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I had another ultrasound today, to check the fluid. I guess the doctor wanted to make sure the twins were sharing and being fair with things. He’s pretty sure there is only one placenta so unless he’s mistaken, it looks like we’re going to be having two of the same, whatever sex they are. Afterwards I took the boys to playgroup which ended up being lots of fun. Kami set up her slip-n-slide on a hill which the boys absolutely loved and of course, there were popsicles and the boys love popsicles.

After playgroup we had lunch at Dairy Queen because it was close by and it was hot and I’m pregnant and “why not?” And then we headed to Michael’s Craft Store to get a few things for a summer project we’ve been working on for the Fourth of July. By the time we got home, Chris was here to pick up Megan much to the boys’ dismay. So after Caleb had a little nap we went outside to clean the chickens’ coops and play a bit. The chickens are getting so big and they are so beautiful. I can’t wait until they start laying me some eggs.

After swinging in the hammock with Caleb and Denver and snapping a few pictures of Mark playing with Caleb, I noticed some exciting happenings in our garden. Our squash is beginning to blossom and our Sugar Snap Peas had several pods ready to be picked. The boys were so excited. We all just stood around picking peas and eating them right there on the driveway. Then the boys proceeded to offer the peas to any passerby that stopped long enough to hear what was being offered. They are finally reaping some of the rewards of all their hard work out there in the garden. It’s so exciting. Between the garden and our chickens I feel a little bit like a farmer and I kind of like that feeling.

Anyway, yesterday after picking Mark up from the train I just sat in the car crying because the thought of two more babies has me absolutely petrified. I hardly feel like I can meet the needs of the four babies I already have, let alone two more. And the work. . . oh the work. But today as we ate dinner and enjoyed Hunter’s homemade jam and the peas we grew in our garden and discussed the future of our chickens and all the fun plans we have for the summer I didn’t feel so worried about what lies ahead, just happy for the blessings we already have. And somehow I felt reassured that the boys have everything they need to be happy and they aren’t deprived in anyway. All of the hard work Mark and I do on a daily basis isn’t for naught and it’s doing all of us some real good. And that made me feel very happy indeed and very thankful for all of the blessings the Lord sends us, whether we’ve asked for them or not.

So Hunter was really sick for about three days. His blood sugar sky-rocketed and Friday night I thought for sure we were headed for the Emergency Room. Barfing all day is one thing. Barfing all day when you have diabetes and are peeing out every last drop of fluid you have left in you is a whole other thing. Anyway, by Monday he seemed to be alright and his blood sugars finally returned to normal. Of course, we’ve also been blessed with several rainy days in a row which means summer vacation has been sort of a flop so far.

Today, however, the skies cleared and the sun burned bright and we managed to get out and about for awhile. First we had to go to the library to return some overdue material and get Hunter started on their summer reading program. Going to the library is hardly my idea of fun. Taking four boys who like to run and scream and climb all over the place to a place where none of that is allowed is kind of like volunteering to let the dentist pull your teeth out one by one without pain medicine. I was dripping with sweat five minutes into it. Of course it doesn’t help that they don’t have A/C. Anyway, Noah and Denver decided they wanted to sign up for the reading program too. I later concluded that it wasn’t because they wanted to read books and develop some extra brain power. No, it was because they wanted to spin the noisy wheel they had been told not to touch for the past several years. But we signed them up anyway and they each spun the wheel twice and off we went to the Non-Fiction books to find something they all can read and understand. Hunter picked some book about “I can be a woman engineer” which was definitely something he could read all by himself but left me feeling baffled and frustrated. Were we there to read and learn or to get by with the bare minimum. I mean, did he even look at the title and did he even look two sections over where all the space exploration books were? Aaarrgghh!

I ran back and forth collecting one kid at a time, trying to help them find their books as well as other books they were interested in. Hunter wanted Cross-Section books, Noah wanted volcano books and Denver wanted truck books. Thank goodness the good librarians were in today and after being unsuccessful at finding any good Cross-Section books, I sent Hunter to ask one of them for help. He happily returned with three and was grinning ear to ear. Megan (my niece) helped tote Caleb and books around and I think both of us were extremely happy to be leaving when the time came.

As we walked outside, Denver pointed out that today was hot and sunny and that we really should be at the Lake. I agreed and we returned home for a quick lunch and swimsuits. Off to the Lake and a little bit of sun and sand. We ended up staying two hours and the best part of my entire day was when Hunter said, as we were leaving, “When can we do that again!?” Success–I had actually made someone happy. Tomorrow and the rest of the week is forcasted rainy and cloudy. So we’re off to the free movies tomorrow and crossing our fingers that Mr. Weatherman is wrong, which out here, he usually is and that would be a very good thing.

Noah is very much like a roller coaster these days. Up one minute, down the next. His temper is red-hot. But he has a sweet side that can melt you like butter. A few days ago I made this really great Pear Lime Jello. It’s more like dessert than a side dish but we eat it as a side dish because that’s just the kind of people we are. Anyway, after I had it all mixed up I gave Noah and Denver the bowl to scrape out. Denver was fine until Noah took over the scraping, leaving very little left for Denver to enjoy. So I intervened and told Noah he needed to take turns scraping. To which Noah responded with, “BACK OFF!” Now, all of our boys have gotten a bit mouthy lately and we’re trying to correct that so, I immediately went to confiscate the spoon and tell Noah he was done scraping the bowl. Well, when he saw me coming at him he scraped up as much green jello gook as he could on that little spoon of his and. . . he threw it at me. Whoa! Talk about scary. I ended up dragging the boy, kicking and screaming up to his room. Mr. Hyde. . .is that you?

A few hours later, I sat down to feed Caleb a bottle. Noah and Denver were watching television and as I went to sit on the couch I asked if either of them had seen Caleb’s silkie. Then I remembered it was upstairs in my bed and said, “Nevermind.” Noah immediately jumped up off the couch and said, “I’ll get it!” Keep in mind, I didn’t even ask him to do it. He just automatically volunteered. So he ran upstairs and not only got Caleb’s silkie but Denver’s special ble-ble too, just because. Dr. Jekyll returns.

I’m not sure what’s happened to or changed in Noah. But it’s amazing to me how quickly he can go from anger to pure bliss to anger all over again. Guess it’s all just a part of growing up and still being so little all at the same time. Either that or I need to spend a little more time with him–that always seems to do the trick for Noah. A little bit of extra TLC.

Hunter is really sick today. Some stomach bug. The poor thing can’t keep a thing down–not that a popsicle and two ounces of Dr. Pepper count for much. He can’t seem to sleep either–his stomach hurts too much. Just goes to show. . . not every day of summer vacation is fun. Just didn’t expect it so soon. Hmmpphh!

Anyway, I’ve been meaning to post a few fast and easy summer meals that we especially love around here. Today seems like a good day to do it, considering I’m not going to have much time to cook up anything fancy for dinner. Hopefully they’ll come in handy next time you’re having “one of those days” when everything seems to go “not your way.”

Chicken Pita Sandwhiches
4 cooked chicken breasts torn into bite-size pieces
Miracle Whip or Mayo (whichever your family prefers)
Salt and Pepper, to taste
Pita bread, cut in half to form pockets
Cucumber, sliced
Tomato, chopped into small pieces

Mix the Miracle whip and torn chicken breasts together just like you’re making a tuna fish sandwhich. Salt and Pepper. That’s it. Stuff the pita bread with the chicken, cucumbers and tomato and enjoy. Great with watermelon and corn on the cob or Creamy Frozen Fruit Salad.

BBQ Chicken in Tortillas
4 Cooked chicken breasts torn into bite-size pieces
Bottle of BBQ sauce
Shredded cheddar or colby-jack cheese
Sour cream or Mayonnaise (whichever your family prefers)
Tortillas

Mix the chicken with the BBQ sauce. Serve in warm tortillas with sour cream and cheese. Again, great with watermelon and corn on the cob or Creamy Frozen Fruit Salad.

Creamy Frozen Fruit Salad
Fruit of your choice, cut into bite-size pieces. I used:
Watermelon
Grapes, Cut in half
Blueberries
Maraschino Cherries, cut in half
Crushed Pineapple, drained
Strawberries, cut in half
Bananas

Mix the fruit with 1-2 small cartons of Cool Whip. I used 2 because I made a really large batch of salad, since I’m trying to stock up for Baby Mayhem once again, but one is probably plenty. In a separate bowl combine 8 ounces of cream cheese with 3/4 cup sugar. It was a little thick so I added some strawberry puree (since I had some on hand). Lemon juice would also do the trick. Stir the cream cheese mixture into the fruit. Pour into a loaf pan and freeze. Slice and serve. Really yummy.

Yesterday was Hunter’s last day of school. Hallelujah! No more getting up early and running myself ragged before 8:00am. I love lazy summer days and wearing our pajamas till noon and watching the boys turn brown and eating popsicles in the hammock with my babies and watching the kids chase fireflies in the evening with Mark sitting by me in our big, rusty porch swing. That’s what I call Heaven!

So anyway. . . we kicked off the summer with playgroup in our backyard. Hunter chose a new slip-n-slide for his end-of-the-school-year treat and we fired that up along with the kiddie pool and several water guns. We had the biggest turn out to playgroup yet and it was so much fun. Even Caleb braved the slip-n-slide and crawled right across the entire two lane slide, sprinkler and all, in order to get to the swingset. We had popsicles and lemonade and granola bars and lounged around until well after lunch time. It was fabulous! I tell ya, there’s something therapeutic about getting together with friends and just chatting for awhile. I definitely need to do that more often.

After our friends had gone we retreated indoors and sat in front of the A/C for awhile. I forced the boys into working on a summertime journal and managed to fold several piles of laundry while they played their computer games. After dinner we returned outside to clean the chickens’ coops and squirt their poop off the porch and play a bit. Denver is our “Poop-inator” and loves to hose down the porch and driveway and free us of all the chickens’ droppings. Noah pushed Caleb in the swing to earn a dollar to pay off a new gadget he got at Target. And Hunter invented the “Flying Rocking Chair.” (See Picture of Denver.) I only wish I was five years old so I could sit in it awhile.

When I could stand the humidity no longer, we returned indoors once again where I finally got around to making that strawberry pudding (and some chocolate pudding for Denver.) I thought it was the perfect ending to our first day of summer vacation. But then Mark came home from Elder’s Quorum meeting and announced that the fireflies were out and I love the fireflies. So we watched the fireflies for a little bit and then our first day of summer break really was complete. I know not every day is going to be this fabulous but I sure am glad for the days that are this wonderful. Noah is already wishing summer was over and that Hunter was back in school because he knows when Hunter goes, he goes and he can hardly stand the wait. But I think I can wait awhile longer and I hope the summer goes really slow. My heart aches at the thought of another one of my babies growing up and going off to school. I’ll sure miss him come the end of summer.

P.S. Did you know that Fireflies need humidity almost more than they need air to breathe? It’s true. So the next time you catch fireflies in a jar, make sure you give them a wet papertowel, even before you worry about punching holes in the lid. They’ll thank you for it.

Mark introduced Caleb to the piano a few weeks ago and he immediately fell in love with it. On a daily basis, I have to put Caleb in his highchair, in front of the keys so he can play. He especially loves it when someone sits next to him and plays and sings loudly. He thinks it’s hilarious. Today, Caleb got tired of waiting for the highchair and decided he didn’t need it (or me) to play the piano. And with a little bit of stretching and reaching, he did just that, all by himself.

I thought I had lost this video clip several months ago, when I was cleaning old files off of my computer. What a surprise to find. Anyway, there’s something about the way Denver is trying so hard to be like his Daddy that I couldn’t resist posting it here for Father’s Day. It will never cease to amaze me, how desperately our little boys love you Mark and want so much to be like you. You are such a wonderful father and such a great example for them. May their little feet grow to fit in your shoes and may they end up just like you. In that, they can never go wrong. Happy Father’s Day “Daddy” and I love you!

Unfortunately I have no pictures of the boys in the actual process of picking the strawberries. We seem to have a million cameras laying around the house but none of them are currently usable. Either the batteries are dead or we don’t have a memory card or we’re out of film. It’s the same thing with computers–we have a lot of them but all of them have their ticks–some are missing keys, some don’t have keys that work, one has a virus, one doesn’t have the internet, one you can’t play Starcraft on, etc. But with that said, we did have a great time picking strawberries. It was overcast and cool (which is perfect berry picking weather) and came home with 20+ pounds of ripe red and juicy strawberries. Caleb was content most of the time climbing all over me while I tried to pick berries but he did manage to make his way over to my basket where he helped himself to a berry or two. Reminded me of Blueberries for Sal only Stawberries for Caleb instead. Little rascal. Hunter worked his little bottom off and picked this whole basket of strawberries on his own.

Noah and Denver happily padded along behind Chris and Ben and managed to pick enough beautiful berries to make this delicious concoction of which we’ll be serving to the missionaries tomorrow:

And I couldn’t resist making some of these of which I ate more than my allotted three servings but enjoyed every bite of:

Hunter refused to let me touch his strawberries because he’s saving them to make Strawberry Jam for his end-of-year gift to Mrs. H. So looks like we’ll be making some Jam tomorrow and of course, it’s not strawberry season if we don’t have some of Mark’s Homemade Strawberry Pudding. So, the strawberry eating festivities will continue for a few more days and then it’s time for Blueberries Season. I can almost taste that Homemade Blueberry Pie already. Yum!

Mark’s Homemade Strawberry Pudding

1 cup strawberry puree
3-1/2 Tbsp. cornstarch
2/3 cup sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
1-2/3 cups milk
1/3 cup cream
1 tsp. vanilla

Warm strawberry puree in microwave (about 1 to 1-1/2 minutes). Set aside. Mix dry ingredients together in saucepan. Gradually add milk and cream, stirring constantly over medium to high heat. Heat until pudding thickens and cook for 1 additional minute. Remove from heat and let cool 5-10 minutes before adding strawberry puree. Add vanilla and mix well. Serve warm or chilled.

Our ultrasound went well today. No alarming discoveries. Both babies seem to be doing well and are very active. Baby A weighed in at a whopping 9 ounces and Baby B, an astounding 8 ounces. We even had the priviledge of watching Baby B kick Baby A repeatedly in the nose. I assume the same was happening on the other end of things–we just couldn’t see both at the same time.

Anyway, we decided we didn’t want the Ultrasound Tech or the Doctor to tell us what we were having. That didn’t mean we weren’t looking though. After Baby A’s examination, Mark was sure he’d seen a boy. I hadn’t seen it and of course, the Tech wouldn’t deny or confirm anything. So, after Baby B’s examination (of which neither Mark nor I saw anything) the Doctor came in to do his job. At that point both Mark and I were convinced Baby A is a boy. Again we saw nothing on Baby B either way. The Doctor also denied seeing anything at all on either baby. Right. After further exploration, the Doctor started thinking he could see only one placenta and for all of you who don’t know what that means (I didn’t), it means Identical Twins. Of course, he couldn’t tell for sure but the way the umbilical cords came off the placenta(s), he definitely thought it looked as though they were sharing only one. With all that said, we still have no idea (at least nothing positive) what we’re having. But then again, can you ever really be 100% sure until they’re born? I didn’t think so.

So. . . we have another ultrasound in two weeks to check the babies’ fluid since the Doctor thinks they are sharing a placenta and he wants to make sure everything is fair and square. Then another ultrasound in four weeks to make sure they are gaining weight. Apparently all these ultrasounds are common with twin pregnancies and I’ll be having them at least monthly until they are born. Maybe if I take all four kids with me and no husband, they’ll start bringing the machine to me instead. That would sure be easier. They also said the average duration of a twin pregnancy is 36 weeks and all I can say about that is “music to my ears!” I have a feeling though, since I seem to have a uterus of steel, those babies won’t come until the doctor decides to take them, which I’m assuming will be around 38 weeks. Here’s hoping my back (that is already killing me) will hold up another 17 weeks.

Now without further ado–meet Baby A and Baby B.