I had a play-date

I probably haven't mentioned that my baby sister, Carly, is here with her twins...Yes, it's true!!! We convinced Carly to come home while Spencer studies for his Medical Board test. Carly and her girls have been here since June 17th, and Spencer will be here on Wednesday, July 7th. CarCar is staying with my Dad - just a short mile away - and so I get to pop-in and visit frequently.

Two weekends ago JoJo & I stole CarCar's babies for the night. It was a no-brainer that JoJo took Quincy Joanna, and we got Tenley Magnolia. Jo said when Reese saw which baby they had, she exclaimed, "We got the blue-eyed one!" Quincy is already sporting Carly's red hair and blue eyes. Rebecca & Mary-Gail were elated to have a baby in our house too. Mary-Gail especially: she doted on Tenley and kept saying things like, "Ahh, I love her." "She's so beautiful." "Did she just come from Jesus? Did she? Did she?" And Tenley looks like she might be sporting some beautiful brown eyes. Rebecca & Georgia happily welcome another brown-eyed girl to their very elite "brown-eyes girls club."

But Friday, after work, I got to have a play-date with the twins all by myself! Here's what we did:

Woke up from our nap about 35 minutes after CarCar left.

We are so happy!

Tenley (L) in Purple; Quincy (R) in Blue

And then Aunt Amanda rolled us to our tummies

Lovin' that smile, Quincy!

Caught Quincy half-blinking, but I just love this shot

and this shot too.

Hello diaper bums!

Tenley is still 1 lbs heavier than Quincy, and about 2 1/2 inches longer!

And then we ate, changed diapers, and went outside

Hangin' out, just maxin' & relaxin' in the shade, enjoying the breeze & new sounds

And then we painted toes!

Quincy's piggies got clipped and painted. First time for nail polish on these little piggies!

And Quincy crosses her ankles - just like Reese, Taylor, Becca & Mary-Gail did! Love it!

Tenley had been through this before with me (the girls and I painted Tenley's toes when she slept-over). This time Tenley was a little more wiggly, and with the fast-drying nail polish I couldn't wipe off the extra nail polish.

Still super cute pink piggies!

Oh, and then Quincy fell asleep...

...with her ankles crossed!

Truly, is there anything more wonderful than a little baby?

Tenley got to explore her surroundings a little more

And then CarCar came home

Carly noticed Quincy's piggies right off!

And then Tenley fell asleep on me
The End

Balloon Launch: 2009 & 2010

We went to the Balloon Launch this morning. I was so excited that I kept checking the clock to see what time it was. Finally, at 5:30 am, I decided it was time to get up. My plan was to have us at the field by 6:30 am, and we made it. JoJo was especially surprised that I arrived before her. I think her exact words were, "What? Amanda's already there?!"

It was no surprise that Becca & Mary-Gail loved the balloons. I thought they'd enjoy getting closer to the balloons and even being able to touch them (the operator of the "Pig" hot-air balloon let people touch the pig's hooves), but when I approached the balloon, Becca & Mary-Gail clenched their legs around my waist so tightly (plus their pleas to stay back) that we decided to enjoy the balloons from a safer distance.

Balloon Launch July 2009

Sweet little Mary-Gail holds Grandma

Grandma & Mary-Gail, Me, Pappy & Becca...

...with Josh & Ella

Snapped right before the balloons launched - just in time for the sun to part between the mountains. Beautiful

Becca absolutely loved the Pig!

Lots & lots of balloons for the 2009 Balloon launch

All lined up eating donuts and drinking chocolate milk & juice

McKena pulled the girls around w/a little help from Josh

Josh & Abbie took Becca, Mary-Gail, and Ella to see the helicopter

"Beep-beep-beep." Back it on up, Taylor!

Balloon Launch Friday, July 2, 2010

Kemps; Chrismans; Browns
Amy-Cakes joined us for the balloon launch this year. Dad was home helping Carly w/her twiners, and Mom arrived shortly before she had to work - just in time for hugs from her grandchildren.

The Pig was still there


Smokey the Bear. I'm pretty sure I saw a Forest Ranger there too

Mary-Gail belted out her loudest "Cheese!" for the picture-taker


In my brain I'm inserting the word "Diet" above "Coke." Ahhhh, Diet Coke. This is the best hot-air balloon ever!


The balloons couldn't launch this morning - there were strong winds in the higher altitudes that made flying the hot-air balloons too dangerous. But thankfully they were still able to fill the balloons and patrons could get closer to them than last year.

Just like last year Josh & Pam supplied the chocolate milk & juice + cups & napkins, & blanket. JoJo brought yummy patriotic frosted donuts and apple fritters. And me, well I just tag along :)

Becca stuffed the whole powdered donut in her mouth; Mary-Gail opted to lick the powdered sugar off (after which she discarded the donut and got a new one to lick clean)

Ahh, for cute!

Captured Becca air-borne: both feet in the air in her trade-mark gallop crossing the parking lot

Headed to the Life-Flight Helicopter. This year the Life-Flight nursing staff let people inside the gate to see the helicopter up close.

I love all the hand holding w/Uncle Josh and the cousins

And just like last year, Josh has all the kidlets. He's really, really good with kids. So patient and so playful. Becca & Mary-Gail absolutely adore him

This is how I roll

I first saw this video back in May when I was visiting Carly in Phoenix. We both laughed so hard I thought for sure we had six-packs afterwards! The song gets stuck in my head and it's not long until I find myself "mama-rapping" as I go about my day. I used to ask Tony, "Where are the girls?" but after seeing this video I say, "Yo, where my kids at?" Not sure Tony will let me trade the 'Burb for a mini, but...

Thanks to my super-fly friend, Kellie, for posting it on her blog. Love that Knapp family!

Swim lessons started today

...and all I can say is, "He-lar-i-ous!"

Gage & Reese are in the same class - The Stingrays; and the triplets - Becca, Miguel, & Cy - are in the "Dolphin" class. Cy did his own thing, Miguel made sure I saw her every time she did something: "Mommy, I did it! I did it Mommy!" and Becca was, as always (and so typical to her personality), the superstar. And no one drowned, although Mary-Gail was seriously close to it. She was so excited to show me what she was doing, that she left her class and walked over to me (while still in the water), slipped and couldn't get her feet under her to stand back up. She was a little rag doll, upside down in the water, flailing helplessly. I ran to her and in one motion grabbed her arm and lifted her out of the water into my arms. Amidst her coughing Mary-Gail said, "Ma, did I fall in the water?" Yeah, baby girl, you did fall in the water.

I forgot my camera, but in all honesty I couldn't have snapped any pictures today. I was a sweaty, nervous wreck watching these little ones (there were 5 kids in each class) in the gigantic pool with only one teacher. But after they all got comfortable, I was laughing and smiling and waving and encouraging. There was no way I could have managed pictures too. Maybe when it's JoJo's turn to take the kids; we have Swim Lessons for the next two weeks so I'm sure we'll have pictures before it's over. PLUS, we all got a free-pass to come back to the pool during regular hours to swim. And that will be loads of fun.

Strength from Christ

I echo Stephanie, and Nephi in the Book of Mormon, and my father when I say: I am grateful for my trials.

I am plagued by them now, but I know - I believe, I have faith - I will overcome them. And just like Jeffrey R. Holland said in the video clip (taken from this talk), we may, in fact, be closer to our Heavenly Father & Jesus Christ during our trials than any other time in our lives. Pull strength from Jesus Christ and keep moving forward, and listen to Becca & Mary-Gail sing, "Just keep swimming; just keep swimming..." (from Dori from Finding Nemo).

Man, I love my daughters. They are a huge blessing in my life. HUGE.

Phoenix is Heaven

I never thought I'd use those two words - "Phoenix" and "Heaven" in the same sentence - but it is true. I am in Phoenix visiting my baby sister, and I am in Heaven because I am helping my baby sister care for her brand-new, baby twin girls. Who could have ever imagined that my baby sister, Carly, and I would share in the joy of twins...and GIRL twins. Amazing!

Here are the twins!! Twin B: Quincy Joanna (in the pink-striped blanket) &

Twin A: Tenley Magnolia (in the green-striped blanket)

Me and Tenley Magnolia shortly after I arrived Wednesday night - right on the girls' 4th week of life

(Tenley is smiling at me!)

Rows & rows of bottles ready to be heated up

Reminds me of my fridge 3 1/2 years ago. Only my bottles would have been much smaller (Carly's critter's are already up to 5 ounces every 3 hours!), and I would have had several liters of Diet Coke...and no MinuteMaide Limeade

This is one seriously-tired Momma

Me, Becca, & Mary-Gail (on the Boppy)

See Becca & Mary-Gail's bottles - they only held 60 cc (2 oz each)!

Lovey snapped this picture a few days after our girls came home from the hospital.

I kept complaining, "where is the girls' nurse? Who is going to take care to these girls?!"

This is one seriously happy - but still very tired - and more experienced w/feeding & burping two-babies-at-once, Aunt!

Quincy in my arms; Tenley (smiling) in my lap

Motherhood is so jammed packed full of emotions! And it's very difficult to feel like you're doing your best when you're so stinking exhausted. JoJo & I had a plan for when we came to help CarCar: we were on the night shift. Carly needed to sleep; no "if's, and's or but's" about it. My Mom was with Carly for the 1st week, and did her best helping with the girls, but wasn't able to do the night-shift alone. Then JoJo flew in and absolutely insisted that she take the night-shift for the entire week that Jo was here (and if you know JoJo, she not only did the night-shift each night, but she also fixed supper, did laundry, ran errands...). Then Carly was solo for 4 days & nights until Spencer's Mom flew in. Carly said, "Those 4-days/nights were the hardest to get through." But Spencer's Mom, like my Mom, wasn't able to do the night-shift, and so Carly operated on less then 3 hours of sleep each day until I flew in. And I, like JoJo (except for the "fixing dinner, doing laundry, and running errands" part of JoJo) have done the night-shift every night I've been here.

I mention this only because in these last two photos I was on the night-shift in both photos. But the different expression on my face has to do with sleep! I am averaging about 2.5 hours of sleep a night in both pictures, but I know that the mom in the 2nd picture (Carly) is sleeping! The mom in the first picture is not, is seriously sleep deprived, and is not enjoying this "thing" called Motherhood.

So what I know is that Carly will NOT experience the horrid torture of sleep-deprivation while I am here. I love being of service to her, and I love that CarCar trusts me to care for her baby-babes. But mostly I love that Carly knows that to be her best self, she needs to sleep. I wish I could have told that to the 1st-time Momma in the photo above - the one who would wear her eye-mask all day, hoping for one lousy minute to close her eyes and rest. I also know that when I go home, I get to sleep through the night...a full 8 hours...ahhh.

CarCar, you wear your eye mask tonight with style! I love you!!!

Visiting my best friend

I leave for Phoenix tomorrow night. I'm headed to Car's to see her and her babies, and to help where I can. Everyone keeps saying to me, "how did you do it? With Twins?" And I say, "How did you do it with one?"

Twins just seem so 'natural' to me - especially now with Becca & Mary-Gail approaching 3 1/2 years old. They are each other's best friends. Mary-Gail says all the time, "Ma, is Becca my best friend?" "Of course she is!" And Becca said to me the other day (when I was putting her in the corner for time-out), "...but you're my best friend, Mom." I knelt down to her, gave her a hug, and told Becca that she was my best friend too. BUT...she still needed to go to the corner.

Becca & Mary-Gail are so silly together - one of those "looks" to each other and they bust up laughing. Reminds me of me, JoJo, and Car. We can still give each other a "look" and laugh ourselves silly. I've said this before many times, but I can't help saying it again: a girl needs a sister! Girls just need other girls. Last time I went to Phoenix to see Car, I just laughed and laughed - seeing her pregnant was so funny. I mean, this was my baby sister, and she was pregnant with twins. Now, I get to see her holding and loving her twin girls; and I get to help her, just like she helped me. I'm thrilled to be heading back-in-time to newborn baby girls. I hope I can do it right this time, and not make as many mistakes.