It's Friday & Time Out

The storms didn't destroy my yard!

The cover on the pool held!

The weather is finally not so humid!! (Although there is a chill...)

Good, good, good!

It's still damp out.

My bread isn't rising as much as a I hoped.

The fresh pot roast was definitely bad.

Bad, bad, bad.

So far it's an even race to get through today!

It's a Friday, nothing on interest to report. My new bread recipe has me bummed but things could turn around. Last night we made it home to find that wonder dog had eaten EVERYONE'S toothbrush. Fantastic! On the upside I did get new heads for my toothbrush! The downside, we went to hellmart and I picked up everything else I saw!

This morning Claire did something to HAM. I say something because I was in the dining room and they were in the kitchen. I heard a brief scuffle then HAM began to cry. Immediately after Claire began to cry. As I'm rounding the corner to check things out Claire stomps off crying to time out and sits down. Really? You did something wrong, you knew you were going to be sent to timeout and put yourself there to save me the trouble? Why did you do it in the first place??

I wasn't quite sure what to say to her after her time out. She certainly didn't get any time off for "good behavior." I'm just baffled that she went and sat without being told. This new level of understand that they girls have reached is a bit frieghtening. They know things now! I'm so screwed!! Perhaps we should start pushing the concept of Mommy-time and chores!! This could work in my favor!!!

I'm off to get lunch going and ask the sun to shine a little harder. Say a prayer for my bread, I don't want it to meet the disposal.

The Non-traditional Easter

I totally loved the non-traditional Easter. It was amazing. No rushing, no planning. No dress up, no burst-your-pants meals or pretending to pray! Truth is we're not a religious family and I don't see much point in celebrating religious holidays. Thanks to Hall.ma.rk we now celebrate everything. Speaking of which... Happy Richter Scale Day AND National Pretzel Day!

I did cave and do Easter baskets. As many have pointed out my kids will likely feel left out or be the those kids informing all the other preschoolers that there is no Santa. I don't want to have those kids! They were thrilled with new things, I was thrilled that it mostly all came from the dollar section! Thank you Tarjay!

Of course I filled it was some not so necessary necessities. I purchased clips and split them evenly, but they were intended for Claire's hair which is starting to be come unruly. However Claire wants nothing to do with them and dear, sweet, perpetually bald Emma LOVES them!

Since there was no church or family dinner, off we went to Hershey Park. Best decision EVER! It was a great day! The weather was awesome and the rain held off till we closed the last car door. Can ever Easter be sunny and 80 degrees??

I'm so happy I got this picture. I made DH do it on our way out. I plan to continue them as they grow. If you've never been to Hershey, they have a series of these posts a the entrance where you can measure yourself for the rides. Each post is a different Hershey candy. Hopefully by next summer we'll have made it to the kiss rides!

We are serious carousel riders! This is the first time we were able to take them on real rides. Can I just say kid rides are a bitch! How the hell is a "responsible rider" suppose to fit? Next year they can use the buddy system and I can be the crazy mom hanging over the side to get pictures. Some of those rides are of the devil. How many circles is one woman suppose to handle?

My Heros:

This chick rocks! She is using her kid's stroller as a lounge chair. She was munching that bag of popcorn and taking pictures of her kid riding the carousel. We all have to strive for something in life!

Then there is my personal pack mule. He was super man that day pulling the ladies through the park. I'm pretty sure he has one arm that is longer than the other now but he'll survive. :)

After all that fun we trucked it home for an egg hunt with the grandparents who ordered out for dinner. Non-traditional Easter, you're alright in my book!

Spring Morning

Gorgeous day, gorgeous ladies!

The warmer weather this week has brought out the summer clothes, which we have none of! Major fail in summer preparation!! So tonight I'll be buying whatever Tarjay has to offer. The four sun dresses and two pairs of shorts won't get us through mid week. I just hope I can pair together outfits because you know I can't just buy for one.

Do you shop in pairs?

We don't do matchy-matchy but I have to coordinating outfits and will often buy clothes intended for one child or the other. I think life with B/G twins would have driven me over the edge!

Easter Should Be

... posted on my page, but what is a post without picture?? Someone needs to fix this ASAP. Everything in life should be drag and drop. Pictures, bills, laundry.... I'm just saying life would be A LOT easier!!!

Hope everyone had a great Easter, I know we did!

I Can Do Easter

This is what I did!! By I, I mean the hubs. Wave hi to his legs. He assembled this mound of plastic and I think the ladies will be thrilled. This also means that I get to de-clutter and de-toy! Hooray!!! Less junk and more space. It takes so little to make me happy.

Is it sad that I checked to make sure there are multiple things that can be shared before I bought it? It has two flower pots, two gardening tools, a water sprayer, and just to be safe I bought two watering cans. No quarrels!

Last minute I decided to go all out and have a real, American Easter. Did I mention we're not religious? At all. So this is purely goldfish leaving lincoln logs in sock drawers! If you get that reference, I love you even more! Our baskets each have a board book, a cup which they will love but not use for drinking obviously, hair clips, their watering cans and some treats that I will help them finish.

Of course as upstanding, hard working, loving, and indulgent parents, we couldn't be left out! You'll notice a metric shit-ton of Reese's product. What you won't notice is the layer of eggs beneath the grass. It's to prevent the tears from welling in my eyes when the last egg is eaten! It's the hidden stash to prolong the Easter joy! It's 3 more pounds for my thighs just in time for summer!

Thursday we had a dry run of an Easter egg hunt, and the ladies are born hunters. So we will have a "ghetto hunt". As in it rained the day before Easter and there is no way I'm taking you outside to slide around in mud and dog pies; here are some eggs hidden around the house-ENJOY! DH did a great job, he cleaned and stuffed them with puffs and fruit snacks. How we will convince them that they don't need to sit and eat ALL the eggs' contents at that moment I'm not sure.

Once all these festivities wrap up after breakfast there won't be frilly Easter dresses and a ham dinner. No snoring Grandpa here, we're headed to the sweetest place on earth! Ooooooh yeah! Small chance of rain and highs in the low 70's, we are Hershe.y Park bound with our big red wagon. Discounted admission, free kids, hit a few rides and call it a day. No stress, no pressure, and fingers crossed for no rain!

Hope everyone has a great Easter! I'm not sure what traditions we're starting over here but at least it will be fun!

Ouch

Dearest Sciatic Nerve,

You are a douchey, douche-douche, face! You ruin my life. I'm not 84, and I would like to stop looking like it. So if you could find it in your cold, lifeless, heart to leave me alone, I would greatly appreciate it!

Thanks,

Mandy the Question Mark

Mom-drobe

So before I was a mother I always swore I'd never have "mom jeans." Then I became a mother and was on the search for hot mom jeans. I faced reality and accepted the fact that there was now more of me, and even more that no one should have to see! I'd like to thank OldN.avy for making my hot mom jeans. They're anti-crack, anti-muffin, and anti-pouch! They are regular jeans with no special care and stand up to toddler fingers! What more could I ask for?

Well since I'm writing, I must be asking!

I want hot mom shorts!

Shorts that are anti-crack, anti-muffin, and anti-pouch. Shorts that won't disappear up my ass and will hide my thighs! It would be great if they could bring back my hockey calves and hide my ugly, blue veins too! I'm willing to skip that though for affordability and durability! What I really want are dreamer cut khaki shorts in a variety of colors for $15.99.
So Old Navy, if you're listening, get on that! Summer is right around the corner and the beach is calling me

Car Rides

Remember when you were SOOOO concerned about their heads flopping around? Now I can't wait to see their heads fall sometimes! I wonder how they can sleep like that or why they don't wake up when their heads flop around making turns.

We spend a bit of time in the car every day. How about you?

11 a.m.

It's now 11 a.m.. I have a child pretending to sleep, and two still sacked. I have no plans for lunch yet. It's a rainy, blah day. It couldn't be exciting with thunder and lightening or crazy rain to watch, just enough to be annoying. I am so under prepared.

I am however scouting Craigslist for stuff. Stuff I need. Building supplies and the like. Preferrably free because why pay for it if you don't have to. My search isn't looking too hopeful. HOWEVER...

I did find a free baby last night! GO ME! This is the world I've brought children into. YOU TOO!

Busy Weekend!

I'd like to start off my apologizing for my absence, blogger is being a lame-face! It is currently telling me I have no blog subscriptions and won't post my blogs! Not cool.

So lets rewind to this weekend, Saturday to be specific. I had a night out with the hubs, a late night out. A not home till after midnight night. Get where I'm going?? I did it. I left my babies. I feared for their safety and life the entire time, but I did it. More importantly, they survived!

So we dropped them off, got them settled with Grandma, then we left. Just like that. DH kept his arm around me as we walked down the drive to our car so I would run back for them. We went out and had dinner. A real dinner! Did I mention I ate a hot meal without having to pick up random bits of food, utensils, or crayons? Amazing! Of course it was at Cracker Bar.rel and I checked on every other child in the restaurant when they made a noise!

We had a great time at the concert. It was nice to go out and enjoy ourselves a bit. We came to the realization that babies suck the life out of you, and even when you don't have them with you they're still sucking! We were dog tired. Of course I regularly texted to check on them. My first inquiry was responded to with :

Emma fell down the stairs and broke her head and Claire drown in the toilet. They are fine.

Thanks mom for the comfort and encouragement!

The next morning it was weird to have nothing to do. We went out to breakfast and enjoyed a second hot meal uninterrupted. BONUS! We even ran some errands and planned a day of yard work which thrilled me! New weedwacker, don't mind if I do! I only kept DH in the depot for 45 minutes before we went to retrieve the children.

They ate well, played well, and survived a night a Grandma's house. The dog didn't eat them, they weren't covered in dog hair, and were dry and happy when we arrived. They didn't asphyxiate from inhaling too much carpet fiber or choke to death on some random piece of dog toy! They didn't die from a break in my bedtime ritual. In fact we stood back and watched them play while mother sorted laundry for a few minutes. They didn't notice us but when they did they came running. It melted my heart. Seriously. They still loved me and didn't think I abandoned them!

So yes, the first time is the hardest. There are things I would change, like sleeping arrangements. Overall I'm glad to say it wasn't that difficult. I would even venture to say that I could do it again. I do have an anniversary coming up, and a cruise next winter sounds wonderful!

***Again, it won't let me post. Who knows when you'll see this post!***

Lunch At Grandma's By Emma & Claire

Lunch at Grandma's in amazing!! Where else can you get a plethora of left overs on paper plates? Best of all we're allowed to sit in real chairs! This allows up to wiggle around and go crazy! Today we invited a shoe to dinner and had a great time using EVERY NAPKIN in the napkin holder. The only thing that could have made this meal better was Mom letting us use the cinnamon and sugar AND Poppy's blood pressure medicine as condiments! She always gets so bent out of shape when we play with stuff on the table but how will we ever learn? It's not like our dining room table is cluttered with old people pills! Time to clean the table with these placemats Grandma has had since Mom was little. We better hurry and finish lunch so we can play outside. Outside is the best and we don't even need toys!!

Spring Time

It was a gorgeous day yesterday. Too good to pass up! So with the last bit of my sanity I took three kids under the age of two outside. We had a great time! No one escaped or came in mangled or dismembered so I'm calling it a successful attempt. It was amazing to see the girls different personalities in the new environment. I see in my future a hysterical Claire breaking out in hives when a muddy Emma serves her a mud pie to the face! But Emma would be nice and wait till Claire has first touched every fence picket and counted all the pine cones, rocks, and passing birds, dogs, and cars! I should go find the rest of that sanity before today's monsoon washes it away!

What Have You Done?

I needed something light, I've been a bit under weather. Play along!!

What have you done?

Everything I have done is bolded.
Borrowed from The Worms who borrowed it from her friend who....

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis - and my mother always told me I'd go to jail for disturbing them! WTH?!
10. Sang a solo (you never want to hear me do this)
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child - I'd love to do this but we're poor, whomp whomp.
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run - I did kick on in kickball!! Cause I rock!!!
32. Been on a cruise - Definitely a goal, but to go with or without the ladies?
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors - HA! Not this mutt!
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa - BUCKET LIST! Set up the couch Marcia!!
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China - Bucket List, I'd love to walk it for a few weeks!
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia - Ultimate Bucket List!!!
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma - No one wants this blood, it's like watered down gas.
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp - All too familiar.
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone - Apparently I can't naturally break a bone! Crazy strong bones here!!!
78. Been a passenger on a motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person - I can't wait to take the girls!
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life - Does DH count?
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Got a tattoo
94. Had a baby - I'm still curious as hell as to what it's like to have a nice, normal pregnancy with just one baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

What have you done?

Hope everyone is ready for their weekend. We have dinner with MIL on Sunday and hopefully we'll have a card and gift before we're seated!