Jon & Jennifer's Family Blog

Happy Valentine's Day

2012-02-14T06:00:00.000-06:00

All of us hear at the Waters household wish you all a wonderful Valentine's Day! Here are some cute pictures of the kids in their Valentine's Day gear that I took this weekend in a 5 minute little photo shoot we did (I didn't get one of all 4 together yet, Jewels thought 5 minutes was long enough to take pictures). Jon and I aren't doing anything special with just us tonight but we are heading to my Grandma's for a little dinner she is having, when a 98 year old calls and says she's having dinner, you go! So we're all heading up to Maxwell tonight. The boys have been busy, busy, busy making/coloring pictures to share with everyone to pass out to family they are pretty excited!

Jackson & Joel

Joel

Julianne

Jocelyn

Julianne & Jocelyn

Jackson

Jackson & Joel

Julianne

Family Fun Night

2012-02-09T07:24:00.001-06:00

Last Friday night was my mom's birthday and to celebrate we asked them to go to the Family Fun Night at the boys' preschool! We all had a blast, the boys LOVED playing all the "carnival" type games.

{Joel decorating his goodie bag}

{Jackson decorating his bag}

{The girls were so good and just hung out and checked everyone out}

{Jackson LOVED getting his face painted}

{Of course he got a train on his cheek!}

{Joel getting his face done}

{And the finished train}

{Playing the duck game}

{They enjoyed the cake and the book walk and being able to pick out a new book}

{playing the bean bag toss game}

{shootin' some hoops}

We had a fun night and the boys went through 50 tickets so 25 games a piece! There was a silent auction and mom and dad won a couple baskets. After the fun at the church we headed back to our place for homemade ice cream and Texas Sheetcake Brownies that I made earlier that day! It was a fun night!

Semi-Wordless Wednesday

2012-02-08T06:00:00.000-06:00

This sure doesn't look comfy but this is how Julianne falls asleep every night...then I go in and lie her down!

Mr. Snowman

2012-02-07T06:00:00.000-06:00

When the boys woke up on Saturday and saw it snowing all they kept saying was they wanted to go outside and build a snowman. Jon took them out and that's exactly what they did!

They made some snow angels too!

Sophie was chasing the snowflakes from the sliding glass door and kept crying because she wanted to go out...so I let her out and she enjoyed getting covered in snow!

And here he is....Mr. Snowman, rocks for eyes and a mouth, a baby carrot for a nose and shovels for arms!

Weekend Recap

2012-02-06T06:00:00.000-06:00

On Saturday we stayed home mostly all day. I had a morning maternity photo session and then my Blackberry stopped working last Wednesday so my new one arrived Saturday so Jon took it to US Cellular to activate. Then all the boys headed out to play in the 6-8 inches of snow we got that day! They had sooo much fun and had the rosiest little cheeks when they came in. I was busy making some new snacks to take over to The Cathcart's later that afternoon. That's one of the good things about having friends in next door, when the roads are bad you don't have to travel! The only stipulation for the party was we had to bring new recipes and they had to be from Pinterest. We each made at least 3 new recipes a piece and everything was WONDERFUL! This is the picture of the "crack bread" that I made. After the kids all went to bed at 8 the adults had a few hours to catch up and hang out it was soooo nice to spend an evening out of the house!!

Source: plainchicken.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

On Sunday we all slept in a little, we had a rough night with the girls, never fails when Jon and I stay up late the girls are up way more than usual during the night and Miss Jossy was up from 5-6 just screaming! Finally the girls woke up at 9 and we all had breakfast and then ran to the grocery store and came home and all the kids took naps and we caught up on the cleaning and laundry I made a few things for us to eat during the Super Bowl. It was such a nice relaxing weekend! We've got a busy week ahead of us with something going on almost every night!

My 4 on the 4th

2012-02-04T06:00:00.000-06:00

{Jackson, Julianne, Jocelyn & Joel}

Celebrating Birthdays

2012-02-03T06:50:00.000-06:00

On Wednesday we headed up to Maxwell to celebrate my Grandma's 98th birthday! We had a great time visiting and catching up with everyone!

My Uncle Fred brought up croppie he caught and he fried that for supper. Along with potato salad, potatoes, green beans, and 3 angel food cakes my grandma had cooked that day!

The boys helped Grandma open up her presents

My grammy and I!

4 generations!

My mom, and grandma and me and my kiddos!

Grandma blowing out her candles!

Happy 98th birthday Grandma (yesterday) you are such an amazing woman and such an inspiration we all love you so much!!

Today we are celebrating my mommy's birthday! We'll be having cake and ice cream at our house later and at the boys' request wearing party hats! We all love you so much mom you are a wonderful mommy and nana to my kids. Have a great birthday!

Pump it Up!!

2012-02-02T06:00:00.000-06:00

A couple weeks ago my multiples group had a fun night planned at Pump it Up, an inflatable place. We took my little niece, Brynna with us and all the kids had soooo much fun!!!! The boys hardly held still long enough for me to take a picture! We will for sure be going back VERY soon I have 4 Groupons to use up!!

Wordless Wednesday - Standers!!

2012-02-01T06:00:00.000-06:00

Reindeer Shirts

2012-01-31T06:00:00.000-06:00

I got these outfits for the girls for Christmas and I didn't get a chance to get them in the studio to get some cute pictures so we played around with some of my new paper and I got some super cute pictures!

{Julianne}

{Jocelyn}

{Julianne & Jocelyn}

{Jocelyn}

Baby

2012-01-30T06:00:00.000-06:00

Someone has attached themselves to a baby doll

And Miss Julianne RARELY puts her down!

Her obsession started early last week

And at first we didn't think anything of it

but Julianne sits up for 30 minutes every night playing with her doll in her crib

she even brings her to her seat when she eats and hold her tightly when she nurses

when I take her out of her hands she cries so we make her disappear during meals

Julianne is realizing its hard to crawl and hold onto her baby at the same time

or even stand up to things

but she sure is soft to lay on

This is the first time we've had one of the kids attach themselves to something where they HAVE to take it everywhere like Jewels does with her baby!

It makes her so happy!

When you say, "Julianne where is your baby" she looks around and goes right after it!

Jossy had her baby morning and Julianne crawled across the livingroom floor

pushed her sister over AND then took her baby doll back!

Moral of the story....

don't ever come between Jewels and her baby!

8 month pictures

2012-01-25T06:00:00.000-06:00

I took the girls' 8 month pictures a couple weeks ago and here they are! Hard to believe they are 8 months old already!!

{Julianne}

{Jocelyn}

{Julianne}

{Jocelyn}

{Jocelyn & Julianne}

{Joel, Jackson, Jocelyn & Julianne}

{Julianne}

{Jocelyn}

{Julianne & Jocelyn}

{Julianne}

{Julianne & Jocelyn}

{Jocelyn}

{Julianne & Jocelyn}

{Julianne}

{Jocelyn}

Article

2012-01-24T06:00:00.000-06:00

Last week I got an email from a reporter from a local newspaper wanting to do a story on our family and what it's like to have two sets of twins. I emailed him back and he later called me and we had a short five minute conversation. And this past weekend the story was published in the paper! You can view the article here. When you are reading it keep in mind that there is a misquote... "He said it's the first set of spontaneous twins he has seen since the 80s," Jennifer said. SHOULD READ..."He said it's the first time since the 80's he's seen two sets of spontaneous twins."

Build & Grow - Castle Time

2012-01-23T06:00:00.000-06:00

Last weekend we headed to Lowe's again for another Build & Grow session.

{Jackson waiting to get started}

They were sooo excited to start working and of course hammering!

{Jackson}

They worked so hard at getting all the pieces ready to go

This time a castle would be the finished product. It was a lot of work with tons of little pieces!

Daddy did most of the building

{Joel}

The girls got ancy in their carseats so they helped as well

{Jocelyn & Julianne}

And this was their finished product...a castle! There were even little dragons, knights and a princess cutout to play with. We're headed back this weekend to build a dinosaur! If you have a Lowe's in your area you should really check out this FREE workshop for kids, ours just love it!

Fatherhood Friday's

2012-01-20T06:00:00.000-06:00

I know it has been awhile since I have made a post but it has been crazy both at home and at work. Since the last time I had posted anything a lot has changed: the girls are all over the place, they are eating different foods, they have their own personalities, THEY ARE SLEEPING. The boys are growing so fast, new words and new phrases that make you say “did you really just say that?” They remember everything (most of the time we don’t even remember it but it must have made a lasting impression in their minds).

Right now I wouldn’t really change anything in my life, wait I take that back, I would change one thing and that would be to have more time in the day so that I could spend a few more hours with each of them. It seems like since the girls were born time has really flown by. Going through the week Mondays are always a drag but it seems like it is Friday before we even know it. I still can’t believe that Christmas is over.

What we are really looking forward to at our house is summer. I cant wait for it to be warm, even though it hasn’t been a bad winter, but more importantly I can't wait for it to be light out longer. That means that we can play outside most of the night and not have to be trapped inside trying to find new and different activities for 4 kids to do. You can only do so many puzzles and scribble so many pictures.

With that being said I hope that this summer our lives can slow down a little more and we can interact with each of the kids a little more, because you get them away from each other and they are each different people. I hope that I can get around to doing more of these post in the coming weeks.

Love Jon/DADA

8 months

2012-01-19T06:00:00.000-06:00

On Monday Julianne & Jocelyn were 8 months old. Since FINALLY at 8 months they seem to have decided they are ready to eat baby food I thought (actually it was Jon's idea) that their 8 month picture should be of them eating!! Just within the last couple of days the girls decided they are ready to eat 2-3 jars of baby food a day (they share the jars). Before we could only get them to eat a few bites from 1 jar. They are much more happier feeding themselves!

Julianne at 8 months you...

* weigh 16lbs. 9oz.

* wake up around 12:30 every night because you have escaped from your swaddle which you do right when we put you down in your bed at 8:00PM because you have to "be free" in order yo go to sleep yet can't just be laid in your bed without swaddling. I rewrap you and you go right back to sleep

*wake up to nurse around 3:30 or 4 and go back to bed until 7 or 8AM

*have your own little version of yoga you do on the floor in your attempt to actually crawl

*get very frustrated because you have NOT figured out crawling yet but you seem to scoot all over and lunge yourself forward while on all 4s

*can get from a crawl position back to the sitting position like a champ

*have started to pull yourself up to people to stand up

*have the gummiest smile; you don't share many laughs but are always flashing that gummy smile

*like to make your way to your brothers train tracks and trains and play with them when I sit you across the room, this makes your brothers pretty unhappy

*like to "scream" while flapping your arms like a bird and squinting your little eyes, you look pretty funny but get all our attention

*drink from a sippy cup

*when you see your mama you immediate "freak out" and want me to come pick you up!

Jocelyn at 8 months you....

*weigh 16lbs.

*can be "laid" in your bed on your tummy without being swaddled and go right to sleep. You like to be covered up with your blanky and snuggle right in

*we HAVE to wake you up when your sister gets up to eat around 3:30 or 4....who knows how long you'd actually sleep if we didn't wake you to nurse when your sister gets up

*can get onto all 4s and rock and roll back and forth. You flop yourself forward on your tummy to get what you want

*love to laugh ALL THE TIME! Your brothers talk to you and you just start giggling

*can easily entertain yourself on the floor for much longer than your sister can

*don't take a paci but a paci is your most favorite "toy" to play with and chew on

*love your snuggle time you get to nurse with your mama

*drink from a sippy cup, actually guzzle from a sippy cup you just can't get enough!

*instead of storing food in your cheeks like a chipmunk you store food in your hands

*love to feed yourself

*are always smiling but when someone you don't know looks at you, you turn your face to the side in an effort to be shy

*are the easiest and most laid back baby EVER you NEVER cry and have that "go-with-the-flow" personality

*has 2 bottom teeth

Snuggle

2012-01-18T06:00:00.000-06:00

The girls have lots of babies and snugglies in their cribs that they snuggle when they go to sleep. Jossy snuggles with her little giraffe most often.

{Jewels..just escapes her swaddle and snuggles her blanky}

{Little Jossy Jo}

Many faces

2012-01-17T06:00:00.000-06:00

I love this age of babies, they have so many different looks and are always doing something silly with their faces. Julianne is no exception and it's just too cute!

She always, always has this tongue out when she smiles!

New toy

2012-01-16T06:00:00.000-06:00

This is my new "toy" I got for Christmas! I love it!

This is waaaayyy nicer than my little hand held mixer I've been using.

And it looks so pretty sitting on my counter!

Workin' Out

2012-01-13T06:00:00.000-06:00

I don't know the first thing about yoga poses but it looks like Julianne does! Check it out..

What do you think??? She does a pretty good job...I think she'd be happier if she could actually figure out how to crawl, although it does appear she is working on it...or her planks or yoga or something!!

Miss Jossy Jo...

2012-01-12T06:00:00.000-06:00

is the first little girl to have a tooth

she was just so smiley

and wanted to show it off

for you all to see.

Can you see it?

If you look really close

you can seen tooth #2 making its way in too!

Semi-Wordless Wednesday

2012-01-11T06:00:00.000-06:00

We've had a rough few days around here, can you tell?

Allergic

2012-01-10T06:00:00.000-06:00

So last Thursday I made pancakes for the boys for breakfast I was trying out this new Bisquick Shake and Pour containers, which I loved...didn't make a lot but was perfect for the boys and I . Anyways...the girls were sitting on the counter next to me in their Bebe Pods and drooling over me standing their eating. So I had an extra pancake and gave them a few pieces...they LOVED it! A couple hours later after I got done nursing the girls I changed them and noticed Julianne had little welts ALL over her legs, butt, some on her tummy and wrists. I called the pediatrician right away and made an apt. 2 hours later we were in the doctor office and they were drawing blood to do allergy tests for egg, milk, wheat and soy. I got the call from the pediatrician yesterday that Julianne is allergic to eggs. They rank allergies on a scale from 1-5, 5 being the worst allergy and Jewels' is a 2. So more than likely she will grow out of it by the time she is one but in the mean time we have to avoid anything with egg or egg product for her. I don't have to change my diet as she is getting a little bit from my milk but not enough to cause the reaction it is just when it was given directly to her. I didn't even think when I gave her the pancake that it would cause a reaction or be worried about egg; it was soft and easy to eat and they are loving all finger foods right now that they can pick up on their own and eat and that was on my mind more than anything! So we hope that by the time we go in for their one year apt. in May and they do another allergy screen that she will be egg allergy free! In the meantime, we have our Epipens on had at home and in the diaper bag in case we ever need it!

Weekend Update

2012-01-09T06:00:00.000-06:00

On Friday we headed to Marshalltown to take the kids to Grandma and Grandpa's works and leave the boys for the weekend. The boys were very excited to see where Grandma and Grandpa worked. We all went for an early supper and Jon and I left the boys for the weekend and we headed back home!

Saturday Jon and I spent the day doing some deep house cleaning and lots of laundry and ironing. My parents had gotten the boys new carseats for Christmas and we moved the seats around in the van and put their new carseats in. The boys are now in the back and the girls are in the middle row. We also watched "Trespass" that afternoon while the girls slept and then headed out to dinner. After dinner we hit up Dahls, Hy-Vee and Fareway for our weekly groceries and came home, put the girls to bed and watched our 2nd movie of the weekend , "Hall Pass" two great movies in one day!

On Sunday we got up and had breakfast and then headed up to Hickory Park to meet Pat, Joan and Janna for lunch and to get the boys. We had a yummy lunch and by time we got home it was nap time. All 4 kids slept and we watched our final movie of the weekend, "Limitless" with Bradley Cooper. Three good movies, if you can't tell I'm on a movie kick here lately!

We had a great weekend and the boys had a wonderful time with Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Janna. Now back into the swing of things this week. We have preschool conferences Monday, preschool for the boys on Tuesday and Friday and then storytime at the library on Wednesday and Thursday. Should be a fun week!

Weekend Recap

2012-01-05T06:00:00.000-06:00

I know it is Thursday and I'm just now recapping the weekend but better late than never! We had a wonderful and relaxing weekend. We all loved having Jon home for three days too! On Friday night Jon met some friends at the Elkhart bar to watch the Iowa game. The kids and I hung out at home and after putting them to bed I watched "Water for Elephants", what a fantastic movie! I had intentions on watching the second one I rented but by 10:30 I was sooo tired!

Saturday morning I had a photo shoot and then we headed out to Jordan Creek. The boys got Build-A-Bear gift cards from my brother, Kyli and the kids for Christmas so we did that, a little other shopping and then had an early supper at On the Border. Then we headed downtown Des Moines to try the Imagine Eve event for New Year's Eve. The kids LOVED it and had such a great time. The long lines were a little much

but despite that we will be going back for sure!

{Jocelyn}

{Daddy and Jackson messing around while waiting in line}

{Joel getting ready to run through a bounce house}

{Joel}

{their favorite slide}

{waiting to go down}

{climbing to the top}

We came home and watched "Friends with Benefits"...another great movie and then headed to bed, well before midnight!!

On Sunday we got up and had breakfast at our local Dahls...it is sooo yummy and the boys love it too. We then did our grocery shopping and headed home. We rented another two movies and watched "Something Borrowed" while the kids napped. That night we had a yummy supper and watched our 4th movie of the weekend, "Horrible Bosses". I didn't make it all the way through that one but Jon liked it.

Monday brought another relaxing day and after lunch we headed out to my parents to check out the progress on their remodel. We didn't stay long as they were finishing up laying the new hardwood floors. So we headed back home and I did some tagging for the March multiples garage sale and then we all got ready for bed. What a great 3 day weekend!!