It has already been a very long day today! My 4 year old, has a cold again! Why does it always seem like someone is sick. I feel like one of my kids always has a runny nose, Yuck! Well my 4 year old was up and coughing most of the night, so she is cranky today. The twins well one slept all night but the other got up at 4 deciding it was time to get out of her bed.. Daddy and Mommy did not agree! I put her into my bed, she finally fell asleep after awhile. Thank goodness! Then her sister got up at 6am, cause she got a great nights sleep. I am hoping naptime will be a good one today. Maybe then I will be able to get something done. girls are going through a very clingy stage... well Ava is, and Olivia has always been clingy. She's a Mommy's girl!

I was hoping the girls would be fully weaned by now, I have self weaned with all my other children close to the time they turned a year old and thought the girls would be just as easy. YAY right. I never imagined in a million years that I would be a mother who was still nursing her 20 month olds. If it was totally up tot he girls they I would probably nurse them off to college. But I on the other hand have other plans. I am so ready to have my body back. ....On a side note, I also never thought I would be that women who was still trying to loose her baby weight, from her pregnancy 8 years ago! Double Yikes! Oh, well the things you know now, right! We are very close to being done with nursing though. My girls are having a hard time giving up the 1st thing in the morning nursing session. I have tried giving them a sippy cup instead, but they throw them on the floor. Then they start yanking at my shirt and screaming crying, yelling "mooob" YAh, funny huh.. NO! Today was a good they did not ask for it and ate breakfast. So far no nursing today!

Should probably go do some house work or laundry, while the girls nap. What I really would love to be doing though is taking a bath and reading a good book. Oh, well. .... Whats that saying... {A mother's work is never done}.... thats how it goes right? Oh, no wait a good one too is No rest for the Mommy! Thats it :)

Thank goodness its Friday! Well we have a very busy weekend ahead of us, basketball practice and Santa pictures on Sat. Santa pics should be fun, considering the twins hate strangers! YIKES! we had a trail run, Santa photo at the Holiday festival in our town and them SCREAMED!! It's bad enough when you hear 1 screaming baby never mind 2.. ever one was staring at us. SO FUN! Hopefully this time it will be better, if we plan it around nap time. We will have to see. Then Sun. we are having our beautiful daughter's 4th Birthday party. A Dora Bash! Gotta love Dora!!! :) Her real Birthday is the week of Christmas, which stinks so we try to have it earlier in the month. I do not want her Birthday to be lumped in with Chirstmas. Should be good times!

I will post pics of kiddos with Santa... well if they are able to be taken that is :)

My kiddos

Having six kids is quite an adventure! Though I think now after 20 months, we are finally getting the hang of it... well most days anyway. My kids are ages 12 ,8 ,6 ,4 and 20 month old identical twin girls. We were going for #5, we already had 2 boys and 2 girls and figured we would love to have just 1 more and at 21 week ultrasound, we found out we were not expecting one but two girls! We were quite shocked, thank goodness I was laying down or I would have passed out! My Hubby did not even blink. I tell people we had twins because of my 8 year old daughter... that morning before we went in for an ultrasound, I asked her which she wanted another brother or sister ( the youngest at the time was a girl, who was a year and 1/2, and up until then we had had a boy then girl, a boy then girl). Well she told me she wanted 2, either one of each or two girls! I said, well sweetie your Mommy only has 1 baby at a time.... Little did I know, right. Kids say the darn est things :) I was so worried about how we would do it, having two babies at once. I worried about where my other children would fit in, and how it would affect their lives. But it has been an amazingly wonderful blessing! They have changed our lives in so many amazing ways and twins are such a special gift. The girls completed our family!

The hardest part of being a Mom to 6, for me is making sure I have time for each and everyone of them. Quality time is hard to find. Most days there are just not enough hours in the day. I do try to do little things with each one of my children throughout the day. Like one will help me cook dinner, or my oldest says up a little later than the rest and we can sit together and chat, or watch a show. and if we go to the store or out to run errands, I will try to rotate who gets to go. I also find it hard to make couples time. I can't remember the last time my Hubby and I had a night out alone together.. or even an adult conversation for that matter.

I think it is also hard to have your kids going through so many different stages in life all at the same time.... Like now for us, we are dealing (almost) 13 year old boy, schooling, sports and dating stuff.. I mean really the the heck is that anyway! 8 year old girl Drama! 6 year old temper tantrums! 4 year old screaming fits! And the terrible 2s times 2 are vastly approaching! never mind teething times 2, and fighting over toys. Oh, and don't forget the fighting among siblings! It can get crazy! But I love it! I have always wanted a large family, and new from very early on I wanted to be a mother.

I have resided myself to the fact, that there is no such thing as a perfect mother, as long as I am the best Mom that I can be. And if my house is not spotless and the laundry is not finished, its OK. Taking a little time for myself does not make me evil. ( I'm still working on that one though)But the most important lesson I have learned to date is to cherish every single moment you have with your kids, cause you will never get it back. they grow so fast, and in the blink of an eye, they are becoming teenagers and then adults.