Smile it doesn't hurt

I was given this award by Kim and RMJ (woo-hoo)

(This is what the person that created this award says about it, the thing that I love most about blogging is that I learn so much about a person just by reading their blog. I have met MANY wonderful people with wonderful stories to tell,and I am grateful every day for each person that I have the pleasure of crossing paths in life with.I wanted to create something special for the top ten people who have inspired me through their blogging; the stories they tell, and the lives that they lead with grace and dignity. I visit their blogs for inspiration and encouragement.Although there are MANY people I want to give this award to at this very moment, I am going to choose ten bloggers: Please grab your badge and wear it proudly, and pass it on because you inspire and encourage me, thank you. )

I am suppose to choose 10 people to pass this on too..Well this is where I have a problem.. There are more then 10 people that this award would and should represent...however I will (just this once) play by the rules. Here goes:

My partner is crime, the crazy one as she was the first and always has my back. Always! Reading her daily memoirs is a mirror reflection of my life. Identical! She is much more to me than a friend. She is family. She is compassionate about everything she throws herself into. You never get half assed with her girls. You get the real deal. I know I've voiced it before but I treasure her friendship more than I can express into words. I deeply adore and so admire her. I live vicariously through her everyday. You're my idol!

My dear friend Cindi as she so gets me. I love her adorable little giggle and her excitement talking about her twins and life and oh yeah, Ed. She understands what it's like to be a full time working mom of twins and she understands so well the day to day guilt I struggle with being a career mom. I love knowing that I can pick up the phone (hello--Sen...) and she answers or she will eagerly get in the car to meet me with toddlers in tow. Four hours away!! You, girl friend so "rock". (Ed too). I am so grateful to have you in my life.

Christine my inspiration. Although none of us have actually seen pictures of the lady with the wit, and beautiful words. I know I can always count on her when I need a lift. I also know that she is one of the most beautiful people I've ever met. I suspect that she doesn't show her face as she doesn't want to make the rest of us envious. I know I can find her up in the wee hours of the night banging away on the key board. Surprising to me as she sleeps with the one we all fantasize about. *wink* I am so glad you and I crossed paths.

Secret Agent as we speak the same language. She says it like she sees it. I so feel her pain and anguish during this g-d forsaken long wait to bring her daughter/daughter's home. I'm there with you babe.

Lil Bubble Queen for her devotion and love for her beautiful daughter Lily. I can almost hear Lily telling those adorable stories she shares with her mommy. Thank you for continually making me smile.

My inner strength, Kim. (I know she was already nominated, but.....)She is one of the most compassionate people I know. She has the ability to always looks at the glass as half full or even over flowing. Never one to be all doom and gloom. Positive, warm and supportive to her friends and family. A total sweetheart.

Cougchick for her witty personality but also her ability to lend a hand or shoulder when someone is feeling blue. I heart you! I hope to meet you someday my friend face to face. I love your energy. It's electrifying!!!

Get in the car! She was one of my first blogger buds. She makes it look glamorous being a mommy to a tribe. Not only is she "hot" and "sexy" looking in her "Juicy" but she can write some funny ass shit. If you haven't been to her site go, go now. I promise it will be worth your while. Funny lady. Great mom.

Mississippi Zen for sharing her beautiful family with us. I look forward to seeing what you have posted on your site each and everyday! She so loves her family. I love that most about her.

And the beautiful Steffi B. What can I say. If there was to be a blogger cheerleader it would be her. You make me laugh, you make me smile, you make me think. But most of all you make me want to be a better person. You have such an awesome ability to always see the positive and good in people. You inspire. You encourage. You are a real angel. Love you...

Love you all!!

B.C. (before children)

Once upon a time it was just me and the boy. When we had sex. Good sex. Everywhere. Don't read this mil or you'll never have Thanksgiving dinner with us again. Err, at our table. But, that was b.c. (before children) Not that I don't still fantasize about my fh and fondle myself in that "special" spot, but honestly, I'm tired. So, so tired.

Fh and I on the steps of the Majectic Hotel moments seconds before becoming parent's. Look at us. Do we look put together? Scared shitless? If you think so you should have seen us the following day. What a sight we were. This would be our last day as a twosome. EVER. No more
sex uninterrupted spontaneous do you want to get naked purring like an animal on your knees moments with me your wife who still digs your ass?! Yes, this is our life. Notice the posh diaper bag. Of course it Juicy. Did you really ask?! Had to have it Ask fh. Paid a fourtune for it. True. For any of you raising wild boars twins you know all so well you need two hands and sometimes another body!! At any rate we were in total bliss. Every nose hair plucked and hair in place. We wanted to impress the officials. Like they were really looking at us. We did look pretty sharp. Right?! I was wearing my favorite "Goldie Hawn" pants and they made my ass look soo slim. Yes, it was the pants that made my ass look slim. Shzz. this was the last time you would see me in lipstick and perfectly coiffed hair in well... where is my lipstick and where is my clip?!

Note: Juicy bag was replaced with a "rockin" backpack for those moments when I need to take off in a flash chasing out of control kids!

More Oregon pictures and some random pics from last week

I have discovered that Nonnie can play for hours. I get bored of playing cars after about 10 minutes. She will sit there and play cars with Tanner forever, happily. And of course there's the singing. One of my best memories of my Grandma is of her singing an endless amount of songs to us kids. She knew so many songs and would never tire of sing them to us (so it seemed).






I know we spoil Tanner at home, but here he is SO spoiled. He has people all around him that will play with him constantly. What a lucky and loved kid.

Pictures From Last Week

This is Shad's Aunt Geri who came and visited. She brought the kids Halloween presents, swam with us and played catch with Tanner.



This is Tanner right before bedtime. I swear he is so happy and cute right before he's supposed to go to bed. Shad and I know we're being worked....by a two-year old. = )

Stop the craziness.....

The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind. Hurricane Andrew. Not sure if I was coming or going. I'm sure you've all had days or weeks like this. Please tell me you have...In between all the crazy ass fun the "Nana" flew in on her
magic carpet super sonic jet to add a little spice big grin to our oh-so boring life. (insert sarcastic-right). We had a revival. No, not like that. A birthday celebration. The millennium. I mean Nana's *cough* ummm, 49th again. She is not getting any older. Ever. Going down with a fight. A merrymaking better than any New Year's Eve bash on Times Square with all the lights, flash and fireworks. Big bang fun. Miss Mai has officially(thanks Mai) bumped me out of my coveted "favorite "dil" spot forever. Nana was in "awe". Big points with the "mil". She surprised her with a custom made life like poster (ass licker) of photo ops of the fam-dango. Yes, our little Asian princess managed to order with out any of us knowing. --Did I hint she special ordered it and behind my back"?? Nana was blind sided and didn't see it coming, nor did she expect anything. Neither did we. Imagine our jolt when she unveiled it for all to see. Fh and I both gaped at one another with mouths open as if catching walleye. What the hell were we going to do for an encore?!? We were however insistant compassionate enough to concede to Nana's desire to prepare her own birthday dinner. Yes, we do count on our guest to cook and clean. Bwahahaha. Anyhoo, the "mil" was moved to tears. Truly. She kept saying "this is the best gift ever". Ummm, whata' ya saying nana?! Note to self: Pretend I don't notice. I'll never hear the end of it if I don't. *Big snort*. We gorged, sucked and smacked our lips together like a bunch of hungry wolves devouring the titillating feast Nana so effortlessly whipped up for all of us. You're wondering if I was just lying around eating bon-bon's while Nana slaved over a hot stove? Not exactly. I layed on the couch and barked orders to everyone within a 5 state radius! One of which was "don't bother mommy, she's resting, bring me the phone and don't touch that". Yes, I actually delight in Nana's bi-monthly visits. Let's see, if I calculated right she should be gracing us with her presence in (November is a free month due to T-Day) December. She's almost as predictable as my monthly cycle. Must select some new menus for her to prepare for family. LoL.

While Nana was here we met up with my friend Annie and her twins. Wouldn't want her to think for a minute raising twins is easy. We had agreed to meet at the Botanical Garden and then to Chuckee Cheese. Believe it or not none of us had ever experienced the big rat. Well the garden was just the ticket. The girls ran and squealed like wild banshees. Man, oh man did they all have a big time. Well, until Abbey deliberately squeezed her head between the fence overlooking the lake to feed the fish. It looked as if our only option was going to be jaws of life. But, no thank goodness Nana broke her out. I don't remember if she used some fancy schmancy oil to wiggle her free or not. As we all sat around and watched the girly girls we thought better of going to Chuckee Cheese. As Anne Marie so eloquently put it, It's terrible! I was feeling a bit gasey and overly bloated. Yes, I was relieved. We decided on one of my favorite gin joints for lunch. Clyde's. You might think quite upscale for children, but they actually offer a kids menu. So, yes they were expecting us--reluctantly! We kept the waiters engaged with four little 2 year olds not to mention the mess we left for them to clean up and running and keeping the mommy glasses full of wine. We left with more food on the floor than on their plates. They worked for every penny of their tip.....

No sooner had we dumped dropped Nana off at the airport, deflated her air mattress and we were packing up the family machine and heading to my parent's home in Ohio. I know I mentioned last week my dad fell this past winter and broke 6 ribs and punctured his lung. I needed to see him. My mom had reported that he just wasn't healing as well as expected and he had been really blue. Really blue. I was worried about him. Dad was having difficulty not being able to do what he once could do with ease. His body was betraying him and it was making him bitter. Cross. Resentful. He gets gets winded easily and has been unable to do any type of physical exertion since the accident. Yes, my dad was still earning a living before the accident. He is /was an artist and does/did artistic custom faux walls and ceilings. Absolutely beautiful creations.

We spent all day Tuesday lounging at my sister's watering holel! I was like a beached whale lying out in the middle of the pool with a kid floating on my belly.Perfect weather and boy did we have so much fun. The only thing missing was a pina colada and a cabana boy.

Our last day there we headed to the famed Columbus Zoo to meet Sam and her deliciously cute little girl Kieren. It was as if I had known Sam my entire life. There was such an ease. We chattered about everything. A total gagfest. I don't know that we ever finished one sentence. Did we?! Our kids jumped, skipped, giggled and danced. They were like recent parolee's with their new found freedom. I still find myself smiling when I think about how Kieren "called" the girls. She would pat her leg as if calling the dog. Cute beyond words. Kieren by the way is all girl. Wickedly cute and so sweet. I chuckled watching her run. Ahhh...... Last stop was to visit my girlfriends Jody and Kelly. This would be where I chewed off my right arm and hooked the I.V. up with alchol! That's right. My oh-so purrr-fect girls were over stimulated and both had a melt-down in front of friends. No naps.....First time ever meeting them! Sadly for me there is no predicting when this will happen or a way to defuse it. They finally settled down and we enjoyed a delicious dinner. Mommy and friends slung back a few glasses of wine and caught up with one another. It's was as if no time had ever passed. We've been friend's since the 9th grade. That's a long time..... So, how was your week?

Oregon

I've disappeared from the blogging world for the last couple of weeks. For some reason, we were crazy busy for the week before we left for Oregon and now we're here. I'm sorry I haven't read any of your blogs lately either...therefore, no comments made by me. And I probably won't catch up either.

Onto the good stuff. We're finally here and LOVING it!!! This is by far the best Oregon trip I have ever taken with kids. The kids are doing GREAT and Tanner just loves Mom to pieces. They built sand tunnels outside, played peoples, made play dough, picked vegetables in her greenhouse, made car-shaped pancakes, and today they are going to make a "choo choo" train cake or car-shaped cookies, whichever Tanner picks. And of course Dad gives Tanner M&Ms so you can guess whether he's popular or not. = ) Dad has actually been really busy at the new beach house so he hasn't had a chance to show Tanner the boat yet. And unfortunately for me, has not gone crabbing yet. I think I'm going to have to sit down tonight and have a talk with Dad....help him get his priorities straighted out.

The weather has been beautiful...sunny and no wind. Of course Tanner, Kate and I are still on the cool side, but everyone else who lives here is very comfortable.

Monday and Tuesday we were on a hunt for Disney's "CARS" matchbox cars. Tanner has about 6 of them and LOVES them. At home, he plays with them all day, reads "CARS" books at night, has toothpaste with Lightening McQueen on it, wears a Mater shirt, etc. I have looked for more "CARS" matchbox cars, but where we live all the stores are out of them. They sell out quickly. So we hit all the stores around here and collected about 20 more. I think Shad and I are more excited than Tanner. I think I am turning into a little boy. I was ecstatic when we found King (a car we've searched for, for months). Tanner is going to have to earn the cars with his star chart or buy them with the money he earns. Or better yet, go "potty" on the toilet and I'd give him every single one if he wanted, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.

My grandma and grandpa are coming out today and I'm so excited to see them, and have them meet Kate. My grandma is the ultimate grandma...plays, sings, cooks cookies. All the great-grandchildren LOVE her. The great-grandchildren call her "Nonnie".

Shad we love you and miss you!!!!!

Broken Heart Ahead

Friends, I don't even know where to begin. I've just discovered some tragic news. No. Devastating news. Someone whom I've had the pleasure of getting to know and adore here in "cyberville" has just learned some very sad news. Her heart is breaking. Crushed. She was betrayed. I still don't understand how it happened. She was referred a baby, a gorgeous baby girl. Charlotte. She was making plans to travel. She was excited. Really excited. I was excited for her too. Not only was she going to be a mommy but she was going to be adopting two babies as a single professional mommy. One domestic and one international. But, she just learned that Charlotte was no longer available for adoption. WTF? She would not be her mommy. Please, I'm asking(begging) all of you to stop by her site and lend a hand, a hug and lots of prayers. She needs us now. My heart is so heavy. How could something like this happen?

Update: Lilly has posted under comments on this post under "Lilly" with a giant white L on black. Read what she has to say. She has un-deleted her blog so that you all can leave comments. Her e-mail is lillyjohnson253@ aol.com if any of you would like to contact her privately.

All Grown Up

My how we've all grown up! For those of you who don't know I am one of 4 girls. No boys. And, I am the oldest, although I don't think I look like the oldest! *snort*. There is only five years between me and my youngest sister (the one I share a middle name with).


Yes, that's me with hand on head who appears to be saying "oh bother"! I had bigger and better plans for the day I'm sure. We were 6,54, and 2.

This picture was taken at my youngest sisters(the one with the long hair) high school graduation. Love the "poodle" doo's that the rest of us our sporting. We were such a fashion statement. Well, we thought we were. Lol. I don't think I've ever seen more ruffles or lace in my life! We were 23,22,21 and 18.

This picture unfortunately was taken 2 years(January 2005) ago at my cousins (died unexpectedly at 47) funeral. It had been a long time since all four of us had been in the same state at the same time. Even though it was such a sad occassion I loved being with my sisters. We were 44, 43, 41 and 39. Yes, V4 could still say she was in her 30's!!

P.S. Just returned from trip to Ohio. Thank you for all of your kindness. Great trip, but boy are we tired.... I've missed you all. I will be catching up with you later. Be still. It may take me a while to get back into the groove.

We;re outta' here....

Not permanently. Don't start hyperventilating yet. I'm going to be around for awhile. I've been up since o-dark hundred and have the family wagon packed and loaded to the gills. We're heading for O-ho-ho. (Ohio). Jeff asked if we were going for a month! Ummm, do you think he might be secretly wishing..... Fat chance baby, we're coming back to taunt you too. Anyway, my dad fell this past winter and broke 6 ribs and punctured his lung. This is the second winter in a row that he has fallen and broken ribs! Ummm, Parent's moved from Florida to Ohio a couple of years ago I know, crazy....moving in the wrong direction......He is by no means an old man--- although he would beg to differ. He just turned 65. Anyhoots, he is not recovering as well as expected so me and the fun team are going in to see if we can add some spice and put a smile on his face. My mom says he has really been down and a bit depressed. He's not use to not being able to get around. We will return on Friday. I leave you with these cute foto of the girlie girls and our other favorite set of twins. Little miss H and A who live in the DC area too.















Smooch! Love you Rony

To answer some questions...

Some of you asked if Shad and I were really taking dance classes. The answer is....unfortunately not. I made it up to add some drama to my blog. = ) Shad and I have talked about taking classes together for years and have never gotten around to it. We will someday.

Well, tonight was our ward party. We watched, "Cars" in a member's backyard on a big screen. It was cute to see all of the little kids so excited with their popcorn and candy. It went really well. Before the party, I was really worried that it would be too windy, and the screen would blow over (it did previously in the week). I wanted to pray about it, but felt bad because of my non-stop complaining about my calling. I felt I really didn't deserve any help with the activity. So I tried to be humble and apologized for my bad attitude, and then asked for it to not be windy, but for there to be a slight breeze so people wouldn't be too hot. The result? Absolutely perfect weather...not too windy, but a slight breeze, which is amazing because it gets crazy windy here. I am going to try and have a better attitude about my calling now. Next is the Tri-ward trunk or treat. Last year they had over 1000 people come and they ran out of everything. It's kind of been added onto year after year, so there are expectations to what it should be like. Because I've always been an in-active ward party member, I've never even been to a trunk or treat. If you have any great SIMPLE ideas, throw them my way.

I went to a Body Pump class at the gym this morning. It's a strength training class where you do each exercise and set holding a dumbbell with weights on it. Many people in the class had the most beautiful toned healthy looking bodies. This made me really excited about the class, but in the middle, as my legs were shaking uncontrollably, I thought to myself, "It's not worth it. I'd rather be loose than endure this ever again." However, now that I am home, I plan on attending again on Monday. This is probably because I did the workout this morning. Tomorrow, my muscles will probably be telling me something else. = )

Kate grew her first tooth today. She still continues to be absolutely precious.

Tanner and I went swimming today and our pool was COLD! We were bummed. It's been windy and cooling off to the 90's at night, so it brought the temperature way down. I usually look forward to the winters here, but this year since we have a pool, I have enjoyed every minute of the heat .

Well, I am exhausted, so I'm off to bed.

Dreams do come true

This is not my typical Retro Friday. I've been feeling a bit blue for all of you who are waiting on your referral. Simply put my heart aches for all of you. I just can't seem to shake it. You've all been so heavy on my mind. I feel your pain during this suffocating wait. I know how badly you all want to be mommies. I did too. No, my wait was not nearly as long as what you all are experiencing. True. But it wouldn't have mattered if it were half the wait. It was still long. One day seemed an eternity. There has been a lot of talk about the unhealthy babies from China. I want you all to see how very healthy my little "twinkies" were. Yes, they both had severe ear infections and colds, but nothing we weren't able to clear up with some antibiotics and cold meds. We never once would have considered "returning" them. They were our children. We would persevere. We after all were a family. That's all we ever wanted. A family. My family. I just wanted you all to know that dreams do come true. When I came across this picture tonight it was as if time had stopped. I had a flash back and found myself crying and smiling. I remember the moment I took that picture. We were in our hotel room in Nanning at the Majestic Hotel. We had only had the babies 2 days. Poor little Katie could barely sit up. This was one of the rare occasions where Abbey was not crying. I nudged fh and said "look honey, remember the bracelet with the bells Katie came with". She used to hold her arms up in the air and shake them. It was the sweetest thing I've ever seen in my life. They were so damn precious. I reached out and grabbed fh's hand. This was what and why we waited. Yes, we too had our bumps and I was more than angry that we were being jerked around and lied to. But, all was quickly forgotten once they placed these gorgeous healthy little girls in our arms. I couldn't stop crying. I was where you all are. Trust me. You will understand. I am so in love with these little people. They are my everything.

I love you all.

Disco Classes

I haven't really told anyone yet, but Shad and I have been taking dance classes for the last couple of months and have LOVED it. I kind of had to drag Shad along at first, but now he really likes it. We get a sitter, and go on Friday nights. Here is a little clip our teacher took of us.

Babysitting Sophia

This week we are lucky enough to be babysitting Sophia, Tanner's bestfriend. Her Mom Lillie (my bestfriend), went to New York this week, so Tanner gets to play with Sophie for 3 whole days. It works out well, since last Fall, I went to New York and she watched Tanner for me. It's so nice to have good friends. Before Kate was born, we also used to switch kids every weekend, one of us would take Fri. night, the other Sat. night, so we could go on dates with our husbands. I miss those days. Now I get to fork out 6 bucks an hour for a sitter.

Anyhow, Tanner and Sophia get so excited to see each other in the morning...they squeal, jump up and down and give each other hugs. They play well for a couple of hours, then they fight/make-up (this happens throughout the day), Sophie naps, and then they get excited all over again to see each other when she wakes up. Kate also loves it, because Sophie gives her attention and is really sweet with her.

Here are a few pictures from yesterday and today.

Blogger Award

I know. Does it ever stop?! Lol. Steffie B. gave me this award and I was so flattered! I have to admit I was caught with my mouth open. Even for me. To be in the company of the great Steffie B. is quite an honor. Thank you Steffie. Although I don't feel I am nearly as awesome as you or the girls I look up to and admire. I am so flattered to be in the company of such great incredible women. You are all so inspirational to me. I love you all so much.

To be given this award I guess you need to: This award goes to bloggers “who effortlessly weave their way in and out of the blogosphere, leaving friendly trails and smiles,happily making new friends along the way. They don’t limit their visits to only the rich and successful, but spend some time to say hello to new blogs as well. They are the ones who engage others in meaningful conversations, refusing to let it end at a mere hello - all the while fostering a sense of closeness and friendship.”

I nominate my all time fav "the crazy one," "double lucky" and "dragon fly and lady bugs",and the one eye'd beauty. See, you're not forgotten!

Toy Store for your little kiddies...

I've been asked to try out a few products that ebeanstalk is considering selling on their web site. This is what I discovered. Let me rephrase that. This is what the girls have discovered.

They we loved the bath writers! Awesome. Bath time was a new experience. Not that my girls ever argued about bath time but it was so fun hearing them giggle and splash with their new fond creation!! They loved colouring all over the walls and mommy not saying "no, no, no"!

The Playtex Sippy Cup. I would have to say this was my favorite of all the products. Not only was it dishwasher safe but it was spill proof and lightweight. The girls loved the animated characters on the cup and were encouraged to drink because they found it to be fun. They especially liked the dianasour.





Playtex baby einstein fork and spoon. I would have loved to have had this when the girls first stared using utensils. No need to worry about them poking out their eye! Super lightweight and the food stays on the fork and spoon. Easy for a little hand to hold. Also has colours on it for those leaning their colours. This is also dishwasher safe. And plastic!


The Baby Einstein Playtex plate is awesome. The girls got such a kick out of the colorful figures on the plate. They loved pointing out what was in the bottom of the bowl after they lapped and licked up everything on their plate. Plate is the perfect size for a toddler and plastic! My girls are not eating a lot of food at this point as they seem to graze all day. Plate is dish washer safe and plastic. A real bonus for me. They're into throwing things in the sink now. Helping mommy....


E-beanstalk has agreed to give all of my blogger buddies a 10% discount off of anything you purchase. Just use the code "twingirls". Please visit their web-site at www.ebeanstalk.com. Let them be your toys to go to store!!!

Huntington Beach

The last day we were in Newport, we headed to Huntington and Tanner LOVED IT!!! I am so glad. Shad and I were reminded once again, that it just takes a while for him to warm up to new things. The last two days of the trip were the most fun, Friday we did NOTHING and it was GREAT and Saturday was the beach, which was was beautiful. I would've gotten more pictures of the front of Tanner so you can see his face, but if he even senses that the camera is pointed at him, he flips out, covers his face and yells, "No! Take pictures of Kate, not Tanner." = ) So I have to pretend I am taking pictures of Kate and then wait until Tanner turns to take his picture. Oh well.