Birthday Fun & A Day on the Town

My 30th birthday was Thursday. Nathan is already planning a weekend getaway to Hot Springs for next weekend and I thought that was the main celebration so we didn't have much planned for my actual birthday. Just dinner at home and I was going to get coffee with some of my friends who gave me some nice presents. Little did I know when I got back to the house there was a whole slew of people waiting for me! Many of my friends and family were there and we had cake and ice cream and snacks in the backyard. It was so nice and made me feel very special. Nathan did great!

My parents stayed in town until today and my dad wanted to go out to eat. Instead of just going to a restaurant we decided to enjoy our lovely city of Little Rock and the gorgeous weather. We went downtown to the RiverMarket and got some food and ate outside by the river. Then we shopped the market a little then walked along the river. They have really fixed up a great play area for kids! There is a huge slide and all these tunnels leading different ways, then rocks to climb back up. There is a "fountain" where water shoots up periodically from the ground. We watched some kids playing in the water and tried to get Kaleigh to run through but she wasn't having it! I would definitely like to go back and have her bring a bathing suit next time. We got some ice cream then went home.

Yesterday Gretchen came over and did a photo shoot for us. It was the first time we've had anybody take family pictures, and of course she got tons of just the kids. She did a great job. There is a little preview here at her photography blog.
It was fun. The babies did great, much better than I expected. Kaleigh wasn't as "into it" as I would have expected, but she did good. I love Gretchen's style. She just captures the essence of people. Poor Nathan had a root canal yesterday morning. Please pray for him, they weren't able to finish and he has to go to a specialist tomorrow to get the rest of it done. Every time he goes back to the dentist we get more bad news (& spend lots of $$). He takes excellent care of his teeth, he just inherited "difficult" teeth.

Here are some Easter pictures. My Dad got this amazing basket from the high school in Bearden. They were doing a fund raiser and all the stuff was donated for the baskets. It had so many books in it and nice things. Kaleigh is wearing the Ariel gown that Lance & Kristin brought her from DisneyWorld. She loves it. And of course the family shot Easter day. Since it was pouring down rain we couldn't get the outside picture that I really wanted. It was a nice weekend.
Don't forget to look at our pictures on Gretchen's photography blog!

Random Post

The last few weeks have been crazy busy. Nobody warned me that twins at 6 months were harder than twins at 3 months?!? Here's just a little of what's been going on...

We got together with some of our best friends. We always try to get certain pictures when we're together. The picture of the kids with Ben is just a fun tradition. We thought about trying to get ALL the kids in, but that probably wouldn't have worked! I love these people. We laugh so much when we're together. It's a little harder these days, but worth the trouble.

We had Maddie over to play with Kaleigh the other day. Those two are such sweet friends. They played great together and I loved listening to their little conversations. Look at the second picture what Maddie is wearing. Is that a match made in heaven or what?!









We've been selling a lot on ebay. We hit up a garage sale last Friday and found all sorts of interesting things to sell. The best so far was $3 camera lenses sold for $25 plus S&H. We may not get rich that way, but it's fun! I'm also in a dispute with someone that I bought from. I bought a PC game and it never came. He won't respond. I'm pretty sure he's scamming a bunch of people... Or maybe he just overdid it and I'm being cynical. We'll see. I actually called ebay on him though.

Funny Kaleigh story.. Nathan had been letting his facial hair grow for a while and finally shaved the other day (with some encouragement from me). Afterward he went into the LR where Kaleigh was and sat down next to her. He had his shirt off. He asked Kaleigh "Do you notice anything different about me?" She looked him over and finally said "I don't know." He said "I shaved the hair off my face". She thought for a second and looked at him again then said "Oh Daddy, did you put it on your arms?"

Gotta keep it in perspective...

This week's just been a bit of a "down" week for me. Anyone else feel that way? Spring break when you don't get a spring break is just not fun. My bible study was cancelled, I had no bunko, no playdates, no class meetings, no projects of any kind. The only time I left the house this week was to go shopping. And not fun shopping. I did get to see Ashley & her baby for a few minutes. It's just too hard to get out and do anything with all three kids. We went on a disastrous walk down the street one afternoon.
We were supposed to go to the lake last night where Nathan's parents were camping, but then it was supposed to rain so we didn't go. We were going to go to Garvan Gardens today but saw that it was going to be a little cold so we switched that. Then we decided to go to the lake instead, until we were reminded how cold 40 degrees is. Not fun. Plus Nathan had (or got to) go out a couple of evenings, which just makes my day with the girls that much longer. The only highlights of the week was seeing our friends Andy & Liz last night. They came over to visit for a while, which was a good "pick me up".

I know that I need to keep it in perspective. Everyone's fairly healthy, we have lots to look forward to, and I will soon be complaining about how much I have to do. God has been very good to our family. Which leads me to the next issue...

I also have been very burdened for a lot of other people lately. I know that I just need to pray for them and do what I can for them, then give it to God, but it's hard for me to do that "turning over" part. Every time I hear about sick babies or babies dying or broken marriages and people with financial troubles, I really carry it around with me. Maybe I'm supposed to be doing more? Like I said, it's been a down week.

Here's a little bit of cheerfullness - aren't the pigtails so cute?!

Miscellaneous Happenings

One other thing I wanted to accomplish while Kaleigh was gone was to get some pictures of Avery & Alexis. We did a photo shoot & I ended up with a few good ones (out of many).
The second one just captures them both perfectly. I have a feeling Alexis will be picking on Avery their whole lives.










I also got to some garage sales and found some beautiful smocked & Strasburg dresses for the twins. They don't exactly match but they will coordinate. I got 6 pairs of shoes that looked brand new. I also found a bunch of clothes for Kaleigh for $1 a piece, including some bathing suits, 2 cheerleading outfits and another smocked dress. I also found a set of sheets for Kaleigh's bed that match her bedding for 2.50 (including pillowcases).










I sold two smocked preemie outfits on ebay. We bought them new for $10 each and sold them for $30 total after Avery & Alexis wore them a couple of times. Not bad. It made me laugh that the lady who bought them emailed me & said they were for her heirloom reborn dolls! Then I got to researching those dolls. Serious business!

Kaleigh came home! She wanted to play outside. We disagreed about what she should wear. She won.

Project Completed!

Many of you who know me may have noticed that I'm not very good at following through on projects. Well, I am happy to announce that I finally completed something that I have been working on since my pregnancy with the twins. These are the letters to hang in Kaleigh's new room. The last step is to actually hang them. . .












And, I actually completed a new project that I just started yesterday! I wanted a bow hanger for Kaleigh's room. The ones on ebay are $20 and I just can't pay that right now, so I found some things at WalMart and made this one for about $7. It may not be as cute, but I saved $$ and I can brag that I made it myself. I noticed after I painted it brown that it looks a little like a football, but I'm hoping with all the bows hanging off it that you wouldn't notice that.










The reason I'm able to get all this done is b/c Kaleigh is gone with my parents for about 5 days. It is amazing how little work the twins are compared to their 3 year old sister! It doesn't hurt that they still sleep about 7 hours during the day. I'm determined to make the most of this time. Since she's been gone I've done those projects, listed some things for sale on ebay & craigslist, cleaned, and rearranged the LR furniture with Nathan. I still have many more things I want to do. I'll let you know how that goes!

Sickness

We've been dealing with a lot of sickness around our house lately. Surprisingly, it's not the two preemie babies who have had it worst, it's my 3 year old who has been really healthy up till now. We are spending a lot on doctor copays. It's been about 3 weeks since Kaleigh got RSV. She had a temp of 103.5 and a bad cough. She never got completely over it but was a lot better, then Monday I noticed a lot of gunk coming out of her eye. Pink eye. Then yesterday she threw up, and last night was running high fever again. We will be going back to the doctor later today.
In the meantime, Avery got the cough, but never got full blown RSV, thanks to the Synagis shot. She did have a slight ear infection and had to take antibiotics. Alexis got the same thing a few days later. We had to go out of town so I never took her to the doctor. They are both still congested but not bad. My mom predicted correctly that Alexis did not take it as well as Avery. She is definitely the more emotional one so far. But what I love is that one minute she will be fussing, then I will lean down & talk to her and she smiles like this









We went to Missouri over the weekend to visit family. It was a good trip and I'm glad we went, even though the babies made it a little stressful. Here is a picture of Kaleigh with her cousins Andrei, Ashley & Angelica. They are so sweet. I really wish we lived closer so she could spend more time with them.

Deal of the Week

I went to Walgreens today and got all of this for $9 total! At least it will be after I get all my rebates back. Most of it was free. How's that for a deal? In case you can't see, it's two packs of diapers, a 12 pack of double roll toilet paper, 3 shampoos, conditioner, hair gel, 2 pain medicines, allergy medicine, toothpaste, gum, and 2 air freshener systems.
Many thanks to Lisa, Tara & others who helped make this possible :)

I liked the guesses on the picture of Kaleigh. It was kind of a trick question. Unless you've heard me talk about it, you would never know that I found Kaleigh "picking Avery's toe jam". I know - gross, right? Nathan brought up toe jam one time and Kaleigh is a little bit obsessed with it.

Fun Craft & Finding Bargains!

Yesterday Kaleigh and I made a puzzle. First we found a flower catalog and Kaleigh cut out pictures that she liked from the catalog. Then we covered a piece of cardboard with glue & glued the pictures on the cardboard. Then, I used a box cutter & made puzzle pieces. Viola! A cute original puzzle plus good training in cutting, glueing, and working a puzzle. Fun!










Also yesterday, my very gracious mother-in-law, Patti, came over and watched the girls and let me have lunch with Nathan & do a little shopping in North Little Rock. I got to spend about in hour in my favorite store - 1/2 of 1/2 Name Brand Clothing. Shopping there is an adventure. They get clothes from store buyouts and some damaged items. Some of the things are fine, some have stains, or may be missing a button, or have big holes. You just have to look everything over carefully. Everything starts out at 1/4 of retail and continues to get cheaper & cheaper. I got these six items for $38 and they are all perfectly fine! I'm not kidding when I say it's pretty much spoiled us for shopping anywhere else. You just have to plan to stay a while looking through gobs of clothes. I was there for over an hour but I could have stayed much longer.






Quiz : Guess what is happening in this picture?

Happy Birthday, Nathan!
I'm so glad God created you! Me & the girls are so lucky to have you. Well, I'm lucky, and they wouldn't exist without you... Anyway, you are my best friend and a hard worker and lots of fun. Hope this is a great day for you.

Today is Nathan's birthday (obviously). Since we celebrated with his family Saturday and will celebrate with my family this coming Saturday, we didn't do much today. I told him I would make breakfast for him, so we had french toast this morning. Then I made chicken spaghetti and some other things for supper. Nothing spectacular - the point is, I cooked. Then, Kaleigh and I surprised him with some creme brulee that we made. I thought it turned out well. We sorta surprised him. I learned this year not to tell Kaleigh any secrets. She gets excited about things and forgets when she's not supposed to say something. I asked Avery & Alexis if they could just be quiet & sweet in honor of his birthday, but they must have another gift in mind because they chose to pass on that one. They are sweet, of course, just haven't been exactly quiet.

How to make banana bread with a 3-year old and two babies...

1. Assemble ingredients while dodging 3 year old who is "helping" but mostly standing right in front of the drawer or cabinet that I need to get something out of and pulling random items out of the refrigerator like pickles and chocolate syrup.
2. Put passy back in mouth of fussy baby
3. Wash my hands and toddler's hands
4. Add first & 2nd ingredient
5. Wait while toddler has to suddenly go potty
6. Go to check on the other baby who is fussing. She's soaking wet. Change her clothes and diaper.
7. Add third ingredient
8. Realize that we didn't wash our hands after changing a diaper and going potty so repeat step 3.
9. Dump contaminated ingredients out and start over.
10. Add first 3 ingredients again then let toddler help with the egg.
11. Big mistake. Eggshell in mixture
12. Dump out and start over again.
13. Add the ingredients again.
14. This time we make it to 4th ingredient.
15. Babies need passies.
16. Next ingredient - bananas. Try to add as much as possible while toddler is trying to eat as much as possible.
17. Wait while toddler adds chunks of banana 2 at a time with a measuring spoon.
18. Wait
19. Okay, add the rest of the ingredients without drama.
20. Stop to feed babies.
21. Start the bread maker.
22. Clean up Kitchen while toddler messes up more.
23. Sit down and breathe a sigh of relief that it's almost time for bed - oh wait - does that clock say 11:15 a.m.?!

Some New Pictures - We had a little photo shoot on Saturday when it was so pretty outside. We had the nicest day with not much to do, just relaxing and spending time together.

If you are on facebook, most of these are probably repeats. I've started using facebook a lot more lately so be sure & check out my profile every once in a while if you have an account.

Today Kaleigh made some valentines for family. She had fun picking out stickers and decorating and practicing writing the word "love" on some of them.
For lunch Kaleigh dipped a pickle in cottage cheese. Yum. Then she asked me what I had eaten and I told her quesedillas. She said "I want some". I said "Sorry, I already ate them. I asked earlier if you wanted some". Then she said "Oh, but we can go to the hospital and the doctors can get the quesedillas out of your belly and then I can eat them." Nice.

Avery & Alexis have gotten a lot more fun lately, making noises and smiling.

I've written down a few of the funny things Kaleigh has said to us lately. At least we laughed... Hope you enjoy.

Nathan: Kaleigh, your dress is pretty. Where did you get it?
Kaleigh (w/no hesitation): Me and Maddie got it at J.C. Penney's.
What is funny about this is - the dress wasn't from Penney's, I have no idea how she knows about Penney's b/c we don't shop there much, and I never call it "J.C. Penney's". Random.

Kaleigh is in the bathtub sticking out her belly.
Me: What's in your belly?
K: A baby (of course!)
Me: How did a baby get in there?!
K (thinking, then a revelation): I swallowed it!
Me (laughing): Oh, you swallowed it and it grew.
K: Yes, but don't worry. I didn't chew on her.

This one is my favorite -
Me: Kaleigh, do you want to do yoga with me in a minute?
K: Okay. We're gonna make yoga?
Me: Not make yoga, do yoga.
K: Okay. . . Then do get to eat it?

I have so many pictures to post. I'll have to do a few at a time to catch up. I keep thinking I'm going to blog more. It's one of those things that every day I think "I really need to do that today". Then the end of the day comes and it didn't get done. The other biggie right now is changing the sheets on my bed. It will get done, just not until it's really bad (we're getting there). What is it for you that you need to do but can't seem to get around to?
Enjoy the pictures...


We took Kaleigh ice skating and roller skating with the SS class a couple of weeks ago. We have more pics but for now, here is one of her "ice skating".








Avery & Alexis really like this little baby Einstein play gym. Kaleigh liked it too. Don't they just look like they are really contemplating something?

If You Want A Blessing...

I've become a blog stalker:) and it's the best way I've spent my time in a while. First, I joined in with the masses who are praying for baby Harper at Kelly's Korner. Her story is amazing, and now God is really doing something. There are hundreds of thousands of people praying for her new baby girl and she is just a normal person, nobody famous. She also happened to go to OBU.

From her blog yesterday I found Bring the Rain: A Different Miracle. Bring your tissues people, and be prepared to stay a while. This one is written by Angie, wife of Selah singer, Todd. It is the story of their youngest daughter, Audrey. I spent Sunday afternoon just reading this incredible, beautiful, heartbreaking story while listening to praise songs on pandora (thanks Kelly). I had tears just running down my face. If you are going through a tough time or have gone through a tough time or ever will go through rough times (you get it, right) you need to read this! On top of everything, she's hilarious and a great writer.

I love that God is using these blogs, not just so us housewives can feel less alone and have a place to vent, but to show His glory so amazingly. Without this avenue, we would never know about these stories.

Free Stuff!
Those of you who know us at all know that me and Nathan love a good bargain. And you can't get better than free! Recently we have gotten tickets from channel 7 to see 2 different good movies, 7 pounds and Mall Cop. Plus, we got to see them before they even came out. We happened to be watching the news and saw that you could get the tickets, but radio stations also give these out too. We were also able to get a few extras and invite some friends. We will be on the lookout for more of these tickets and hopefully get around to "treating" all our friends to a free movie! The only drawback is you have to get to the theater pretty early b/c they overbook these screenings. It's fun watching a movie with a full theater though. We are really fortunate to have wonderful parents who are so great to watch our kids for us while we get to go out.

Kaleigh's views on Birthmarks

This conversation took place today with Kaleigh regarding Alexis' birthmark, which is actually a strawberry hemangioma if you want to know details.









K (looking at baby): Mommy, is this Avery or Alexis?
Me: Does she have a birthmark? (I knew who it was, I just wanted her to look).
K: Yes, she has a birthmark. That's Alexis. Mommy, can I touch it?
Me: No, Kaleigh, don't touch it.
K: But mommy it looks just like a button.
Me: Laughing
K: Mommy, it's like a birthday party.
Me & Nathan: (Laughing more & not getting the connection) What?
K: BIRTHmark, BIRTHday

See how smart she is?

Christmas "catch-up" blog.

I get overwhelmed when there is a lot to blog about and usually just end up not doing a blog at all or waiting a really long time. That's how it is with Christmas. We get so many pictures and are so busy that it takes a while to get around to writing about it. We had a really nice Christmas this year. Or should I say "Christmases". We did three different celebrations - our house, Nathan's parents, and my parents. I'm a purist about celebrating on or close to Christmas day, but it gets a little crazy trying to go from one place to another with all our presents. Kaleigh was a lot of fun this year. She got more into opening gifts, but she did still want to play with things. We didn't get her a whole lot and she didn't get anything big this year, but she got a lot of things that she likes, especially her Dora camera and lots of little Dora toys.
My favorite thing about Christmas is just spending time with family, playing games and eating. We got to celebrate this year with four new people - Kristin, Kayla, Avery and Alexis. That was special.

I've been wanting to do a gingerbread house with Kaleigh so I finally got one. She had fun but I think I had more fun!

My Brother is Married!

We went to New Orleans this past weekend to attend my brother's wedding. He is actually my older brother - 31 - and really caught us off guard with this whole getting married thing. He met Kristin in July when he moved to Shreveport and they started dating in October maybe. They started talking about getting married in early November and got engaged the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I do love my new sister in law. She is really sweet and fun. I told her mom she was my hero for being able to pull off a beautiful wedding in 3 weeks! Lance & Kristin wanted something different than the traditional church wedding, so they decided to have a small wedding at a hotel in New Orleans with mostly family attending.

Nathan and I took the girls and drove most of the day Friday to our friend's house in Baton Rouge. They let us stay the night and we got to meet their adorable little girl also. The next morning we got to New Orleans and walked around for a little while. It was amazing weather, probably almost 80 degrees! We had a little rehearsal dinner that evening and then rehearsal. I also got to see a lot of family who were in town for the wedding. My grandparents and aunt & uncle from Birmingham were there, and some aunts & cousins from Lake Charles. They got to meet Avery & Alexis and help out with them a lot since Nathan and I were both in the wedding.

Kaleigh got to be a flower girl and she was so excited about it. Of course being a 3 year old, the only thing you can predict is that they will be unpredictable! We had the rehearsal Friday night and there was this white paper "carpet" laid out in the aisle. Nathan told Kaleigh to stop running up & down it b/c it was starting to tear. Of course she didn't obey. It turned out not to be the one they were using and we didn't think any more about it. Kaleigh was so cute during practice, meticulously pulling out one petal at a time and taking her sweet time, so we worked on getting a handful of petals and sprinkling them around. Well, the next day during the wedding she came out and started to walk down the aisle. She still seemed to be going pretty slow and some people were starting to laugh, but I couldn't see what she was doing. Kristin's sister next to me who is taller whispered to me "she won't walk on the paper". Kaleigh was sweetly obeying Nathan from the day before, trying to walk in the small space between the paper and the chairs. If she dropped a petal on the white, she even picked it up and moved it to the carpet! When she FINALLY got about 3/4ths of the way, we told her to come here, and she tried to give the basket first to Lance, then to my dad, who was officiating at this point. I finally got it from her and sent her to sit with my mom. She was so good during the rest of the ceremony. I hope to get a video one day and post it. Cute, cute. Well, she'll get another go at it in May.

My Past Week -
Last week was so busy. It always seems like there's that one week in December when everything happens to fall. I can't believe I managed to do so much, and it wasn't even that stressful! Here's what I did, starting with Tuesday:
Tuesday night - ladies class meeting - we ate some really good finger foods and decorated cookies
Thursday night - Women's banquet at church - some more good food and fun fellowship and great singing
Friday - A playdate in the morning, decorating cookies again (sorry no pictures, I brought my camera but it didn't have a card in it) Nathan's work party was at 3:00 where we ate lots of good finger foods and played the dirty santa game. We didn't bring a gift this year b/c we didn't know if we would be there the whole time.


Then, Friday night was our SS christmas party. We ate (again!) and had an ornament exchange. Nathan continued his yearly tradition of putting a picture of himself in an ornament. Someone else brought back one from several years ago which was really funny.





Saturday - helped host a baby shower for our friend Veronica. It was a lot of fun.

Sunday - went to church in the morning (the whole family) and that afternoon and evening we went to Garvan Gardens to see the Christmas lights with a group of friends. We did this last year and it was a lot of fun so we will try to make it a tradition. Amazingly, the weather was great. It rained before & after we were there, but not while we were there. And it was warm, which was nice b/c there were 4 little babies in our group. It was also practically a miracle that we got this group of friends together. I don't think we've all been together this whole year! We laughed a lot and took some fun pictures. It was fun to see the kids really enjoying the lights. Kaleigh loved the gingerbread cottage. Afterwards we all went to On the Border to eat. Surprisingly, this also went well, even with all the kids and babies. Avery and Alexis slept pretty much the whole time and we fed them a couple of times.

This week we don't have so much, but we have to start packing for New Orleans. My brother is getting married there on Sunday. We are leaving Friday and staying with a friend in Baton Rouge Friday night then spending the night in New Orleans Saturday night. I can't believe my brother will be married in less than a week!

Twins FAQ's

We get a lot of the same questions about the twins, so I thought I would do a little update for those of you who we don't see much who might be curious about them.

Q: How are the babies & how much do they weigh now? A: Avery & Alexis are doing great! They have not had any sicknesses and very few problems to speak of. They are gaining weight quickly and as of Friday Alexis was 8lbs,0oz and Avery was 7lbs,15oz.
Q: Can you tell them apart? How? A: Yes, I can tell a little difference in their faces, but our fallback is a birthmark on Alexis' head.
Q: Are you getting any sleep? Actually, we are. They take a bottle around 10:30 and go to sleep after and wake up anywhere from 3:00 to 5:30. They take another bottle and go back to sleep. They actually slept all night until 7:15 the other day! I look forward to that being regular thing.
Q: How is Kaleigh doing with them? A: She's doing great so far. She likes to say "my little baby sisters are soooo sweet". She likes to hold them and help with them. She has actually helped me feed them during the day when I'm by myself with all the kids, but she gets tired of holding the bottle after about 3 minutes.

An Original Bedtime Prayer - by Kaleigh

Dear God,
Thank you for my food. Thank you for my house, and my pink wall. Amen.