New Beginnings

Neglect

2011-03-11T23:11:00.003-05:00

So since school started I have neglected the blog and documenting all the crazy things my girls have done for the past 7 months. I am so mad at myself. My goal is to finish this school year with an update once a week.

Tomorrow my "babies" turn 3! I am so not ready for the small party at mom's house, but it will all come together and be just fine. Stay tuned for pictures of the chicken and truck cakes that the girls requested.

Happy Birthday!
My sweet Emma and Alison

Monterey -country fun

2010-08-10T14:46:00.003-04:00

I saw as many as 7 feeding at once, but am told there are at least 12.

Riding granddaddy's four wheeler.

Picking up acorns under the trees.

Drawing with side walk chalk.

So finally we made it to Monterey to visit Billy's parents this past weekend. It's just a job to pack up and go even just for 2 nights. I felt like we were moving out for the week. Going over we stopped at Ali's favorite place to eat dinner, Donald's house, also known as McDonalds. Both girls ate very well. Starting over the 3rd mountain Ali had a funny look on her face and kept rubbing her belly. I thought maybe she ate to much and was getting sick on the mountains, but nothing happened. Once we got to Billy's parents it took her a long time to warm up and act herself. That evening we visited with Randy and Nancy. Saturday we played outside, went to town for lunch, and took a nap, and then to the Earth Roast for dinner. Sunday we headed out mid morning so that we could be home before nap. On the last mountain coming home Ali started saying her tummy hurt. Great, was my thought, but we made it over without her getting sick. Then just as we get on interstate and are 30 minutes from home she decides to throw-up. She hadn't had much to eat that morning for breakfast and I guess her empty stomach couldn't handle it anymore. This will make our trips to Monterey fun, worrying about her getting car sick going over the mountains.

Playground Time

2010-08-10T14:44:00.002-04:00

Going down the "big" kids slide.

Going down the "little" kids slide.

So finally after months and months of wanting to go, we finally got the girls to A Dream Come True Playground. They had a blast and caused a few moments of scare. They wouldn't stay on the playground for kids their age, they had to be on the big one. We went on a Sunday morning when most, including us, should be in church so it was not busy at all. Most of the picsI took that morning were of Emma because she was the one that I was following around. We were also the only ones there running around without shoes. The girls think as soon as they get somewhere, doesn't matter where, that they have to take off their shoes.

Bridgewater Lawn Party

2010-08-10T14:21:00.005-04:00

They loved getting candy. They thought they had to eat each piece as they got it.

Emma eating her dinner, she LOVES her food.

Then one pic of each girl watching the parade.

As a child I remember going to all the lawn parties and parades around the county each summer. I always looked forward to it. Now I want to share the same fun with the girls. We did the Bridgewater Lawn Party/Parade again this year. We ate lawn party food before the parade and then headed home as soon as the parade was over. We didn't need to fight the craziness of people after the parade, didn't need to ride any rides, and it was also close to bedtime. This year the girls loved the parade. It was super HOT, but I think they enjoyed it.

Back to Work

2010-08-10T14:19:00.003-04:00

My summer is almost gone. I have one, that's right, ONE day left home with my girls. We have had a good summer. We've been busy at Kinetic Kids, play dates, and some shopping but at the same time I'm ready to speak with adults every day and not watch so much Disney and Nick Jr TV. As the girls nap/sleep schedule allows I'll update the blog with some of our recent activities.

RAIN

2010-07-14T22:04:00.002-04:00

The one thing I noticed the most when returned from the beach was how our grass had turned brown. Our first week back didn't help either. Temps around 100 all week and no rain. Finally we are getting a little rain and it almost seems strange to see puddles in the backyard. Although it is a very pleasant one. Now if the grass would just get green again. If you look close you can see puddles under the hammock.

Potty Training Sucks

2010-07-14T21:54:00.003-04:00

I don't like failure and right now I feel like a failure when it comes to potty training my girls. They are smart little cookies and can easily tell you when they have peed or pooped. Well getting them to tell you before they do it is a totally different thing. We hit the potty hard before vacation, I was having them sit on it every hour with no success. One evening I left Emma's diaper off and she did pee sitting on an old towel, but all she did was get up say she was wet and move to another part of the towel. Didn't seem to really bother her. Then we went to the beach and took a week back home to recover, so this week we have tried again. I even went and got TWO NEW potty seats. I thought maybe they didn't like the one we had because it had a hard seat. We got one with a really soft seat and one that will play music if there is success. They will seat for me, but just won't go. Ali did pee twice and pooped once last night, but that's been our only success. It also helped that everytime they would sit on it last night I would give them food. I've even put them in pull ups this afternoon, calling them big girl pants and said mommy would have to work hard to clean them out if the went in them like a baby diaper. That didn't work either. I'm about ready just to give up. I attempt to bribe them with gummies and M&M's, but that's not getting us anywhere. HELP!

The Beach -recap part 2

2010-07-14T21:35:00.002-04:00

So finally 2 weeks later here I am to recap the trip to the beach. Thought I better to it before I forgot to much. First off we rented a van so that the four of us and my mom could all go down in one vehicle. The beginning of June we called and visited places about renting. At enterprise we saw a mini van that was loaded! Two screens for DVDs and perks for the driver. We ended up renting from them and when I picked it up the Friday before we went I asked how the DVD player worked. Well the one we got didn't have the DVD player and the other one on the lot didn't have it either. I was bummed but knew we could just move the players we had in the truck and use them. Just one more thing to take. Well I came home with the van, put in the car seats and head back into town in the truck to pick up the girls from the babysitters. I was almost there when I got a call and it was Enterprise. The loaded van had been returned and I could come it if I wanted. I really didn't want to because I had already put the girls seats in the one I had and didn't want to mess with moving them, but Billy said that I should so I did. Boy am I glad that I did. The girls loved the drop down screens, I loved the push of a button to open doors, shut doors, start the van. It was sweet. It even had a back up camera. So much for the van stuff, on to the beach:

The girls did well on the trip down and back. The worst was after lunch when they should have been napping. The first day we went to the sound because we knew the waves would be less and the girls might do better. Well Emma was freaked out about the sand, and the water was dirty you didn't want to really be in it. But they enjoyed their morning and we had seafood for dinner. We did the sound again for several days and it got better. One day we also went to an aquarium. The girls seemed to enjoy that as well. One afternoon Billy and I drove up to Duck and Corolla, did some shopping and had dinner. (An afternoon/evening without kids) That was a nice evening. Some nights we went out and others we cooked. The girls had trouble sleeping and it seemed like at least one of them was in our bed every night and being in a queen bed it was hard. I guess looking back the trip went well, but it was hard. A lot of work for no longer than we could spend at the water. The girls had to be heading back around 11 so they could have lunch and their nap. There was no way we could skip that nap. Maybe in 2 years things would go a little smoother and we could spend more time at the water. Just for the record: we did go the beach 2 days, we didn't spend all our time soundside.

The Beach-picture recap

2010-07-06T14:37:00.005-04:00

I am still deciding on how to put this beach trip into words. They will follow soon, but here's a few of my favorite pictures. I still need to get pictures off both grandma cameras to see if they got anything better.

Father's Day

2010-06-19T21:42:00.003-04:00

So I stole this idea last year from a friend. Continued with it again this year by updating the pictures, but taking them in the same chair in our backyard. Last year I got a black picture frame with the 3 vertical picture openings. It looks cute hanging in the office by his radio stuff.

Happy Father's Day William!

We Love You!

Kinetic Kids

2010-06-16T12:51:00.003-04:00

Today the girls had their first class at Kinetic Kids again this summer. We did a 6 week class last summer. I'm all for us doing activities together while I'm home this summer. I think they need the break from the house all day, and I like the inside activities where there is AC running. I signed the girls up for a class again this summer and today they meet for the first time. The theme is "Under the Sea" and the girls had a hard time sitting down to listen to the instruction/talk about the sea. All they wanted to do was run around and play. There was only 1 other girl in the class and she is older, so she sat and talked about what is at the ocean. My two just ran around. I snapped these two pictures at the beginning before class started.

The backyard is now complete

2010-06-13T22:02:00.001-04:00

Playing in the sand is hard work!

Sand is everywhere but in the sandbox.

The last addition to our backyard joined us today. We got the girls a sandbox. We talked about doing this for awhile but never decided the best way to do it. They have space under the tower part of their swing set that could be used for a sandbox, but we worried about all the neighborhood cats using it as a litter box. Because of that fear we went with the good old turtle that has a lid. The girls loved playing in the sand tonight or should I say they loved throwing sand all over the place. I see we will go through several bags of sand a summer at this rate. Hope they continue to have as much with it as they did tonight.

Growing

2010-06-13T21:53:00.002-04:00

We got a pack of 4 watermelon plants back in May, and thought we would plant them for fun. Well we actually have 3 little watermelons growing. Hope they amount to something.
The same time we got the watermelon plants I also got a pack of 4 sunflower plants. This was the first to open, and I have 3 more about to open. They are beautiful.

TEETH!

2010-06-03T22:19:00.002-04:00

My mission this weekend will be to get a good picture to go along with this post. Here's our story:

A month or more ago I noticed this large gap between Emma's teeth on the top left side. I was showing everyone and anyone because it really bothered me. It was a huge gap! Well this weekend, actually I'm not sure when, I noticed that a tooth was trying to grow in this gap. I would look and look, count and count. There should be no tooth there. Now this bothered me even more. Tuesday morning I was telling the babysitter and she suggested I call a pediatric dentist. I called Dr. Green because I had heard from numerous people he was the man to go to. Normally they have a waiting list, but the lady who answered the phone said that they could see her early since I believed there was a problem. So Emma had an appointment for August 31st. There was no way in this world that I could wait that long plus that would be the second week of school. I then called my dentist and asked to speak directly to the dental hygienist that I always see. She could work us in Thursday. I had to wait 3 days not 3 months. Linda said she would look, possibly do an x-ray but didn't think there was anything to worry about. So we go today and Emma was a trooper. She didn't fuss, didn't cry, didn't try to cling to me. I sat in the chair and she sat between my legs. Linda looked once, then again....yes she did believe there was an extra tooth. So she took two x-rays. Once again Emma was great, I couldn't believe this was my Emma being so good. The x-rays confirmed it. Dr. Fowler came in and said the same thing. My Emma has an extra tooth. How crazy is that!? At this point there's nothing that needs to be done, and I shouldn't worry. (That will be hard to do). So from now until my child is at least 6 ( or when she loses it) she will have an extra tooth. Dr. Fowler hopes that when the permanent teeth come in they will push it out and everything will be fine, but we have to wait and see. If that doesn't happen then we will deal with it at that point.

Life Happens

2010-05-30T22:44:00.002-04:00

Not sure why I have waited until the last 2 days of May to post anything. Life has just happened this month and there isn't much to post about. Get up, go to work, come home, play, eat dinner, bath and bed for girls, clean up the girl's mess, and then start the same routine all over the next day. Nothing to post about. The middle of the month Ali did have a UTI. That cleared up and it was the first we had to go to the doctor's in quite some time. These last few weeks of school have been crazy busy, and meetings and paperwork continue to grow. I'm looking forward to being home with the girls this summer and finally taking them to the beach the last week of June.

Update on the Gardens

2010-05-30T22:24:00.002-04:00

We just got these things planted the beginning of May. Hopefully they take off soon.

Picture above taken about a month ago.
Picture below of same bed taken today.

Picture above: check out the back bed, you can see the seed just starting to break through and grow.

Picture below: same garden, taken today, the peas and beans are going wild along with everyone else squeezed into that bed.

Baby Pool aka The Beach

2010-05-30T22:16:00.003-04:00

We finally have plans made for the beach and have started talking to the girls about going to the beach this summer. Now the girls think that the pool we set up for them in the back yard yesterday is the beach. They want to go out and play at the beach. They are loving every moment of playing in their pool and at least for this summer I'm glad we got them one like this and not the big blue ones everyone else gets. This one is just right because I still have to watch/worry about them going down the slide head first and getting under water, but they can also get in and out on their own. They will get out, run through the yard or dump water somewhere and then come running back. After 2 days of playing at the beach Emma still tries to go down the slide head first and get a mouth full of water. Hopefully she will learn soon.

Hair Cut

2010-05-30T22:08:00.002-04:00

The girls had their first official hair cuts on Saturday, May 15th. Ali was a trooper and sat in the chair and let Robin do her thing. She did want to turn head around alot and check out what was going on, but other than that she was great! Emma on the other hand would have no parts of sitting in the chair. I had to hold her.
Both girls had about the same amount cut off. Just enough to made all the edges line up. With Ali's hair being so long you can not tell at all she had her hair trimmed. Emma on the other hand looks like a completely different person.

Where has April gone?

2010-04-20T20:45:00.001-04:00

I can't believe that this month is already 1/2 over. I have wondered the past few days where it has gone, then I quickly remember our week at the beginning of the month and how we managed to survive on such little sleep. The allergies and colds got the best of all 4 of us. We were done and out for the count. Many nights we all slept in the same bed together, and I would get minutes of sleep in between the girls fussing. All the junk in the girls' heads finally led to ear infections. We have just now gotten over them and finished the medicines. As I look back at that week I often wonder how I managed to get anything done at school. It was rough.

The next few blogs will be my attempt of catching up on the month.

Egg Hunt

2010-04-19T22:03:00.005-04:00

Daddy and Ali finding eggs
On the search

Hunting eggs

Attempting to get a picture of all the kids

Another attempt of getting a picture of all the kids

Having fun on Kid's Castle

The ARCMOM group did an Easter Egg hunt the Saturday after Easter at Kid's Castle in Harrisonburg. It was on a Saturday morning ( a little chilly, but nice). One plus was I could go the day after Easter and get eggs already filled with candy 1/2 off to take. The girls had fun! They also had fun playing on Kid's Castle. I can see we will have to visit again this summer.

Our gardens

2010-04-19T13:41:00.002-04:00

They are growing! Last year we had one garden bed, and now this summer we will have 2 and 1/2. Billy already has things growing.

What great neighbors

2010-04-19T13:36:00.003-04:00

The Saturday before Easter our WONDERFUL neighbors gave us their old swing set. Their son is now 10 and into bigger and better things. We moved the swing set into our yard. It went alot easier then I had imagined. The tower part was open on both sides, so I had Billy add some boards so that I don't have to worry about them falling off when I'm watching the other side. I'm so thankful for this new toy. All we need to do is clean it good and add another coat of decking stain stuff. We've gotten the supplies and need to plan how to keep the girls off it while we clean and stain. I say for the 50 bucks we spent on supplies it was a bargain. To thank them since they wouldn't take payment I try to give a small goodie now and then. How do you begin to repay someone for such an awesome gift?

They love to dance

2010-04-19T11:45:00.003-04:00

Santa brought the girls a kitchen set at Christmas time. My thought was it would sit in the kitchen so that the girls could cook while we cooked. Well it was much bigger than I realized so it had to go in their bedroom. They love to go back there and "cook cook" as they say. While they are cooking they love to listen to music, and often have to stop cooking to dance. Here's Saturday morning.

Easter

2010-04-19T11:42:00.005-04:00

My mom did Easter dinner on Saturday evening before Easter. That way we could enjoy church Easter morning and not worry how we are going to do all the family stuff and get naps in for the little ones. We also gave the girls their Easter baskets on Saturday morning so that they would have their new Elmo Easter baskets to use at the egg hunt later that evening. At the age of 2 the girls had no idea/clue that they were getting their goodies a day early. Mom had a house full and it was a great evening. The girls had the best time hunting for eggs with their cousin Cayden and then playing in the water table.

Here's a picture recap of the day.

Playing in the water table

Looking for eggs

Looking in their baskets Saturday morning

Finding their baskets Saturday morning

So I'm a Little Bit Crazy

2010-04-02T21:40:00.002-04:00

On March 17th, the girls had their 2 year old well visit. When I was asked about concerns I mentioned that sometimes I didn't think that Emma could hear me and I was also worried that she wasn't talking as much as Ali. Emma still likes to talk Chinese alot instead of using real words. Dr. Renick suggested that we got ahead and have her hearing and speech screened to see what was going on. We went to Dr. Alexiou this past Wednesday and of course she passed her hearing test. Thursday morning a very nice lady from PACE came out and checked her speech. She showed a little bit of a delay but nothing close to what she would need to be to get services from them. Her theory is that with all the ear infections last winter that she is going to be a little behind, but nothing to cause any alarm bells to go off. So I'm just plain crazy, because to outside people she is just fine. Don't get me wrong I am so thankful that she is going to be fine and that we don't need to do anything extra, but sometimes I still worry because she isn't doing as much as Ali.

It's Back!

2010-04-02T21:33:00.002-04:00

The pink eyed child is back and this time it is worse then I have ever seen it. Both her eyes are really red and have all kinds of yucky stuff coming out of them. And yes this a bad picture of her, but she had to close her eyes for you to see how bad they look, plus I think she blinked when the camera flashed that close to her face.

Our Ride Home

2010-03-23T20:55:00.002-04:00

My conversation with Ali:

"Ali what did you do today at Tina's?" asked mommy

"I pooped" answered Ali.

Don't you just love the conversations you can have with a 2 year old?

Enjoying an evening outside

2010-03-20T21:21:00.003-04:00

So we had made plans to spend the weekend in Monterey with Billy's parents at the Maple Festival. The original plan was for us to both take off work early, come home to pack, and be at Tina's at 3 when the girls get up from their nap and leave straight from her house. Well he never asked off. Then the plan was to leave Friday evening after work. That almost didn't happen. Billy didn't get home from work until a few minutes after 6, but we hustled and headed out anyway. We knew with the beautiful weather on Saturday that traffic would be crazy if we waited and went Saturday morning. We stopped in Verona at Wendy's to grab some quick dinner and fill the truck up with gas. Just as Billy had stared to eat his burger and I was trying to hand the girls a chicken nugget piece Ali decided to throw up. She continued to throw up until she was covered and crying. We changed her on the bed of the pick up truck and headed home. Saturday morning she still didn't act herself and her ear looked yucky. So off we went to the doctor's office. No ear infection, just ear wax, but the doctor said that her tummy sounded pretty upset. Thankfully we made it through Friday night and Saturday without any more episodes of throwing up. After dinner Saturday evening we headed back outside to play. Ali was finally starting to act herself and the girls had a blast playing. In fact they played so hard that they had to rest in the hammick.

Birthday Party

2010-03-20T21:01:00.003-04:00

So I had this grand idea that the girls still need to have their own birthday cakes for their birthday party. I found a person through pictures I had seen on Facebook that did awesome cakes. I thought it would be great to have her do Elmo heads, because she had already posted pictures of Elmo head cakes on her website and they looked awesome. Plus the girls love Elmo. So I paid way to much money for them and when Billy went to pick them up she wasn't there to meet him. When he called (thankfully I had written down her number and sent it along) she couldn't come then because she was getting ready for another delivery and could come after 2. Thankfully she was able to send her husband with them because Billy said he wasn't coming back later. Needless to say I was a little upset because all the emails I had sent her about making plans to pick them up said we would meet her at 12 before her delivery around 1. So after all the craziness I had to post some pictures of the expensive cakes that almost didn't make it to the party. Next year the girls might not be getting their own cakes, unless we can find someone cheaper.

Morning of 3-12-2010

2010-03-20T20:52:00.003-04:00

Happy Belated Birthday Emma and Alison!

I took this picture of them the morning of their birthday while they watched TV and ate breakfast.

Last Look

2010-03-20T20:43:00.001-04:00

This is the last pictures of my babies before the turned 2. That was a very sad night for me. They are no longer babies.

It's Melting

2010-02-10T14:18:00.002-05:00

What seems like 50 inches of snow that is on the roof is melting and forming icicles. The house across the street has the longest icicles I've ever seen.

This is a mess!

2010-02-10T14:10:00.002-05:00

This is what happens when you stay home....MESS everywhere. When I put the girls down for a nap today I didn't know where to start. Please know that I did do dishes and pick up before getting on the computer, but I do ask myself why. I know within an hour or so of them getting up this afternoon the living room will be a mess again.

Snow

2010-02-10T14:04:00.003-05:00

My attempt of capturing it snow yesterday. Once if finally started snowing late afternoon the flakes were HUGE. If you look closely at the brown house in the picture you can see the snowflakes in front of it.

Stickers and Cards

2010-02-10T13:47:00.003-05:00

What can I say she loves her stickers.
Emma was trying to save her stickers. She didn't cover herself like Ali.

Pulling the stickers out of the card.

Seeing the stickers for the first time.

Opening their cards.

Yesterday the only thing that came in the mail was three Valentine Cards for the girls. They were napping when I got the mail, so when they got home I let them rip into them. They love opening mail, looking at cards, and getting stickers. They each got a card from Billy's parents that had a pack of stickers. I didn't know 76 mini heart stickers could disappear so fast. The third card was from Uncle Johnny with some money, which I quickly scooped up and hid away so they didn't lose that.

CARS

2010-02-10T13:43:00.003-05:00

We spend to much time in this house watching TV. The Disney channel has the super cute mini Mater cartoons and the girls know the sound of them and come running!

Why I'm not a stay at home mom

2010-02-04T15:02:00.002-05:00

One of the many reasons I'm not at stay at home mom....

Part of my lunch yesterday was a HUGE bowl of coffee ice cream.

How healthy is that?

My Pink Eyed Child

2010-02-01T13:08:00.002-05:00

If you can over look the dirty chin and look closely at her right eye (left eye looking straight at the pic) you will see a little bit of stuff in the corner. That's nothing compared to how it looked earlier in the evening. If never fails, Emma always seem to get "junk" in that eye and lots extra water. The eyelid will at times look red. Every time they call it pink eye give us some drops and in a matter of a few days it's cleared up and gone. I'm not always convinced it's pink eye, but the drops do the trick. Thank goodness I still had some left from last time so we did the doctor's visit, but saved on a new prescription. I can't even begin to remember how many times she has supposedly had pink eye, but I know its been to many. It seems like every time she gets a cold or anything like that it goes to that right eye. Between all the ear infections last winter and pink eye that's on going I'm going to have a deaf and blind child before she starts school.

What if

2010-01-14T22:13:00.003-05:00

Do you ever have those moments when you wonder what if? What if I hadn't become a teacher? What if I hadn't settled down and started a family? What if I had decided to be free, travel the world, do what ever I wanted? Don't get me wrong, I love my family, I love my job, I love those routine things that I do everyday just because, but I have those moments when I wonder what if. My friend just arrived in China for a year. He had nothing that tied him to one spot. It was one many of options he had to pick from. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to move half way around the world and start new. No sick babies, no being tied down. A new job, a new start, and when the years up I could come back or stay longer. I had no strings to keep my anywhere. But here I sit with sick kids, a mess called a home, school work coming out my ears, and following Jeremy's adventure through his blog. I'll just dream about "What if...."

Next Year

2009-12-31T14:52:00.002-05:00

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

2009-12-31T14:07:00.007-05:00

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

2009-12-24T23:00:00.003-05:00

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

2009-12-24T22:42:00.003-05:00

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

2009-12-24T22:32:00.002-05:00

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

2009-12-13T13:37:00.002-05:00

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?

2009-12-05T20:31:00.003-05:00

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

2009-12-05T20:25:00.002-05:00

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

Breakfast with Santa

2009-12-05T15:02:00.004-05:00

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

2009-11-28T21:27:00.002-05:00

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

2009-11-28T21:13:00.004-05:00

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

2009-10-31T21:31:00.004-04:00

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

2009-10-29T21:33:00.004-04:00

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

2009-09-28T21:29:00.004-04:00

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

2009-09-24T20:56:00.002-04:00

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

2009-09-22T20:27:00.002-04:00

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

2009-09-16T20:50:00.002-04:00

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

2009-09-07T20:34:00.004-04:00

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.

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.....

2009-09-05T14:04:00.002-04:00

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

2009-09-05T13:57:00.002-04:00

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.

Enjoying Big Meadows

2009-08-18T20:50:00.002-04:00

Sunday afternoon when the girls got up from their nap we finished packing the last minute things and headed up on Skyline Drive to Big Meadows for a picnic. You didn't have to pay to get on to the Drive, so it was the perfect time to go. It was 10 degrees cooler up there, so it was wonderful. We found a picnic area at Big Meadows and grilled some hot dogs and let the girls run around and play. After we had finished dinner the deer started to come out and about. One ended up coming very close to our tables because someone had thrown their leftover sandwich in so grass and weeds. The girls were able to get close to it while it ate. Ali decided to start calling the deer "cats". I think that they had fun and we enjoyed it. I hope they do the free weekends again next year! More pics to come soon.

Eating like a grown-up

2009-08-07T12:31:00.003-04:00

Last weekend while we were visiting Billy's parents in Monterey Ali started

eating with a spoon. Today I finally got some pictures of her doing it. Sometimes she cheats a little bit and will use her other hand to put food on the spoon and then lift it to her mouth, but hey she's learning. I'm so proud of her!

Ali and her shoes

2009-08-07T12:28:00.002-04:00

I can't remember when this started, but I can say for some time now Ali has been able to put on her shoes. In fact she will sit forever playing with shoes and putting them on. Sometimes they are on the right feet and sometimes they are not. I think it's pure luck which foot she gets her shoe on, but then again maybe she does now what she is doing. Here's a few pics to enjoy of her and her shoes. Just as a side note, the top picture she is actually putting her shoes on the correct feet.

What Grandma's will do!

2009-07-24T14:46:00.002-04:00

Mom went out and got a swimming pool and 200 air filled balls to make an indoor play toy for the girls. Then we were crazy enough to go buy 100 more balls because we thought the pool could handle more. The girls LOVE it! I just never thought my mom would do something like that.

For the love of swimming

2009-07-24T14:34:00.003-04:00

I love to swim! I always have and I hope that I always will. I want me girls to have the same joys and memories of swimming that I do. Because of those thoughts we took swimming lessons this summer for 3 weeks. We had class twice a week for the 3 weeks, which gave us a total of six classes. I wish we still had six more to go. They went by so quickly. I want them to have good experiences in the pool and not grow up being afraid. I hope by doing this every summer until they are old enough for "real" swim lessons they will have a love for the water and want to learn to swim.

I know I'm a copy cat

2009-07-07T21:00:00.002-04:00

I saw this on Linda's blog the night before Father's Day and was so jealous of such a creative idea. I knew I would never remember until next year so I copied the idea last week with the girls. Working with two 15 month olds is a lot easier said than done. Every time I put the letter near Ali she started crying like it was some animal that was going to eat her alive. So these were the best ones I could get. I put them in a black frame, so that's why I painted the letters black. Now the only problem is finding a place to hang the frame.

Kinetic Kids

2009-06-25T21:15:00.002-04:00

Tonight we took the girls to the open gym at Kinetic Kids. I wanted to check the place out and see if spending the money on a class would be worth it for the summer. Dumb me went and didn't think about taking a camera. Maybe I'll remember another time. When we first arrived and I saw the place I thought to myself what are we going to do for an hour, this was a waste. Well the girls had a blast! Surprisingly, Emma was the one that was running around and trying to climb and do more things then Ali. Towards the end of the hour the owner came into the gym and talked with us about the Discovery class and was helping Emma roll on one of the big tumbling cylinders. Emma just loved it and let her do it a long time. I couldn't believe my shy Emma was letting someone else work with her like that. The girls stayed busy the whole hour that we were there. In fact we were the last family out of the door at 7. They were so tried at bedtime tonight, but I know that's from all the climbing and running they did. So it looks like starting next Thursday morning we will be going a class. I can't wait and I can't wait to take them back to more open gym times.

Ear Tubes

2009-06-18T21:00:00.002-04:00

Hopefully are run in with ear infections has come to an end. The girls got tubes this morning. We had to be at the hospital at 6. YUCK! To early for me. Ali was scheduled for 7:30 and Emma for 7:40. Well the Dr. finally got there around 8 and about 8:10 they finally took Ali. We walked her down the hall and then had to hand her off at the OR doors. That was much harder for Billy then me. We did the same thing with Emma about 10 minutes later. It felt strange sitting in our room without the girls as we waited. Ali came back in lying down in her crib being as good as gold. I ran down to get them some food from the cafeteria. When I got back Emma had rejoined the room and was crying like crazy. My mom and Billy said that she came in crying and with the nurse carrying her. We were out of there by 10 and the girls seemed to do well this afternoon and evening. They had a few spells of crying out, but it wasn't to bad. I hope they sleep through the night. They slept for 3 hours this afternoon, so that makes me hopeful for tonight. I'm off to bed myself, 4:30 came to early for me.

Day 1

2009-06-15T14:41:00.002-04:00

Knock on wood day 1 hasn't been that bad home with the girls. Here's what I've done so far:
1. Put away all the laundry in our room and ironed all my school clothes.
2. Called about getting the truck inspected.
3. Called about Baby and Me swim class.
4. Called about where things stand with our refinancing of our home loans.
5. Took the plastic and newspapers to the recycling center.
6. Fried hamburger and turkey to use in the hamburger tater tot casserole for dinner tonight.
7. All of the morning/lunch dishes are washed and drying.

For me being home with the girls I am very proud of my to do list that is already done!!! It has also helped that the girls have now been sleeping for 2+ hours. Will they do this for me everyday! One could only hope. Maybe this being a stay at home mom thing isn't so bad. But then again I'm still in day one, let's see what my thoughts are come mid July.

Eating Popsicles

2009-06-09T21:28:00.003-04:00

Playing at the water table is hard work and nothing cools you down like a Popsicle.

Ear Infections

2009-06-09T21:17:00.002-04:00

Tubes come June 18th, but Ali had to get in one more ear infection before tubes. She was not fun at all Monday night. She cried during the evening until we wised up and gave her some meds and they kicked in. Then when she should have been sleeping she was screaming her head off again. So instead of going to bed at 8 like she usually does, she stayed out in the living room playing and sitting on my lap until 11:30. Needless to say we were the second family in the door this morning at the doctor's office. Ear infection in her left ear and the beginning of one in her right ear. Oh joy! Tonight she went down with a little bit of a fight, but we are already off to a better start than last night. Last night I never touched the kitchen to clean up, feed the cat or do any of my nightly chores that I do once they are in bed. Tonight I've already done the dishes, one load of laundry, and this is my second post. I think it may be a little better than last night, but I'm sure she will be fussing again before morning. Another great thing I found out today about her being sick is that I can't give her anything but Tylenol for pain. Last night I was giving her something every 3 hours, so I hope the antibiotic kicks in soon. She can't take anything else for pain because everything else is a blood thinner and she can't have it this close to her surgery. I'm off to get some rest so that I'll be ready to get up with her tonight when she starts fussing.

Water Table Fun

2009-06-09T21:06:00.002-04:00

Grandma was finally able to use her rain check at Target on Sunday to get the girls their water table. They had a blast playing in it on Sunday afternoon.

Being Sick

2009-05-12T20:53:00.002-04:00

I feel like we have spent half of this past year being sick. The girls have been fighting ear infections and we are currently waiting on the ear doctor to schedule the surgery to get tubes in all 4 ears. Emma has also picked up pink eye and we are fight that now as well. I thought she had been having allergy problems for the past two weeks. I guess I was wrong. It never seems to end. I am just thankful for the great doctor's office. We go in and they know us by first names now.

Summer Fun

2009-05-12T20:50:00.003-04:00

This was another great deal that I found on the school classifieds. The girls love going in and out of the door that is on the back side. Just trying to find some goodies to keep us busy this summer. The only problem is all the bugs that are making it home. I'm going to have to spray the yard for bugs and see if that helps.

Great Deal

2009-05-12T20:47:00.002-04:00

With our school email we have a classified section where people sale, look for, ask advice, etc. I found this great deal on there last week and ended up buying it off a friend. I know the girls are to young right now, but for 15 dollars I couldn't pass it up.

Chips with Grandpa

2009-05-12T20:45:00.001-04:00

Billy's parents came over this past Saturday and Ali decided she needed to sit at the big table and join us for lunch. She helped herself to chips off Wicki's plate.

One day they will hate these...........

2009-05-12T20:42:00.002-04:00

The girls think that it is the best to wear my pantyhose around their neck. Like I said one day they will hate them as much as I do.

Not the stay at home mom type

2009-04-08T15:14:00.002-04:00

These past two days home with the girls has reinforced my decision to get up and go to work each day. I am not the stay at home type. They spend all of their awake time trashing the house and I spend all of nap time putting it back together. I also get short with them and snap when I really shouldn't. Don't get me wrong I love my girls and would never do anything to hurt them, but staying at home all day without getting out or having visitors isn't for me. I'm going crazy! Thank god we have something planned for tomorrow afternoon and will be getting out and about for a bit. This afternoon the girls that it would be great fun to empty the recycling all over the house. They had the cardboard and plastic all over the kitchen, hallway and living room. The bedrooms were only saved because I have to keep the doors shut so they don't trash those rooms as well. Sometimes I wonder why we have a living room full of toys.

Night Two

2009-04-01T21:43:00.002-04:00

Night two of the girls going to bed with no night time bottle. Have we kicked the habit? How many nights do we have to go before I feel like we are truly in the clear and over those bottles? The girls have done awesome the past two nights drinking milk in the evenings! We had been doing a bath every other night but while we work on kicking the bottle habit I thought we would do a bath every night. So we did the bath things, got in our PJ's and I brushed their teeth and off to bed it was. They didn't fuss at all. I head the music on the mobile change a time or two, but no crying. YEAH!!!

Our New Toy

2009-04-01T21:33:00.002-04:00

We got a new toy today. Our vaccum had seen it's better day and we had been bringing my mom's over a few times when the floors got really bad. So tonight we spent the extra money and hopefully got a good one. To help support our cause of spending so much money the dyson vaccum's are certified by the asthma and allegry foundation. So now I guess we need to spend all evening running it so Emma can breathe clean air. We had mom's vaccum last night and it got up lots, and tonight when we ran this one it still picked up stuff. No wonder Emma has breathing issues.

Walking!

2009-04-01T21:15:00.003-04:00

Emma has been a walker for the past week now. I'm just a little slow downloading things from our camera. She isn't running like Ali, but she is getting places now.

Night One

2009-03-31T20:30:00.002-04:00

Tonight the girls have gone to bed with no bottle. Are my babies gone? Have we officially moved away from the bottle? We were down to just the night time bottle but knew it would have to go soon. Tonight the girls each had 2 sippy cups of milk between dinner and bedtime so I thought it would be the perfect time to try bed with no bottle. They've been down for 45 minutes now and we haven't heard a noise. It will be interesting to see if we can do it again tomorrow. I'm excited to see them grow up and be able to do so much more but I miss that baby stage already. Wow, does time fly.

Happy Birthday!

2009-03-18T22:30:00.002-04:00

Another Year
I’m wishing you another year

Of laughter, joy and fun,

Surprises, love and happiness,

And when your birthday’s done,

I hope you feel deep in your heart,

As your birthdays come and go,

How very much you mean to me,

More than you can know.

Snow Day

2009-03-02T15:56:00.003-05:00

I know it's not the first snow day that I've been home from school this year, but it's the first snow day that the girls have been out in it. Aunt Tracey who lives next door came over after lunch today and said to bundle the girls up they were going outside to see/play in their first snow day. So that's what we did. We went out and watched all the big kids on the street play. Ali is walking so she walked around on the street a little bit and was fascinated by the snow. She wanted to hold a snowball forever. Emma didn't want much to do with the snow, but she enjoyed checking everything out. To warm up we went to Tracey's house. The girls had Cheerios and we had warm brownies with ice cream and chocolate syrup. Yum! Thanks Aunt Tracey for making us come outside for a bit.

Ali

2009-02-26T21:13:00.002-05:00

Well I got this crazy idea last night as I got the girls out of the bath and was combing their hair. I decided that I was sick of Ali's hair always being in her eyes and looking so straggly. I gave her a first hair cut. Billy now says she looks like a boy. At least she can see when she walks now. I saved the hair that I cut and it's in a bag on top of her scrapbook. As fast as I've been working on them it will probably still be there in that same spot in 6 months.

Sleep Over

2009-02-21T21:00:00.002-05:00

Tonight the girls are back home with us sleeping away in their cribs. The past two nights they have stayed with grandma. That was their first sleep over without mommy and daddy there with them. My mom had taken Friday off to watch the girls because Ms. Tina had to be off for a funeral. I had to be at school Thursday evening for a PTA event and mom was going to watch them anyway Friday night while we went to see Larry the Cable Guy. So it just made the most sense for them to stay Thursday night through Saturday morning. I was there Thursday evening until I had to return to school, I came back by for a few moments after the PTA event, Friday morning before school and Friday afternoon before we came home to get ready for our big night out. So it's not like I dropped them off and didn't return for 2 days. Even with seeing them each day I still missed them and was glad to have them home this afternoon and evening. I'm sure I missed them more than they missed me.

On to other crazy news. Billy has had some trouble with his vision this week and I made him go see a doctor. The family doctor found nothing wrong with him and sent him to an eye doctor. Nothing like an eye doctor basically telling you he has no idea what's wrong with you. Billy has to go for a MRI Wednesday to rule out anything crazy going on and then if that comes back ok it sounds like we will be going to see an eye doctor at UVA. Why does something always have to happen to us? Money is tight as it is, and now here come more medical bills. I'm sure there is a lesson that we are supposed to be learning through this trying time, but it hasn't come to me yet.

On to a better note, I'm going to attempt to start the transition to milk this week with the girls. I'm ready to stop buying formula. Any suggestions out there on what to do since we still do a night time bottle? I don't know how I am going to get that away from the girls. Do I just give them a sippy cup of milk? They will drink juice and water from the sippy cup but the few times I've put their formula in it they won't drink from it.

I'm not working very fast

2009-02-14T22:10:00.002-05:00

Sometime before the girls turn 20, I will get these scrapbooks done. It is so hard to find the time to work on them. And let me say what little I have done is nothing that I would want someone who does this on a regular basis to see. I have so much to learn. I figure getting something done and recorded for them is better than nothing. I finally got everything off the kitchen table and up to a card table in our office, but as you can see from the photo there is no room on the table to work once I sat out all my stuff. I will continue to plug away and maybe one day I will have something to show for it. I tell you one thing I never expected is the money that can get wrapped up in this. I've done good and not gone crazy, but I was at my neighbor's house the other night showing her what little I had done. She wheels out this huge suitcase that contains all her supplies. WOW! I have so little compared to what she has. But she was wonderful and sent a few things home with them. Now I just need to use them.

Dinner

2009-02-14T21:36:00.003-05:00

I have worked really hard this past week to give the girls real food at dinner. Tonight I gave them all real food and not one single bite of baby food. They had some applesauce, peas, mandarin oranges, banana, hamburger helper stroganoff, and bagel. We always top off dinner with a yummy desert of animal crackers and graham crackers in their bubmo seat on the floor. That way they can eat and play. What a night! As you can tell from the picture of the two together, no dinner is complete for Ali unless she can watch a little TV. Sometimes I think it would be easier to sit her in front of the TV and feed her.

We are still here

2009-02-07T20:38:00.002-05:00

I have been bad about posting anything lately because we have been sick. We have had one round of colds and ear infections, round two of ear infections, and now the croup. I told my babysitter Friday morning before I left for school that I felt like a drug store because I was drugging both girls up before I left. Till we get them in bed at night and take care of the house stuff I have nothing left in me to come upstairs and blog. Oh yeah and in between being sick I am trying to plan their first birthday party. Where has the year gone? I can't believe I have to worry about this already. Tonight as we were giving them their nighttime bottles and Billy was fussing at Alison to sit still and I told him not to fuss to much because he would be missing those moments in another month or two. This whole transition from bottle/baby food to real people food has been hard for me. I think deep down it's because I know my babies are growing up and aren't babies anymore. I remember when I used to babysit for my "second" family I never remember giving the baby at the time baby food, they just always ate what the big girls and I were eating. So I have no idea why I am making this so hard. But I am getting some things tomorrow at Wal-Mart when we grocery shop and I am going ot make it a point each day to give them some type of real people food besides Cheerios, crackers, and animal cookies.

Tub Time

2009-01-10T21:59:00.002-05:00

I was finally brave this past week and have started putting both girls in the tub together. No more baby tub. They love it! Now we have to keep a basket (or should I stay strainer) in the bathroom full of toys. I never thought they would take over our house like they are.

Finally

2009-01-10T21:56:00.001-05:00

I finally got my great wall art (for lack of a better name) for Christmas and got it up on the wall in the girl's room. I picked this out a long time ago, but it was a Christmas gift from mom so I had to wait until Christmas to actually get it. Billy just loved putting it up there. I'm sure it will be even more fun to take down many years down the road. I love it and it adds a nice touch to their room.

New Year......New Alison

2009-01-10T21:44:00.004-05:00

Alison truly started walking Jan. 1st and 2nd. Each day she is getting better and better. We got this video on the 4th. I'm just so happy that she started doing this while I was home with her and not at the babysitters house. I was afraid Tina would see her take those first few steps first.

Christmas Morning

2008-12-27T11:11:00.001-05:00

Who needs presents when you have paper and boxes?

New Tradition

2008-12-27T11:09:00.001-05:00

Thanks to the family that I previously babysat I have started a new tradition with my girls. Every Christmas Eve they will each get to open 1 Christmas present. It will be a set of matching Christmas PJ's. Here is our first Christmas PJ set. I hope that they enjoy this tradition down the road.

Christmas Card Photos

2008-12-20T21:41:00.002-05:00

These are the pictures that we used for our Christmas card. These aren't professional by any means, but they worked. My mom took the picture of the 4 of us and for her that was a great picture. She usually cuts off you head. Until this year I usually did a picture of our cat and I would have loved to include him this year, but he isn't that fond of the girls and I knew there was no way that I could get the 3 of them together for a picture.

Hand me downs

2008-12-20T21:34:00.002-05:00

We have gotten bags and bags of clothes and shoes from a family of 4 girls that I used to babysit. Once the girls hit sizes 18 months to 5t we are set in clothes. The other night Billy and I were sorting through the last batch (5 trash bags) of hand

me downs and I came across this super cute hat from The Children's Place. I put it on Emma tonight to see if it would as cute on as it did laying on the floor and I had the most horrible thought. Since she hardly as any hair and this hat hides it all I thought she looked like one of those kids in a commercial for kids who have cancer and have no hair. It was hard to get a good pictures with the camera of what I was seeing, but I tried.

Who needs toys?

2008-12-20T21:30:00.002-05:00

The girls are having the best time in the kitchen playing with old plastic dishes

and lids. Who needs toys when you have Gladware? Even though they make a mess it's nice to know what they are doing when we are out in the kitchen doing something.

We like to share

2008-12-10T20:40:00.002-05:00

Being sick is no fun, but we have shared it around the family. I think the girls are getting better, but Billy and I still aren't feeling our best. Ali started with the diarrhea Monday and then she threw up last night. Emma was throwing up yesterday afternoon and evening. By mid afternoon today they were ready to start eating again. I hope its over for them. I've munched on crackers all day, but that was all my stomach wanted. Billy stayed home from work today because he was in no condition to work. I also learned my lesson today on the importance of having emergency lesson plans together and everything pulled. I got up this morning at 5:30 and drove to school to get things ready for the sub and I was home by 7. The girls had only been up about 10 minutes so Billy was able to handle them. But it was no fun being out on the roads in the rain by myself at that time of day. Well everyone in this house is resting and I guess I should be as well since I don't feel the best either. I only hope everyone gets better tonight and not worse.

Once again....thanks April

2008-12-07T10:53:00.004-05:00

Last year before I was brave enough to have a ebay account April ordered this reindeer set for my car. Thanks April.....what would I have done without you for so many things. This past Monday we put it on my car to finish our Christmas decorating. Most people laugh when they see it and probably think that I'm crazy.....but look what you will do when you have kids. The girls are to young this year to understand, but as they get older I hope that they will enjoy this.

Growing Up

2008-12-07T10:47:00.002-05:00

Monday the 8th of December Emma came from from the babysitter's house in her new big girl car seat. I was able to go by the fire house after school and have help getting it put in the vehicle correctly. The weight limit on her old car seat was 22 pounds and she is just over 20 pounds but we went ahead and moved her up. If you ever carried her in the old car seat you would understand why.......she was heavy in it. Here she is enjoying her new seat. Thanks to Uncle Johnny who helped purchase one. We got two and put one in the truck and one in the car.

Emma's Meds....my poor baby

2008-12-06T21:13:00.003-05:00

My poor sweet baby is being pumped full of meds and I worry if its good for her. This is a picture of everything that she takes during a day. The stuff in the white bottle she gets twice day. That lovely stuff has also given her diaherra and her bottom is so red. We both cry when it's time to change her diaper......which is all to often because of this medicine. She gets to stop taking one med tomorrrow, and another one is decreasing. Instead of having three doses a day she is now getting two, and I hope to decrease it to once a day. The doctor doesn't know what's wrong with her. Maybe asthma? Thinking of sending us to an allgerists? Maybe it's related to acid reflux? We have heard it all. All I know is I'm sick of going to the doctor's office and doing all this "stuff". We go again next week so we will get the latest story and course of meds.