Merry Christmas

From our family to yours. Wishing you happiness this holiday season.

Happy 10th Anniversary

I'd Love You All Over Again

by Alan Jackson

Has it been ten years

Since we said "I do?"

I've always heard marriage made one seem like two.

But you're looking better than you did back then.

You still make this old heart give in.

And if I had it to do all over

I'd do it all over again

If tomorrow I found one more chance to begin

I'd love you all over again.

The preacher man said "Til death do us part."

That seemed like forever to a young man's heart.

Now the days seem much shorter

The longer we love

And the memories just keep adding up

If tomorrow I found one more chance to begin

I'd love you all over again

 

Chris,

Wow!  10 years.  Man we are getting old! I love you more and more every day.  I love being your wife.  Thank you for being an amazing father and best friend.  Thank you for the last 10 years and I look forward to 90 more.  I love you.

Birthday weekend

This past weekend we celebrated the boys 4th birthday.  Lolly and Pops came down for the weekend for some 4 year old fun.  There was no extravagant party...that comes in the summer time.

Before they got here on Friday evening, the boys helped me make their cakes.

We sang each boy his very own "Happy Birthday" song.

As a twin we usually just sing one song and throw in both names....how unfair is that?? So this year we sang it through two separate times and blew out the same candle twice.

Then they opened a gift from Lolly and Pops.

Saturday, we went to town at took the boys bowling.  It was a very new experience for them, but I think they had fun.  Look at those adorable little bowling shoes.  So precious.

Hunter, happy that he knocked down some pins.

Heath and Pops patiently waiting for the ball to make it to the end of the lane.

Don't judge our scores too harshly.

In order from the top, Heath, Hunter, Chris, Crystal, Lolly, and Pops.

After all the bowling we could stand, we went to Texas Roadhouse to eat.  They came and sang "Happy Birthday" to the twins and made them sit on the saddle.  Hunter was eager to sit on the saddle.  Heath had to be bribed.

Before heading home, we made a tour through the Christmas lights that we have heard so much about.  The lights we absolutely fabulous.  Pictures...not so much.

However, this house was my favorite. :)

Monday was their actual birthday, so we went out to eat with my family.  Mimi bought them #4 balloons.  They love being 4 because now they are the same as Owen who was #4 on the football team.

 

Does anyone else have this problem when you say smile for the camera?

At home, they opened their gift from Mommy and Daddy.  Chuck Play-Doh machines.

...and we spent the rest of the night playing with Play-Doh.

I love Play-Doh. I love the smell of it.  Maybe it's because my mom hated it.  I didn't get to play with it when I was a child.  I don't have carpet for it to get into, so play away my sweet boys.

Birthday Boys

Happy Birthday Sweet Boys!

You've grown so big now that you're 4.

You're not so little anymore.

                         

Heath- Loves Trains, Trucks with trailers, tractors, cars,  Lincoln Logs, Watches Thomas the Train, Picky Eater, Stubborn, sweet soft voice, Loves to sing, likes to hunt in the deer stand but not driving around. Always plays Superman.

Hunter- Loves footballs, baseball bats, boxing gloves, wrestling, jumping climbing, watches Chuck and Friends, will eat anything, sensitive, sweet, likes to hunt in the truck but not in the deer stand.  Taller and heavier than Heath.  Always plays Batman.

The only things they do have in common are a gender and a birthday.  Happy Birthday Boys.

It's Santa, Baby!

This year was super special because the boys were excited to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas.  Heath wants a red helmet and a red jersey with white pants and some yellow shoulder pads.

Hunter wants a white helmet and a white jersey with white pants and some shoulder pads.

Guess what sport we are obsessed with?

We are very into the color adjectives.  Momma is so proud.  Santa wasn't too excited about tracking down yellow shoulder pads, though.

This picture is blurry but it shows them asking for presents and trying to convince Santa that they have been good.

This is better.  Such sweet boys.

Gingerbread House

This past weekend we had a wonderful time decorating a gingerbread house.  Daddy and I put the icing on and the boys decorated it.  Some of the candy even made it onto the house.  Most of it went into our bellies.  Mine included.

Daddy found out the hard way that icing bags are not sealed at the other end.  Oops!  It was just a little mess.

Cough and Cold

We have two new additions around our house. More fraternal twins, if you will. Cough and Cold.

It seems no matter how unwelcome we make them feel, they never get the message to just leave and go away.

However, our cute new nebulizers seem to make it a bit more bearable. Meet Cough the Penguin and Cold the Race car.

Socks

We've been having a small trouble with socks at our house and it is driving me insane bothering me just a tad.

The boys have become obsessed with socks.  They wear short ones with their tennis shoes and long ones with their boots.  They have to wear their fuzzy socks while we are at home, requiring another sock change the moment we walk through the door. They change socks about once an hour. 

I will say that they do put the dirty socks they can find in the laundry basket.  They can't find the ones under the couch, shoved in drawers in the playroom, and in between the sheets of Mom and Dad's bed.  And... are they really considered dirty if they were only worn for 10 minutes.

For Kayin's birthday, he got a spider man glove.  Since my boys don't have spider man gloves, they pretend with.....wait for it......SOCKS!  Now we have socks on our hands and our feet.  That is 2 pair of socks for each boy and at least 5 sock changes a day! 2 X 5 = 10 X 2 boys = 20 pair of socks.

I think I would probably handle it better if I could find the matches.  Out of the 20 daily pair of socks, I can usually find the matches for about 5 pair.  Buy us socks for Christmas!  I'm beginning to think my sister has the ultimate plan.  She doesn't match socks.  She throws everyone's socks into a basket and if you want socks, then you go there to look.  Her kids don't care about matching socks.  I'm a little too OCD for that.

However, the other day I hit the height of my OCD when the boys and I were putting up the laundry.  I handed Hunter the pjs to put up and Heath, the socks and undies.  I followed behind putting up the shirts and pants.  Hunter went straight to the pj drawer and Heath to the sock and undies drawer.  After I finished with the shirts and pants, I turned and saw Heath UNFOLDING all of the socks and shoving them into the drawer.  Agh!  I guess he was thinking that we store them that way.  I angrily calmly explained to him that socks were supposed to be with a partner and that we needed to keep them matched up.

He smiled at me and ran off......with a new, clean pair of socks on his hands.

Thankful

Thanksgiving came and went and I just wanted to jot down how thankful I am.  I am beyond blessed because I have my God, my wonderful husband, my boys, my family, my health, and so so so much more.  My cup truly runneth over.

Dentist

We recently switched pediatric dentist because of various reasons.  At our old dentist, we would go in, he would look at the boys teeth, slap some fluoride treatment on them, and send us on our merry way.  10 minutes, tops.  Not knowing what to expect, I assumed the boys new dentist would be about the same.  Boy, was I wrong.

The new place cleaned their teeth, then cleaned them again with a toothbrush, flossed between their teeth, took a mold, and x-rayed their mouths.  When they first started cleaning with the "drill sounding" instrument, I was so worried that this was not going to go well, they are only 3 for goodness sake.  I was wrong, the boys loved it.  They thought the machine tickled.  The nurses kept telling them they had dinosaur teeth.  The fluoride tasted like grape.  They both walked out of there asking when they can go back.  It really showed me.  I dread going to the dentist.  I hate the "drill sounding" instrument.  Guess I'm going to have to suck it up and be brave like my boys are.

Heath getting his teeth cleaned



Hunter getting his teeth cleaned.  Look how relaxed he is with his hands folded back behind his head.



Heath getting X-rays and mold.



Hunter getting X-rays and mold.



Happy Boys after the dentist



Bubble Boys

There is just something about having a twin to play with at bath time that makes it so much more fun.  It's also makes my bathroom floor a whole lot more damp.

My Sister's House

My sister, Kay, got a new home.  I am 1000% excited for her.  There is no person on this earth who deserved a new home more than she did.

My sister, Kay, also runs 1000mph at all times.  She is the busiest person I know.  So when I wished aloud that she would let me decorate it, she jumped at the opportunity.  I was beyond thrilled.  I love doing crafty little projects.  It's fun to me.  Everything you see below was made with less than $50 total in paint, stain, sand paper, and other supplies.

This is in Zeke and Zane's room.  They have a sports theme.  I (with the help of Chris) broke up some old pallets and reshaped and re-nailed them into a "blank canvas."  Then I painted them gray.  After they had dried, I sanded the gray down so it would look worn and older.  Last, I painted the various sports balls onto the boards.

This is in Owen's room.  He has a hunting theme.  This time instead of painting the wood, I stained it a darker color.  Then I painted the hunting logos on them.  This is the Browning logo, the Primos logo, and the Bone Collector logo.

I couldn't leave Kali out, so for her room, her sign says, "Some girls are just born with Glitter in their veins!"  After I finished this one, I gave it a once over with glitter spray paint.  This sign will blind you if you set it out in the sun. :)

As you walk into her house, this little sign greets you above the dining room.  I didn't paint it.  It's a stick on, but I think it looks really good.

This is an entire pallet that I sanded and stained a very dark brown to match the chocolate colored wall in her dining room.  Once it was hung on the wall, it made a beautiful shelf.

The next one was an old window frame that I sanded down.  I attached burlap to the back of it with a staple gun.  Then I (and a small army) affixed 3 different strands of twine running across it.  I stole some really old and weathered clothes pins (minus the red one in the middle) from Mom's clothes line to hold the pictures on.

Then there was the last one.  It's my favorite.  We took some old (I mean very old) window frames from the old salt mine on our ranch and I cleaned the windows.  That is the original glass in each of those windows.  I cleaned and I scrubbed and I scrubbed and I cleaned until I finally found the magical concoction (Lemi-Shine and Vinegar) and got 50 years of hard water stains off of those windows.

Next, I sanded down all of the wood and had some major fights with some spiders, but I finally got it clean.  I was going to stain the windows, but Kay liked the old whitewashed paint that was on them.  I have to admit, I really like it too.  It makes it look more rustic.  We used some picture corners and attached her pictures to the glass.

Kay found the letters at Hobby Lobby and I stained them.  This hangs in her massive living room.

So happy for my sister. It's a beautiful home.  Thank you for letting me help with the decorating.

Movin` on up there

It seems like every where I turn I'm reminded of just how old I am. Not that I think 31 is OLD, but I am quickly remined how young 31 isn't.

•On September 11th, I was trying to explain to my students why we remember that day when one of my students raised her hand and informed me that none of them were even alive "way back then".  What!  I was in college and had a job during the 9/11 attacks.  How is it that I am teaching students who hadn't even been thought of yet.

I used to be the youngest teacher on our campus.  I taught with teachers that I had while I was growing up. Teachers who occasionally would slip and call me by my maiden name. All of those sweet teachers are quickly retiring and being replaced with teachers way younger than I am.  My current teaching partner is 21 years old.  I'm middle aged.

One of the joys of being a school teacher is that you are still forced to take a "yearbook photo" every year, and for being a good little teacher, they reward you with a free 5X7 of the lovely visual that will forever haunt you in that dreaded year book.  I got my school pictures today.  Who is that lady staring back at me with the parentheses around her mouth and the thought lines accenting her forehead?

Metabolism, not just slowing down but screeching to a halt!

My nephew, Owen, asked me today if they had phones when I was a kid.  Seriously!  How old does he think I am?  I rolled my eyes (after I slapped him up side the head) and replied that we just sent smoke signals back in my day.  He giggled and laughed like a 13 year old girl then tried to explain that he meant did they have phones that texted back in the day.  This got me.  I really had to think about it.  I'm sure that there were phones that texted way back then but not everyone had one.  I surely didn't.  Does this really mean that texting has just come about since I've been out of high school?

I guess aging is better than the alternative, but I had hoped I would do it more gracefully...

Sortin`

What's better on a Saturday morning that sorting Halloween candy. (I appoligize for the harsh morning sun in these pictures)

Trick or Treat

This year I had a hard time with the boys costumes.  They could have been train engines from Thomas the Train, and I could have painted really cute boxes for them to wear.  The could have been Mario and Luigi and I could have made cute hats and painted on mustaches.  Instead they wanted to be superheros.  More specifically, Batman and Superman.  How do I make that cute?  I could have sewn. I could have painted.  I could have done anything they wanted and they wanted to be plain `ol Super Heroes.

I considered it the low point of my parenthood life when I checked out with two store bought Halloween costumes. Talk about a parent FAIL!

 I pouted and complained about having to finally hand over the reigns and not be allowed to pick out the cutest Halloween costumes.  Then I saw how their faces lit up when they were finally allowed to put the costumes on.  I saw how excited they were to fly around the house with their capes.  I realized that Halloween is about what they want, and I accepted that I have BOYS, who dream about saving the world and crushing bad guys.

So there you have it, Superman and Batman.  Good thing we have been working out and have a nice set of ab muscles to fill out the costumes.  ;)

First, we went to the trunk or treat that was held at the school.  We loaded up our bags with lots of goodies.

There, we met our bestie and fellow fighter of crime, Spiderman (aka Kayin)

The Three Amigos (another costume idea they wouldn't go for) continued around the parking lot gathering lots of loot.

Then, we hit Aunt Amy's house.  She invited us in and gave us the yummy chocolate that she had hidden in the kitchen for really special Super Heroes.

We swung back by our house to make sure there were no villains and gather a few more friends (and empty our full candy bags so we could fill them again), then we set out for some serious trick or treating.

At the end of the night, we had a laundry basket full of candy, and after a few threats that Daddy would take away our candy, we passed out in a blissfully wonderful sugar coma.

Superman, ready to save the day!

Batman, protecting the innocent.