Excited

I am so excited!! My mom is only a couple of hours away from arriving at my house. I haven't seen her since my dad's funeral last year. She is the most amazing woman, great friend and simply a lot of fun to be around. I feel so privileged to be able to have her for about a week. My brother and a couple of my other brother's kids are also coming up. Great opportunity for a few of the cousins to get to know each other.

Looking forward to all the fun we're going to have. 24th is my bro's 40th b-day. Birthday = CAKE!!! Yum! I get to do my mom's hair - perm and cut - maybe color. We will be heading to the "beach" next week, exploring a new cave we've never been to, swimming, setting off some fireworks. So exciting to get a break from the regular day to day stuff.

Happy 4th Birthday "Tinker Bell"

Yup! Another birthday! This time it's Tinker Bell's turn. She gets to be a BIG 4 year old!! WOOT!!

Here's a short trip through her life:

Birth ~


1 Year Old ~


2 Year Old ~


3 Year Old ~


4 Year Old ~
I asked her to go stand "there" and pose for a picture. She gave me this (and more)....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TINKER BELL!!!
You sure are a fun daughter!

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY TO OUR "SQUEAKY"

Our baby isn't as much of a baby anymore. Today she turns 1!!! I can't believe how fast this year has flown. I have enjoyed having her so much that I forgot to experience time.

She's been a blessing from the start. Such a beautiful little baby (2 days old).

I love to watch my children grow up. I love watching them learn and get excited about the simpliest things.

She has a smile that lights up the room and eyes that shine with her sweet spirit. She finds joy in finding things that I have learned to overlook.... a ant crawling on the floor, the speck of fuzz on the sofa left by the blanket, the tiniest piece of paper even the vacuum cleaner might not catch.

A couple days ago she was fussy for an hour. I finally poked my finger in her mouth to check for any new teeth. When I found that #8 tooth decided to finally show up she laughed and clapped her hands at my discovery. It was as if she was saying "Wow! It's about time you found it! I was trying to tell you it was there!"

Here are some pictures from a fairly recent photo session I did with her one morning (she's still in her jammies).

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY SQUEAKY!!!

Happy 10th Birthday to my TWINS!!

10 years ago today our little family of just 2 doubled to a family of 4. This was a day I never thought I would see. After 4 years of trying, praying, hoping, doctor visits, lab tests and multiple miscarriages we were able to conceive not 1 but 2 little miracles.

Just when we thought all was well - I had quit throwing up and was starting to feel a bit better - my body decided to evict these tiny and delecate tennents. For those of you who don't know or forgot... a pregnancy typically lasts about 40 weeks. At 26 weeks things started happening. By the end of 27 weeks the journey was picking up speed at an alarming rate. At 28 weeks I went in for a check-up for what I thought were "braxton hicks" contractions (the ones for "practice" that don't hurt). I was ambulanced to a hospital with a NICU that could handle such early babies. They put me on some major meds to get things to stop. Magnesium Sulfate = best friend and worst enemy.

One week later . . .

"Dragon Girl" came first 2lbs 10oz 14 1/2" and 4 minutes later "Jabber Box" made his way into this world 2lbs 14oz 14 1/2".

The Journey begins . . .



Eventually we brought them home. Laid them on the sofa and said.... "Now What?"



In no time our hands were very FULL.



They were acting just like other toddlers. Fighting over who got to smack Cookie Monster on the TV. Well... it looked like that. Perhaps they thought they could touch him or something. Who knows what toddlers think?



They have always been each other's best friend.



It has not always been fun and games. We have had several "hiccups". From 2000 to 2007 we were "frequent fliers" at the local ped floor of the hospital.



But, don't let their rocky start and "hiccups" fool you. They like to have fun just like all the rest of the kids....



The neat thing is... no matter what has happened.. or will happen.. they are each other's BEST FRIEND FOR LIFE!!! I can't wait to see what they will do next!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my BIG 10 YEAR OLDS!!!!

Bamboozled

Ok... tonight I got bamboozled in a good way. I was under the assumption that I was heading out with a friend Annette and another friend for ice-cream to celebrate our recent birthdays.....

I walk in to our friend's house and much to my surprise they say surprise to me. I'm so dang literal that I'm still concerned about our friend's supposed hurt leg it takes my brain more than a few beats to understand that what I walked into was a surprise birthday party for me.

The last time I had a birthday party was the first and only time I had a birthday party when I turned 12. This time was MUCH better and a lot more fun. Gooey Yummy chocolate cake.... card games, stories and wonderful friends.... my husband home from his trip... what more could a girl want?

Thank You Annette. You're super sneaky. You have the ultimate "poker face" because I TOTALLY had NO CLUE!!!

Happy Birthday To ME!!

WOOT!

If you're looking for some gadget for Christmas but don't want to spend full retail price.. head over to woot.com and see what their deal of the day is. They sell ONE item a day. LOTS of it but only ONE item per day. Several items are refurbished so steer clear if that is not your cup-o-T others are brand new. Tuesdays are 2for days... you get 2 for the price of 1.

Every so often they have a woot-off. This is when they sell off all the leftovers. They put an item up for sale and it stays up for sale until they sell all they have on hand. Then they put the next item up for sale until it's gone. They can get stuck on one item for hours or blow through an item in just a minute.

If you're lucky you can catch their brown mystery bag. You spend an insainly small amount and get "who knows what" inside. You might be buying some tiny headphones and a backscratcher or a 49" LCD TV for about the price of shipping only. It has happened (not to me though).

There are 4 other woot sites. Wine.woot! - yes, they sell wine. Kids.woot! - they sell an item related to children/babies. Shirt.woot! - they have one style of t-shirt on sale for the day. And, lastly they have sellout.woot! - this site typically sells items similar to regular woot! but still another item.

Only thing we've bought from them was a little short range FM transmitter. This way my hubby can play music from his computer and have all the radio's around the house pick it up. This is great for Sunday's when we want calm music streaming everywhere. It also works well for when we want fun music everywhere.