Three sets of twins

Bet you didn't know I had six children, huh?

Just kidding. We were having some mirror fun today.

Not much has been happening at our house lately that has seemed "post-worthy". That's why things have been a bit stagnant. Lots has been happening for us personally and financially, but it's not stuff one usually shares with the world. We've been struggling (still) with our children attaching to us as their parents, but we've been doing some research and are finding that most adopted children-even those adopted as newborns have a hard time fully accepting their adoptive parents because they are trying to grieve over the loss of a mother. Anyway, Timothy and I are taking a 10 week class on attachment and are hoping to learn ways to strengthen our relationships with each of our children.

Hyrum's gotee

Guess who has been playing in the sandbox?

Christmas Back-log #7: Jessica's Family

We were able to get my mom, all her children, and grandchildren into her tiny little house. There are 17 of us now. This family has really exploded. When Katherine came home form her mission was the last time we had family pictures taken and there were 7 of us. 4 years later there are 17!
My mom went from having no grandchildren two years ago to having 7. (3 adopted, 2 brought in by marriage, and 2 biological.)

Christmas Back-log #6: Christmas Again

(I just love this picture)

We traveled from Timothy's parents to my Mom's the day after Christmas. We were able to visit with all of our family there also!4 Cousins in Christmas clothes


Grandma with 2 grand-daughters

Poor Emma

On Monday, the 27th we had Christmas again with my family.

My sister, Katherine, crocheted stuffed animals for the children. They are so cute and the children really like them. Hyrum got a lion

Rebekah got an elephant

Brigham got a snake

My niece, Mikayla, got a baby and she just loved it!

Christmas Back-log #5: Christmas Morning

On Christmas morning we woke bright and early...so bright we could hardly open our eyes Mom was flashing the camera so bright in the darkness.

Then, we went up stairs at Gram-Gram's house to see what Santa brought the children.Hyrum a wooden bus with a pull string. Brigham a set of "Ring-a-majigs". And Rebekah a little baby plus accessories.

I think Bekah was the most excited!

Hyrum's favorite present was ball-pit balls that we dumped into a storage bin. He played in there for two hours on Christmas morning.

Of course cuddling with Daddy was a highlight of Christmas morning too.

While Bekah and Hyrum ate their stocking candy, Brigham found it fun to check out his cousins' presents.Brigham with Sierra

We had a good Christmas at Timothy's parents.

Christmas Back-log #4: Timothy's Family

Our first stop was to see Timothy's family. The children were really looking forward to seeing their cousins again. WE all had a great time visiting and playing games and trying to keep too many hands out of trouble. :) (The kids only managed to knock over three of Gram-Gram's plants this time and they all seemed to have survived!)

On Christmas we actually had all of the family together so we took advantage of that and got family a family picture. The family is definitely multiplying. When I joined the family in 2001 there were 11 of us, just two years ago there were 15 of us, now there are 20.



More on Christmas day next time...

Christmas Back-log #3: Traveling in Snow

We wanted to be with our extended family for Christmas this year so we decided to brave the snowy roads to do so. We were going along just fine when we hit a patch of packed snow on the freeway. We slowed down, as did most people around us. When we started seeing vehilces off the side of the road we slowed down even more. When we started to slide we started to worry and slowed down to about 30 mph. Even going that speed was too much with the slick road for our rear wheel drive mini van and we fish tailed a bit and then spun out and landed with our rear tires in the median. (Doing almost a 180 in the process.) Luckily there weren't any vehicles too close to us so we didn't hit anything, but I (Jessica) was driving and was shaking after we slid to a stop . A nice man and his son had also slid into the median from the other side of the road, only they were very deep in and were quite stuck. So, they trudged through the snow and pushed us out of the median, and we were able to continue on our way. We only went a few miles before we decided to put chains on even though not many others were, but we were still sliding and only going 25 mph. So, Timothy put the chains on and we were able to make it through the rest of the slick roads safely.

We did run into other patches of slick roads, but they weren't nearly so bad and we didn't slide again. For which we were very grateful.

Christmas Back-log #2: Broken Christmas Tree

We got our Christmas decorations set up during the first week of December, but between rambunctious preschoolers and a two-year old who's phase is pushing, the tree didn't last very long. It was only up two days before it was broken beyond Mommy's ability to repair. So, it went to the garage to await the fate of Daddy. After a few weeks Daddy devised a tree stand that was preschooler proof and toddler proof. And the tree was back up for the last few days before we left on our vacation to visit family. (more on that to come.)

Christmas Back-log #1: Graham Cracker Houses

Brigham's preschool hosted a "Sugar Plumb Cottage" night. Where the whole family got to go and make a Graham Cracker House. So Mommy and Bekah made one and Brigham and Daddy made one, and Hyrum just ate the crackers and candy.

Bekah and Mommy made a traditional house and had fun decorating it. Bekah also found a hole in the roof support piece and stuffed larger pieces of candy inside. So,when she ate her house, there was a surprise when she took off the roof-more candy!Brigham and Daddy made a non-traditional house (note the inverted roof) They piled a bunch of candy and coconut in the crevice.
We had a good time and it was good to spend some time working as a family.

Rebekah

I just noticed I haven't posted much about Rebekah lately. She is a mostly happy little 3 year old who is trying very hard to keep up with Brigham. She recognizes about 20 letters of the alphabet and talks like she's four. She told a lady in the grocery store today (with a very stern face) "Those are our eggs." :) The lady only looked at them. She likes to help me with my work and is beginning to actually help more than hinder. She has FINALLY learned to stay in her bed and go to sleep at night!! (It only took 14 months.) She recently got a new bed. We got her a twin when Hyrum grew out of the crib and gave her toddler bed to him.

Rebekah is such a blessing in our lives. She has a very strong will, so we are trying to teach her as much as we can while she's little so that she can be a strong force for good when she grows up.

Catching up

This past week has been catching up time for me. I've been trying to catch up on spending time with my children, catching up on house work and organizing that has been put off for 6 months, catching up on lost sleep.

I had forgotten how nicely my children can play together without Marc around to disrupt their play constantly. They will go and play for 30-60 minutes at a time and I am able to get so much of my work done, that I'm catching up on 6 months of neglected work rather quickly. Before, I was having to stop what I was doing every 30-90 seconds in order to keep the children from destroying things or hurting each other. Well, after all our behavior intervention, by the end, I was able to work for sometimes up to 5 minutes at a time, but never even close to 30!

As for the reaction of the children to Marc leaving, they are glad he's gone. Every once in a while Brigham will cry that Marc took _____ home with him. (a shirt, or a toy) I think Hyrum misses Marc the most and just doesn't know how to express it, but he's been doing well too. I am so glad that Marc going home hasn't seemed to damage the children emotionally as I was afraid it would.

Catching up on everything has been nice.

Good-Bye Marcus

Well, the moving date was moved up a day. So, today Marcus left us for his biological family. I have such mixed feelings about this move, I'm having trouble processing the mixed emotions. I am happy for him and his family- that they get to be together. I am relieved to not have to deal with his obnoxious behavior anymore and to get a chance to teach my children appropriate behavior without the constant influence of a child with serious behavior problems. I am very sad to see him go. I am worried about how he's going to be raised for the next 15 years. I am afraid all the work I have done and all I have taught him will be undone. I worry that he won't get the nutrition that he needs. I ache for my children who are going to realize more fully in the next few weeks what this move means to them- a loss of a brother. Sometimes I feel like crying to think he's gone. Sometimes I feel like dancing a jig because of the freedom of not having to have "line-of-sight" constant supervision hanging over my head, and I won't have to kiss ugly bite marks on my babies, and I won't have to plug my ears all the time, and I won't have to take him to all of his appointments all over town. BUT, there is an empty bed in the boys room, there is an empty seat at our table, and there is a scared little boy out there wondering why he can't see his "Daddy," "Mama," Brigham, Bekah, and Hyrum anymore- Wondering why no one sings his "I am a Child of God" to him at night- Wondering why no one knows what he's talking about when he talks about wanting to be a missionary and go to the temple- Wondering what he did wrong to lose 5 people he loved.

Marcus, if you ever read this, know that you were loved by us, that we miss you, and that we hope you have learned enough to become a strong, happy, healthy boy. Even though you turned our world upside down and drove us crazy- we still love you.

Brigham's Dance

Brigham has this crazy dancing that he does when he's happy and full of energy. I managed to catch some pictures of the silly faces and moves that he does. Usually he's singing a made up song at the same time too.

Hyrum's bluff

Hyrum is starting to develope a sense of humor and he gets us laughing regularly. He started this thing where we ask him to give us a high five so he lifts his arms way over his head and holds them there to create suspense.

Then he brings them down and just when you think he's going to give you that five you've waited so patiently for...

He pulls up his other hand and gives himself a five instead.

It's hirarious and makes me laugh everytime!

Painting pumpkins

Looks like Hyrum tried to paint his head as well as the pumpkin.


On Saturday Timothy helped the kids paint their pumpkins that they got from the pumpkin patch while I made dinner in my pumpkin.


Timothy painted "creepy" music on his pumpkin.
They all had a good time, but we were cleaning up paint for quite a while after wards.