The twins....

Leighton is always so serious....Matthias has this new scrunched up nose smile whenever he is happy. He looks so much bigger than her in the picture...it doesn't help that he's sitting more forward than she is. Sometimes it's hard for me to remember that they're twins b/c they are nothing alike and I've always had a stereotype that twins are similar.

we got a new camera!

Here are the pictures i took on the way home from getting it! I'm sure I'll have more pictures to post this week. :)

a fun old pic....

I thought those of you who are not on facebook would appreciate seeing my current profile picture. I think it was my kindergarten pic, but I'm not positive. Anyways, my camera would cost 150 bucks to fix which we've decided not to pay for b/c we can get a better camera for that price than the one we had....although I am terribly sad to lose it, it was such a good one. So, I'm camera shopping and dying around the house when something cute comes up and I can't take a picture of it. I did get some video of Matthias trying to put Leighton's shoe on her foot a couple days ago...they were both cracking up at his attempts.

So, we've almost all had this stomach bug that Leighton had last sunday. Matthias seems to be the only one who has missed it...I hope that continues to be the case. I was hoping to have pictures of our visit with the Quillen's (who were supposed to spend a night in town with us this weekend) but b/c of our sick family it didn't work out (sad). Their 6 kids and our 5 would've been a fun chaotic picture to post...although I don't have a camera, so it wouldn't have happened anyways! :(

We're looking at a vision trip to Japan in September. Got passports for Tom and I and the babies...(that's a story in itself)...and just need to solidify dates and details.

We finished swim lessons last week....by the end of the week AJ was jumping in and swimming the 10 or so feet to the lifeguard. She could jump off the diving board and swim to the side! Josey was loving diving down in the deep end to retreive the rings that were being tossed down...and he and Kylie both were swimming laps (with a little difficulty, but they were making it across).

Anyways, that's us. thanks for checking in!! I'm a little lost without pictures.... hopefully we'll be back to normal in the next week or so.

i broke my camera.

Here's a shot of Matthias....I cut his hair recently, so he doesn't look quite as shaggy. :)

I dropped my camera at VBS last week. I am really bummed about it and there have been several things that have happened at home that I have reached for my camera only to remember that I don't have it anymore. I sent it to Nikon and they're going to tell me how much it'll cost them to fix it. If it's too much I guess I'll just wait for birthday money to buy a new one. Anyways, I don't know what this blog is going to look like while I'm camera-less....but, I guess we'll see! such a bummer.

Leighton was throwing up this morning. I'm really praying that it stays with her....although it seems highly unlikely that no one else in our family will get it. Stomach bugs are my most dreaded virus...I've been Lysol wiping down every knob and switch I can. :) headed for bed.....thanks for checking in!

AJ turned 4!!!

AJ's birthday was the first day of VBS last week....I felt a little bad b/c we spent the whole day at the church, our AC was out, so we weren't spending anytime at home...it was crazy, but we were able to have pizza and cake with some kids who stayed after VBS for a while to celebrate with us. Ashley Joy has been such a joy to our family....as many of you know we felt like we might've been finished with 3 kids and then decided that since Kylie and Josiah as so close in age that we wanted to have 1 more to be a buddy for AJ. We all know how that turned out! :) But....of all of our children, AJ has the sweetest and best personality to be the one in the middle. She loves being a big kid (she really didn't like being the youngest child before the babies came along) and gets along well with K and J (although she and J have their moments)...and she loves being a big sister and plays with the twins just as well as she does with the big kids. This year has been filled with Tom and I finding so much joy in AJ's sweet spirit, the way she runs/skips/jumps everywhere she goes, her cute little raspy voice and how she doesn't say her s's (I till want some pite...I still want some sprite), her love for her babies...matthias was always "her" baby...but now she calls leighton her baby, too. I am sooo thankful for our big 4 year old little girl....how blessed are we to have her as a part of our family.

VBS 2008!!!

It's been VBS week here for us...we're doing "Power Lab" which has been a lot of fun for the kids (and the adults). Tom is playing the role of 3 station leaders, so it's been a little insane for him (I'm just running around taking pictures which I enjoy, but am not interacting with the kids as much as I'd like to)....it's a bit of a mix that tomorrow is the last day....sad that it's done, but a little relieved that we made it to the end of the week. :) The babies have had babysitters all week long in the morning, so they're definitely ready to have life return to "normal".
AJ's preschool group...the "squeaky beakers"
Josiah's crew
Kylie's crew (somehow ended up to be 5 rising 3rd grade girls)
A shot of the fun diet coke + mint mentos experiment.

Not only has it been VBS week, but our AC was out from last Saturday to Wednesday (had to replace the entire unit), and as I was walking around taking pictures this week I dropped my digital camera (and it stopped working). Anyways, that's what we've been up to lately! The 3 older kids have week 2 of their swimming lessons next week, so we'll be headed to the public pool every morning next week. I can't believe that the kids start school in 5 weeks!!!

Today's playdate!

I have met the majority of my good playdate friends at storytime here in town. We went to see Ronald McDonald doing magic tricks yesterday afternoon and he reminded us about Wacky Wednesdays (49 cent hamburgers and 59 cent cheeseburgers). Anyways, we decided to set up lunch/playdate...I put some fries in the oven and we picked up some burgers and the kids ate and then played together while the mother's talked.

The big kids played Star Wars Monopoly....

The medium kids played my little ponies, and other girly things...

And the unpictured little kids took naps! :) It was a fun day...nice to add a few more kids to the already chaotic household. The adult conversation is much needed and a welcome change. I am blessed to have such good friends.