From the Mouths of Babes

If you ever want to see yourself how others see you, listening to what comes out of your kids' mouths is one way, I think. Lately I've noticed that the twins, Lilly especially, have gotten in the habit of repeating things that I say. I figure the things they say are probably the phrases that I use most often. This is what I've been hearing a lot of lately:

We DON'T scream at the dinner table!

It's OK if I need to go peepee in my pull-up. It's not like an accident.

You'll always be my baby, now matter how big!

YOU don't say that word!

I'm so proud of you!

It's such a beautiful day!

O Dammit.

Ah well, you have to admit that hearing your little angel say their first swear word is hilarious, I don't care how much you try to pretend it's not. It is. Even the 2nd and 3rd time are pretty funny as you try to muffle your smirking laugh behind your hand. But then reality sets in and you remember that you are now an adult, and not 19, and that now it's sort of not funny anymore. Because they go to "school" now, and repeat things you say, obviously. And as much as you're pretty sure most other mommies must also drop the F bomb or various other words at least every once in awhile on accident, that doesn't mean you want your kid to be the one all the teachers are talking about while the wee ones are napping.

So that being said, we are making a strong effort to cease all swearing. I've never considered myself a huge swear-er, but it's amazing how much you catch yourself saying bad words when you are making an effort not to. Or when your 3 year old points it out to you and suggests a time out.

Moving on.

We went to King's Orchard last Sunday morning to pick strawberries. We went last year when the twins were barely two and I was grossly pregnant. This year was much better. We had a lot of fun and the kids really did pick their own with a little guidance from us. I don't think I must have eaten any of the strawberries we picked last year probably because of the gestational diabetes I had. Because I'm sure I would have remembered how yummy they were otherwise. I guess this is the first time I've ever had fresh-from-the-vine ripe strawberries. They were SO yummy. And juicy. Perfect.

Like most 3 year olds, my kids love strawberries. And as good as the strawberries are, the orchard does use various nasty chemicals to support their crops. So I didn't want the kids to pop too many in their mouths before we could wash them. I told them they had germs on them and we needed to wash them before we ate them. They kind of understand the concept of germs so that worked pretty well. Lilly kept asking "does this ONE have germs mommy? I don't think this one has any germs. It's OK if I eat this one." I decided to live a little and be carefree, and just let them enjoy the moment and eat some fresh-picked berries. And just enjoy seeing the true pleasure in their eyes. In spite of the fertilizer, fungicide, and pesticides I'm sure they just consumed. So was it worth it to drive 25 minutes, and pay double what you would at the store to pick you own strawberries? Without sounding too much like a Mastercard commercial, I'd have to say it really was. I love making memories.












If you liked my last post about eating meatless and stuff, good! I'll be back with more. I have a lot of things on my mind I really want to write about and can't decide if I should create a new blog or just write on here. I'm thinking I want to keep this more about my kids and family, and start up a new one. But then again that's kind of ridiculous given that I post about twice a month huh? We'll see. Maybe I'll turn a new page. I really do like writing...

Meatless Monday!

OK. So I finally watched that movie Food Inc. And I also recently read Food Matters by Mark Bittman. The movie actually wasn't as bad as I was expecting, maybe because I was expecting the worst possible. Still it doesn't make you feel good to know how the animals are treated, and of course what they are fed. And to know that this is what most of us are eating. Yuck on many accounts.

I really recommend reading the book Food Matters. The guy that wrote it apparently has written quite a few books and is pretty popular, but this was the first I had heard of him. I liked that he isn't trying to convince us all to be vegetarians, but more to eat quality foods and to eat responsibly. One example he gave that sticks out in my mind is about how energy-consuming the production of (gross) meat is. He said that for all the energy required to provide a family of 4 a steak dinner, you could instead use that much energy in the form of gas, driving around in your big SUV for about 3 hours. As a big SUV driver myself, I have to admit it made me feel a little better about driving it, ha. He's talking about the energy necessary to create and feed the livestock you will eventually eat. And to transport and "process" said livestock to the slaughterhouses, and eventually to your grocery store. That was the gist of it anyways.

So, because I think too much and like to make my life voluntarily more complicated and make up little games in my head, I'm really trying to watch the amount of meat our household consumes, and try and see that most of it is better meat. From what I've read, the meat you want to eat is from grassfed animals. Animals are meant to eat grass, but of course we know that's not what they're eating on these grow farms. They're eating cheap, cheap corn and stuff.

That brings me to the title of today's post. I didn't make it up but Meatless Monday sure has a catchy tune to it doesn't it? I'm trying to go veggie at least a few days a week and mostly meatless a few more days. It's actually been kind of fun as I like to cook anyways and like trying new recipes. Also, I've reached the point in my life where I'm willing and even wanting to try new things and flavors.

I know some of my friends are reading the same things and thinking the same things so I thought it'd be fun to share our meal ideas. I've found the hardest part is to create meatless meals that aren't super high carb. Both Paul and I come from a long line of diabetics, plus I had gestational diabetes with both pregnancies. So we are really trying to be proactive with our lifestyle in order to delay, offset, or minimize what is almost inevitable. The fact that we both have a very high chance of being diabetic at some point in our lives. A large part of that is purely genetics but I'm trying to at least do what I can about the non-genetic part. So, any meal that I share here will also be relatively low-carb as an added bonus.



I so love Suddenly Salad! I'm sure it wouldn't be so hard to buy my own noodles but until I figure out what it is they put in that little seasoning packet, here we are. As an added bonus, I found a great recipe on the back of the box. Basically I added two large broccoli crowns, 3 medium shredded carrots, tbsp of lemon juice, 1 diced cucumber and 1/2 cup of ranch dressing. One of those recipes you can kind of add and subtract whatever's in your fridge. And it's yummy!

OK so the hubby and friend just read the blog and made fun of my big box of pasta after talking about low-carb. I'd just like to point out that we need some carbs! There's more veggies than noodles in that salad and I'm standing my ground! Moderation, right?

Strawberry Spinach Salad

One of our favorites, especially with fresh-picked strawberries from King's Orchard. My kids love this salad because the dressing is sweet. The dressing is super easy. I got it from allrecipes.com but basically 1/2 c olive oil, 1/2 c sugar (you can go a little less), 1/4 c apple cider vinegar and 1 tbsp of poppy seeds. Mix it until it's uniform, and dress. I added sliced almonds tonight but I've done pecans too. Or maybe you can add some type of cheese too.

Add some cottage cheese if you're craving more protein, and dinner is served!




One last thought. One of the things that did disturb me about Food Inc was a section where they had an overweight family going through a drive thru, ordering from the $1 menu. They said something about how until the movie people talked to them, they thought any food at a restaurant would automatically be healthy for you or how could they serve it? Well I won't waste text breaking that thought apart but anyways they also said it was cheaper to eat junk food and that healthy food was too expensive. They later showed that same family at the grocery store, where one of their children wanted some pears. They were $0.99 a lb. The mom made the girl put some on a scale to see how many pears were in a pound. There was roughly 2 pears to a pound, meaning they'd cost about $0.50 each. The mom said that was too much and they could buy a lot more of the other foods for $0.99. She didn't get the pears!

So I know they put that segment in the movie to make a point, and they did. The point being (store brand) sodas, and basic crap food were cheaper than fresh produce. The father also said why would I pay $1.00 for a head of broccoli when I can get a double cheeseburger for a dollar that will fill me up? Wow. So I wonder how many people out there actually feel this way. My family and pretty much everyone I know is fortunate that we have enough money to make some decisions about what we eat. I certainly can't afford to buy as much organic food and grassfed meats as I'd like, but we're lucky enough that we can afford healthy food.

That being said, I thought it'd be fun to come up with a Dollar Dinner. Meaning that you could feed each person in your family a wholesome meal for about a dollar. Kind of competing with the fast food dollar menu if you will. So I'm going to kind of cheat and give myself the challenge of feeding my family of 5 (2 adults, 3 yr old twins, and a baby that eats table food) for $6.00. I figure that's fair because who really only orders one item off the dollar menu plus there's sales tax involved. I have no idea what I'm going to make but I'm pretty sure it won't be horribly hard, and I'm pretty sure they'll be beans involved, hehehe. Check back.

This & That

I know they say the older you get, the faster the months go by, but it never feels more true than March. I can't believe it's already April, and a third through at that. The good news is we can't complain of boredom any time recently. There's always something to do and the weather has been ideal. We've had spring break, Paul's birthday, and Easter all in the past few weeks.

My parents came for a few days during Spring Break. I like to take advantage of extra hands so we took a trek down to the Houston Museum of Natural Science where I've had free tickets burning a hole in my pocket for months. Our main goal was to visit the Butterfly Room, and the kids loved it. If you haven't been, it's basically a big glassed-in terrarium full of butterflies and other amphibians. The twins loved it. What's not to love about butterflies and lizards? They also liked seeing the big dinosaurs in the entrance and had a pretty great time. Going on a rainy day during spring break probably wasn't my greatest idea ever but we had a good time and I'm looking forward to a few return visits.

Paul's birthday is always during spring break. He didn't take a day off or anything but I made him a nice cake and we had a steak dinner. He always likes to go to an Aggie Baseball game for his birthday so we hit Olson field that Sunday. Unfortunately, it was crazy windy that day. CRAZY WINDY. I tried to pretend like I was enjoying myself for several innings. But really. We tried to carry hot chocolate into the stands, and the hot chocolate was blowing out of the cup. Now that's crazy. So around the 6th inning, the twins and I left. Actually I think they were still having an OK time but it looked better if I was leaving for their sake and not my own selfish reasons. We enjoyed french fries and coffee in the comfort of the McDonalds across the parking lot until the game was over. Unfortunately the Ags lost to Tech.

Next we went to Wings n More, an Aggie standard, where we watched the Ags lose yet again in basketball, to Purdue. Paul has a theory, or maybe more like an observation, that whenever he goes to College Station to watch the Aggies play a sport, whether live or on TV, they lose. Seriously, I think he's like 1 for 9 or something. Being the superstitious person that he is, we may not be making any more trips to Aggieland in the foreseeable future. A big thanks to my friend Michelle for watching Baby Ginger on our day of fun. I wish I had taken a picture of those two girls but I forgot. She was a good sport and watched her for the better part of the day, and said she had a good time. And she was still smiling when I picked Ginger up. She mentioned she didn't get much "Ginger time" at the twins birthday party, so I figure that made up for it. hehehe


We had a nice Easter and the twins loved the multiple egg hunts they went on over the course of several days. Of course, they don't really understand the concept of finding eggs. This year I decided that perhaps the Easter Bunny could be a little more sneaky with egg placement. I suggested s/he not just throw them out onto the grass in plain view, but be a little creative. I'm not talking hide them under huge bushes or up in trees, I just mean like on the other side of a tree trunk or on the swing. Perhaps we overestimated the ability of 3 year olds. Most of our egg hunt was spent having us point at an egg, the kids walking right past it numerous times, and us pointing again and giving exact directions. Oh well.

I've been in a major sewing phase lately. I made this little bunny rabbit for my littlest Bunny's first Easter. I hope she likes it because I'm pretty proud of it.

Kids at the museum next to a dinosaur. ROAR!

Ginger and Gran

Lilly loves to touch bugs and stuff.

Owen doesn't.

We're not really dressy people but I saw this idea on Etsy and had to make Owen this tie shirt. Doesn't he look super sharp?

I loved letting the kids paint outside. Something out of the normal and definitely a special treat!

First time to dye Easter eggs.

I made this tote bag and thought it came out pretty cute. Don't worry Michelle it's just practice for the super-awesome one you're gonna get ;)

The picture doesn't do it justice but this rose bush is just brimming with beautiful pale orange roses. It's an antique rose we picked up at the Rose Emporium in Brenham a few years ago. It's really taken off. I love this time of year!

Pizza In My Mouth

Disclaimer: If you fail to find the humor in the subject of vomit, you need not read any further.



Ah, the weekend. What a beautiful perfect Saturday we had! Went to the Y first thing in the morning and kids played on playground after. Then we headed home for Ginger's nap. Lilly and I got to have some special mommy-daughter time and it was so fun! I could tell she really needed it and as many of you know, it's just hard to get away for quality time with one kiddo. So we headed into "town" and toured the First Saturday festivities (check it out sometime). We did the Farmer's market, and listened to the live music, and then went to the little tea room and had lunch outside. I asked the waitress (who turned out to be the owner) to serve Lilly's tea in a little teacup, and she even brought her some little tea biscuits. That little girl drank two full cups and didn't spill a single drop. Stopped at the grocery store then headed home. Later that day we visited with our neighbors and just had an all in all great day.




I went to put Ginger down to bed that night, and as I was nursing her, she got a little fidgety. Next thing I know she's puking all over me. Multiple times. Got her all cleaned up, put her to bed, and she was totally fine after that. Now I'm thinking that the seasoned pork she had a nibble of at dinner time didn't agree with her. No big deal.

Fast forward 2am. I wake up, don't feel so well, and well you can guess the rest. I didn't really sleep well and I still felt lousy so spent time on the couch just kind of vegging in front of the TV. Next thing I know it's 4:30 am and wouldn't you guess, Paul (who ran back to bed as I was getting sick, thanks) was having his turn.

It's now morning and kids are awake bright and happy, not sick. Thank God, because we felt so lousy we couldn't have handled it. We continue to have "episodes" and feel A-W-F-U-L. Except that Paul is in bed feeling awful, and I'm watching over 3 kids. Hmph. He's "too weak to get out of bed, almost passed out when he got out."

About noon, after having cycled Max & Ruby and Eloise DVD's non-stop for 5 hours, I call on my wonderful neighbors who come take the twins until it's their naptime.

Twins come home from neighbors, take nap, and wake up covered in....can you guess? I'm SO sorry neighbors...I really didn't think they were going to get it since they usually get it first.

I can honestly say Sunday was the worst sick day we have ever, ever had. Ever. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy and I kind of a feel like I deserve a medal or something. A mommy medal.

So anyways, we are all perfectly healthy now, and very fortunate that it was truly a 12 hour bug, which took about 24 hours after that to recover from. But it did leave me with a few thoughts which I just have to share:


SIGNS THAT YOU ARE BEYOND SICK

1. There is vomit residue in the toilet, and you really don't care.
2. You have to take a break between nursing your baby to go puke.
3. You and your hubby are mentally tallying who's puked more to determine who gets to stay in bed and who gets to be the parent.
4. A days worth of dirty dishes piled in the sink, overnight. Not even rinsed. Don't care.
   
5. You really can't remember what or if you fed your 3 kids and aren't really concerned.
6. You text your other neighbors (the ones you didn't infest with your nasty virus) demanding bananas, 7up, and applesauce. And forget to even say please. And they drop it off on our doorstop in about 45 minutes. Did I mention we have awesome neighbors.
   

SIGNS THAT YOU'RE FEELING BETTER

1. You care that your house is currently so disgusting.
2. Food and showering seem important.
3. You have the energy to argue with your hubby about his wussi-ness. (He didn't get out of bed for the better part of 36 hours). My husband has MANY amazing qualities. Handling illness is not one of them.
4. Ummm....coffee!

Everything is back to normal now. We all feel great. We still have about 29 loads of laundry piled up, but I'm working through it. Oh, and I have some baking to do to thank my wonderful neighbors. I'm not really sure a loaf of banana bread is going to cut it, but it's a start.

And if you're wondering about the title of my blog. That's what Owen said after he got sick. "I've got pizza in my mouth." We hadn't had pizza recently. And I won't be eating it any time soon.

ALL BETTER!

I started this little skirt for Lilly Saturday night. Needless to say didn't finish it til yesterday. She loves it :)

Hey! Why didn't anyone tell my about the super-fun cabinet before?

Things That Aren't Normal.

We've had a busy week with some excitement, and things out of the ordinary.


1. Twins loving on each other.

This is definitely something not normal. I came from putting Ginger down for a nap, to see Lilly & Owen so sweet! Like any siblings, they spend most of their time NOT being sweet to each other.


2. We went to church.
OK so I admit it, this is NOT normal for us. The twins go once a week to the Presbyterian Day School, and last Sunday was PDS Sunday, basically a way to get people like us to go to church. So we did. The service was their "contemporary" (I think) service, so even though Paul and I grew up going to Presbyterian churches, we were way out of our element. No Morning Has Broken Hyms here... it was all drums, guitars, and projector screens. The kids had a blast and Lilly was literally dancing in the aisles to the music. Good thing she's cute. Owen loved watching the band play, which seemed like about half the service. They did surprisingly well sitting through the service and got to go sing a song with their peers during it too. Sorry, no picture proof that we actually went to church but I promise we did! And the walls did not fall down on us.

3. Lilly ate caviar.
So after church we went to brunch with Paul's family. It was a typical nice buffet with the omelet station etc. I took Lilly to see what else she wanted, and I held her up because I thought it would be fun to let her pick what she wanted on her plate. Well we walk by various salads, meats, and veggies, and so far, she doesn't want any of it. Then we come upon that platter that is a requirement at a Sunday Brunch, even though nobody really eats it. The one with a smoked salmon, and various capers, stinky cheese, etc. On it is also nicely layed out little rows of black and red caviar that unsurprisingly has not been touched . Lilly sees that, and says "I want that!" OK. So I take the itty bitty fancy spoon and put a little of each on her plate, snickering to myself. So we make it back to the table, and she immediately eats it. She looks confused. I'm pretty sure she thought it was little blackberries and raspberries if I had to guess. None the less, she eats it all. Grandma takes her back again to get more food, and low and behold the girl comes back with more of the caviar, and eats it again. And looks confused again. We didn't go back for thirds, we'd had enough amusement. And of course, a picture:




4. SNOW!
As I write this it is 67 and sunny, a perfectly gorgeous day. 48 hours ago, it was snowing...and not just a little! This is probably the most snow I have seen in Texas, in at least 10 years. Dallas tends to get some snow every now and then, but outside Houston? Not so much. It totally caught me by surprise. I had heard the forecast, but didn't really buy into it. Huge, beautiful snowflakes fell for several hours. Owen absolutely loved the snow and stayed out in it for quite awhile. I was really hoping we'd actually have enough for a snowman, but not quite. We did have enough to make a few snowballs when Daddy got home though. And like any good Texan, I have dozens and dozens of pictures to document this rare event!

Our house is 40 years old, and I'd be willing to bet it's never had this much snow!

5. Babies being born too soon.
Unfortunately, premature birth isn't normal, but it still happens way too much. Please help my friends and I join together to raise money for March Of Dimes. The Woodlands Moms of Multiples (of which I am an active member) raises money each year for the March Of Dimes and also participates in the March for Babies Walk held in April. My goal is to raise $500 for this great cause. Our team's goal is to raise $15,000.

As many of you know, Lilly and Owen were born at 35 weeks (average for twins, 40 weeks is full term) and spent just under a week in the NICU. We are very blessed that they had no real issues and are healthy crazy 3 year olds today! Several friends in my group have given birth to their precious babies at 32, 28, even 25.5 weeks. It's not an easy or fun journey for them to watch their tiny little miracles stay weeks or months in the NICU, praying each day that the next will be better. That's why the March of Dimes is close to our heart. MOD's mission is to have all babies born healthy one day.

So, please give what you can. No amount is too small (even $5 is greatly appreciated!). As an incentive, I'm going to match whatever you donate, up to $250, to help reach my goal.

If you are related to me by blood or marriage, I will be deeply hurt, and just might have to de-friend you on FB, if you don't make a donation (kidding. mostly.) So give how ever much feels right. Come on, it'll make you feel better. Just do it. Now. Before you forget.

Thanks!

Big Kid Beds and Stuff

Well some day I will be able to figure this out so that all my pictures aren't in the reverse order of what I want them to be. Usually I am so proud that I'm actually working on the blog, I don't want to spend that time rearranging stuff, I want to spend it writing, so here goes...

Today and yesterday have been, in my mind, perfect days! About 60 and sunny, I personally couldn't ask for more. I love being outside in a long sleeve shirt, and a nice breeze, sun shining down, and no mosquitoes! We've been taking advantage of it and today had a picnic lunch in the back yard. Of course, a prerequisite of a picnic is to have bare toes!

I love this picture! It was a total fluke and already holds a special place in my heart. OK that was cheesy, but it's true!

Ginger loves being outside. She loves being unrestrained even more...that day will come.

The twins love to play hide and seek. It usually goes something like this:
Lilly: "Hey Owie you want to play hide and seek?"
Owen: "ya!"
Lilly: "OK, Owie, you hide under Ginger's bed and I'll go count"
(Owen hides under Ginger's bed)
(Lilly runs into the other room and counts to 10, etc)
Lilly runs to Ginger's bed, finds Owen (who may or may not have already come out of hiding) and they both laugh hysterically.
Repeat.

Ginger thinks it's pretty funny too - that's what the picture above is. She's laughing because she found someone under the bed. Sometimes she'll even go under they bed and they are all laughing. Pretty freaking adorable.

Paul and I actually got to go out with friends on a Saturday night! This is sadly a rare event so it was definitely photo worthy. We had a great time with our friends Tim & V.

I caught Regis and Kelly doing some Valentines treats while at the Y the other day. This is our version. Kids love anything involving cooking. Of course, I didn't let them eat any of them except for what they scarfed in their mouths during the process.

Gran and Granddad (my folks) send some Valentines cookies and handmade cards! I gave them some of the cookies and then they demanded milk to dip them in. I have no idea how they know about dunking cookies, possibly innate I guess.

All dressed up and ready to go!

Big kid beds have gone better than I though, but not without a few setbacks. It's been almost 3 weeks now, and the first week was a breeze. They never got out once. Then at about a week, I'm standing at my computer in the kitchen, and Owen appears at the bottom of the stairs during naptime. With a big smile on his face. This happens almost every other day. He's been growing out of his naps for the past few months, so it wasn't a huge surprise. Fast forward to this week at 5:23 am on Monday morning. "Hi Dad, Hi Dad" Yep, it's Owie again. I played dead but Paul relayed to me that they snuggled for awhile, and when he got fidgety, Paul told him he either needed to be still or go get into his own bed....and he did! He went back upstairs and got in his own bed and went back to sleep.

Now we have told him that he cannot get out of bed until Mr. Sunshine is awake too. So 2 days later, he's up again at about 6:30 (still dark). He doesn't come in our room, but we hear him doing this and that, even singing quietly (quiet for a 3 year old boy?). We let is slide and when we're finally up around 7:15 (now light) we have a conversation like this:

Paul: "Owie, you were up before Mr. Sunshine this morning, you're not supposed to get up until Mr. Sunshine us up"

Owen: "Look Dad, Mr. Sunshine IS up (points outside)

Paul: "Mr. Sunshine's up now, but he wasn't up when you got out of bed"

Owen: "He's right there dad! (points again)

Repeat.

Now we've switched it to "you don't get out of bed until Daddy comes get you". Worked this morning. We'll see.

Happy Birthday Lilly & Owen!

o

g
My babies are THREE! I can't believe it! And Owen keeps telling my that he's not a baby, he's a big boy :) I have to keep telling him that he'll always be my baby, even when he's bigger than me.

It feels like more of a birthday week, than just one day. We had a great birthday party Saturday with great friends and family. The weather didn't cooperate, it was freezing, so we had to keep everyone inside, but we still had a great time. There was a dozen kids 4 and under in our little house, loaded up on sugar, hehe. It was a dress-up pirate and princess party. We had stuff for the kids to wear, and I was surprised that most of them really didn't want to wear the hats, eyepatches, tiaras, and jewelry that we supplied...those stubborn toddlers.

Monday morning, their actual birthday, after an exhausting birthday weekend.

Our neighbor "aunt" Lisa, and Aunt LaLa came in full dress - so great!

The littlest princess and our friend Veronica.

Lilly helping Owen blow out his candles. That's what big sisters are for.

Pirates and Princesses

Lilly loves Lisa & LaLa

I had planned on just buying a bunch of cupcakes like last year, but a few weeks before the twins birthday, I was inspired by a friend to make the cakes. I have fond memories of my mom making really neat cakes for my brother and I, so I decided to continue the tradition. Normally this is something I would jump at anyways, but I think the idea of doing two cakes at once was what was stopping me. I found some great cakes on line and was able to pretty much just copy them. I think they turned out pretty great - I was quite proud :) The kids loved them too, and that's the most important part. I had so much fun...I'm already getting excited about making Paul a fun cake for his birthday.

Paul and I both agree that the past three years has seemed like a blink, and also a lifetime. I would never want to go back to newborn twins again, but it is sad to think they will just keep getting bigger and bigger. Luckily I have a backup baby :) I'm proud of what we've done as parents, and I believe we have grown right along with Lilly and Owen. Now if we could just get a little more sleep!

The kids have had a lot of fun looking a photos of when they were born the last few days. The only thing Paul and I both noticed was that we both looked a lot younger 3 years ago! That's OK, I wouldn't have it any other way. I do believe that you shouldn't let your kids be your identity, or live through them (that can be hard when you're a stay at home mom). But I can say that my life would not feel complete without them..all 3 of them. These little people truly do complete me.


Now that the twins are 3, we are moving to "big kid" beds this weekend. Their cribs convert to toddler beds, so it will be easy to transform their beds. We've been dreading this move for months, but they officially look silly in cribs, so I think the time has come. I'm really hoping it's one of those things that turns out to be no big deal.

Thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate, we are so blessed to have you all!