Allison and Jackson's Blessing Day

Thanks to Brooke and Alisa for taking beautiful pictures to help us remember this special day!

You just have to love Jane Austen!

So, with a little tiny bit of prompting from my sweet sister- in- laws, I have also taken the Jane Austen Heroine test. The first time I took it, I came out most like Elinor Dashwood. So, just for you Emily, I took it again. I even used my second choices for many of the questions. But, there you have it... Of the choices this quiz offers, (which may not prove to be all encompassing) I am most like Miss Elinor Dashwood!

Now, we just need to come up with a man's version of this test to shed a little more light on the fine men in our lives!

Take the Quiz here!

Baby Stuff Art!?

We have so much Baby stuff all over our house! Our children have even started using these items to play with. They've started constructing architectural wonders. So we hope to have full 1/16 scale villages that we will start conducting tours for. This is a picture of our "Temple" that Wesley built.
We just calculated that we use 100+ diapers every week. Luckily, our friends Sharon M. and Angela help us find crazy deals. We have been getting all our wipes for under 50 cents a tub. We used to buy them for our other kids for full price. Sharon & Angela Rock!

"The quote of the day"...

Hello again! We just want to share a fun family tradition that we have. We call it "the quote of the day". As many of you know, we have hilarious children. And as many of you know, kids say the funniest things. We decided that we would really regret it if we didn't start documenting some of the great quotes we have picked up from our kids. Jacquie keeps track of the funniest ones in her journal.

Well, in all honesty, "the quote of the day" usually jumps right out of Landon's mouth. You just never know what he's going to say! Here's one of our favorites from the Landon archive. :)

~This quote came after a moment of reflection when Landon was doing the forbidden; jumping on the bed...and not just any bed, but the bottom bed of our bunk beds...
"Ohhhhhh.... So, that's why they call it a bunk bed: because that's where you "bunk" your head!"

~This one is in pure Joshua style...Jacquie was sharing a story of something that happened when she was little. The conversation went something like this:
Jacquie-"When I was a little girl, ...." (and then she related something about singing, or something...)
Jeremy-"Oh yeah, that happened to me too."
Joshua-"So Dad, you used to be a little girl?"

~This is our most recent "quote of the day", provided by Wesley (the king of deep reflection):
Joshua likes to have his hair look just a certain way. He will also go check it many times during the day to make sure it still looks "perfect". We were teasing Josh that he is paranoid about the way his hair looks. After a few minutes Wesley said,
"Josh, you are so HAIR-anoid!"

So, there you have it! That is where we get our comic relief...straight out of the mouth of babes!

EVERYBODY SMILE!!!

OH MY GOODNESS!!! There is just nothing like a big, huge smile for the sleep deprived! We are having so much fun SMILING at our house. Our kids all have bright, beautiful smiles and it really helps out when we are feeling overwhelmed. Allison and Jackson are smiling so much now and it is so very rewarding. They can brighten up anyone's mood and really fill our lives with sunshine!














Jackson is so much fun. He loves to smile and is at that wonderful age where smiling consists of twinkly eyes and the full body wiggle.





Allison is a jovial little girl! She smiles about everything...Sometimes we are busy, and we look at her and she is smiling to herself! She is such a doll.




Landon, Landon, Landon... What a guy! When it comes to smiling, Landon still has those big, brown sparkly eyes. But, there is nothing to compare with Landon's happy spot! (His adorable dimple up by his eye)

Wesley is the smiling, toothless wonder! He sure loves showing off his smile nowadays. He is making bank this year and we aren't sure how much longer the toothfairy is going to hold up! Joshua has such a cute smile, and all those freckles he is getting sure add to the overall effect. He loves to smile at someone when they are in a bad mood. Just try being grumpy when Josh is grinning at you! So overall, we vote that smiles are indispensable to our very survival! It's a good thing that we all have so much to smile about!

Wow! That's a lot of children!!!

So, can you imagine how fun it is to try to take a picture of all of our children? Between Wesley going cross-eyed, and Josh pulling a face, and Landon touching everyone, and Jackson communicating just how much he dislikes the idea, and Alli being wiggly...Wow Wee! This is as close as we could get before Jackson really got upset. Everyone has been begging us for an updated family picture... Can we take it in the middle of the night when everyone is asleep? I think sleeping children are incredibly beautiful!!!

So anyway, here are all of our beautiful children. We are so incredibly blessed and we thank our Heavenly Father everyday for sending us such amazing spirits and letting us enjoy the blessings of having a family. We are having such a fun time "playing house"!

Can you feel the LOVE tonight?

These babies have brought so much love with them. It is just beaming from them and it is highly contagious! Alli is just about eight pounds already and Jackson is 3 oz. behind her. They have grown so much already and there is no shortage of chub on its way! We love round babies!
There's nothing like holding two babies at the same time. It takes some coordination and definitely some endurance, but it keeps them both happy!

Even the newlyweds enjoy twins! Who knows? Maybe they'll get their turn?

What on earth would we do without our sweet Grandmas?

They are sure a heaven send over here. We are so very blessed.

Wesley sure loves having these babies! There's nothing so exciting as when Mom finally lets the boys hold their babies!

Landon washes his hands at least 20 times a day in hopes that he will be able to hold his babies! He couldn't be a prouder big brother.

Joshua saves the day around here! Thank goodness for all of his help. (And he will be the first to admit that he's having a blast holding his little ones!)

We can't wait for all of you to be able to hold our sweeties. We're sure you'll catch the love bug from these snuggle bugs!