Made 5 Halloween costumes. My boys wanted to bd penguins. I took them in costume to the aquarium to get their pics taken with the penguins. Adorable! The babies got to be starfish. They weren't amused, but they were warm! Then I had the brilliant idea to get pics taken with my FIL before the season started. He's a professional Santa. So i made myself and my big girls skirts, the girls tops and one designed a jacket. I had to hand sew on a ton of white fur trim. Couldn't find pants that the five year old was specific on, so I made those too. Pics turned out adorable! My stranger fearing babies were only confused at Grandpa's outfit vs terrified. Whipped up a cute Euro dress for a birthday gift. Birthday girl loved it! I need to make matching leggings. I got her measurements after the party. She is too thin and always wers ill fitting clothing. I need to make a bunch of hoodies for my 5 yr old. He's outgrown his and he lives in them. I need to attach the hoods to the twins coats. They got stalled for Halloween costumes and then picture clothing.

While fertility can decline, it can also speed up with age. That whole thing about twins going up at 35 is totally true. First month trying, fraternal twin girls with no family history of spontaneous twins. I'm super fertile like you seem to be and conceive exactly when I want. I have six and planned them all. My first was my only difficult one. I didn't know that I needed Progesterone to keep my easily concieved pregnancy. Once we got that worked out I kept her the first month trying with hormones. My body did not do well with a twin pg! I totally fell apart and was in a wheelchair for 6 months. Five from my hips separating on me. I was in debilitating pain the whole time. They were born by c section. I felt no pain from the surgery! The nurses were yelling at me to slow down so I didn't hurt myself. After the pain I'd been through, I felt great. My best pregnancies were in my early 30's. I had rough ones in my mid 20's. Personality plays the biggest part in a sibling dynamic. My brother is 4 yrs older then me and it would make no difference in age. We are just too different in an off way to be close. We just don't understand each other, even as adults. We have such different lifestyle choices. Neither is bad, we just don't fit. He's personality impaired and that's a big issue. My younger brother is 19 months younger and we've been close our whole lives. We both like people and are a good support. We are very different, but supportive like my big girls are. We take enough interest in the others hobbies to communicate and have fun. I'd have loved a sibling that shared hobbies with me, but my brother always tried like I tried with him. We both tried to connect with the oldest and he just wasn't agreeable. We never fought, but have never been close. It makes me sad and I try to nurture my children's relationship with their siblings. My 6 yr gap kids are finally getting it at 5 and 11. The little one finally found an interest to learn about and share. They have gotten quite close lately. For so long he was just annoying once he learned to crawl and destroy her things. She was the youngest for too long. Siblings have been great for her! Not that she's enjoyed the growing pains! She's needed to learn to get along with others in a family. She's always been a popular girl with friends, but I was afraid of her being a queen bee as a teen. She's a natural leader, but needed to soften a little while still young and sweet. Two brothers have really helped her. She has learned great negotiating skills! Plus the ability to control a group.

I like mine in sets. I have two sets 16 months and a week apart with a nearly 6 yr gap. Having close in age babies is hard, but they are so close that I never had jealousy issues. Built in playmates and I can send them out together in a buddy system. My big girls are total opposites in every way. Its been nice for homeschooling as I can teach them together. The six yr gap was planned. I wanted a five yr actually, but my DH thought we'd try after five yrs, not give birth then. Layoff, my moms health decline and death and a move later and we went with his idea. Then there is a 3 yr and 1 month gap before the twins. Its been rough! 4 kids 4 and under! I've had three in diapers for over a yr as my four year old refuses to PT! Four littles has been much more work then I thought. Luckily my big girls are quite independent and at that perfect prebabysitting age. They arent good with preschool boys, but excellent with babies! That 11 and 12 yr gap has been fabulous! I just hope that they will remain close. They have living dolls and are the envy of their friends, but they will be in college when the twins are school age.

We went modern after my informal survey revealed that no one could pronounce my son Alister's name. They still can't spell it, but they say it right. Then my DH fell in love with the name Moira and used it for one of our twins. I thought it was pronouncable. Every single nurse at the hospital got it wrong. I thought surely everyone has seen Peter Pan. Its one of Wendy's middle names. Nope, I get blank stares. Its unspellable and mispronounced constantly. I can't get my MIL to pronounce it right! It's been a frustration I hadn't planned on! I thought her twin named Giselle would be the hard one, but we've only had one person say it weird.

Tweek it! My girls are finishing up Preparing and are in the extension range now. I think that the extension books are where its at personally! I rarely have them do the bible verse copy work. Most of the time (every time maybe?), its been so superficial that its just to incorporate the bible to seem more Christian to me. When we first started with Bigger we did it as written. My DH asked me why there was an obscure verse about birds on our kids work. It had nothing to do with anything we were studying really! All it taught my kids was to look up verses in their bible. Good skill to have, but it wasn't making them feel closer to the bible. It had the opposite effect with them thinking that they couldn't relate to the scriptures. I backed off that quickly and we don't copy the scriptures for Science. The Science was much too basic for my kids as well. I've added in Botany units and Nature Study art classes. We don't do a lot of the projects now. They enjoyed the ones in Bigger, but they don't interest them now. I'll read it and select a project if I feel like it has any real value to help my kids. My kids don't want busy work and they have enough of their own craft projects to keep them happy and my kitchen table a mess! Instead of the obscure copy work, I just started a simple study of Calligraphy to help their hand writing. Just 5 minutes a day. They can apply their skill how they want later on. I hope this will benefit their hand writing and break up their reading to refresh their minds. We'll see if it works. I'd rather write out a meaningful scripture that inspires me on pretty paper for my room personally! Or use them for inspirational cards for friends and family. We enjoy the history and the books used. We tweek to fit our learning styles and educational goals. Don't let the boxes rule you and don't feel that you have to follow 100% to give your kids a well rounded education! My kids love Science and we have several memberships to science museums to help them discover and explore their interests. So while HOD science is way too light, they get a lot of exposure and free reading beyond that.

I stated that there would be a fourth when we announced the third to family that were negative. I like having my kids in pairs. For some reason everyone thought that four was a magical number of kids. When we announced a fifth pg, the reaction was pure shock! My MIL screamed through the phone in excitement, I think. My DH didn't want to tell her that I thought it was twins until it was confirmed by ultrasound. When I told people that I was right and we were having twins (no one believed me before), the common reaction was to laugh hysterically. The oddest thing I found was once we passed the socially accepted number of children, I get asked constantly when I'm having more! It's like its not acceptable to have" only" 6. If I'm this crazy, I'm to go for a dozen. It's been an interesting view point that I didn't expect. Even my dad who flipped out very negatively with #3 thought that I'd be riding the baby making train into double digits. Six is now not enough for some reason. I've gotten into near arguments by saying this is it. I've gotten way more negative reactions over twins then them being #5 and #6. I think people have given up trying to talk sense into "crazy". Congratulations on your pregnancy and I hope its wonderful! I hated the negativity when announcing some of my babies. The laughing in my face was slightly better. My twins are 10 months now and I'm still trying to convince people we are done! I thought having twins was the universal sign of a complete family!

The best chili I've ever had is http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2009/10/my-moms-classic-chili.html Even my DH that hates chili (&was raised in Texas!) Will eat several bowls full! It is fast to make. Basically the time to brown the hamburger and then let it simmer for an hr. You could throw it in a crockpot.

My DH can't wear a watch. They eventually start going backwards! It's his magnetic personality!

My DH wants to show the kids Goonies, but like most 80's movies has serious bad language in it!

My second came on her own on a Tuesday. Others were weekend babies.

I feel better now that my DH can't remember or spell our kids middle names. He can't remember their birthdays or how old they are. He doesn't know his age or how long we've been married. He has messed up more forms then I care to remember! He sent out a birth announcement email with our kids name spelled wrong! And I was spelling it out slowly for him. I admit it is strange and French, but I was saying the letters and telling him where the capital letter is inside the name! Must be genetic. His mother is the same way. She named several of her kids "nicknames" and I'm starting to wonder if she couldn't spell them correctly! I had a dad drop off his little girl at the church nursery. Her name is modern with at least 4 spelling, so I asked him how to spell her name. He just looked at me and said he'd ask his wife. It's his kids first name! Even my DH had their first names down by their first birthday! I'm starting to think there is a problem with the population in general!

My MIL calls my kids alterations of their names! Forget about spelling them right! All but my last kid have the most common spelling of their old fashioned names. We did go with an alternate spelling for my last baby so Americans had a chance of pronouncing it right. Forget spelling when we spelled it phonetically! Some people are just clueless! My great grandmother always called my brother by her brothers name. My mom just let it go. My MIL didn't make an effort to call my oldest by her actual name until my kid started crying because grandma didn't know her name. She can't remember how to spell her other grandchildrens names either, and they are all normal except the first grandchild. She isn't that old and works a full time job. Some people are clueless and repeated mispellings or pronunciation from family can hurt your feelings.

I don't know for your area, but all your names are kids that live within 5 houses of me! Other kids around me are: Gage Bowen Cruz Kieson Coleman Tandon Tasman Even if you go with something you have never heard before, it can become popular. I named my son Everett having never met one. It's an old family name. We've run into several his age or younger around town. So we went even more obscure with our second son by naming him Alister! It was my first choice for my first son, but felt wrong when I was pg with him. They fit their names perfectly!

There are tons of free tutorials online for repurposing men's shirts. I typed in men's shirt to dress tutorial and got a wide variety of ideas! I've never done it personally.

I'm excited. I can't watch the bad acting and terrible makeup/hair many times, but I love listening to the movies. Love the soundtracks! I listen while I sew. I enjoy reading fanfiction too. I'm all about the storyline and care less if its a great literary work. I read them for entertainment! My favorite book is Breaking Dawn. I usually love the fourth book in a trilogy best. It's the book that shouldn't have been written and I love that inside peek!

Ideal for me would be bunks with pop up trundle. We could fit our family of 6 in that arrangement! Kids can climb, adults have a "real bed" with enough room for little ones. Single people can fight it out amongst themselves. I had no problem sleeping on the top bunk in my 20s. I wouldn't mind it now in my 30s!

My arms hurt from yardwork and cleaning. Two nights of little sleep later, it was DS1 first official day of Preschool! He is happily playing with the Bananagram letter tiles after we pulled out all the A tiles. Dealing with DS2 who is barely 2 and wants to do everything his brother does is always fun! Girls were good and did their school without complaint. Need to hit Costco today. DH teaches tonight, so we are on our own.

For rear facing our Boulevard, I recline the seat, kneel in it while pulling it tight (make sure the belt is locked by pulling it all the way out!). Attach the tether to the drivers seat with the strap with a metal ring on it. Then put the seat more upright to snug it in tight. I'm using a lap only belt for the install. I can't get it to budge at all by pushing and pulling at the base. The trick is reclining the back of the seat first for my van. My previous car didn't have a problem, but it was a lap/shoulder belt and they are easier to tighten.

I'm in! I need to do a major declutter everywhere!

Things are starting to look better for us. My DH finally got a raise. After yrs of praying that he'd keep his job! He still needs to work a second evening job. Then they recently asked him to work an extra evening for more pay which is helping a ton, but that means 4 nights a week he is gone from 8:30 am to 11 pm! Our insurance costs are insane! It's to the point where we pay so much we can't afford to use it! After looking at the deductible and such, if everything went well (full term and healthy) a baby would be over 10% of our income! The cost of gas and food is crazy. I don't buy any junk foods. I cook from scratch and know how to make poverty look like more. I feel very fortunate that I don't have to stretch a budget that far right now, but we can still not afford lessons for the kids. I'd love to have them in piano or gymnastics/dance, but the cost is too high. When asked to tell a talent your spouse has that no one knows in a Sunday school class, my DH said the ability to stretch a penny was mine. I never thought it was a talent, but a necessary skill!

It signifies a commitment, so I'd say left ring finger. To me its a "I promise to get you something better later when I can afford it" pre-engagement ring!

I guess it depends on what you mean by care for. I cared for my grandparents by running errands, picking up prescriptions, taxi service and doing their laundry. They lived in a nice retirement home, so meals were taken care of as well as cleaning. My grandmother was unable to dress herself, so my mother or I would go change her ever night. Usually my mom did as I had two small children. I was the only grandchild that helped or even visited and I was the only one with children that lived in the state! I had a great relationship with my grandparents, but it would have been nice to have help! After my grandmother died, my grandpa needed more help. I was caring for both my grandpa in the above ways and my mother who's health rapidly declined. My mother was in her home and I didn't have the financial means to get her help, so I did it. It was very stressful caring for both as well as my small children. They passed within months of each other. I was actually moving in (hopefully temporarily) the day my mother died as it was just too hard to care for her an hr away every day with two toddlers. I wouldn't wish my experience on my own children, but I hope I'm raising them so they will step up if the need arises. They've had to step up when I was on bed rest for my last pg. We are a family and we stick together and care for one another.

I know 3 couples that had twins last month! 3! 2 fit the stereotype of multiple older kids, but one couple it was their 2&3 and they are mid 20s. I have dream after dream of having twins. It's almost to the point where I want it, but then look at the chaos around me and decide I'm crazy! I'd totally fit the stereotype though. 35 next yr with 4 kids already!

3 months for first tooth. Took me by surprise as my first was 10 months old!

I think I need the recipe! Made a chocolate Bundt cake from a mix tonight. I needed quick chocolate/sugar and everything made in a pretty pan tastes better! We needed an outside activity, but it was way to windy and rainy. So we had cake!