Top 11 (idiotic) question I get asked.......

1. How old are you? Who me, or the girls? No, I'm not their grandmother. They're 22 months old. I'm much older. Thank you for pointing that out.....jackass
   
2. They look just like you. What? Are you kidding? jackass.
   
3. No, they don't look like their father either. Oh, you mean their biological father. I assume they do.
   
4. How much did they cost? This is where I give the blank stare .
   
5. No, they do not just "spit" them out. jackass.
6. How much do you make? I wish more....***wink***** wink*****
   
7. Yes, they speak English( I get this one lot!). AND yes they do understand me!
   
8. Twins? Yes they are. No two girls. Yes, I'm sure. Really.
   
9. How do you tell them apart?????
   
10. Why didn't you have your own children? ?????? What?
11. They must be a lot of work. Ha, are you kidding? I'll have a vino please. Make it the bottle. Where are my pill....
    

Can't escape the paparazzi....

Who moves like Kobe, can talk to the "ladies, (so they're not 20 years old and available, nor is he!...)suave and an excellent athlete?! Well, maybe not Kobe, but has moves like a pro and has a team that worships him. Two little people who have limited vocabulary. He creates quite a stir whenever he enters a room too! The crowd goes wild. Lots of screaming fans. Incredible!

So you wonder who this gentle giant of only 5'7 - my height--but appears to be bigger than life and weighs 151.8 sadly my weight too--at least today..hmm remind me no game hot-dogs and nachos. Yes, that's right husband/Daddy-O Super-star to the star's. The salt n-peppa hottie. As most of you know the almighty "GATORS" are playing tomorrow in the final four. Big big day. Jeff was getting in a little play time with his biggest fans.



OK, so they looked more like the Harlem Globetrotters. Lots of dribbling and not necessarily from the balls. Too many fouls to count! There were more balls on the court than in any basketball game I've seen. College or Pro. I'm not an expert, however I do believe there is only supposed to be one ball on the court at a time. Right? The "little" people were having a great time and they had a captivated audience in daddy. Sounds like the story of their lives.....can you say "wrapped around their little finger"? ha ha...






Fancy footwork by the "star" player. Girls really thought daddy was pretty Awesome. From my center court seat he looked pretty incredible! I was cracking up with his "razzle dazzle" fancy ball handling. I was expecting him to start twirling the ball on his finger. You might say he is pumped for tomorrow.....

Check out girls taking a "time-Out".....More than allowed on the official shot clock. But, they set the rules.










Abbey decided she was taking a "time-out" for a little snack of cheese and mangoes that mommy had packed. Seems to be pretty damn content.

When it comes to the Gators, it wouldn't matter if it was badminton, croquet, or a knitting contest, if the Gators are involved or playing we'll all be front center doing the "Gator Chomp".

GO GATORS!!!

Finally - Family March 28, 2007

Our Forever Family March 28, 2007

What a difference a year makes.

One year ago Jeff and I were

standing in the Nanning Civil Affairs Office to meet our daughters for the first time. We walked into the building as a couple and walked out as a family of four.

I remember thinking, finally.

It seems unbelievable that it's already been a year! The girls have grown and changed and have made our life fuller and richer just by being in them. We are the lucky ones. Our life is not what it once was. - It’s

better. Priorities too have changed. No more Morton’s or eating out

five nights a week but hello Red Robin!

This is a typical morning in our home.

“Mommy”? I reply “what”? To which one of

the girls will repeat again “Mommy”? And I say “what baby”? Followed by another “Mommy”? To which I reply “What baby cakes”. This goes on for 5-10 minutes or until I start laughing and we stop.

Abbey is a free spirit. Our little “drama queen”. You might say a mini Rony-she too loves shoes. Ha ha. She is always running and has to be the first at everything. It doesn’t matter if it’s the doctor’s office or to bed. There is no neutral with Abbey. She doesn’t want to miss a thing. She is always trying to figure out how to take something apart or put it back together. Gifted?! Naturally. *wink*

She loves numbers and books and can count to nine. Katie likes to count too but her version is a bit different, 1-2-9, 1-2-9. or 2-9-8 which just happens to be their favorite learning channel. Abbey is convinced everyone’s name is “Abbey, including her sister Katie’s.

She has the sweetest laugh and an absolutely-infectious giggle. Jeff and I just crack up. She thinks her daddy is so funny. Of course we all do….. Daddy loves his little girls. All of them....

Katie is a child who lives out loud. Trust me- it wasn’t always this way. She loves to dance and sing. She is our chatterbox and jabbers away in the morning talking and giggling to her self. Totally normal or so I’m told. I talk to myself and I’m normal, right? If Abbey is not awake Katie will stand in her crib and scream her name until she wakes up. Nice……Remind me to tell her to stop doing that!

She is a princess in training. She loves nothing better than carrying around her little purse with cell phone in town saying “hewoo”, hewoo”. Just like mommy. She does the cutest Miss America imitation and will

throw her hands over her mouth and gasp “Oh my”. Too cute.

Katie is our love bug. She loves to give kisses and be kissed. She will chase Abbey down to kiss her. She gives big “Hollywood” kisses too. I think she may be watching too much E-Hollywood, or maybe daddy kissing mommy! Hmm.

I am constantly laughing at their antics and continually amazed at the

things they do. There is not a single day that goes by that I’m not incredibly honored and proud to be their mommy.

Jeff and I are constantly asking ourselves “is this real”? Do we really have twin daughters? Strangely enough I always knew I would have twins. It just so happened that it would take us flying half way around the world to bring them home. They are home now!

Much Love,

Rony, Jeff, Katie and Abbey Ghelerter

What a

Our lif

e now!

Muc

Before I was a mom......

One of my dearest friend's whom I've been friends with for 30+years *gasp* sent the following poem to me. Author Unknown.


Before I was a Mom

I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom
I had never been puked on. --- not on purpose anyway
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts. --debatable
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom
I never held down a screaming child so doctors could do tests.
Or give shots. I never looked into teary eyes and cried. I never got gloriously
happy over a simple grin. I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom
I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put them down. I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop
the hurt. I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much. I never knew that I could love someone so much. I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom
I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body. I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby. I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child. I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay. I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache, the wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom. I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much, before I was a Mom.

Why did she send this to me? Because I too am a "real" mom. She has a daughter who just turned 16(same age that D and I became BFF) and here I am with two toddler's and just starting my family....crazee. I know but I would not trade it for anything. You're a good friend Diane.

The Hello Good-bye Party for Ja-Or and Mai

We had a "hello good-bye" pizza party for Ja-Or and Mai last night. It could have easily been a "Miss Universe" contest or the United Nations party. Really gorgeous girls. There were girls from Korea, Panama, Poland, Spain and of course Thailand! There was also the lone male, Marcus who must be the the envy of most males getting to hang with all the ladies. Had to be an ego booster for him when they hit the clubs in D.C. later that evening.




Ja-Or arrived in the country last year while we were still in China. It was not how I had envisioned her introduction to the states. However, for those of your who are waiting or have gone through the process you know when you finally get your travel approval you go. You run. (Thank goodness I had packed months before!!) We were lucky to have awesome neighbor's who took care of Ja-Or until we arrived home. Ja-Or will now pass the baton to Mai. The changing of the guard.




As I reflect and reminisce back on the last year, was it chaotic? Traumatic? Oh yea. But there were some good times. A few. It was a huge adjustment. For all of us. Ja-Or was such a trooper, and she helped us enormously! Yea, baby we made it!!! Ja-Or will be studying in London in the fall. She is pursuing her masters degree. We will miss you so much.....

Although we don't know Mai (pronounced My) as well yet, we are so excited to have her join our family. Not only is she beautiful but she is quite sweet with the girls. She is a recent college graduate from Thailand and will be studying english while here in the U.S. From the moment she walked in the door the girls started showing off. (they do what comes natural)They were doing splits and somersaults. Something I usually don't do when I meet people. Maybe they got that from Jeff?!

The girls all headed into D.C. for an evening of fun and dancing. I waited up (something I have always done when Ja-Or has gone out..) but at 1:50am I crawled up to bed. I heard them talking to Jeff this morning and they said they arrived home after 4:00am! Something about a car being towed.......Girls will be girls.....

I know Ja-Or's friend Milta will miss her terribly.

Top Ten things I say in a day!!

1. What are you doing? ....note: scrambling and running in the opposite direction....never good.
2. Please stop washing your hands in dog bowl! (they sometimes wash their hair too!)
3. What does mommy say? in unison "no, no, no!! Nice to know they can actually hear-although they usually act like I speak a foreign language.
4. Get your fingers out of your mouth. And for that matter your nose!
5. Leave your clothes on. Leave your shoes on, and for the love of g-d leave your diaper on. (usually in that order)
   
6. Stop touching your sister....which never works.
7. Sit down, sit down I said sit down. (must repeat numerous times before sinking in)
   
8. Did you poo? To which the response is always, "no". (of course someone pooed and it wasn't me!!!)
   
9. Honey, are you coming home tonight?...complete silence on the other end.
   
10. Wine, yes I would love a glass!

There are more... but you get the drift....

I had to add two more because they are such a part what I say ALL day.
#11 "Get outa there". (toilet, pantry, bathroom, dog dish, closet, kitchen drawers...)
#12 I said "no".

What do they eat?

They eat everything. Except beets. I think that may have been my fault. I force fed them beets as babies. Someone told me they would keep the girls regular. G-d knows how they suffered with constipation in China and would cry in pain They won't touch the stuff now. Neither will I!

Anyway, they could just have eaten a five course meal complete with dessert-- but want whatever Jeff and I are eating. They will stand in front of us and beg like Maggie saying "maw, maw" or "pease mommy, pease". Little vultures. ha ha.

Before the girls graced our lives I rarely went to the grocery-- ever. Jeff would say "what's for dinner"? I would reply "get in the car" Ah, those were the good old days. ha ha. There was never any clean up either. Not that that's ever been my problem. Jeff always cleans up. He doesn't like that I use the dishwasher as if it were a garbage disposal. He apparently hasn't figured out I do that so I don't have to do clean up. ha ha

We shop at least once a week now and recently I started ordering groceries to be delivered. My kind of service.....Amazing what I can do with a telephone! I had to come up with another solution because I can't navigate at the grocery store on crutches and push a cart. Thank g-d I'm on the mend and able to get around again with my air-cast.

People ask what the girls eat all the time. There really no different than you or I.... The following is a snapshot of what they eat in a typical week.

1. Rice--they like rice? uh-duh... Jeff and I like rice too
   
2. 14-16 Bananas there are two of them --and they're part monkey. you should hear them do their monkey imitation
   
3. 6 pears
4. 6 apples
5. bag of white grapes -- keeps them regular
   
6. 4-5 mangoes (they had boycotted these at one time too, however back with a vengeance)
7. 5 oranges-love, love oranges
   
8. quart of strawberries ---when in season
9. 6-8 kiwi's
10. bag of carrots
11. can of raisins
12. fresh broccoli
13. 2-3Gallons of milk they still get a cup of warm milk in the moring
    
14. String Cheese they have appetizers every evening!
    
15. 14-16 cups of yogurt "go-gurt"
    
16. potatoes---prepared just about any way you can make them
17. beef, chicken, salmon, shrimp, veal, pork, lamb
18. pasta
    

They are the luckiest of all because Ja-Or cooks Thai food for them everyday! I wish I were home everyday for Thai food. ha ha. Instead I'm feasting on some mouth watering frozen dinner. Yum.....

Oh-No. Not them too--future weight watchers

They've already started with the scale. Good gawd and they're not even two!! I know Jeff and I both are a bit obsessed with the scale, (we weigh every morning) however didn't think the girls had us figured out already! I had a freaking cow when the last scale conked out on us! OK, so we love to eat. Lucky for Jeff I like to cook!



They love nothing better than running into mommies bathroom every morning and jumping on the scale. Priorities-sistah. Notice Abbey (cute toes-huh?)our middle weight champ weighing in at a healthy 28.8 pounds at 21 months old? She is 32 1/4 inches tall. I'm not a doctor, (not what I told the ER doctor a couple weeks ago) but I think she is damn healthy. G-d knows she eats just about anything. I've been pretty lucky with the food thing.

Yes, Abbey's p.j's are on backwards.....another Houdini on our hands...say it ain't so.


Katie is our light weight champ. Currently weighing in at
25.8 pounds. She is 32 inches tall at 21 months old. It's amazing to us that the three measly little pounds between the girls feels like 50 pounds . Seriously.



I think Katie felt pretty good about her "weigh-in" today. She seems to be saying--yes mommy I do look hot, and I feel totally sexy. I'm ready for bathing suit weather--let me grab my thong! I think those pilates classes really paid off. Right? ha ha. The new spokesperson for Weight Watchers! Let's hope not.

This is my Life!

This is my life! Crap changer. ah how sweet it is. Yep, that's me. I feel like some days I change diapers ALL freaking day. My favorite part is after I change the girls one of them will immediately take a giant poo and then tell me about it! Could she have not done that earlier?! HELLO! Remind me to potty train immediately......

What I know now:

1. 12 diaper changes a day and chapped dried hands! The hell with manicures..
   
2. 336 diapers a month--that's a lot-we need our own landfill
   
3. roughly 4300 diapers a year---give or take a few--YUK!
4. 22 trips to Costco for the super duper gigantic box of 200
5. total cost about $800.00--simply priceless. *wink*

I know, you wish you were me.... me too! We also go through the economy size box of baby wipes too. The girls think they are truly the coolest. They clean the furniture, dog, floor and one another. Not necessarily in that order. It's no wonder we go through a giant box of wipes a month ! Thank G-d Costco is one mile from our home. Most people shop at Costco once a month. Not us. We're there weekly. We're on a first name basis. Who else can say that?

Now If I could just get the girls to stop bathing in the dog dish. Really. I can scream at them all day to stay out of Maggie's dish, but they just look at me and laught as they dive into her dish and rub their hands together and say "hand, hand". I can't help but laugh. Katie continues to go back to the water bowl and wash her hair. gage. My "mil" will die when she sees this....... They are so darn fun though....

Ok, check out Abbey--she has that damn broom again! Oh-remind me to hide that thing.....She loves her broom. You know , maybe she is trying to tell me something? I really didn't think the house was that dirty , after all Maria was just here on Friday. Maybe Abbey has a different standard than mommy. And I thought I was "fussy".

Papa---we will miss you March 18,2007

I write today with an extreme sadness. As many of you know Jeff's papa had been very ill and at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville the last couple weeks. Sadly Jeff called this morning to share the sad news that papa had quietly passed away early this morning.









I knew when I married my husband six+years ago that he was pretty awesome, but what I didn't know at the time was that I would like or even fall in
love with his family! They were so easy to like how could I not?

Irvin and Bernice Ghelerter define what family is all about. I know from experience how much Jeff looked up and admired his grandparent's. I would often hear him on the phone discussing a "Gator" win or the occasional(ha ha) loss with his papa. Irvin too was a proud UF alumni. I guess that's why it was so important for Jeff to follow in his grandfather's footsteps. G-d does he love his beloved "Gators".




I know that my husband will pass to our children
the morals and beliefs that his papa instilled in him.
The old adage if you don't have something nice to say, don't say it. They lived by it! I always found that so amazing. Papa, grandma too were the most non-judgemental people I have ever know. I'm just sorry that our girls did not have the opportunity to meet such a fine man. Their great grandfather.
What always has impressed me about Jeff's family was the sense of family. They always took the time when it came to the grandparent's. Where some families grumbled about going to see the grandparent's Jeff's family couldn't get there fast enough. AND everyone wanted to stay at grandma's house. They were very much a part of their lives. I know Andy who lived with his grandparent's all through college and
then some will have a real sadness.
Papa was his pal. We'll be there for you Andy....






I know Jeff and his siblings and the other grandchildren would never have thought of doing something that might have embarrassed or disappointed their papa and grandmother. As far as grandparent's go they were truly one of a kind. The Best! Not only did they give to their family, but also to their community.







Papa, you will be missed terribly. Most of all from your gorgeous bride

and partner of 60+years-Grandma. We will love you forever and not a day will go by that we will not miss you.


The pictures you see are from papa and grandma's 60th wedding anniversary last summer. I have included a picture of Claire G--my "mil." She too loved papa and grandma very much.