Brisbane is THREE!

The number one thing I have learned being a mother is that all kids grow up and break their mommy's heart!  Good grief, I can't believe Brisbane is three!  The weekend of his birthday we went to Mack's parents house.  We went to church on Sunday and the Sunday School teacher asked Mack, "How long have you been married?"  "Five years."  "How many kids do you have?"  "Five."  "That's impressive!"  "Yeah, and I have only been a dad for three years."  "That's even more impressive!"

And it all started with Brisbane.  This is the kid that made me a Mom and Mack a Dad.  He is crazy in all of the perfect ways and we love him to pieces. 

He was very excited for his birthday this year.  This is the first year that he really got it.

 He knew there were going to be presents.  He asked me a dozen times that day if he could open them.  I kept telling him he had to wait until Daddy got home.  I think he was hoping I would forget because that didn't deter him from badgering.

 We actually celebrated his birthday a day early since we were going to Snowflake on his real birthday. He didn't know and didn't care.

 Love this picture!

Love this one even more!

 Grandparents are the best and Brisbane was very excited for his giant excavator/earth mover/truck thing.

 I just wanted a picture of Brisbane standing by his new scooter.  I kept telling him to smile and he just kept pointing at me and repeating, "YOU HAVE A BUG ON YOU!  YOU HAVE A BUG ON YOU!  YOU HAVE A BUG ON YOU!"
You would have thought it was a tarantula.  But no.  It was a common housefly.  Not that three year olds have a tendency to overreact or anything.
This is the first year Brisbane has gotten to choose where he went for his birthday dinner.  Let's face it, he just wasn't capable before.  It was tough for him.  He wanted McDonalds.  And Taco Bell.  And Chick-fil-a.  And Burger King.  He just couldn't decide.  When I asked him on that day he said, "Mom, just don't worry about it!"  Yeah.  That's going to work until we all load in the van and the three year old with all of the power has still not told me where we are eating.  He then declared that he wanted to go to his Aunt Jo's for dinner.  Since it was Jo's sons birthday that day, it just wasn't going to happen.  I finally suggested we go get pancakes (knowing that he loves pancakes, sausage, and eggs) and he thought that was a great idea!  It was a win for both of us.  He got to eat all of his favorite foods and I didn't have to go somewhere with a PlayPlace where I am always afraid of Meningitis contamination.
Now for the cake.  I asked Brisbane a few days before his birthday what kind of cake he wanted.  I was thinking "horses" or "cars" or "planes".  No, I got, "An icy one" (followed by maniacal laughter).  Either he was being intentionally daft, he didn't know how to answer the question, or he was torturing me by leaving me in suspense.  "An icy one?"  "Yep!  That melts!"  "Made out of ice?"  "Yes!  That melts!"  Grasping at straws, "How about an ice cream cake!?"  "YES, YES!" (Jumping up and down and acting like that is what he wanted from the beginning and that I am an idiot for not immediately understanding.)
So after dinner we stopped at Dairy Queen to get him an Icy Cake That Melts.  He was thrilled.

We love our little three year old.  He has gobs of personality and an opinion about everything.  He is my little shadow and fiercely independent.  We love you, Brisanator!

Zoo Fun & Team Work

Moving has made us grossly aware of how much junk we have accumulated in the four years we have lived in our house.  On account of that and the fact that our kids would rather follow me around all day than play with toys, we have decided not to give any toys for birthdays this year.  Books are fine.  Movies are fine.  But no toys.  This year we are giving the gift of experiences.  Brisbane loves the zoo and so we decided that in honor of his birthday, we would go to the zoo one last time before moving.

To be honest, I prepared for this one day zoo trip as if I would be attending Disneyland.  Five kids at the zoo seemed like a big task and so I wanted to be ready.  I mapped out our day.  What we would do in what order.  When and where we were going to stop so that I could nurse.  When and where we were going to eat.  And on and on.  We planned on being there the whole day and seeing as much as we could.  We didn't think we would make it through the whole thing and that was ok.

So off we went with our two double strollers and five kids.

And the whole thing went off really really well.  The kids were awesome!  Della and Miriam slept almost the entire time and when they were awake they were content to ride in their seats.  Whew!  I had visions of screaming twins and toddlers running amok.

Mack had never been down the Children's Trail and was pleasantly surprised at the farm animals, playground, and giant tractors.

Farmer Reese

Farmer Jessenia

Farmer Brisbane

 Man, those tractors were competitive.  Lots of unsupervised kids that were not waiting their turns for tractors and were sitting on them entirely too long.  I had to assert myself to make sure each of my kids got their ten second turn!

 Then we milked cows.  Let's just say that if this was our standard way of getting milk there would not be a lot of milk consumption at our house.

 But they were really cute trying.  (Don't we love Jessenia's outfit!?  I think it's adorable.  Doesn't quite match.  Maybe not totally activity appropriate.  But completely cute!)

I challenged Mack to make sure I was in a picture with the kids on this trip.  We didn't get the camera out a lot but he did manage to get this one gem.  I love it.
The highlight of the day may have been when I chose a spot to breastfeed right along the trail that the train drives by.  At this point in the train ride the passengers are supposed to be looking at the mountain goats on the hills behind me.  Said mountain goats were nowhere to be seen so instead I got three train loads of people staring at the "nursing mother on the left".  (It takes a long time to nurse twins.)  At this same stop Brisbane decided that he needed to go potty and we were far far away from the nearest restroom.  So Mack ran him down the hill while I nursed and tried to keep the oldest two occupied and the youngest two from screaming.  Good times.
At the end of the day we had seen the entire zoo with time to spare.  It was ridiculously expensive and we had more treats than should be allowed.  But Brisbane loved his birthday present and got to see all of the animals he wanted.  Except for the seals.  He informed me halfway through the zoo that he wanted to see seals.  Unfortunately the Phoenix Zoo is not home to any seals.
When we got home, sunburned and tired, Mack said to me, "Honestly, I was completely dreading that. But it was fun!"  We high-fived on the way out of the zoo.  It is amazing what you can accomplish when you are an awesome team.  And our family is a mighty good team!

Blessing

Mack blessed Della and Miriam on Sunday, February 2, 2014.  It was quite the occasion.  As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we don't baptize babies when they are infants.  But a righteous priesthood holder does give them a blessing where they are named and blessed with whatever blessings Heavenly Father wishes for them to receive at this time.  Mack gave two beautiful blessings.  

We were very fortunate to have both of our fathers, both of Mack's brothers, and one of our brothers-in-law able to come and participate in the blessing.  There were five baby blessings in our Ward that day, some kind of record in my personal experience.  It was a wonderful day and we were very fortunate to have our home filled with lots of family and love that day after church.

Jessenia woke up puking that morning but I made her go to Sacrament Meeting since it seemed cruel to make an adult who had come from out of town miss the blessings and I certainly wasn't staying home.  She spent all of Sacrament Meeting laying on my mom's lap.  Then my mother, the twins, Jessenia, and I scooted on home before we contaminated anyone.  With nine o'clock church and the craziness of a sick kid we weren't able to get photos taken that day.  In fact, it took us over a month before we got the girls back into their white dresses and took pictures.  So they may be a bit older in these pictures, but just as adorable.

Miriam

 People kept telling me how much Miriam looks like Mack, and I must admit that I completely agree.  They look so much alike!

Della

 And then I tried to get some pictures of the two girls together.  I am no professional and it was a disaster!  But we got this one semi-good one.  The outtakes are a bit hilarious!

Della and Miriam