If the truth be told...

This is what it's REALLY been like at our house for the past 2 weeks:

Black eyes- Self inflicted wound

Super cranky babies throwing tons of temper-tantrums, particularly from the happy little guy above! (I just don't have as many pictures to prove it!)

Too many sick kids

Babies pooping in the bathtub almost everytime I put them in. (Arrrgggh) I didn't think a poopy bathtub picture was appropriate so this one will do.

Way too many sleepless nights!! Don't have a picture of that one either but trust me, it wouldn't be pretty. I'm so tired, my eyeballs actually ache. I can hardly wait for the day that I get to sleep 8 hours uninterrupted, oh, what am I saying, 4 hours uninterrupted would be a stinking miracle!

And....if there was a picture of me next, I would probably have a very grumpy look on my face with a caption such as this, "Calgon, take me away, NOW"!

Just for the record though, I'm not complaining! Ha ha ha ha!

Wishin' we had leaves!

My kids feel cheated because our trees aren't big enough to unload gigantic piles of leaves for them to play in and rake up. So, we've gone to a couple of our ward member's homes and played in their leaves and raked up a few bags while we were at it. I forgot to take my camera the evening that I had all the kids with me so I only have picks of the 4 little ones. Sorry, Regan and
Morgan!

The babies liked Gina's doorstep better than the leaves. And Porter loved the rake, he tried whacking Jordy and Kaleb a time or two. He wasn't going to let his purple gloves define his manhood!

Jordyn and Kaleb loved being buried in the leaves and running as fast as they could in to the center of the pile.

I've been trying hard lately to live in the moment with my kids. I feel like I always tell them "no" or "maybe another day" and sometimes forget that the little moments such as these are what bring kids joy.

Monkey See, Monkey Do

I was waiting in the checkout line yesterday with the kids & Kamryn was sitting in the cart watching the man behind us. Suddenly he lets out this gigantic sneeze and then proceeded to blow his nose very loudly. Kamryn looks at me with a huge grin and then put both hands up to her nose and blows as hard as she can and ends up with a hand full of boogers. It was seriously disgusting, but so stinking funny! Jordyn and I couldn't stop laughing and of course, Kamryn thought she was hilarious. Oh, and in case you are wondering, I cleaned her up with wet wipes and used the complimentary Clorox wipes to clean up the cart. Swine flu has got us all a little obsessive compulsive about germs.

Oh.....while on the subject of noses and boogers, this just reminded me of what Kaleb said this morning, "mom, my nose has a runny nose." Cute!

One Boy, One Girl

This boy, LOVES this girl! My dream of having these two little people be best friends is coming true. Sure, they fight over toys a lot, they push one another down on occasion, and have even been known to bite one another, but they really do love each other. It's apparent in their many spontaneous hugs throughout the day & their boogy kisses they so willingly plant on one another!! My favorite is when one wakes up before the other, one excitedly waits by the door for the other one at the first sound and waits for me to open the door. The grins on their faces is worth a million bucks. It's these moments that make all the "other" moments worth it.

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Pheeewww.., that's done!

We've been meaning to get family pictures done all summer and just haven't done it for many a reasons. But, thanks to Kara (our neighbor and photographer) dropping the occasional hint, like, Cindy, do you realize we only have approximately 3 weeks of good weather left. I've decided that spur of the moment pictures really are the best, atleast for us. We literally had 1 hour to get everyone dressed and ready. We'd been canning all day which meant we were a serious mess but the weather was beautiful (a bit nippy) but no wind, and just plain gorgeous. So, we borrowed a few clothing items from Kara, scrounged up some things in the closet, quickly combed through everyone's hair, pasted smiles on our faces, and out the door we went. The whole photo shoot took approximately 30 minutes, much to DJ's enjoyment. We got some cute shots and everyone survived the slightly cold bite in the air which explains the gritted teeth and shrugged shoulders. Oh well, we're all in the picture and they are done!!! Really, I'm just so relieved to have them done and thanks to Kara being at our beckon call. She is amazing!!

Conference Weekend in Cokeville

I mentioned a bit about our weekend with DJ's parents where we celebrated Jordyn's B-Day but I didn't get to share some of the other highlights of the weekend. We enjoyed a relaxing 3 days with little interruptions with mom and dad Teichert. The kids feel completely at home at Grandma's and make frequent stops to her cookie jar and candy dish. It didn't take Porter long to figure out where the "goods" were and nothing was going to stand in his way of a yummy cookie. I think we caught him near the cookie jar at least 30 times where he would point and coax until we'd give in. Which wouldn't take long, who can resist a little begger, especially one with big blue eyes and an adorable face to go with them.

He figured out how to push the stool over all on his own!

The kids waiting with much anticipation as Grandma opens up a bag of candy corn! The babies were first in line. They LOVE candy, hmmmm.. I wonder where they get that from???

DJ and Porter chillin' watching conference. I love Conference weekend because it is literally the only time I get to see my husband relax and enjoy himself. Pretty sad, huh?

Kaleb decided to take in a session of conference by osmosis. Funny thing is, he fell asleep at the very beginning and woke up right after the closing song. I won't lie, he was pretty happy when he found out he'd slept through the entire thing. Hopefully he learns to love Conference someday!

Regan took the kids out exploring on the ranch. My kids love visiting Cokeville and love the freedom to roam and explore. It reminds me so much of my days growing up on a ranch. I'm kind of sad that my kids don't get to have that same childhood. But, thank goodness for the occassional visit to Grandma & Grandpa T's. These are just a few of the 50 + photo's Regan snapped. She's addicted to the camera, in fact, everytime I go to upload pictures, there are always random photo's that I know I didn't take. I won't complain though, because she really has taken some cute pictures of the kids.

cute conversations with the little guy! (Kaleb)

Me: "How was school today, Kaleb?"
Kaleb: "Oh, it was fun, there was tator tots there"
Me: "Really, did you eat them?"
Kaleb: (looking at me like I'm a wierdo) "No, I rode on them!"
Me: (My turn to look it him like he's a wierdo) Then it dawns on me, he means, "teeter totter" "Oh, you got to ride on the teeter totter!"
Kaleb: "Yep, and it was fun, fun, fun,"

DJ told Kaleb he would be giving him his haircut in a couple of hours. Kaleb doesn't love haircuts and started to whine so DJ told him he could choose to have a spanking or a haircut (jokingly, of course.)" Kaleb chose a spanking, and he was not joking!

Kaleb asked me for a piece of gum and I told him he could have one if he split it with me. He tried to split it in half but instead ended up with one very big piece and one very tiny piece. He brought the big one to me and told me I could have the big part. Awwwww!!! That's precisely why I love this little guy.

I cut my finger today and let out a little yelp. Kaleb came over to comfort me and said, "it's okay, mom, just be brave."

While I was at my Relief Society meeting the other night, DJ was busy rearranging the girls bedrooms. Kaleb excitedly said, "dad, mom is going to be so impressed." The cutest thing was that he wasn't even getting anything done to his room but he was totally excited for the girls.

Hmmm...do you think we need to get out more? (part 2)

Add Teton Toyota to our list of family vacation spots.

I took the van in to get new front brakes with my 3 little side kicks in toe. Kaleb's face was filled with excitement when saw their fun toy room. The babies were entertained by the toys for a few minutes and then the remainder of the time was spent crawling on top of every piece of furniture they had. But, the most exciting thing for Kaleb was when the guy at the desk offered him a "fwee" cup of hot chocolate. (we won't crush the little guy by telling him it actually cost $220.00) Anyway, I think he was just as excited as Jordyn was about her exciting escalator ride. Kaleb kept saying, "mom, sanks for taking me to dis place," over and over again. How cute is that??

I think when we actually make a trip to Disney World, our kids will think we are the greatest parents that ever lived! Until then, I'll fill their days with fun trips to places such as the dry cleaner, dentist office, and if they're extra lucky, the copy store.

Fall Swimming Lessons

We put the kids in Fall swimming lessons at the Apple and they've been having a ball. As an added bonus, the classes are small, so the kids get more teacher time. I can't believe the improvement in just (7)- 1/2 hour classes. I'm contemplating another 8 weeks if I can muster any strength. I've been getting in with the babies and doing the parent-taught class. Luckily it's taught by a lady that I visit teach so if the babies are in good moods, she'll help me with one or the other. They LOVE the water and seem to have very little fear. Kamryn loves jumping off the side and attempts to drown herself atleast 1 or 2 times during the class. She has absolutely no fear so I have to keep eyes on her at all times.


These pictures pretty much stink but it's the best I could do holding the twins while juggling the camera at the side of the pool. The very dark picture of Morgan on the bottom right was captured "mid-belly flop." This kid is a nut, she loves doing them over and over again and comes up laughing everytime. Although, tonight she ended up with a stomachache. Duh!! (just kidding, Morgan)

Happy B-Day, Jordy

The big "6"! How can it be??? This is a defining age for kids, my kids that is. I'm not sure why, but it's just a big deal so I just go with it. Jordyn had been on the count down for her B-day for approximately 3 months prior to the big day which happened to be last weekend. (I'm late, surprise, surprise. Most conversations with people, even perfect strangers, would go something like this: "Guess what?" My B-day is not this month, not next month, not the next month, but the next month." "I'm soooooooooooooo excited!" (ending with a high pitched squeel) I couldn't help but grin at her enthusiasm. We celebrated the big day in Cokeville with Grandma and Grandpa Teichert. Jordyn's our General Conference baby so we always get to celebrate her
B-Day in between sessions of Conference and we're generally in Cokeville since that's about the only full weekend we can get away to visit. Lucky Jordyn!! She had a great B-Day, loved opening all of her fun presents, loved her castle cake, loved all the attention, and just loved that it was her day.


Anyone who knows Jordyn, knows that she is full of personality! She's full of expression, she's animated and ultra enthusiastic about almost everything (except when it comes to the dinner menu). She likes about 50% of the meals that I cook and chokes down that other half. She loves clothes, hair do's, headbands, stretchy pants, fries, ice cream, candy, school, talking, playdates, drawing, homemade bread, visits from grandparents, movie parties, and the list could go on! She spends hours every day drawing pictures and is becoming quite the little artist. Her pictures are detailed and colorful and usually very symetrical. She loves to draw girls with cute outfits and big houses with lots of rooms but when she's bored with that she'll ask me for ideas or she'll look at books or magazines for ideas. I'm frankly a little alarmed that she already loves clothes, hair, purses, etc. Should I be nervous for the teenage years??


Some of my favorite things about Jordyn is her ability to talk to anyone young or old, she's not afraid to strike up a conversation with the lady standing next to us in the grocery line and usually has them laughing within seconds. She loves to snuggle, gives gigantic choking hugs, and she tries really hard to choose the right. We love having you in our home, Jordyn! We hope you have a great year being 6!!!

Here are some of her favorite things she's drawn:

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