Seeds of Laughter

Everyone,

The much awaited video of me and Lolli. Enjoy!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Can you guys tell that I really want to win this sponsorship? I have now entered in EVERY way possible. So Makeover Momma and SEED, pick us! I want to celebrate my birthday with you in New York.

Safire

Interrupted

Everyone,

So. No HILARIOUS video of me and Lolli today. Sorry. Just didn't get it done with all the other stuff I did today.

Want to know what I did?

3 loads of laundry (washed, folded, put away...my mom would be so proud)
2 huge pizzas for dinner...all topping prepped and crusts made by hand
homemade ranch dressing, also for dinner (and super yummy!)
cleaned the living room
vacuumed
swept
(no mop because mine is out on loan)
cleaned the paper table up, opened bills, shredded stuff, threw away a lot
made my bed
worked at least 4 hours today for my brother
2 big bowls of popcorn made

Want to know HOW I accomplished such an amazing list?!

Lolli loaned me her 10 year old.

It was awesome. I need to get myself one of these. Necco helped Butterfly pick up the toys, played with the boys, made everyone lunch, enjoyed crazy kid movies with Butterfly and fed Soot buttered popcorn. I had an amazing day with a little bit of help. Thanks Necco and Lolli!

This also brings to mind the last 2 summers when we've had Flower, my niece, stay with us. (We've had numerous people stay with us...Flower has been visiting us the most.) I miss those days of not changing every single diaper and going back to bed in the morning if I want to because I know Flower is there with the kids.

Flower will be with us again this summer! Except this time, instead of staying 4-6 weeks, she is staying the ENTIRE summer. I am so excited I can't contain myself. I think she is as equally excited. It will be so nice to be able to run to the store during nap time or have an extra set of hands when someone *coughProfessorcough* is feeling extra needy.

It's so nice to have friends and family who care about your sanity enough to risk their own.

Safire

Earth Hour 2010- From SEED to sapling

Everyone,

This past Saturday at 8:30pm found Juice and I (and the kids who were asleep) sitting in the dark. While it's not unusual for us to turn off the lights on a Saturday to watch a movie or something, this Saturday was different. We turned off the lights as part of the World Wildlife Fund's global Earth Hour.

What is Earth Hour? According to their website, it is an hour when millions of people, governments, etc, around the world come together to make a statement about the climate by turning off their lights for one hour.

Not just people are doing this. Governments are turning off spotlights on their buildings. The Las Vegas strip turned off their lights for an hour. See this cool video slide show from last year.



At the last minute, Juice and I decided to participate. It was kind of cool to feel like we were part of the millions of people also sitting in the dark. I saw a lot of people with candles (you can send in pictures of what you did that hour) and those cool glow in the dark necklaces that Butterfly loves so much. We joined over 4,000 cities in 125 countries that sat in the dark for an hour.

Yes, I realize that an hour is probably not going to do much to globally impact the world. It really didn't do much for us but made us cheer when we turned the lights back on. It also made us realize that we should really find all of our flashlights. It was a preparedness reminder. Next year I'm going to make it fun for us and have a candle light dinner. And flashlights. With working batteries!

This is the 3rd year that they have been doing this Earth Hour and it's grown very rapidly. From this, Mt. Rushmore has decided to turn off it's lights starting at 9 pm, instead of 11 pm every day. They are making a progressive change in their business style. So it got me thinking about what kind of change I could make in my own life for the environment.

As I got to thinking about it, I've already made my own change. I've been using the SEED shampoo bar for over a week now and I seriously love it. But what does this have to do with the environment? Well, the bar has a smaller ecological footprint than the big liquid bottles. They don't have plastic packaging, use less water to make and cost less to ship. They are made right in the USA. Their packaging is 100% biodegradable. Plus it makes my hair more fluffy and shiny. That's my favorite part.

It may be a small change. A tiny change, in fact. Just like us turning our lights off in the house for an hour was tiny. But every drop in the bucket counts. And sooner or later, that bucket is going to fill.

So I'm glad to be doing my part by putting my tiny drops in the bucket one at a time. And I look good doing it too.

Safire

PS- TOTALLY check my blog tomorrow afternoon for a HILARIOUS video staring myself and Lolli. Seriously, it's worth watching!

PPS- Written in hopes that SEED and Jen from Hip As I Wanna Be will pick me for a sponsorship to BlogHer 2010. Pick Me SEED! I really want to go and celebrate my 30th birthday with you.

Question of the Week: Twin Advice

Everyone,

This week's question of the week at the Multiples and More site is about advice.

What is the best and worst advice you have ever received on raising your multiples?
I have honestly gotten a lot of good advice from pregnancy and beyond. I am lucky to have a hugely active local multiples club. If I ever have any kind of question, I only need to ask those parents over there and I'm sure I'll get a few awesome answers. Between this club and my own mom, I think I get a lot of great advice.
The greatest advice I ever got with the twins was on the day that we found out we were having twins. The doctor supervising the ultrasound was one I knew really well. I knew he had twins of his own. He was explaining what we were looking at and measuring those 2 heartbeats. They were amazing to see on the screen. After he was done with the ultrasound, he looked at me and said, "You know I have twin sons who are 11, right? Those first weeks are really hard. Get help."

Juice was in the ultrasound with me and we spent the 45 minute drive home talking about what he said. It seemed like a good idea so we began to plan how we could have help. And who we could ask to help out.
My parents were planning on coming for the birth this time, and staying 2 weeks to help those first crazy days. Plus, we needed someone to stay with Butterfly. Sadly, they missed the boys birth by 1 day. But they were able to stay 2 whole weeks drinking in the brand new baby stuff.Then my in laws came to stay with us for one whole month. It was amazing to have another set of hands around. They bailed me out of a dead car, celebrated Butterfly's 3rd birthday with us, and had a fun time with the babies. They were a big help!My parents came back for the boys church blessing, and brought my niece Flower along with them. She was 14 at the time and had come to spend a month with us. We had SO much fun with her. We went all over and she was a gem. She changed diapers, cleaned up, took Butterfly to the park, watched movies over and over and over with her, and then watched movies at night with me holding babies.
Once she left, we had 3 weeks without any help. Holy cow. I thought I was going to die a few times. If it wasn't for my friends here, I don't think I would have kept my sanity.

After those 3 weeks, my cousin Bee came to stay with us for 3 weeks. She was a lot of fun too! She was 15 and had never really even held a baby before. But boy she did a great job. Butterfly especially loved her fun spirit and cool games she cooked up.
Bee's family came to pick her up and have a mini vacation with us for a week. Honestly, by this point the boys were 4 months old and had been hauled over the greater Washington DC area. They were great travelers and we had fun being tourists together. We also got photographed by Japanese tourists several times and I can just imagine what they tell their friends when they show them the pictures.
I flew to Utah with my kids and Bee's family. Juice had work to do so he couldn't come along. Then we spent almost 6 weeks at my mom's house. This was heaven. I loved having my parents around to help out and to see all of my friends in Utah.

Once I flew home (with Juice), the boys were almost 6 months old. They were a lot easier. They were over that scary newborn phase and were sleeping 16 + hours a day.
I think I took my doctor's advice seriously, and I really do believe that it was my key to having sanity while they were so tiny.

The worst piece of advice I think I've gotten from strangers. Mostly it's little stuff. But things they say in passing without even knowing who I am or what I do. If I dress them the same, they say "You should never dress twins alike!" Never mind that my boys are completely different physically. If I don't dress them the same, "You should always dress twins alike! How fun is that??" "You should have those kids in bed." "You shouldn't feed them that!" "You are shining the sun in their faces! Get a hat on those kids!" "You're making your kids too hot! Take those hats off!"

Seriously, strangers should keep their mouths shut. But there's something about twins that makes people just want to talk to you.

My best piece of advice for moms of any kind is to take things in stride. This is advice I try to give myself every day too! I see other moms with older kids and see how different their lives are than mine. Each stage has it's challenges and joys. And I intend to enjoy them all!

Safire

Feeling Much Better

Everyone,

After a rough night for me, I am feeling much better. Juice promised me I'd be able to sleep in today too. Yay! I love sleeping in. It rarely happens.

Today just didn't seem to be one of those days that it would happen either. Juice woke up feeling all icky and awful too. Rats. Add an upset stomach to allergies, and he is one happy camper, let me tell you.
So even though I still felt like I had a slight fever and the chills, and even though I was all achy in my joints (hips especially), and even though Butterfly had already gotten in trouble 3 times this morning before 8am, I got up. I got them dressed. I got them breakfast. I took them to their Easter Egg party at church. I took all 3 kids to the store. I got them lunch on the road. All so that he could sleep and maybe be a person when we got back.

My martyrdom is amazing.

No seriously, he really was feeling ill. And I was feeling maybe 60%. You can totally function on 60%. And as the day progressed, I felt much better. Even better after a hot dog at the 100 dollar store. I figured if I puked in there, they had huge flats of paper towels and could totally pick it up.
Besides, if we hadn't gotten up, I would have missed this face.
And I wouldn't want to miss that!

Safire

Is it Really Friday?

Everyone,

Today was a strange schedule day. Juice went to bed really early last night (allergies, poor guy) and then left super early for work this morning. He was also home by 10:30am too. I love it when he has short days.

I took the kids over to Lolli's house to play. We brought them lunch and played through nap time. We had so much fun!

When we got the kids home and everyone to bed, I started to feel ill. My belly has been aching a little the past few days. Today it just took over. I thought maybe I needed a nap myself so I took a short on on the couch.

Then I woke up with a fever and all achy. Ugh. The kids got to watch another movie (a big treat for them!) and I laid on the couch moaning. Juice went off with the missionaries tonight. It took me almost an hour to get the boys dressed and ready for bed. There was lots of resting on my part.

I hate being the mom when I'm sick. All I want to do is lay there and sleep. Sadly, it doesn't work that way when you're the mom.

I hope I'm better tomorrow. We have a fun day planned and I'd hate to miss it!

Safire

Give Me Your Best Shot- Hospital take 2

Everyone,

This week for my friend Lolli's Give Me Your Best Shot meme, I thought I'd do the best shot that I took on my little camera. In total, I think I have 3 cameras. My nice big one, my old point and shoot (which groans sadly whenever you turn it on) and my little underwater camera. I just keep the little underwater camera in my coat pocket and take pictures when I can. It's also the main camera I use in the summer near water and in the winter near snow. I like it. It's also the camera I take all the videos on until I save up for a flip camera (I've gotten almost 100 dollars at Amazon. For free! Earned by doing normal internet searches from Swagbucks. Sign up and you and I will both benefit!)

Now, I maybe upload the pictures on there once a month unless there's a video I want to show off. This past download included a few pictures I took of Pirate in the hospital waiting room (before we went to the triage of eternal waiting) and a video of him playing. It also included this picture:



Here is my brave boy about half an hour after his surgery. He still looks a little drugged. But he was smiling just a little bit. Notice his beloved blanket (which had to be washed today, the horror!) and his cute green pjs for St. Patrick's day.

Any cool pictures you've done this week? Link up!




Safire

Butterfly's Dance Class

Everyone,

Last week was Butterfly's last dance class for the season. I decided not to do it for the last session. Why? Because that is the session that they are preparing for their recital. They will pick out their little costumes and learn a little routine to do. It would have been so cute! Sadly, we are going to be in Utah during the recital. I didn't want her to go through picking out the costume, learning the steps, and getting all excited to tell her she can't do it. I don't think that would have gone over very well.
So. She's not taking dance class any more. But she will start swimming here in about 2 weeks. That should be fun!
The parents were asked to come in and watch this time and I took a bunch of videos. They practiced leaping over a bean bag and after every leap, she turned and mouthed to me, "Did you take a picture?!" So I have a ton of videos of her leaping.



Here she is talking to me instead of paying attention. I think her teacher had to tell her 4 times to pay attention. I am a big distraction, apparently.


She had a really good time with it. Even with her saying every single week that she didn't want to go. She always enjoyed seeing her little friend G. And hopefully, G will be joining us for swim lessons!
I think Butterfly would love to have a friend there with her. In fact, we missed them so much on Monday that we spent today day playing at their house. Can you believe these girls are only a week apart?

Safire

Toddler E Week Preschool

Everyone,
It's E week here at our house. Today in our little school, we had a good time. I figured Butterfly needed some help with her scissor skills so we read Chick a Chick a Boom Boom and cut out coconut trees. My original plan for having them write their own E's up a coconut tree did not happen because of 2 very naughty boys who are almost 2.I also boiled about 20 eggs for them to dye. 2 of them cracked (hello lunch for the boys!) so Butterfly and her friend AJ had about 18 left to dye how they wanted. Boy was this exciting. More exciting to Pirate than anyone. He laughed and clapped so big whenever we pulled a colored egg out of a cup.

He sure looks like he had surgery less than a week ago, huh?

Professor was more interested in dismantling any egg he could get his hands on. The puppy got at least 2 eggs that way. Both Butterfly and AJ loved deciding which color to put the eggs in and got very creative with 2 colors.
In the end, we had quite the rainbow of colors. They were beautiful to look at. And pretty fun to eat too! We had eggs for lunch too. Yummy!

This blue made the most vibrant color!


Safire

Going Green with Seed

Everyone,

With last week being St. Patrick's Day and all the spring green coming out in the plants, I've been thinking about what I'm doing to be green as well. I think being green is not just using less energy (although we've been trying to do that too...just got our power bill, yikes!) I think it means using a lot less chemicals in our lives.

One of the main ways I've tried to cut back on chemicals is how I wash my face. I'd say over a year ago, I had had enough of the endless stream of horrible break outs. My skin has been bad since I was a teenager. Honestly the only time I've ever felt like I had clear skin was when I was pregnant.

So I started to do a lot of research. I'd done the prescription med thing in the past. It worked, but I really didn't like it. I've tried over the counter stuff (almost all of it) plus mail order stuff. It worked for awhile. I hated how they made my skin feel though.

A blog I read talked about using oil to clean her face. What?! I spent about 3 months researching it out, and started doing it. I figured I had nothing to loose. And after about 2 months of the worst break outs I've ever had (called the detox period) I've had smooth soft skin ever since. What do I do? About once a week I take 20 minutes and give myself a facial with a mixture of oils: castor oil, grapeseed oil, and sunflower seed oil. I rub it in, steam my face, and wipe it off. I only use water to wash daily now, and I use sunflower seed oil to moisturize. It's been an amazing change in my skin!

One thing I wanted to try was doing something similar with my hair. I never could bring myself to do it though. It's one thing to mess with your skin, it's a whole other thing to mess with your hair. I could never go shampoo free but I'd like to.

Instead, I'm trying this: SEED Power. I like the fact that it has grapeseed oil in it, the same stuff I use for my face. I like that it isn't in a bottle. One less thing that I have to recycle. It lathers well. And although I've only been using it for a few days, my hair seems a tiny bit shinier.

I'm feeling greener already!

Safire

PS- This was written in hopes of getting a sponsorship to BlogHer '10 through Hip As I Wanna Be and SEED. They didn't give me anything to try...I gave it to myself.

Question of the Week: Intuition

Everyone,

This week's question of the week at Multiples and More is about intuition.



Do you believe in Mother's/Father's intuition? Give some examples.

I think that what people call intuition is what I call promptings of the Spirit. I think that there is something inside us all that tell us things if we listen hard enough.

That being said, I don't think I listen as hard as I could. But sometimes I get the message. Like this past week with Pirate's surgery. Two weeks before, I had the thought that I really should write down when I saw his hydrocele and what it looked like. It was because of that piece of paper that his doctor went along with his surgery and found a hernia we didn't even know about.

I think sometimes intuition or the Spirit tells you things that you don't exactly want to hear either. When we moved here from Utah, it was a huge leap of faith for us. But it seemed like this was the right place for us to go. Things just fell into place for us to be here. And it fell into place for us to be in this house. But I told Juice that I only wanted this house to be temporary. My time line was to move someplace else when Butterfly turned 5. I didn't want her to go to the local school.

But we could never feel right about moving. I looked into some private schools. I looked into homeschooling. And then, school boundaries changed and we ended up in another school. I still only wanted this to be temporary. But for some reason we need to be here. I'm trying to trust that.

Safire

Things We Do for Fun on Saturday

Everyone,

Today was a big day.  We had lots going on.  But isn't that always the case for a Saturday?

We started the day of splendidly by going to bed after midnight last night.  Juice is building a bridge and I was doing that work for my brother.  Yes, Juice is building a bridge.  Technically it's a truss.  He's explained it all out to me and I nodded in the appropriate places.  :)

Also today I took another big step with my new blog.  It should be coming up by mid-May (or sooner!) so be on the look out for updates with that.  I am so excited to have a permanent place online.  You guys will come and see me over there, right?  Especially since once I do move, I'm not going to update this blog again.

We got all dressed up in our pjs and headed over to our favorite ice cream place for PJ day.  We all got free ice cream (even the dog) and chatted with several of our friends that were there.

Juice had a meeting at church tonight and I fed the kids nachos and applesauce for dinner.  Everyone also got a bath.  Pirate no longer smells like the hospital.  I'm sure he feels better too!

Once Juice got back, it was time for me to run to the store.  We have had no breakfast stuff for about 3 days now.  We ran out of cereal, oatmeal, eggs, everything.  A quick trip and now we are set to eat breakfast again!

The rest of the night has been spent making a bridge (Juice) and working (me) and listening to Professor cry because he can't breath.  Yes, we are all coming down with lovely colds and I'm so excited for the summer and no sicknesses!

Now it's late and I should sleep.

Safire

Give Me Your Best Shot- Hospital

Everyone,

Today I have another picture from the hospital. Okay, I have 2 that are really good.


This week's challenge at Give Me your Best Shot is Straight Out of the Camera. These two pictures of Pirate at the hospital are a little dark, but they are straight out of the camera.

I wanted to put up a picture of his cute little gap in the back of his little gown but thought better of it. (Why is it cute on a 2 year old and horrible on adults?!)

He's doing okay today. His left side is a maze of big purple bruises. He keeps sitting down suddenly and grabbing his left knee/leg and crying at random moments. Sadly, that has not stopped him from climbing. Just this morning I found him in the bathroom sink. As in, his whole body is in the sink and he is incredibly pleased with himself. Yesterday he climbed up on top of the computer desk in my living room and broke one of my figurines that was on a shelf above the desk.

I am so happy that spring is almost here and summer is not far behind. These kids need to get out of the house and climb on something legal!

Safire

Poor Kid

Everyone,

After unsuccessfully keeping him down yesterday and this morning, I think he woke up from his nap sore. He was cross. He only wanted Mommy. So we all sat and watched movies this afternoon and he peed all over me. (His diaper is worn looser because of where the incision is...and it's prone to leaking. He had to have 3 outfits today because of it!)

I've been very on top of the whole pain medication thing. I can tell when we're getting close to the next dose though. He starts to get really cranky, cries a lot, and big circles show up under his eyes. Poor baby! I hope that he starts to feel really better soon because I'm really hurting to see him hurting.

This morning I went to get them out of their cribs and he said, "Uh-oh!" So I went over expecting to see something (not sure what now) and he looks up at me and said, "ow!" and started to bawl. It was so heart wrenching. I swooped him up (soggy pjs and all) and just held him and rocked until he stopped crying.

This also put out Professor who is used to spending all morning in my arms and he was cross and cranky with me too. And Butterfly was so sweet this morning petting Pirate's head and getting him toys. But the sweetness wore off and by the evening she was a whining mess. I know she just wants attention. They all do. But sadly, Pirate needs me the most. Right now, the rest will have to deal.

I took Professor to the store with me this evening after Juice got home. What a good little boy he is! I guess I never realized how well behaved he is for me. He just stays really close, follows me where ever I go, and is happy not to touch things. It's so funny to me that I'm JUST noticing this with him. I guess when I go out I'm so worried about keeping everyone in line, I didn't realize that I didn't need to keep him in line. A fun discovery.

The last of our huge snow pile melted today. The crocuses are blooming and the grass is greening up. It won't be long till all the trees are in bloom and spring will be here. It's been over 70 degrees the last few days. So beautiful! I'm hoping that we'll make it to see the cherry blossoms in full bloom this year.

Safire

Pirate's Surgery

Everyone,

Today is St. Patrick's day. And my mom's birthday! Happy Birthday Mom! And my aunt's birthday! Happy Birthday Aunt! (March is a big birthday month for us.)

Everyone is wearing green today except for Pirate. He may be feeling a little green, but he's dashing in his little blue gown.

Today is the day of his surgery. He has a hydrocele, which is basically fluid moving from his body to his testicle area. That's no good. So off we went to fix it.

Since it is a surgery, he wasn't able to eat or drink anything starting the night before. His surgery was scheduled at 9:30am so at 8:30am, we show up as requested.

Then we spent an HOUR in the waiting room. He was a jem. They had a few toys to play with. Those little wooden roller coaster things are a lot of fun if you have nothing else to do! He also got a hospital bracelet that he kept trying to pull off. Finally, close to the 50 minute mark, I pulled out my ipod and played some kid movie for him. Of course, I forgot my headphones in the car so it was a silent movie.

Around 9:30 am, they took us back into the triage area and asked me a ton of questions. They gave him that adorable gown and then we waited for the doctor. And waited. And waited. He was a doll again. I put Cars on the ipod for him and he carried it around or sat in my lap and snuggled. He wasn't interested in any books. His thumb was in his mouth constantly. Poor hungry kid hasn't eaten in over 12 hours at this point.

The nurse came back in and chatted with us for awhile. Apparently the surgery before us was more complicated than expected. They put the next surgery in the triage room next to us.

Around 10:45 am, we finally started seeing people. The anaesthesiologist talked to me about what they were going to do. He showed me the mask. He said they would put in some kind of block in his tail bone. It's like an epidural. He won't be able to feel his legs really well.

The doctor's associate came in to check him. Huh, no sign of that hydrocele or a bulging sack. He went back to confer with the doctor. They had me gown up and he walked right into the OR. As I put him on the table, he just hung onto my hand so tight. He was not scared. I was! The doctor talked to me about how often I notice the bulging (every day) and when it's the biggest. I was able to hand him my tracker sheet about when I noticed it and how often. Boy am I glad I wrote that down! He nodded, gave it to the nurses and said, "Prep him."

Pirate did not cry as they held the mask over his face. He just stared into my eyes and then drifted off. So peaceful. What a mellow boy we have. We walked into the OR around 11 am.

I'll admit, it was hard to leave the OR and his little limp body on the table. He looked SO tiny as they all started to work around him and they took me out of the room.

Now it's 11:45 and I am sitting in the waiting room listening to other kids run up and down the hall.

*********

I wrote the above at the hospital center. Now we are home. The surgery went well. There was a small hydrocele and they closed that off. There was also a small start of a hernia and they fixed that right up. They also cleaned out excess fluid and sewed him back up. Seriously, took maybe half an hour. They brought him out to recovery and he was already awake when I got there.

He was not happy with me though and didn't want to be touched or looked at. I went and made our follow up appointment and left him with his nurse. Everyone was super nice at the hospital and really helped out.

Once I got back to the recovery room, he was ready to see me and be picked up. They gave him some kind of spinal block similar to an epidural so he couldn't move his legs. He just lay limp in my arms and sucked his thumb and held onto his blanket. (They even made note of which thumb he sucks and didn't put any IVs on it.) About 10 minutes later, the nurse offered him some juice. He downed it. Then she gave him a Popsicle. That was gone in a matter of minutes. She gave me all of our discharge instructions and had me look at his incision. It's only about as long as my pinkie. They put stitches on the inside (?!) that will dissolve so no worries about him picking at them. They also put some sort of glue on the outside that will dissolve in about 2 days.

He got another Popsicle and a bunch of stickers and off we went. He was very content to have his Popsicle and get the other kids who were at Lolli's house for the morning. When they got into the car with him, Butterfly said, "I haven't seen you in a long time! I missed you!" and gave him a big hug. Aww! Professor also pointed, babbled a lot, patted his leg, and smiled. It could be because he still had a Popsicle but I'm choosing to believe that it was because he missed him too.

He took a great nap at home, and has been bouncing off the walls ever since. The doctor told me to restrict his activity for the next 2 days. In the 2 hours he was up, I was ready to tear my hair out and he was pretty frustrated too. Tomorrow and Friday are going to be fun, I can tell.

Safire

Bigger is Not Always Better

Everyone,

Before we had kids and we had money to spend on frivolous things for each other, I bought Juice a mechanical dinosaur. A raptor. It's interactive. When you turn it on, it growls, sniffs around and can follow things. (No picture because it's way late (again!) and I don't want to find it/take a picture of it.)

Soot (our dog) thought it was a being of great evil descended on our household. She barked loudly at it but also ran from it a great deal. We named it Bunny.

It also came with a tiny version of itself that walked. It was Juice's toy for a long time, but then it somehow became the kids' toy. The dinosaur, which Butterfly named Bob, is very sought after in my house. Professor really loves it and calls it a "rarrr".

The other day, Juice decided to bring down Bunny to show the boys. They had never seen the big one before. Professor had been hauling around his "rarrr" for a few days at that point. When Juice showed him Bunny, he threw down Bob with a resounding thud.

You could just see him look at the one in his arms, and say, "Yours is bigger! I'll take it!"

Then Juice flipped the switch and Bunny roared. Poor Professor ran sobbing from the room and won't go near Bunny now. (He still loves the little dinosaur.) Bunny is on the top shelf in our closet and he will go over to the closet and point and talk about the big one. But don't take it down! He likes to look at it from a distance.

Pirate thinks Bunny is great. We had to tell him that Bunny was tired and needed sleep or he would play with him all day. Pirate has also made up his own sign for sleep because of this conversation that I have repeated at least 30 times. He lays his head over to the side and sighs really big. Yes, sleep!

Speaking of signs, Pirate says very few words still. He signs A LOT though. And most of them he's thought up himself. Other signs he knows the "proper" way of doing is eat, drink, cereal, more, all done, milk, car, mommy, daddy, baby. It's amazing what you can say in a day with those 10 signs.

Safire

Staying Up Too Late

Everyone,

I have gotten into a very bad habit of staying up way too late at night. That makes me super crabby and uncooperative in the morning. Which makes the kids clingy and whiny. Which only compounds my mood. It's a nasty cycle. I really should go to bed earlier. But here I am, after 11:30pm, still up!

This past weekend, I was also up at this hour, but doing something much more fun than blogging and working. I was meeting a ton of new bloggers at Momz Share. What is Momz Share? Momz Share is a series of events, held quarterly and hosted by a different, D.C. Metro Region blogger. Lolli and I went armed with our treats to share and our cameras to take pictures. She took all the pictures, I didn't take any. I joked with people that I travel with my own photographer when Lolli and I hang out. And it seems we do everything together lately. :)

Jen (Hip as I Wanna Be) and Lara (Chicken Nuggets of Wisdom) are the founders of Momz Share and are so much fun! There was tons of food, tons of prizes from some awesome companies, and lots of really great conversation.

I was so excited to meet Jessica from A Parent in Silver Spring. I have been reading her for a long time and I knew we could be friends. And I think we kind of are now! As much as friends who read each other's blogs and have met once. I think I spent over an hour talking to her and Lolli. (See her blog for a picture of the 3 of us.)

I had so many interesting conversations with so many people. Sadly, I totally missed winning a prize by only a year each time. Rats! The winner was picked by who was blogging the longest. I said 6 years, the other gal had 7. But looking back on my archives, I have totally been blogging for 7! Plus, all those years (3) of having an "online diary" at iparenting BEFORE blogs became easy and popular. That makes 10 years of putting my story online.

Now I sound totally nerdy. But this nerd is having a great time meeting all these amazing bloggers!

Safire

QOTW: Daylight Savings

Everyone,

Happy Sunday! Happy Pi Day! Happy Birthday to my nephew Captain! He's now 2 years old.

It's a happy day here at our house.

And to go along with that happy day, is a question!



What are you tips/tricks for handling daylight savings time?

Honestly I think daylight savings time is stupid. I guess it's supposed to save us some energy or something? Either way, it's annoying to remember to change the clocks. I hate fall more because it's hard to go through the entire clock to go one hour back.

We don't do anything here to adjust. The kids still nap at their normal Sunday time (which is after church around 3pm) and we still have dinner at our normal time. I don't feel like I'm missing out on any sleep (except I was out late last night!) so I see no need to change at all.

I don't think the kids are having much a problem adjusting this time around either.

Safire

edited to add: The boys and I took a 3 hour nap after I wrote that. They are going to bed almost 2 hours late. So much for not needing any adjusting!

Sucess at the Consignment Sale

Everyone,

This weekend was that time of the year!  Twice a year my twin moms group puts on a huge consignment sale.  This morning was the spring sale.  I didn't get my act together soon enough to sell anything, but I'm always ready to buy something!  So here's the breakdown:

1 dress for Butterfly (which she stuck her tongue out over and refuses to look at)
6 boy shirts (really, I don't need more shirts but these are so cute!  Baby Batman and Cookie Monster were involved)
8 boy shorts
3 pairs of boy shoes (yes, three.  2 pairs of water socks [Professor has worn them to nap he loves them so much] and a pair of sandals.  I couldn't find another pair of the same sandals so I'll have to actually buy those first hand)
1 pair of Butterfly sandals.  Too small.  Sad.
6 books (I am such a sucker for books)
1 DVD
1 set of lacing cards for Butterfly's Sunday bag

All in all, I spent around $80.  Awesome!

My friend Lala slept in the car while I shopped during the member time.  Then we stood in line forever and chatted.  We got her daughter some very cute clothes and a really sweet little white Easter hat. 

I also saw a few people from my church so I walked around with them while Lala checked out.  She is having her first baby and bought out the sale!  :)  A stroller, an exersaucer, a diaper bag, a boppy pillow, some clothes, a car seat, and a swing.  I hope she's all set for her new baby in the summer.  We had a great time chatting (Lala too) after. 

Last night I spent most of my evening sorting out shoes and having a great time.  I always love going to this sale because it makes me feel so happy after.  Everyone is very helpful and friendly.  And I always love meeting new moms.  One twin mom and I sat and chatted last night for about 20 minutes.  Her girls are only a few weeks younger than my boys so we're going to get together and have a play date. 

For all you local moms, this is an awesome sale!  It's the best way to get gently used baby stuff.  Half of the clothes I saw today were new with tags on them.  The average price for a shirt at this consignment sale is about $2.  I have bought all my clothes at this sale since the time that Butterfly was a few months old.  Sad you missed this one?  Don't worry!  There will be another one in September.  I'll remind you.

Because seriously, this room is stuffed to the gills with kid stuff.  Any kind of toy, clothe, shoe, stroller, gear, anything!

And it's super fun to shop at too!

Safire

I Married Superman

Everyone,

Part of Juice's job is that he goes to the local high school and mentors high school students with their physics classes.  I guess they are building bridges and are very excited to have an engineer to help them out with what they are working on.  Plus, it looks awesome on his resume.

He's got a big list of equations to solve for his homework.  He's also pretty excited to help.  He just loves helping out people.  It's a really great quality of his.  I should know, he helps me out a ton! 

A new class had just come in when it was time for him to go back to his actual job.  One of the girls asks who he is and the teacher introduces him (and the other engineers that were with him).  Juice starts to leave with everyone (they had a meeting) and the girl pipes up, "Come back!  You look like Superman!"

This is the fourth time THIS WEEK that he has been told by strangers that he looks like Superman.  The ladies at the bank stopped him and told him that.  A lady at the grocery store.  Some of the girls at church.  Seriously, he gets it all the time.

He is a pretty super guy.  But I'm not sure I see the resemblance.

Safire 

It's Never Too Early to Prep for the SATs

Everyone,

A few days ago we (Butterfly, Juice and I) were having an in depth conversation about Winnie the Pooh.  Because Winnie the Pooh deserves some deep thought.  Think about it: is it a dream world or reality?  Or is it real because kids live half in the dream world anyway?  Does Christopher Robin have parents?  What happens when he grows up?  Does he ever grow up? 

These are the types of things we talk about while getting ready for dinner.

Butterfly was asking what a Tigger was. 

"T-I-double guh-rrr," I said.

"I know how to spell it!  What is a Tigger?"

"A Tigger is a tiger, honey," Juice tells her.

"No, it's not!"  (All of her sentences end in exclamation points when she's talking.)

"Yes it is.  A Tigger is to a tiger what a heffalump is to an elephant," he said.

That brought stunned silence from Butterfly and me.  "Oh, okay," she said as she wandered off.

"Way to prep her for her SATs Juice," I tell him.

"What?  You don't think that way?"

"No!"

"Huh.  No wonder I test well," he said smugly.  "You can never start too early to think about college."

It's true, he does test well.  Maybe Butterfly will get some of those good testing genes and get into that good college?  Either that or he's going to train her brain to think like an engineer.

Sounds like I better put some more money into her college fund.  Ivy League here we come.  

Safire 

Five Strands of Embroidery Floss Makes Girls Happy

Everyone,

Tonight was the night I go to my church and help run the bi-monthly activities for the 8-11 year old girls. I've been doing a little over 2 years now, and it is so much fun! I've come to know all these girls and watch them mature into beautiful young women.

Our activity tonight was all about making friendship bracelets. We also talked about what makes a good friend. Here is the list they came up with.

A good friend is

• Honest
• Trustworthy
• Fun
• Helpful
• Loving
• someone who really cares about you and cares about you back
• likes to play
• likes to call you on the phone
• picks up your homework when you're sick without asking
• doesn't ignore you on the playground
• picks you on their team when it's their turn to be captain

I think this is a great list. It's something you could apply to any of your relationships, not just your friends. Because I'm sure Juice would pick up my homework for me if I was sick. (I think he did that once in high school. I know he helped me with my homework several times. There's a reason I know the 16th president to this day.)

These girls were so excited to talk about the good things their friends had done or things that they had done to be good friends. Then we got down to the fun part. Braiding! Check out this video of someone else doing what we did tonight.

Did I ever mention that I was a camp councilor for a year? No? Well, it was one of the most fun jobs I've ever had. And these friendship bracelets were HOT. Everyone had them. I taught horseback riding lessons for the summer and we would always pull out the hair in the horses tails to make these bracelets. I still have that bracelet and it's one of my treasured souvenir of camp. I also made one out of the horse's tail that I owned at college. But at camp, these bracelets were our currency. I never did get very many, but I had enough that I was happy with them. This is the easiest way to make a fun and interesting braid. Everyone made at least one and everyone went home with someone else's.

I imagine we'll be seeing these around church for awhile. At least I hope we will! (Especially since this was supposed to be an hour long activity and after 2 hours, we had to kick everyone out. They had a ball!)

Safire

Pretend It's A Seed, Okay

Everyone,

Big changes come in little steps. But sometimes they come in big leaps. Take the earthquake in Chile recently. My Dad was there a week before the huge one hit. He experienced a small pre-tremor that shook the walls but didn't do much else. Life went on as they knew it (and he tasted some awesome looking chili sauce.) But a week later, another earthquake hit that rocked the world. Literally. The country was devastated, but the world changed on it's axis. Our days are just that much shorter now. It's amazing what can happen under stress.

I think people can do amazing things under stress as well. It may start off with some small things, like that pre-tremor that my Dad experienced. It may explode in unexpected ways. It may rock our world and the way we think. Take Rebecca from Seed. She had something she wanted to do. Her desire to "detoxify" her life started off with some small pre-tremors. They inched her towards her own personal earthquake that changed her whole life. She and her husband now own their own line of natural health products.

For me, I feel like I've been having my own set of pre-tremors for my life to change. I may not start my own company, but I will be expanding my blog and therefore my writing. I always wanted to be a writer when I grew up and took several classes to that effect. I've been paid to write a few times in my life, but they've always been short gigs. My blog has been a long term gig (going on 6 years now!) and it's time for it to have it's own earthquake and rock my world.

So everyone hold on, brace yourselves, and get ready for some shaking!

Safire

Written in hopes of getting a sponsorship to BlogHer '10 from Jen from Hip As I Want To Be.

Too Many Things to Think About

Everyone,

Last night I don't think I fell asleep until around 1 am. I just had too many things to think about. And my eyes were too tired to read. And I was too distracted to watch tv. I just wanted to sit and think. So I did. My new blog is done in my head. It is super cute. Now to only get someone to put my ideas onto the web. I can't wait to show you guys at the big unveiling, when I have some free time to put this together.

I took Butterfly to preschool at Lolli's house today. I stayed and played with the boys in the basement (new toys! balls! cars!) while she made kites with the kids. It's K week for preschool. The kites were really cute. But I sat and wrote everything down on a random pad of paper she had. I drew pictures (big for me), colored it and everything. I wish I had some website design skills because I would love to do it myself. I talked to a few guys today about designing it and they cost a whole lot more than I want to spend. So I'll take the few free moments I have in the day and keep searching. I'd love to have this up and running by May.

Other things occupying my brain space: things I need to do on the Internet. Because I've been doing some research for my brother, I have had zero free time on the Internet. But there is so much I want to search and do there. It's pathetic that I have an online agenda.

There also the every day stuff. You know, meal planning, schedule keeping, etc. I have a few big phone calls to make that are looming and I've been putting them off. My poor house has taken the brunt of the thinking and I haven't cleaned it in awhile. How long is awhile? Let's just say that Juice cleaned the toilets last night right before bed around 11pm. He couldn't take it anymore. We've all run out of clean clothes. Maybe I can at least catch up tomorrow morning.

Speaking of mornings, I woke up wide awake at 6am this morning. Just thinking. I will probably be doing a lot of that in the near future.

Safire

Baltimore Bloggy Boot Camp Recap

Everyone,

This was a weekend of firsts for me! I was able to go to my very first conference ever. I honestly had no idea what to expect. I mostly went to go hang out with Lolli and to see what the fuss was about. It's not every day that you get to go to a conference so close to your home! I got wait listed but ended up getting a ticket very soon after. Lucky me!

After we got our name tags, we found out that we were sitting no where near each other. Drat! I ambled my way over to table 9 and did the small talk thing with Evolving Mommy and Sarah. And I took notes! In my brand new personalized notebook for blogging conferences. (Because I'm already signed up for 2 more!) Our first session was run by Scary Mommy, MamaKat from Mama’s Losin’ It! and our organizer, SITSgirl. They were so much fun to listen too! They talked a lot about building your blog and building your brand. This was the first thing to get my mind turning at the conference.

Sadly, I missed some of the talk because of a call from Juice. He took all 3 kids to the hardware store that morning to build rain gauges. They all helped hammer, got aprons, the whole bit. When he got back to the car, he realized that he had locked the keys in the car! Ack! A visit from a locksmith and much money dropped for 10 minutes of work, he was able to drive home. Poor guy. I felt really bad and wished I could go home to him and the kids.

A break for lunch in a beautiful room overlooking the harbor was just what I needed. I had a great time talking to all of my table mates and having some delicious cake.

Our next session involved a table change. Instead of being in the nose bleed section, I got to be front and center at table 4. I was soon joined by another Maryland Mom Blogger, Parenting By Dummies, and Diane from In My Own Style. I learned some things about the PR road map and realized a few more things about my blog. This is where I started jotting notes down in my handy dandy note book about my own blog and things I want to do.

And then, Tara talked about SEO and I decided. Things are going to change with the blog. I think I took the most notes here and got really excited about the change!

After a lovely Jello break and meeting Holly, we got to go back downstairs. This time we picked our own table because there were no more numbers on them. That was fun! I got to sit next to Stimey (who I actually read online) and Michelle who is a nanny to twins! She and I didn't get to talk long enough and I've enjoyed reading her blog. We have a lot in common!

We were given some guide lines from attorney Stacey Ferguson, found @justicefergie, on how to be responsible with product reviews and give aways. And then my brain filled up and exploded.

Seriously, what an amazing conference. I met so many other new friends and have some amazing things to read.

We were able to go out with everyone after. We went to a dueling piano bar (a first for me...never been in a bar before!) but we didn't stay more than 10 minutes or so. It was just too loud. We ended back up at the hotel restaurant for some good pizza and good talking.

The party didn't just stop there. We were able to use the hotel conference room and just sit around talking. So much fun. This was my favorite part of the whole conference. It was like a big old sleep over. But instead of talking about boys we thought were cute, we talked about husbands and kids who are cute.

The hotel kicked us out of the room at around 12 am though. Lolli and I walked back to my car (just a few blocks away) and marveled at how many people were out that late. We got home at 1am and I crashed in my bed.

So. An amazing conference. I totally would do it again and now I'm excited for the other 2 I'm signed up for!

But what does this mean for my blog? Honestly, a whole heap. This blog was only ever supposed to be temporary. Like the move to Maryland was supposed to be temporary. 6 years later, we and this blog are still here. Even though we are no where near being in a permanent home, I feel like the time is right for my blog to move to one. So in the next few months, there will be a big change. I will be moving to a different blog hosting site, a different url, and a whole new look. Wish me luck and I hope you'll follow me over there when I go!

Safire

QOTW: Divorce and Multiples

Everyone,

The question this week is about divorce and multiples.



Do you think parents of multiples are more likely to become divorced? Why or why not?

Honestly, I DON'T think that parents of multiples are more likely to become divorced. Why? Because in any marriage, the key to success is to work towards a common good. And when you have multiples, you have a chance to work towards a common good. Like survival.

• What aspect of parenting multiples have you found to be the most difficult as it pertains to maintaining a relationship?

For me, it has been a lot of loss of self. There has been a lot that I've given up on to have and raise the kids. I am waiting for that self to come back, eventually. Juice said that one of the difficult things for him was to realize that I was not mad at him. I was (am) tired a lot. I'm cranky because I've been running full tilt all day. But I'm not mad at him. It took him awhile to realize that.

• How do you maintain a healthy marriage/relationship?

We go grocery shopping shopping together almost every week. This is advice was given to us on the day we got married by the man who married us. It also means that we take all the kids shopping with us. I think this once a week outing forces us to be together as a family. We also have a babysitting trade with one of our friends. I watch their kids once a month, and they watch ours once a month. That way we at least have some kind of kid free time once a month. It's great!

• If you were to give one piece of advice to a couple who just found out they were pregnant with multiples on how to stay happy together, what would it be?

It's going to be stressful. It's going to be rough. Things are going to get ugly. If not with the kids, with each other some times. Forgive each other. Forgive each other often and freely.

• Do you think the MOST study is accurate?

This study says that 95% of parents of multiples stay together. Honestly, I think this is true. Or maybe I want it to be true. I think that parents of multiples stay together because they have to work together.

Safire

Adventure Time

Everyone,

This morning my good friend Lolli and I are off on an adventure to Baltimore and the SITS Girls Bloggy Boot camp.  This will be my first conference ever and I'm just not sure what to expect.

One thing I do expect to happen is to get lost in Baltimore.  I ALWAYS get lost there.  Even with the GPS.  I don't know why I keep insisting on going to this city but I do.  It always has some interesting things to see.

Safire

The Bestest Day Ever

Everyone,

Tonight Butterfly told me it was the bestest day she's ever had. So what made today so great? What is her formula for having a best day?

Morning: I had a bunch of errands to run this morning. I was going to a friend's garage sale and really didn't want the kids with me. So Juice, super nice guy that he is, stayed home with them and I ran my errands. He said what he did this morning was give her the cereal that she wanted and read books to them for almost 2 hours straight. These kids sure do love books.

By the time I got home, he was ready to go to work and not talk to anyone for awhile. I got Butterfly a new Sunday dress and a few new leggings to go under dresses. She has decided she will not wear jeans anymore. She only wants to wear dresses. Okay then.

We had her favorite food for lunch. Mac and Cheese! We also had some grapefruit juice, and some grapes. The boys went down for their naps right after lunch. She will not have quiet time in her room anymore. She and I watched a movie. (Well she watched, I worked.) I let her have girl scout cookies and conversation hearts while watching the movie.

She helped me make dinner. We had quiche tonight. She was so excited to see Daddy when he came home for dinner. She played nicely with the boys while dinner cooked. She ate 3 pieces of quiche and crowed about how good of a cook she is.

She played nicely with the boys after dinner too. She helped Daddy with the dishes while I put the boys to bed. She and I played games on the computer until it was bed time. We did fight a little over brushing her teeth. She thinks she can brush for a second, spit, brush, spit, brush, spit, etc. We had a good story time.

We even rocked in the rocking chair tonight. This is her favorite thing. She only wants to do it with me. When she was the boys age, this was the only thing we could do for her to get her ready for bed. And I think I rocked her every single night until I could barely move I was so pregnant with the boys. It's something that I can tell she misses. It's a special treat now.

It was while I was rocking her that she told me that this was her bestest day ever. I'm so glad Honey. So, so glad. :)

Safire

Thursdays Thawing

Everyone,

Today the weather was beautiful.  Sunny, warm (ish) and the roads were soaked.  The snow is melting big time.  There are big fields of grass and even the snow beneath the trees is melting.  What is making the roads so wet is the huge 9+ feet of snow that have been piled up on the corners and in parking lots.  That is still hanging around.  Oh, and all the snow in our front yard.  Since we have a northern exposure, that stuff will be there until the boys birthday.  You watch.

Today we were able to go to the PRC for some play time.  We met Lolli and AJ and another friend for some serious playing/mommy talking time.  (Although I never get in enough Mommy Talking Time.  It's just not a good idea with toddler twins.)  The kids love the gravel table.  I hate it because I have to sweep up the gravel that they spill.  And you know they do.  I also watched the boys pretend in the little kitchen they have there.  They washed their hands, put things in pots, sat at the table, said a blessing on their food, and ate it with gusto.  It was so cute.  I imagine we'll be in for another round of colds because there was a fair amount of licking the food that I couldn't stop.

Butterfly was determined to paint today.  She also got paint all over her pants.  Thank goodness she has resource center clothes and I could care less if these pants get ruined.  She has taken to drawing hearts for mouths and it's very cute. 

I was very brave and let Pirate paint as well today.  He takes his art so seriously!  I'm not sure if he ran his fingers through his hair or if he leaned on his painting but his hair was green from forehead to mid head.  I ran my fingers through it once and Lolli caught this great picture.  I can't get enough of this boy lately.  He is growing up so fast and acts like such a little boy.

Professor came over begging to paint once he saw his siblings doing it so we made room for him too.  He also got paint in his hair but I didn't notice until I got home.  He had the white paint today and I honestly don't think I would have noticed that in his hair unless it had been sunny.  I'm excited to go back next week and pick up their first master pieces.

Sadly, no Easter Egg Roll for us this year.  Did anyone else get tickets?

Safire

Big Plans

Everyone,

If you ask Juice to describe me, he always says, "She's a planner." After I get over being called a book that's only good for a year, I realize that he is right. I'm a planner. And I always have been. I love to have things planned way in advance. The kids kind of let me be more of a "roll with the punches" kind of gal but I still love to plan. And want to plan. Juice is not that way. I suppose that's why we go together so well.

This summer is going to be big. I have so many fun plans swirling around in my head. I figured I needed to make a list so why not list it all for the joys of the Internet? :) Feel free to skip it unless you want to know what I've got planned through the rest of the year. (Yes, I'm that kind of planner.)

March- Pirate's surgery is this month. Also, Juice's 31st birthday on the 31st. How much do you want to bet we don't do anything this year.

April- The boys turn 2! We'll go out to dinner. Butterfly also starts swimming lessons again and says good bye to dance lessons.

May- Butterfly turns 5! She wants a swimming party. I told her no. Maybe we can have a sprinkler party. Do you think it would be too cold for that? Also, we are headed to Utah! We'll be there (probably) from the 21st-June 5th. I have many people to see and things to do. Hopefully we'll get to all of it.

June- We return to Maryland with Flower, our niece, in tow. (Hopefully!) Flower will have a part time job around here this time since I don't need AS much help with the kids. There will be berry picking. There will be an aquarium membership to make use of. There will be trips to the zoo, the parks, Mt. Vernon. This is a month I'm really looking forward to. Butterfly will also be starting violin lessons.

July- I think this month we are thinking of taking a weekend away with Flower. Maybe we'll go to the beach for a few days instead of a few hours. Maybe we'll go to Chincoteague and see the wild ponies again. There's also the 4th of July which I'm totally going to talk Juice into taking us down on the mall this year. We'll have Flower, we can manage! After the inauguration, this should be easy! :)

August- I am going on a girl's weekend away with my friend Lolli to NYC. This is my 30th birthday present to me. I'm excited but nervous. Also, we have to send Flower back to her house this month so we'll have to plan something really fun. I know! Let's go see a museum! ;)

September- Happy 30th Birthday to me! Butterfly starts SCHOOL! My parents are coming to visit for a week at my birthday and I am SO excited to have them come out again.

October- Off to the PA Renn Faire this year and a nice weekend away. Also, Halloween.

November- Thanksgiving.

December- Christmas.

Okay, now I'm starting to think I'm strange. A whole year planned out? Already? Well, it is just a rough outline. :) But still, I think time will fly and before you know it, I'll be back planning next year's summer!

Safire

Birthday Season

Everyone,

Birthday season has hit our house. Last week it was my Dad's birthday. Today is my brother's birthday. In 2 weeks, it's my nephew Cappy's birthday. Then my Mom's birthday is a few days after that. Then 2 weeks after that is Juice's birthday. 3 weeks later, the boys' birthday. And 3 weeks after that, Butterfly's birthday. Whew! Talk about packing them in. I switched my calender over yesterday and almost every single day this month someone in our family is celebrating something. (Birthdays or anniversaries for my cousins, aunts, uncles, Juice's family, etc)

Since today is my brother's birthday (Happy Birthday Bro!) I thought I'd share a story about him, MusicMan. I've been trying to think of my earliest memories with him. I vividly remember running after his back at my first elementary school. So I must have been in 1st grade maybe. We were at the bus stop (which was a park) and we were running for the bus.

I remember playing Voltron in our basement. He always made me be the pink girl but I wanted to be the blue boy. My parents had a big folding extra bed that we used to climb into and that was Voltron's cave. It was a favorite hiding place. Also in the basement, I remember the storage room being locked near Christmas time. We tried to plan out ways to pick the lock or look through the wall some how because we were sure our presents were in there. (We were right, the year we got bikes we saw them. Sorry Mom.)

As we got older, I remember playing a lot of Nintendo with him. Well, I did a lot of watching. He was very good at Nintendo. Especially Final Fantasy. I can still vividly see him fighting those three sisters over and over. They were hard!(Us in 1989 with our dog.)

In 1990 in the Mountains in Colorado.

When I was about 10, on Easter Sunday, MusicMan and I were alone in the pew at church. Both of my parents were singing in the choir and were on the stand. So MusicMan and I were alone for that hour (or so) of service. He was about 12. About half way through, he and I were fighting over a hymn book. A full out fight (as much as you can in church) with lots of hip checking and trying to rip the book out of each others' hands. I looked up at my mom for some support and she gave me "the look of death". You know, the one you got when you were in trouble and your parent can't yell at you. Then I glanced at my Dad and I could see him glowering at us too. So I poked MusicMan and pointed up at our parents. We both stopped fighting and smiled angelically up at them. We weren't fighting! No! MusicMan even had the dramatic flair and put his arm around my shoulders to show that we were friends. That satisfied both my parents and they looked away.

That's when he swooped in with the attack. He swung his hand around my shoulders at my face and caught me right on the nose. Which then started to bleed. Badly. I was no stranger to nose bleeds as a kid but I didn't want to get blood on my dress. I remember getting up and trying to get out to the bathroom as fast as possible. MusicMan saw what I was doing and followed me out of the chapel with his arm around my shoulders again.

(Us again in 1991. These are all Christmas time pictures.)

My mom said she knew something was wrong when we walked out like that. And then the Relief Society president followed us out as well and followed me into the bathroom to make sure I was okay. I was fine a few minutes later and no blood on my dress.

I do remember getting into a lot of trouble for fighting in church that day. But probably not as much trouble as MusicMan got into for hitting me in church.

As teenagers, he was ALWAYS late. He was also my ride to school. His first period was drama. No one cared if he was late. By my first period was English. And I was late every day for almost a month. I got detention at least 4 times that year because of tardiness. Which was totally not my fault! I even resorted to pouring cold water on him in the mornings to wake him up. Seriously didn't phase him.

Even with all the trouble that we got into with each other, we've always been good friends. I never worried about being bored at family things because I knew that MusicMan would always be there to talk to or hide out with. Vacations were fun with him. I knew what he liked and he knew what I liked.

I wished we lived closer so that we could be closer but such is life. He is my only sibling and I know that we will always have a connection. I'm glad he's my brother!

Safire

One Day They Will Be

Everyone,

I've been doing some Internet research for my brother. Mainly just looking up different companies and writing down what I find. He gets all the useful stuff. You get all the juicy stuff. This is all the stuff I am thinking when I find these companies.

People name their children HORRID things. Why, oh why, do they name their kid Lewis when their last name is Lewiston? Oh sure, it sounds good together. But it just goes to show you that the parents have no imgination. I am also enjoyed the funny last names like Halfacre, Carpe, and Schauhalter. Also, please stop naming your girl children Candie, Stormie, and Bambi. It makes them sound like strippers that are working for a serious company.

The financial world is run by middle aged men. With shiny foreheads and startled eyes. A note to website developers: if you are going to put pictures of your executives on the website, please get professional shots taken. Do not just bring a point and shoot into the office and get people's heads as they are working. It makes them look creepy.

I also realized that my boys are going to grow up to be middle aged men with shiny heads. My cherubs! They are so cute and snugly now...I better enjoy that while I can.

I expect big companies to have serious people in suits and ties. I also expect less out of companies that deal with food, coffee, exercise equipment, and plants.

Random, I know.

Safire