Molly Piper

We’ve been home from Pennsylvania for just over a week or so, and life has been insane.

Here’s a little info on my life:

• Trying to get Morrow (almost 3) potty-trained. Now some of you might think, “He’s a boy! Don’t even worry about it til after they’re 3.” I totally get that, but little man can go to preschool this fall if he’s potty-trained! Mama would LOVE 2 mornings a week with just the twins!
• Had our roof redone last week. We were very thankful for insurance paying for the roof that was damaged last fall in a wicked windstorm, but the subcontractors didn’t do a good job and now we’re trying to figure out how to get that fixed. Such a headache. So if they have to do it all over again, then we have week #2 of pounding and therefore, jacked-up naps for the little ones.
• Cadence had a bout of Roseola this past week. She was so sick, poor baby! She didn’t want to be held, she didn’t want to be put down, she just didn’t want anything, but yet she wanted everything at the same time. I’m exhausted.
• I have more paperwork than the president, I think. Back-to-school paperwork, insurance paperwork, other medical paperwork, car recalls… garrrr!!!

Okay, vent is over. Thanks for letting me do that. I feel better now.

In other news:

• We had car trouble when we were in Denver that resulted in a $280 repair bill. Welp, when I went to have the other recalled thingy done, they told me that the part we had repaired in Denver was recalled and so we could be refunded for that work! YAY!
• The weather in Minneapolis has been super dreamy–nothing higher than 85 since we’ve been back and then down into the 60s at night. GLORY HALLELUJAH!
• Morrow’s kinda getting the potty thing, by the way. Not 100%, but improving steadily.
• We have a wedding this weekend! Our dear friend Bethany is marrying her Jon, and we couldn’t be happier! So happy, in fact, that Morrow will bear the rings and I will sing! HOORAY!

Okay, gotta run. Naptime’s over!

I had all these grand delusions that I was going to write handwritten notes to all the people who’ve helped me survive this first year with twins. Guess what? When you have 4 children ages 6 & under, you don’t have lots of time for such things…

So I’ll say it here for any who want to read…

If you’ve helped me in any way this past year, you’ve made this possible. You’ve helped these babies go from the tiny little helpless babies up there to the bouncing, vibrant, living babies they are. You’ve helped me keep them alive. This is no small thing. I’m grateful for life.

I’m grateful for the partnership of countless others to fold laundry, iron clothes, wash dishes, babysit, bring us food, buy me groceries, make us peanut butter, change diapers, hold babies, care for them in the nursery, mix bottles, pick up car pool, make us laugh, feed babies… this list is endless, it seems.

The past few years have been needy years for us. First we buried a child. The couple years following that were a nightmare in so many ways. We needed so much support to get through. And then we go and have two babies at the same time. More needs.

It’s deeply humbling to be so needy, knowing you are so dependent on other people for so many things. It’s not always easy to ask for that help. Thankfully so many of you haven’t even made me ask, you just jumped in with both feet and slogged through it with us.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

I don’t think they get it yet, but Whitsun & Cadence thank you too. I think they like life so far.

I snapped this one on the bus in downtown Denver. It’s so funny because I have about a billion pictures of Cadence with Whitsun. I have very few of one twin with one older sibling. Splitting up the set was pretty cute and Morrow loved riding with Cadence for a little while!

Abraham and I explored the area of downtown Denver called LoDo (which I think means “Lower Downtown”). What a blast! For you Minneapolis peeps, it’s kind of like a bigger warehouse district in looks, and more like NE Minneapolis in vibe. Super cool, basically.

We ate, we walked, we ate some more, then walked some more…

My favorite part of the night was discovering these little footbridges! They were lit with these blue lights, but then when you walked under them, there was a sensor that changed the colors and put little designs all over the ground! So cool!

This is how Abraham interacts with awesome bridge:

And this is how I interact with said awesome bridge:

I needed my little musical theater moment!

One night while we were in Denver we had a pretty insane amount of rain. Orison came bolting out to the garage, where Abraham and I were sitting to watch the crazy downpour. He was worried about a flash flood. We calmed him down, then asked him to sit with us awhile. He of course was very eager, because that meant getting to stay up after his bed time.

After sitting there for a few minutes watching the rain fall in sheets, Abraham said, “We’re gonna regret it if we don’t go out in this.”

So he grabbed his little sidekick and off they went running and jumping down the street. The water was flowing down the street like a river! Definitely memorable.

I love how vacation reminds you to lighten up a little. Let the kid stay up later. Enjoy the rainfall. Maybe even go play in it. I hope I can bottle up whatever that is about vacation and take it home with me!

[Instragram photo: Katie]

I told you I’d post more pictures, didn’t I?

Orison kept teasing me about how the water was warm and I should try it out. He loves playing tricks like that, and his face lights up when the person discovers the truth.

While I drove to the top of the world, I vacillated between excitement:

and pure panic.

Here’s my little mountain climber showing his muscles.

Katie somehow caught this one of me and Abraham at the top of the world.

And this one is for my girls (you know who you are).

[All photos via Katie]

For our Fourth of July celebration, we decided to drive down to Colorado Springs to do a little mountain exploration!

Funny story: on our drive here, as soon as we crossed the Colorado border, the boys were yelling, “Look! A mountain!” from the backseat. What they really saw were some slightly rolling hills, about 20 feet high. I suppose after driving across Nebraska, anything looks like a hill.

Anyway…after consulting with some Colorado dwellers, we decided to not go to Mt. Evans on the 4th of July (our original plan), because they thought the traffic might be horrible coming back. We took their advice and did Pike’s Peak and Garden of the Gods. It was an awesome day–really hot (but it truly is a dry heat, which I didn’t used to believe in, but now I do), beautiful blue skies, and amazing rock formations! The kids all traveled really well, too, so that always helps!

I won’t even try to do justice to Garden of the Gods with the pictures I took, but will put some up later of the ones Katie (our nanny) took. (P.S.: Katie took over 500 pictures yesterday. Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!)

But here’s a funny little video of Morrow playing on the rocks. He told me last night while I was getting him ready for bed: “I’m good at climbing mountains!”

Then after our time at Garden of the Gods we had a little picnic in Manitou Springs (crazy little cute town that it is!).

Happy Fourth of July from Cay-Cay & Widget!

After our lunch we decided to do the drive up Pike’s Peak, which is over 14,000 feet! I drove the entire way up, and am happy to report that I only had to do lamaze breathing a couple times! It was pretty freaky at times, especially knowing that I had six other people (who are everything to me) in the car with me.

It was so cool to drive above the timberline. That was at about 12,000 feet. The trees just start dropping off and the ones that are trying to grow are all puny-looking, just because they don’t get the moisture and oxygen they need to grow up there. So amazing.

I was also a little obsessed with watching the temperature drop. Our rear-view mirror has the temperature gauge on it, and it was fascinating to watch the temperature go from 90+ at the bottom to about 55 at the top. Loved it!

When we got to the top, I definitely noticed a difference in the air. I even felt a little nauseated. We brought plenty of water and snacks so we were good to go after a couple minutes.

I kept proclaiming loudly, “We’re at the top of the world!”

And here’s a good one of my man with half of his brood.

So any of you experienced in Colorado, tell me: is the Pike’s Peak drive comparable to the drive up Mt. Evans? Is the Mt. Evans drive scarier? I’m just curious and trying to weigh our options for things we should or shouldn’t do during our time here, especially with kids.

We’ve been in Colorado for a full 24 hours now. I’m happy to report that all has been without incident (aside from one vomit in the van from the 2-year-old and a little altitude-induced headache).

This is where we’re going on Monday:

[via Rob Reiter]

We’re going to drive up Mt. Evans, which is apparently the highest paved road in North America! The drive up there sounds really freaky (lots of crazy turns, no guardrails, etc.), but I figure… I’m in COLORADO! Bring it on!

I’ll try to post some pictures from our time there. Stay tuned!

So remember when I asked you if car toppers or car backpacks were preferable? Well, turns out God had another answer. I should’ve known better than to just give two choices.

By the way… isn’t it just kinda like God to color outside the lines like that? Kinda like, “Uh-uh, Molly Piper, I will not be bound to just two options for getting you and your family to Colorado. Uh-uh.” (Sometimes God’s a little sassy like that with me. Trust me, he needs to be.)

Turns out God had a hitch mounted cargo rack in mind! I didn’t list that as one of the options on the previous post, because, well…

1. I forgot they existed.
2. We didn’t have a hitch on our Swagger Wagon.

But God had other plans for that too! Many of you reminded me that cargo racks did indeed exist and testified to how great they worked for all of your travels, so I started looking into getting one. But then, someone offered to loan one to us! SCORE! So all we needed now was a hitch on the van.

Our friend Andy had just put a hitch on his Sienna, so he had the tools and the know-how, so he offered to help mount it. Turns out what we thought would be a one-hour job turned into a 3.5 hour job…but… Andy (his ever-patient self) made it happen. Thanks, Andy. You rock. Hard.

I’m just so happy that we’ll be able to pack most of our gear on the outside of the van. There’s something severely claustrophobic to me about riding long distances with the car packed to the ceiling and all around my feet. I hate it. So here’s hoping I can breathe a little freer this trip.

I’m just so thankful for small (huge?) provisions like that. We had very little money to spend on a packing solution, and this was seriously awesome. Hopefully I’ll feel the same after 14+ hours of traveling. Hey, at least I’ll have leg room! And I’ll be sure to bring my ear plugs!