Happy New Year!

For New Years this year, we invited some friends to go to Parowan with us! There was TONS of snow on the ground. The guys built a small slide for the kids to sled down.




After a few rides down the little slide, the guys decided the adults needed a slide too. It started out small, but kept getting bigger!



The guys used doors to form the snow, they poured water on the snow to pack it, so it was firm enough to hold us on it.



We used a ladder to climb up. It was taller than ME!



The twins even had fun going down the slide!





The guys again decided to build it just a little bit taller and wider!


Then we got really daring, and added a jump!


We spent almost all day outside, and had SO MUCH FUN! The twins loved playing in the snow, and even liked riding the slide!

Lunch

Top: Kara, Courtney, Charity.
Bottom: Katrina, Me, Amanda, Teisha.

Tuesday I met up with some old friends from High School! I havent seen most of these girls since THEY graduated. We laughed so much! It was great hearing about everyones lives, and what they've been up to. I hope we are able to do this more often!

WOOHOO!

Its 8:50pm, and the twins fell asleep 30 minutes ago!!

YIPPEE!

I WANT OUR SCHEDULE BACK!

My girls have been on a pretty strict routine since the day we brought them home from the NICU. It has changed, as they have gotten older, but we still have a routine.
7:30-8am : Wake up
2:00 until 4pm : NAP!
9:00 : BEDTIME.

This schedule seems to work pretty well for us. BUT, Christmas really messed things up! Christmas Eve, I let the girls nap till almost 5:30. They didnt fall asleep until after midnight. We woke them up around 7ish. They napped Christmas day from 3:45 till a little after 6pm. They were up late again(midnight), and slept in till after 9 AM the next morning! Its been like this every day since. Its driving me NUTS! When the girls wake up after 9, they arent ready to take a nap by 2. So, I try really hard to keep them awake until 7 or 8, but that never happens. I always walk out of the room at the wrong time, and boom, they fall asleep around 5 or 6 ... then they are up until midnight all over again! Its after 1am, and Claire is STILL awake. she napped from 6 until 8! This has got to stop! We leave town on Wednesday, and hopefully they will get back on schedule while we are out of town!

Camp Out in the Family Room.

The girls got this tent for Christmas, and LOVE IT! They have been playing in it almost non stop since they got it! The have been sleeping in it too! They are refusing to sleep in their beds. I figure they can sleep there until we get back from Parowan after New Years.



At first we had the tent set up in the Family Room. But I've been trying to get the house cleaned up from Christmas, and now the tent is in its permanent residence, in the girls play room!

Christmas Re-Cap!

Christmas was great! I feel it went by way too fast though. Christmas Eve, we had an awesome dinner at my grandparents house. Papa cooked a Ham, and a Brisket sp? Nana made potatoes, green beans, and cole slaw. It was so delicious! I think Nana and Papa are two of the BEST cooks out there! After dinner we opened gifts. Claire and Carlie were so much fun to watch! After gifts, we had dessert, hung out, and we didnt leave till almost midnight! I really enjoy being around my grandparents!

Christmas morning, I woke up at 6:30am and couldnt fall back to sleep, so we got the girls up around 7! They opened presents from Santa, and got to play for a little bit. Then we headed to Aarons dads house for brunch and more presents. We had fun there too! After brunch, we headed over to Aarons sisters house for Lunch, with Aarons mom and grandparents! We ate some more, opened presents, and hung out as a family. After we left Careys, my family came over to our house, and Aaron made Jambalaya for dinner, we opened more gifts, and watched The Forgotten Carols with my family! It was a busy day, but It was fun! I really enjoy spending time with all of our family, I am SO thankful that we have both sides of our families here in town. We are blessed to have such great people in our daily lives.

I hadnt planned on blogging again until after Christmas, but Im waiting for some pictures to upload, and I have a minute to waste.

Last night after my sister left my house, she almost ran over this lost dog. Its an older female Chocolate Lab. She thought it needed to be rescued, and brought it back to my house. (Thanks Keri! lol) She bought it some dog food, a leash and collar, walked around where she found it, hoping the owner was out looking for it, at 10pm at night!! She didnt have any luck finding the owner, so she brought it back to my house to stay for the night. I know Labs are GREAT dogs. This one was really friendly. She had been recently groomed and she didnt mind the twins, but my dog didnt like her so much. I made her stay in our backyard until Aaron got home. Poor thing! It was really cold last night, and she kept on whining. After Aaron got home, we let her sleep in the garage. This morning I called Animal Control, and had them come pick her up. If it werent Christmas Eve, I would go to a Vets office, check and see if she has a micro-chip, call its owner, and wait for them to pick her up, but I dont have a lot of extra time today! So, Animal Control came and got her, and they will take care of finding her owner. The girls were so sad to see her leave! (We named her HERSHEY!)

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!



And have a safe New Year!

And Now My Girls Are Sick.

**If you have a weak stomache, or dont enjoy stories involving throw-up, go ahead and skip this post!**


All afternoon yesterday, the twins kept saying that their mouths hurt. I figured they were just saying that to get out of eating, and cleaning up. Well, after we made Gingerbread houses last night (and after eating WAY too much candy) Carlie threw up. It was right after I brushed her teeth, so I might have accidently gagged her a little with her toothbrush, but her throw up had some red stuff that looked like blood. I wasnt sure if it was blood, or candy though. So, I stuck my finger in a little bit of her puke, to see if I could feel weather it was blood or candy ... I couldnt tell. SO, I smelled it. LUCKILY it was CANDY. That was probably the grossest thing I have ever had to do as a mom.

Claire woke up every hour during the night, coughing and wanted to come lay with me in my bed. I was totally ok with that. But, Carlie would wake up shortly after Claire came in our room, and started crying because she couldnt find Claire. SO, I had to take Claire back to bed, so Carlie would stop crying (I would have put them both in bed with me, but my bed isnt THAT big!) That went on all night, every hour. Once Aaron got out of bed to head to work, both girls came in bed with me, and we slept for another 2 hours.

Gingerbread Houses

Last night my family came over and we made Gingerbread houses! There was so much Candy! Thanks everyone for coming! We sure had fun!!

Aaron and Me

Mom and Dad


Keri and Joey


David and Linda


Kim and Robert


We missed you Linds!

Snow Day.

This morning we woke up, and there was still a ton of snow on the ground! Aaron and the girls built a snowman! We had to shovel snow off our steps leading to our front door, and shovel the snow off the driveway! I dont think I would want to do that every day! The girls played outside for a couple of hours before they got cold! Luckily we had all our snow stuff here, and not in Parowan!







Now the girls are REALLY excited to go play in the snow in Parowan!

SNOW!

Just in case you didnt already know, it snowed here in Las Vegas! I think our area got a TON of snow compared to other areas. I think we got close to 6 inches! Crazy!

Rebel Game!!

Last night we took the girls to their first REBEL GAME! We have talked about going for a few weeks, and we've tried getting the girls excited to go. The girls had fun watching the Fireworks, Cheerleaders, and had fun trying to find the mascot Reb!

Making Snowmen

The girls have been getting really bored at home, so I thought it would be fun to make these little snowmen! The girls knew exactly where to put the cottonballs! I love the age that they are right now! So much fun!

Grandma Valentine

Every year for Grandma Valentines birthday, we help decorate her Christmas tree. This is one of my favorite traditions. The girls are finally at that age, where they can help decorate the tree. And the girls had a great time playing with all the cousins! Happy Birthday Grandma Tine!

Crafts with the Twins

My friend Morgan did this craft with her girls, it looked really easy, so I tried it with my girls! The girls had a lot of fun, and it was super easy!

Christmas Questionare

I stole this from my friend Pam. Feel free to fill it out too! (Its a great time killer!)


1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
- Wrapping paper. Color cordinating wrapping paper to be exact. But some gifts require a bag ...

2. Real tree or artificial tree?
One of each!

3. When do you put up your tree?
The day after Thanksgiving.

4. When do you take the tree down?
It depends on how busy we are.

5. Do you like eggnog?
Its not my favorite. I have to add milk to make it drinkable.

6. Favorite gift received as a child?
No clue.

7. Hardest person to buy for?
Adults!

9. Do you have a nativity scene?
I used to, but the girls broke baby Jesus.

10. Mail or e-mail Christmas cards?
One of these years I will actually make Christmas Cards ... I dont think we have ever sent them out. oops!

11. Favorite Christmas movie? White Christmas!

12. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
When the funds are available.

13. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
Nope.

14. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
Anything sweet.

15. Lights on the tree? White on the artificial. If we ever have 2 trees (next year) I will have colored lights on the real tree.

16. Favorite Christmas song?
O Holy Night

17. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
We stay in town, but we go around to a few different family members homes.

18. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?
Honestly, probably not.

19. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star. but growing up we always had an angel.

20. Do you open Presents Christmas eve or Christmas day?
Both. Christmas Eve is spent with my Grandparents. We open gifts from them at that time.
21. The most annoying thing about this time of year? Commercialism and Greed

22. Favorite ornament theme and color?
Snowmen! Our color scheme used to be blue and white. But, that got really boring. Last year we started branching out and added some red, gold and green.

23. Favorite for Christmas dinner?
Anything that Nana makes.

24. What do you want for Christmas this year?
http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/c216_2/index.cfm?pkey=ccookware%2Dle%2Dcreuset&ckey=cookware%2Dle%2Dcreuset

25. Favorite Christmas tradition?
Aaron and I dont really have any specific traditions. But, we do enjoy driving around looking at Christmas lights as a family. We have also enjoyed doing a few Christmas crafts.

We Tried!

The girls have been wanting to go see the big Christmas tree at Town Square, so we decided to go walk around there for a little bit. I had no intentions of doing the Santa thing, but he was there, the girls were being REALLY good, so we decided to give it a shot. The girls got so excited! They were going to tell Santa Merry Christmas, and tell him what they wanted! (Claire told me she wanted a 'choo choo train' and Carlie wanted a mirror. really?? a mirror?! anyway ... ) So, we stood in line for 15 minutes, get into Santas little house, and the girls automatically hide. (Santa was a total dud by the way. he didnt really say ANYTHING. I dont think he even said hello to the girls. he just sat there. he didnt say Merry Christmas, he didnt say Ho HO HO! nadda. seriously, lame!) The girls wouldnt even sit next to him to take a picture. So Aaron and I had to sit with the girls ... I so wasnt planning on getting in the picture! oh well. This is what we were able to come away with.




Gee. Im SO glad my kids know how to look happy.

'Little People' Nativity Scene

Anyone know where I can buy one??

A little about the girls.

The girls have these poor dingy blankies that they carry around. I say blankies, because they have had holes so big, that I had to rip them into two different pieces! We have to take these blankies to church, basically everywhere we go!
The girls think the blankies have healing powers. The other day I had a headache, and Carlie brought her blankie and told me to put it on my head, and it would feel better. Carlie hurt her knee, and put her blankie on it. Last night Claires legs were hurting and she wanted me to wrap her legs up with her blankie! Its too funny!!

Carlie has very specific demands on how she would like to be TAKEN to bed. Yes, I have to pick her up, and carry her like a baby. Every night. I dont mind though. How much longer is she going to let me carry her like that? It wont last forever, so i'll just go along with it.

The girls eating habits are crazy. Somedays they will eat a lot, and other days the will hardly eat anything. I really need to cut down on how many milk sippy cups they get each day. They dont like to drink a lot of juice, but I bought them their own water bottles, and I can get them to drink water out of those.

Carlie is doing great on the potty. She hasnt had a pee accident in months. BUT, she still wont poop in the potty. When she did poop in the potty, we went out and got her prize, and she never pooped in the potty again. little stinker! She has stopped pooping in her panties though. She waits until I put her in her pull-up at night. Seriously, within 5 minutes of me putting it on she poops! I guess she will do it when she is ready. Claire STILL has NO motivation to pee on the potty. Again, I figure she will do it when she feels she is ready.

The day after Thanksgiving we put up our tree! The girls were SO excited to get to hang stuff! The loved looking at all the pretty shiny/sparkly ornaments. We have only had 2 ornaments break. (my advice, buy SHATTER PROOF bulbs!) I wish I could say the girls have been great, and havent touched the tree since ... but the girls have taken their favorite ornaments down, and have put them onto a branch at the bottom of the tree! its pretty funny actually. I love having the house decorated for the Christmas Season!







We love snowmen decorations. Most of our decorations are all snowmen. What do you collect?

Thanksgiving.

I am so behind on posting!

Thanksgiving was great! In the morning we had lunch with Aaron side of the family, and had a great time as always! The food was great, the kids had a great time playing with the cousins, and I enjoyed being around some of my favorite people!

After we had lunch with Aarons family, we headed over to my grandparents house, and had another wonderful dinner with them! (we did however miss David and Linda, who were in UT with Lindas family) Great Grandma Walker was in town, and she is always great fun to be around.

My camera was acting really weird all day, and this is one of the only pictures that somewhat turned out. This is all the women on my side of the family (again, minus Linda)