Elena's Piano Recital

Elena had a new teacher this year for piano lessons because her first teacher went off to college. Her teacher this year is my good friend Trisha Riggs. I know we are very lucky to have her as she wasn't able to accept very many students this year. We are so thankful for all the hard work and practice that Elena put in this year. Its never been a matter of trying to get Elena to practice, only we sometimes have to tell her- okay thats enough for today Elena, lets do something different! She truly has a passion for it and I really hope she can one day play as good as her teachers and be a teacher herself!





Elena played for us
The Entertainer and
Oh Canada

Dan also recorded the next student Carlie Riggs, I hope they don't mind!

I booked my blog!

I finally had my blog made into a book. This is truly the only form of family scrapbooking that I do. Well, except I do separate scrapbooks for the girls from birth to age 8 with hard copy pictures... all the cutting and pasting is sooooooo annoying. Thats why I love having a digital blog for my family. It is so much easier than cutting and pasting and buying stickers and all that.
The book is about 200 pages long and it covers about 4 years of our life. I went through a company called "shared book". They made it possible for me to delete all the dumb posts I didn't want included, and all the pictures they made the same size. The pictures might have been a bit too small in my opinion but at least they were crystal clear. I love it, I will continue to post every little special thing we do and order another book in 2 or 3 years time. In case you're wondering the book cost me 80 dollars, it is 8 by 10.

May = Preparation for twins

My sister and mother in law really wanted to see a picture of me at this point. As you can see my shirts no longer cover my massive belly, but AM I going to go out and buy more maternity shirts just for 2 or 3 weeks..... NO. I'm too stingy. Right now the babies still have funny presentation. Baby A on the bottom is breech in a sitting position and Baby A on top is transverse, meaning sideways. They are both over 4 pounds now and love to kick me all day long. Including my spine and ribs and hipbones and all sorts of other places that I never imagined a baby could get too. Sometimes they get hiccups at the same time, especially after I eat chocolate. Right now I am being monitored every 3 days with fetal monitoring or ultrasound. To make sure the babies are still sharing the placenta well. The chances of them being identical are very high seeing as they are sharing a placenta. However there is the chances that 2 placentas could have fused together, so as to appear as one. We won't know for sure till delivery. C section is scheduled for June 3rd, unless I go into labor before then. I have prepared 18 frozen casseroles and enough plastic dinnerware for at least two weeks. As well, we have recently bought 2 glider chairs, 4 bouncy seats, 2 cribs, 2 swings, carpet for our living room, 24 bottles, formula, change tables,.... the list goes on. I feel very prepared, the doctor has ordered me to rest at least for the next couple weeks so they don't come too early. At this point they would probably try to stop labor. Next week, they would probably deliver, but I would like to go as long as possible so the babies will be nice and big and healthy....



34 and a half weeks!


Same shirt.... but 19 weeks... :(

April

April seemed like it went by in a flash. Grama Lene came for a few more weeks with Grandma Rosy to finish the deal on their Ghost Ranch house and buy furnishings for it. Then Dan finally got started with his business called, "Brintcor". About a year in the making he finally got going with it. He and his sister are flipping houses here in Casa Grande. So far it has been very successful. But do I ever see Dan.... no. Right now he is flipping two more houses and wants to have them completed by the time twins are born. I have to say it is very impressive what can be done with a house that looks like a junkyard in just a matter of weeks. Dan is putting his heart and soul into this business in the hopes that one day he can quit his day job and do this full time. Which I think would be fantastic.



This is an after picture of the house he flipped in April. Imagine huge weeds overgrown everywhere, the trees totally overgrown, the garage door was definetly not a shiny white. The interior was a different story... they installed new flooring, paint, among other things. The backyard had 9 citrus trees and a heated pool, rv covering. It was quite a unique property in an ideal location. Dan had the place sparkling within three weeks and it sold with multiple offers in a matter of hours after it went on market. Lets hope for the same blessing again!



Me before my baby shower. 31 weeks, I think. My friends in the ward threw a baby shower for me and this is how great they are:
700 diapers
20 bottles of formula
a large bin full of blankets
and enough baby boy clothes for a year
I should have taken a picture of the diaper cake that Jen and Jocey made. It was so cute and creative, Dan just thought it was the neatest thing he'd ever seen. All the little car toys almost made him cry!



We also went to the Tucson zoo AGAIN, this time with Maysa's preschool. It is such a good little zoo though, perfect for small children.








Dan's 35th birthday.... This cake was but a short memory. It was completely devoured by the next morning. Who doesn't love black forest cake for breakfast!

Marching into March

In March we had some visitors. First Grandma Arlene from Canada came. And she ended up buying a house in Ghost Ranch. A nice house, for a nice little price. We are quite happy about it. They will mostly just use the house for a few weeks or months in the winter every year. Then for spring break we had my sister and her husband and 4 girls come visit for a week. It was really fun to have them here. We did so many fun things, the girls were in heaven visiting and playing with their cousins.


Isn't March a lovely month, it was perfect weather for breakfast under the gazebo...


The girls spent a good deal playing in this little pool. Unfortunately they were all burnt to a crisp after the first day.




I didnt' know the ostrich ranch was such a fun place. Kids love feeding animals and straight from the hand is even better. Except that the ostriches were a bit ferocious, I was even scared of them.












This has become an annual photo for us, I love the childrens hike at Picacho because a 2 yr old could do it! And if its a hot day, then it is more than enough for the kids, they enjoy it.


Of course we went to the Tucson zoo, and of course it was a hot day so of course the kids soaked themselves in the spray area... lots of fun



If you haven't been to the Mesquite groves pool in Chandler, then you are missing out. For only a dollar it is a fantastic pool. Play structure with slides, real waterslides, tube ride and dive pool with boards as well. It was kind of a cold day when we went so there was hardly anyone there. I guess in the summertime, this pool fills to capacity almost every day. The kids just didn't want to leave.







28 weeks...... getting nice and round, you should see me now



ZeeZee and AL
Ruby, Lilah, Norah, Maggie
Villago Park



Me and Dan at Villago with our family of 7...... wow 7!


It was fun having my sister and family come for their annual visit... wish they could have stayed longer.

February Surprises!

A few days after we got back from our trip to Vegas I went for my first ultrasound. By that time, I was 21 weeks into the pregnancy. I was a bit nervous going in because my mind had been made up that we were going to have another sweet little girl, and she would be an absolute blessing. I had an inkling something was different with this pregnancy, I felt bigger than usual, but ignored that and actually laughed out loud at my friend when he suggested "maybe its twins". I said- don't curse me! This pregnancy I didn't crave sugar at all, had very little morning sickness and just felt different altogether. So after about 10 seconds the technician said, " so you know there's two" Dan and I burst out laughing and said "WHAT, you have to be JOKING". Then she said- you seriously didn't know there's two? She was astounded I was so far along and didn't know I was having twins. Then she said, do you want to know their gender? YES OF COURSE! After she informed us they are definetly both boys, we started crying and laughing at the same time. What a shock. Dan had a monstrous permanent smile on his face for the next week. I was so happy, mostly for him, because I know how badly he wanted a boy. I didn't care so much, as long as they are healthy. The girls were happy to hear we were having twins, but disappointed that they weren't girls. In fact one day Maysa asked me if the babies could hear her and I said yes so she yelled at my tummy, "BABIES, CHANGE INTO GIRLS RIGHT NOW!" I laughed and laughed.
Right now we are still 2 or 3 weeks away from delivery but everyone is excited and we are so prepared!





THese are the only pictures we have where you can see the twins together in the womb. So sweet. We decided to name them Jasper and Jayden. Right now I about 35 weeks. Baby A is still breech and Baby B is still sideways, so its looking very much like a c section for me. We have that scheduled for June 3rd, I will be 38 weeks. But I could go into labor before then... you never know.

January to May.....

Its been too long since I last posted. This is the only form of family scrapbook I have so I figure I had better keep up on it. I do scrapbooks for the girls from newborn to 8 yrs and I just barely finished all I could do with those. I have been feeling a frantic rush to get things done and accomplished before the babies arrive. So starting in January.......





So my dad came to visit us for a few days in January. That was nice, the weather wasn't too warm, as you can see we spent a lovely day at the Tucson zoo.

Then.......
the last week in January we met up with Dan's sister Lillian and kids Chanel and Paris in Las Vegas. It was quite a fun little trip.
We spent alot of time at the resort pool cause thats what kids like to do best.... swim. It was such a cold weekend, I think when we went swimming it was only 64 degrees, but kids don't notice cold when it comes to fun.









We spent alot of time walking around the strip at night. I don't know where I got the energy cause it was such a big place. We took pictures at the luxor hotel and this jellybelly statue of liberty I just loved. Jelly Bellies may be responsible for half my cavities....








We were in Vegas during Maysa's birthday so we had a bash for her at the resort, then we spent the rest of the day partying at circus circus. SHe turned 4 years old, got lots of fun clothes and books and webkinz for gifts. Maysa still talks about it, like it was the best day of her life. She loved the frog hopper ride, I think they went on it at least 10 times in a row. FUN day...





What happens in Vegas..... you get a picture taken with pirates of course....



A fun filled month, we loved it.