2007 tag...

2007... What was your year like?

An unexpected blessing - Getting to spend our first weekend away as just a couple (since we had Lindsey) We went to San Francisco. Going on another girls trip to Boston!

Feeling Important - I cannot really think of anything good for this one. A Mother's job is not very glamorous! Going on my girls trip to Boston and realizing I am pretty fast when I just get myself ready and I am not actually late all the time.

Craziest thing I did - Drop my brand new Canon Rebel Camera and break the lens (or so I thought it was just the lens filter). I was absolutely physically ill till I got to the camera shop and found out it was going to be okay. In my defense I had hooked the strap on wrong and when I picked it up by the strap it launched it across the room on the floor.

Smartest thing I did - join the gym and get healthier.

Sentimental Moment - Loosing my Grandfather this last September.

Most enjoyable gift - My Canon Rebel and my Ipod!

Craziest purchase turnabout - My ipod. I bought it in February and it went missing and was replaced( by my Dad who wanted an ipod and was sure it would turn up). I am sure he thought it would happen fast but it did not... months later when all hope of recovery was lost it was found hidden by one of the twins in a play purse!

Moments of Maturity - Sydney and Hailey potty trained and became big girls in so many ways :(

Huge Answers to prayer - I have no had huge answers to prayer this year, but I feel I have the quiet reassurance that he hears me, he knows my needs, and he helps me everyday! That is huge to always have!

TAG - I want to hear what you did too!
Happy New Year! I am a big goal setter. I can't wait to set some new goals and review last years and see what I acomplished!

Cousins...

,The girls and Cali (their real cousin)

Yesterday at the mall Sydney and Hailey met two girls they really liked, they were cousins. After that the twins told everyone they saw that they were cousins. It caused quite a stir and made everyone (including me) laugh! They could not understand why no one believed them! It went like this
twins:Hi were cousins.
lady: no your not I can tell.
twins: YES we are!
Lady: I think your sisters, twins sisters, identical twin sisters...
twins: No were just cousins...

Let's just say no one was fooled. LOL!

Christmas favorites...

Lots of white snow, beautiful (made roads bad bad for Christmas Eve dinner though).
Excited Children!
Good food
Surprises
The twins wanted Santa to come but they wanted to be sure he knew they did NOT want to see him at all. Drop the presents and DO NOT COME UPSTAIRS!
Grateful children
Time with family

We had a great day, we received many presents and enjoyed it all! We left the house Christmas morning at 9:30 am and did not return till 10:30pm! I went to bed at 2am the night before and was exhausted. The twins took a nap at 5:30 at my moms and nothing would wake them up till 9:30pm. Amazingly they went to bed right when we got home and slept all night! Hope your Christmas was Merry and Bright! Thanks for all the well wishes... the stomach flu stayed away!inside the pop up princess castle (a big hit)!

Relentless...

4 down and 2 to go. Please oh please stay away on Christmas day!
Jacob was sick all night but was much improved by morning. It's a miserable but fast moving bug!
*Update: Alan is now sick too! Only one more left. Please no Christmas Eve or Christmas Day sickies.

Flash back Friday...

I am cheating a little and sharing the twins photo montage. I can watch it a million times and still never be tired of it (well I am the mom). Some of you have seen it already...

Sydney and Hailey -Our True Miracle

Checking things off...

My list is getting smaller...

Christmas Cards done and mailed (monday)



Neighbor Gifts done and teacher gifts (not all passed out)


Gifts bought (one more left)
This is the only homemade gift I did this year. It's a little tin filled with homemade cards (for my sister in law). I do have some coasters (forgot those). I normally do a lot of homemade gifts but decided to simplify. I will do them again someday but for now I just can't.

Treats made and enjoyed

Andes Mint Cookies

Peanut Kiss Cookies (our favorite)

Carmel pretzels (tried for the first time). So yummy!

I am beginning to feel better about Christmas. Still need to get it all ready though!
Merry Christmas! Christmas Vacation has started. My kids are thrilled!

"I very don't need you"...

We are feeling SO much better today. Thanks for the get well wishes! My to do list is getting smaller, slowly.

Today when I was in the bathroom (Hailey followed me in) I was dealing with Sydney screaming on the other end! Nothing I could do about that... Suddenly she got quiet and said, "I very don't need you to come out". So... I hurried out as fast as possible to discover I had avoided a near disaster.

Put a smile on my face...

Alan sent this to me today and it made me smile. It's not very long! Enjoy!

Don't send a lame Holiday eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!

I was wrong...

I "thought" my stomach felt off because of the few french fries I had sampled (I don't eat many of those) or the perfume I had tried from Sephora, maybe it was drinking too much water? After several hours and worsening symptoms I knew why my stomach was sick! I spent the early hours of the night sick to my stomach with body aches and the chills. I sent Alan downstairs so I could keep the light on and suffer without waking him. That was not the best choice because at 3am Sydney woke up throwing up too. If I thought waking up in the night to throw up was bad on a normal night it was MUCH worse when I was feeling that sick too. I thought I could barley walk but somehow I took care of her too. It was awful! I decided to not get Alan to try and keep him from getting sick too. I found Hailey this morning on her floor crying "My Sydney My Sydney" because Sydney was sleeping in my room. I spent the day in bed with Sydney by my side feeling awful. Jacob tried to help out with Hailey,he was a pretty good babysitter. It was very surprising how much easier Hailey was without Sydney to help cause trouble. I somehow managed to feed the kids and do the laundry it's been a hard day and Alan works late... No sick days for moms.

Rolling with the punches...

Saturday Jacob had snowboarding lessons all day. Friday night I was awakened at 2am by a sudden scream to find Hailey throwing up everywhere. This continued all night every 20 minutes till about 7am. At that point I got up and got Jacob ready to head off to his lessons with Alan. I was looking forward to going up w/the girls to get pictures and watch him for a bit but was disapointed because of Hailey's illness. After they had left for about an hour I received a frantic call from Alan telling me Jacob had left without his coat. Thats an BIG problem. So I packed all three girls in the car with warm coats and we headed up the mountain. I'm so glad I got to go and see him. He was adorable and I love the pictures! I will never forget his face as he saw me when he was heading down the hill or his lip quivering when I had to go. It's moments like this I don't want to miss and won't forget. This is why I love being the mommy. Hailey is on the mend and Sydney wanted to sleep with a bowl tonight. She must be worried she will get sick too!

Flashback Friday...

Santa visits...

So I have tried to find many of our Santa visits through the years. Some are before my digital camera and have been scrapbooked already. I am missing 2003 here but its in an album.

2001 Lindsey was 2.5 yrs old and an only child. She was never scared of Santa

Jacob 9 months old 2002

Lindsey 3.5 yrs old 2002

2004 Hard to see pics but the twins were just a few months old here.
2005

2006

2007

As you can see the twins opinion of Santa has remained fairly consistent, they do not care for him at all.

Tuesdays Tip...

on Wednesday (ha ha). I am behind on everything right now so why not this too.

Did you know shaving your legs with conditioner totally works? A bunch of girlfriends I volunteer with at the NICU shared it with me like everyone knew this, but I didn't. I like it better than shave gel. It seems like I get less itchy. I just bought a cheap conditioner. No more running out of shave gel when I am wet. I never could tell when it was almost empty.

Merry Christmas...

Melissa over at Are you Serious redid my blog with this new holiday look (which is also my Christmas card for those of you who get that too). She did another lay out for after Christmas too. Thanks so much. If you would like her to help you out she is great and prices are reasonable!

The perfect gift...

Cleaning!

Yes my house is clean, several closets & rooms organized too! It's amazing. I cleaned with the cleaning girls (who are amazing) the 2 hrs they were here and every second after and for the first time I see real progress. I feel like I have acomplished something. The twinados are still undoing it as fast as possilble but I am way ahead of them for now.

Laundry count for the last three days... 14 loads.

Sometimes...

My greatest joy is also my greatest challenge.

*photos from our vacation in California in October (missing that weather now).


When I turned off a show playing in my room (the girls were in their room next door in bed) I heard Sydney say, "We better cry now Hailey".

The girls have become painfully early risers. First it was 5:50am, then 5:30am, and last night it was 3am! This will have to be stopped, I just have not figured out how. When I discovered Hailey (at 3am) she had turned her light on and was in the middle of the room playing. Seriously...

They can get into things in two minutes flat- don't turn your head for a minute. Teamwork is really a very amazing thing!

We really need to learn the art of combining your bathroom trips. Four trips to the bathroom (all successful) in an hour is excessive.

They charm everyone who meets them with their winning smiles and impish little personalities. They can frustrate me more than any two people and I love them with my entire being and don't know what I would do without them.

The things kids say...

Today in the midst of errands and millions of things needing to be done I had lunch with some family at my favorite restaurant- The Cheesecake Factory (it only opened a month ago).

We had sat down and were eating (already made one potty trip) when Sydney announced at the top of her lungs... "I need to VERY poop". Who am I to argue with someone who needs to VERY do anything, especially poop! So off we went.

Flashback Friday...

Will return next week. I am swamped!

Covering more ground faster than ever...

I could not help but post this...
Dear UPS guy,
I am sorry for ordering so much online so I can avoid driving to malls and stores and being out in the cold. I am sorry for forcing you to deliver all my packages on a bike! Whatever they are paying you is just not enough and that $5.95 flat rate shipping was sure a steal too!

O.k. this picture was taken by someone I know after her UPS man made his delivery in Maine with a lot of snow on the ground. I have yet to spot one in my neighborhood but if I do I will feel very sorry indeed!

Tuesday's Tip...

Know your limits!

I have been going the gym for almost a year and I consider myself in o.k. shape. So I asked around and went to my first class*. I was told it was a hard level but that did not worry me. I have been working out and weight lifting I was fine.

*I probably should not have done everything they did my very first time.
*I probably should not have used some of the heaviest weights.
*When my body told me it could not do more... I should have stopped.
*I should have skipped the 30 min cardio work out I added at the end.
*It should have worried me that I was hurting right after the work out- that my legs were shaking.
*It should have been a big warning sign when I noticed that lifting my glass to my mouth seemed hard, my hands were shaking like crazy.

The class works out every muscle in your body. So can you guess how I am feeling today? I can barley walk... seriously barley walk. The kids are running circles around me and I can do nothing about it. I feel like a total cripple and its so silly.

On a good note I do love this class and I will go back but I have learned a very valuable thing, know your limits. What was I thinking?! A year at the gym and I have NEVER damaged myself like this. UGH!

*24LIFT™:
One of our most popular classes, this highly efficient, full-body 24 Hour Fitness signature workout utilizes barbells and hand weights to strengthen and sculpt all muscle groups.

Things that really annoy me...

It's been one of those days where I am noticing the annoying stuff way too much, do you have those too? Where for some reason you can find something bad about everything thats going on, you can make it all seem bleak? Hopefully tomorrow will be better... Here is my list of things that annoy me... some of them.
1-Short cars that make you think the parking space is open.
2-texting on your cell phone in movies or crying babies in movies.
3-being awakened from a deep sleep by a screaming child (even worse when you can smell something bad before you go in).
4-sick kids who's parents spread germs everywhere and don't keep them home!
5-Almost everyone else at the Gym (ha ha).
6-fans blowing on me in the winter.
7-sales calls during nap time (we covered this one before I know).
8-Self check out (need I say more).
9-whining, crying.
10-credit card machines that all have a different way to swipe and the buttons are never the same.
11-rude sales people
12-selfish people
13-construction zones and construction workers (sorry).
14-drive thru's who leave something out of your bag (lets face it all of them do it).
15-Lines at the post office.
16-people who do not say thank you or notice good.
17- barking dogs and owners who let them bark for hours on end (for the 5 yrs I have lived here).
18-Lost stuff.
19-talking on your cell phone loudly or while checking out, ordering at the drive thru, back out of a parking spot. This applies to talking loudly in public on your blue tooth (very weird).
20-My neighbors cars parked directly behind my driveway so its hard to get out ALL THE TIME and even worse it's dangerous to get out when it snows. The same neighbors who accuse you, rudely, of calling the police to have them ticketed and won't believe anything else. Suffer in silence for years never complaining and get that- now that annoys me the most!

I hope you can laugh with me or even at me. I am still a happy person, still see the good in the world... tomorrow will be a better day. So what annoys you?

Flash Back Friday

Our Kitchen disaster... REMODEL
May 2004
When the twins were just over 6 months old we decided to take on a project. Life was already crazy why not make it crazier, we decided to remodel the kitchen. In our defense the kitchen was not just outdated but most of the drawers and cabinets were broken. Our plan was to raise the low ceiling, remove tile on floor and walls, new cabinets, new counters, new doors, new hardwood floors. Alan is pretty handy and was going to demo everything, do the hardwoods and whatever he could himself. We hired a plumber, electrician, dry wall, door guy, cabinet maker, and someone to do the counters for the rest. The project began late one night like this:

Kitchen before

and within minutes Alan decided to take a leap and cut into the ceiling and get it going :
By the next day Alan had removed the island and a lot of tile. I was getting worried... where would the twins crawl. How to keep them out of the mess.

and it just kept getting worse and there was more mess..

Front entry

Entry to kitchen

Taking out the tile was no easy task. The tile was put in with screws every 1/2 inch so it was impossible to get out and had to come out in pieces. This stage lasted from May 2004 to June 2004. Once the demo had be done ( what a mess it was) we moved onto the doors and drywall stages. Remember we lived in the kitchen and used it for a whole month!

Door before

During

Doors almost done

Near the end of June, the plumbing was done, the electrician was done, the dry wall was done, and the doors were in...

Notice no more kitchen sink...

Next we began cleaning and painted getting ready for the wood floors. There was a BIG mess.
It was getting close to the cabinets completion date and it was time to allow the sink to be removed. This would mean no more use of the kitchen. Amazingly till this point I was still using the kitchen. I was going crazy with four small children in a house with the worst mess ever. Remember I had four kids five and under!




So off I went to pick up the wood we ordered... I get there (its a holiday weekend) and they don't have it. They are unconcerned and tell me to check back after the weekend. Now mind you we have rented tools and Alan has extra time off to do the wood floors. So I frantically begin searching for a replacement wood we find nothing. We resign ourselves to the situation. Finally the wood floors come in and Alan takes work off to do it. By the way Alan has no experience doing this at all. His mom, brother and Alan stay up all night for two days working on it. They had to get it in before the cabinets were installed that week...


What an amazing feeling to have floors again. I was elated. The mess was almost gone and that week our cabinets and counters would be in. The relief was palatable! Fast forward a week. The floors are in, the dust in gone... the kitchen is still empty! The guy making our cabinets is unreachable. Panic is setting in because we need the cabinets and he has half our money (no small amount either). After reaching him once and him assuring me he was only running late I was still getting worried. Another one of his own deadlines passed and he was again unreachable I began calling his references and spoke to his sister. She was utterly shocked and told me he had joined the military several months ago and was gone! Our cabinets had not been begun and were never going to done by him. I was at Home Depot on my cell phone and I was sick to my stomach, the tears were falling. I was horrified. Now I had to go home and tell Alan. After a bad bad night I woke up the next day resolved to fine new cabinets, we had to. Fairly quickly the company doing our Granite said they would be able to do it. So I began working with them and picking out our designs. Even with a rush on it all it would not be done for atleast a month! NO kitchen for another month. Not to mention we had to pay them half of the cabinet money too and our other money was GONE! The next month passed painfully slow, we ate out, we ate outside, we ate at Grandparents house. We suffered! August creeped in and the new cabinet deadline began approaching. Mid August our cabinets were finally installed. It would take another week to get counters and then a working sink. A week before the twins first birthday the kitchen was done.
Before:
After:

We still added more stuff after this but this was my official after picture. I worked with "the snakes" sister who felt very responsible (she was just honest and nice) and got her name on his account (with his permission) and she paid me a check once a month till the entire amount was paid off. He of course agreed to this (although I never talked to him again). So... we eventually (almost a year later) did get our money back. His dishonestly cost me a lot more than the money though! I give Alan a lot of credit during this disaster. First off he spent every spare moment the entire summer working on this nightmare. Late nights and all nights often. I have no idea how he learned how to put in woods floors, do canned lights, and the painting of and installing of all the trim was exhaustive. He also had to deal with me who was very stressed. I was still nursing the twins (which was a blessing in disquise because atleast I did not need to prepare formula or wash bottles). I just fed them their baby food out on the patio in their high chairs. Not to say it was easy, it wasn't.
This picture of the twins was taken right before we started this project... just to give you an idea how young they were.