Blake's new "Do"

What do you think of Blake's new do? Do you think he'll get some cute chicks with this???? We're hoping NOT!

Lexie's Recital, Christmas chaos

Lexie & Faith had their Christmas dance recital on Dec 16th. They did so good! Lexie was in 3 dances this year. She probably needed a little bit more practice, but did good for her first time doing more than one dance! We had the Longhurst Christmas party at Josh and Meagan's after, which is always fun. Everyone has a great sense of humor, and it's always fun to play the white elephant gift game. They took a picture of all the babies and then all of the kids (under 12), which was pretty amazing. I didn't realize how many kids there were, and they weren't all even there!

Getting ready for Christmas is always crazy. I hate shopping (yes, I know you're all shocked) and get so stressed out about what to even get kids that have everything. I hate crowds and never plan very well. (except for last year when I did all my shopping online in October while I was on bedrest!) Anyway, I'm about done, just a few more gift certificates and we'll be set. Blake and Tori leave on Sunday around 4, so that kind of stinks. We'll get together with my family on Sat and then do our little family on Sun before they leave. We'll miss everyone in Eagar. It's just hard to go up sometimes and have to come back the next day. I haven't been feeling well for quite some time, so that doesn't help either. It's hard, when you get to a certain age, it's kind of nice to have Christmas at your own house and be able to relax and let the kids enjoy their presents. It's ok to celebrate Christmas on a different day! I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and stuffs themselves crazy with cookies and whatever else you have baked (or been given!) I have been trying out some new recipes, which I'm so excited about. I have NEVER been able to bake worth crap, so the things I've made this week have actually turned out decent and I couldn't be happier! I made fudge, gingerbread cookies and sugar cookies so far. And lots of muffins for the kids. Anyway, enough rambling...I'll put up some pictures when Christmas is over!

Random thoughts...

I forgot to say that the second picture of Sienna here is of her looking at Kaelsy when she was wailing about not liking her cake! It was quite funny!
Is anyone done Christmas shopping yet? Is anyone else having a hard time getting into the holiday spirit this year? I haven't even started shopping and I'm feeling really overwhelmed. I have been sick with this cold/cough for like 3 weeks now, it's getting old. I just feel tired all the time! (hu, maybe it's because I have 5 kids?) I don't know how Heather does it...her kids are alot closer in age than mine are and she's brave enough to have 3 more join their family!
Blake has his first band concert tonight. He plays the trumpet. Should be interesting...from the way he plays at home, oh boy, are we in for some night! haha. I'll take a picture if I remember! Lexie's Christmas dance recital is this Sat. She is doing 3 dances in it. I'm quite excited and a little nervous, that's a lot to remember for her age! She just added a hip hop class and a private lesson, so now she'll do 4 dances in the June recital. She really loves dance. She is quite the natural at it too.
More later!

Sienna's taste

Sienna wasn't quite sure what to do with the cake, I don't think they realized that they could eat it! Neither of them liked the feel of the frosting on their hands.

The cake drama

Ready...set...go!
Ok, Kaelsy is really not into this...
Now she's REALLY mad!
Finally she gets a taste of the chocolate and settles down!

The big 1st birthday bash

Guess Kaelsy didn't feel like wearing the cute hat Sariah made!
time to loose the clothes and eat some cake!

Best Sisters
Lexie's snow angel
Lexie & the beautiful Cascade Lake
Twins playing peek-a-boo

More pics

The girls decided to do "makeovers" for James & Grandpa. Papa with his girls...Lexie and her new friends...& Tori and her constant companion for the week!

Turkey day & Bday pics

Lexie and her first snowball (I think it's her first?), best cousins Tori & Whitley, the snowman & Blake & his new friend having a snowball fight! My only regret is that we didn't get the twins in the snow. It was just so cold!!! The Phoenix weather has really thinned my blood. And to think, I'm a true blooded Minnesotan! (can you hear the accent?)

Thanksgiving, twins 1st birthday and so on

Well, looks like I have a ton to catch up on! I haven't even dowloaded our pictures from Thanksgiving yet...life is always so crazy busy.
We went to Cascade, Idaho for Thanksgiving. We left on Monday and came home the next Monday. It was like a 19 hr drive each way. A lot more than I bargained for! With 5 kids in the car, were we CRAZY???? Anyway, Andy's family has a cabin up there and so part of his family came and Connie & Homer and Sariah & Andy and our family. There were so many kids in that cabin! It was so fun for all of the kids. Even Blake, who normally doesn't have anyone even near his age to hang out with, had quite a few boys to play with all week. All of Andy's family cooks, and they are FANTASTIC cooks I should add, so we had NO shortage of food the entire week. Everything was home made and wonderful. There were so many pies I didn't even know where to start! The twins had their 1st Birthday on Thanksgiving. I will put some pics up tomorrow. Sienna was so so on eating her cake, but Kaelsy wanted no part of it. It was like she was scared of it! She's usually the little piggy too, so I was surprised that she didn't demolish it. I'm so sad that they're 1 now. My little babies are growing up...
They both have ear infections now and need breathing treatments for their coughs/weezing. Lexie is on treatments now too. She has had asthma problems since she was a baby, only when she gets sick luckily. Hopefully she won't have problems when she dances or in gym class or running etc when she's older. I don't think she will. Anyway, we're having lots of fun here with all these sick kids! More tomorrow...

Victoria's 1st competition

Tori had her first dance competition for the year. They did really good and took 1st place. Now, apparantly a lot of groups took 1st in their category...they go off of how many points you get and then place you in 1st, 2nd, 3rd and so on. So out of like 5 groups, 4 of them took 1st! Kind of different from when I was growing up and competing. Tori has been taking 6 one hour classes per week PLUS an hour and a half of private instruction once a week to get her technique down. She has improved SO much in the last two months, I can't wait to see how she is by the end of the year! Here's a few pics from her competition and a pic of Lexie's "thanksgiving" outfit from pre-school. (that's what she called it)

The last few weeks haven't been buckets of fun, but I guess that comes with the territory (of having 5 kids and a busy schedule!). I ended up getting pretty sick for over a week, then the twins and Lexie have colds/coughs and Tori was sick for a day too. We are supposed to be going to Idaho this next week, so hopefully everyone is better by Monday morning! UGH, I don't know...thinking about being in the car with these stinkers for 16-17 hrs isn't sounding real appealing right now! No, seriously...it should be fun. I can't wait to see my new nephew, Tanner, and visit with Sariah and her family. I wish we lived closer.

Tori got straight A's on her progress report. She got straight A's on her report card last quarter. I keep forgetting to ask Blake for his report...must not be too good if he hasn't offered it up! haha

Sienna just started shaking her head no, and she'll do it over and over and over with the straightest face! It's hilarious. She has been taking quite a few steps on her own, she just looks so adorable when she's doing it, with her arms stretched out in front of her. She just needs a tad bit more confidence, because she's already got the balance down. I can't believe they're going to be one this week. They still seem like babies to me. Kaelsy has started throwing "fits" and is quite fiesty! If she has something in her mouth and I start digging around, she'll get really mad and push my hand away, arch her back and then spaz out and try to bite me! I swear, she thinks she's a boy sometimes. It's so fun to watch them develope and grow and interact with each other. I could just sit and watch them all day!

More Halloween pics

Happy Halloween

The pics from left to right...
Kaelsy & Sienna, the "ducks" fighting with Kaelsy on top, Lexie as cinderella, Kaelsy with her pumpkin and Sienna with hers. James made the pumpkins with the tooth on the correct side for each of the twins. They both only have one tooth on top and they are on opposite sides of each other. Kind of funny. Maybe they will turn out to be what they call "mirror twins". They are identical, but one would be left handed, one would be right, one would have a freckle or something on one side, the other twin would have one on the opposite etc. The kids had a lot of fun for halloween. We carved pumpkins the night before and that night we took the girls out. Blake didn't dress up because none of his friends did. He came out with us for a bit and then went to a friends to hang out and they went through the neighborhood and got some candy without even dressing up! Tori was a "spider countess"...which we're still not really sure what that is! The twins had fun trick or treating. We had them in their double stroller, the side by side one, and they had death grips on their buckets and were digging around to see what they got! They've never had candy before, but they sure seemed to know that whatever was in their bucket was fantastic! We gave them each a sucker when we got home and they were in heaven!! They were the hit of the neighborhood, all 4 of our beautiful girls. (I am allowed to say that right, even though they are my kids???)

A family in need...

My sister Denise is relief society president in her ward in Surprise. A friend/woman in her ward just lost her husband on Tues morning, which was completely unexpected. He was 34. They still don't know why he died, only that it might be due to complications from a recent surgery that he had. She is probably my age and they have one little boy who will be 3 on Nov 14. Not only that, but Heidi and Jeremy's wedding anniversary is on Nov 10, and Heidi's bday is Nov 11! Then to top it all off, you add in the upcoming holidays. I can really feel her pain, having watched my husband and all of my in-laws experience the unexpected death of Kaelsy & Steven. It is absolutely heartbreaking. I set up a memorial account for them at Bank of America and am trying to put together donations and fundraising ideas to help Heidi and her family. They were living pretty modestly, as Jeremy had just started a new job. He also didn't have life insurance, so there is a definate need there for help. Just the funeral costs are absolutely outrageous. I'm asking all to please add the Williams family in your prayers and if anyone has any ideas/suggestions or donations that would be greatly appreciated! I'm off to try to set up a fundraiser for Saturday!

Blakes "mop"

Blake's hair is so out of control and he doesn't want a hair cut! I need to take him in, but he is really fighting me on the issue. I told him it looks like a mop :-)

Twins photo collection

Here's a collection of pictures that were taken about two months ago that I'm just now ordering. The photo shoot was quite exhausting, they are busy little stinkers! I'm putting this on a wall in their bedroom that has the saying, "Best friends are we, my sister and me". That wall will be pictures of the two of them together. I have two niches in their room, so one is designated for each of them. In there, I will do some personalized things, so not everything has to be the same all the time. Anyways, we are nearing their first birthday. It has gone by so fast. I think that's what happens when you're exhausted all the time, the time just flies by!

Kaelsy finds a cookie :-)

Lexie left some oreos out and Kaelsy found one and took it in a corner and went to town on it! I didn't know what she was doing for a few minutes, then I realized she was up to no good in the corner and turned her over to find her like this. Then she started screaming at me, because I took away the rest of the cookie! Like I said, a human vacuum cleaner!

Sienna & Kaelsy

Now on to the twins...Sienna Sue and Kaelsy Lou as we call them, or susu and lulu, or mamas...the list goes on. Sienna has two bottom teeth and one top one (finally, they didn't get teeth until 8-9 months old!) She has kind of been the "leader" of the two of them as far as physical stuff goes. She was the first to roll over, the first to crawl, the first to pull to a stand and now she is letting go and can stand on her own for a few seconds. She is a speed crawler, whenever a door is opened or she figures some way to get out, she takes off! She loves to explore. Kaelsy has been more of the leader in the social aspect. The first to smile, the first to coo, the first to make mama and dada sounds etc. She is like a human vacuum! She will eat any tiny little thing on the floor. She has two teeth on the bottom and one coming in on top. She's been "growling" lately...I guess it's the teething?? They've both discovered how to remove their diapers, so I have to be careful to always have a onesie on them or else they're naked when I get them from their naps! They can even somehow remove their pants! Kaelsy's crib is farthest from the door, and Sienna's is right next to hers, closest to the door. I came in one day after their nap to find Kaelsy naked and her leg stuck between the crib slats. She was screaming in pain and once I could get her chubby little leg out of the crib I started to wonder where her diaper was. It was by the door. She must have thrown it into Sienna's crib, then Sienna proceeded to throw it to the door. They do things like that a lot. Their 1st birthday falls on Thanksgiving this year. I'm not sure what we're going to do, all of our family will be out of town! (except Josh & Meagan and their new baby I can't wait to see) The babies are still pretty bald and are getting so heavy. Kaelsy is about a pound or so heavier than Sienna. They can wear 2t clothes, depending on the brand! What happened to my preemie babies?????

Alexis

Little Miss Alexis...she just turned 5 and we had her birthday for her and 5 friends at a place called Mrs. Potts Tea Party in Mesa. The host was Cinderella and they had games and a tea party and face painting. She loved it. She is in pre-school this year 2x/week. She missed the cut off for Kindergarden, and I didn't feel she was ready to be tested in, so we opted for preschool. She LOVES it and is doing really well at writing her name and learning to write numbers and letters. She is taking 3 classes of dance, 2 days a week and really loves that as well. She is always the littlest one in the class, she is very petite for her age. She is also one of the youngest in her dance classes, but she really keeps up and does just as good as the older girls. Maybe next year she will try out for the competition group and she will go to the competitions with Tori. She loves her twin sisters and loves to climb in their cribs and make them laugh. She is very smart on the computer. There are several websites for kids and she can figure her way through them and even learned how to print pictures without anyone really showing her! She really surprises me sometimes.

Victoria

Miss Victoria...she just turned 10 and is in 4th grade. We had a birthday party for her and 5 friends at the Glitter BoxShe in Mesa. They did their hair and makeup and did a little dance. They all had a blast. She is taking 6 classes of dance and has an hour and a half of private instruction, which is 3 days a week. She is really doing well and loves it! She will be competing with two of her dances this year and will have a competition just about every month until her June recital, then there's the national competition in Las Vegas in June as well. One of the songs she will be competing with is called "Groove is in the Heart", which is a song I did a solo to when I was 16, so it's kind of neat. She is a straight A student and is liking school a little bit more, now that she's made a few good friends. She is very good with the twins and helps Blake babysit a little, she changes diapers and makes bottles, helps bathe them and get them dressed...what a big help for me! Since she just got her braces, she has had a little trouble eating...but she is a good sport about it. It's nice to get their teeth fixed early, so they don't have to worry about braces when they're older and dating (UGH, I don't even want to think about that!) like I did.

Blake

Things are going well here, as well as can be expected with all we have going on. To start, Blake is 12, in 7th grade now, and is definately hitting the "pre-teen" years! He goes to a school that is K-8, so he and Victoria still go to the same school. He is in football again, #12, and plays both offense and defense. Practice is 2x/week and games every Saturday. He plays the entire game, which is nice, since last year there were so many kids he didn't get much play time at all. He has started playing the trumpet, which all I can say is, AAAAHHHHHHH! Just kidding. He just got braces, along with Victoria, and they both seem ok with them and look very cute. He'll be getting them off just in time to start going to dances! He's doing well in school, is very cute with the twins and Lexie and babysits for us on Friday nights so we can have a date night! He's also started skateboarding, so knock on wood, hopefully he won't break anything!

Following suit...

Well, I guess I will follow suit with everyone else in the family and get our own blog started! I have a website with pictures, but haven't been that good about updating them lately. We chose the name "The Rogers Bunch" because sometimes we feel like the brady bunch...only we really could use someone like Alice, and we're missing one kid, and we're not perfect like they are...but close! haha

James just turned the big 31 two days ago. That day he took his insurance test and passed! He is now licensed to sell insurance. He was quite happy to be done with his studying. He stays pretty busy with the glass company still and taking Blake to football and helping with the babies when we're all at dance.

Me...I'm still plugging away at trying to figure out this motherhood thing. You think I'd have it down after this many kids, but it's still trying and challenging and puzzling. Victoria and I started making necklaces, which has been fun and a good distraction for me. We are so busy with kid stuff that we don't have a lot of time together or for ourselves. Maybe one of these days we'll get a hobby! We are in the process of buying an acre of land on Greenfield and Guadalupe so we can build a custom home on it and hopefully live there until the kids are grown. We are really excited and nervous at the same time. It's so hard to pick a house plan that we will really love.

My how these two have grown!

They don't even look like the same babies...