Year In Review

Everyone,

Happy New Year's Eve! Here are 12 posts from this year. Did you know that I wrote every single month this year? I only missed 92 days of writing the whole year. It's a new lap record! Here are some highlights from the rest of the 273 days I did write.

January: We took all the kids to the Presidential Inauguration. Juice now says, "Well, it's not like we're going to the Inauguration," when things are hard. Also that month, last day of that month, was the day Pirate's leg was broken.

February: DISASTER! You try having one baby in a huge cast, one baby not in a cast, and a really inquisitive 3 year old.

March: I got lucky and Juice turned 30.

April: 1 year old twins! (Enough said.)

May: Turning 4 years old and the "best" date night ever. Also, leaving for our Mega Road Trip of 2009.

June: Road Trip! A month spent in Utah with my family.

July: Road Trip returns! And we walk! With Flower for a whole month!

August: Berry picking with Flower. We miss Flower. She is fun to sight see with and also fun to have at our house in the evenings. Also nice, a built in babysitter. She went home this month.

September: We were on the news. Also, my birthday. A very low key month.

October: October was the month I wrote the least in. So you get a Halloween picture post.

November: Christmas Tree Decisions. Also, this was the month I challenged myself to write every day in November and December to get me back into the habit of writing. And it worked!

December: Snow snow and more snow!

A big year for us. Lots happened. I hope lots more will continue to happen next year! I have some pretty big plans for 2010!

Safire

Chrsitmas Tree

Everyone,

Tonight Juice and I decided to take down the Christmas stuff. Normally I'm sad when the tree goes down but not this year. I was ready for it to be gone. Probably because we got several big presents for the kids and I'm feeling a little over stuffed with stuff.

So Juice pulled the tree down with the help of all the kids (that guy has the patience of a glacier sometimes!) and started wrapping it up in the sheet we store it in. As he was putting the last sheet over the tree, Pirate started screaming. Then he started patting the tree and crying. It was so cute. He did not want to see the tree go away.

While the tree was up, Professor used to bug us to turn it on all the time. He would drag us over there (which he now does, it's very cute/annoying) and say, "Tee! Tee!" Once the tree's lights were on, he would drag us to each window and make us turn those lights on. "Liie! Liie!"

I think the boys had a great Christmas. I know Butterfly is already asking when Christmas will be here again.

Safire

But It Feels Like 18 Degrees

Everyone,

Juice and I decided to be (somewhat) spontaneous today. Last night we decided that we should go to Mt. Vernon. We have season passes there and figured that we need to use them to get our money's worth out of them. So we bundled the kids up, herded them into the van and away we went.

After spending over an hour sitting in traffic (at 11am! On a Tuesday! Why people? Why?!) we finally made it. I had to drop Juice and Butterfly off at the entrance because nature called for a 4 year old bladder. So I was left to get the boys and Soot (yes, they allow dogs there...awesome!) out of the car and into the estate.

Not a problem. I do this with all 3 kids often. Some how, this took longer than usual though. I also walked a long way to the estate entrance and was tired by the time I met up with Juice and Butterfly. Did I mention that it felt about 18 degrees today? Cold!

The first thing that caught our eye once on the estate was the camel. Yes, a real live camel. His name is Aladdin and he's 2 years old. And very friendly! But why a camel in Virginia in December? Apparently, George Washington had a camel brought in for his guests' amusement in 1787. (Look who is reading signs and remember things!) So part of the Christmas celebration at Mt. Vernon, a camel was in order. Butterfly did not like the camel because it slimed her. Poor thing.

I really wanted to go tour the house because I haven't been inside for over 2 years. They also only open the 3rd floor during the Christmas season. I've seen it once (before we had kids) and I'd like to see it again. Sadly, the line for the tour was a half hour wait and I knew that Juice couldn't survive with the kids outside for that long.

We took a look a the upper gardens and walked around the hot house gift shop (yes Mom they have a gift shop there!) for a bit and then headed to the lawn behind the mansion. I have to say this is my favorite part of the whole place. I love the huge sweeping view of the Potomac River and the house is so pretty. We let the kids out of the stroller and all they wanted to do was go down the hill to the wall.

We spent a lot of time hanging out at this wall. Professor was completely taken with the view and kept pointing and jabbering. He also walked along it through the bushes, making me go after him. I hope there was no poison ivy in what I dug through to get him.

After some time gathering sticks and leaves and pretending several things, we decided we were really hungry and should go eat. Butterfly was heart broken that we weren't going to eat at the restaurant they have there. We often go to eat there but this time we just couldn't.

So once we got everyone loaded up in the car (about 20 minutes for that!) we went off to find food. Then we decided that we should skip the main freeways and go the back way home. It was a lot of fun. I loved looking at all the cute old houses in DC as we drove through and pointed out all the monuments to Butterfly. She thinks we should go see them again because she doesn't remember them. Anyone want to come and visit so we can tour the monuments again?

It was a great day out as a family. Missed naps and all. Although the bonus of having missed naps (all 3 kids missed their naps or had short ones in the car) is that everyone went to bed early. So now I'm going to try and do the same!

Safire

Special Side Topic

Everyone,

Butterfly has been bugging us about going to the fair. The county fair. The one they have here in August. She wants to ride "the really big wheel, the fast roller coaster and the spinning dragons." She would also like to stay there when the lights come on. She promises she will be good and not cranky if it's past her bed time.

I don't think she gets the concept of A LONG TIME AWAY yet. I started telling her the list of every one's birthday that has to come before we can go back to the fair. (Which would be every one's but mine.) She got so excited about her birthday and realized that she will be turning 5 soon.

"And when I'm 5, I get to go to school like Vinny!" (Remember, Vinny is her BFF who is already in school.)

"Yep, honey."

"And when I get tired, I'll just come home and go right to nap!"

"School is all day long here honey. You will go there in the morning, and you'll have lunch there with all of your friends, and you'll come home in the afternoon," I told her.

There was a pause in the back and then I started to hear her sob. Big tears rolling down her cheeks.

"But I might get tired! There won't be a place for me to nap! I won't be able to watch my mooovie!"

She's not worried about school, she's worried about her movie time! Juice and I laughed silently in the front seat while we tried to tell her all the good things about school. Like recess, and gym class, and reading, and math. She was way too upset about loosing her movie time to even care about anything else. She only calmed down when she asked if she could have a movie when we got home. Yes!

Of course, she was so tired she slept through it but at least she feels like she watched part of it.

That girl and her movies! Sheesh!

Safire

New Year's Resolutions

Everyone,

This week's question over at the Multiples and More blog is about New Year's resolutions.



I thought I made resolutions last year. I can't seem to find them on my blog so I guess the don't exist. This year I thought I'd make a few just for fun.

1. Continue to do more outside. I love having the boys and Butterfly be outside and happy. I'm trying hard not to mind the dirt/mud they get into and just go with it.
2. Enjoy Butterfly during her last few months solely at home. She starts kindergarten in 2010! When did she get so big?
3. Make it to New York sometime this year. I keep feeling like I'm so close that I should just make the trip. This is what I asked Juice for my birthday was a trip up there. I turn 30 next year.
4. Go on at least 2 dates a month. We've been doing pretty good with the whole date swapping thing with our friends, but I feel like another date would be ideal. We'll see.
5. Save more money. Enough said.

So, what are your New Year's resolutions?

Safire

Christmas 2009, take 2

Everyone,

We spent the morning opening the rest of the presents from yesterday. We had a great time! It's been another good lazy day here.
Well, except for all the running around the kids did with that basketball hoop. All day long what we heard from Professor was "Ball! Car? Ball! Car?" Such a boy.

Pirate discovered the cars his cousins gave him actually come apart and he spent the day ripping off the wheels and then bringing the pieces to me to put back together.

Butterfly spent most of the day dressing up her princesses, trying to keep the boys out of our fun new houses we have, and hording toys. I imagine this year was not as cool as last year when we got a bunch of toys and she had free rein to play with all of them. Still, a pretty cool Christmas.

Safire

PS- Yes, that is yet another pair of shoes for Juice. He got 3 pairs this year. Can you tell what he's needed?!

Merry Christmas!

Everyone,

Shots from our day:

We did not get through all the presents this year.  We'll have to have 2nd Christmas tomorrow and hopefully open everything.  Juice got new shoes and I got a pretty necklace.  The kids got toys and more toys and are loving it.  Hope your Christmas was a fun as ours!

Safire

Wild Wild Pirate!

Everyone,

So yes, I know it's Christmas Eve. I probably should write something nice about the season or reflect on something, but it just ain't happening today. What a day we've had.

And it centers mostly around this little cutie pie. My Pirate.
What a crazy day it's been for him. Let's talk about something that doesn't impact anyone else but him. Remember a while back when I said that he will have surgery? As of today, it's all scheduled for March. I'm glad I don't have to worry about it again until then.

He was full of vim and vigor this morning and it's cute when I'm rested. Not so cute later in the day. By the time we got the kids in bed for naps, it was almost an hour after normal nap time. (We have been cleaning and running a few errands.) Juice and I started into cleaning without the kids around. About half an hour into nap, I noticed that Professor was still crying. That was odd for him. So Juice went up to see if he threw his binky over board and noticed that the kids' room door was open. So was our room where Butterfly was supposed to be watching a movie. The tv was off and he could hear music. So he poked his head in the room and found Butterfly and Pirate playing with my CD player (something they are NOT allowed to do after loosing a CD).

Wait, did I just say that Pirate was in my room when he's supposed to be in his room sleeping? In his crib? Yeah, guess who learned how to climb out of his crib? And open doors?

We moved a few boxes away from next to his crib and put him back in there. We left to screaming boys. About 2 minutes later, I hear the CD player in their room being turned on. Pirate! This time Juice stayed in the room with them to see how he was getting out of his crib. Juice moved the crib away from the wall Pirate was using to push himself up and hopefully that will stop him for a little bit. I imagine a crib tent is in our future.

Because of all these shenanigans, they only napped for about an hour and were super cross after.

Tonight was bath night so they would be nice and clean for tomorrow. It was going along just fine until I noticed that Pirate was awfully still. Oh no! Poop in the bath tub. So I yank the boys out, yank the toys out, and send them into our bathroom to get washed there. Pirate pooped on the bath mat as I'm pulling all the toys out. As I'm washing down the tub, Juice comes in to inform me that he did it again in the other tub. Yuck.

He didn't get a chance to wash them yet either. So back into their tub to be washed. This time, the water is cold and they shiver through the whole thing. Poor things.

They at least went to bed nicely. There has been no climbing, no screaming, and no playing.

In this whole thing, I feel the worst for Professor. Poor thing had to have a short nap, a cold bath, and I even lost one of his stocking stuffers. I hope it's still in the closet I had all the wrapped presents stacked in. If not, I guess I'll just have to find him another one after Christmas. He's little enough he won't notice, right?!

Ugh, what a day!

Safire

Christmas Adam (or so I'm told)

Everyone,

This morning we all got up and made the trek over to the big park to go sledding with Butterfly's BFF Vinny and his mom, Lala. We had such a great time! And by we, I was excluding Professor. The poor guy is just unhappy about the whole sledding experience. This time I didn't even put him down once and he was still unhappy. Poor kid.

We brought Soot along because she needed to get out. Poor thing had to deal with this:



She did very well though once she was on the sled track. She ran after the sleds growling and barking and having a merry old time.

I could have stayed out there all day long but the babies started crying and so we decided to head on home.
I think Butterfly would have fallen asleep on that sled if she could have. She was one tired girl!

After everyone had lunch and naps, we headed out to see the lights at the DC Temple. So beautiful! Butterfly and I had been there earlier this season during the day but this time we went to see the lights. We met up with our friends who come with us every year. It was fun to have their girl and Butterfly run around together.

We cut quite the path with our double wide stroller. We held up traffic in several places because BOB's wheels were scraping each side of the snow on the little paths they plowed. What a great day!

Safire

Late!

Everyone,

It's late!  Bullet points before I go to bed.

-Both the boys are sick.  Pirate was pretty sick last week but Professor sounds awful today. 

-Butterfly spent 4 hours outside with Juice today helping him shovel and playing.  She was a mermaid, on an adventure to find recipes, and giving Christmas presents of snow.  What an imagination!  She came in bright red and hungry.  She also went right to sleep tonight which was awesome.

-I am up making cinnamon rolls that I'd like to give to our friends and neighbors.  Let's see how long they last though!

Safire

Broken and Found

Everyone,

Juice had to dig the van out this morning. I had somewhere I had to be and I kind of needed a car for it. So. Off he went with his shovel and his helper (Butterfly). 2 hours later, he finally came in. He came in with some sad news though.

He broke the snow shovel.

We haven't even dug out his car yet! And I'm sure we'll have to dig out at least 3 more parking spaces before people will stop taking the ones we've made all nice and clean. So I went on a quest today to find a shovel. Target had NO shovels. They also had NO parking since they couldn't plow the top of their parking garage and no one could get up there. Let's just say that that was a mistake and a half to go there!

I went to the hardware store and found a shovel. But it was in the back being loaded off the truck. Apparently, they just shipped them today from somewhere in the mid-west for our specific use. Awesome. We will use it. I did make the guys open the pallet and pull out one single shovel for me because I was so ready to be home after that Target trip. Ugh.

In other news, I lost my little water proof camera. It's what I always love to take out for snow pictures because I could care less if it gets snowed on. Or dropped in the snow. Or slush, or whatever. So Saturday right before we went out in the snow, Juice and I were frantic trying to find it. We found it behind the computer monitor and I was very happy. It even had batteries which is saying something!

Also found along the way: crayons, play food, pens, outlet covers, books, cars, crumbs, and the tv remote and the small dvd remote. Huh, looks like they weren't thrown in the trash after all! They were just hiding under the couch. Yay!

Safire

Snow Sunday

Everyone,

It snowed into the night and we woke up this morning with around 25 inches. I saw this on the local news station and thought it would be cool to show you guys.



Plus, here are some pictures! We tried to go sledding again but the snow was too powdery. Plus, the boys were very unhappy. Even with putting bags on their feet before they get shoes on to keep their feet dry. They did last longer with this trick so thanks Rosemarie! It took me forever to get everyone ready (almost an hour) and I'm really not looking forward to doing this again tomorrow. I know Butterfly will want to go out tomorrow so it's for sure that I'll be out in it again. Good thing Juice has all next week off!

Our van got buried! Everyone's car looked like this though.

The boys on the sled. See Pirate's really unhappy face. Not seen here: Professor is also crying.

I went for a walk without the kids and took this picture near our house. They have plowed so much snow up on the curb that it is almost up to the stop sign. No joke!

I think we got some serious snow here! No church today. We had to cancel plans to see the Temple Lights with friends as well. Crazy!

Safire

PS- Love this little video of Butterfly trying to sled. Juice holding Pirate, Professor screaming next to me, and Butterfly's little "weee!" as she goes about 6 inches. Cute!

Snow Storm (Blizzard?) 2009

Everyone,

Boy did we ever get our Christmas snow! It started around 9:30pm last night and hasn't stopped yet. (It's 24 hours later.) We have 20 inches and counting. We've shoveled our walks 4 times and went sledding!

Church is canceled tomorrow. Both airports are closed until 6am on Sunday. School in several counties have closed Monday and Tuesday already. 2 weeks off for Christmas for those kids! The METRO closed. Several of the highways are closed because of disabled vehicles and impassable roads. Wow...

We didn't go anywhere today and enjoyed the snow. Well, Juice and Butterfly and I did. The boys...not so much. I think their feet get cold. They don't have snow boots because it snows so rarely here I thought they didn't need them. Now maybe I should find them some.


Butterfly was in heaven though. She bound out of bed this morning and got dress all by herself. She was mad that we made her eat breakfast because she had her hat and coat and mittens on in the blink of an eye. She cried when we went inside, but then proceeded to strip off all 4 layers and was soaked to the bone. Cold girl!

This is how you get 4 people on 2 sleds and hopefully have fun. Except Professor in the back is not having any fun at all. Butterfly kept trying to pull Pirate around in our infant sled (thanks Lavender...this sled has been awesome for us through the years!) . She kept falling over and he would laugh hysterically. Professor had a short ride out to our tiny hill and then was done. He did not want to go anywhere out of Mommy's arms.
Soot also had a great time chasing the sled and enjoying the weather.

I love the snow so much! We wrapped all of our Christmas presents this afternoon so we are DONE for Christmas. I'm so excited to be able to just sit back and enjoy the rest of the season!

Safire

PS- Both boys have colds and Pirate coughed so hard he threw up all over me and Professor while he was trying to nurse for bed tonight. Ugh. Also, Butterfly had a nap time accident. Add to that all the wet and dirty (Juice) clothes from snow stuff today, I probably have 5 loads. Yuck.

PPS- Here is what it looked like at 8pm tonight.
There were people sledding off the pile of snow the plow put in front of our house. It's as tall as Juice is. Awesome!

Let It Snow!

Everyone,

A big (for this area) storm is headed our direction.  They are anticipating at least a foot of snow.  Of course, they always seem to go over the mark with these predictions and we will probably get about 8 inches.  Still, a significant storm for here.

This is also the first year since we've moved here that there will be snow anywhere near Christmas.  We have lived here 6 years now.  (Juice and I just had a huge long "discussion" about when we moved to the area and how long we've been here.  I, of course, was right.  I love this blog for proving me right.  :)  Did you know I've been blogging here for 5 years now?!)  Anyway, back to the snow.  I don't think I can remember ever having snow near Christmas in all the years we've lived here.  Since I have the last 5 Decembers on record, let's check them out.

Dec 2004:  I talk about how hot it is, over 60 degrees.  One thing that I didn't talk about was that our heater broke later that month and it was FREEZING cold.  We went to Utah for a week and a half that Christmas break and got snow there.  It also snowed late in January in 2005 but no snow for Christmas.

Dec 2005: No mention whatsoever of snow.  At all. 

Dec 2006: Ahh, the year we went downtown during Christmas break.  We carried our coats the whole trip because it was so not cold.

Dec 2007: We had our first snowfall mid month and nothing after that.

Dec 2008:  No snow.  Just a lot of rain and some really cute little kids.

So maybe this is the year we have a white Christmas?  I sure hope so!

Safire

PS- It's almost 4:15 in the afternoon and I have yet to even shower or get out of my pjs...it's been one of THOSE days.  Ugh.

Back to the Couch

Everyone,

Good news! I found a fix for the remote online (I love the Internets) and it works again. Yay! I can now scroll through our movies.

Sadly, I think we might have to morn the loss of our other 2 remotes. It's been at least a month since we lost the TV and the small DVD player remote. We have searched high and low. We've moved furniture, cleaned, hunted, everything.

I think Pirate may have thrown them away and we didn't know.

He loved to bring them to me awhile ago and I would always tell him to go put them back. I did that one day to something in the kitchen and noticed that he went right to the garbage and threw it in there. Ack! There's a very real possibility that our remotes are now at the dump leaking harmful chemicals into our soil. Because they had rechargeable batteries in them.

Juice is more upset at the loss of the batteries than the remote. We at lest have a universal remote that works with them both. The TV or the small DVD player are not as complex as the big DVD player so it's not as big of a deal.

Yes, we have 2 DVD players. One for the movies we own, and one for the movies we rent. We have a big box covering the big DVD player because the boys like to push buttons. It's a pain to get movies in and out of it anyway. So we have a small one that isn't covered by a box and you don't have to scroll through pages of titles to watch something once. It works for us.

Safire

Now I Have to Change it Manually

Everyone,

We discovered this morning that the remote to our fancy big 400 dvd changer is broken. BROKEN! You seriously have to have that thing in order to know what movie you're switching to. And I love that changer so much. It makes things so much easier. No pulling disks in and out. No loosing them, scratching them, or destroying them. It does make it harder to watch them anywhere else but at that TV, but that is okay sometimes.

So I looked online to see if I could send it somewhere and have it be repaired. Nope. They don't even make this remote anymore. I could get a universal remote and try to get it to work, but there are specific buttons on this one that I don't think a universal remote would have. Like "folder" or "edit."

Guess I'm off to ebay to find some one's old remote. Ugh.

Hopefully the kids will stop doing the following when we do find a replacement remote: eating it, licking it, slobbering on it, throwing it off the couch/table/stairs, hiding it in the couch cushions, putting it in the bathtub (minus water), shoving it under the bathroom door to play while I am in there, trying to feed it to the dog, putting it in the dog's food bowl, putting it in the dog's bed, trying to put it in the dog's water bowl, trying to put it in the fridge, putting it in the kitchen cupboards, standing on it, hitting each other's heads with it, hitting their own heads with it and laughing, pretending it's a phone, pretending it's a Wii remote, pretending it's a surf board/skate board/wake board, trying to take it outside, trying to shove it out the doggy door, trying to throw it out the window, trying to color on it, pushing buttons when they are not supposed to, and generally man handling it.

I think they should make these remotes out of sturdier stuff. Don't they know I have twin toddlers and their big sister to deal with?!

Safire

C Week!

Everyone,

This week for preschool we decided we should do C for Christmas of course!  We are only 2 days into it but we've talked about hard Cs and soft Cs and Butterfly is going around pointing at all the Cs and spelling things like Cat.  Today for school we decided to join some of our ward (congregation) at the Washington DC Temple visitor's center and see a short movie. 

We got there early and we were basically the only ones there.  We walked around and saw the trees and the collection of nativity sets they have on display.  I loved being the only ones there for that because you could take as long as you wanted.  I took several cool pictures.

We were able to watch the movie, Joy to the World.



They asked us not to have food there but the boys were cross by this time so they ate prezels and I felt sort of guilty with every one they had.  Oh well.

Once we got out of the movie (where Butterfly looked for Uncle MusicMan during the choir singing) the kids were done.  We let them run around by the reflection pool for awhile and got them modeling the letter of the week with the reflection of the temple and the Christus in the background.

What a fun outing!  We can't wait to go back to see all the lights lit this weekend.

Safire

Christmas Gifting

Everyone,

So I am 99% done with my Christmas gifts. I have one more to buy and that should be it! Juice and I were talking about what the kids are doing for their Christmas gifts to each other this year. I think I have several toys squirreled away. I'll have Butterfly pick out which boy gets what, and I'll pick for the boys to Butterfly. Do your kids do sibling presents? If so, what do you do?

Since I only had one sibling (hi Bro!), it was never a question who was giving who what. I always got a present from him. He always got a present from me. Done. I do remember buying these presents at the little present fair they had at the elementary school. Did anyone do that? We always were able to have an hour in the room with a bunch of trinkets to buy presents for our families. I only remember buying my mom a brooch there one year, nothing else. Bro, can you remember any of the gifts we gave each other? I have a headache and can't think of any. I went through my baby book which has a short list of presents from my first Christmas till I was 8 years old. The only mention of presents from my brother was that 8 year old Christmas when he got me doll clothes. So maybe I should ask my mom...what did we do for sibling gifts, if any?

Juice says he remembers getting money to buy presents for everyone. They got twice as much money as their age. So if he was 5, he got $10. He remembers buying a gun for one of his brothers so that when they played together, his brother wouldn't have to use his finger anymore. He also remembers buying tiny things for his siblings one year and a big present for himself with the left over money.

I was talking to my friend today about what her kids are doing for each other. Nothing. We kind of brainstormed ideas of things that don't cost anything that they could give each other. A card with some drawings on it. An animal made out of paper and toilet paper tubes. Cut out cute snowflakes together. Make special cookies for each other. Give an old forgotten toy to a younger sibling that would like it.

We may do something like this next year. This year I just happened to get some amazing deals on a few toys in July and October and saved them.

So, what are your kids doing for each other for Christmas?

Safire

Sunday Pictures, take 14

Everyone,

Taken for the benefit of Nana-Great who bought these for the kids. They were actually all wearing them at the same time so I thought a picture was in order!

This was a quick shoot, no time for the cool big flash or even any kind of coaxing. I just snapped away at what was happening. This is the one picture that Butterfly is not scowling in and Pirate does not have his eyes closed. Pirate is standing up off the chair to go slide down his slide. They spent 20 minutes zooming off that slide because these pajamas are slippery!

Pretty cool pajamas if I do say so myself!

Safire

PS- A note to Nana-Great...they fit fine although it's kind of work to get Pirate's feet into the right place. He'll wear it for another few weeks and enjoy it. Professor goes around the house with his arms out in it saying "Zooommmm!" so I think he likes them too. As for Butterfly, she is insisting they are cold weather clothes and not pajamas so she is happy too. Thank you!

PPS- A note to Nana (my Mom)...Does this face look familiar to you?!

Highlights for Today

Everyone,

A few words for everyone today.

Butterfly picked up all the toys after she dumped every single one of them out on the living room floor. She also pretended her big rainbow dolphin was her baby and Juice was still the daddy. I got to be Flower.

Pirate was trying to help Daddy by picking up an unopened glass bottle of milk and dropping it. It shattered and milk went everywhere. He got a small cut on his ankle and bled through his sock. There is now milk under our fridge and I imagine that's going to smell really good soon.

Professor totally face planted on the sidewalk today and now has major road rash across his nose and forehead. He also said, "Sit! Soot! Now!" while Juice was vacuuming. Guess what we yell a lot when we are vacuuming?

Juice helped me wrap presents for a few hours this afternoon. The kids were sleeping (or in Butterfly's case, pretending to sleep) and we got half of what is hidden in the house all wrapped and in one place. There are no presents under the tree for a reason. Can you guess two of them?

I just asked Juice what I should put about me today and he outlined my day with a lot of "tired." peppered through out it. Seriously, I think I ran 3 errands today, wrapped a bunch of presents, make chicken stock, took care of hurt and crying kids, and was really tired. One thing I didn't do was make any kind of food for anyone. We had lunch out and Juice made dinner (grilled cheese) so that was good.

Now, off to bed so maybe I can stop being so tired!

Safire

Butterfly Sayings

Everyone,

Butterfly climbed up into my lap today and said, "Mama, I have something important to tell you."

(Happy that she left the calling me Mother behind) "Yes, honey?"

"There are a few things that I like best."

"Oh?"

"They are words. And when you put those words together they make my favorite things. Want to hear?"

"Sure."

"These are the words: Mama, can I watch a movie? Next favorite is, Mama, can I play outside? And then the next one is, Mama, can I play out in the snow? And then the very last one is the last thing that I like to do a lot that you don't let me do enough. Mama, can I play the Wii?"

"Those are all your favorite things huh?"

"Yes but you don't let me do them enough. Especially this one, Mama can I play out in the snow? That's the one that you don't let me do enough. I need to play out in the snow more!"

"Honey, I can't make it snow for you. We take you out in the snow when it snows here, but it doesn't snow every day."

"Why not?"

"It's just not cold enough here."

"Yes it is. It's too cold!" There was a big dramatic pause here while she had her thinking face on. I've learned not to say anything while she is 'thinking' otherwise I get yelled at. "Mama?" she asks. "Mama, maybe we better do the last thing I said."

"Play on the Wii?"

"Yeah, it's much warmer than snow."

Okay then. Guess we better find some snow games for the Wii for her. :)

Safire

Books Books Books!

Everyone,

The week that I discovered that the big library in town was right next door to Butterfly's dance class place, I was hooked. I went there every week. I picked up scads of books for the kids and loved having something new to read. I also decided to take a leap and read something for myself, beyond what my book club is reading.

This has been really hard to follow through with, despite having no book to read for book club in awhile. (We always do something fun for December.) But I've been trying to make time for one of my favorite past times. This is what I've been reading so far.

Everything by Shannon Hale. She writes mostly young adult fiction but it's GOOD. She also wrote a book I just finished called Austenland. Awesome read. It was one of those feel good at the end books. I have read everything she has written now and am anxiously awaiting her next book.

Another author I'm working my way through is Elizabeth Gaskell. She is a Austen-like writer who was friends with Charlotte Bronte. Her books are more meaty than my mind can focus on at the moment but I do love the stories. Juice was kind enough to get me the DVDs for our anniversary in August. I'm hoping to get some time, and some sleep, to really enjoy them soon.

Wow, I'm into authors lately. Another one I'm following is Connie Willis. I think my mom first recommended a book by her to me when I was a teenager, To Say Nothing of the Dog, which I have read every year since. I picked up The Doomsday Book last year on a whim and cried at the end of it. We read it for book club a few months ago and talked about it at our last meeting. That book sticks with you! I also just finished one of her books and will be going through the rest of her list.

Other books that are in the que to be read: Bel Canto. My friend Lolli read it and loaned it to me. She couldn't put it down and I'm itching to start it. The Striking Point is a book I just got as a present and that looks fascinating too.

Now if only I could put these books down enough to actually sleep at night, I might be sitting pretty!

Safire

Thoughts of Snow

Everyone,

Today it seemed that I just couldn't get warm. I took a nice hot shower so long that the hot water ran out. Then I was back to shivering and cold because when the hot water is gone. It's GONE. No warning. Hot to cold in a flash.

(Side note. While I was in the shower I got a message from my friend Lolli. It was a very short message and I thought it was because my message machine was full. I had 12 messages on it...I figured I better do something about that. But when I called Lolli back, she said that she had a great conversation with one of my boys. Possibly both. Apparently they are big enough to get the phone, hit talk, and then, actually talk. I'm just glad it was Lolli and not 9-1-1.)

I finally warmed up after a few glasses of hot chocolate and going out in the sun to stand for awhile. While I was standing there, I got to thinking how I used to not mind the cold so much.

Did you know that I used to camp in the winter all the time? Did you know that I've actually spent a few nights in a tent when it was snowing?

The summer I was 18 turning 19, I worked at a Girl Scout camp as one of their horseback riding instructors. That was 10 weeks I lived in a tent. I didn't love every minute of it. The squirrels were bad and used to eat our stuff. The work was hard, the ticks were bad that year, but I loved it. I loved riding every day. I loved being outside all the time. I wish I could have done it the next year too but I got married instead.

Once the summer program was done and the horses were sent to their pasture for the winter, I stayed on as a regular camp councilor. This meant I spent weekends up at the camp helping various troops do various badges. I did a little of everything that year. I cooked, I counseled, I signed books, I sang songs, I made fires. One thing that I did all the time (probably because no one else wanted to) was do the winter camps. I loved these things. We stayed in the lodge one night, cross country skied and sledded down the stable hill the next day, set up a big tent and tried to sleep in it the next night. There was only one weekend that we didn't make it. The wind was so bad that the tent kept blowing down. We went back to the lodge and slept by the fire place in all of our clothes trying to get warm. I think it snowed over a foot that night and we had to be dug out by the maintenance guy and then make it down the canyon in one piece.

I think I've got the time line wrong but I did go winter camping with a bunch of my camp friends while I was in Idaho. There were 8 of us just going out for the weekend to camp and get away from school. We had 3 tents between us and had a great time diving to the Tetons. We stopped in some little tiny campsite next to a small river. It was not snowing when we got there. It started sometime in the night while we were hanging around the campfire. We went into our tents to get out of the wet. I was in a tent with my friend Hobbs (her camp name, I can't remember her real name) and we were laughing so hard we were crying. Then we were laughing about the fact that our tears were freezing. One of the other tents fell down so we invited the girls to come in to our tent. About 2am I heard the 4 girls in the other tent talking about how cold it was and they decided to come and join us too. This was a 4 man tent, at best. In the morning, we had all 8 of us in the tent and it was pretty warm. Until we opened the door to the tent and realized that we had been iced on. The wall to the tent had frozen solid and fell to the ground like a draw bridge. One of the girls had a thermometer that read -15 degrees. We all did jumping jacks and danced around in the morning to get warm, and the decided to ditch the rest of the camping weekend and go home. That was an adventure!

The last time I've been camping in the snow was here. We were waiting in line for Easter Egg Roll tickets and it snowed on us. In April. By the White House. It was crazy.

Apparently I had a little more tolerance for the snow a few years ago. Still, I love the stuff and wish we lived in a place where is snowed more. We did have some freezing rain last night that turned to slush around midnight and melted all the snow we got last weekend. Maybe we'll get another batch before Christmas?

Safire

Snippits Today

Everyone,

We ran to the post office and the store this morning.  Out of town Christmases are almost taken care of.  Just 2 more presents to send by Friday and I should be done!

I sent Butterfly outside to chip away at mound of snow the plow left in our front yard.  She thinks it's great fun and I get her out of the house for awhile.  One negative thing: she won't wear her coat so she keeps complaining of being cold.

We went to see Santa at the mall today for school.  What a fine education she is getting let me tell you!  :)  She refused to sit with him.  She was hanging on my legs so much that I couldn't move.  She made me sit with her.  Both boys did not scream but looked very very worried.  We also had lunch there.  Yum!

I discovered upon returning from the mall that the house was uncomfortably hot.  Someone *coughjuicecough* turned up the heat.  No wonder it's been hard to sleep the past few nights.

Speaking of Juice, he just came home and is now thwarting my plan to get Butterfly tired by breaking up the snow pile and throwing it really far for her to see.  I guess the snow would be gone tomorrow with the ice we're supposed to get tonight.

Both boys are now wandering out the house in their mittens and hats.  I guess I shouldn't send them outside too considering it's dark and they have no shoes on.

Safire

Dance Class Recital

Everyone,

Butterfly's little dance class had it's last class today. The year long classes have a big recital at the end of the year but Butterfly's class doesn't. The teacher invited the parents in to watch the class. It was TONS of fun. I loved watching Butterfly listening to the teacher and seeing her interact with her friends. She is, by far, the biggest kid in there. Poor awkward dear, she also has a lot of leg to deal with. Still, I think she has a great time and she looks so cute in her leotard.

They start out with some stretching and a little bit of warm up. Some jumping, some spinning, some skipping. Then they go into a few songs (called the can-can songs) that say things like jump up and down and turn around! Then they danced with their bean bags. Butterfly got a blue one (of course) and here she is! (She is the one with the dark pink tights and the braid.)



After the bean bag dance, they had a train that they did which was really cute. Then they did some ballet stuff, including twirling and first position.



They did some leaping after that. The teacher split the class in two and had each of the sections take turns to dance and watch. I thought they way she put it, "Learn to be a good audience!" was great. She even had them clap. The dancers had to bow. So cute.

Butterfly requested some freeze dance time and the teacher let them. Basically they ran around like crazy and tried to stop when the music stops. Her friend, Lou, is the blond girl with the pony tail and skirt. They make sure they are next to each other for everything!



I think she had so much fun with this class that we are probably going to sign up for the next round. Lou's parents were so sweet and brought Lou and Butterfly some flowers for their "recital". They will be in the next round of classes together too. It's fun to have a friend!

Safire

Sunday Pictures, take 13

Everyone,

So yesterday when we went out to play in the snow I couldn't find my little underwater camera.  I didn't want to take my big camera out because I didn't want to get it wet.  And there was some wet snow!  Plus I wanted a video of the kids sledding.  Didn't even get Butterfly sledding this year.  I hope there will be another opportunity.

When I finally found the cord and downloaded the pictures from yesterday, I got a few surprises!  Including a lovely video.  This is from when Pirate had his cast.  It was the night before we took it off (and then took him sledding for the first time!) and Juice is narrating.  I would show it to you but upon further review, I realize that he uses all of our real names on it.  I can't figure out how to edit it so sorry.  I'll leave you with this cute picture instead.

It's someone's very chocolatey hand.  Maybe from around my birthday?

This afternoon we spent making truffles.  They are so good and I've had way too many already.  Butterfly helped me roll the middles and then spent 20 minutes trying to lick the chocolate off her hands.  The boys begged for it so much and I'm afraid they were cross and cranky after they ate so much.  Oh well...it's only Christmas time once, right?

Safire

PS- The author of that twin book I'd like to read actually left a comment on my blog!  Or someone who is pretending to be her did.  Cool!!

So Much Fun!

Everyone,

Today was our first snowfall of the year. And we had some great snow too! Big, wet flakes and 3-4 inches total. This (sadly) is a major snow storm for Maryland. We took full advantage of it! It took me half an hour to find everyone's gloves, hats, coats, and boots. And then another 20 minutes or so to put everyone in their equipment. It reminds me of a book I've read several times called Mrs. Mike. In it, she bundles her kids to play outside in northern Canada. She does one at a time and then puts them outside so they won't get overheated. That's just what we did today and I thought of the book.

Butterfly was itching to get out and build a snowman. First, everyone was interested in helping Juice shovel the walk. That meant I actually had time to throw my boots and coat on too! Then we went right up to build a snowman. Juice made it so big we could barely get the snowballs on top of each other. Once our Frosty was up, we went looking for our sleds (and our friends who had just arrived to join us in the winter wonderland) and the older boys in the neighborhood had knocked down Frosty. Seriously, why?!

Good thing Butterfly didn't mind. Her BFF Vinny was there and anxious to sled. They went down a few times, the boys went down once and then it was time to go inside. We had been out for over an hour and I think the boys were cold. Butterfly did not want to go inside so she stayed out and helped Juice shovel the walk again. They apparently fixed the snowman during that time as well.

It takes a lot shorter time to take everything off the boys than it did to put on.

We had hot chocolate and spent the rest of the afternoon with friends. What a great day!

Safire

Book Interview

Everyone,

There has been a lot of talk in the twin world (and in the real world) about this book called, One and the Same: My Life as an Identical Twin and What I've Learned About Everyone's Struggle to Be Singular by Abigail Pogrebin. I've read several articles on the book the past few days and heard her interviewed on the radio a few times. I really enjoyed this interview of her and her insights on being a twin. The first question really got me. Basically, we all know that twins want to be seen as individuals and their own separate person. The interviewer (who is a twin mom herself) asked HOW to do that.

I was fascinated by the response. Ms. Pogrebin gave a list of ideas to do that. 1- Have alone time with each twin. 2- Have separate gifts, birthdays, cakes, etc. 3- Don't buy into the twin gimmick all the time. 4- Listen to each twin, really listen. 5- Don't try to keep it the same all the time. Life is not fair and full of inequalities.

She goes on, in the interview, to talk about how she felt as if her parents had no idea who she was, or her sister. They were always together as kids. And because of that, they had a really hard time as they got older separating. But they also had a hard time being alone with their parents. I guess that makes sense. If you never are without the other, of course you learn to rely on that person.

I admit, I really do like the "twin gimmick" as she calls it. I love that my boys are twins. I love that they have each other and that we have them. I think cute matchy clothes are awesome. Even dressing them alike is fun. I don't know why...it's just a thing. However, I do realize that as they get older, this will not always be the case. I will not BE ABLE TO dress them the same. They will have their own opinions and their own wardrobes since their body types are nothing alike. However, while they are little and are letting me, I am going to enjoy it.

Everything else in her list? Let's look at them. I do insist on them having a separate birthday cake and singing to each boy. I guess we'll look at separate parties as they get older. Even if that is going to be harder. Having twins is harder than having a singleton. I know, I've done both. And just because they happen to share the same birthday and the same parents, doesn't mean they are the same person. They deserve their own present/seat/punishment/shirt, etc. There are clothes that only Pirate wears and ones that only Professor wears. They have their own shoes. They have their own coats. Their own car seats. And they definitely have their own personalities. They are unique.

The time alone with each twin is a tough one for me. It's hard for Butterfly to get alone time with one of us. I figure this will become easier as they get older. (Most things will become easier...right?!) This afternoon, however, Juice and I were able to spend almost 2 whole hours with Professor while his siblings were sleeping. I don't know why he didn't sleep as long, but it was fun to sit with him on the couch and eat crackers. He is one industrious little boy. He motors around to every thing and always brings me things to see and exclaim over. He is happy. He is sunny. With everyone else, however, he is often cross and sensitive. After dinner tonight, I was noticing that Professor will go find himself something to do and be quite happy with it. Pirate looks at Professor and takes whatever he has. No wonder the poor boy (Professor) is cross! He gets his toys taken away a lot.

Being a parent of anyone brings challenges, but I think being a parent of twins brings it's own special needs and challenges. I hope Juice and I are up for it. I think we're doing okay so far.

Safire

Yay He's Home!

Everyone,

Juice is back as of this evening. I'd love to say it's been all roses and flitting fairies, but sadly...no. After a very late dinner (we waited to eat with Daddy), he took the kids upstairs to start the bedtime process. Or so I thought. About 5 minutes later, I heard a thump, a wail, and lots of yelling from Juice. I wisely stayed out of it. There was a lot more sobbing because he apparently got Butterfly crying too.

Once he announced at the top of the stairs that it was bed time, I figured that was my cue to come up. He told me that Butterfly had turned off all the lights upstairs and Professor had walked off of our bed. That would explain the thump and the wailing.

Still, we are all happy to have him home once more.

Safire

Twitch Twitch

Everyone,

I am tired. Not, tired of doing everything, just really really tired. How do I know this? My eye lids twitch when I get really tired. Not only are my lids twitching, my cheeks and my eyebrows are too. I'm that tired.

Why so tired you ask? Today I took the kids to the PRC after a few short hours of sleep. Pirate has a cold and can't seem to lay down and suck his thumb. He does fine sucking it sitting up so I spent half the night propped up in my bed snuggled up to him. He was very happy in the morning to find himself in bed with me. It was also VERY early...about 6am. I kind of muddled through the morning and got to the PRC in time for some play. Of course, Pirate fell asleep before we got there and then only really wanted to be held. Or eat play dough. Still, we had a nice time and they all had great naps.

I did not nap (I should have) but I watched a movie.

After naps, I loaded everyone in the car to run some errands before my evening at the church. We stopped and got dinner (Butterfly's choice...chicken nuggets!) and made it too the church on time. Tonight my girls that I'm in charge of (8-11 year olds) had to pass of some memorization that we'd been doing all year. Depending on what they knew, they got to build a big ice cream sundae. They had a great time and so did I. Butterfly helped with the sprinkles. The boys cried every single time I even got close to leaving them. I don't think they are enjoying nursery. Poor guys.

Everyone was finally in bed by 9:30pm tonight and I should be there too. Good night!

Safire

Frazzled!

Everyone,

I love Juice's job. I just hate it when they send him away. Sure he's working and earning money and all that jazz but he's not up until almost midnight picking things up, then up with small children for HOURS in the night, then back up with them for the day and expected to function! He sleeps in a hotel. By himself. He eats every single meal out. He speaks to adults all day long and looks at cool toys. He comes home with swag. He gets to read his book for hours uninterrupted in the airplane.

Can I please have a business trip?!

Seriously, today was fine. We had school over here today so Butterfly had someone to play with. It's F week and Butterfly and AJ played "Go Fish" for over an hour. Awesome education they are getting, let me tell you! ;) They also colored firetrucks and fish. We read 3 F books, including one on Father Christmas. Then we had a very long question and answer session about Father Christmas and what he does and how parents are involved. Mostly I told them that parents are able to talk to Santa and let them know what the kids want. Butterfly really wanted to know if we stayed up to help Santa eat the doughnuts we leave him. I told her if we're not tired, we might. By the end of the talk, they were both wide eyed and talking about the toys they want. Butterfly informed me today that she wants a Rainbow Bright doll. Do they even make those anymore?

I have 2 more presents to buy for Christmas and then I am done. Things are traveling to people as we speak. There is no Rainbow Bright doll in there though. I think she'll hopefully be so happy with her presents that she won't remember. I can dream, right?!

Tonight's takeout for us was pizza. I could not convince Butterfly that we should have Chinese food. I was sad! I was also sad that Professor pulled the box off the table and dumped half the pizza on the floor. Soot pounced on some of it and ended up with 2 whole pieces...lucky dog.

I did have one crazy thing I did today. I'm enjoying getting some free rentals out of the DVD rental place here in town. I decided that I needed another movie to watch and took all 3 kids to the store at dinner time to get one. Mommy needs some pampering too. If it's a free movie that she can only keep for a day, so be it!

I ended up talking to my Mom for the evening which was nice! She has to pick out her vacations for next year by next week so I've got some deciding to do. Plus, I'm going to be an aunt again! Cappy is going to be a big brother! Yay!

Safire

Day 30...End of NaBloPoMo!

Everyone,

So how did everyone like my 30 days of posting? Do remember that I challenged myself to write every day of December too so you won't stop hearing from me yet!

Juice is in Chicago this week for his annual trip for some trade show. I get to get take out for a week while he's gone. Tonight was Mexican food. Yum! Of course, I seemed to be the only one that ate it...the boys and Butterfly only ate apple sauce and then threw the rest around the kitchen. Not my idea of fun!

I ran about 10 errands today. Some early in the morning after I dropped Juice off at the train station. Some during Butterfly's dance class. Some even after! It just seemed like I had a ton of little tiny things to do. Things that would have been easier without 3 little tag-a-longs. But we made it work. With a lot of bribing. My kids LOVE chocolate. I can get them to do anything with a promise of that stuff. Professor even knows how to say it.

Speaking of Professor, he is my little talker! He says several things now.
Shoes
Cracker
Mama
Chocolate
What's that?
Noodles
Socks
Snowman
Tree
Lights
Pretty
Dog
Woof
Kitty
Meow
Roar
oh no!
No
Block
Baby

Pirate, on the other hand, is still stuck with "uh-oh". He does now say, "uh-uh" when he wants to say no. But other than the few times he's said Daddy, nothing else. I think we always knew at first that Professor would be the talker and Pirate the thinker. For a long time I wondered if I had named them correctly. I wonder if other mothers of twins worry about that. Sometimes I think of how their lives might be different with different names. I don't regret the names they got, it's just something I think about.

Safire

Sunday Pictures, take 12---Proof!

Everyone,

Proof that my mom and I are suckers for these clothes. Who could not be though?! They are simply adorable!

Wish you were here to see them Mom. Butterfly wore her dress ALL DAY LONG and REFUSED to take it off. It was the neatest she's ever eaten anything in her entire life. She cried when she had to take it off for bed. The tears didn't last long because she was putting on her Christmas pajamas from my Mom! :) "Nana clothes are the best," she says. Having gotten a skirt from MY Nana this week, I'd have to agree.

Safire

Merry Christmas To You!

Everyone,

A virtual Christmas card.

Hope your Christmas is as happy and bright as ours!

Pirate, age 1. Butterfly, age 4. Professor, age 1.

For those of you who would like a real in the mail kind of Christmas card, (different picture included!) please leave a comment or email me.

Safire

Decorations!

Everyone,

Today was the day we pulled out the Christmas decorations! There aren't a lot, but it's enough to get me in the Christmas spirit. We didn't get everything all up but we'll do some more tomorrow. What we've put up: lights in the windows, the stockings, the Christmas card holder (with 2 cards from friends! Man they are on top of things.), and the tree. Still to put up: the little tree and the ornaments.

Juice was very good and pulled everything out of the attic, hurt and all. His hand was very swollen this morning. He went to bed early with a seized up neck. Poor guy.

We had the big tree unveiling with Butterfly this afternoon. She said, "Hello there! I missed you!" Juice and both laughed and she said, " I wasn't talking to you, Father. I was talking to the tree." This coming from the girl who used to say good night to the tree every day and prayed for it for months later.

Juice didn't want to pull all the branches down this year. I told him fine. We are not putting any ornaments on it so why bother making it look full? Now it looks like we have a really tall topiary in our living room though.

The boys were enchanted with it. Professor learned a few new words, "Lights! Tree! What's that?" (sounding more like "liiii! Teee! Wasat?" Pirate knew exactly where it was and kept breaking out into a fit of pointing and giggling every time he thought of it. He even played peekaboo with it around the corner. What can I say, we have an awesome tree.

Hopefully we'll finish up this weekend.

Safire

Thanksgiving 2009

Everyone,

A list of 20 things I am thankful for in no particular order:

1. A healthy body. These kids keep me running full tilt and I'm grateful I can keep up with them.

2. A healthy husband. Juice is my right hand, my partner in life, family, and love. Can't do anything without him! Plus, he spent this morning playing football with the guys in the ward and is limping around and I kind of miss having a big physical helper around. :)

3. Brown boxes from home! My parents sent (well, they left it with us) some things to start off our Christmas season. And my Nana, great lady that she is, sent us a box of fun little things.

4. Web cams and Internet. I was able to talk to my family this morning, and Juice is talking to his family now. I love being able to see the person and show them the kids and how big they've gotten! Although, Juice's family won't see the kids because they are sleeping.

5. Friends. We were able to spend the afternoon/evening with my good friend Lolli and her family. We had such a good time and such good food. Thanks Lolli!

6. Music. I love turning on music to suit my moods. I also really miss being able to play my instruments and think I should get out my violin more often.

7. Unlimited long distance. I love being able to call anyone I want any time I want. Awesome!

8. Juice's job. They have been very good to him and I'm so grateful he has stability in it.

9. Soot the puppy. What a cute dog we have. She does great with picking up all the spills and is very gentle with the kids. She plays with me, sits on my lap, has cute puppy dreams, and obeys me. It's great!

10. Family. We have the greatest kids. Our extended family is pretty great too! I love being an aunt, a sister, a daughter, a sister-in-law, a niece, and a granddaughter. I love how all these different titles tie me to different people.

11. Our house. It's tiny. It's often dirty. There are crayons and markers on the walls (thanks Professor) and we don't have a yard or a play room. Or a basement. But it's ours and it keeps us warm.

12. My church. I love knowing where I came from, who I am, and where my life is going. I love the peace that the gospel brings. I love having a relationship with my Heavenly Father.

13. Internet shopping. I really love to Internet shop. In fact, most of my Christmas is from my Internet shopping. I love that I get different points for shopping online and can get free stuff from it. Also, I love not having to take my kids into the store because that's a pain.

14. Cameras. I really like taking pictures. Even though I haven't taken a whole lot lately because my computer crashing because of my 12,000 plus pictures kind of killed my desire to put ANY more pictures on my computer. I still really like taking them. I love looking back on them and remembering how small the kids were, or how small I was!

15. Books. I love to read. I think it's the best kind of entertainment. I don't nearly have enough time to do it.

16. Movies. Sometimes it's nice to just veg out and watch something.

17. Bob the stroller. Seriously, I think I am doing so well with the whole twin thing because of this stroller. What an awesome piece of equipment. It hauls kids and stuff, is warm, easy to turn, and goes through sand amazingly well.

18. Chocolate covered raisins. Yum!

19. Hot hot showers and no water bill. Our HOA pays our water bill. I can take as long of showers and I have time/hot water. This is probably why the kids get into so much trouble while I shower.

20. Diapers. Enough said.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Safire

Check List

Everyone,

I stayed up late talking to my mom tonight for our weekly chat (hi mom! Great to talk to you!) so tonight's entry will be things I did today.

All four of us up, dressed, fed, and exercised. The kids love to do my exercises with me (and get in the way sometimes) and it's very cute. You should see them try and do push ups!

All four of us out at the mall exchanging too small pajamas for not too small pajamas. And seriously, for a children's store, the Ch*ildren's Pl*ace is really NOT stroller friendly.

All four of us out at Ikea on an errand for Daddy. He needed a new lamp. I go there to get the $8 lamp and leave minus $50. Why is that? Butterfly had a grand old time in the kid's play area and then we had lunch there. Yum!

All four of us drive home in horrible rush hour traffic. The kids napped...I did not. The kids were awake when we got home. I was tired. They refused to come inside. We ended up playing outside for over an hour. In this hour the following happened: Pirate made himself a mud puddle and promptly sat in it. I spent at least half of the time trying to wrangle both boys down the street to get the mail while Butterfly fought the remaining leaves off the tree out front. I finally managed to get everyone inside when the sun started to set. It was not without some tears.

All four of us rejoiced when Daddy came home. We had dinner, the kids had baths and then to bed. I braved the store for a few things for tomorrow and a free redbox movie rental. Now to find time to watch it!

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!
Safire