Life has begun!

Welp, the girls are turning three tomorrow - yikes!!! Can't believe it. The past few years have gone by so fast its scary! Tonight was their first night at Gymnastics. It was pretty exciting for me! The place they go to (WOGA) is pretty impressive... it's evidently the National Training Center for Gymnastics and quite a few have gone on to the Olympics. The trainers at this gym are former Olympic Gold Medalists and have trained people like Carly Paterson among others, so it's pretty exciting!!! The girls loved it and I'm just happy that they are now three years old and it feels like doors have finally opened for them to get involved in stuff. I was never able to do the mommy and me classes with them like I did with Brandon since trying to hold two toddlers on your lap and do little dances is nearly impossible especially since jealousy for mommy's lap is often times an issue with twins so it's so nice to be able to get involved with classes like this and just watch them go in there on there own with all the other little kids... so cute! Anyway, I'm rambling... just felt like sharing my excitement with the rest of you - I have a life again!!! woo hoo! ;)

Ice Cream Test

Check this out, I want to know what everybody else is!

I heart Dale.

Well, as official family sap, just wanted to give a shout out to the wisest of us all. Dale is the greatest oldest brother there ever was. One of his greatest qualities is that he can pull out the one liners from back in the day, dust off the cobwebs and make them hilarious all over again. Remember when we all dressed up in white shirts and ties to pick him up from his mission? Or remember the New York Seltzer incident in the Volkswagon? Does anybody even want to talk about how horrifying the french fry debacle was? What about that time he "chopped down the weed?" As a kid I remember Dale made the best chocolate chip cookies and on his best days, he made banana chocolate chip cookies. My heart feels like singing "Somewhere out there...Nannaboat Nannaboat." Good laughs, great advice, and let's face it...whatever he did, it just helped break Mom and Dad in for the rest of us.

Did I miss any of Dale's highlights?

The fat kid gets fatter

Hey there...

Well, hap, hap, happy thanksgiving to all y'all. While we were having ourselves a good old time in Valencia, some big loser decided to break into our house. No, I'm not lying. We came home to find our computer, digital camera, video camera and various other things gone. The idiot even took one of our laundry baskets to carry stuff in. The only disturbing thing he took was my wedding ring. That is very sad for me. I know some people don't like their original wedding rings, but I do. Anyway, everything else is replaceable and I don't really care. I mean hey, we will probably get a better computer and cameras out of it right? So, I won't be posting for awhile...I'm at the library now, but I should really be doing my online class...so if you want to talk to me...you'll have to call! Peace out...

Blog

Hey everyone! Per request of the Cochran family, the Cochran blog has been set to private... so I'm in the process of trying to add all of you to the "people I choose" section so that you guys can view the blog if interested, but I have to have your email addresses to send you the invitation thingy. Any way I can get you guys to send me your email addresses? I was able to get Tammy and Justin's from their profile page, but nobody else's. Here's my email: stephanie_lisonbee@yahoo.com

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!!! We had the longest drive of our lives in one day - about 12.5 hours, or maybe even 13. We had a lot of fun though! Take care,

Steph

Go Bruins

So in light of the recent bowl qualifying victory for the bruins, I decided to put together a little something special. And yes Courtney, I have a little too much free time on my hands. Check it out.

Thanksgiving in Valencia

This past week in Valencia was basically the best week, aside from my two consecutive all nighters. A few hundred games of Sorry, Brett teaching Carter to play the guitar, a day of football with our favorite Bruin duo (Marky and Aurora), Me teaching Malia how to text on a cell phone, and some good old fashioned sisterly love. What more could a girl ask for? How about a delicious Thanksgiving feast...oh wait, we had that too. Basically the best week off school I could have asked for. Don't be jealous.

More Pictures

So....what in the world is going on in the Blog world. Nobody is posting. Just because half of you are all together at the padres house does not give you an excuse to not entertain me with your blogs. I mean come on...when I am sitting in my internet classes and need some entertainment, I turn to the family blog...and find that there is nothing there. That is very boring. So anyways, I am finally getting some more pictures onto our computer and I thought it would be a good time to post some as well. So here are some pictures of Sarah. Here is Sarah in this adorable stocking that some random lady that lives up the street from Lisa's parents made for her. They dont even really know the lady that well, but it is an adorable little stocking.

Here is the only picture we managed to get of her smiling. She momentarily discovered her thumb. As she was sucking on it she started to smile and we just happened to have the camera in the room. It came out a little blurry but it is still very cute.

Last I wanted to show you how spiritual our child is. Look at her folding her little hands. I taught her that myself. OK...so actually she was just doing that one day and I thought it was funny so I took a picture. I can't believe how quick the time is going. She is growing quick. There are definitely nights that I think are never going to end, but I want something I can be proud of dont I Russ, sure I do. Anyways, I look forward to seeing some of you guys soon. I wish I could have joined you down there for Thanksgiving but my work has some really lame vacation and day off policies...which is partially why I have an interview for a state job in a few weeks...but that's another story.

'tis the season...

Our family picked up a new hobby. Check it out here. Oh yeah, and turn on your sound if you can...but if you can't - don't worry - you will still enjoy it. Promise.

Are you serious, Clark?

For my next installment of "you know you're in Texas when..." I take you to a video arcade. No, that's right. I said a video arcade. Yes indeedily doodily. So, I went along with my friend on a scavengar hunt her husband had set up for her birthday. It was hilarious and a lot of fun until this... Our last stop was at a video arcade. Did I have to beat the Dragon/ Firebreathing Turtle on Supermario Bros to save the Princess and get the prize at the hunt's end? No. Did I have to get the little frog across the road without getting splatted by the cars? Negatory. Nope. I had to milk a mechanical cow. AND I had to have my pictured taken in doing it.

And that folks, is how you know you're in a video arcade...in Texas. That's all for now folks. See you next time on "you know you're in Texas when..."

Bella's deep thoughts

Bella: Mom, are there taste bugs on my tongue?
Me: (half listening) yes Bella.
Bella: Do they bite?
Me: What?
Bella: Do they bite?
Me: Do what bite?
Bella? The taste bugs.
Me: Sometimes.

She's going to be damaged for life...

Edwina Scissorhands

OK, seriously, it never ends with the girls. I think I am going to resign myself to a life of being tortured by women - my daughters specifically. You all know now the stories of the diapers, the office, the doorknob and who knows how many others? Well, I went up to put them to bed and found another real nice surprise. By way of some background, Brooke can figure out a way to puncture anything that is stuffed and get the fuzz out. It started with stuffed pigs. It moved to a stuffed soccer ball. Then to a stuffed dog. Let me just say that if you are anything like me you have absolutely no idea how much fuzz those things have in them, and these were not big. But, Brooke - aka Edwina Scissorhands - manages to find a way to stick her little mosquito needle nose hand into the seams of these things and suck out the fuzz. Then she strategically places piece after piece around the room inches apart from the rest so there is no easy cleanup mechanism. No biggie right? Just vacuum it. Well, you see, our vacuum is on the fritz. It is history. So, that gives us the joy of picking things up by hand. So, anyway, I go up today and find the crib mattresses (which they now sleep on in the media room with no bed to go with it, for obvious reasons). Yep, one of them had the vinyl outside of it basically ripped half off on one side. Guess what was showing - the foam inside. So, to avoid a repeat of the pigs and the dog and the soccer ball, they now sleep on the floor with a pillow, a blanket and their barely stuffed animals. Honestly, I'm not sure I knew that OCD started so early. Let me assure you - IT DOES and Edwina is the archetype of childhood OCD.

To add to my fun for the week, I had a craving for brownies last night. It was late and I was so desperate for them that I started to make them from scratch. That is until I got to the part where you put in a minor ingredient called sugar. Oops, we didn't have enough. So, I decided to go to the store. I was wearing my oversized T-shirt, my PJ's and my slippers. As I walked out the door, the sprinklers were on. What a nice surprise! My car was parked right in front of the yard. I ran (as fast as I could in slippers) through the sprinklers to get to the car. DOH! I forgot to unlock the car. So, as I scramble to unlock it, I get soaked by the sprinkler that is spraying my car. Nice! Then, I get the brownies and get home. And, to top it off, I overcook the brownies.

Need I say more?

More from Kate

We had a great time the weekend we blessed Nate. The only problem was how fast it went by. Justin took the Lisonbees and Emma to a CU game, they tailgated and everything. We all crammed into my tiny house, which was fun. Don't worry, I had plenty of towels.

Courtney did the girls hair for me, and Emma asked to have hers just like Court.

Nate was pretty good, most of the time.

Finally, the boy. Justin gave a great blessing. I am mad I didn't ask anyone to take notes.

Thanks to everybody who came out, it was so fun to have you!

P.S. I'm going to keep posting pictures until somebody else does!

I DID IT!

I know, you're probably thinking I did something fabulous, amazing and wonderful. Well, I did. I made it through my 6 month dental cleaning and nobody got hurt. The secret is absolutely insisting they shoot me up...and in the end, they always do. Seriously, for me, the dentist is the worst possible torture there is because I have such sensitive teeth. I don't care how many shots it takes to numb me up...just don't bring that pointy thing near my mouth until I am good and numb. So, I made it and now it's the kids' turn. Yep, Bella tomorrow and Jake and Carter on Thursday. I wonder how much this is going to cost me. Poor Carter really needs an orthodontist too..but I think they'll just tell us to wait until more of his teeth have come in. Anyway, I am congratulating myself with a nice cold Diet Coke as soon as I can feel my mouth again. I tried it now, but it just went drooling down my nice white shirt. Ug...

Happy Veteran's Day...

Don't you just love those government holidays? I do because Rick gets them off now. We went down to Valencia on Friday and had a fun filled weekend. We got to go to James' baptism which was nice followed by a gathering at Judy's house with yummy VietNamese food. My kids and Rick absolutely love that stuff...We got to go to one of Kenzie's soccer games. That was fun too. She plays defense most of the time but girlfriend refuses to listen to anything her Coach has to say. She pretty much ignores him flat out. It's pretty funny to watch. We got in plenty of football time which is always important for a Saturday. We spent some time with Aurora who has to be the cutest little thing ever. She is so sweet. Sunday we watched Mackenzie perform in the primary program and hung out with everybody. This morning, we went to breakfast with Elise, Papa and all the kiddies. It wasn't too bad. The kids were entertained by the kid's coloring menue and the food was fabulous. We got home around 4:00 PM tonight...just in time to get some homework done, eat dinner, put the kids to bed and RELAX! So, that's my excuse for not posting all weekend.

Nate

Nate is doing his best not to be completely outdone by Carter--the kid eats NON STOP! In this picture (taken a couple weeks ago) it was just water, but now he takes several bottles of formula a day, after nursing. His cheeks are starting to get chubby, but I don't see any leg rolls yet. I swear I'm feeding him something every hour. Can one month olds eat rice cereal?

entering a new phase in communication

OK for all you computer literate folks I am posting this all by myself - with Michelles help - but it is in hope that i may post some of our exciting news to match yours - seriously I feel like I have entered the 20th Century. all comments welcome...mom

Halloween Events

Bash was pretty attached to her pumpkin. She kept hugging it and wouldn't let it go. She was treating it like she would a doll.

We carved pumpkins at my mom's house. The kids had a great time. Then they wanted to light them every second of every day that we were over there. Ashley requested a happy pumpkin, and Camille wanted a scary one--surprise surprise.

The girls love Justin's work party. That's because there is TONS of candy and very few kids. The just stick their hands in and grab handfuls. Ashley would take one, then another, then another, and wouldn't stop until we pulled her chubby hands out of the candy bowls.
I should also report on the tragedy of the pumpkins pictured above. We had to hide them, or else the girls would eat candy all day long. We stuck them in the oven--you see where this is going. My sister reminded me that same morning to take them out so we could make cookies. Then I preheated the oven to bake something and didn't even remember until the oven beeped that it was ready, and I opened it up to put my artichoke dip in. I wish I had taken a picture of those pathetic melting pumpkins! They looked pretty sad. Luckily nothing got on the oven, so I just took the whole rack out with the melted plastic and candy on it and set it outside so I wouldn't get in trouble. Later when the girls asked me for candy I had to confess, and Camille burst instantly into tears over her lost candy.

The little pumpkin. You can't see his tummy but it has a Jack-o-lantern face on it.

Justin's department did a Top Gun theme for their section of the office. They had a black plastic runway with track lights lining it, and a little plane suspended from the ceiling over it. They all wore flight suits, but Justin won the prize for going all out--he grew a mustache. Talk to me Goose.

The Speedy Little Spider

The dynamic of a ward party definitely changes once your child is mobile. All of the sudden I found myself constantly wondering, "Where did my child go?" I was hoping to have a better picture, but this speedy little spider did not want to stand still for a second!

Malia's hobby

Malia really really enjoys playing in the pantry. She likes to go in, shut the door, and turn the light on and have herself a good time. A few times we have found her into the oreos. We can tell because there will be like 8 chocolate cookies with the frosting licked off lined up on the shelf. This has not happened just once...it's happened several times. Anyway, her latest hobby is unloading the cans and making designs on the kitchen floor. The pictured above is a snake. She likes to stack them into towers, make lines, whatever...it's all fun and games folks until SOMEBODY HAS TO PUT ALL THE CANS BACK 10 TIMES A DAY. So, if anyone needs to clean out their pantry, I'll send Malia right on over...

Halloween...

I just realized that I haven't posted any pictures of my kids dressed up. They went trick-or-treating in a friend's neighborhood. There were so many kids. It was CRAZY! Jake and Carter chose matching Ninja costumes, Bella was Jasmine, and Malia was a ballerina during the day until she got too dirty and Piglet at night. Nana came up and went trick-or-treating on her way home from seeing baby Sarah. It was fun to have her. The kids had a great time. Seriously though, I have never seen so many kids out at night trick-or-treating!

Can't decide... need help!

Ok, so Brittany & Brooke's 3rd birthday is coming up this month and I have decided to get them a play kitchen for their toy room. I have narrowed it down to these two and cannot decide for the life of me which one to get. So, I thought I would post them on here and see if I could get some opinions. So, here they are! Let me know what you think. The only difference between the two is the first one has three battery operated components (the stove, microwave and phone) and the second one has five battery operated componants (the stove, microwave, phone, overhead light and clock).

Hey people...

Just wanted to point out I added a link to Tammy's no longer secret blog. And, Steph, I would be happy to add your cochran blog to the list, but it's "invited readers only" which means, you would have to invite us and then give us a sign in and password. If you want to do that, let me know.

For all of your information...Rick is out of town until Wednesday. That means I'm on kid duty 24/7. We will be having cereal for dinner if anyone would like to join us. Maybe I'll go wild and crazy one night and make Top Raman. You never can tell. Hope everything went well in Denver this weekend. I'll just be sitting here by the computer waiting for you to post pictures...

Sarah's First Holiday

Well, we did not get the pleasure of making an amazing costume and stuffing our child into it (thats a great game...) but because she was born on October 30th, we were able to dress her in the little Holloween outfit that Mom sent up for her. So we took a picture for Mom and the rest of you to see. The rest are some other fun pictures. Sarah is one day old in the Holloween outfit but she seems to fill it up pretty good. Then we have a picture with her first little bear. We are going to take pictures every so often of her next to the bear to watch her grow. A friend from the ward came over the other day and brought her 6 month old baby. She looked like Carter next to our little girl. She was like super baby. It is amazing how fast the must grow. Last we got some pictures of her sleeping and just hanging out. I know you are probably not as entertained by her as I am, but I'm a first time dad, I'm allowed to be excited. I can't wait for some of you guys to come see her when she is blessed. She still is figuring out the difference between night and day, but when she is quiet, she is incredibly adorable. Check out those penguin sheets. Oh, and good news, it looks like the steroids shots worked. She has some impressive neck strength. She doesnt have a lot of control, but she lifts her head up a lot, and I have been working on her kicking skills since she was able to move inside of Lisa. I would like to introduce you to the next Mia Hamm. Im still working on the Numb-Chuck skills.

Hello ... anybody out there?

What is going on you posting slackers? It is November 3 and the blog has been noticeably silent lately. I don't want to hear any lame excuses like "I just had a baby this week" or "I just had a baby this month" or anything like that. I mean, baby, smaby. Anyway, what's new? Same old same old here. Halloween was fun, though I must say the whole Halloween experience this year seemed to last forever. I think it had something to do with having the ward party, then Halloween and the flu all in the same week. Anyway, so glad it is over and looking forward to the rest of the holidays. So, whasupwitchew?

New links for anyone interested.

I've been inspired by this whole blog world to start one for Dale and the kids and I. So, thought I would share with you guys the link incase any of you are interested in visting every now and then. You'll still see me on here of course, just wanted to start one for the fun of it and for friends of mine to visit... and hopefully you guys!

Anyway, here's the link. Also, there's now a Cochran Family Blog for any of you who are interested in checking that out as well... I know several of you knew my brother and he is one of the contributors (we just started it, so it's still in it's baby stage), but he will be posting on there as well with pics of his kids and stuff. Anyway, here's the links Michelle, incase you wanna put them on the Controlled-Chaos site.

http://cochran-fam.blogspot.com

http://stephanie-lisonbee.blogspot.com

As Promised...

Last weekend (friday and saturday) Ash and I were cavewomen and we just went to a couple parties and a cornmaze. Monday was my ward party and Ash and I were sheep. I was a shorn sheep and she was a regular one. Tuesday I went on a group date to this guys Cabin and me and my date dressed as nerds. Last night, halloween, I was Nicole Richie and Ashley was Paris Hilton. Yes, Nicole Richie is pregnant. That's why I had a humungo belly. In the picture on the right I'm doing the pregnant belly dance. Can I just tell you how funny it was to dance with a pregnant belly? I didn't get picked up on once the whole night, I can't imagine why...

PS Roomate update: Chrissy and Kaitlyn (the two from Provo and Orem sharing the master) moved out. They got in a fight and were moved out within a week. So now its just me and she-bear.