prepping for christmas

I love to do gingerbread houses with Caed! I remember loving that day in my class when we got to make gingerbread houses out of graham crackers and decorate it up with all sorts of candy!! Fun, fun! I do the icing for these projects but Caed pretty much dictates the candy placement. He even cut the gummy circles and put it above the door himself.

Caed thought of this little outfit all on his own. He came and told us he was dressed up like Santa. what a funny kid! we decided to tell Caed that Santa wasn't real. It was after a lot of thought and Caed's constant questioning. And actually he told us himself. One day after I had thought I was going to tell him, I asked casually after he had been talking about Santa "Caed, is Santa real, or pretend?" He answered with a stong "pretend" and that was that. (well we did discuss it more, but I thought he was ready for the reality of a pretend Santa at least!) He still loves the fairy tale of a santa, and all the stories and songs. We haven't ruined it for him completely! And he totally goes along with all his friends at school when they talk about him, so I think we're good. We've talked about it some more, and we talk about who St. Nicholas was, and even though he might not have it sorted correctly, he's got the gist. Anyway- he looks more like the Swedish Tomten then santa....but he totally cut and taped that outfit himself. (a white beard had made a brief appearance, but I haven't seen it since) we love this time of year!

Keeping busy

if you don't keep the Monkey's busy, they get into trouble...so we're keeping busy. Of course we do have some down time, but we try to keep the yelling and hitting to a minimum by taking them out and about. (that's not saying they don't yell and hit while we're out, but at least they are distracted!) These are some of our photos from Thanksgiving and the Myrtle Beach childrens museum.

pumpkin picking

I took the kids to a pumpkin farm a couple of weekends ago. Hubby had to do some home repairs involving a ladder at high heights, and I don't like that- so I took the kids out...I forgot how much I love this one pumpkin farm. It's popular, but not as most, and you don't pay to walk in, you just pay for what you do. And you can look at and pet animals for free. I wouldn't have needed to pay for anything if I thought my kids could walk to the pumpkin patch instead of the hay ride. But we had fun.

Theron was a little worried by the animals, but I kept pushing, I don't want them to miss out on these experiences. And well he kept the book away from the goats, because they did want it. I had to keep them in the stroller most of the time, it's the only way to keep 2 18mo. old's in my possession! Poor Aldan would have loved to touch the animals. I am a little weary of touching them though since a couple of a years ago Jon got ringworm from a Pumpkin farm. (not this one)

Of course I love the baby animals, and I couldn't stay watching them long enough...I kept things moving- I was really on guard about the kids- and I didn't want to loose my patience.

This photo was at the end....asked a stranger with an SLR camera to take our photo...

I come up with a well laid plan on things like this...keep the kids in stroller. Everything in a backpack. The only thing I wasn't sure how I was going to do it was the hayride to the pumpkins, all three kids, and carting a pumpkin. Aldan got on the hayride and wanted to sit across from me. I didn't make it an issue. As long as he sat. I didn't want meltdowns. Theron did give me some trouble with sitting, which was annoying- but you can't prevent everything!

Caed was just happy looking around. Of course I prepped him that I didn't want any trouble from him, if we were going to do it ever again. Ha. I ended up bringing reusable bag to carry a pumpkin we would pick. I thought that might give me the most flexibility and it would keep the pumpkin to a smaller size.

Ha, evidence of Theron not wanting to sit!

I let them run pretty much as they wanted (could) once we got off the hayride at the pumpkins. They loved it.

I attempted a shot with all of them. Of course I only tried a little, didn't want to make a big deal of it, I wanted happy kids more. I was by myself after all. We did have a great time, and they did really well. I left hoping they'd fall asleep in the car- we were 45min. away from home- and of course, they stayed awake! Geesh! I love our monkeys more then words- what a blessing they are to Jon and I.

Happy 18 months!

I'm a bit late here...but not too badly. Our monkeys are 18 mo. old. My how strangely time passes...the days are long, but the years are short.

I couldn't get them both to look at me, but Aldan was all silly, so this is fun enough. Theron can't let things out of his little mitts all that easily and he was holding a special toy of Caed's, so there was no changing his view. Aldan is holding one of his love-ys. He's got two, which are actually left over's from Caed that he never got attached to.

Don't let that little smile of Aldan's confuse you that he's the sweet one. Both have a streak in them, but they usually come out at different times. We are truely blessed.



And here's a little love sharing....it's cute to realize they don't really know how to kiss one another when asked to. When an adult kisses them, they just have to lean in- so they just lean into each other. But they will pretty much do this at any time. What cuties. (and what a mop of hair that Aldan has!!)

I'd have their exact stats, except I can't find the small piece of paper the woman at the doctor's office so nicely wrote everything out for me on, since I am a bit scattered when I go to the appointments....I do remember that aldan is an inch taller then Theron, and because of that, Theron is only 90-95% and aldan is off the chart! Ha, that little overachiever!

Happy Birthday!!

(Heather with her daughter)

Happy Birthday to my older sister Heather! Hope you had a great one! Love to you, amazing mom, wife, sister and friend! (hope we get lots more time to get to know each other better!)

if i make it out to the garden

I find really cool things. Unfortunately my neighbor who watered our garden while we traveled this summer probably was in my garden more then me. But I did catch this guy one day. He looked like such the textbook grasshopper that I had to take a picture. This first picture was actually taken upsidedown. I know...not a gripping blog entry...

will the real twins please stand up?

my mom and her sister, our fabulous aunt, have always been asked if they are twins. They probably look more like twins then our actual twins...but I can't see the similarities in either set- I guess I know them too well. We took a picture for fun- unfortunately it's very difficult to keep the adults and children all looking at the same time! (well the adults could keep looking, they just couldn't keep their eyes open!)

and here's Caed with his requested photo...with his beloved kitty and pink paper cheeburger car. I love his love for his toys. He plays with them until he wears them out, and then we still can't get rid of them because he asks about them later! (tonight he requested some obsure car we threw out because it had come all apart, and this remote control car that our neighbor gave him, that burned out- not to be working again....I just tell him we'll have to look for it, if it's something I think he'd be too upset to hear we threw out...and hope he forgets about it a little longer!)

you can do it too!

last Sunday I accomplished half of a goal. I ran a half marathon. 13.1 miles.

While pregnant with the twins I realized it might be a bit harder to loose the weight the second (and third) time around. I considered taking up running, once it was possible. It took a little longer to start running then I anticipated because of the logistics. That's when hubby gave me the amazing Christmas gift to the gym with childcare.

I started running on the treadmill in March. I ran a 5K in April, and had my heart set on the Paris Marathon 2011. I found a half to run which I thought would be a good indicator before registering for Paris on how I'd do. I ran in this past weekend. I was a bit slower then I anticipated due to a few reasons. I think I'm going to put off Paris another year, and try for a closer to home Marathon next year. So I'll stick with my goal of distance, but I'll put off the destination for now.

I am really really proud of myself. I don't feel badly about putting off Paris, because I think the bigger objective is getting healthy and having energy for my family. Running has made me a better mom and wife (i think!)

Other friends and family are really supportive and proud too. I keep reminding them that it's not hard to do when you take the time to train. You could do it too if you set out to train. It's not like I woke up last Sunday and decided to run 13.1 miles...I've been working really hard at it for months. Don't underestimate your own abilities when you work up to something- give yourself a small goal and then what you think you can handle from there....there were weeks it was hard- there were my long runs that took a long time... that my knees hurt me or I didn't have the best mood...and my tummy gave me problems, once home, at 10+ miles! i kept trudging through and had a good time. And I did it- and i wasn't last or didn't have to be picked up by the van that drives at the end...

so thankful that my family has made the sacrifice too.

just a day..

C started school. We started adjusting to a new schedule. I have had to have a lot motivation to keep us on track with our time from wake up until 3. Kids all go down for bed now between 7-8 rather then the extended 730-9.

C comes home usually pretty happy now too. He's glad to be back with his toys, and our home. It's fun to watch that and think of the transition it must be in his mind...today I came back home after dropping him at school and the twins seemed bored...and like they wanted Caed to play with. after about 20 minutes. they warmed up and started playing together. I love seeing just the twins together, it's been a lot of fun to see their own interactions now too...

So today is just a day...and I may be seeing a spot in my day to add some blog posts. Lord knows there no shortage of things I think of blogging!

Part 2

I really find so little time for blogging these days that I can't believe I'd go back and catch up. Ha! This is the last pressured 'go back' I'll do! (why did I name that last blog part 1!)



I had the hardest time actually on the boat. To me a cruise is a wonderful way to see lots of places without having to do the driving/flying ourselves. I would love to try a cruise with others- friends and/or family. I couldn't help feeling an overwhelming sense on how indulgent it was. Especially in the beginning. All I could hear in my head was lines from the movie Wall-e. "Lunch, in a cup!" I relaxed a bit after the first meals, but frankly I would have been more comfortable cleaning my own room and serving myself at dinner then having it done for me. I was awkwardly grateful to all the staff and wanted Jon to tip everyone more!



We had lots of time to relax....

I was thinking a lot about how blessed I was to be there. There are lots of people who deserve as nice as a break and vacation as we had. I never dreamed that I would get to see and do the things we did.

And we got our picture taken with the Norwegian captain.

We really had a great time and I am so thankful for Jonathan and his commitment to our family, and us as a couple. It really was great for us to do the trip, and especially after the twins turned 1. It was a long year...and we made it!