Embracing Life

I truly believe we are being watched over.  And Keira has her own special guardian angel, as well as St. Therese (Keira's middle name is Rose in honor of St. Therese, the Little Flower ).  On Easter Sunday, we went up to Gigi's (my grandma) house, as we do every year.  Most of the adults and kids were in the house, but my uncle took Connor and Keira outside while he was weeding the garden.  Gigi lives in the house that my grandfather grew up in.  Their neighbor's house is a similiar situation - the woman that lives there grew up with my mom and her siblings, her mother was Gigi's BFF, that sort of thing.  Her daughter has one of those turtle sandboxes with a cover.  Keira and Connor went to the sandbox to play, while my uncle, and eventually my aunt, were nearby.  After awhile, my aunt went over to see what the kids were doing in the sandbox.  And clutched in my two year old daugther's hand, filled with sand that she was pouring into a pl...

We moved into our house on a Saturday in March.  I was five and a half months pregnant with my first child.  The day after we moved in, there was a massive snowstorm,  and we gathered at my grandparents' house as my grandfather passed away.  On the day of his wake, my husband came down with the stomach flu, and with the funeral, Keith being sick, then a week later, my pregnant self getting the same illness, our house did not unpack itself.  It wasn't the most joyous occasion, as I had previously dreamed it would be.  Owning our own home, bringing a baby into the world - I assumed happiness, but received sadness, sickness, and a house full of boxes instead. Fast forward a few weeks.  The snow melted, the heartache subsided (some), and we were healthy again, with a little baby boy reminding me daily with his kicks that he was doing well.  I looked outside on spring morning and saw this: We had picked a house with a magnolia bush. Now, if you ...

Haven't uploaded all the pictures from yesterday, but here are a few that I took on my phone. The Easter bunny brought Colin a stuffed Donald Duck.  He is obsessed with Donald, although I don't know why.  I think it's because Connor loves Mickey Mouse, and Keira loves Minnie and Daisy ( I love Minnie and Daisy so much, Mommy ).  The plan was to get Daisy for Keira (to go with the Donald), and Connor needed Pluto to go with his Mickey.  However, the Easter bunny was dismayed to find out that the Disney store was out of Daisy Duck.  In fact, they had nothing with Daisy in the entire store.  So Keira got another Minnie, but this one was wearing a red dress instead of pink, so Keira didn't mind.  And in typical Connor-fashion, he wanted to hold his Mickey and Pluto up by his ears like a reindeer.  (Hey - it made sense to him!) Group hug

Thought I'd play along with Twinfatuation today. Easter, 2 years ago: What's funny about this is, Colin no longer uses his blue taggie blanket for his lovey.  For over a year now, he has been obsessed with a Gerber burp cloth (we rotate a few).  Keira has since claimed her brother's blue lovey, and it's the only one she sleeps with.

I will admit it.  I don't do bath time.  Never have. Keith looked at tubby time with Connor as his time to bond with him.  Then the twins came along, and it moved into some sort of assembly line process.  Wash, rinse, hand to mommy to dry, repeat. As the twins got older, we would put all three kids in the bath.  Keith would still do the washing, and I would do the drying/dressing/etc.  Usually after one kid is out, I rock them like a baby while they sing Rock-a-bye Baby to me.  (It's always so much fun when the tree falls because I pretend to drop them and they laugh.) Yesterday there was no nap time.  (Sob.)  By dinner time, it was very apparent that there was no nap time. So when the twins finished crying  eating, I took them upstairs and started the bath water.  I don't know what it is about water, but it changes my kids into little happy things. (As long as there is water in the tub.  When it's time to get...

The winners for Purex with Zout detergent are: 1 - traciet 2 - Ashley Congratulations! Please email me with your address so I can get your coupons mailed out!

Keira's ear has been bothering her, but the doctor yesterday said it was not an ear infection.  We sent motrin to my mom's this morning just in case. She insisted on carrying the ziploc bag I had put the bottle in.  Minutes later, she had thrown the bag to the floor and was holding the bottle tightly.  I keep this safe from Colin. I remind her that Colin is strapped into his car seat, so the medicine is pretty safe in a ziploc bag on her lap.  Then I add, Plus we don't want it to spill and get on her seat.  How would we clean that up? We could use paper towels to clean up the mess.  That a good 'dea Mommy? Sometimes I think she is way too smart for her age. Don't forget to enter my giveaway!

I do laundery every day.  Every.Single.Day.  So when Purex contacted me to see if I wanted to try their new detergent, Purex Complete with Zout, I said of course! Now, along with the bottle of detergent, there was a fact sheet explaining what a great stain remover it is as well.  Last night, that stain removing action was put to the test: We took the kids to IHOP for dinner.  Colin wanted strawberries with his pancakes, so I asked for some on the side.  Now these are the yummy strawberries covered in a thick red (sugary) sauce.  And Colin was wearing his favorite Toy Story shirt, which is yellow.  By the time we left the restaurant, it had shades of strawberry red all over the sleeves and collar.  I was so upset because I assumed the stains would be there forever. After getting home, getting the kids ready for bed, getting the kids to finally fall asleep (all in all, a two hour process), I was able to put the shirt in the wash, and I ad...

I apologize for not actually taking a picture of our book, but Colin wanted to take it to school today.  This is one of those books that I have read over and over (and over) to the kids.  The words were quickly seared into my memory, and I no longer needed the book to be near me.  It was a bedtime staple for quite awhile during the winter, but then someone took it downstairs, and it was placed with other books, being casually forgotten about in the way that toddlers and preschoolers forget about things. The other day, Colin found the book in the family room.  He was so excited, you would have thought the Wiggles had appeared in our house.  (If you know Colin, you know how much he loves the Wiggles. And by loves, I mean obsesses about....) So at bedtime, they were told no stories, since we stayed up late watching Minnie's Masquerade.  But Colin pulled out Goodnight Moon , and he is so cute when he asks for things.  So the twins grabbed the...

Friday night was the pre-shop for my twins' club resale.  I was able to get Connor most of his summer clothes, a couple cute outfits for Keira, and a new pair of Handy "Hammy" (Manny) pjs for Colin.  He is quite obsessed with his current pair, that is only about 2 sizes too small. I've been sick with a cold, so Keith was nice enough to let me sleep in on Saturday (although that's quite hard with the kids downstairs), but after I got up, he headed to do some errands.  We just hung around the house, until my parents dropped off my nephew.  4 kids, 4 and under - how fun! ;)  Actually Reid is quite well-behaved, probably because our house looks like Toys-r-us to guests.   Please excuse Popeye, er I mean, Connor.  He thinks it's funny to close one eye in pictures these days.  On Sunday, after Keith went grocery shopping and for his run, I went for my own run.  I'm training for my first 5K in May, and have only ran outside a couple of times,...

..... but he really does look cute!

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to travel downstate for a meeting, held near the campus of my alma mater.  This meeting happens a couple of times a year, so it's not the first opportunity I've had to be back on campus.  But one thing that always remains the same is the feeling I get when I'm heading back home - that long lost radio station is playing music like it did back then, the sun is shining down through the sunroof (although I'm driving a much nicer car this time), and the memories of days gone by replay in my head. It's not often that I get four hours alone to myself, just to think.  Somedays, I am lucky if I can take a shower without a child or two pounding on the bathroom door.  Meal times are a chaotic affiar.  And bed time.... well that just takes for.ev.er. It's not that I want to go back to college, although a carefree day every so often would be nice.  I think back to the songs that held so much meaning in my life; the people that made s...

Lover Unleashed is the ninth book in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series.  It takes place immediately where Lover Mine (swoon.... John Matthew and Xhex.....) ended.  Payne, after sparring with Wrath in the Sanctuary, suffered a life-threatening injury and was sent to the human world for help.  When Doc Jane realizes she cannot help Payne herself, she goes back to her former life to contact Dr. Manny Manello and bring him into the vampire world, for what was supposed to be a short time.  However, upon meeting Payne, we see that the Fates had other things in mind for the patient and her healer. Thoughts and possible spoilers: I love the BDB world.  J.R. Ward has done a fascinating job with these books.  When I first picked up Dark Lover , the first of the series, I knew by the end of the chapter one that this would be one of the best series I've ever read.  In LU, I was a little apprehensive going into the story, wondering how the Warden...

10 seconds after walking in the house after work, I was greeted with a loud crash (or five). Keira happily exclaimed: Look what I made Mommy!" Awesome. I said the only thing I could:  Good job, baby doll!