SEVEN!!!

WE ARE SEVEN!!!

7 years ago today I evicted these 3, hahaha!

CET

This morning : )

Pretty much the start and end of every picture taking session, sigh!

Summer Wrap Up!

The first day of fall came and went, which made me remember that I hadn't posted anything from our Cali trip that happened in early August! It's usually the highlight of our summer so to wrap up the season here are some cute pics of our trip!

The boys with their beloved mama Elda. The boys spent a full 3 weeks with her this summer (Phil & I joined them the last week of their stay). They loved it and didn't seem to miss us too much, ha! 

In Santa Cruz

With cousin Natalie

We tried to do a little photo shoot but the kids weren't having it and the lighting was bad.
But we still got a few good ones : )

Looking at those crazy boys

In Davis we recruited cousin Korina to take family pictures of us. 

ETC

T

E

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The boys love their tia Janet

This photo shoot was like pulling teeth. It was over 90 degrees which for the boys this photo shoot might as well have been in the middle of a volcano! They were so hot and complained every chance they got so I'm surprised we got any decent pics of them, ha!

We tried, ha!

Out to dinner with mama Sue and papa Ed on our last day in Davis!

While on our trip we went swimming and I discovered that the boys can swim, like actually really swim! Check it out, I'm so proud : )

First Day of 1st Grade!

The boys started back to school a couple weeks ago. They are again together in the same class. It's a bummer because most of their good friends were assigned to the other 1st grade class. The boys don't seem to mind though. Their new teacher seems nice although I haven't spoken but a few words to her in the chaos of pick up. Back to school night is coming up so hopefully there is more of an opportunity. The boys say that first grade is a lot more boring than Kindergarten, but when they explained themselves I got the sense that they actually mean it's harder. I looked over their schedule and it's definitely a more rigorous schedule with lots of reading, math and science. Should be good for them, they coasted through K without missing a step so I think they need to be challenged more. I'm sooooo glad to be back to the boy's school schedule. I have so much more time to manage our household when I'm working a little less (I was working more over summer since the boys would go to day camp for much longer than the typical school day). I don't think I will volunteer myself to work more next summer, ha!

CTE, first day!

Caleb

Eli

Thomas

On our way to school!
We walk or bike to school everyday, it's only half a mile from our house.
I love that we live so close and don't have to deal with cars, carseats, and parking to get to school. 

Silliness

The teacher said she did not have a chance to move Caleb's name tag to another table. I was worried they would misbehave being together. They were fine of course and two days later Caleb was moved to another table were ironically he got into a scuffle with the boy he was put next to. I guess they were sword fighting with their pencils and they ended up stabbing each other. No one fessed up as to who started it first. Eli said he saw that the other boy started it. I want to believe him but maybe he's just standing in solidarity with his brother, ha!

Let start learning!

Multiples Illuminated take two!

Disclaimer: I did not receive any compensation for this review, these are just my honest opinions!

Multiples Illuminated the sequel!
Read my review to the first book, click here.

Helpful tips, funny stories, deferring perspectives and opinions. That's right, more of the good stuff from the first book! There was bit too much poetry for my taste but I can over look it because I found the content very enlightening. My kids are still quite young and we have a long road ahead of us, so thank you for this.

Some highlights:

I loved the explanation that things don't really get easier, it's just different. It's a hard fact to accept but it's true. While it's not physically as exhausting as being up all night feeding babies or changing 9-12 poopy diapers a day. But now we're faced with the mentally and emotionally exhausting tasks of trying to settle arguments and fights were sometimes no one will fess up who started first. Or keeping the fairness/equal balance in check. ALL DAY LONG. Like seriously who care's who went through the door way first! I'm constantly reiterating "life is not fair, get used to it...do you see me crying because the neighbor has a nicer car than I do?!" But I loved what another contributor wrote "Fair does not mean equal; it means everyone is getting what they need." I'm adding this to my arsenal of sayings and will use it every chance I get!

I also LOVED the author who pointed out my pet peeve, the idea that modern psychology views the twin/triplet/etc bond as some kind of disease which the children must be cured of. All the recommendations suggest that if a twin/triplet is to be an individual you must not dress them the same, not have them in the same class room, not have them in the same sports or activities, not share the same bedroom, etc, etc. This notion simply infuriates me. I've seen my kids blossom into distinct individuals despite pretty much sharing everything right down to their underwear. Like an unstoppable force they have become different persons with different personalities all by the age of 6. But in reality, they've always been different. Following through on all these recommendations is unfeasible, unpractical and financially unattainable to MOST families. As the same author pointed out, her method is to simply provide a loving and supportive environment. With this she has seen her twins share a strong bond all the while being their own persons. This is my aim in parenting too. It was very interesting how she also talked about an anthropologist (& identical twin) who wrote that, "identical twins actually have a more finely developed awareness of their uniqueness than do singletons." "Having an identical twin does not compromise one's self at all- instead, each twin enriches both the self and the other." LOVE LOVE this!

After reading this book I got the notion to ask my kids a couple questions, it's been a long time coming. I've asked them the first question many times and up until now they've never known why people mix them up. They've had to learn or be convinced that they look the same. For the second question I wanted to see if it mattered to them. They all answered the second question the same, I like to think it's because they know they are their own person, an individual. They've always known this and do not need convincing otherwise : )

Here is what Eli, Caleb, and Thomas have to say (please excuse Eli's cutesie voice, he was in some sort of mood, haha)...