Two for Twos-day!

My two-some this week is Todd and I! This picture was taken a few weeks ago on our trip to the local free zoo!!!! We were just outside the Japanese gardens!!!


For more twosome fun, head on over to Who says 8 is enough!

This has been a crazy week.

This week has really been something. Crazy from start till now!!! I have some pictures to help explain my way through the week.

This first picture is Kaleb and Kendyl at Costco. We hadn't been shopping in a couple months. Seriously, a couple months. We were down to bare cupboards. So we headed out to costco to stock up on some of the things we needed. Well, half way through the trip I noticed Kaleb was getting sleepy. I turned around to get something, and he was out, on Kendyl's shoulder. We kept shopping, because I figured "atleast he had a soft place to lay right?" Well, she kept rubbing his back, kissing him, and just being really sweet. I tried to get the picture of her doting on him, but she caught on and smiled for the picture. Either way its still cute!!!! The bond that twins share amazes me each and every day!!!!
Then, Monday started off just fine. The day was good. Hot, but good. We had dinner, and were cleaning up. Todd was going to go out and mow, and I was going to fold laundry that was piling up in a mountain in my living room. Todd was clearing the table, and I was washing dishes. And then we heard it. The growl, followed by screaming sobs from Kaleb. Swiffer had bit Kaleb in the face. I scooped Kaleb up immediately and got him on the counter to assess the damage while Todd took the dog away to deal with him. When Todd came back in we asked Kaleb what happened, and he wouldn't tell us. We assessed the wounds together and decided that the cut on his upper lip needed to be seen by a doctor. It had a rather big opening, and looked like a "smile" that would't pull back together nice. I was thinking maybe he needed the glue that they use. So off I went while Todd stayed with the kids. My mom met me up at the ER and we were seen rather quickly. They have a "wound clinic" just for things like this. So we got in in no time!!!

They of course asked the usual questions about the dog, and that's when the truth of what happened came out. We've known for a long time that Kaleb is very aggressive with dogs, cats, any animal really. He is an animal lover. He's in their face, kissing, hugging, etc. And when they asked him what happened, he said he layed on Swiffer to give him a kiss. Well, swiffer was on "who's going to drop something" watch. Swiffer felt pinned, and gave the only warning a dog knows how. I'm not making an excuse for the dog. Its not acceptable. But it wasn't an unprovoked attack. And to answer the popular question, yes we still have the dog, and no, nothing is going to happen to him. The ER thought there was no need to do anything with him since he's a family dog and it was a provoked attack. She felt there was no reason to feel threatened at all. And we whole heartedly agreed.

At the ER, they assessed him, and by that time the swelling had pushed the cut pretty well back together, so it didn't really need anything, but we were there so we had them look. They said that their big concern was the bacteria from the dogs mouth. So they put him on antibiotics for 5 days, cleaned the wounds, and sent us home.

Kaleb did so well. He was amazing. Such a big brave boy! He was flirting with the nurses and was quite the little ladies man!!! It was cute to watch!!!

Here are the cuts. One on the cheek, one on the upper lip, and one just under the inside of the upper lip.

Here's my brave boy waiting to be seen. Didn't want mom or Grandma to sit with him. He wanted to do it alone. . .well, him and blankey!!!
All done. All clean!

He was his normal goofy self by the time we got home, as you can see!!! I took this so we could watch the progression of the bruising.

Then, that night when we got home, Gabe pulled out his other upper front tooth. So he now has the nice big two teeth missing hole!!!

Wednesday was a tough one. I woke up in the morning to Dallas flying up the stairs. He came in and told me that "Gabe just peed on the floor in our bedroom." I was like "WHAT ON EARTH?!?!?!?!" So I found Gabe. Apparently he got up, and was putting his swimming suit on and had to pee so bad, so decided to just whip it out and pee right there. Dallas woke up to the sound of him going. He got a swat on his butt, handed a wad of paper towels, and cleaners, and was told he was going to have to clean the mess himself. I feel like the worlds worst mom admiting what my child did. How on earth could he ever have thought that that was on ok choice?? I really struggle with little boys and their fascination with just whipping it out and peeing where ever they see fit. IN most cases its an out door thing. Still not ok, but atleast its not PEEING ON MY FLOOR!!!!!!

The rest of the day was kids not wanting to listen to me. Thats something we're dealing with a lot this week because of the really really hot muggy weather we can't be outside for long extended periods of time. They're going stir crazy. And its wearing on me!!!!


Last night, like many nights before, Kaleb fell asleep at the dinner table. But last night was different because he actually landed IN his food!!!! I had to take a picture!!!! And in this one, you can see the progression of the bruise on his poor little face.

One of these things is not like the others, one of these things just doesn't belong. .. . . (got that song in your head now????)
And then right after that, Gabe crawled on the couch to watch some TV, and sophie crawled up with him. He and sophie have something special. At the old house she'd crawl in with him and he'd pet her till he fell asleep. It got to the point he NEEDED her to sleep. She would happily oblidge him. Well, now that he's down stairs she's more likely to wait for the twins to fall asleep and go crawl in with them than she is to go down stairs and seek out Gabe. But she still loves to snuggle him, and still has the same effect on him as always. . .. this was less than 5 mintues after she crawled up with him. And as you can see, they're BOTH out!!!!

Todd came home from church and still had to mow the lawn. Since Dallas was the only one awake he asked him if he wanted to help. SO for the first time, Dallas got to have fun mowing. Though he wasn't keen on the push mower, he'd have rather helped daddy on the rider than to have mommy working with him on the push mower!!!!

Tonight we are having Todd's boss and her little girl over. I used to do day care for her little girl, and she and Kendyl were very close. So they're coming to play on the water slide, and then we're going to go down the street two blocks to the parade!!!

Saturday night Todd and I get a WHOLE DAY ALONE!!!! Todd's aunt will be taking the kids for the day, and bringing them back at bed time, and putting them to bed for us! WOO HOO!!!!! So looking forward to that after this week I've had!!!!!

Way back When-sday!

Back to the innocent days. . .. the days where they didn't do things that would make their mommy say "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?" Back to the days where a few simple toys, and a mommy and daddy was all that was needed. Back to the simple days.

This is Gabe just before he turned one, about this time 6 years ago. This picture was needed this morning to remind me of simpler times. . . .What I woke to this morning from Gabe was FAR FAR FAR from innocent. SO I needed the reminder. . .




If you'd like to join in the way back fun, head on over to Twinfatuation.

A tooth goes missing, and a video to share!

And it was on PURPOSE!!!! We did the old tie a string around the tooth and around the door, and then slammed the door! Its a first for us, and it worked!!! Here's the video of it happening!

This was Gabe, and his third tooth. A stubborn one that just didn't want to come out!!! The video is mostly of Gabe and Todd, but Kendyl makes an appearance too!






My favorite is listening to the other kids in the back ground! I loved hearing Kaleb tell Gabe it was going to work, and listening to Dallas and Kendyl.

Terrible horrible rotten no good day.

Ever have a day that feels like that??? That would be my day today. I'm just in a rut today. Not in a good mood by any stretch of the imagination. I had such high hopes for today, and have been let down time and time again.

Tomorrow I start day care for an awesome little man. So I thought today I'd take my kids out and about, and do something fun for the, before the dynamic of the group changes. It will be changing in a GOOD way, and a way I'm happy to have it change, but changing none the less, so I figured HEY! Lets do something today!!!

First, I wanted to go to the Mississippi river park. I figured we'd go with my sister in law and her kids. We made the plans to go before I left for swimming lessons with the kids. While I was there, I got a message that she was backing out because her kids were "too tired." Bummer. What now?

So then Todd suggests the kids and I go down to his pool to swim, providing its not cloudy or anything after the recent rains. Ok, so we plan on that. Todd gets to work, and informs me that once he vacuums the pool it WILL be cloudy from the chemicals that he's put in there in the last couple of days so today wouldn't be the best day to go swimming. Bummer. What now?

I got a text from my sister in law. Turns out she was out shopping with the kids. And I have to admit, I was a little down. Too tired to play, but ok to shop. But, to each their own. After that I was bound and determined to do something with the kids. Especially because at this point the kids were crying. Their plans had been canceled TWICE now. So I said forget it!!! We're going to the park, and that's that. I'll suck it up, and sit alone, and let the kids play. So off we went.

When we got to the park we were happy to see that the splash park had been opened. YAY!! Our first GOOD NEWS of the day!! The kids were happy to get to check it out. We went to the gate, partially expecting it to be locked up yet. NO one was in the pool so I thought maybe it was closed. But it wasn't. And once we were int here, people started coming out of the wood work to play, and splash. But it was COLD! The kids splashed for a while, and then decided they were done. Bummer. Only killed one hour of the day.

We headed home with the intentions to set up the water slide again. (Todd's grandma got one last year on clearance for the kids) So I went through all the work to set it up, get it going, and let the kids have fun at home. Dallas, Gabe, and Kendyl went down once. And then just played on the swings. Bummer. Another back fire.

So we came in, gave the kids a snack, and are now cleaning the house before day care tomorrow. Its not in bad shape, I just want their toys picked up so that I can vacuum, and things put away. I really be they're wishing for the water park now! Because my children HATE cleaning.

I just don't like days like this. Where you have the best of intentions, but NOTHING falls into place.

Oh, and then on top of all of that we got notice from Todd's work about health insurance renewal. We currently have the lowest cost plan. We pay 600 per month for family coverage, and have a 5,000 dollar deductable before they pay ANYTHING. And then they only cover 80%. So we pretty much pay to have NO coverage. But we have to have it for the kids. Incase something major happens. We just found out today that we'll be experiencing a 120.00 per month jump in cost, and our coverage will be staying exactly the same. We could up our coverage to a 3,000 family deductable and 40.00 co pay, but also pay 1,100 per month. WE CAN'T AFFORD THIS!!!! Todd and I talked, and would rather cancel the coverage, since we can't even GO to the doctor because we can't afford the full cost. And of course we NEVER make the 5,000 dollar deducatable. Well, the kids are getting some help with their health insurace from the state. They're enrolled int he "cost effective" health care. They help us pay a portion of the kids' coverage and they help with co pays/deductables, etc. Without that we'd be lost. But because of that, we can't get rid of our insurance all together. They pay a portion of TODD'S insurance, and we have to keep enrolled. It stinks. So we suck it up, and pay more money out of pocket.

I think a great big cry would help relieve the stress, and maybe help things feel a little better.

Favorite pictures for Friday!

I was gonna put these in order, but I'm running out of time before my company comes! So instead I'll just tell you what they are!!!!

My niece Kristen, Kendyl, and Kaleb cheering the boys on at field day!

I don't know what it is, but I love this picture of him!
Dallas after swimming

Dallas being Dallas!!

My niece Kristen

My niece Bridgit

One of the MANY faces of Kaleb!

He's such a ham!

Gabe and sophie have decided they're the best of buddies! Here she is giving him a hug and kiss before he leaves for his last day of school! It was so cute!

Gabe at field day! All the classes tie dyed shirts to match! It was awesome!

The many faces of Kendyl!

I love this one! Look at that LOOK!

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!!!!

First and last days of school this year!!!

Here they are!! The first and last days of school this year pictures!! I'm in shock that today is the last day Dallas will be a second grader, and Gabe will be a first grader! The time is flying SO fast! I'm ready for some time off, and summer break but man it doesn't feel like we should be in JUNE already!!!!

September 2008

June 11, 2009

Dallas:
September

June
He's grown taller, and his face has matured!

Gabriel:

September

June
I can't believe how much TALLER he is now! HOLY COW!! And his face looks so much more mature now!!!! What huge changes!!!

And just for fun, this is my nephew Kyle. Sophie and Kaleb rode with us this morning. Kaleb ask every day to ride with, so I let him today, and Sophie. . .well, she just sneaks in from time to time! My sister in law Sara told my Kyle was a little sad this morning because he was going to miss first grade, and she was happy to see him smiling in this picture! I think maybe Sophie knew just who needed the hug this morning!!!!

Here's to a crazy, busy, happy summer on its way!!!

Way back When-sday!

With the last day of school just one day away, I thought I'd post a picture of my boys on the last day of school LAST year! Man, look how much they've grown in a year! They're both looking so much more grown now days!!!!

Tomorrow I can post the first and last day pictures from this year!! Stay tuned for that!!!



For more way back fun, head to Twinfatuation!

Things that go bump in the night!

Isn't it amazing how as a mom you're very intune to the many things that go "bump" in the night? You sleep light enough to hear the slightest little piggy out of bed, you are awake and running for the stairs when its loud "boom" indicating someone's falling out of bed. You sleep with one eye open when your child is sick, so you can listen for the faintest of coughs, or the smallest of sneezes. And as a mom, its just what we do. . .. right? You get trained for it while you're pregnant. You're puking all the time from "morning sickness" that lasts all day, so you don't sleep. You're sore from stretching muscles and an expanding belly, so you don't sleep. Your babies has started to flutter inside your belly for the very first time, and they're most active at night and you stay up waiting to feel that flutter again, so you don't sleep. You lay awake dreaming of what they'll look like, what they'll sound like, who will they resemble? So you don't sleep. You have to PEE a million and one times during the night, so you don't sleep. All training for that precious baby right???? It trains you to sleep light, and enjoy all that parenthood has to offer.

But in our house, the most common thing to go "bump" in the night is ME!!! I'm four years out (well, almost!) of my last pregnancy, and I still have to pee a million times a night! When will this EVER end!! And of course, as a mom its never as simple as a trip to the potty. Its always "well, as long as I'm up I'll go check on the kids and make sure they're covered. Or, since I'm up the dogs have to go out. Or I lay there thinking about the day before, or the day ahead. Gone are my days of having to get up to feed a baby several times a night, and no one is currently sick so we're good there too. And yet night after night after night I'm awake.

I figured it out. The last time I got a real honest to goodness night of sleep all the way through was the night the twins were born, and I still had the catheter in and didn't have to get up! I remember waking up and thinking to myself "Wow! THAT'S what it feels like to sleep all the way through the night without interruption!!!"


I know its all worth it for my beautiful, amazing little people. But I hope that some day I can get past the point of needing to get up a million times, and feel honestly and truly refreshed in the morning after a good full night of sleep!!!

Two for Twos-day!

This week's two some was taken last week at the park! It was a beautiful day to be outside, and the kids had a blast! This is Kendyl, and my niece Kristen. They are starting to become two little peas in a pod! They love having another little girl to play with in all the sea of boys!!!!


Two for twos-day is from Eight is Great

The good, the bad, and the ugly!

I figured it was time for a general update. Time to get down in writing some of the things that have been going on here, and time to put down some things that I just don't want to forget!!! Its been way too long since I've actually gotten to do just a general update about the family that I think I'm LONG over due!!!

First, we'll start with Todd and I:

We're doing wonderful. Its SO nice to be all under one roof again! Its nice to not have to wonder when he's coming home, or wonder how I"m going to manage to get dinner over to him with four kids in two in the pouring rain, or 2 feet of snow. We're IN, and its what we've worked almost an entire year towards! And its been WONDERFUL to have all the space to spread out in! I can't tell you what a stress relief it is just to have a place for the kids to go where they can be wild, and loud, and NOT BE ON TOP OF US!!! We can tell them to "go to their room" if they've been behaving badly, and they're not just 5 steps away! They can get away from each other, and do their own thing, and something that I find most important, Todd and I can feel like a couple again. We can sit up late snuggling on the couch watching a movie if we feel like it, because we don't have to worry about the noise traveling down the hall to wake up kids! We can let the dogs out, and know that if they come back in and are loud, it will only effect Todd and I! Everyone has their own floor. The twins are upstairs, the boys are down stairs, and Todd and I are in the middle, on the main living level. And its working out really really well for us!!! We're progressing on the unpacking. Well, and of course by WE, I mean ME!! It amazes me how the job of "nesting" always lands in a woman's lap. Yes, I realize we are gifted with the ability to settle things, organize things, and make things feel like home. But man is it a lot of work!!! I find I'm struggling to catch up on all the laundry, while trying to unpack, and I'm trying my darnedest to keep the house clean through all of this. Some days I just have to sit back and shake my head and say HOW DOES IT GET SO DIRTY SO FAST?!?!?!?!! Its amazing to me! I swear there must be little gremlins making the house dirty with the kids. Because surely my kids can't make THAT big of a mess can they???

We're also gearing up for a garage sale. My entire basement is full of things that need to be sorted and gone through for the sale. I have to figure out what's staying, what's going, what price to put on them, and then figure out where to store them until the garage sale. Its NUTS! How do you decide what prices is appropriate for putting on things you'd like to sell? I'd like to go low enough that things sell, but not too low that I'm essentially just giving things away. Not that I don't mind giving things away, but this money from the garage sale will be our "summer money." It will be the money to help us travel up north to a family funeral/get together in July. It will be our spending money if we decide to go camping with the kids. It will be our play money to do somethings we WANT to do. I'm erring on the side of caution with it all, and going on the low end for pricing. I guess in the long run I'll just be happy to see the stuff walk out the door, and not come back!!!


The kids:

Dallas:

Dallas is doing really really well. He has a cold at the current moment, but other than that he's really looking forward to the end of the school year. He's ready to sleep in, and read all day. He's looking forward to swimming, and enjoying the fun things of summer. I can't say I blame him! He's been going all guns out for a while now with school work! Just last week he was in the 2nd grade spelling bee. He was one of 3 finalists from his class to advance (he's in a class of 25) to the whole grade level bee. He did great. He made it all the way down to the top 7. He was given the word "motor". And the way the teacher said it, was "mo-ter". So of course Dallas spelled it "Moter" And when his answer was locked in, he KNEW he'd spelled it wrong, and the tears began to flow. He was so upset with himself, because he KNEW how to spell it!! The teacher let him come and sit with me, and feel better. I think by the time I left he was going better. I just kep reassuring him that it was OK! He did an AWESOME job, and look how far he'd come! He's always been one to be really hard on himself though. I fully expected the tears. I think in someways, after listening to him talk, he felt like he was letting me down because I'd come to watch him. But I was just happy to see how far he'd come, and to watch how great all the kids did!!! Then, that same afternoon the twins and I went to his after school program. It was where he'd learned how to use a green screen, and how to do clay animation. They did a video presentation, and then gave us a copy of the video. The stuff Dallas did was so cute! He has quite the imagination on him!!! He's so caring, and gentle, and sensitive. He's an amazing big brother!!! And he blows me away with how SMART he is!! This little man has a wealth of knowledge stored in his head already! I can only begin to imagine where he can go from here!!!! We've also been able to stop giving him his ADD meds. The doctor had told us that there was a possibility that we would be able to stop giving them to him, and we did. He's doing really well in school, and we're not seeing the melt downs we were seeing as his meds were wearing off!!!

Gabriel:

Gabriel is ready to be done with school as well. He's ready to be a wild and wooly kid. He wants to be loud, and run, and play. And he wants to not have to worry about homework, or working on his reading. He wants to not have the structure of school for a while. This school year has been a really tough one for Gabe. He's really gone through some positive changes over the year. He's ALWAYS been one who's really shy, and will never look someone in the eyes unless he's REALLY REALLY confident about something. We've seen this progress some over the year, which is great. He no longer tries to hide behind me when someone is trying to talk to him, and he's lost some of the shyness. But he continues to be very selfconsious and very very shy. We still struggle with the looking at us while we're talking to him, or he's talking to us. And forget pictures man! You'll never catch him LOOKING at the camera unless its a fluke, or he doesn't know you're taking the picture!!! Gabriel's writing continues to be virtually unreadable, but he's improved some. Its something we'll be working on over the summer. The area that Gabe has really been able to improve in is his reading. He's gone from what they call "pre-primer" or "preschool" level, to now reading ABOVE his grade level, at almost a 3rd grade level! I think alot of this has to do with the addition of the glasses to the equation! We quit patching him during school, since his behavior with the patch on was HORRIBLE. Seriously HORRIBLE. We didn't want him to end the year on that note, so we opted to work on that this summer as well. I'm hoping we'll be able to make great strides in that in the next few months!! I'm just super excited to see progress of any kind in this area though! We still struggle with the messing his pants thing. Holding it, as Gabe calls it, tends to be a big issue still. There are days where we think he's got it under control, and others where we feel like we're back to square one. We've tried all the suggestions the doctors have, and we're now looking at two different options. We'll be talking to his doctor at his well check this summer, and we're planning to ask if it could potentially be something medical making it difficult for him to poop. We've heard from several people that you can get a bend in the intestines/colon that make it very difficult to go. And we know its very difficult for him. We're thinking that, or that there may be something mentally going on in his mind. So we're going to see if she wants to look at the medical route, or if maybe we should be seeking professional help in the way of a therapist. We'll have to see. Gabriel continues to be VERY passionate about his favorite things! I swear to you he's a little walking shark dictionary! Shark books continue to be his favorite thing to read. And he still loves his donkey's, batman stuff, and the color blue!! He's my quiet, sensitive one. He gets angry very easy, and his siblings often use this to their advantage. He too blows me away with how smart he is. I've really been blessed with some awesomely cool kids!!!


Kaleb:

Man oh man! This little man will keep me on my toes for years to come I think!!! I have a few Kaleb stories that I want to get in writing so that I never forget them! Each of them really shows the personality of this little ham!!

The first one is from Easter. We were at my moms for the day. Todd and my dad were sitting on the couch, and Kaleb walked up. So Todd poked him in the belly, and Kaleb yells "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" So Todd said back "BBBBBBBBBBBBBBB" and so the trend started. Kaleb started copying Todd, and Todd figured "what a great time to work on the alphabet right?" They'd stop on the letters Kaleb was having trouble with, and work on them, repeating them many times. They did this all the way through the alphabet, until they hit the letter X. Todd said "X" and Kaleb repeated with no problem, like all the letters before. And then Todd said "Y" And Kaleb looks at him, and honestly said "I know know!" Todd and my dad lost it. They were SO close to being done, and it was nothing different than they'd been doing, and he comes back with "I don't know!" Todd still almost cries with laughter at the thought of the story!!!

The next one just happened this past week. Friday I'd taken the kids to Todd's pool at work after school let out. We'd swam hard, and it was getting late so we just opted to stop for some McDonalds on the way home. We were eating outside, and Kendyl decided she had to go potty. Todd took her in to go, and I was sitting with my three boys. There was a plane going over head, and I thought I'd test my boy's imagination. I asked them where they thought the plane might be going? Dallas said "to Texas" . Gabe said "to Disney world". And Kaleb, without even having to think about it, looked at me and said with a shrug "To the airport." I couldn't contain my laughter. Because yes, he was right. It WAS Going to the airport!

There have been little things too. Like last week at the pool, he'd just gotten to stick his piggies in. He gets up, walks over to Todd, and turns and said "hey LOOK daddy! PAW PRINTS!" Kendyl got the giggles and said "NO KALEB!!! FOOT PRINTS!!!!"

Just this morning he was laying in bed with me, and Kendyl, and Todd visiting. (we do this in the morning to wake daddy up!) And he looks and Kendyl, puckers up and says "you want a kiss?" Kendyl said "no, thank you." Kaleb looks at her shrugs and says "well, you'll turn into a frog then." He was telling her that his kiss would keep her from turning into a frog. He's got the fairy tale part right! Just a little mixed up!!!


Kendyl:

Kendyl is my little girly girl. Yet in the next turn she's rough and tumble with the boys!!! And when she's rough, man is she rough and tough! She has the best dirty looks I've seen anywhere! We've also gotten to see a little bit of her little girl attitude. For the time being it makes us laugh, and look at each other saying "man, we're in trouble when she's older!!!"

This last Friday I took the twins with me on all my running up to the school for Dallas's projects. And on one stop we went in to talk to the preschool team. The twins were recommended for preschool because of their speech issues. Some of their troubles are getting clearere, but not many. And they don't out right qualify for speech therapy. But if they get in preschool they will be assessed by the teachers, and if they're having too much trouble, they'll refer them and they have to accept them. Kendyl was SO excited to be getting signed up for school. But man, I'll have them gone for three days a week next Fall, for a few hours. And I'm struggling with it! I'm not ready for my babies to be so grown!!! These are my BABIES!!! They're not supposed to be ready for preschool yet!!!

Kendyl got some dresses from my mother in law this last weekend, and the first thing she said was "dresses to wear to school!" I know they'll love it, and the interaction with all the other kids will be wonderful for them. But its just gone so quick. They can't really be almost four already can they? Holy cow.


I'll have some pictures to add to everything soon. I don't have time at the current moment. I've already spent way too much time sitting here already!!!!

Way back When-sday!

Its been a while!!! Things continue to settle down here, but I've missed posting my way back pictures! They're always so much fun to go through, and pick out!!!!!

This picture has always been one of my favorites! This would have been from June of 2007, just after Dallas turned 6, and just before Gabe turned 5, and the twins turned 2. I just love this picture! Its so fun to me to see how much they've changed, yet still very much look the same!!!


For more way back fun, head on over to twinfatuation!!

What a BUSY weekend!!!

This weekend was busy, but FUN!!! Saturday was Todd's delayed birthday celebration. His actual birthday is February 5th, but his mom and I had worked together and gotten him tickets to the "Gaither Homecoming Concert" that was coming to the cities in May. So, the deal was that she'd watch the kids the day of the concert, which was Saturday. She came down at around noon and took the kids back to her house. Todd and I had to run to the bank, so we headed out right away. We got our checks cashed, and then headed out for some place to eat. We wound up chooseing "Space Aliens" We'd heard good things about the food, but wanted to check it out before bringing the kids there. It turns out it was kind of like an "Applebee's" meets "Chuck-E-Cheese". It had the sit down atmoshphere of an applebee's, but also had the arcade for the kids. We decided that it was worth it to come back another time with the kids. The food was good, the service was good. All together a good lunch!!!

Then we headed down for the concert! It started at 6:00 down town. And I must say, I HATE GOING DOWN TOWN!!! All the cars, people, bikes, two way streets and suddenly become one way streets, the list could go on!! But luckily Todd was driving, and got us to our destination in one piece!!! The concert was awesome! They put on a FOUR HOUR SHOW!!!! It was un real! And we had awesome seats! We were on the floor level, row 16, in the center! We could see, we could hear, and it was just fun! And Todd got to see the man he wanted the tickets for in the first place! David Phelps. He walked out saying he could die a happy man!!

Sunday I worked in the nursery at church, and then headed home with the hopes of doing a girls day out. Its been over a YEAR since I've had one, and I was itching! While I was at church Todd and the bigger boys took care of a lawn work (Todd usually plays in church but it was a rare sunday off for him, and he didn't feel like sitting through the Choir concer that was the church service last Sunday) . The girls day out fell into place, and I went out with my sister in law Sara, and our friend Amy. It was really nice. We went to Olive Garden for lunch, and then walked around JoAnn Fabrics for a while. Then we had Coldstone ice cream and headed for home. It was a nice, slow day, and just much needed!!

When I came home, not only did I find that my wonderful amazing husband had cleaned up the kitchen, he'd fed the kids dinner. And not only OUR kids, but my niece and nephew too. My brother in law and sister in law live right next door, and my brother in law pawned his two older kids off on Todd all day, so he only had the baby to worry about. Todd is such a good sport about it though, and it didn't bother him at all! And when we pulled up, I noticed that my amazing man had set the kid's swing set up, ALL BY HIMSELF! Its a wooden one that was up at the old house and was in two pieces, and was REALLY heavy. He figured it out, and did it all on his own. He amazes me!!!


All in all it was a great weekend!!! I hope very soon to have a house update to add in here, with pictures! We'll see! I'm still working on the unpacking/putting away/sorting out the keeps from the get rid of's.