A Week of Thankfullness

Starting tomorrow since it was raining today and all I wanted to do was crawl into bed and sleep. Plus, this was my view most of the day. So I wasn't the only one who wanted to snuggle.

She just wanted to snuggle with me...
and her blanket.

And Abby just wanted to vedge it out in her chair

Happy Children

Finally! They are both smiling!

I told you they are really happy children.
This picture proves it.
And I am so going to Photoshop Olivia's funky eye.

A Sweet Treat

Have you seen these?

We tried them when they first came out this summer,
but found them to be too strong.

BUT...if you melt them just a bit and stir some water with them...

It is finger lickin' good.

And yes, Abby had a spoon, but she just preferred a fork. She also took her bib off. Notice the clean tray and minimal spillage on her shirt.

Olivia knows better than to take off her bib.

Good to the very last tiny bit. She licked it out...really.

We have tried peach and strawberry, but they do have some other flavors. This is a great substitute for ice cream.

Don't forget for every comment I get, I will donate 1 can to a local food bank.

Cans For Comments

Thank you Pam and Jennifer for the inspiration to do this. What a great blessing!

For each comment I receive for the rest of this month, I will donate one can (or box) to a local food bank. This even counts for old posts as well. Feel free to go into the archives and post a comment on some random post. Hee hee. The way I have my comments set up I will see any comments left on any post more than 3 days old. So please, comment away! This should be fun!

In the Mail…

…A letter...

"Our records indicate that your fees for the cryostorage of embryos or gametes is due."

…No more avoiding...

"The following is a summary of your items and the fees required to maintain these items in storage."
Item Category: Embryo Item Type: Blast
Number of Vials: 2 Storage Fee : $399.00

…Later has become…now

“If you do not wish to maintain the items in storage then you must fill out the form…”

…The decision is here...

“NOTIFICATION TO DISPOSE OF CRYOSTORAGE SPECIMENS”

…Can we do it?..

“Send the filled out form, notarized and signed, to us.”

…We don’t know…

Requests to dispose of embryos must be notarized and signed by either the husband or wife.

…Can we not?..

To avoid late fees, please remit $399.00 by 12/9/2009

…We don’t know…

We are in for it now...

Yes, those are my girls up on an end table.

Olivia, of course, figured it out first.

She is looking at her daddy here.
"What?"

Abby is not to be outdone

Except she wanted to sit and get down...

Not jumping into daddy's hands, like her dare devil sister

Surprisingly, they have not attempted to do this again. We let them go up and down for a long time. Maybe they got it out of their little system? Yeah, my name is naive.

Purse Dump

If you have been a long time reader here, you know that from time to time I need to, in Gary's words, dump my purse. Kinda like a brain dump. There is only so much that can fit before it all needs to come out, right? I find it interesting that the link I just posted was from November of last year. So maybe it's a yearly thing??

So this is your warning, there are no cute kiddo pictures today (well, maybe just 1). Just me, puking some thoughts out.

~Does anyone ever even notice these ads? ---------------------------------------------->
I am thinking of dropping it so I can do reviews and the amazon associate thing. Does anyone actually make money on BlogHer ads? or is it just a status thing? I have done it a year now with nothing to show for it. Thoughts on this?

~I know that every mother feels like there are not enough hours in the day. I know I don't have it any rougher than any other mom, but...there just aren't enough hours in the day! I feel like I am barely treading water day to day. If I stayed busy from the moment I woke up until the moment I fell asleep, I might just get everything done. I would also kiss the feet of anyone who could somehow make the highchairs and the floor under them self cleaning. Anyone...anyone??

~I am having a hard time finding a balance between real life and blog life/on-line friends. My blog is an outlet for me. The only creative outlet I have. My online friends are my only adult interaction on a daily basis, besides my wonderful hubby. I don't have time for them, but can I mentally afford to give it up? My priority should be my family and my house, but I find them getting the short end of the stick sometimes. Am I alone in this?


~Olivia has been extremely needy lately. I think she may be teething another molar. She wants be held ALL.THE.TIME. They nap once a day now...for about an hour and a half. No, I am not even kidding. They apparently did not get the memo that says they should sleep 3 hours a day like normal children. Olivia collapses right away and sleeps good. Abby plays and plays then goes to sleep holding my hand. Their naps overlap by about 30 mins most days. Can you say crazy much? Why yes, yes I can. I can also say "CUCKOO CUCKOO" Ahem...sorry about that. They are still not sleeping through the night. Well, except when Gary tells me that he will get up all night with them so I can have a full night's rest. Oh yes, THEN they sleep all night. Little $%#@*%ers. Am I really surprised? No, they have never been good sleepers. Why should they start now?

~I really wish I could find a gym that teaches trapeze classes; like on the biggest loser this week. Anyone see that? How cool was that?! And does anyone else watch this show while eating? Is that just wrong?? I'm thinking yes. The weather is perfect to be outside and we are a little, but no where near what we should be. I think I need a new stroller...one of those super smooth jogging strollers. KIDDING!...kinda. Well, not really.

~The couponing/stock piling is just not working for us. I have been doing it actively for a year now. We go over our grocery budget every time. I am not sure what I am doing wrong. There were times when I felt like it was really working, like when I got 5 bottles of BBQ sauce for .15 each. But overall? Nope. I now shop every 2 weeks and get just what we need for specific meals. Project Groceries for Less = FAIL

~My reader numbers have dropped...a lot. I know it is because my posting has been sporadic at best for the last 6 months or so. I just don't have time to sit and blog like I used to; to include long stories or thought-out posts. So, if you are still reading...thank you.

~I have a great idea about a weekly meme. I just can't bring myself to post it yet because I am afraid it will be a massive failure. I will get over it and post it next week.

~All this is nothing new...I think I go through the same complaints every once in awhile. I complain about my weight, my lack of time, and my lack of motivation to do anything about it.

Olivia thanks you for getting through all the whining

Fah-ree!

That's right. Free. Free photo Christmas cards or invits or baby announcements or ANYTHING!

That you Freebies 4 Mom!

My little nose junky

Abby has always loved to explore her nose. As soon as she figured out she had little holes there just perfect for her fingers, it was her new favorite thing to do.

In her Easter dress...nice

More recently in the swing

Now it is not just her finger. She has put peas, a raisin, pieces of paper, the doll's hair...anything she can get her hands on. I can usually get whatever out pretty quickly with the nose sucker or tweezers...umm...yes...tweezers to get the raisin out. SO much FUN!

So when she put a corner of a snack wrapper up there a few weeks ago, I moved fast to get it out, but not fast enough because...SNIFF...up it went. I tried to get it with the nose sucker but that just made it worse. Because it was a sliver of shiny plastic-like paper it was not coming out!

Man, oh man, was I ever furious with her! I had kept them out of the germ ridden Dr's office during this whole flu outbreak and here I had to go get a piece of foil from her nose?!? Ugh! But even the Dr didn't even see the stupid thing. They flushed out her nose with saline (which I learned later is the LAST thing you want to do) with no luck.

She sent us home with instructions and a warning: If it wasn't out in the next 2 days, then we were headed to a Ear, Nose, and Throat Dr. where they would put a little camera up her nose. Oh boy!

You see where this is going, right? Abby and I had an excellent adventure to the ENT. I was pretty nervous about the whole thing. Flashes of surgery and putting her out went through my mind.

Poor little sucker has NO idea what she is in for...

In the special children's area of the waiting room

She barely stopped long enough for me to snap pictures

She watched another little boy on this in fascination.
As soon as he moved on she was right there to take over for him.
She just couldn't figure it out though and DID NOT want my help.
Little miss independent

Playing Peek-a-Boo

She had to try out the chair

I took a break from taking pictures for a bit while the Dr. looked up her nose, then threaded a camera up in there. Before they did that they asked me if this was my first child, which I found amusing and insulting at the same time. My self of years ago when Zachary was my only child was insulted by the fact that this should make any difference at all. However, my self of today knows that it does make a difference as moms do tend to loosen up a bit over time. I briefly wondered if this applies to first time moms of twins. I think in that case you would have to be a little loose because your attention is so split, you don't really have time to be worried so much...or do you?? Hmmm... Alright, moving on.

A nurse held her as the Dr thoroughly searched with a long bendy camera. She did great, crying but not horribly so. He didn't see it, which meant she had already swallowed it or sneezed it out when we weren't looking. Nothing like a huge, traumatizing procedure for nothing, huh, Abby?

She charmed the whole staff with her big eyes. One of the office people dug around in the storage closet and gave her a toy phone. Which she totally fell in love with.

You can see a little of her red eyes from crying here.

Oh, so tired from her adventure

I hoped that this experience was traumatic enough to scare her away from it from now on. But oh no...no. Her daddy was telling his mom about it and she was listening. She went and got a toy duck, sat in front of him and tried to stick it up her nose. ::sigh::

Check it out!

I did some work on the blog today so come check it out if you read in a reader. Also, 4 good MOM friends of mine are in the top 20 at the sight. I would LOVE to be there with them. One of the is #1!! Heather is at #8. Congrats, girls! Not that I want to BEAT them or anything, just JOIN them. So, every time you click the link, it records a vote for me. No need to go and do anything else. AND you can do it every day...you know, if the urge hits you or anything.

Sibling Rivalry and Love

Here are the videos I promised. Sibling Rivalry already. Is it ok to say that I actually at some level think these are funny? I know I shouldn't.

The first one is a little long, over a minute but so so worth it in the end. Abby had not had a very good nap and she was cra.nky. OH! She didn't want Olivia anywhere near her. Not even to talk to her! The last 5 seconds make it all worth it, so hang in there.

Awwww!!! And just like that her bad mood was over.

And so you don't think that Abby is always the tormentor, here is Olivia keeping a phone away from Abby. She is a mess and a half here. Be sure to watch her face when I tell her not to hit. Oh man, can I see that face in her terrible three years, plus her teenage ones. Of course, Abby is right there throwing things all over in her frustration.

Heh heh heh

My Zachary

Finally! I got the pictures. I have been working on this one since yesterday. I realize the blog has been a bit one sided lately, so today's post is all about my other child, you know the one. Zachary, my beautiful boy who-is-in-2nd-grade-and-now-has-attitude-and-takes-forever-to-do-homework-and-doesn't-want-to-do-chores. Yes that's him alright.

In the middle of a story about school

He has learned how to ride his bike without training wheels...finally. No one can accuse this child of being reckless, let me tell you. Gary taught him. I am not sure who was more thrilled.

Here he is accepting some patches and belt buckles at Cup Scouts.

Here he is doing his Cup Scout thing

He also made a boat to race. He sanded it down, painted it, and put it all together. Again, Gary helped him with all that boy stuff.



Gary and him went on a camp out. I cannot believe he made it all night. He did great!




My big boy (sniff sniff)

I am in Trouble

Yes, yes, I didn't post yesterday! My camera cord is missing and my computer is not wanting to upload anything right now. Grrr...stay tuned.

Eeek! It's 11:45!!

Really fast post so I can get it under the deadline...

This is Olivia dancing. Abby dances a tiny bit at the beginning then gets distracted by a toy.

My little Livvy has some moves! She does not get this from me! I love how she can't quite figure out what is making the ABCs start. She just pushes everything until it starts.






P.S. I have a couple of HILARIOUS videos coming of the two of them torturing each other.

Halloween Outakes

So I attempted to get some pictures in the little ladies' Halloween outfits. Bwahaha!!

Smile at Mommy!

Look at Olivia, sitting there all still

Abby, quick, quick! Get over there by Olivia. Hurry!
STAY Olivia!

OK! Abby is sitting...
Olivia!! Smile at Mommy!!

Ohhh...::sigh::

No, Abby! Stay! I'll get Olivia!

OK...wait...WHERE'S ABBY??

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I do love this picture of the two of them heading off together.

And I also got short sleeved shirts because this IS Texas after all.
We never know if it will be cold or hot in October.
Oh the dog ears!

Abby was too too busy with her dolls to even look my way

Here is another of Olivia with her bows in.

This girl loves her bling

Trick or Treat

I bet you thought I wouldn't post, huh? Mmmm??

My laptop has been SO SLOOOOOWWWWW today. But it's here now.

We had a blast Trick or Treating this year. We went to our friends the Logans. Casee and I used to work together and have been good friends for 10 years (wow!). Zachary's friend, Spencer was born on Halloween. We have spent many a Halloween celebrating with our friends.

The girls dressed up as Tulip Fairies.
Olivia in her costume
Abby in hers

Zachary dressed up as a Mobster with scars

I threw together a gypsy get-up
Casee is The Queen of Hearts
Angela (Spencer's Aunt) is a beautiful cow.

We did attempt to get a picture of the 3 kids together

We went on a hayride around the neighborhood to do the whole Trick or Treat thing. SO much fun!

Abby sat quietly on Daddy's lap the entire time

Olivia didn't :-)
Check out that hand trying her hardest to get out of my grasp!
She wanted to go go go.

Finally she settled down with Casee and was content to snuggle
Olivia hummed and sang to Casee - So Cute!

The girls first experience.
They had NO clue what was going on.
Abby tried to go in the house. Hee hee!

Here is Zachary with the whole group

Zachary and the birthday boy

The birthday boy without his mask

Zachary with Aubree

Casee with me and Olivia

Daddy with both girls.

Little Miss Abby

The best one of both of them

And one of the not-so-great-ones

Makes My Monday - Abby Dancing

The Abby Dance is what we call this. Whenever we say "Abby Dance!" she goes into a fit of stomping and laughing while she tries to dance.

Follow along with Cheryl at Twinfatuation.

National Blog Posting Month

Ah, yes...Here it is again. The month of November. Dare I even try for a post a day??

Oh yes...yes, I do dare.

I did this last year. It was so fun and I never ran out of things to blog about. I am hoping this will get me out of my blogging slump. I have SO many things I need to share, not only for YOU, dear readers, but myself for record keeping purposes.


What?? Are you surprised the baby books are still empty?? Yeah, I thought not.

So here we go again. Let's have fun, shall we?? And if you want to join in the fun...go here for all the info.



P.S. If you read my blog in your email or in a reader, you MUST come see my new header. It is divine, if I do say so myself...

The one where I scare Olivia with my toes

Olivia has always had a strange fear of painted toenails. When she was a crawler, she would try to cover up my mom's toes. This fear was taken to a whole new depth when I painted my toe nails black for Halloween and just cause I am cool like that.

See? Aren't they pretty?

Olivia does not think so. Keep in mind that my toes have been painted for about a week here. This is not a first reaction.

Poor Olivia - And I am going to comfort her not to chase her with them. But she had a purpose, to get the rag that I used to wash off their trays. She decided to take matters into her own hands. Toward the end she blows her nose with it.

Hopefully she will get over this by the time it's time to paint her own.

Way Back When-esday - Pottery Barn Chairs

I have decided that catching up from summer posts is kinda like celebrating "Way Back", right? Right?? Well, I say so. And I realize some of you got this in your readers or email on Sunday. I was actually planning ahead and accidentally posted it instead of saving it. A h well, enjoy it again...

Here is a long overdue post about a summer purchase we were super excited about. One of the things we wanted the girls to have was soft chairs. We really really wanted Pottery Barn Chairs

We have heard great things about them, but you have to buy the slipcover plus the soft inserts. Grand total is around $160 for each chair. Umm, yeah... I'll wait for you to pick yourself up off the floor. There was NO WAY I was spending that much for a chair. No way, no how. I looked around a bit more and realized that I could get a smaller Pottery Barn Chair for about $100. Still no go. I couldn't do it. Then, they went on sale bringing them down to $80 a chair. Hmmm..better, but still way too much for our budget. I was so bummed.

THEN I remembered I had racked up a butt load of points on MyPoints That is a whole nother pt! So I cashed in my points for a $100 gift card to Pottery Barn Kids. Am I a genius or what?? I was so excited!

We decided to head to Dallas to the store there instead of ordering on line. Shipping was almost as much as the chairs! I walked in and fell in love with everything there. Rugs, dolls, kitchen toys, books, bed sets, lighting - Oh my so loverly! Focus, Sara! They had a green gingham floor model that the girls tried out for size. I really wanted to get a pink dotted one for Abby and a purple doted one for Olivia. Of course, these are their signature colors. But Abby fell in love with the green one. She cried when we would try to put it back up on the shelf. We even brought a pink one over and she pushed it out of the way and pulled the green one back down. Too funny! She knows what she wants at least. Heaven help me for the future if this is how she is at 1!

Even better was the fact that if we bought the floor model we got a discount. This just keeps getting better and better! I gave up my original plan of pink and purple (go me!) and settled on green and pink gingham. Would you like to know how much we ended up paying??

$45

A piece, you ask? NO! That is total with tax and everything! I know!! I was super excited! What a deal! I loves me some deals, you know!

So now I have to share the wonderful pictures of them sitting quietly in them smiling for the camera right? Bwahahahah!! You kow better than that! But I did my best and here they are.

This was back in August when we first got them.

Olivia posing, but nope, not smiling

They love to read their books in them.

They are good for standing in, too.

These were just a few weeks ago

Sometimes they end up in the same chair watching TV

They take a break from TV watching to cuddle up

I love this one

But soon Abby wants to get back to her TV watching

"Seriously, Mom. Can you do something here?"

So I do.
Lounging is the way Olivia likes to lay in hers.

I'll get all caught up some day :-)

Play along with Cheryl