Twenty Ten, Here we come!

Here we are at the last day of 2009. What a year it has been. All around the world, we have experienced a year so full of events, that it will be hard to forget that it all happened in one year. As I look back on this year, I am so thankful for all that I have been given, as I know that many others were not as fortunate as me.

This year has been unlike any other I've experienced. There were good times, and there were scary times. But, through all of it, my family was there every step of the way.

Though I'm elated every day to see the beautiful faces upon my little twins, I wouldn't wish that kind of pregnancy on anyone. The beginning was great, and I felt great, for the most part. But, by the end of the pregnancy I was on bedrest, hoping to keep those babies in for as long as I could. The pre-eclampsia overtook my body, and I was left "dealing" with it, and spending a majority of my time in bed. Thankfully, I was able to keep them safe in my belly until they were 36 weeks along. Born via c-section, the girls arrived on March 20th small, but safe and well.

Cooper has joined the ranks of the "terrible two's." I swear, it's almost like every child is pre-programmed to freak out as soon as they turn two years old. If I didn't know any better, I would believe that they are all a part of an army, joining together to fight for what they believe in, for what they want, never giving in to the enemy, no matter what the consequence. Talk about a war! However strong his determination is to prove that terrible two's truly exist, he is the most loving, beautiful, precious little boy I've ever been lucky enough to know. And, best of all, he's mine and I wouldn't trade him for anything in the world!

At eleven years of age, Kaitlyn has shown us the best, and worst, of what she is capable of. Leaving elementary school behind, and heading face first into middle school scared us all. But, Kate showed us that she's quite capable of handling the "new" world, and adjusted so much better than we'd imagined....Thank goodness. She also got to experience the joy and excitement of being asked to a dance for the first time. Rest assured, Corey and I didn't have that same excited feeling when she came home to announce that she'd been asked to a dance. But, being one of those things that comes along with middle school, we sucked it up, and let her go....NOT with the boy, but with a friend. She's lucky we didn't chaperone. Unusually tall, for someone in our family, she already towers above me, and above many of her friends. As much a hassle as it is to her under most circumstances, she might actually do some good with that height when she begins her basketball season in a couple of weeks - This will be the last time she is able to play for the Community Ed league. Next year, if she chooses to continue, she'll be playing for her school. It seems though, she already has her sights set on volleyball - I guess being a giant would benefit in that sport as well. In all, an adventurous year for her full of new beginnings, new friends and new experiences has paved the way for all the things she'll get to see and do through the next few years.

Oh what a year....And I couldn't have done it without my wonderful husband Corey. His faithfulness, his love for his family and his super intelligent brain, has helped me to keep this family safe and well. He works tirelessly, making sure to do all he can to ensure I can stay home with this family. Even though his back has been worse than any one's I've known, he pushed through, suffering excruciating pain on a daily basis, never knowing when it would get better or worse. Until just a few weeks ago, this was his life. And, then he met Tom Moline - Magician, witch doctor, native healer - I don't know what he does, or how he does it, but he saved Corey's back. He diagnosed the REAL problem and fixed it. This has improved his life greatly and I can't wait until he's back to his good ol' self! This year has also brought on some fantastic opportunities for him at work with local, and national programs. He has grown so much, professionally, over the past year. And, though I still see the child within him, it's the wonderful man he's become that I love the most. I think I heard him exclaim this year "I'm all growed up!"

It's the year we all "growed up." It's the year we found love. The year we learned that a beautiful voice doesn't have to have a smokin' body on a 21 year old to be successful. The year we saw that having 8 babies is possible (not recommended, but possible.) The year that "texting" boomed and that people are learning, one crash at a time, not to text while driving cars, trains and planes. And, we learned that the people of this nation no longer judge a person's ability to run a country based on skin color or heritage.

I hope that the next year proves to be better for us all, and that we continue to strive for the best for our country, our families and for ourselves. Twenty ten can be the year for change. It can be the year we discover great things. It can be the best year of our lives.

Cheers to all of you for a safe and happy new year!!

Dashing through the rain, in a Poncho in LA......

I knew that it would be sometime between this blog and the last.....It's been a month and a half. I did not expect it to be that spaced! Oops......

Thanksgiving was great. On Turkey day, Corey and I stayed home with the kids and did some "Cooper and baby proofing" throughout the house. Our children have become so wild that this whole house is now nearly under a complete lockdown. I just need a warden out front to keep scoundrels out! Ha. Corey's sister and family, and his brother and his wife were off other places doing Thanksgiving with their families. So, this family Thanksgiving was postponed a day. Still, we cooked a little Thanksgiving dinner for our family, and invited Flip and Maija up, as they were alone too. It was just a nice, small dinner and it was perfect. The day we celebrated Thanksgiving was great. Corey cooked the turkey (best turkey ever) and we all got together at Corey's parents house. All the immediate families, and some extended, joined in the eating festivities. In all, about 20 people graced the floors of Maija's house. Aside from Cooper attacking Aunika's ink well and dumping half of it on to Maija's white carpet, it was a very nice family holiday.......as are all here in Yasui land.

I'm a sucker for the holidays, and was ready for it the day before Thanksgiving. I've been singing Christmas carols to the kids for weeks, and pulled out the decorations right after Black Friday. Right now, our house is decorated in wreaths, holly, garland and displays, all for the holiday joy. I've been accused (mostly by my husband) of being "grandma-like" during the holidays. Ya know, some gaudiness is involved. But, what else should he expect? I was raised by my grandparents, and my grandmother gets quite, um, excited, for holiday decorating. We just decorated the tree a couple of days ago, though it's been up for a week and a half. We put the tree up before we headed to Disneyland for 5 days.....Yeah, some things just couldn't wait!

The Trip

Right before our long awaited vacation our dear Mackenzie decided to get sick. And, by sick, I mean a constant fever of 102 and above, sleepless nights, constant crying and such a loss of appetite I was sure she was losing weight. Just a few weeks ago she came down with a urinary tract infection, which is not too common in infants. We thought that this illness she was suddenly battling was probably a recurrence of the infection. We went to the doctor, she was catheterized, TWICE, she was poked and prodded, and we went to Portland for a kidney ultrasound and a VCUG...The stress was overwhelming. And the result? She had nothing! NOTHING! All of her tests came back negative and she was apparently just fighting (really hard) a bug that her little body had. Or, possibly teething. All this occurred the week before we left for Disneyland, and for a moment, we debated one of us staying home to be with her and sending Maija in our place. But, by the grace of something, she became miraculously cured the day before we boarded the plane. Whew!

I was worried about leaving the girls. Not because I didn't trust Maija, but because I was dreading leaving them for so long. Corey, being his wonderful self, set Maija and Flip up with a Skype phone so that we could check in and see the girls daily. That made the trip so much easier for me, and I was so thankful that I could see my girls, and that they could see me, every day we were apart. But, still, the separation was hard, and I won't be doing that again any time soon.

Day 1: We boarded the plane and got the kids situated. This was the first flight for both Katie and Cooper, and we were excited to be a part of the experience. Buckled in, we were all ready for flight - As the plane revved the engines and then finally soared down the runway and into the air, both kids were full of panic; Eyes were HUGE, both of them were gripping the sides of their seats. After takeoff, though, the flight was great. Everyone was comfortable. And, thank goodness, Cooper was happy!


We arrived in California and unloaded from the plane and reloaded onto the shuttle bus. After a thirty minute ride from the airport to the Paradise Pier Hotel, we looked forward to getting to the room and relaxing for a short while. We went on this trip with Corey's sister Kim and her family. A few days prior to leaving Kim informed us her plan of attack for each day. For day 1: Board plane in PDX at 11am, arrive in LA at 2:10, get to Hotel and be IN Disneyland by 4pm. Both Corey and I laughed at this, as we thought she was just messin' with us. But, as we all got to our rooms, which were adjoining, Kim announces: OK, we're dumping the bags and then we're off to the park.....Are you guys ready?! Ha....She was friggin' serious! It was 3:40 and she was hell bent on making it into that park by 4. I suppose that with older kids this is much easier. But, we had Cooper. He hadn't rested yet that day, we were all starving and we were already somewhat exhausted. So, we sent Katie with Kim so that she could begin her fun immediately. At 5pm Corey, Cooper and I were able to gather ourselves enough to venture into the park. And, as we headed out, we saw it....The rain was pouring down. Oh, crud.

Disneyland was just as awesome as I remember from my trip 14 years ago. Seeing Coopers face light up with astonishment was priceless. Even the rain couldn't damper that first moment as we entered "Mickey Mouse's house," as we call it here at home. We met up with Kim, her family and Katie, and headed on to the rides at Disneyland. Through the evening, we noticed that our clothes were beginning to get heavy, our sweaters and coats seemed a little longer than they were at 5pm and our heads resembled what we might look like freshly out of a nice, long shower. The evening ended, with everyone riding the "It's a small world" ride. Fitting, considering that the song has been a constant with Cooper for several weeks. He was amazed, and nothing in the world could take away how much he was enjoying this ride. Once done, we headed back to the hotel and hung our clothes, dripping wet, in the bathtub. We managed to put on pj's and it didn't take any longer than 5 minutes for every single one of us to be sound asleep. What a wonderful first day at Disneyland.

Saturday morning it almost seemed like a hurricane was outside. The rain was coming down sideways and it might have been 50 degrees outside. We had special "early entrance" tickets, and we wanted to take advantage of that since we're up so early with Cooper anyways. By 7am, we were on the monorail headed into the park. There were so few people there, because of the weather, that it was so easy to get to the front of the line in rides. We made sure to hit some of the really popular rides first: Nemo's Submarine adventure, Peter Pan, Space Mountain, The Matterhorn....All with wait times less than 5 minutes.

While on Peter Pan, Corey ran to the front gates to rent a stroller (lifesaver) and buy a few ponchos. I didn't pack well, and we weren't prepared for the weather we encountered. We headed toward the Pirates of the Carribean and the Indiana Jones ride. By the time we exited Indiana Jones, the rain was coming down so hard I could barely see in front of me. We decided that since it was nearly 9am, we should all probably find a restaurant to get breakfast in, and get out of the rain. The one place we ended up at was packed....of course it was, everyone was trying to get out of the rain. We ordered our food, tried to find a table, and ended up going outside to the patio under some umbrellas to eat. HA! We got out there only to find that the umbrellas were set up to shield SUN, not rain. So half of every table was in the rain. We sucked it up, sat in the puddled chairs and ate our breakfast as the rain doused our heads. It was a sight for sore eyes, but there we were! And looking back, it's just one of those great memories we made!

We continued our day at Disneyland, riding on rides, sitting in puddles, and for the heck of it since it wouldn't have changed anything at this point, we let Cooper jump in every puddle he wanted to. He loved it, we smiled, and all we wanted was for the kids to be happy under the circumstances. Even if that meant puddle jumping! We were back in our room by 4, showered and dried. The weather outside was not changing, so we decided to stay in for the rest of the night. We ordered food and ate in....Skyped with Meemaw and the girls. Just a great ending to another great day.


Day3: The forecast for this Sunday was not a good one. It was supposed to be worse than the day before and rain all day long, with a fully overcast sky. This was our day to tour Universal Studios. We planned for the bad weather by packing a second backpack full of extra clothes for each of us, as our day at Universal began at 10 and wasn't scheduled to end until 7pm that night. We all headed outside to find that the clouds were out, but it wasn't raining. Yay! We boarded our tour bus, and headed to Universal Studios. On the way, the sun began to peek out. "What??", I thought. Upon arriving at Universal, the sun was out, hardly a cloud was in the sky, and it must have been around 60 degrees. It's like the weather santa came and saved us!! However it happened, it made for the best day of the trip. We went on all the rides, saw so many characters and live street performances. The holiday season was aglow in Universal Studio world, and I wouldn't have traded places with anyone that day. Every single character, worker and show was wonderful. The food was fantastic, and the park nearly EMPTY! Yeah, it's like everyone had planned for such a crappy day, and avoided the park. We went to the front of the line on every ride, and got some really great pictures along the way. The studio tour was great. I loved seeing all the old sets of movies, and some sets that are still occasionally, and currently, in use. For instance, Wisteria Lane (Desperate Housewives) is REAL....I mean, the houses are not really full houses, but the set is REAL. There is a real road. All the house fronts are real. The flashy cars parked in front are REAL. Heck, the yards are real! It was so cool to see that and know that in just a few hours, camera crews and the housewives would be filming right there, right where I was sitting. T'was pretty darn cool. We hoped to get a glimpse of Teri Hatcher, but no such luck. We did see a wild coyote, and the tour guide so excited to see an animal in the park that wasn't mechanical or portrayed by a human. We closed our Universal day with a waltz through the "City Walk." This is an area directly in front of Universal Studios filled with stores, restaurants and vendors of all kinds. We caught a short concert stint of Emily Osment, as we headed into the Hard Rock Cafe...She was performing some Christmas songs, but her sound system quit working before she could finish. By the sounds of it, she wasn't happy. She ran off pretty quickly. Oh, well.....I didn't even know who she was until one of my nieces pointed out "That's Hannah Montana's BEST FRIEND!!"

Cooper fell asleep before we left the parking lot...He continued to sleep through the ride back to the hotel (45 minutes), as we unloaded the bus, as we hobbled up to our room, and even through the changing of the diaper and into jammies. Poor kid slept until 6:30 the next morning! In all, that day was my favorite, and I can't wait to go back in a few years when all the kiddos are older.


Day 4 we did California adventure and finished off with the Christmas fireworks show at Disneyland. Between the overwhelming orchestral Christmas music, hundreds of people standing above him, and the "bangs" and "booms", Cooper was maxxed out...He got scared to death, and nearly tipped his stroller as he clamored to get out and into any familiar arms that would hold him. That was his max, and he couldn't take anymore. After the show, we went back to the room. We decided that, even though we had another day pass at Disneyland, we'd use the early part of the next morning to gather ourselves for our trip home that afternoon. We packed, and headed down to the last event on our trip: The Character Breakfast. We'd looked forward to this the whole trip. All the main Disney Characters: Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, etc....were at this breakfast. Each character came up to every kid for hugs, dancing and pictures. Cooper was so excited for this, and we knew this was the kind of last memory we wanted for him to take home with us.

After breakfast, we headed to the airport. This flight home was not as easy as the flight in, unfortunately. We began the craziness at the security checkpoint. We thought we followed all the instructions, but apparenty Corey was supposed to remove the DVD from the DVD case and place it in a separate box for scanning. We did this with the laptop, but didn't have to do this in Portland. Because it came up "unrecognizable" on their scanner, they had to confiscate it to check it directly, then run in through the scanner again. Luckily, we weren't late for our flight or that would have been troublesome. We were now ready to board. The airline announced the boarding for first class and families, so we went up. They took our name as we boarded, but apparently didn't identify that in their computers. So, just before we were set to take off, the captain came back to see who all these extra people were that the flight attendant counted, but was not accounted for the in computer. After some questions of who was who, and who was where, it was settled, and we were set to go. Just before they had announced the boarding, an announcement came on notifying passengers that this plane had been chosen for random extra security checks. To then have passengers unaccounted for made it that much closer to us having to be that chosen family for the extra security check. I think that our restless toddler made them rethink that and soon, we were on our way! Thank goodness. 20 minutes into the flight our boy became restless. And halfway through the flight we became the family that had "THAT" kid. You know, the one who kicks the seats like a donkey, screams bloody murder for no apparent reason, and fights like Tyson to get out of the restraints. We did what we could to calm him, and he finally responded to the DVD I put on for him. He was moments from being asleep when we hit bad turbulence. The pilot came on to notify us to shut down all electronics and that we'd need to keep them off for the remainder of the flight. "What??!!" Turbulence is OK!! The moment I shut it down, the screaming resumed. He was exhausted and we were beyond calming at this point. We finally landed and quickly de-boarded the plane. We hurried to get our bags and rushed to the car. Aaaahhhh......Our own car. We loaded up, turned up the heat and headed home. Within minutes, Cooper was asleep. He slept the rest of the way home.

We picked up our girls, came home, and crashed. What a busy 5 days for us.

But, without hesitation, the next day Corey was back to work, I was busy at home with our kids, and life was back to normal before we could even "plan" to adjust. Exhausted beyond words, it took us a good 3 days to regain our strength to keep up with our home, our schedules and ourselves. It's now 4 days until Christmas, and, well, I've finally had a while to sit to blog. All children, until 5 minutes ago, napped happily and gave me this quiet time. An early Christmas present, I think.

We'll do some more wrapping tonight, and maybe finish the gingerbread house we began last night. We have our dinner/murder mystery party tomorrow night, and are so excited for it. Thursday night we'll have Christmas Eve with 40 friends and family at Flip and Maija's house. And Christmas morning, we'll get to spend with all FOUR of our Children, as Katie is home with us this year.

I can't wait to see their faces Friday morning. What a day it will be......

Merry Christmas to you all. Be safe. Be happy. Be MERRY!!

Happy Thanksgiving

Forgive me readers for I have sinned......It's been well over a month since my last blog session.

Baby Kenzie has adjusted very well to her new butterfly helmet. At first, it seemed so invasive, so large and so hard to have on our baby's head. But, with practice and a week and a half of constant wearing, we're all used to it now, and it's no big deal. She wears this helmet 23 hours a day, 7 days a week. The one hour that she gets to have it off she gets bathed (this poor baby smells so bad after wearing that thing for 23 hours) and the helmet gets washed. After the helmet comes off, and with a tongue hanging out and an "I'm FREE!" kind of smirk on her face, Kenzie rubs her head back and forth like a retarded cat high on catnip on whatever she's leaning against; couch, mom, dad, floor, playpen, swing. It becomes such a relief to her to be able to move her head without that helmet on, and I can't imagine being in her place. I do, however, feel a slight guilt in putting her in the thing, and think sometimes that I should find a helmet to put myself in for fairness sake. Lucky for me, that's just a thought and not a true inclination. A few months in the helmet and she'll be as round as her little sister!

As of late, I haven't been able to help anyone do anything and I'm beginning to feel a little bad for all the help I've recruited over the past few months for childcare - especially Maija. She's been there through thick and thin, well planned and short notice for one or all of the children. I thank her, and thank anyone who helps. But, still, I feel like I need to give more. The appointment schedule that I must keep for the children is as hair raising as nails on a chalkboard. It never seems to end - I e-mailed a list of all appointments through the end of the year (that were scheduled) to Corey and as I was typing one appointment after another I just couldn't believe my eyes. Were there really 16 appointments and events to keep up with in the next MONTH?? It was unreal. No wonder I can't help anyone out....I can barely help myself!

Just yesterday I was reminded that even when life gets too hectic, it can make a person's day just by letting them know you're thinking about them. I was the recipient of the good thought - My friend Paula, a wonderful woman who I have known for two decades...wow....took time out of her busy schedule to design a card with a compilation of pictures that I had posted on facebook, or sent out in personal emails, that included a little note thanking me for sharing my life moments with her. Who would have thought to do that? Certainly not me....at least not until now. I mean, I was so enlightened to know that she was thinking about me, my family. And I've been such a tool about staying in contact with her. I regret that, and that little gesture of hers has reminded me that I need to remind the people in my life, near or far, that it's good to know them. I should remind them that they make me happy....They are a part of me.

Several years ago Corey and I participated in the search for Corey's aunt Tazu Higashi - She went missing from Lake Oswego in January 2006. The story didn't have a happy ending, as many of you know, but the affect it had on my heart to just help to look for her was overwhelming. Tazu's immediate family was so grateful to everyone's desire to help find her, and thanked us again and again and again. To this day, I can remember how good it felt to help out - To be a small part of something so big.

It only takes a moment to let someone know you care or to stop and help someone in need. It could be the ultimate gift.......a lifesaver to some. But, if you can't help someone, you can thank someone. I've learned that lesson all too well the past year. So, thank you Maija, Kim, Kathy and Niko for your willingness to help care for our clan when we need to be somewhere. Thank you Corey for being the rock you are, working hard to provide for this family. Thank you friends for including me in your life. Thank you Paula, for reminding me that it's good to give......Give love, give hope, give happiness, give thanks and give life. I guess it's fitting for the upcoming holiday.

So, to all my dedicated readers, Happy Thanksgiving - Whatever that might mean to you!

Helmet Head

When thinking about when to conceive, there are several factors that come in to play. First: Are we ready? Our answer was yes. Second: Do we want our children to be somewhat close in age so that they may grow up together? We thought yes. There are many other factors, but I think those were the first two that we asked ourselves. We were ready and we did want our kids to be close in age. Now, Katie is a different story. She's older, and didn't have any siblings to grow up with, and I think that has affected her tremendously. Corey and I didn't want that for the children we'd have together. HOWEVER..... The end result is not always what we had imagined.

We pictured Cooper, a baby boy or baby girl, cooing, playing together, and Katie being this great helper, wanting nothing more than to be the proud big sister of two. Ha. Instead, we have an eleven year old who is quite distracted with raging hormones, middle school and friends, a two year old who is hell bent on proving just what the true meaning of "terrible twos" actually is, and twin girls who, for the most part, have kept everyone on their toes with medical craziness and personalities that are so opposite you'd think they weren't related.

Having twins was a surprise for us, but we were excited beyond words. Twins can also bring on so many unexpected twists and turns in life, and you're rarely prepared for it. From the day they were born, everything was different. Feeding was different. Sleeping was different (at first, nonexistent). Even though everything became different after the girls were born, we all sort of slid right into the new dynamic and have worked it out pretty well. But, the unexpected still happens. Gas appears out of nowhere, in the middle of the night, and after one night of constant bouncing in the football hold, we're stocked up on Mylicon for faster relief. Next time, we're ready. Just when you think they're secure, surrounded by pillows on the floor, you look up and one has rolled over the pillow and is headed under the coffee table. It never ends and the anxiety of expecting the unexpected is KILLING me!

I blogged a couple months back about Mackenzie's head. She developed positional plagiocephaly - When the head becomes misshapen due to pressure on one area of the head. It's quite interesting. Twins have a much higher chance of developing this, and being a preemie boosts that percentage even higher - We had both factors against us. Luckily, so far, just Mackenzie has it. I took her to Portland in June to Doernbechers for a consult with a specialist. She confirmed it and instructed us to do 10 weeks of repositioning and home physical therapy to attempt to reshape her head on our own. We did it diligently, and we noticed her head becoming more round. But, before her appointment last week I knew there wasn't as much improvement as we'd hoped. At her checkup last week the doctor was impressed with the improvement, but she discussed what we already knew - It's still misshapen.

Yesterday I went back to Portland to an orthotics specialist to discuss helmets and such. The process was amazing. The specialist put a sock like thing with a cutout for her face on her head and stuck in this electronic node thing and put it on the top of her head. The sock thing held it in place. There was a cord from that node thing going to the computer. With a scanner gun, that looked much like a scanner gun used in a grocery store, the specialist began at the top of her head and scanned down the side of her face. He continued this on all angles of her head. I looked at the screen and I was amazed. For each scan he took Mackenzie's face began to appear on the screen. Then her whole head appeared....It was absolutely amazing. This machine had scanned Mackenzie's whole head structure into a 3 dimensional design on the computer. And it truly looked like her! With this scan, Mackenzie's helmet can be specially constructed for only her use, and will fit her head exactly. It was pretty darn impressive. So, yes, Mackenzie gets a helmet! It will take some getting use to, but it's going to help her to reshape her little head so it's somewhat round instead of "rhombus" looking. She'll be in it for 4-5 months, maybe less. I'm sure we'll get looks, lots of questions, and if Cooper continues on his little defiant streak, he might even try to head butt her just to see if he gets hurt.

Today I'm watching Coopers finger - He decided to grab a yellow jacket while I was in Portland yesterday, and the yellow jacket didn't want to be his friend. He got stung. But, we learned he's not allergic to them, and the only thing left from the incident is the memory. I suppose he won't be grabbing onto bees anytime in the near future. Now, if he'd just learn to quit riding our cats like a horse, we'll be in good shape!

So, now that alone play time is over for Cooper, I'm going to head in to play trains and tracks with him in hopes that he doesn't chuck a train at my head (Corey has a scar from a gash received from a flying train last week.) Now that I think about it, it's going to be a great thing that Kenzie has a helmet. Heck, maybe I should just get one for Rayla, too! At least they'd be safe from Cooper's attempts to make his toys fly to us!

Where credit is due

It's absolutely wonderful when I come across things, and people, that make my life easier. I don't go looking for things, but when they come up, it just makes me happy. Obviously, when you have a family as large as mine now is, you have to cut corners, improvise and do things in ways you never imagined. The cleaning habits change. The cooking habits change. The bathing habits change. Everything changes. So in my blog today, I'm going to praise a couple of things that make my life easier, and maybe it'll help someone else, too!

The dryer bar. OMG! That thing is just awesome. Bounce has a dryer bar that you stick in the dryer and replace every 3 or 4 months (Walmart). I'm at the end of the second month and it hasn't let me down yet. I was getting sick of finding dryer sheets stuck in my bra's, or in Coopers jammies. And, because I'm just anal about our clothes smelling good, and no static, I always stuck in 3 or 4 sheets. Corey HATED that. But now, I don't have to dig through the dryer sheet box, or fight away sheets stuck together, or gather up the hundreds of them floating through the house on laundry day. Just a little bar in the dryer that stays there. Aaaaaah.

The laundry hamper. With a big family this is a must. I have a steel supported (sturdy little sucker) canvas 3 hamper bag get-up that, when full, is exactly the amount for 1 load of laundry (Amazon.com). YES, a bag that does half the work. We sort darks, whites and linens, and when everyone's doing it right, it's just a breeze doing laundry. It's on rollers, so if someone's being out of line, I can just roll it into their room to be filled appropriately. Ha, super laundry hamper on wheels. I suppose if anything were to make this easier it would be that the hampers washed, dried and folded the clothes as well. But, that's just silly.

My triple jogging stroller. It's a Bebe Love EVO triple - (Overstock.com). And I love it. When I first opened the box I almost broke my back. I never imagined it being so big, and I didn't think it would be THAT heavy. HA. But, now that I'm using it regularly, it's just a dream. It's seats properly hold all three munchkins with deep separators, so Cooper doesn't punch a baby, and all three seats are equipped with the 3 point harness system. Yay! There is so much storage and the sun shield is nice and big. It's so easy to push, and now I have the folding and lifting and storing down to an art, and it's not so big anymore. I believe I mentioned in a blog some weeks ago about a trip to Walmart I took with the kids in the stroller. People were looking at me like I had peed myself, had my clothes on backwards, a booger sticking out of my nose and a bird in my hair. Seriously, it's an eye catching thing, but some people were just ruthless with their stares. Especially the super old folks, who were probably mulling over how incredibly larger that vehicle was compared to their wheelchairs. But in the end, I'd recommend it to anyone who has 3 kids who are stroller bound - Each seat holds up to 50 pounds, so we've got several years to go!

And lastly, but certainly not least, my in laws. I have praised her in past blogs, but seriously, I have got to have the best mother in law in the world. Unfortunately for the rest of you, she's not for sale! On so many levels this woman has made my life easier. With her giving, her caretaking, and sometimes even her cooking, she alleviates some of my stress and never hesitates to offer more. She's just an incredible person with the biggest heart in the world.

So, thank you Bounce. Thank you Overstock.com. Thank you Amazon.com. And, thank you Maija and Flip for making my life a little easier every now and again. Now I must head over to one of the two swings that sit in my living room, and feed little Rayla. That little stinker has to eat every few hours in the night. Oh well....Not everything's easy!!

My confession

It's September. I can't believe it's September. This summer has passed by as if it were a breeze, hastily moving to get somewhere. It's flown by so fast that I can't remember some of the things I've done during that time. That may just be my exhausted brain, however.

Motherhood is a joy. And motherhood is work. Yet, here's what I hear: " You shouldn't think of parenthood as a job. Just think of all those mothers who HAVE to work and put their kids in daycare instead of being home playing and oogling and googling over all their children all day long." Blah, blah, blah.....If I had a nanny, a housekeeper, a groundskeeper, a cook and a home health nurse, then yeah, I could POSSIBLY oogle and google at my children all day without biting my tongue, shedding a tear, yelling at the wall or throwing my hands up in an effort to convince myself that it's OK to give up for the moment. It ain't easy and in my case I've got about the craziest scenario imaginable to work with - That is, the craziest scenario imaginable within the realm of normal sane people, unlike the craziness brought on with J&K plus 8 or Octomom. No, it's not a job. But it's work, and if anyone wants to argue that they can visit my house for a day.

The first month after the twins were born life was crazy, but it was due to constant hospital comings and goings and not due to crying or hysteria associated with having 4 children at home. But, as the girls get older, our pre-teen lashes out more often, and our boy becomes more of a toddler, things are getting more difficult by the day. I am blessed today to have all three younguns sleeping at the same time, allowing me to do something.....So I choose to blog. Hey, it's been a month! In a usual day the girls will find a way to make sure that one of them is always awake to keep an eye on me. Not often do they sleep simultaneously....And rarely do all THREE sleep at the same time.

The girls are now eating solids, and I still have yet to find the groove to getting that done peacefully. I can never feed them fast enough, and more often than not, one girl doesn't like one of the foods she's eating. This result is a good, hefty cry that requires me to feed the other a little faster. If a free hand is here (Kate, Corey, Maija) I usually wrangle em' in to assist in the feeding frenzy - Dinner time at our house resembles feeding time at a Monkey exhibit in a zoo. Rush, rush, cook, spoon it up, stir, "hush, baby, hush", Corey grab this, Katie grab that, Cooper sit down, Don't throw that on the floor, pick it up! I'm already exhausted just thinking about it.

I more often than not get so caught up in other things that I fall behind on the laundry. I find myself with all three hampers, fully loaded, a load in the basket still waiting to be folded, and, heaven help me, a load in the washer that I somehow forgot was in there...Maybe a few hours, maybe a day or two. I know as soon as I open the lid! The dishes get stacked and sometimes I end up leaving them in the evening and doing them in the morning when I find I have an inkling more energy and am able to crash and bang without waking a kid or two. My bathrooms are neglected, as the time I spend in there is quick, no matter the business, and to clean them would take lots of hands and knees time with some pretty intense cleaners.

And finally, like clockwork, all children in this family manage to get sick one right after the other. Now, I don't know what's worse: Having all kids sick at the same time and just getting it done and over with, or having one sick for two days, then another sick for another two days and so on and so forth - Illness now lasts a week or more at a time instead of a quick 24 hour bug. Corey and I don't have time to be sick. Yet, still, we are.

I confess: This is the hardest thing I have ever done. I have let a baby cry for a while if I know she's not hurt and I am doing something that needs immediate attention. I have given Cooper cookies or snacks and plopped him in front of the TV just to induce a moment free of insanity. I have bitten my nails down to the core. I have neglected my husband. I have yelled at Katie over the littlest thing and slapped my hand on the counter to get attention. I have accepted that baby puke is just a part of my wardrobe now and I can cry at the drop of a dime.

Maija has been my saving grace this year. She was by my side with Cooper while I was pregnant, battling to keep the babies in as long as possible. And, she's been my right hand man in helping with the kids, even with last minute notice, during this summer while Corey has been busy at work with his cherry and pear harvests. I thank my lucky stars to have her be the mother in law I was blessed with. I couldn't have done it this summer without her.

It's no wonder that I have headaches, chest pain, and I look hideous. But, if anything, a little confession never hurt anyone and is probably good for my soul. I'm not perfect. I get tired, frustrated, mad, even furious at some of life's happenings. It's all a part of growing with this family. I learn something new every day and, though it's tough for now, I get my share of smiles from the heavenly little things that my children do. I love my life and wouldn't change it for the world......dirt, poop, boogers, screaming and all.

Yard tools hate my guts

"Whenever I watch TV and see those poor starving kids all over the world, I can't help but cry. I mean I'd love to be skinny like that but not with all those flies and death and stuff." Mariah Carey.

My husband should be so mad at me right now. I mean, he should be screaming, throwing his arms around, kicking things and maybe even telling me what a worthless dope I am. But he's not. He's never done anything like that. But for today, I should be in so much trouble with him.

For fathers day the kids and I gifted Corey a new weed eater - It was a pretty cool one. After he opened it and went through it's contents, he found that the motor was a 2 stroke and had to have a gasoline/oil mix to run. OK. A few days later we made a trip to town to pick up some things. Corey purchased the special oil for the machine as well as a new gas can. I remember thinking that it was odd that he purchased a new gas can, since we have one that works just fine. But, I also don't remember inquiring about it. He put everything together the next day, got it going and weed whacked his heart out. The yard looked fantastic upon completion.

That was, of course, a couple of weeks ago. Our yard has gotten away from us in that time, and weeds had appeared in mass quantities, and our back and side yards had grown to a very unattractive playground for our cats. A couple of nights ago Corey sighed at the sight and apologized for not having the time to do the yard work. Well, it's kinda hard to have time for yard work when the work days are 12 or more hours long every day of the week. Obviously I wasn't upset at all, but, I did see that he knew it needed to be done, and was stressed just thinking about it. I decided to take action. I should've stopped there.

Maija came this morning to sit with the kids so that I could venture out and do some yard work. It was a whopping 70 degrees outside and I was so thankful for that. Attempting to do this last week, in the week long 100 plus degree weather would have been yard work suicide. Glad I didn't. So, I pulled out the mower and started it up. I mowed the front, one side, the back yard and once I got to the west side of our house the mower began to sputter. I checked the gas tank and it was just about empty. I went to the shop to grab the gas can we normally use.....Empty. I noticed the new gas can and checked it. It was full, so I brought it out with me. Since the can was pretty small to begin with, I didn't want to use all of the gas in the mower, so I just used a little. The mower started and I went back to cutting. A couple minutes later, the mower began to pull a little and began to make a sound that went something like "rrrrrrrrUUUUUUUU rrrrrrrrrrrrrrr UUUUUUUUrrrrrrrrrrr". Then, it quit. What the heck? I waited a couple of minutes and started it again. Sounds fine. I mowed a few rows when again the mower began to pull, make that weird noise, and finally quit. I couldn't get it started again. I put the mower away and grabbed the weed whacker. For the life of me, I couldn't get that damn thing to work right either. I finished up what I could, headed inside, took a quick shower and relieved Maija of the children. I was so proud that I was able to do that for us, and I was sure Corey would be thrilled as well.

Through the day I cleaned, did laundry and even put on a slow cooker with beef ribs in an awesome marinade. I was so excited for my hubby to come home, see the yard done and relax with a nice, home cooked meal. At dinner, we were talking all about our days - What we'd done, who we'd seen, any new news....You know, the daily dish. I mentioned that I had mowed - Funny, he didn't notice upon his arrival home. But when he saw it, he told me how nice it looked. I then told him about the funny noises and halting of the mower so that he could look at it sometime in the future. His first question: Was it out of gas? I said "Yeah, but I put more in. He looked at me with a pale face. He then asked, "What gas can did you use?" I said, "I used the new small one, cause' the big one was empty." I swear, the blood drained from his face right in front of me. He then informed me that the reason the mower was quitting was because that gas can was strictly for the weed wacker and putting that mix in the mower most likely ruined it. Oh Lord, I've killed the lawnmower! Apparently he bought that small can to keep a premixed gas for the weed eater, and said that he actually explained this to me so that I NEVER used it for anything but the weed wacker. Either I was nowhere around when that conversation happened, he never told me, or I just completely forgot. I'm going with he never told me, but that's because I SWEAR that he never told me that the oil and gas were going to be premixed in the gas can. I was sure that the oil was put directly into the machine after the gas was added. No matter how you roll the dice, it was the worst thing that I could have done. He calmly told me that it was OK, he knows I didn't mean to do it, and that now I know what that can's for. That gentleness in his voice still just about killed me. I feel sooooo bad for what happened, and wish I could turn back time, if just for today.

So much for de-stressing the most stressed out man in the world. I notice that many of the things I do are "You're damned if you do, and damned if you don't" kind of things. I could stay home with the kids instead of going to the store, because it's easier, and I don't really think I need to drag 3 kids out, squeeze them in a cart and pray to God they don't all scream at the same time. But, when it comes to dinner time, that ONE ingredient I need to finish it off is nowhere to be found in my house, but rather smiling at the customers as they walk by in the grocery store I chose not to visit with the children earlier in the day. This happens all the time.

So, though I'm fairly sure my husband probably skimmed the thought of kicking me to the curb, he loves me and I love him and accidents happen. I especially love him for humoring my ignorance. I suppose I won't be running any kind of machinery if he's got a say about it. It takes a certain brand of crazy to be married to me, and, I can't say I'd blame him if he locked the shop and hid the key! Days like these I wish that everything around me had a magic button.

Discovery: Cooper

I have become a fan of the Discovery Channel over the years. That main channel has, however, expanded to reflect different focus groups. Now, there's Discovery Health, Discovery Kids, The Learning Channel, Nat Geo, the Food Network and even a Man channel. But, there is nothing more fascinating than the discoveries that occur in the home. Specifically, my home.

Lucky for me, I have the special honor of having front row seats in some of the most hysterical, hilarious discoveries that life can bring. And, lucky for everyone around me, my sense of humor significantly outweighs my anger button. Cooper is just a go-go-go as fast as he can toddler, and everything seems to call out to him "TOUCH ME!" A few weeks ago we went along with his sudden interest in potty training. This was awesome, as this was something that he decided all on his own and was so excited to do it. We purchased a new potty chair that played a funky celebratory tune when poo or pee hit the bowl, and he loved it so much. Well, one happy afternoon (thankfully it wasn't 100 degrees outside) I put Cooper down for his nap. As usual, he sang for quite a while. This day he sang a bit longer than usual, so I called in for him to hush and go to sleep. 10 minutes later, the singing resumed. Again, I called out a naptime reminder. A few minutes later, I heard more singing. The last baby had finally fallen asleep, so I went to Coop's room to see what the problem was. The problem hit me like a ton of bricks before I even turned the corner to his room, but the scene in his room left me at a loss for words. That poor baby had pooped in his diaper, but was runny and bothersome for him. So, he played. He painted his walls. He painted his crib. He painted faces on his toys. He covered his blankies, sheets and crib bumper. And, he painted himself. The only poo free part of him was his head and face. Everything else: brown. He knew it was gross, but he just couldn't help himself. Since then, he won't touch his diaper, and he won't use the potty chair well. He traumatized himself!! lol

Today, Cooper was helping me with his little sisters. I sat Mackenzie next to Coop and he put his arm around her. Very cute. His hand came around and landed just under her mouth, which happened to be dripping with drool. He pulled his hand away and looked at the drool. Most kids would wipe it off. Not my boy! He's so inquisitive that he had to TASTE it! I laughed till I cried and reminded him that we don't swap spit with siblings. Funnier yet, he did this shortly after she got a Tylenol dose, so her slobber was tinged with sweetness. He didn't care that it was wrong. He happily exclaimed "Num Num!!" Oh so stinkin' funny! I hope he doesn't do it again, though......

Also today - Yeah, it's been one of those days - Coop found my tube of Strawberry Chapstick. He opened the lid and must have smelled the sweetness, cause' just a couple minutes after he was out of my sight I heard "Ptooey, smack, smack, ptooey, blech, lnalanalanlanal, mama!" He ate the whole tube of chapstick. Swallowed it down! Well, almost all of it. Some of it remained on his teeth and in his cheeks in super sticky form. I thought he'd learned his lesson when just last week dad caught him with a tube of chapstick with a big ol' chunk bitten right off the top. Imagine if it was lip STICK - Oh what a mess that would be!!

What a blessing it is for me to be able to share these little incidents that bring such a smile to my heart. I am thankful that I have such a curious little boy and that he is bold enough to go where this mommy has never been before. I love him so and can't wait (believe it or not) for his next adventure. I do hope that poop is not involved........

A goal in moderation

Every one in our family has a goal right now, some of which require a little more determination than others. Occasionally a hilarious incident, or stupid action has brought on a laugh and even a tear. Allow me to share.........

First, Cooper. Now, he has entered the REAL period of toddlerhood. We're seeing sides of Cooper that we hadn't seen before and some are just too funny not to mention. When he hurts himself, he gets so angry with himself. He pulled a rope tied to a truck the other day and whacked his little eyebrow. By the sound of the crack we knew it hurt, but he was having none of mommy and daddy trying to kiss it better. Instead, he stomped his feet, slapped himself in the head, went behind the couch and started punching it. He was so stinkin' mad at himself. He hops out of carts in the grocery store. And, oh I love this one, he throws his dish full of food on to the carpet out of anger when we don't respond to him fast enough. I know, surely this sounds like he's out of control. But, really, he's just trying to do his best, and for the most part he's the most perfect, well behaved little boy I know. It's just funny to point out the not so great things for humor's sake! Coop's goal: Get through toddlerhood with as many memories, good and bad, that he can create.

Katie will be going into middle school this year. She is a little nervous, and has a lot of self esteem issues to overcome. First of all, she has a little bit of a speech impediment - She can't say her "R's" very well. So, when Kate talks people hear "woad" instead of "road". She is actually much, much better now, but she is still very self conscious about this. She hopes that this year she can overcome this little thing holding her back and not be worried about how she speaks. Second, she's really tall, and, she sometimes feels like she doesn't fit in. She's always been astronomically tall for reasons unknown, and we have tried to find the humor in it for her sake. We'll tell her "You get to look down on everyone and see who has dandruff!" Or, "You can be the one to reach for things on the top cupboard for mom!" Still, she's about 5 or 6 inches taller than most of the friends she has, and she just feels like she's not fitting in as well. Unfortunately, there's no fix for that one. Katie's goal: Stop growing and say "road."

The twins are something else. They look nothing alike. They act nothing alike. They cry nothing alike. In fact, the only thing of likeness they have is their poop....But that's cause I feed them identical food. Poor Mackenzie laid predominantly on one side of her head for the first couple months of life causing her skull to form around that flat spot. So, at the moment, she has a very crooked head...Kind of a rhombus shape. We're doing some physical therapy and stretching to help her reconstruct that little head of hers into a normal, round, baby head. 7 weeks left to go until we find out if she has to get a helmet to do the job. We're hoping she doesn't have to have it. But, if she does, the worst part will be the fight Corey and I have about how we're going to decorate it: Flames or flowers. haha.
Rayla is just a cute little round person. In fact, her nickname at the moment is shortround for obvious reasons. She's shorter than Mac by a couple of inches, and she truly is about as round as a person can be! She doesn't seem to want to roll over and has no inclination to even rock towards one side. You would think that her "roundness" would make this super easy. But, movin' as such obviously has nothing to do with body shape and everything to do with will and drive. Mackenzie's goal: Round out the head and stay out of the helmet for the sake of avoiding flames! Rayla's goal: Rock and Roll, baby!

Corey has been through quite a bit this year on many levels. This cherry harvest has proved to be the most difficult that he has ever had to work through. Between the growers who refuse to listen to his well supported ideas and recommendations, to the long industrious hours he puts in 7 days a week to get the job done, he's just about as spent as one can be. I'm fairly certain that his brain is fried, his shoes worn down and his body is tired. He's worked so hard the past few weeks that he's dropped nearly 30 pounds. For that, I'm proud of him. Don't worry, he hasn't done it unhealthily. In fact, for some reason, we have found ourselves eating a little better over the past couple of months, and it shows. Corey's goal: Never look at another cherry for the rest of the year and take a vacation from it all. (He'll get a mini vacation next week, if all goes well!)

And, then there's me. Funny how I always write about myself last when talking about the family, but I guess that's the way it should be. Over the past couple of months I have gone through every emotion, every feeling and every facial expression that I think I have. First off, a couple weeks after I had the girls, I went on the Depo Provera......I will never, ever, ever, under any circumstance, recommend that to anyone. From about 2 days after the injection I began to get daily headaches that, over time, grew to daily migraines. I put back on 10 pounds. I was moody, emotional, angry, judgemental, and short fused. That was not the person I was, or that I wanted to be. Of course, being an injectable, the damn medicine was in my system until it was due to run out: 12 WEEKS after injection. Ugh. So, Corey saw many a side of me that I am sure he hopes never reappears again. After an unsuccessful attempt at an IUD, I am happily the wearer of an implant. It's called Implanon, and it's been the best thing for me so far. I have not had a headache since 3 days after I received the implant, have lost 10 pounds and have gained my happy go lucky self back. And, of course, have several years of baby blocker. I have invested in a triple jogging stroller which has been absolutely fantastic for walking with the kids. That, too, has assisted with my weight loss. Part of what was making me sad for so many weeks was that I was feeling a little lonely - Yeah, lonely with 4 kids. That's funny, huh? But my loneliness was more from my friends. I miss going out to lunch. I miss hanging with friends. I miss having friends over for movies, or just to chat. I know, these things change over the years, but I've decided I want some of that back. Even if it includes the kids, I'm going to make an effort to spend more time getting to know my friends, and maybe even having them get to know me. I've made some great connections lately, and I'm going to reap the benefits. I have ideas, and I'm hoping to implement them. I have friendship and I'm going to share it. Cara's goals: Lose LOTS more weight, do happy things and enrich my life with all the great friends I have.

It's funny that when I think about it now, much of our lives is about goals. Get up, get coffee, get kids ready, do this, do that, don't forget this and don't forget that. Goals, goals goals. Some of life's best memories didn't start out as a goal, but ended up being some of life's greatest accomplishments. If I'm gonna talk the talk, I should walk the walk. So for a week, at least, I'll make less goals, and more coffee. The caffeine just might make me do something great!

Lean on Me

We don't accomplish anything in this world alone ... and whatever happens is the result of the whole tapestry of one's life and all the weavings of individual threads from one to another that creates something. ~ Sandra Day O'Connor

Have I mentioned lately how proud I am to be a part of the Yasui family? Well, if I haven't, then I should have. From the moment I met Corey I knew he was part of a special family and I knew that I'd be lucky to be a part of it, even if only as a friend. Lucky for me, the man loved me and now I have the joy of sharing his name.

I mentioned in a blog several weeks back that Don Poole, a family friend, was in a tragic accident that resulted in the loss of his legs. He's a cherry grower and here we are in one of the craziest harvest seasons I've seen. Our family knew that there would be expenses this year for Don above and beyond anything he could imagine and those expenses would most definitely affect his ability to get his cherries packed and shipped out. Well, this family, as giving and loving as they are, offered up our cherry line for Don to use. Corey was able to gather tens of volunteers to work 2 evening shifts (we had to use the day shift for our own cherry sorting). The volunteer crew included all the field staff from Diamond Fruit, the Diamond CEO, CFO and many others from the Board of Directors. Office staff, line staff, Quality Control personnel, Operations personnel and even a couple who sorted at Diamond during the day shift offered up their hands to sort the cherries for Don. Those in Don's family who could be there were, including his son Adam. And, of course, our family - Corey, Flip, Maija, Tom, Leslie, Matt and Niko all took part and were there for the entire run of the cherries. It was quite a production and I was so proud to see our community coming together to assist one of our own during a time when he needed help most. Together, these families, friends and co-workers packed around 700 boxes of cherries. I stopped in with the kids on the last evening of packing and the scene brought a tear to my eye. Everyone was working diligently and with concentration - most of these people had never sorted or packed cherries in their life, but this night they looked as if they'd done it for years and they loved their jobs. Upon meeting Adam, Don's son, I could see that he was so incredibly humbled by what their family had been given. Through his exhaustion, the sweat dripping from his head and his dirt covered clothes, he had a smile that pretty much lit up that whole packing house. In fact, each person in that packing house was doused with dirt, sweat and a huge smile. Not one person that was there looked as if they didn't want to be there.

I am proud of this family for providing this opportunity for the Poole's. And, I'm proud of my husband for doing all the work to orchestrate such a successful community endeavor. Both evenings that Corey arrived home it was after midnight. He'd slept about 3 hours the first night and about 6 or 7 the next. I figured that he'd be overwhelmed with exhaustion. But, instead, he was overwhelmed with awe. He sat on the couch upon his arrival home each night, and boasted of all who were there, all the boxes they'd packed and how everyone worked so hard to get the job done. He was proud of himself for arranging everything, and proud of everyone who offered their time and energy. This experience enriched Corey's life a little, I believe. I am proud of my husband for all he has done, and that huge heart is just part of what made me fall in love with him.

Maija will be writing about this in her column and the Hood River News will be doing an article on the event, as well. I doubt I'll forget this for years to come. There are so many wonderful things about living in a small community, and events as such are proof of that. It's certain that all the people who helped with this have taken something positive from this experience. Whether it be a new respect for those who work the cherry lines, or whether it's a whole new outlook on giving back to the community, each person now has something that they didn't have before.

All proudness aside, we're hoping for all the best in Don's rehabilitation, and, if we're able to do this again for their family, we hope that Don can be right there, watching over his cherries, and see first hand the love that this community has. Now, hopefully soon I'll actually get to meet the man whose unfortunate accident brought this community together. For that, I thank him.

White Gloves, Hair Fluff and Helmets

The past four weeks have been pretty overwhelming, not for just me, but for millions of people around the world. I was once told when I was younger: "You know you're beginning to get old when the famous people you know start dying frequently." Well, I guess I'm getting old, then. Last week Ed McMahan died...Ok, he WAS old and his death could have been expected. Then, news broke that Farrah Fawcett was succumbing to her illness. A day after meeting with a chaplain, she passed away. Sad, though expected. That same day in the afternoon came the news that the world wasn't prepared for: Michael Jackson had died. What??!! I was sure that the news was another hoax of a famous person's death. But, it was true. The King of Pop had died. I know, he had his period of controversy, but, he was a great artist and I loved his music.

I watched his memorial service today and was somewhat disgusted with what I saw...It was obvious that some people used the service to gain popularity. I loved Maya Angelou's poem, read by Queen Latifah. I loved how Smokey Robinson and Lionel Ritchie spoke from the heart. I half-wit loved the performance by Mariah Carey...But it was quite "showy" for a memorial service. I think that having the kid from Britains Got Talent was just plain tacky.....After he performed, a speaker said "I just wanted you all to know who he is." Way to go! Use a worldwide watched funeral to introduce a British kid singer. Thank goodness I forgot his name already.

So, back to reality.........It's harvest time and we all know that there's nothing more real than harvest season stress, long and dreadful days and one thing or another that just doesn't go right. The economic downfall over the past few months has affected cherry farming this year, and in a NOT so great way. The market for cherries is crap, everywhere. Nobody wants to buy cherries. Which means the houses can't store them. Which means that the farmers can't pick. Which means that unless they can sell these cherries via peddling, thousands, if not millions of dollars, will be lost. That, my friends, is our scenario this year. Hundreds of growers, Yasui's included, have been instructed to "dump" the cherries or hold off picking altogether. This is disastrous on so many levels. Corey is a field man to about 30 growers, and though he doesn't disclose information to me, it would be unlikely that some of his growers don't have a picking halt, too. The stresses that are brought on by this are astronomical, and honestly, I'm keeping a close eye on my hubby to make sure that he doesn't succumb to the stress. Oh, holy July!

After the twins were born we always thought it was so cute how Rayla faced the left and Mackenzie faced the right when we laid them together. It was apparently the way they faced while in the womb, and the pictures of them snuggling together as such were so adorable. Over the weeks we noticed that Mackenzie always seemed to face to the right, but we didn't think much of it. She was beautiful, happy, and I just figured that it was a twin thing. Rayla, on the other hand, is kind of a spaz, and her head flings around in all sorts of directions to catch a glimpse of this or a glimpse of that. So, her head is about as round as a basketball. But, Kenzie's one way head lay has turned out to be a negative thing. Unbeknownst to us, her little head was forming around a flat spot that developed on the right side of her head, because she constantly laid to the right. This wasn't really noticed until about 3 weeks ago, and over the couple of weeks that followed it got progressively worse pretty quickly The result of this is a misshapen head, which, if not corrected, could pose problems with her facial development as well. The medical term for this is Plagiocephaly, and it's more common than I realized. It's also more common in preemies and doubly so in twins. In doing research one, or both, of the girls had a 50% chance of developing this. Shouldn't we be so lucky to not have dodged that bullet. Ugh.

So, once I realized that her little head didn't look quite right, I took her to her doctor for a look-see. He confirmed my suspicions and referred us to Doernbecher Childrens Hospital in Portland. Tomorrow, Maija will be going with me and the girls for Mackenzie's first exam. I'm a little nervous, but if all goes well, the worst part will be that Mackenzie wears a helmet for a few weeks to reconstruct her little head. Hopefully, that's all that has to be done. But, we'll find out tomorrow! My little girls are tough cookies, and as we've seen so far, there's nothing they can't overcome. In fact, on a lighter (haha) note, Rayla has chunked out so much that I'm pretty sure she slightly resembles the Michelin Man. They're both just so stinkin' cute, so incredibly smart, and just a couple of beauty bugs!

It's no surprise that my blood pressure hasn't gone down in a few weeks. But with the cherry harvest craziness, two busy little beauty bugs, a potty training toddler and the intense desire to lose weight, my head is spinning like a top. So, on that note, I'm gonna go do something that works something in this body besides my head and fingers!

What's all white and red all over?

I absolutely love how artistic my son is. He loves his crayons and his color books and tries so hard to color on each object of a page. I love how he draws pictures and tries to copy what Corey and I have drawn for him. I love how he lays on his tummy when he colors and kicks his feet in the air. I love that he knows where the crayons go and where to put his color books away at. I even think it's kinda cute when he comes to get me to show me the windowsill that he has just decorated and expects me to cheer him on when he points out that it's "pretty colors, mommy, pretty colors!" I can handle that. But, what I don't like, is when I open up the dryer full of white clothes to find each and every article of clothing saturated with smeared and globbed RED crayon that I apparently missed in one of Cooper's shorts with ten thousand pockets in it. I'll tell you, that's not a good way for me to end the day.

So, yeah, I didn't see that stupid crayon. The first thing I pulled out I thought, "What the heck?" But, I figured it was pen marks or something. And, as I continued to empty out that dryer, I found that socks, underwear, shorts, bra's, and many of the babies new dresses and outfits were suddenly riddled with various sized red spots that didn't have a smell to it, and couldn't be rubbed off. I yelled and screamed, not at anyone in particular, but to whoever could hear me, so that everyone knew how mad I was and maybe everyone could help to try to prevent it from happening again. I'm pretty sure I growled a time or two as well. After I had pulled out all the clothes from the dryer and shed a tear or two at their loss, I looked IN the dryer and about keeled over at what I saw: Red streaks on every side of the drum and deeper red marks on the seals where the little bumps in the dryer stick out. Holy cow! It was 9pm.....Why was this happening to me now? Of course at 9pm all children are in the process of going to bed and breaking that process could open an opportunity for a breakdown. So, we went about our business changing babies, singing our peanut-butter-jammie time song and putting our children to bed. It was after 10pm before all children were asleep and as Corey and I sat on the couch exhausted from our day, we both began to drift.........And then I remembered: The dryer! I had to do something because there was a load of laundry in the washer needing to be dried before morning. I head online to search for the ways to clean a dryer drum with red crayon. Some say WD-40 is the miracle worker. We had none. Other's say comet........Well crud! None of that either. Finally, one said toothpaste. I had that.

I followed the directions to a T - I ran the dryer for 15 minutes to heat it up and loosen the crayon residue for easier cleaning. First I took a damp cloth across a streak but NOTHING happened. Oh, man. I put some toothpaste on that cloth and attempted to scrub that spot out. Well, I had scrubbed with that cloth for 15 minutes or so before I cramped up and had to stop for a moment. (Hey, trying to get in the dryer to clean it with boobs as big as mine are is NO easy task!) I then decided that I needed something "scrubbier." I grabbed a dish sponge with a scrubber on it, loaded it with toothpaste and went to work. Hey, it works! And, it works much faster than the wet cloth. I still had to scrub for a good half an hour, but was able to remove just about everything. Yay! The last step was to wash down the drum with a wet cloth, then put a damp white towel in and run the dryer for 20 minutes to make sure there is no more crayon being distributed. I turned on the dryer and knew I needed to keep busy for 20 minutes. The clock read 12:10AM by this time, and I was on the verge of narcolepsy. I kept myself occupied for that 20 minutes and went to check on the dryer. Mission: Red Crayon in the Dryer Catastrophe - Accomplished!!! No more red....except on the ill fated clothes that still sit in my hallway awaiting my decision as to what to do with them.

I've had chapstick melt in the dryer. I've seen a $20 bill shredded and I've even survived a lighter full of butane going through. Now I add red crayon to the list, unhappily. Nearly all the girls socks were lost that load and some of their most beautiful dresses are now going to be wash rags...Ugh....I might just throw em' out so I don't have to look at them as I scrub my car with it!
I really shouldn't be too sensitive about it, but I just was!

I had Katie pick up every crayon in the house, and at the moment of discovery, I was in such a fireball that I was at the garbage can with the bag of crayons in hand ready to discard every single one we had in this house. I thought better of that choice. I knew that Cooper would be so disappointed when he didn't have crayons to color with, and I'd truly miss all the artistic displays he has donned our entire house with. So, I just put them away. That's what a good mother would do, and I wanted to be a good mom at that moment. Since that incident I have checked every pocket, every hole, every hiding spot and even curled hems to make sure there isn't a crayon hiding there. If there's one thing I'd like to keep color crayon free in this house, it's the laundry! Oh, these joys of motherhood are just...........joys.

Armor of love

"Who are you?" "Who is the real writer of this blog?" "I have no idea who this person is." These are all phrases that came from the mouth of my silly husband as he caught up on my blogs last night. I think he realized that although I may act and speak like a big ol' blank bug, there's something deep within the crevasse of my brain. I don't speak out very easily, so more often than not he gets "uh huh", or "okie dokie." That's not very smart on my part because, just like what happened last night, my husband gets a whiff of "Cara a la blog" and questions my person.

At 30 years old, I'm still trying to discover myself and figure out who I am. Sure, I'm a mother, a wife, a homemaker, a cleaner and a cook. But, really, WHO am I? The last time I remember thinking about this question in all seriousness was when I was a senior in high school. I was so close to figuring out who I was and in some crazy, spectacular instance, I drifted off course. That year I was in the big choir and I was in the jazz choir. Yeah, you think jazz choir and you probably think "glee club". But it was more than that. That jazz group was my life, as was it for everyone else in it. We began our practice at 6:30AM and often had rehearsals for gigs after school. We performed at high end functions, toured the state and competed and even got to compete in an international music festival in Anaheim that year. We came in 2nd place. At the end of the year we recorded our work into an album that I still have yet to get my hands on. But, that music was what I wanted. In one class we had to write 100 things we hope to accomplish in our lives. My top pick? Attend Julliard school of Music and go on to be a great singer. Well, that obviously didn't happen, as the most singing I do is behind the wheel of my car, or while holding a baby heading off to sleep. I still dream of myself up on a stage holding on to my microphone, singing to my followers, living the life. Funny that when I lay that out to read, I picture a Hannah Montana concert which is so NOT what I was going for. Ha. So, at this moment I'm scrubbing barf off my shoulders, getting the ketchup out of my hair and looking at my calloused feet. That's music, but only a mother could understand and appreciate it.

I have thought quite a bit about how I represent myself to people, and what they think of me. I know, pretty silly, huh? We all do it, I just have the typers balls to admit it here. I WORRY ABOUT WHAT PEOPLE THINK OF ME. I have said that I don't care, but I'm full of crap when I do. I swear, even when I shouldn't and according to my daughter I owe her about $50 worth of quarters for my lip slips. ((She owes quadruple that for stinky behavior.)) I wear a slimmer thingy under all my clothes, no matter the temperature, so so my rolls aren't as prominent. I'm not always comfortable, but I look better than I would without it! No matter how you roll the dice, I'm always trying to make things appear better for me than they are! Kinda like wearing a mask all the time, but for me, it's more like body armor. Pretty up the hobbit feet, cover up the momma bags, and talk like I'm an etiquette teacher. Ha....I've caught a few people with their walls down and it's pretty funny. I bet, if we all let our hair down all the time and stopped worrying about impressing others that we'd resemble a bunch of kindergartners at Monday morning show and tell. Now THAT would be somethin' funny!

I think I may have a new Idol in my life..........Kathy Griffin. That woman, though crude, is the most honest, hysterically funny woman I have ever heard. I love watching her stand up routines and can't help but relate to many of her experiences and stories. I think I envy her because she is the person I wish I could be. And, on top of her brutally honest vocal ability, the woman has the body I would looooooove to have. Of course, knowing hollywood, she's probably sportin' a spanx underneath all those designer labels. I guess I'll just stick with my armor and try to be more open and honest so people know who I am. Besides, if I can look as good as I do once I've become a mighty momma in nylon lining armor, imagine what I could pull off if I lost the last decade worth of baby weight! OOoooooh....a mission!

My Superman

Space. The final frontier........

If you haven't yet seen the Star Trek movie, I'd happily recommend it. I never watched an entire episode of any of the Star Trek's, yet I found the movie to be absolutely fantastic. AND, I understood much of it. Imagine that.

I am not as Hollywood or television educated as my dear husband, and I can't count how many times I've said to him "I have never seen that" or, "I have never heard of that." Most of the time when I render that response I get a disgusted sigh much resembling the response I get when I've done or said something completely out of line. I'm pretty sure he's seen every movie ever made, except what's just been released, and has memorized each line and character. Until just a couple of years ago I had never seen the entire Star Wars trilogy. Yeah, Star Wars!! Yet, I've graced my simple mind with movies like "Clueless," "Teen Witch" and "ET". With many movies yet to see, I figure it will take my whole life to see all the movies that I SHOULD see. Like Superman...I don't think I've seen it. Until then, I'll just have to ask what everything means when Corey recites a few lines from scenes out of some movie!

Our daily lives are very much a mix of stress, exhaustion, chaos, confusion and lack of time. I'm always going on about how I am affected by it, but my poor husband has a lot on his plate, and deserves a lot of credit for all he does for his family. Through the difficult time that I had while pregnant, through the girls' birth and their hospital visits thereafter, Corey was determined to be by my side as much as he could. He was able to bring his work home and did his reports while being able to see that I was okay. After Mac and Rayla's birth, so that he could be at the hospital with us, he worked there, too. Sometimes, he'd be working on his reports throughout the night, just so that he could get them in and still be there at the hospital for his babies.

He took Katie to her softball practices. He did the grocery shopping. He did the cooking. He did all the laundry. He did the cleaning. And after all the "had to do's" were done, he reorganized our house in preparation for the girls' homecoming. I had never seen a man go through "nesting" but here was my husband, doing all the things that I should have been doing, but couldn't for the sake of the babies and myself. After the girls were home, his golf league started again and once a week he golfs with the boys. For most men the golfing would probably be a nice, relaxing way to enjoy a weeknight, but, for Corey, though he enjoys it thoroughly, it makes for a long day after his work at work and his work at home. He loves golf way too much to admit that he's too tired to play! I have the most determined, driven husband and I just pray that he doesn't overdo it in the long run. Now, I may not have seen the movie "Superman", but I'm pretty sure he's my husband, so maybe I don't need to see that one after all!

Yesterday my dear husband played in a grower/shipper golf tournament during the day, and went on to golf in the evening with his league. His back has been giving him so much trouble over the past couple of years, and it is getting progressively worse each day. His back was hurting yesterday, so he took a couple of his pain pills to get him through. Well, it was 85 degrees outside, he didn't eat anything ALL DAY, probably didn't hydrate himself enough and by mid afternoon was just plain sick. Cooper has been very ill in response to his immunizations, and Corey has been worrying about him non-stop. It's obvious that Corey forgot to take care of himself and suffered for it. I worry about that man. Tomorrow, my exhausted husband will be hopping on a plane with his buds for a long awaited getaway to Reno for the weekend. Though I'm jealous, and wish I could get away with him, I am so happy that he is going. He has taken on so much, and without expectation, his family doubled in size in less than 2 years. He went from one child, to four in less that 24 months! There is no question how much he loves his children, his family, but the reality is that having a family this large is no easy task. There's a lot of time allotment involved, and who's going to do what, where at, how so, and with whom. It's like coming home from work requires him to put on his " Yasui Jersey" and gear up for the game at home. I'll make the call, he'll do the run and we'll win the game with all children down at the end of the night. Touchdown!

I am learning how important "me time" is, and have taken up offers of childcare more often recently than I ever have. I don't want to be lacking in life as I am in movie knowledge. No more "I haven't done that" or "I haven't seen that." I realize now how important it is to take time for myself, take time alone with my husband, and make time for each of my children. It isn't easy, and it isn't always in a manner that I want. But, it counts. I am so glad that amidst the chaos that surrounds Corey in every aspect of his life that he, too, can find time for himself. I hope that he thoroughly enjoys this weekend and comes back rested, refreshed.......AND RICH, of course!! Only a wife would say that!

My good friend and her kids are coming here for the weekend and I'm looking forward to having that time with her. I haven't seen her in a year, and she hasn't been to our place since we got married (she was a bridesmaid). So, for both of us, this weekend is something we've looked forward to for quite some time.

Sunday night we'll reconvene in our living room, with hopefully, some great stories to share...........If we don't fall asleep first!!

Miracles and Masterpieces

Happy Memorial Day! Well, actually, it's the day after, but I think I'm still within time boundaries to wish it appropriately. Boy, was this one crazy weekend. The craziness began on Friday as Corey and I took the twins to their 2 month well baby check in the afternoon. They had their checkup (Rayla is 10lbs1oz and Mac is 10lbs13oz), chatted with with doc for a while about "baby stuff" and ended the appointment with the dreaded trio of shots....ugh. I have never heard my babies scream like that and for the first time in all history of shot appointments, I cried. After the appointment we needed to do some shopping for a barbecue we had planned for Saturday. My grandma, her husband and my great grandma were visiting us, so we thought a nice lunch would be a fun thing. We found that some friends of my grandma's were in town, so we told my grandma to invite them for the lunch as well. Saturday we'd have some cooking to do!

After the girls' appointment, and the shopping was done, I rushed home to relieve grandma of her childcare duties with Kate and Cooper. I then had to rush to get ready, as I had planned to go out with some girlfriends that night. It seemed like a mad dash from 2pm on, but as I sat in my comfy chair on the riverside restaurant balcony of the Hood River Inn, the stress of the day began to melt away. The weather was warm, the water beautiful, the company great and the food fantastic.....It made for a memorable, relaxing Friday night. I needed that for the craziness set to ensue to following days.......

Saturday arrived and we all bounded out of bed, showered, ran errands and cleaned. We were ready early, and excited to see all who were coming, especially great grandma Alberta. Last year Alberta had some heart difficulty and landed in the hospital. The end result of that visit was the placement of a pacemaker and some time in a rehab center. She has been in and out of the hospital for ailments ranging from chest pain to foot pain. Just a few weeks ago she was rushed to the hospital for chest pain and shortness of breath. It was found that she had a tear in an artery coming out of her heart and though there was no cure for it, a way to minimize damage was to lower her blood pressure and allow the area to clot so that blood could flow freely. My grandma kept us updated throughout the visit, but we were all beginning to prepare for the worst. The woman is in her 90's, has had so many health trials in the recent past, and was talking like she was ready to go. But, here she was, vibrant and happy, sitting in my living room and holding my baby twins. Grandma has the deepest faith I know and follows God in every aspect of her life. So, was this complete turn around from death's bed the hand of God, or the gift of a pure miracle?

Our uncle Chris was rushed to Portland a couple of weeks ago with what doctors thought was a Thoracic Aneurysm. That is what my grandma suffered. Once he arrived in Portland at Emanuel Hospital it was found that he did not suffer from a Thoracic aneurysm, but an aortic aneurysm, which is significantly worse. He has had heart issues in the past, so I'm told, but this was a new injury. After he was checked out and diagnosed, the doctors felt it best to induce a coma in him to allow time for the tear to heal. No visitors, except his wife and son, were allowed. Two weeks had passed and the doctors had attempted to bring him out of the coma to see how he would do, but all attempts failed.......Until yesterday. Yesterday morning he was brought out of the coma and by afternoon was sitting up in bed eating telling his son that he'd "See Kenny out on the golf course on Thursday." Once again, God, or a miracle?

Also, two weeks ago a family friend was in a tragic farming accident that resulted in the loss of both legs. He had his cell phone with him, which usually isn't the case, and was able to call for help himself. During his whole ordeal he was awake and cooperative. Today he is going through rehab and preparing for life with prosthetics. According to his daughter, who blogs on his progress, he is doing so with an open mind and an encouraged heart. In all reality, this man should have died in this accident. But here I am asking again....Is this God, or something else?

And last there's me. I have a deep respect for powers of the unknown and have witnessed firsthand the gifts and miracles that they bring. One time, for instance, I was looking for a house like the one we planned to purchase back in 2004 that was set so that I could see the final result - I had no address, didn't know the color of the house, but wanted to see it. I headed out into unknown territory, and found myself driving down roads I had never been on, but felt like I had. After a few "gut informing" turns, I pulled up to the house. I was amazed. I drove directly to the house with just instincts.....or was it?

Another incident still blows my mind. I was at the 4 way intersection at the bottom of highway 35, in front of Grace Su's, turning left toward the port from town. There was quite a bit of traffic coming from the south, several cars behind me and two in front of me. The first car in front of me turned left, and the second car went straight. When it was my turn, I didn't go.....I COULDN'T go. My body wasn't physically able to push the gas and go. The driver on my right was waving at me frantically to go, and the man behind me honked angrily. I looked at the driver on my right and just shook my head with a fearful look on my face. I did the same in the rear view mirror to the driver behind me........And as they waved and honked at me, a semi truck came around the corner in front of the lumber store and blew right through his stop sign. Had I gone, I would have been hit directly on the drivers side, and seeing how fast he was going, I probably wouldn't have been alive today to tell this crazy story. It, of course, happened much faster than I explain it, but I wanted to convey every part of what happened. This, believe it or not, is not the only time I have experienced this. So, for the final time this blog, is it God, or a power beyond what we can understand? Did I control my actions and take myself directly to that house, and did I control myself, unknowingly, and not drive in the path of that truck? I guess it all depends on the depths of our faith what we want to believe.

I have come to the conclusion that there are two possibilities: We are either touched by God and our life becomes one of his masterpieces. Or, we are touched by the gift of miracles, which may be unexplained, unbelievable, and at times unreal. I choose not to share my belief, because that's part of my quirky, enigmatic self. But, I think we should all ask ourselves: Are we miracles, or masterpieces?