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...