Christmas Highlights

1. Spending time with all 3 of my siblings. Spread across 4 states and 2 time zones, we can't get all together very often, so this was a special year!

2. Snacking on Christmastime goodies. I'm eating the last of mom's caramel cashew corn and drinking the second to last Vernor's and eggnog as I write.

3. Four Christmas parties in 24 hours! That must be some kind of record I think!, especially since Santa visited two of them. M LOVED it and was right up there chatting him up, N was watching from a safe distance (no WAY was he getting a photo taken with that guy!) and C was unphased.

4. Ordering a bridesmaid dress and suit for Hubs' siblings spring weddings! We are so excited and happy for Aunt L, Uncle D, and their fiancé(s)! What a fantastically wonderful year 2013 is going to be!

5. Worshipping two Sundays at our home church, Christian Celebration Center. We receive a warm welcome from old friends and the boys LOVE Power Plant, the kids' church.

6. Watching the cousins play together. My kids are numbers 5,6, and 8 of 8 grandchildren for my parents. They love hanging out with the "big kids" (there are 3 5 year olds!) and following them around. We all spent half a day at a nearby water park last Thursday. My boys were like little fish in a big pond there, but they loved every second of sliding, splashing, and squirting!

7. Going on a hot date with Hubs while the kids stayed with Grandma. Free babysitting at its finest!

8. Reflecting on our many blessings in 2012 and looking forward to an exciting 2013 as we celebrate New Year's Eve with our families tonight. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Here are a few random pics from my phone...the 3 and 5 year olds demolishing Hubs on Christmas Eve, me and Steve trying on wedding clothes, and my Mother in Law's mantle this year-Aunt L and I had to make 4 new stockings for my C, the fiancé(s) and A, J's son! Wowzers, what a lot of stockings!

The Long Drive

Merry Merry! We made it to MI with 3 munchies in just 13.5 hours, which must be some kind of record, especially since the fellas did NOT sleep all night like I expected.

I talked Hubs into letting me drive the first leg, and when he said yes, I jumped at the chance. After keeping the boys up all afternoon in hopes of them falling asleep early, as well as packing up the suitcases and the van, I was ready for him to have a turn with the fellas.

While gassing up and filling the tires, M had a bit of a freak out when he understood we were about to drive. "I wanna fly in the plaaaaaaane!" He cried.

We stopped two hours in for Culver's, but N refused to finish his butter burger. A mom with 4 teen age sons saw our crew, smiled and told me, "you got off easy having three," I laughed, because I saw their family nearby and wondered how many burgers I'll have to buy in ten years. Two hours later, when we thought the boys were sleeping, we heard much crinkling of wrappers. N was eating his ice cold burger.

After paying $13 in tolls going through Chicago (why?!) we had the home stretch back into Michigan.

All in all, not bad, could've been worse, just glad we're here. Tomorrow morning begins the festivities!

Twins Again?!

Disclaimer: Baby V is an absolute gem and I would be pleased as punch if my matchmaking efforts pay off in 25 years. while i wait for my kids to appreciate this arrangement, we have this funny story to tell.

C has a girlfriend. She's a teeny little peanut born just 28 hours before he was, but you wouldn't know it looking at them. C looks like he ate her lunch!

V needed a place to crash this afternoon, so we hosted her- but no sleeping in the same room, you two! She got the ol' pack and play in my room, and good thing, too, because WHOO-whee! Does that tiny girl have a set of lungs on her!

C passed out after lunch like the guy he is and we didn't hear from him all afternoon. V needed a *wee bit* more attention than she thought I was giving her...no one told her she was going to the nap nazi's house today, poor thing.

Whew, it took me straight back three years to the days of whack-a-mole nap times. If you get one down, the other pops right back up, repeat ad nauseum.

Sweet baby girl V finally gave up and napped for whopping 45 minutes so I could reheat leftover chili, fold a laundry load and get the mail (see, I told ya!) and when I had put my dish in the washer, contemplating a humorous blog post about the adventure, wouldn't you know it? Nap was over and it was time to feed them both!

So V got her baba lying next to me as I sat on the floor nursing C. By the time they were changed, fed, and sitting together on the blanket and I was about to take a pic for this blog, V's mama rescued her.

People tell me that one day I'll want to go back....I'm having doubts about going back to twin 7 month old teething infants, though.

C and V in their matching owl hats last month:

Edited 12/20: Baby V got antibiotics today, so she wasn't hating on me as much as I thought. But she wasn't running a fever either poor girl-it's so hard to tell then! Get well soon little sister!

Buh Bye, Babycenter

Like many pregnant American women, I subscribed to a weekly pregnancy email update from babycenter.com.  It told me that my baby was the size of a blueberry, a grape, a plum, an apple, a cantaloupe, a butternut squash, and at the end, a pumpkin.  It was right every week - except for the part about my baby being approximately 7 lbs at birth - only about 3 lbs off!

But today, I unsubscribed.  Babycenter has been sending me an email every week since C was born (on his due date, so naturally the week I receive is incorrect, with going a week overdue). Today it was full of helpful advice for moms of 7 month old (and 2 weeks) babies like this:

• avoid caffeine - really?  How does a girl with three three and unders wake up in the morning when she's been up at least once every night?  Keurig and I are BFF's now.
• avoid alchohol.  Mmmk, people....
• get lots of rest, including naps. WHAT?  'scuse me, I spend every afternoon trying to get my 3 littles to nap themselves just so I can go to the bathroom ('cause heaven knows that coffee goes right through me!), clean up breakfast and lunch, prep dinner, fold laundry and maybe go get the mail out of the box.  If, and this is a big IF, I can do all that, I might spend my "down time" aka 15 minutes before thing 1, thing 2 or thing 3 wake up, pecking out a blog or calling a fellow soldier in the trenches to see if her little munchies napped today.  Nap myself, you've got to be kidding.  I haven't seen those days since...first trimester, I think, when my eyeballs could not physically stay open.
• exersice - this is getting ridiculous.  If you don't think running up and down the stairs 1,000 times a day, lifting my chunky monkey in and out of his crib and up and down off the changing table, carrying said laundry baskets up those same stairs, hefting the preschoolers onto the counter to kiss boo boos or stir cookie dough, and leaning into the back row of the van to buckle said children into a carseat isn't workout enough, YOU'RE crazy.  Not me.
• relax - take a bath.  Mmmm, k.  So the exactly 1.21 jigawhat hours I have to myself from 9:00-10:15 pm should be spent cleaning out my tub?  Not that it doesn't need cleaning, mind you.  But a shower and a glass of wine is a whole lot quicker.  Oh, wait,  I meant herbal tea. 
• make time for yourself. Okay, I quit.  You people at Babycenter are smoking something.

I'm big now! 

90's are back

Freeland Falcons Football Fans!

This is the one where I reveal my amazing new hairdo.  Last week I got my hair cut and highlighted, but I surprised Hubs with a new do...he's always begging me to get something different done (besides different shades of blond or varying lengths of long, I never do) so I surprised him.

Last Sunday I was watching "Four Christmases," which is the funniest, best Christmas movie in the world I think.  And I thought, I should do my hair like Reese's!

What I looked like at the salon

So I did!  I loved it, my hairdresser told me I was a genius, Hubs loved it, and it's been really fun.

Then yesterday I woke up after showering the night before and it looked like this.

What it looks like at home

For real?

I actually texted K to ask what to do!  By the time she replied, I'd taken a 1.5" iron to it so it improved, but was still kind of 90's looking all day.

This new hairdo thing is going to take some time...

But the 90's really are back because the boys busted out their Freeland Falcons Football sweatshirts yesterday.  Hubs was the 1999 quaterback for Michigan's Class C Football state championship runners-up.  He's famous.  The boys received these hoodies for their first birthday, and they fit today!

So cute, and I think it's the first photo in which all 3 of my sons are smiling in the direction of the camera!

Everything old is new again...I love the 90's!

Silent Night?

I have a confession to make. I took myself out on a date last night.

Hubs convinced me to hire a sitter while he's gone on this long trip for no other reason than to have a night off of nose and butt wiping. So I hired the sitter but neglected to make plans, and of course, my last minute attempts to meet friends failed.

So I used a 7 month old gift card and took myself and my Christmas cards to Applebee's. I was seated near a table of 4, but only listened to 1. Through the powers of observation, I discovered he was a local German professor. He spent most of 2 hours speaking in his awesome German accent...basically about life in Germany as a student, about German small businesses, about iPads in education...all good and entertaining. He reminded me of a certain Chinese professor I had who just loved to hear the sound of his own voice! I guess you need the gift of gab to be a language professor!

So my silent night wasn't completely silent! But I managed to get the cards (mostly) done, and ate my hot meal in peace. Bummer I let my server talk me in to what I figured out was a weight watchers dish! Ah well, I figured that earned me a dessert- my very own that I didn't share with anyone!

Then, like my dates with Hubs usually end, I made a Target run for diapers and almond milk. I stood in the toys aisle debating what to get the boys until I realized it was after 9 and had to hustle back. What are your thoughts on Imaginext? Last night I realized we HAVE to do Christmas with the kids this weekend because we will be traveling back to MI next! Aagh!

Pizza and Toots

Awhile back I started telling you about the baby dedication and tried to show you a pic.

We took M and N out of kiddie church to be a part if their brother's dedication. They were wiggly and squirmy, up and down from our arms. Looking at themselves on the screen, and basically being distracting. I'm sure they'd been having fun, eating snacks and would have rather been with the kids! M decided to sit down at his Daddy's feet, lean a little to the left, and let her rip! I smiled because farts are funny when you have 2 3 year olds- I knew he was likely pleased with himself. Then a few seconds later, I saw our pastor's wife in the front row laughing hysterically-as the odor wafted up toward us. I couldn't help it and tried with all my might to suppress a laugh, but I was not successful. I know Pastor sensed something was up- he'd had his back to us and was teaching the congregation about child dedication- as he smiled,albeit quizzically, at us. But he continued on, all of breathing M's odiferous gas as we oh do solemnly prayed over C. Funny stuff- I'm still laughing about it.

And last night "the three of us," as M put it, made individual pizzas. I had a hankering for kalamata olives (and a big mess on our freshly mopped floor). N put some on his, but picked them off in the end. At least he thought about trying!

Born to be Slaves?

My in laws love to tell a story about Hubs, who was assigned to lawn mowing as a tween-ager. Incensed at the idea of yard work, he retorted, "you just had kids so they could be your slaves!"

I thought of that this morning, after the third cup of juice splashed across the hardwood floor, when I decided the boys were going to help me mop it.

We swept, I filled the sprayer with vinegar and water, we sprayed, and wiped. I thought I was a genius because they were having so much fun!

For ten minutes. They lost interest when the actual black fuzz on juice spots had been wiped. I told M to get a tissue for his nose and he could be excused to the play room.

He wiped it with the dirty vinegar water floor rag and scampered off.

I finished the floor on my hands and knees myself. So much for my slave labor.

The Scoop

Ok, here's the scoop. I haven't blogged for several reasons.
1. My twins rarely nap, leaving me exactly 1.21 hours of "free time" after they fall asleep at night. I'm like a wet noodle, and often use it for showering, watching TV, or pointlessly reading Facebook, Pinterest, or other equally educational activities. Or nursing C.
2. I prefer using Dino desktop because it has a keyboard, rather than pecking out each individual letter on my iPhone. But it's dying...a very slow and painful death.
3. Now blogger says I've used up all my storage. But I didn't know I HAD storage. So when I went to see the stats on said storage it said I'm using 30%. If my calculations are correct that means I still have 70%, no? No! No uploading pics for you!
4. I'm busy. Did I mention that I stay at home with 2 3 year olds and a 7 month old, none if whom nap simultaneously anymore? Three years ago I was queen of all nap nazis. I've fallen from grace and now I'm like sleep? What's that? Oh yeah and the twins aren't in preschool but that's gonna change next month. Still working out the kinks so stay tuned on that one.
4. Last night I baked an awesome batch of biscotti and snapped a pic on my iPhone. Then I put it on Facebook. Then this morning I remembered the blogger app and tested to see if it allows phone pics. so it does. Don't know why, guessing it has something to do with the size if the photo.
5. So I'm blogging again with the phone. The pics won't be awesome, but I'm back. This not so little fella didn't get enough dinner so I'm off to feed him some more!The grammar will probably stink like a Diaper Champ, too, because of trusty ol autocorrect. 

Testing....

Trying to upload pics using blogger for iPhone. In no particular order: C in the big tub, M and N as elves, my first batch of biscotti, which are delicious!

Baby Dedication

Welcome Back!  Our family traveled to Michigan for a week to spend time with both of our families over the Thanksgiving holiday.  So much fun to be had, but the highlight for me was on Sunday, when we went back to Christian Celebration Center, the church where our families still attend, where Hubs and I were married, and where we dedicated the the twins to the Lord three years ago on Thanksgiving Sunday. 

Our family was called up first and Pastor S. introduced us to the congregation, since we've been "gone" for 9 years, explaining why we chose to dedicate C there - it's where all of our families attend and live.  We took M and N out of children's church so they could be a part of the family affair. 

Which is what made the whole dedication a lot more funny than it otherwise would have been! 

Okay.....I need someone to help me here.  I'm trying to upload the photos to Blogger, but it's telling me I've used 100% of my storage and need to purchase a plan!?  Um, can someone tell me what's going on?  This is not good, not good at all.....

Deep thoughts? Hardly.

1. M has been saying the funniest things! I'll try to make a point of noting actual phrases but the funniest is when I tell him to stop talking (preferable to shut your trap, no?) he says, "I can't stop talking!!"

2. N is a snuggle bug...he's been sneaking into our room in the morning-and this morning he went to the bathroom first so we are still making infinitesimal potty progress- and cuddles under the covers...quietly. This lasts anywhere from 5 seconds to 10 minutes, when M pounds down the hall and barges in talking excitedly about what he wants for breakfast and poking his bony elbows and knees into us all.

3. C had a growth spurt this week that nearly had me in tears...my supply just couldn't keep up with demand and I was popping fenugreek and drinking Nasty butt mothers milk tea. I think we are through the worst of it but geeze! I forgot how much an angry hungry six month old with two sharp teeth can hurt the girls. The things mamas do....

4. T minus 12 hours till Operation Thanksgiving! I'm so looking forward to spending time with our families and my hubby too, can't wait! In a family first we may have to split up and have one parent take the twins on one flight and me and C on the other. They are good fliers so if that happens I think it will go well, based on their good behavior in Target and Culver's this weekend.

5. I'm amazed that people will pay me to take things I'm not using away from me. I just sold two cube shelves for 8$. I'll never get rich doing this but it's kind of nice to have a few bucks in my wallet for doing almost nothing.

6 month well baby

C passed with flying colors! He impressed Dr. A with his two chompers and steady legs, smiled and babbled like crazy and took his shots bravely. He tipped the scales at 20 lbs 5 oz, but that was to be expected as babies are supposed to double their birth weight by 6 months, and with a 9lb 14 oz starting weight, he did great! He only measured 26", in the 48th%, so hopefully he will stretch out those legs when he starts crawling, which I expect will be very soon. He's so busy....working on teething, moving, eating solids - he's feeding himself a frozen applesauce cube in his fresh food feeder as I peck out this post- and babbling, babbling, babbling! He's going to need to find his voice if he wants to be heard in this family!

In other news, the big boys are driving me batty refusing naps today. I guess the 40 minutes of nap time peace I got yesterday is as good as it gets these days.

Six Months

Friday was C's six month birthday, so I took a few pics of him smiling and sitting that afternoon.  Also, Hubs and I had a fantastic semi-formal dinner date followed by 10pm (gasp!) showing of "Skyfall."  Fun, fun, day! His 6 month appointment is this Friday so I'll fill you in on his stats later - my guess is that he'll still be in the 95%+ range for weight and head but not height!

Sweet baby boy

Big smile and 2 chompers

but he doesn't like the peas very well

For his 6 month birthday, Mommy and Daddy had a real date!

Currently

I saw this on my friend's post and am totally using her idea for today's!  Here's A's link: http://littleoldrocker.blogspot.com/2012/11/currently.html.

LOVING:

• Hubs has been home for over a week...nice to have him around!
• C's fat thighs, we squeeze his hamhocks and he giggles.
• leftover Halloween candy b/c we had two trick or treaters

READING:

• "The Uncommon Woman" by Susie Larson
• not much else besides blogs and social media, sadly

WATCHING

• TLC..."Breaking Amish," "19 Kids and Counting," "Say Yes to the Dress," looking forward to the return of the Roloff's in "Wedding Farm" as well as the train wreck I can't stop watching, "Sister Wives"
• Tonight, it will be the election results, though, since Hubs and I have a tradition of watching them roll in together until the wee hours of the night

 LISTENING TO

• Mac Powell's new solo album release 
• "Miracle" Third Day's new album TODAY!!
• Also, Rush Limbaugh, whom Hubs has on in the office right now while the kids sleep and we both work at our computers

THINKING ABOUT

• The election, what else?
• selling a few items on Big Tent, N. Online Garage Sale and now Craigslist because someone offered me $5 for a KitchenAid mixer.  are you kidding me?  
• Potty training (always)
• crocheting Christmas gifts (I'm working on golf club covers right now...don't worry, I know the recipient doesn't read my blog...he's not into technology.)

LOOKING FORWARD TO

• Hanging out with my guy tonight and watching the election results, especially since the time change means the kids are crashing pretty early
• Some fun events planned for this weekend: a semi-formal dinner, a friend's baby shower, a gathering of MVMOM's and my MIL visiting
• Our upcoming visit to MI for Thanksgiving, less than 2 weeks away now

MAKING ME HAPPY

• see, "LOVING"
• Keurig brewer - our early Christmas gift from Mom and Dad.  I think I'll go brew myself a cup!

Happy Halloween

Carving a pumpkin last night with Daddy...they help scoop out the guts - my favorite is M's face in the photo below!  eew!

Boo!  Our finished product

 Some families dress together in themes...one MVMOM wore a chef's coat and hat and her quints dressed as hotdogs, ketchup, and mustard!  Not us...nope.  We went as (look closely!)

• a fireman
• a frog
• a dragon
• Uncle Rico
• a chicken 

Cheese!  M the firefighter and N the frog

Here comes baby brother...

Mommy and the boys

Daddy and the boys

Did you figure it out?  M is wearing last year's fireman costume.  N STILL refuses to wear the fireman costume so we compromised - he loves the frog hat I crocheted him, so he's wearing green pants and a shirt to go with it.  C is wearing cousin E's former dragon costume.  Hubs is wearing his 1999 football jersey, hence, I call him Uncle Rico (the character from Napoleon Dynamite).  Upon meeting these creatures, they insisted I also dress up, so I popped on my old flapper costume wig, whereupon M dubbed me a "chicken."

Hoop Dreams

After N saw me put this basketball onesie on C, he wanted a basketball shirt, too!  He doesn't like to match his twin, but he will for his baby brother.

C's First Tooth!

Came in rather unexpectedly on Monday!  He's going to be a good teether, I can already tell.  He fusses for a bit then POP the tooth comes out.  The second one was right under the skin and I've been expecting it all week.  I found it next to the first this morning at 7am. 

Uncommon Woman

What would you do if you found a credit card - unsigned - lying in the street? Leave it there, afraid it was planted to catch thieves? Pick it up before a real thief does?

I picked it up and stuck it in my purse before a real thief did. I was on a mission: buy yarn then groceries and get home in less than 90 minutes when the sitter had to leave. I sat in the van after the yarn purchase, searching Facebook and the Internet with the owner's name in hopes that I could somehow connect the card owner to a business downtown and return it. No luck. (I kinda doubt it belonged to the artist lady in Canada whose name was sort of like hers.)

So I drove to the grocery store feeling like a klepto with a stranger's credit card. I had a plan by the time I made it to my parking spot: call the 1-800 # on the back.

I listened to the recording but there was no option for "found a credit card lying in the street," so I chose "if you are calling to report a lost or stolen card" because....I guess it WAS lost by someone and I guess I DID steal it, if you want to call it that.

When I finally, finally got a human on the line, the first one didn't know what to do with me. "You want to do what?"

"I found a card and I want to get it back to its owner,"

"So you're calling to report a lost card?"

"Yes, but I FOUND it. I'm not using it. It's not mine."

Twenty or 30 seconds of this type of exchange until she says, "I'm going to send you to a specialist." Probably because she thinks I am a klepto thief or worse.

Dave picks up the line and says, "you want to do what?" Like he can't believe it either.

"If I knew who she was I'd just drive it to her. It's a small town." I say. I don't want specialist Dave thinking I'm a weird klepto thief, too.

He finally picks up what I'm throwing down, and (bring the fraud protection specialist he likely is) agreed to put a stop on the account and contact the card's owner (THANK YOU) and kindly asked me to put it in the mail to send to headquarters.

Then he said, "thank you for being such a Good Samaritan about this." Which was kind of nice, though awkward, bur made me feel like I'd done a good deed, proving to Dave the (likely) frauds specialist and hopefully the card owner that there are still honest people in this world.

Im reading "The Uncommon Woman," and so far I'm feeling thoroughly common, unlike the Godly woman author and all she espouses, but this incident makes me wonder: is honesty so uncommon that the credit card companies don't know what to do with it?

Perhaps I am an uncommon woman after all...

MVMOM Halloween Party

is always a good time!  Here's a sneak peek of the fellas in their costumes.  And whoever came up with a "prize" of a roll of toilet paper decorated as a pumpkin should win some kind of award.  Seriously, best gift ever!  N is back on the potty (hooray) and asks for the jack-o-lantern to "talk" and tell him what a great job he's doing.  Okaaaay, whatever it takes!  Thanks for a fun time, MVMOM!

Slow Poke

M and N, 9 months

C is getting so big that he's outgrowing clothes faster than I can dress him!  Here's a perfect example.  First is N wearing the cutest Gymboree Outfit, "Slow Poke."  This was the boys' "official" 9 month photo, taken February 2010.  (Oh, the things we did as first time moms!  Poor C is just lucky to have ANY photos!)  I thought the boys were so chubby and loved N's little tummy poofing out the top of the khakis, which are adorned with tiny green embroidered turtles.

C, 5 months

Now that the weather is cool, I pulled out Slow Poke for C to wear to church on Sunday.  We will call this his "official" 5 month (plus a few days) photo.  I knew we had to take a picture because he wasn't going to wear it again - just a bit snug, eh? My little "Slow Poke" isn't so slow - he's growing like a weed!  I pulled out all the 12 month winter clothes today and they fit!  It's going too fast already.

Fire Truck Day!

Our Early Childhood Family Education class was invited to the public school pre-school's Fire Truck Day yesterday.  I knew right away that I wanted to take the boys, so after lunch, instead of stories and rest time, we loaded up and drove across town.  It was the perfect opportunity to get a peek at the preschool and see how the boys behaved in a preschool setting.

First we joined two other classes in a classroom while Fireman M showed us all of his gear and taught us "stop, drop, and roll."  M was fascinated, N was more interested in checking out all of the amazing toys and displays in the classroom - not that I could blame him, there was a lot to look at in there!  Afterward, Fireman M allowed the kids to try on kid-sized suits (both boys declined) and check out his gear.  My guys were digging his flashlight, after he put away his very noisy oxygen tank.  They had their hands over their ears until it was out of sight.

 Then we went outside to check out the firetruck.  It was so cute to see the guys standing in line with the pre-school class!  They were so excited to check out all the equipment and get in the truck, but the best part was at the end, when he allowed each child to wear fireman gloves and shoot the hose!  This was very exciting but also particularly difficult since we were at the end of the line, being non-students.  But the guys waited (somewhat) patiently, hopping, bouncing, and pushing C's stroller about.

M is third from the left...are you picking your nose?  N seems to be paying attention to the teacher.

 It was totally worth the (10 minute) wait!!

I particularly like the last one, where N pointed the hose straight up!  I think Fireman M might like this part of his job the best.  This was so much fun, and what I liked the best was that I was able to be there enjoying the moment with them.