Next Year

I was called to meeting on Friday the 18th right after the buses left school. Kathy (the other sped teacher at Lacey that I share a room with) and I had to report to the principals office. We were told that Lacey was losing an LD teacher next year because of sending so many kids to middle school and not enough coming our way to keep two teachers. We were to get the news so that we would have time to fill out our intent forms that are due January 15th. Donna (my principal) was directing the conversation to both of us, but I knew it was coming to me. Kathy has been at Lacey since the school opened 20 years ago, she has seen many 2nd teachers come and go. What a great Christmas present! I've tried not to think about it to much over break. I should be teaching in the county somewhere next year, but who knows where. I'm going to ask Donna when we return on Monday to call the director of special ed and see what he knows as far as any openings go. I know with the new high school opening next year there will be jobs in the county, but I just worry about where. I hate the thought of having to find a new babysitter. But that was my wonderful news to start Christmas break, I couldn't get out of that school fast enough that Friday afternoon. I was so mad and upset. I just hope my new home will be as good.

A blur that I think was Christmas

Christmas at grandma's house. They sure can make a mess.

This was the final mess. I think my mom got them to much.
Opening their stockings at our house Christmas morning.

Billy went shopping for them. They were opening their baby dolls from daddy.

On December 18th the thought of 2 weeks off for Christmas sounded wonderful. What would I do with all that time. We got out of school an hour early because of the coming snow, I got some yucky news, (that's a whole other post) packed up lots of school work and headed home. Two weeks off, what ever would I do with all that time. Now I sit here and ask myself where that time went. We got the crazy snow storm my first weekend off, but we still managed to do a Christmas dinner with mom and friends Sunday the 20th. Then we woke up Monday morning and decided at the last minute to follow through with our plans and head to Monterey for a few days. I was packing, the girls were making a mess, and Billy went to H'burg to finish shopping. It was craziness. We were in Monterey from Monday afternoon until Thursday morning. Then we came back to do Christmas Eve at my grandma's, then a visit to the Knupp's, Christmas morning at home, then back to grandma's then the rest of the day was at Mom's. The girls ended up spending the night with mom so that we could get a little rest and go find some bargains on Saturday morning. Sunday we actually made it to church, and then ran around in the afternoon while the girls napped at mom's. Monday I went to school to work for about 2 hours with some other teachers and then we had lunch at Taste of Thai. Lunch was the best part! Tuesday we visited the doctor's office again and then Billy and I went back to school in the afternoon while the girls napped. I didn't realize how much school work I had to do. Finally yesterday we got to stay home all day. Again today we are home until we head out for dinner with the family tonight. Nothing special. I think it will be the Wood Grill. It's hard to go anywhere nice with the girls being the age that they are. Buffets are good because it's ready and we can find something that they will eat. Christmas was such a blur that I didn't get many pictures of the girls. Part of the problem was that they ripped open every package in sight, didn't matter if it belonged to them or not. We had to keep our eyes on them. We left my grandmother's house not knowing who gave them what because they ripped into everything the moment it was put before them.

Christmas PJ's

Please remember as you look at the expressions on their faces that we were almost a hour late getting to bed tonight. Plus to get them both to stay in one spot and look the same direction and smile is impossible. We got 2 out of 3 so I can't say to much. Matching Christmas Eve PJ's 2009.

Opening their PJ's.

Once again it's a tradition I've borrowed from the Knupps. The Knupps were my second family as I was going through high school and college. I started babysitting before I could drive. They were my second family. I grew up with them as well as watched their girls grow up. I can remember from all the time that I spent with them that every Christmas Eve the girls got to open one present. It was always matching PJ's for all. I have started that with the girls. Last year we did it, and again this year. I know that they are to young to understand, but as they get older I hope they will look forward to opening their PJ's every Christmas Eve.

Snow in Monterey

Sledding in the drive way.
Sledding down the hill from the garden to the house.

Getting ready to head down the hill.

Walking with daddy.

She needed a rest.

We debated and debated about what to do. We had planned to get up and go to Monterey to do Christmas with Billy's family Monday morning and come back Wednesday evening or Thursday morning. The weather put lots of question marks on what we should do. As Billy got ready Monday morning to go to Harrisonburg to finish Christmas shopping we decided to go. While he was shopping I was home packing and trying to keep the girls out of stuff. We made the trip and enjoyed the time with family and the snow. The girls had hills there that they could go sledding on. It was nice to visit with them, but it will be nice tonight to sleep in my own bed and feel more at ease being back home. Just a few pics of the girls playing in the snow. At first Emma didn't know if she should like riding on the sled. She would cry one moment and laugh the next. Ali thought that riding in the sled was her time to lay down and relax.

Reindeer Food

Feeding the reindeer.

Once again I have to thank the Knupps. The traditions that I have "borrowed" from them are just awesome. Today we came home with 2 bags of reindeer food from the Knupps. We got out of the truck and dumped it on the drive way. Hope the reindeer enjoy! Once they get a little older and we put out reindeer food we will have to remember to go out once the girls are asleep and mess it up so they know that the reindeer ate some.

Twins

This is something that I am quickly learning about having twins. Wait a second they are now 21 months old, so I don't think I can use the word "quickly" in my first sentence. Let me start again.

There is something that I am learning about having twins. When one is sick the other one is sick and my patience quickly fades. Emma was up most of Friday night crying. I knew something had to be wrong, she doesn't act like that. Saturday morning in the light I noticed that her ear looked totally disgusting. So after an hour at the doctor's office we leave with 2 new meds and an ear infection. Last night (Saturday) Ali was up most of the night fussing. She threw up 2 times in our bed. Thank God for the waterproof mattress pad. This morning they both were so whinny. They both wanted to be in my lap, didn't want to share me, and it I had to get up to do anything Emma just lost it. They refused to eat lunch, so in my harsh voice I got them down from the table and sent them to bed. They were out in no time. I'm sure when you are little like that being sick is horrible because you can't share what's wrong, but it's also horrible on me. I am using their nap time today to do much needed school work and venting here. Hope when they wake up

we will all feel a little better.

What will they think of next?

After helping to empty their hampers they decided that they would be great to play in.
Falling down after attempting to hop around in them.

Then they decided to wear them on their heads.

Running around the house with the hamper over head. How safe is that?

Picture with Santa...if you can call it that

This is not going to be a good year for getting our picture taken with Santa. They won't stay still.

Breakfast with Santa

The girls got to eat breakfast with "HoHo" as they call him. What a perfect morning to go see "HoHo" when there is snow falling. As Santa was walking around Ali and Emma both wanted to wave and see where he was, but either would stand/sit still long enough for a picture. And of course they were the only ones that didn't sit still for the story.

Being Thankful

I know over this holiday weekend there are so many things that I should be thankful for. Believe I am thankful for so much. I have a family who loves me, a warm bed and home, a job, and of course God. I've spent this holiday break being frustrated, yelling at the girls, and wanting to cry. Not the best way to act when you have so much to be thankful for. Friday a week ago (11/20/09) I took Emma to the doctor because of a horrible cough and cold that she has. Last winter we dealt with wheezing and breathing issues so I wanted someone to listen to her and make sure she was ok. Of course we left the doctor's office with a clean bill of health and 25 dollars spent out of pocket. We kept dealing with the coughing and runny nose at home. It was getting so bad that during the night when she started a coughing episode she would wake up crying. She ended up sleeping with us a few nights. Tuesday morning (11/24/09) I heard a voice come over the intercom in my classroom. "Could I take a phone call on line 2?" I knew right away it was Tina and something was wrong. Emma was coughing so bad she had thrown up twice. I made a few phone calls and had Emma an appointment with the doctor at 11 and my mom who was off work that day trying to get ready for Thanksgiving dinner at her house was going to take her. Around 12 I started calling mom. What had they found out, what was wrong. The doctor thinks she had an asthma attack, gave her 2 breathing treatments in the office, and a dose of liquid steroids. Sent mom home with 2 prescriptions and a recheck appointment for Friday. Well we went back Friday morning and didn't get the greatest news. She was still wheezing bad so now we have 10 more days of the liquid steroid, plus another prescription along with another recheck appointment next week. So we continue what we were doing, 3-4 breathing treatments a day, plus all her meds. Then I deal with them home all day trashing the house, trying to decorate for Christmas, and just wondering where in the world all this "stuff" in our house has come from. I have moments of wanting to load the back of the pickup truck up and hauling it all away to the dump. I feel like the walls are caving in around me. I'm trying so hard to remind myself this is a season of Thanksgiving and I need to be thankful instead of fussing, but it's so hard.

Church

This past week I thought we were going by church to drop off our shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child, little did I know but we ended up going to the 2nd service and putting the girls in the nursery. I hated dropping Emma off with the horrible cough that she had, but we did. Well this week was her week for her first paper from church. I've finally gotten it scanned in and posted.

My Givers

I have always found it funny while handing out candy on Halloween night how such young kids are out trick or treating with their parents. The kids are to young to be eating candy, but yet there they are with their pumpkins full. But I give them some more candy with a smile and as they walk away think about how their parents will be enjoying it later that night. Well today our church held Trunk or Treat, which Billy and I have participated in many years. This year was going to be challenge because now we had our own children. How were we going to hand out candy and chase the girls? Well the girls napped at mom's today and Billy and I went to church to get ready. Mom brought the girls when they woke up. Once they arrived at church we made one lap around the parking lot. The girls stopped at very few trunks for treats, they just liked that they had so much open space to go and be free. We got maybe 10 pieces total of candy and two bottles of apple juice. The rest of the time they were at our trunk and were givers. I would give them two pieces of candy and tell them to put it in the bucket/bag/basket(whatever the child was carrying). They would gladly share with anyone passing by. When nobody was at our trunk they would start to wonder to the next trunk to find someone with a bucket so they could share the candy. I'm so thankful that they saw today as a time to give and not as a time to go fill up their pumpkin baskets with candy. I hope that they continue to be givers in life.

Church

We have been trying our best to start going to church once again on Sunday mornings. I like going to the 9am service because we are out and at mom's house in time for lunch and nap without being rushed. The girls are usually eat between 11 and 11:30 and a little after 12 are ready for their nap. Well this past Sunday we didn't get up in time (or should I say one person in this house) so we waited and went to the 10:15 service. Lately the church has started doing a small lesson during this service with the kids in the nursery. Sunday school lessons had only been done in the 4 year old and up classes. So this past week the girls had their first lesson and Ali had her first paper to bring home. I guess Emma wasn't much into coloring because she didn't have a paper. When we scanned it in you can hardly see the coloring, and partly because there wasn't much to see in the beginning, but we are proud of her no matter what. Ali's first church paper to put on the fridge. (Or maybe I should say put in the scanner.)

Pumpkin Patch

Ali wouldn't sit on the hay for a picture. So it's just Emma.
She actually picked it up.

They had small round pumpkins that the girls thought were balls. "Ball" is what they would say as they held it up.

I want that one!

Look, what I just found!

What a cheesy face.

Trying to climb over the pumpkin.

So today after a quick run to the doctor's office, that story needs a post of it's own, mom and I took the girls to the pumpkin patch in Battlefield Estates. My neighbor told me about the place 2 years ago and I keep going back. It's a nice quiet place, they have pumpkins pre picked or you can pick your own. Each year I have gone it is always quiet, maybe another family or two there but never more than that. You pay on the honor system and the pumpkins are super cheap. So we took the girls this afternoon to get a few pumpkins and some pictures. We never made it into the actual pumpkin patch, the girls had a blast playing in the little barn where the pre picked pumpkins were.

18 months and 12 days

The laughing. The jumping up and down. Then the crying, but there was never anything more than crying. This morning came the THUD. It was a different thud than the one yesterday morning that came from Emma hitting her head against the crib rail. I knew when I heard the thud that something had happened. As I entered the girls room this morning, there was Ali getting herself up off the floor. She had climbed out of bed and was now on the floor. I guess she didn't like waiting on me to come get her out and decided to get herself out. Let's see if it happens again. She's to young to be doing this and she is NOT ready for the next stage of her bed. We would never be able to keep her in it at night time until she went to sleep.

Our Zumbro Wall

So we redid a wall in the living room Sunday night. Now we have what I call the Zumbro wall. All the photos are ones that Steve Zumbro has taken. We found the word wall art at Kohl's Sunday and thought that would work since one thing we had to put up was our family photo. I hope over time we can add more family photos and pictures of the girls. It will continue to be a work in progress.

18 Months

My babies, or should I say toddlers, went for their 18 month check up today. As always they stayed about 2 pounds apart in their weight with Emma being the heavier one. Ali is now 1/2 inch taller. I'm just amazed that Ali grows at all because of how little she eats and how she is always on the move. Now we get to wait for 6 months before we visit again instead of 3 months. Although while we were there I failed a mommy test. I couldn't tell Dr. Renick how many words each girl is saying right now. So I have homework until Monday. Keep a list of everything EACH girl says. As long as they are saying more than 11 words I'm good to go. I think this is one time being a mom of twins is super hard. Everything just blends into one big blur for me and I forget that I have two different children.

Back Home on the Farm

Around and around we go.

The Cow Train
The Cow Train



Milking the cow. Ali was pretty good at it.

Aren't my flowers beautiful?

This gives me hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel. There are some days that I wonder if I'll make it.

Climbing through tunnels.

Climbing through tunnels.

Attempting the corn maze. We didn't make it very far, a few circles and then back out the way we went in.

Let the races begin!

What they don't think of.....

Ali trying to wear Billy's underwear that were drying on the clothes rack.

Emma sitting in the stool, but that is better than standing on top of it.

Emma eating with a spoon

Emma is now eating with a spoon. Or maybe I should say has been eating with a spoon. When Ali first started eating with a spoon we would give Emma one too, but all she wanted to do with it was play. Now she's an eating monster. She picked up the trick pretty quickly.