Happy Birthday Nana!

Happy, Happy Birthday to our one and only NANA! We can't wait until you come and visit us in just 4 days! We love you!!!

Getting Ready for the Easter Bunny

Libby and Drew have had a blast getting ready for the Easter Bunny. That would mean me picking up Easter grass strands from everywhere in the entire house and avoiding stepping on 1/2 of an open plastic egg in my bare feet! I have had this little Easter tree since I was in college at my first apartment, so that must have been around 1993. WOW. I am so old (hence this post)! This year, I decided to let Libby and Drew have the honor of putting all of those teeny tiny adorable ornaments on the tree. I've never seen them work so hard! And each string required skill to open them so they could hang on the branch. I guess having small hands helped, too...



A little later, I decided to bring in our easel from the garage. We have never used it- mainly because I've almost forgotten it was there! I got it for free on Freecycle last summer. Libby and Drew love it. They are both really into coloring with markers and crayons. Both have a nice tripod grasp with the chubby crayons, but with the markers, it is still emerging. Basically, they're completely normal kids! ;)

Princess Party

Today was our friend Sydney's 6th Birthday Party. It had a Princess theme and it was adorable. Guests were supposed to wear their princess attire, so we bought Libby a Cinderella dress. I was a little nervous that she might not want to wear it since she's going through that "I HATE DRESSES" phase. But since it was a CINDERELLA dress, that's a whole other story! Luckily, we had the Mickey Mouse crowns from Disney on Ice, so Drew wore that and was the cutest little prince. He was such a good sport.

We were so excited when we arrived because Cinderella herself was there! Libby stood there like a deer in headlights for quite a while. She was in heaven. It was so cute to watch her. She barely spoke and just stared at her like, "You are the most beautiful princess in the world!" Sydney's mom, Saleena, wore her wedding dress with a tiara and all of the other moms wore ball gowns. I somehow didn't get that memo, so I was sportin' it in my jeans and ponytail. That's probably a good thing since I don't even own a ball gown! Cinderella sang songs, gave each guest a princess certificate and said, "Bippity, Bobbity, Boo," to them. After pizza at the pretty table, Cinderella painted faces, too. We had her paint Libby's hand with a purple unicorn (her choice). She was in love. Then Cinderella cut the cake and handed it to each guest. Libby and Drew both kept telling me over and over, "Cinderella gave me cake, Mama!" When Cinderella had to leave, they kept asking me where she was going, so I told them she had to go home to cook dinner for Prince Charming at the castle! Then they kept repeating over and over that Prince Charming was hungry. What a fun day!


Deer in headlights:


The Birthday Girl:

Barnyard Bash

I still can't believe it, but we're planning Libby and Drew's THIRD Birthday Party! Time has just flown by! We thought about it and are going to have it at the farm this year. It will be perfect since many new baby animals will be born in March and April. Plus, hopefully the weather will be nicer once April gets here.

In case you didn't know already, I own an invitation web store (shameless plug inserted here: www.CayennePaper.com), so naturally I hand-make any and every invitation and holiday card I've ever sent to family and friends. This year, I decided to give up this control and let someone else make something just as cute! I am a retailer for a precious company called Tickle Bellies and Colleen is so creative and has some really cute things. She is making me invitations, thank you note cards, and favor stickers using her "Petting Zoo" theme. I ordered them and can't wait to see them.



Then, I noticed that she is now adding personalized melamine plates to match. Hmm... this could get out of hand easily.


I love love love the site Etsy.com - it's a site of people selling only handmade creations and it's wonderful. I found the cutest favors here and got them in the other day. They are crayon rolls for kids. They are so cute and a nice change from the sack-o-sugar and other chokeable items that we usually get at parties. Take a look at them! The sellers were so accommodating and gave me a great price since I ordered several. We got some coloring books with farm animals to go with them. I also found some adorable birthday crowns on Etsy and am wondering if I could attempt to make something similar myself. Plus I hear that you can cut fabric on my Cricut (scrapbooking cutting machine), so I'm wondering if that includes felt, too. Hmmm... wheels are turning and Darrell's nervous!

Oh, and I forgot to mention that I'm getting the cutest farm clothing made by Patty at PST Designs (another one of my vendors). She's making overalls for Drew and a pillowcase dress (actually swing top to wear with jeans) for Libby. Libby does not want to go near any dress with a 10-foot pole lately, so I'm hoping the swing top will meet her approval!

People wonder why we go all out on birthdays for Libby and Drew. I will admit that we do, but really it is to celebrate these 2 miracles and how much they've blessed us by being born happy and healthy babies. So, as long as they'll let us, we'll have a ball! Plus, since they're twins, really it is easier to plan only 1 party per year. I'm just wondering how we'll do it once Libby wants hers to be for princesses and Drew wants Spider Man. Guess we'll see how that goes once it gets here (probably sooner than later). I've talked to my good friend, Leslie, about this. She has 2 children (a boy and a girl) that are 3 or so years apart in age. But they have the same birthday! And it wasn't scheduled, induced, or planned- just coincidence. They still share a party- usually at Pump It Up or taking a friend to the movies, etc. That sounds like fun, so maybe that's what we'll do once wearing those monogrammed matching outfits I love isn't so cool.

Totally Tots

I came across a cute blog (Thanks, Jill) with some really fun stuff to do with tots. I'm following it now and thought I'd share it with you. It has actually given me good ideas for my preschool students as well! But I got on the Oriental Trading website and bought some beads, laces, trays, and other craft/art items and hope to have fun with Libby and Drew this summer. Check it out:

I Get No More than I Can Handle

God only gives us what we can handle, right? Or at least that's how the saying goes. Well, I think I had my fair share yesterday! It was such a rotten day that when I woke up today, I prayed that it would just HAVE to be better. Luckily, it has been so far. But let me tell you about yesterday...

It started when I lost my cell phone somewhere along the way of my busy day of traveling to my offices, preschools, and home visits. It just drove me crazy that I had no idea where I left it. And I cleaned out my car, purse, and desk plus traced my footsteps a zillion times. No dice. At home, Darrell cleared out my car again, but no luck. It was aggravating, especially b/c all of my contacts are on it! And you know that we don't pay the extra $10 to have AT&T store all of that online for us. Well, it was just a crazy day of running around to all kinds of meetings and visits. I opened my calender at work only to find out that the bday party I had used as bribery for L&D to use the potty at daycare all day was actually NEXT Tuesday. Ok, what was I gonna do to make up for that mistake?

As I picked them up from daycare after I was just spent and tired, Drew started to run out the door without me, so I grabbed him by the shirt and as he stopped and relaxed, I let go and boom- he tumbled out on his face onto the sidewalk. He got hysterical and had a nice bump on his head. Poor thing!

We left and got home to play with my winter/snow unit's toys and puzzles that I had brought in from the car. They had fun, but loved dumping all of the styrofoam peanuts everywhere. Who could be mad when they were pretending it was snowing? Well, it was a huge mess. But no big deal. As I finally sit down on the sofa to catch my breath, Drew walks up to me saying, "Mama, pee pee's coming out." Yeah, and I forgot that he was wearing underwear and didn't take him to the potty as soon as we got home. Sooooo... cleanup duty began. I then broke the news about the party being next week. Sobs everywhere. We decided everyone had a rough day and didn't even go to our Bible study group that night. It was a night of pizza and ice cream, which is alright by me!

Darrell left shortly after to go to the AT&T store to deactivate my phone. I just had this feeling we should wait a day in case it turned up, but he wanted to do it in case my phone was dialing China or something. Good idea. I just used my old cell phone and it's just fine. It got us to also take off all of the data packages we have on our phones to save money anyway. Every little penny counts, plus it really is just a luxury to have email on my phone. I don't want to get in the habit of checking it in the car anyway. Plus I'm not a good texter at all. Fine by me.

I woke up this morning and said some extra prayers that today would be better. It really has been a good day. Libby sat on the potty this morning and actually made pee-pee for the first "real" time!!!!!! She has only done it once before and really by accident, so to speak. Poor thing has sat and sat and tries and tries, but I really don't think her body is ready. She doesn't seem to know when it's coming. But this morning she did and we were pleased as punch. She was so proud and told her sitter as soon as she walked into daycare this morning. I'm so happy for her.

My students and home visits have been nice today, and guess what... a man turned my phone in to the front office because he found it in the middle of the street yesterday. I think I may have driven away with it on the roof or something. So, it's back! Now my contacts are saved, too. I'm so relieved!

Now, let's just hope this good day continues for at least another 8 hours or so!

Feeling Gray Today

Last night, while I was brushing my teeth and getting ready for bed, I saw "it". And when I say "it", I mean perhaps the worst thing that can happen to a woman in their mid (ok, really late) 30's. I know many others, including my brother, Jeff, experienced this much earlier than I did and I never really thought much about "it". Some others go through it even in their 20's, but no big deal- at least for me. I had Darrell even take a look to make sure "it" was really "it". And after looking at "it" from several different angles and in different lights, he decided it needed to be removed to confirm that "it" really was "it". He giggled since he's gone through it already, too. But not me. I sort of held on to the fact that it may not happen to me until MUCH later- you know when I was "older", in my mid to late 40's. Well, guess I wasn't prepared for it, but "it" is here and here to stay. What is "it", are you wondering? Well, "it" reared its ugly head on my head and "it" is just what you may have guessed... "IT" IS A GRAY HAIR! There, it's out there... in the universe for all of those 5 people who actually read this blog to see (and most likely laugh about). I am officially "old'ish" now. But I like to say aging gracefully. I mean, my neck still looks young with hardly any wrinkles. When my neck starts looking like a chicken's, then I'll consider myself "old"! I figure I have at least 5 years or so to prepare.

Polka Dots and Hair Cuts

Friday, Drew woke up with what he calls "polka dots". We thought it may have been from the new soap we used or from the fact that we didn't have time for baths on Thursday night, so we had a "pseudo bath" instead. That involved warm wet washcloths with a teeny tiny microscopic pinch of soap added. Perhaps this was not the best idea. Brenda, our sitter, called me Friday afternoon to ask about it and said that it got worse on his face after nap. I'm figuring because he rubbed his face on his sheets. But then she mentioned that it may be from the end of their bout of sickness. Sometimes kids break out in a rash at the end. I guess for the big finale or something! This happened to Libby a while ago and after a dose of benadryl with no results, I'm thinking she's right. This morning they were still there and drew is now proud of his "polka dots", especially because "they aren't scratchy, Mama."




Today is like our usual Saturdays- running around. Darrell and Drew are off for haircuts and Libby and I are off for errands. Luckily, the weather is nice- beautiful and sunny, but still cold in the 40's. I can't wait for spring!

Shamrocks

Maw Maw and Paw Paw sent us a nice shamrock seed kit for our anniversary this year. It came with the seeds, dirt from Ireland, and a pretty Irish porcelain bowl to plant them in. I saw that it takes about 3 weeks for them to grow, so we got started a couple of weeks ago. We had fun talking about seeds and how they need dirt, water, and sun to grow. I put it in our sunny kitchen window and Libby and Drew are so excited to see how much they have grown. It looks like we'll have a nice display once St. Patrick's Day rolls around in a few weeks!

Planting day (Feb.21):





Feb. 25th:


March 5th: