What do you DO all day!

I've done this post a few times, but it seems that over the last few weeks I have been asked this quite a bit. It may have something to do with the fact that this is my second year having all four of the kids at home. Since I decided not to do a preschool this year, the twins are with me 24/7 whether they like it or not ;-) Most days it doesn't seem like I get a whole lot done between breakfast, lunch and dinner. I'll do a little "daily schedule"

5:30-6am: Run. I try to run 4-5 days a week. It helps with my sanity. It seems that the day goes a little smoother if I'm able to wake up and get in some miles. Paul got me a GPS watch that I love! It's pretty dark in the morning, but it's so much nicer to run when it's cool!
6-6:30: the kids get up. Sometimes it's a little earlier than this. It sure makes for a long day when they're up, but sometimes it means that they'll take good naps! I'm a morning person, so I don't really mind the early wake up. It's the 8 am whining that I could do without!
6:30-7: Breakfast. The kids like hot breakfasts. I have yet to convince them of the goodness of Cheerios. So, it's pancakes, waffles, french toast, toast, or banana bread. Elin will eat oatmeal and yogurt with fruit. Ewan will do yogurt and fruit. But the twins are "give me carbs with syrup!"At least they're eating.
7: Paul usually leaves for work around 7. If he has early meetings, he's gone before 6:30.
8: I've been trying to keep Elin in her bed until 8 since she's been struggling without a morning nap. If she takes a morning nap, it takes our walk to the park time out of the day. If we skip the nap, she's the saddest thing around 10 that ever was.
8:30: I try to hop in the shower around this time. I try to get them distracted enough that I can take a 5 minute shower. It can get a little difficult when they find me. Ewan has learned how to use his night-light to unlock doors...No lock stops that little man!
9-9:30: We try to get to the park. We either walk and play or go for a long walk around the block. It can take us upto an hour to walk the mile loop. We chase butterflies, take turns pushing the wagon, walk as slow as we possible can...sometimes we meet friends and enjoy some adult conversation...!
10:30-11: we make it home and cool off with drinks. I let them watch a short PBS show while I make lunch. We eat pretty early because we eat breakfast pretty early. We're usually done with lunch by 11:45.
12: Wind down before naps. They'll play in the playroom or color while I clean up, and then put Elin down. Sometimes, they get to watch another show.
12:15: Nap time! It is one of the most important times of day. Elin is really easy (she's in the crib). The other three aren't too bad. We go potty, read a story, and then we all lay quietly. Yes, I lay with all of them on the girls' bed. It can take anywhere from 5-30 minutes to get all of them to sleep, but it is worth it. I tried to have the twins just do quiet-time, but they were a mess by 4. We've tried no naps to see if they'd sleep past 6:30. We have concluded that it doesn't matter what time they go to bed, they wake up early! I think I'm going to keep the naps for as long as I can.Sometimes, it's a challenge to get all three asleep while all three want to touch you, but do not want any part of them or their belongings to touch each other! :-/
1-3: I get all the stuff done. I prep for dinner, fold laundry, clean bathrooms, organize drawers, pick up toys, load dishes, pin, blog, and sometimes I fall asleep with them.
3:30: They wake up. Sometimes it's a little earlier, sometimes it's a little later. Elin has been sleeping for a little while longer since she doesn't get the morning nap.
4:Play. We play a lot, but this is about the time that they play the most. Or, they cling! It seems that if one wakes up sad, the whole lot of them want to sit on me. But, they can play forever! On the clingy days, I have to just sit and hold. I try to read to them, or we just kind of relax on the floor.
4:30-5: Dinner. We've been eating early. Paul's usually home around 6, if we're lucky. So, we eat when we're hungry. I try to have everything prepped so I can throw it together, put it in the oven, or whatever before 5.
6: Baths.
7: bedtime routine of bathroom, stories, hugs and kisses, prayers, and good nights.
7:15: bedtime routine of bathroom, stories, hugs and kisses, and good nights ;-)
7:30: hugs and kisses, and good nights ;-)
8: good nights
And in the less than 12 hours, we do it all over again! It really is great being a mom! I wouldn't change it for anything.

Ready for Church

Breakfast

Cheese!

She's just so cute!

The benches Paul built for the playroom. We have shelves now too.

Ewan's lunch. He bumped his ear and had to have a bandaid. I kept thinking he had a bluetooth device...!

Elin's lunch. She's getting cleaner and eating on her own.

Aislee

Olivia

Naptime!

Naptime!

Running gear.

The fort.

Inside the fort.

Another breakfast shot!

Princesses

Building a castle

We moved in the kitchen to the living room so the table could be in the playroom for "Mom-School"

Elin loves swimsuits! She always wants to have one on over her clothes.

Ice cream post-family pictures

Ewan's picture preview

Aislee

Olivia

Elin

Me...

More castles

Picnic dinner up Madera Canyon

Saddest baby ever!

Not-so sad baby and handsome Daddy.

With Daddy

The moon

Big Bag Wolf

The smartest little piggy (bricks)

Rarrr!

The three little piggies and the big bad wolf.

She's getting to be very independent.

She says it looks owey, but it doesn't feel owey. Aislee bumped her cheek on a corner while running "super fast".

ready for Church with Daddy

The girls. It got a little breezy up the Canyon.

We're still alive!

It's been a while since I've posted. September has been a busy month. Here's our recap. I turned 27. Yeah, I know...I'm getting closer to 30. One weekend, as I was taking our babysitter home we were talking about stuff and she mentioned that someone in the ward turned 30. And then she quickly said, "I never want to turn 30!" I guess when you're 12, 30 is pretty old! I'm not really scared of turning 30. But, 31 is a whole other story! I got new running shoes, a GPS watch (finally!), a running belt so I don't have to lug my big water bottle running pack around all the time, gift cards, and plenty of hugs and kisses. That same day, Elin had a little accident at church. We thought she might have pulled her elbow or shoulder out of the socket. So, I took her to the Urgent Care during the last two hours. It was a first visit ever to Urgent Care! She was so sad! And, so was I. They did an x-ray, and it came back normal. By the time they got the x-ray back, she was moving her arm normally, had stopped crying, and got a Popsicle from the nurses. We're glad it was normal! On Monday (Labor Day), Paul took me out on a date. We went to Lowe's for two hours and talked about house projects. I don't think we got something to eat since it was during the day, but we had a good time making lists (!!) of projects we'd like to do in the house, and outside of the house. The following week, Paul left for a business trip to Connecticut. It was really his first business trip, but will probably not be his last. I thought about going to Utah while he was gone, but ended up staying home. It was pretty hot here, and still is. We tried to go to the park early in the morning before it got too warm. We're looking forward to the under 90 degree weather! Hurry up Arizona Fall! We really haven't had too many exciting things happen. Paul's been gone a lot! I mean, A LOT with class and projects. We try to squeeze as much stuff into the weekends when he is here, but sometimes he's working on projects on the weekends too. We'll be excited for Christmas when we get him for two whole weeks! And then we won't see him again until April...:-/ We'll have to make this summer super exciting with lots of trips and adventures! The kids are all doing fine. We're not doing preschool or anything. It's more of a "Mommy school" where we run through flashcards of the alphabet, sing lots of songs, color lots of pictures, read lots of books, take turns playing preschool apps on the iphone, and take naps. I thought about it a lot, but decided with Paul's schedule and this being my last year to go whenever I wanted, that preschool wouldn't quite fit with us. Ewan is picking up on all the things the twins are doing. He knows all his letters, picks out his favorites (E-W-A-N), talks a lot, wants to make sure you're paying attention to him when he's talking either by grabbing your face or getting louder, and carries around a bag with his cars in them. Elin is beginning to talk more. She loves to play with the big kids. She sings along to whatever we have on. She's way too attached to her bear, Finnigan, and blanket. Olivia is into hiding things. She hides my phone all the time. I've had to facebook message my mom to call it a few times. I've been finding random drawers stuffed with random things. I'm worried she's going to be a hoarder! Aislee is full of excitement to learn. She loves to write her letters, read, and sing. She's been pretending to be a puppy, Olivia's puppy a lot. She doesn't talk when she's a puppy, just barks. Well, that's us for now. Ewan just woke up from his nap.

Post-run shot. Sorry about the frizz-ball mess. My hair seems to get curlier with each pregnancy! I don't know what to do with it.

Ewan and the cars.

Aislee getting ready to read books.

Just hanging out.

Olivia asked to be tickled!

Stories with Daddy.

Elin loves the tub!

This is Olivia singing Nephi's Courage. I posted another video a week ago, but it was of them singing in the bathtub. I didn't notice that Ewan stood up for a half a second...someone flagged me. I honestly didn't see it, and truly did not mean to expose my child to the world since I uploaded it onto youtube. I feel really bad about it. I was kind of upset when they flagged me because there are much worse things on youtube, but I'm somewhat grateful that they caught the nudity (oops!) of a toddler so quickly. I would have rather had someone tell me before they flagged it. I would have taken it off on my own. It has taught me to not post bathtub videos, even if it's one of the only times I can get them to be one place for a time. I truly apologize to anyone who saw it before it was taken down. I really didn't intend for that to happen. I was trying to follow Olivia singing. I hope I am forgiven.

Talking Elin

Four

The twins had their fourth birthday on Wednesday. They have been talking about their birthday "coming up" for a little over a week. They got some early packages from grandparents that we kept telling them were for their birthday which was "coming up". The whole week was pretty much a celebration! They had been asking for a pink and purple cake and puppy. We kept telling them that they weren't getting a puppy, but they'd get something else. Our girls love dogs! They really love dogs. They pretend to be dogs all day long. They take turns being the owner and the puppy. Lately, they've been able to convince Elin that she is a puppy. They'll call for her, "Come here puppy!" and then she gets on her hands and knees and crawls over to them while letting her tongue hang out of her mouth and panting. It's adorable, but I kind of feel bad for Elin. Anyway, so no puppy this year (or next year...)! For the big day, Paul got a bunch of balloons and a few little things for them to open. We blew up balloons that night and wrapped gifts. The next morning they woke up around 5am. Paul let them play with their balloons while I made their favorite, French toast. While we ate breakfast, I told them about the day they were born. And then told about the day Ewan was born because he felt left out. "Not my birthday too?" Paul left early so he would be home a little early. During the day we got phone calls from grandparents, took an early nap because everyone was exhausted, and then waited patiently for Dad to come home so we could go on a picnic at the Swing Park. Our neighborhood park doesn't have swings, so we have to drive to one. We headed to the park, played for a while, ate sandwiches, and then went home for cake and presents. Paul took the kids for a trip to Wal-Mart while I made the cupcakes and set out the presents. They opened presents, and watched they're new movie while eating cake and Skyping with grandparents and uncles. They got more wooden blocks so that our towers are taller than they are, pretty necklaces from Daddy that say "Sisters Forever", dresses from grandmas, clothes, and Despicable Me.  It was a good day, but the fun had only begun. We had a few friends over on Saturday for cake, adult conversation (somedays I desperately need to hear a voice over the age of 5), BBQ chicken sandwiches, and Caprisuns. We told them that their birthday was over, but they're still saying, "it's coming up". Ewan has joined in with cake requests for his birthday which is "coming up" in November...!