coconut milk! It was nasty but they said they liked it and drank the whole thing.

Swinging with Grandpa at the Hotel

Ready for Church. We ended up in a ward where they spoke Samoan. We didn't understand a thing they said but it was fun.

A turtle (or a Sumo wrestler?)

Crab

I had to get on my dad's shoulders to take these pictures. They made it SO big!

My favorite picture from the whole trip.