I spy an Ostler

Woah! It's been a long, long, very long time...

2011-06-01T13:56:00.000-07:00

Well, I guess the date on my last post is a teeny indicator of what life has been like for the past while! Crazy! We have FIVE children and that is incredible. I often wonder how we made it through the last three years, but we did. And life is beautiful.

I had an amazing moment last month that I wanted to document. Jeremy took me and the children to the Zoo for my birthday. We had a delightful time. And the most amazing thing happened... we took our whole family to the zoo WITHOUT a stroller! Seriously! We didn't bring diapers or wipes or diaper bags or even a stroller. And it was a perfect day. Everyone walked leisurely around the zoo. We admired the animals and held hands and our entire family walked on their own.

It was a huge breakthrough for us. Jeremy and I looked at eachother and said, "I think we're actually going to make it through this!"

We are so very blessed. Our children are inexpressible blessings to us. And there is something so dreamy about three year old twins...most of the time. :)

We actually have a GIRL!!!

2009-07-01T20:52:00.000-07:00

[Disclaimer: This post may contain what appears to be favoritism...Don't worry--it isn't. It is just pure gratitude and excitement about our little girl FINALLY arriving!]

I know....shocking, but true! We actually have a GIRL! And what a girl she is... She just came that way. She loves girly things and it thrills us to no end!

We have four ADORABLE boys and they are 110% BOYS...and they love all sorts of "boyish" things. We have eaten, slept, played, breathed, boy things for so long...AND we love boys! They are funner than fun!

And then...all of a sudden we find ourselves in BRAND NEW TERRITORY! Alli loves all things girly....hair pretties, bracelettes, purses, dresses, clothes, high heeled shoes, lip gloss, flowers...!!! (and the list goes on...)

We love our little princess Alli. She is like a breath of fresh air! She goes out in the lawn and gathers all the little clover flowers and brings them to us. She insists on smelling ALL flowers!

We caught a couple pictures of her enjoying herself thoroughly with some fresh cut roses.

Oh life's simple pleasures!!!

BERNIE, the turtle!

2009-06-03T20:00:00.001-07:00

Well, this may be a sad entry for Josh, Wes, and Landon.... We almost had a pet turtle! We were all out working in the garden sometime in May when one of our neighbors called the boys over to his yard to see something! Sure enough, there was a TURTLE in his yard! It had somehow made it through the fence and come from the golf course. A turtle in UTAH! We were all shocked!

Well, our nice neighbor told the boys that they should really take him home and do a huge research project on turtles...(You can imagine my excitement...)

Our neighbors even helped us come up with a name. "Bernie" is our neighbor's nick-name and we all thought it quite fitting!

So, because I temporarily lost the "no" in my vocabulary, we took him home and began an enormous research project. We learned a lot about turtles!

Bernie spent one whole day at the Ostler house. He looked sad though. He only went swimming a few times and usually just hid inside of his shell.

So, I called every pet shop in Layton and also Animal Control. Everyone of them told me that turtles live very happily in Utah, year-round. (Imagine that!) They hibernate all winter long and enjoy the rest of the year swimming in ponds and other wetlands. So, where do you find the most ponds in Utah? Of course the golf course! The pet shops and Animal Control told us we should put him back in his pond on the golf course and that he would live very happily there.

So, after a very sad farewell, we climbed the fence to the golf course and a very sweet golfing couple agreed to take Bernie to the happiest pond they could find.

There you have it... Our brief, but happy, encounter with Bernie the turtle!

What a fun MacKnight party!

2009-06-03T19:16:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Jared and Janey, we got to have a great little getaway over Memorial Day Weekend! We went to Janey's family's cabin in Island Park and we even got to go to YELLOWSTONE! It was a bit of a drive for all SEVEN of us, but we had so much fun that we hope we will eventually forget about that drive...

Here are the boys and "Uncle Jungle-Gym":

And here is Jerd and Alli having some bonding time!

The bebes LOVED having some freedom to wander in the woods and get really dirty...I don't have a picture of it, but our boys absolutely love to be mountain men. They explored and gathered materials to build their own miniature log cabin, they had exhilarating four-wheeler rides and every other sort of fun thing!

Here is Jackson making the most of his time at Yellowstone Park...(You have to give the little guy some credit, He spends a great amount of time with his little bum glued to the stroller!).

Old Faithful was AWESOME! And you can't believe what happened RIGHT next to us... This guy totally got down on one knee and proposed to his girl right when Old Faithful went off! We were all congratulating him when she said yes!

The scenery in Yellowstone is breathtaking! I don't think anyone would mind too much if I just move in to the park. We could have spent a full week exploring and never be ready to leave.

Anyways, we had a wonderful time and set a new record. This was the most MacKnight siblings we have ever gotten together on one trip! It is so much fun to love your brothers and sisters as much as we do. If I had to hand pick my brothers and sisters, I would totally pick each one of them. They are incredible AND incredibly funny! Thanks for all the fun you adorable thginkcam's!

We've got a serious case of STICKER POX!!!

2009-05-20T14:34:00.000-07:00

It's actually still Mother's Day!

2009-05-13T19:01:00.001-07:00

After a late night and an early morning with babies, I woke up to the cutest thing EVER this morning. Landon came in my room carrying a cookie sheet (his waiter tray) loaded with a delectable breakfast in bed. He said "Happy Mother's Day Mom!". He is an adorable and thoughtful little boy....And then some!

Imagine my surprise when he handed me my feast! A yogurt and spoon, bread with plenty of strawberry jam, and a beautiful spread of tortilla chips!

Landon, you are the best! Thank you for your perfectly thoughtful breakfast. It tasted amazing! It was bursting with love....As are you!

Here's to the moments we mothers will never forget!

Partners in crime...

2009-05-05T21:08:00.000-07:00

We have soooo many pictures that we've never put up of our little ones. We figured we'd choose a couple fun ones that document just how much fun Alli and Jackson have being twins. They LOVE each other and they are ALWAYS together. They follow each other around the house and create havoc anywhere they can. They love to love each other most of the time....They recently have started to get really upset with each other and have started to try out their new teeth on each other! Ouch! But, for the most part they just have so much fun having a built in best friend.

Here are some of their twin milestones lately: They have learned how to play tag with each other, kiss each other, bite each other, giggle at each other (for reasons none of us are privy to!), climb in drawers with each other, unroll lots of toilet paper together, open doors together, splash in the toilet together, feed each other (whatever food or non-food items they find on the floor), and copy-cat just about everything the other one does or says!

Here are a few pictures we get a kick out of...

Oh the fun these two have brought to every one of us in this little big family. We never EVER have a dull moment! By the way....we will soon post updates on all the boys. We eat, sleep and drink in babies around here, and sometimes I'm sure the boys feel a little jipped. We'll let you know what they have all been up to soon.

Our little tie-die babies!

2009-02-25T16:03:00.000-08:00

Our new street name...

2009-02-25T15:12:00.000-08:00

So, our street is named after some numerical configuration that helps anyone be able to locate it. However, as practical as street numbers have been in the past, I think we are ready for change. We have decided that it would only be appropriate for our street to be renamed "Alaskan Way". It's the strangest thing...it snows and blizzards and blows and snows some more, on our street. Then, we decide to brave the world and leave "Alaskan Way", and to our surprise: IT IS NOT SNOWING, BLIZZARDING, BLOWING, or anything else of the like anywhere else EXCEPT on our street! Go figure! Thus, the urgent and necessary name change.

Here is adorable Josh, up to his waist in the glorious snow!

It's a good thing we can send communication via email, because the postal system is not currently very practical...

Jeremy is 5'11"...and the pile of snow behind him is catching up very quickly!

And, somewhere behind this beautiful mountain o' snow is where we live. Our boys LOVE to sled down our crazy hill on the side of our house. So, all of this snow brings them great joy and satisfaction. I have not (and probably WILL not) document any sledding adventures through pictures, however. They are crazy dare-devils out there and some things are better for a mother not to see.

Anyways, here's what has been happening lately on "Alaskan Way"!

Thank you Matt and Shamra!

2009-01-16T09:13:00.000-08:00

So, get this...Before Christmas, our dear friends Matt and Shamra told us we needed family pictures. Then they told us that they were volunteering to come over to our house and take them for us. Can you imagine? They did such a great job. They brought an awesome backdrop and plenty for all of us to laugh and smile about. But, the most impressive part is how much patience they brought! We are so lucky.

So, here are some of my very favorites.

I don't know how Matt captured this one, but I think it is priceless! Alli's expression says it all!

And of course, no modern day photo shoot would be complete without a "Kung Fu Panda" pose!

Thank you Matt and Shamra for the great pictures!

Christmas Morning

2008-12-29T14:50:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you, but we are ridiculously slow on Christmas morning. (as Josh, Wesley and Landon will tell you in no mixed words.) There is something so beautiful about waking up hearing tiptoes to the Christmas tree and then shouts of joy as all of our little spies realize that Santa indeed did come...(even after all of Mom's threats that "Santa saw that and he might be moving your name to the naughty list...")

We love to drag out Christmas morning as long as possible. You know; make a nice warm fire, have a big delicious breakfast, read about Christ in the scriptures, tidy up a little, and then finally open presents. I took this picture when we finally announced to the boys that it was time to open presents.

We got distracted and forgot to take many pictures, but we had a perfectly beautiful Christmas together. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABIES!!!

2008-12-29T14:16:00.000-08:00

We can hardly believe it, but our sweet babies turned one last week! What an incredible gift to have been blessed with these two angels. We feel like the luckiest family on earth. We thank Heavenly Father every day for Allison and Jackson. Remember how little they were?

We had a birthday party for them and we all had so much fun watching what they were most excited about. We tied a bow on Jackson's head and he left it on almost the whole time! He knew he looked adorable. He is fascinated with Alli's hairbows that she always wears and he must wonder why we never put any bows on him!

Allison was pretty surprised that we gave her a little piece of cake with whipping cream on it. She couldn't decide if she was supposed to eat the cake or the plate...but she figured it out and had a great time!

Jackson loved the feeling of power you can only experience by holding and eating your very own piece of cake!

The biggest hit of all for Jackson was probably the balloons! He was mesmerized by them, as was Alli!

Allison was such a girl! She snuggled all of her new outfits that she got and held them up to her to see how they looked.

Our precious babies have such wonder and excitement as they experience all these brand new things in life.

Happy Birthday Allison and Jackson! We love you forever and we thank you for every beautiful bit of joy you have brought to us. Now, don't be in such a hurry to turn two...

An early Christmas present!!!

2008-12-12T20:24:00.001-08:00

Jenna and Jeremy had a beautiful baby girl on Thursday, December 4th. She is so adorable! She is named Londyn and she weighed 5 lb. 12 oz. Here is a picture of Jenna and Jeremy and their sweet Christmas present when Londyn was one day old. Aren't they all so beautiful?

Look at how sweet she is!

Jenna is such an incredible mom. She is having so much fun and we are all having so much fun watching how excited she gets about every little thing. It is so fun watching my baby sister have her own little sweet baby. Isn't life beautiful?

Congratulations Jenna and Jeremy! Merry early Christmas! We love, love, love you!

Oh Jackson...

2008-12-02T12:20:00.001-08:00

The time has finally come for Jackson to have an all-out haircut. He has had trims up to this point, but he is really quite a hairy little fellow. So, Jeremy and I embarked on our daring adventure and started his haircut. Here's his before shot...

He was so incredibly wiggly that I was certain this was going to be a disaster of a haircut. But, then something incredible happened. We got the clippers out to "buzz" the back and he didn't move a muscle the entire rest of his haircut. Our other boys have all wiggled even more the moment they felt the buzzer for the first time. But Jackson was so intrigued by his new "massage" that he stayed perfectly still. Miracles do happen! Here's the middle of the hair-cut we were sure was doomed for failure. (At this point, you all would have thought so too!)

And here's the finished product. Jackson all grown up! What a little man!

So from now on, Jackson can take a number when it's haircut time. He gets to get in line with all five of the Ostler men who patiently wait for their turn in Mom's hair salon. (AKA the laundry room) :)

We love you Jackson, you adorable little creature!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

2008-10-31T12:09:00.000-07:00

Jeremy really is weird...

2008-10-08T20:47:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. This is Jeremy. Ok, I will come clean and bare all. There are only a few quirky things about me. Jacquie already explained all the rules and tagged enough people for the both of us. Here are the quirky jeremy-isms.

1. Everyone that has been around me knows I chew my tongue when I am thinking, concentrating, working, bored, etc. Sometimes I have to wait a few days so my tongue can grow back so I can start chewing again.

2. I carry around a filing cabinet. Each of my pockets in my pants have a specific item or items in them, never to be mixed up or out of order. Hence I usually wear cargo pants with lots of pockets.

3. I wear my shoes from the moment I wake up to the last moment before I go to sleep at night. Jacquie is always barefoot. (I will not mention pregnant, that is not funny anymore. We are done.)

4. I am the only prepared one. I carry a tool with me wherever I go. My trusty leatherwoman.

5. When I sneeze, I sneeze a minimum of three times. And I never say atchoo. It is always a variation of such. Ahhchow, ahhchunck, ahhchink, and many more close to the unmentionables.

6. I can chew on a raspberry seed for hours and never swallow it. I try to bite it in half before I claim the victory over the seed. This is my favorite sport.

I am Sparticus. Or so Jacquie tells me. Or was that Flick?

Quirky this!

2008-10-07T12:06:00.000-07:00

My adorable sis-in-law Randi, tagged me with this "Quirky" tag. I must say that it was pretty hard to think about my personal quirky-ness. I can tell you every quirky thing about all of my kids. I had to strain my brain to remember that I am actually a real person in here! :) Don't worry though; Jeremy didn't seem to have a hard time at all thinking of six for me. In fact, we had to do a top six!

Here are the rules:

1. Mention the person who tagged you.

2. Mention the rules on your blog.
3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours.
4. Tag 6 other bloggers .

So, here you go...the top six unspectacular quirks of mine...

1. I go absolutely crazy over the smell of a brand new, freshly opened can of tennis balls! I can't explain it, but it makes me so happy. Everyone who really loves me lets me have the privilege of opening the can so I can have that very first whiff! If that's not quirky, then I don't know what is...

2. I almost always chew my drinks. Go ahead and laugh...everyone else does! I have a hard time swallowing anything- liquid or not- that has not been first thoroughly chewed.

3. I have an aversion to saliva. Really...the smell of dried saliva (mine, or anyone else's) is just more than I can take!

4. When I sing along to any songs, I almost always sing harmony. Melody can be so boring, but harmony never gets old.

5. Ever since I was a baby and continuing still, I get the hiccups almost every day! Strange...

6. Last, but not least: I can hear the mailman coming up my street about a mile away! My children call it Mom's super-sonic hearing. The irony of it all is that quite often, I can't hear the end of Jeremy's sentences. You know, his voice drops off to some inaudible frequency that even my super-sonic powers can not detect!

So, there you have it! I'll never even try to pretend I'm not quirky.

And now I tag: Jeremy, Tressa, Emily D., Brooke, Janey, Julie Mc., and Elyse. (and anyone else who wants to be tagged.)

We're getting braver everyday. We went to the zoo!

2008-10-03T15:54:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my adorable Mom, we went on a field trip to the zoo! We had so much fun! The babies were angels and we've finally decided that we definitely need to get out more.

Isn't she adorable? You know just how beautiful she is when she can wear an elephant hat and look that good!

Here are our little monkeys... Hogle Zoo has some incredibly cute monkeys!

We just barely missed the pacing cougar in the background of this one.

Allison and Jackson had so much fun sitting in their stroller and checking everything out. There was so much to see that they even forgot they were hungry for a good long time!

This year for one of our family's school projects, we are studying animals. So, we purchased a year pass to the zoo. Each visit, we all choose our three favorite animals to study. As soon as we have finished our research on our animals, we get to go back to the zoo and take our pictures in front of the animals we chose to learn about. Boy, have we learned alot!

One of Landon's favorites are the elephants. We learned that an elephant drinks 50 gallons of water everyday! (Almost as much as Jacquie drinks each day!)

Wesley has taught us all so much about African Penguins. Did you know they live to be about 17 years old and they dig holes to burrow in to avoid the sun?

One of Josh's favorite animals he researched was the Bengal Tiger. We could not get a picture in front of one...But this Spotted Leopard was pretty cool. Did you know that Bengal Tigers weigh 400-600 lbs? And they can climb trees!

So, thanks Mom for a wonderful day at the zoo. We love you Boomaw!

TWO BABIES!!!

2008-08-29T08:08:00.000-07:00

We have TWO babies! I know that is common knowledge...But, it hits us at random times everyday. Like when you walk into a room and you see TWO babies playing together on the floor.

Our sweet babies are growing so fast! They are eight months now. In some ways life is getting a little easier. But, in other ways the fun has just begun! They are both teething full force and still have an aversion to sleeping at night. Jer and I sometimes feel like this is some kind of dream, as we are sure that we are just walking in our sleep most of the time. It is actually quite surprising just how little sleep you can get and still operate!

Whenever we feel run-down, we just snuggle these sweeties and score some huge smiles and giggles and we realize that it is worth every bit of work. We are so blessed to have Allison and Jackson in our family.

The value of silverware...

2008-08-06T11:23:00.000-07:00

We had a great dinner last week for Family Home Evening. We took the opportunity to try to instill a little bit more appreciation in our children for silverware! (which some of our boys have had little or no use for up to this point!) We chose the craziest utensils we could find in our house and numbered them. Then, everyone picked a number out of a bag, and VOILA! Silverware Gratitude 101 began...

Jer sporting his sweet whisk!

What a sight to behold! We couldn't tell if it was all that hard to eat using our ridiculous utensils because we spent most of the meal laughing!

Shovel it in Landon! (1/3 cup at a time!)

Wesley was a pro with his avocado slicer and potato masher... He actually totally surprised us all as the most talented participant in our crazy dinner!

How about a tea strainer, anyone? Josh thought it was quite convenient, actually!

Angela looked dainty with her toothpicks and mini spatula!

Jacquie was left with the salad tongs, which proved to be a rather tidy experience surprisingly enough!

Overall, we had a totally fun and memorable experience. Now, do our boys appreciate silverware anymore than they did before? I doubt it... But, I am sure we will always remember our desperate efforts nevertheless!

A walk down memory lane, anyone?

2008-07-18T16:08:00.000-07:00

My adorable sisters are sending around this fun post. It is fun to remember the past, isn't it? Oh, the fun we've all had!

1. As a comment on my blog, leave a memory that you and I have together. It doesn't matter if you know me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see what memories people have of you.

CONGRATULATIONS JENNA AND JEREMY!

2008-06-25T13:12:00.000-07:00

Jenna Henna Lynna got married! (Don't mind the nick names...it is an inherent MacKnight gene that cannot be remedied!) In case you don't know, Jenna is my baby sister. I love that little girl! She has an enormous heart and I am so lucky to have such angel sisters.

She married Jeremy on June 18th, and was it ever a beautiful wedding. She was a beautiful, beautiful bride. She and Jeremy are such a stunning couple. We sure love them!

Little Landon was the all-important "ring-bearer", and boy did he take his job seriously. Annie (Ronnie and Beronica's little girl) was the flower girl. Those two were a beautiful little duo.

We even got a shot of our little big crew.

We will have more pictures soon. The photographer was so much fun and he took some incredible shots. When we get some more pics, we will add them on here. But for now, we congratulate Jenna and Jeremy! We love you two!

Check out our WIGGLY BABIES!

2008-06-03T14:10:00.000-07:00

Here is a little video clip Jeremy took on our camera. It's a little dark and fuzzy, but you can get the general picture. We get such a laugh out of watching how incredibly wiggly these little ones are. They are so excited to go somewhere, anywhere! It won't be long and they will be running around with the big brothers. But for right now, we'll just enjoy their wiggles while they stay put in one place...

Allison and Jackson's Blessing Day

2008-05-03T20:55:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Brooke and Alisa for taking beautiful pictures to help us remember this special day!

You just have to love Jane Austen!

2008-05-03T20:36:00.000-07:00

So, with a little tiny bit of prompting from my sweet sister- in- laws, I have also taken the Jane Austen Heroine test. The first time I took it, I came out most like Elinor Dashwood. So, just for you Emily, I took it again. I even used my second choices for many of the questions. But, there you have it... Of the choices this quiz offers, (which may not prove to be all encompassing) I am most like Miss Elinor Dashwood!

Now, we just need to come up with a man's version of this test to shed a little more light on the fine men in our lives!

T ake the Q uiz here!

Baby Stuff Art!?

2008-05-01T20:10:00.000-07:00

We have so much Baby stuff all over our house! Our children have even started using these items to play with. They've started constructing architectural wonders. So we hope to have full 1/16 scale villages that we will start conducting tours for. This is a picture of our "Temple" that Wesley built.
We just calculated that we use 100+ diapers every week. Luckily, our friends Sharon M. and Angela help us find crazy deals. We have been getting all our wipes for under 50 cents a tub. We used to buy them for our other kids for full price. Sharon & Angela Rock!

"The quote of the day"...

2008-03-27T11:05:00.000-07:00

Hello again! We just want to share a fun family tradition that we have. We call it "the quote of the day". As many of you know, we have hilarious children. And as many of you know, kids say the funniest things. We decided that we would really regret it if we didn't start documenting some of the great quotes we have picked up from our kids. Jacquie keeps track of the funniest ones in her journal.

Well, in all honesty, "the quote of the day" usually jumps right out of Landon's mouth. You just never know what he's going to say! Here's one of our favorites from the Landon archive. :)

~This quote came after a moment of reflection when Landon was doing the forbidden; jumping on the bed...and not just any bed, but the bottom bed of our bunk beds...
"Ohhhhhh.... So, that's why they call it a bunk bed: because that's where you "bunk" your head!"

~This one is in pure Joshua style...Jacquie was sharing a story of something that happened when she was little. The conversation went something like this:
Jacquie-"When I was a little girl, ...." (and then she related something about singing, or something...)
Jeremy-"Oh yeah, that happened to me too."
Joshua-"So Dad, you used to be a little girl?"

~This is our most recent "quote of the day", provided by Wesley (the king of deep reflection):
Joshua likes to have his hair look just a certain way. He will also go check it many times during the day to make sure it still looks "perfect". We were teasing Josh that he is paranoid about the way his hair looks. After a few minutes Wesley said,
"Josh, you are so HAIR-anoid!"

So, there you have it! That is where we get our comic relief...straight out of the mouth of babes!

EVERYBODY SMILE!!!

2008-03-13T14:05:00.001-07:00

OH MY GOODNESS!!! There is just nothing like a big, huge smile for the sleep deprived! We are having so much fun SMILING at our house. Our kids all have bright, beautiful smiles and it really helps out when we are feeling overwhelmed. Allison and Jackson are smiling so much now and it is so very rewarding. They can brighten up anyone's mood and really fill our lives with sunshine!

Jackson is so much fun. He loves to smile and is at that wonderful age where smiling consists of twinkly eyes and the full body wiggle.

Allison is a jovial little girl! She smiles about everything...Sometimes we are busy, and we look at her and she is smiling to herself! She is such a doll.

Landon, Landon, Landon... What a guy! When it comes to smiling, Landon still has those big, brown sparkly eyes. But, there is nothing to compare with Landon's happy spot! (His adorable dimple up by his eye)

Wesley is the smiling, toothless wonder! He sure loves showing off his smile nowadays. He is making bank this year and we aren't sure how much longer the toothfairy is going to hold up! Joshua has such a cute smile, and all those freckles he is getting sure add to the overall effect. He loves to smile at someone when they are in a bad mood. Just try being grumpy when Josh is grinning at you! So overall, we vote that smiles are indispensable to our very survival! It's a good thing that we all have so much to smile about!

Wow! That's a lot of children!!!

2008-02-26T13:26:00.000-08:00

So, can you imagine how fun it is to try to take a picture of all of our children? Between Wesley going cross-eyed, and Josh pulling a face, and Landon touching everyone, and Jackson communicating just how much he dislikes the idea, and Alli being wiggly...Wow Wee! This is as close as we could get before Jackson really got upset. Everyone has been begging us for an updated family picture... Can we take it in the middle of the night when everyone is asleep? I think sleeping children are incredibly beautiful!!!

So anyway, here are all of our beautiful children. We are so incredibly blessed and we thank our Heavenly Father everyday for sending us such amazing spirits and letting us enjoy the blessings of having a family. We are having such a fun time "playing house"!

Can you feel the LOVE tonight?

2008-02-08T13:08:00.000-08:00

These babies have brought so much love with them. It is just beaming from them and it is highly contagious! Alli is just about eight pounds already and Jackson is 3 oz. behind her. They have grown so much already and there is no shortage of chub on its way! We love round babies!
There's nothing like holding two babies at the same time. It takes some coordination and definitely some endurance, but it keeps them both happy!

Even the newlyweds enjoy twins! Who knows? Maybe they'll get their turn?

What on earth would we do without our sweet Grandmas?

They are sure a heaven send over here. We are so very blessed.

Wesley sure loves having these babies! There's nothing so exciting as when Mom finally lets the boys hold their babies!

Landon washes his hands at least 20 times a day in hopes that he will be able to hold his babies! He couldn't be a prouder big brother.

Joshua saves the day around here! Thank goodness for all of his help. (And he will be the first to admit that he's having a blast holding his little ones!)

We can't wait for all of you to be able to hold our sweeties. We're sure you'll catch the love bug from these snuggle bugs!

There are no strings on me!!!!

2008-01-19T20:13:00.000-08:00

We're finally updating the pictures of the twins! For some odd reason, we have not had a lot of time to keep you all posted! Can't imagine why...

Jackson and Allison are doing wonderful! They are off oxygen and off their monitors. It is an incredible blessing to be "cord-less"! Imagine walking around with these little ones and moving more than three feet from their crib! That will teach us to appreciate the little things!

We have two angelic babies. We couldn't have asked for better little ones. They are both such great sports and really give us all so very much to smile about. (Even at 3am!)

Allison is doing great. She has bright blue eyes and is extremely patient. She always has a bow in her hair and is a pretty pink princess. We are all having so much fun having a baby girl in our family. Imagine seeing pink in our house! Miracles do happen!

Jeremy is really having a great time (despite his blood shot eyes from lack of sleep!)
We always knew Jeremy was Super-Man... Now we have real proof!

Jackson is an incredibly cute little guy! He has bright, alert eyes and loves to see everyone and everything in the room. He has a little temper and does not like to wait for his dinner!

We swear (not any profanities) that we have seen each of them smile. It may just be bad gas, but it sure is cute. Jackson has even giggled.

Jackson and Allison love to be close to eachother. Sometimes when they are upset, we will just hold their little heads next to eachother and they calm right down. We're sure they will have a special bond as they grow together.

Both babies are growing very well. They are approaching seven pounds already! They like to eat and it shows (in both of Alli's chins).

Thank you for all of your prayers and help in getting them here safely. We are so incredibly blessed!

MEET JACKSON & ALLISON!!!

2007-12-30T20:23:00.000-08:00

The twins are doing well

2007-12-20T19:02:00.000-08:00

These babies are doing very well. They finally had their I.V.s removed and are just working on feeding well. Here are some of the pictures.

They are here!

2007-12-20T09:07:00.000-08:00

We are excited to tell you that our babies are finally here! They were born Monday the 17th at 8:20pm. Our boy, whose name has not been placed yet, was 5 lbs 7 oz. Our girl, which we have come to believe is Allison Marie, was 5 lbs 3 oz. Jacquie is doing remarkably well recovering from the C-Section. The Hospital admitted the babies to NICU because when they arrived at 36 weeks, they had trouble breathing. After about twelve hours, they were both off their oxygen tubes and doing well. They are both perfectly normal and doing fine. The NICU seems to want to keep them for several days, even though they are passing all their tests with flying colors. Please send all your prayers that we will be able to bring them home soon. Thank you for all your prayers so far; they have all been answered. And thank you to all those that have been helping us keep our lives together while we recover. We love you all. We will post some pictures soon. (All the ones we have have tubes and wires all over the little ones.) They don't have all the wires and tubes now, but I keep forgetting to get the good pictures for the blog. Don't worry... I know Grandma has taken plenty.

We're still here and waiting...patiently?

2007-12-15T19:35:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone. We thought you might enjoy an update on the babies...
We are still waiting for some kind of official labor, instead of all of this consistent labor that is a regular everyday occurrence. At this point, both babies are breech (and they seem to be quite content to remain so!) They are growing great and as of today's ultrasound, Doctor Naisbitt says there is eleven-almost twelve lbs. of baby between the both of them. There is no pressing need to schedule a c-section at this point. We think the babies are content to stay where they are for the next eighteen years or so...
We are praying that we will be welcoming these new little ones soon...very soon for Jacquie's sake.
We hope you are all enjoying this beautiful time of year and we will keep you posted soon.
Love, Jeremy and Jacquie

2007-12-12T10:00:00.000-08:00

Hi, I'm Wesley!

2007-12-12T08:21:00.000-08:00

"I love it that there's twins on board! I love my Mom and Dad. My brothers are crazy!

I'm excited to have a new baby brother and sister because then I can give them presents for their birthday. I'm going to love it that I can help with the babies. I'm excited to see how they look. I want to help rock them to sleep.

This is what I'm excited about right now: I'm excited about the babies! I'm excited about Christmas! I'm excited that I get to play in the snow all winter! I'm excited that I can build a snowman! I'm excited that I can have snowball fights with my brothers! I'm excited that I can help my Mommy!

I'm six years old now. I really like to: play in the snow, go to football games with Angela, stand in front of our fire to keep warm, play with LEGOS, play the piano, and make up songs in my head. I'm an artist, and I love to draw and color and paint. I also really love trains!

I can't wait until I'm nineteen years old so I can go on a mission. And then the twins can send me letters! I gotta go now because I want to find something to eat, because I'm really hungry! Love, Wesley"

This is Joshua!

2007-12-12T07:59:00.000-08:00

"Hi! I'm Josh. I'm really excited about the babies coming. It's just really cool! Like really, really, really cool....I just don't know how my Mom does it, because the babies look really big and heavy to carry! She's a pretty strong woman!

I'm so excited that the babies are coming because now I get to be the big babysitter! And it will be cool that I get to play with them everyday. But, I might have to help with diapers and I'm not sure how much I'll like that! But, I'm okay with it.

Right now I'm nine years old. My favorite thing to do is READ! It's also reallly fun to build things with LEGOS. I also like to play soccer and I like Scout stuff.

I can't wait 'til I'm sixteen, because then I can drive the twins around...I guess Wesley and Landon can have a ride, too.

Right now I'm most thankful for my brothers, and my Dad, and my Mom, and all my friends; like you!

Hope you can see the babies too! Love, Josh"

The End is Near...

2007-12-10T20:34:00.000-08:00

We believe the end is coming! It seems that all is well and all we have to do now is wait. The waiting seems as though each day takes a month and each week...we won't even go there! We are sure excited to meet the two chosen ones. We have their places ready and waiting. Joshua (age 9), Wesley (age 6), and Landon (age 4), are sure excited to meet their new baby brother and sister. They are praying like crazy that we will get to meet them soon.

Seeing is believing; and that is the only reason Jacquie let Jeremy put this picture on here. There is a whole lot of baby going on around here! Jacquie looks the same as she ever did...except with a large beach ball under her shirt...

At the last ultrasound a week ago, both babies were measuring well over 5 lbs.! We figure that alone is a miracle...

We need all the prayers you can give.

Welcome to the Ostler Family Spot!

2007-12-10T17:02:00.000-08:00

A new day a new time;

the Ostlers are online!

We have decided to create this fun spot to keep all our loved ones informed about our many happenings. Our small family is not so small anymore. Now that our "baby" is four and a half and we have been diaper free for two years, we have decided to embark on the most dangerous diaper mission ever....TWINS!

We hope to be able to keep everyone informed of our twins and their safe arrival and the rest of our crew via this site. So, feel free to come and check out our up to date info. And feel free to leave any comments...we would love to hear from you!