Reality

I would like to thank God for keeping me grounded. Not even ten minutes after I made my last post, bragging about how wonderful my day was, Kate came into my room and threw up everywhere. I am not sure what was wrong with her, she is fine now. Cleaning up throw up is not one of the perks of motherhood. But sitting there, on the bathroom floor beside my baby definately was a pleasure. Yes, I was sleepy. Yes, my bed would have been a lot more comfortable. But Kate told me she wanted to sleep on the floor in case she had to throw up again. Which she did. 2 more times. But she was so precious laying there with her pillow pet and TinkerBell blanket. She asked me to sing to her and of course I did, although only my daughter could enjoy my singing voice as it is not anything special. She also asked me to pray with her. She is such a sweet girl and I am blessed to be the one she turns to when her tummy doesn't fell good. Love that girl. Pin It Now!

A Great Day to be Alive.....

I've heard a ton of awful stories lately. I have stalked a blog of a friend of a friend to read a story about a mother of toddler twin girls, one of which died less than 3 months ago. This blog has made me shed more tears than I thought possible especially considering I don't even know the mom. Obviously, a story about twins hits close to home for me. I have listened to countless people talk about a poor little 5 year old girl who was fine one day and the next day she found out that she had tumors on her brain and her spine. I found out that my cousin, who beat breast cancer and has been doing well, went in for a bioposy because spots were found on her chest. All heartbreaking stories and my heart goes out to each and every one of them. What these stories have in common is one thing......all 3 of these stories include strong women (the 2 moms and my cousin) who have relyed on their faith in God to get them through such tragic situations. They are all great examples on exaclty how to handle difficult situations.

After hearing/listening to these tragic stories, I have a much greater appreciation of everything that I have. No, I haven't been able to find a house to buy yet. No, I can't say that I have children that like to behave all the time, nor can I say that I don't feel like a crazy person half the time. But I have SO MUCH to be greatful for. I vow to cherish everything and everyone in my life because tomorrow is not a promise.

With that being said, today was an absolutely, positively excellent day. A very very long day, but a great one for my book of memories.

The day started out with a softball camp with the TRA Lady Rebels. The girls had a lot of fun hanging out with the older girls!

Alex was so excited that she wore her helmet in the car.

Next Kate and I headed to our favorite Mexican place to meet Janessa, Julanne, and Brooklyn.

After that, Tim and I took Kate and Alex to sign up for softball.....yes, you read that right. Kate AND Alex signed up.....yay! I knew Alex couldn't resist playing this year!! I was beyond excited when she told me that she would play. Although I am pretty sure she only changed her mind because she realized I was going to buy Kate new softball stuff and she couldn't stand to miss out on getting new stuff.....but either way, she made the decision and I didn't hesitate to sign her up!!! 

Later on in the afternoon, Michael came over and we headed to dinner. We went to Buffalo Wild Wings and the girls weren't too sure about it when we first got there. Kate said it was too loud, and they were both confused on why there were so many TVs! BUT we quickly discovered that they have these little games that you can take to your table and play them and they are super cool!!! It's like having a mini arcade at your table. And yes, they have a little thing on the machine for you to swipe your credit card to pay for the games.........dangerous!!! The girls loved them and honestly, Michael and I loved them too. We almost felt like we were on a real date! The girls had their noses in the games so they didn't make a sound so we got to have actual grown up conversation. We decided that we will be doing that again next time we want to go somewhere to watch a basketball game or anything else on the big screen!

Here's a picture of Kate playing her game. They each had one at the table! So convenient!!

Here's Alex having fun on a race car game. As you can tell, she got pretty into it!

It didn't take me long to realize that the girls both got a lot of sun today at the softball camp. Those poor little pink faces will be hurting tomorrow!

Next stop: Chuck E. Cheese, Please!!!! This is one of our favorite places to go. We always have a great time there, all 4 of us! The last couple of times that we have gone, the girls have saved their tickets so that they can cash them all in at once. Tonight all 4 of us were "on" and winning lots! Alex and I are a bit obsessed with the baseball game. If your token lands on the square that says 'home run' then you get 50 tickets.....and between the 2 of us we hit it more than our fair share! In fact, within the first ten minutes of being there, Alex won 148 tickets on her first 2 games! **that's my girl** Kate's favorite is skeetball and she always has a really high score but obviously it's not a huge ticket winning game. Michael's favorite is the football game, he loves that game and is really good at it!!

Here's Alex showing off her tickets. Alex got 576 tickets tonight, combine that with what she had saved up from previous visits and she had a total of 1,111 tickets!!!! She was sooooo excited!!!

Here she is showing off her loot that she won! This is one excited girl!!

Kate was on Michael's team (we always split up into 2 teams to see who can get the most tickets) so I can't remember her exact count on tickets and I didn't get a chance to take a pic. I am pretty sure they ended up with 545 tickets tonight and a total of over 800.

Here's Kate showing off her new prizes and of course her signature peace sign.

What a fun, fun, fun day! I love these girls (and that man) so much and I don't know what I would do without them!!! I look forward to many more happy days with all of them!

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Good Morning Sunshine

How do you get two grouchy, sleepy almost 8 year olds awake and out of bed??

Easy.

Just mention Justin Bieber's new haircut.

Learned that lesson this morning. Could that boy please get his hair cut every morning?? They were comatose in bed, but at the slight mention of JB, they were WIDE AWAKE!! This man can do no wrong in their eyes.......oh yeah, the only downside to this scenario: I had to listen to them argue ALL MORNING over who really was the future Mrs. Beiber.......I guess in an ideal world, he would have a twin. Can we get a Jason Beiber please??? haha



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What's Been going down in our hood......

According to my friend Tiffanie, I am slacking on my blogging. She informed me that she needed new reading material.....and I am never one to let down a friend in need. So this blog is meant to inform you on what's been going down in our hood.....and mainly, what's been going down is that we are looking for a new hood! Who knew house hunting was such hard work?! Although, I do have to admit that when your boyfriend is the realtor, it's not exactly that bad! In fact, once we do get settled into a house, I'm not really sure what Michael and I will do on Sunday afternoons! Hopefully, we will find out soon enough.

Basketball has ended for K&A, and I am extremely sad about that (but slightly excited about getting my Saturday mornings back!). And now....you guessed it! It's softball time!!!! I do regret to inform you that Alex has decided to sit this year out. I would be lying if I told you that I wasn't trying with every bone in my body to convince her otherwise. The mom in me is calmly thinking "She should just do her own thing" while my real inner self is screaming "IF YOU SIT OUT NOW, HOW WILL YOU EVER GET A COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIP????" and also "I'VE DREAMED ABOUT A PITCHER/CATCHER TWIN COMBO SINCE THE DAY YOU WERE BORN!!!!"......don't worry, so far I haven't let the inner self take over the mom (yet). They are both doing a softball camp this Saturday at school though so I am hoping that the TRA Lady Rebels will just be sooo cool that she will want to grow up and be just like them and decide that she can't possibly skip out this year. But if not, I'll be fine. I hope. At least only one of them is (thinking of) ditching **yes, I'm in denial**. If Kate decided that she didn't want to play either.....well then, I would have to start a new blog documenting my journey through adopting. :-)

Dear Tiffanie,
For some reason, you must think that my life is a little more interesting than it is. Because I just don't have anything fun to talk about today! I will do better next time, I promise. Hopefully, the next post will have a picture of a new house.......

This Monday was President's Day. The girls had to go to school to make up a snowday. And guess who was off work?!? Oh Happy Day!!!! It was great to sit at home in the silence and do nothing. I will leave you with a picture that Alex gave me today....

I can't for the life of me get this picture to turn (don't judge my computer skills!!). But as you can see, the picture says "Happy Presented Day!"

**in case you don't speak 7.5 year old, that means Happy Presidents Day!!**

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Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is tomorrow (Monday), so we decided to celebrate today with Kate and Alex. The girls got more presents thAn they ever get on vday (**perks of divorced parents....).

Kate LOVES her some Hersheys bars!!

**No, I did not let her consume all of this in one sitting......Mommy wasn't born yesterday**

The four of us went to see the Justin Beiber movie tonight....the girls have been counting down the days to this movie just like a Christmas countdown! Of course it was in 3D (get out your checkbook), and they LOVED it. I can honestly say that is the longest period of time that either of them have ever gone without talking (please note, their mouths were still open, but they were drooling over JB, not talking). They didn't even really eat any of the popcorn.....and when I asked Kate if she needed to go to the bathroom her response was "I need to but I can hold it because I don't want to miss anything". haha! Having both been to an actual JB concert, they were filling Michael and I in on parts that "in real life really happened at his concert!". I can say that it was actually a really cute movie. And if I were their age, I would probably be just as "in love" as they are. I honestly didn't think we were gonna be able to get them to leave the movie theater.....I know for a fact that they would have stayed and watched it again if we would have let them! As soon as we got home, Kate threw that CD in and started dancing!! She watched him closely to get new dance moves (Kate is a well known breakdancer, if you haven't seen her dance skills, you can check her out on "that tube" **which is kate talk for YouTube**)

I am pretty sure that Michael and I will be dreaming of Justin Beiber and singing his songs for days. Both of the girls now want purple baseball caps and high top tennis shoes for their birthday (exactly what he wore in the movie)......

It was a great valentine's day, our first one as a party of 4 with many MANY more to come....well at least until the girls are too old to hang out with us, then hopefully Michael and I can possibly watch a more age appropriate movie on our dates!

Here's the 4 of us after the movie....

I will leave you with one more photo from today....and all that I have to say about this picture is:

EVERY FAMILY MUST HAVE THEIR BLACK SHEEP.....

But as far as Alex and I are concerned, we still have to say GO TIGERS!!!!





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Playdates

When I look back over the years when K&A were really little, I think "no wonder I was so crazy!!". I had little to no friends that had any kids so I didn't have them to lean on when I was going through normal "mom stuff". NOW, I have tons of friends that have kids and they are a great support group. From emails to texts to facebook to playdates, we are 100% there for each other. Sometimes we even share group emails that have subject lines such as "I just need to vent...." It's great to have friends that have kids the same age, that are moms with the same doubts and fears and worries. I love my mommy friends so much and I don't know what I would do without them!!!

Here are some pics of a small playdate that we had this weekend at McDonald's. It was Kate, Alex, Brooklyn, Miranda, and Loren....we have nothing against little boys, we just don't have many in our little group....but don't worry, UNFORTUNATELY the little boys in the playland were chasing these cute girls all around **nervous laughter**.......

And please don't be fooled, us older gals have just as much fun gossiping and munching on fries while the little girls play.....we stayed over 3 hours without even realizing it!!



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Snow Day #5,347

It's 8 AM, do you know where your kids are??

I know where mine are, not in the bed......but already building forts. It's gonna be a loooooong snow day!!

The following picture was posted on facebook by many many people....and I think it accurately represents our feelings toward snow at this point.....

Where ya at, summertime??



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More snow??? Say it ain't so!!

There's nothing like footprints in the sand on a warm sunny day.....

Unfortunately, we haven't seen sand or warm sunny days in awhile, for us it's nothing but big snowboot footprints on cold snowy days.

Now, I refuse to diss the snow....any opportunity for a "get out of work" free pass is a good thing in my book. BUT while I am dreaming of curling up with a book and hot chocolate in front of a warm fire, double trouble is dreaming of layers and layers of clothes, snow sleds, long walks, and way too many climbs back up the hill after sledding. Sledding was a good time today though. And although there was no school, we did learn a few lessons that us country gals weren't aware of.

Lesson #1: it is important to wait til AFTER it finishes snowing before you go outside to sled. If you don't, you can barely keep your eyes open, your cheeks get windburned, and you will be quite miserable. Not to mention, the cute pics that you were gonna take while bundled up end up looking a lot like this......

**Don't worry, they were able to breathe even though you can't see their mouths. I made sure of this, mainly because had they of passed out, I would have had to carry them back home. and seeing as how I could barely feel my legs, I wasn't gonna be carrying anyone. There was also an added benefit in the fact that they had to keep their mouths covered.....or at least I thought there would be, but guess I should have expected that it would take a lot more than that to keep those loud mouths from running 90 miles an hour. In fact, their loud factor was only increased because they had to speak over the snowstorm. I am sure all of the people resting inside their homes enjoyed hearing "those loud kids that belong to the neighbors"....

Lesson #2: Now this is a BIG lesson. I am not sure if you are all prepared for this and I know this tidbit of information may be quite shocking to some of you out there. But I feel it is my duty to relay this information so that more people will know this well kept secret. Today, we realized (wait for it.....), that ACTUAL SLEDS WORK A LOT BETTER THAN THE TOP TO THE TRASHCAN. shocking, i know. you should probably sit back and close your eyes to let this incredible discovery settle in so that you can digest it. it's true. My mom bought 2 sleds today and they might as well have had an engine on the back of them because we were moving at lightning speed. In fact, when I went down one hill, I am pretty sure that the only person that could possibly rival my speed would have to be Chevy Chase in National Lampoons Christmas Vacation.

Lesson #3: Alex thinks it is hilarious to try and block a sledder so that they don't get farther than she did. I am not sure if I can accurately describe this so that you can get a good visual (my phone died so there wasn't a pic, plus I couldn't feel my hands anyways so not sure that I would have been capable of taking a pic), but let me see if I can put this into words......my mom was sledding down the hill, alex decided she wanted to get in front of her to stop her. there was a collision, arms and legs went everywhere. there was some laughter and then some discipline involving "do you know you could have broken your neck??", but the best part (please don't judge my parenting skills when you read what I am about to say, I am only human and funny is funny, I don't care who ya are) was when the actual collision took place. My mom and her sled knocked Alex's feet out from under her and she went FLYING into the air. It was great. But of course I threw in the **insert stern parental voice here** "don't you ever do that again young lady!"

Lesson #4: If you know me, you know that I grew up in the country. Now I am by no means much of a cowgirl or anything like that, but compared to most of my friends, I am a bit country. With that being said, growing up, we always thought we had the BEST sledding hills. I mean, throw a girl out in the pasture and give her a sled (or trashcan top) and she's got a day full of fun. The lesson that I dun gone and learned myself lately (my best country accent, in case you were confused) is that the pasture ain't got nothing on this here fancy golf course. My mom and stepdad live on a golfcourse and they have THE BEST HILLS!!! Just like a pasture, it's only a few feet from the house. But the major factor that makes it one step above the pasture.......there's no, ummm how can I put this nicely, there's no surprises waiting to be stepped on if ya get what I'm sayin! Nothing but grass under all that snow!

Lesson #5: This is the final lesson that I learned today. If you are gonna go sledding, make sure you remind your daughters that their voices carry and everyone within a 10 mile radius can hear them. Then, you can maybe avoid listening to someone like Alex, slide down the hill, screaming at the top of her lungs "there's snow in my panties!!"...and yes, she said it just about every trip she made down the hill.

That's all the lessons for today. School has already been cancelled for tomorrow so who knows what we will find out with the adventures that are to come. oh yeah, I forgot one more lesson. I know when you are snowed in, everyone eats a little bit more than normal. I didn't know that this affected kids too. Kate summed it all up when she came downstairs and told me she needed something to eat. I asked her how she could be hungry when she ate not too long ago. Her response: "I'm hungry because I'm bored and don't have anything else to do so I want to eat." I think that about sums up how everyone feels while they are snowed in. Wisdom beyond her years.......

I'll leave you with the last of my snow pics from today.....Y'all come back now, ya hear?!?



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Distance makes the heart grow fonder.....

What's a girl to do when she has to be spend 8 hours a day at school in a seperate class from her twin sister?

Write her a note and draw her a picture, of course!

**Sorry, tried my hardest to get it to rotate but for some reason it wouldn't save the right way.

***Also, sorry for not being able to show you the inside of the picture, but I know Kate would be angry. Alex drew a picture of Kate and her crush holding hands and telling each other "I love you".....I couldn't change the names on the picture to protect the innocent, so I thought I better keep that info between me, Kate, Alex, and the few thousand people that she has already told about her crush.......



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Name that Twin

Everyone always asks me how I can tell the girls apart. Well, if you are a mom to twins, or you know any twins, you know that after you have been around them much, it's pretty easy. Kate and Alex have almost always been exactly the same in appearance and size. Born 2 months early, they were the same weight to the ounce. I couldn't tell them apart when they were first born, but let's be honest...they were only 4 lbs. If you would have thrown a third baby in there the same size, they all three would have looked the same. They were just way too tiny to have any unique features and it goes without saying that they obviously had no personality differences at a few days old.  (Thank you, Captain Obvious.....) Once they got a little bit bigger, they started to look nothing alike to me.

 I mean, come on, do these faces not scream individuality to you??

haha.

Now that they are much older and have COMPLETE DIFFERENT PERSONALITIES, it is much easier to tell them apart. I can hear their voices and tell you who it is, they can climg into bed with me in the middle of night and I know which one I am cuddling with. When they were little bitty babies, we contemplated how to tell them apart. I asked every M.O.M. (Mother of Multiples) that I met what their secret was. Finally, one lady gave me great advice......I painted one baby's toenails and they stayed painted at all times. We left their hospital bracelets on them as long as possible so we didn't get them mixed up. You wouldn't think this would have been too long but those scrawny little girls didn't grow too fast. Then, before we took the bracelets off, my stepdad painted Alex's toenails. I chose Alex because she had a boy name so everyone always asked if she was a boy (oddly enough, if I ever had a boy, I wouldn't dress him in PINK DRESSES, but obviously people missed small details such as that). But what can you expect when the first question asked of you is "Are they twins??" **If I had a dollar for everytime I heard this question......** So, that is how I know that the child that I have come to know as Alex actually really is the baby that we name Alex (Baby A) and vice versa.     **side note that some of you may not know (all 2 of my readers, lol): the entire time I was pregnant, Alex was positioned to be born first (A) and during the last week that I was pregnant, Kate pushed ahead and swapped up the order. So, Kate is older but she was Baby B. Funny, huh?**

Alex is a complete princess. She LOVES pink, peace signs, dresses, her daddy, and anything princess. But she has a tiny bit of tomboy that comes out in her when you see her out on a field or a court.

Kate is exactly what you would think I was as a kid. She is 100% tomboy. Give that girl a pair of jeans, a sweatshirt, and some tennis shoes and she is good to go! She isn't quite as confidant as Alex, but she is about as stubborn as they come. (Can't even imagine where that came from....must be from her dad.....) She loves any color besides pink, Justin Bieber, anything cute boy related (HELP), and her Nintendo DS.

Now, I will leave you with a few pics on a simple hint of how to tell them apart in this day and age. THEIR TEETH!! They have always lost the same teeth at the same time, until the last 2 that they lost. Being pretty anxious, Alex sat in front of the mirror for what felt like 2 hours until she pulled her front tooth. Quite the opposite, Kate let it stay loose until it was BARELY hanging on. So, because of their different approaches on toothpulling, their front 2 teeth have started growing in at different rates. Kate's are even and not completely grown in while Alex has one completely grown in and the other is yet to show up.

**You can use this method or you could just be like their cousins and call them both "kateoralex"....they usually will both respond to that.**

Please feel free to laugh at Kate's funny faces.

And Alex's funny faces.....we are still hoping she grows into that big ole tooth she is sportin....

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Tough Day??

Nothing cures a long tough day like a long soak in the tub. Just ask Kate.

Who knew 2nd grade could be so tough??!

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Double Trouble

On nights like tonight, I have to remind myself of a certain verse of a certain song.....

but you're gonna miss this
you're gonna want this back
you're gonna wish these days
hadn't gone by so fast

these are some good times
so take a good look around
you may not know it now
but you're gonna miss this

No one ever claimed being a parent was easy.....and people even warn you that being a single parent is not  close to being easy! On nights like tonight, when I don't think I can handle one more moment of all that comes along with two kids, I have to remind myself that one day "I'm gonna miss this". One day, these girls will be off with their friends hanging out and being right under my footsteps will be the last thing that they want to do. One day, after they have gone off to college, I will be sitting in a quiet house longing to hear those 2 littles girls laughing or even crying for that matter. I think life as a parent can pretty much be summed up with one quote:

"The days are long, but the years are short."

I have no idea who said that, but I am pretty positive that there is some smart mom out there who deserves the credit.Either way, it's a pretty accurate statement. Days seem to last forever and bedtime seems a lifetime away some nights, but then I wake up and realize that I have been a mom for almost 8 years now. Sometimes I wonder why God decided to gift me with not one but two children. Going from having zero kids to suddenly having two kids is a task that not everyone has. I sometimes don't know how I will survive if they argue over one more thing.....but God had faith that I could do it. God chose me to be their mom because he knew that I could handle it. That gives me the reassurance that I need to make it through each day, through each crisis, one at a time.

I guess sometimes in life you just have to grin and bear it. And if you are me, you grin and bear it until you finally get the kids to bed and then go take a nice long hot bath and remind yourself that tomorrow is a new day.......

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Roller Derby Here We Come!!

Our church had a skate night not too long ago. Kate and Alex LOVE to skate!!! We brought my BFF Janessa along and her daughter, Brooklyn. The girls had a great time skating, and J and I had a great time eating pizza and gossiping. I love taking the kids to do stuff like this!!

Kate and Brooklyn ready to get to skating!!

Alex is a pretty serious skater....

Kate is never really serious and also throwing up the peace signs.....

Just a little proof that 2 is always better than 1!

So grateful to have a BFF that always has a camera in her hand! Don't know what I would do without her.....and I don't just mean because of all the pictures! Love ya J!!

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The Month of Love

Kate had to list the things that she loved for an art project at school. She only started her list at home, so I didn't get to see all of it. But here is the beginning:

Dad
Mom
Michael
Sissy
all family
the army

I am not quite sure where the love for the army comes from. Both girls listed that on Thanksgiving Day as what they were thankful for. But I am glad they support our troops!! It almost brings tears to my eyes to see that she listed Michael. I have known that she loves him, both of them do, but for her to include him makes me super happy. In fact, she has now started talking to almost everyone about when Michael will "repose" to her momma. And she asks me daily if I am going to say yes. Love those girls. Pin It Now!

Sister Love

Tim had some pictures made of the girls. Luckily, he shared them with me.......

They actually kinda look like they like each other in these pics......he must have bribed them! Pin It Now!

spare the rod, spoil the child.....

I believe in spankings. Maybe I am old fashion. But when I think about being in trouble when I was a kid, I can remember being spanked but being grounded is not something that I remember. And I would like to think that I turned out pretty well (luckily no second opinions are required here-hey, it's my blog so I guess my opinion is the only one that counts here......).

Tonight, Kate got in trouble. This has been happening a lot lately. For some reason, the two of them just can't seem to get along. They were in the bathtub and I told Kate that when she got out of the bathtub, she would be getting a spanking. **I am very aware that the anticipation of that spanking was probably worse than the actual spanking. Boy, am I glad I am finally the spanker and not the spankee anymore!!**

When I came back in the room to check on her, this is what I found........

I know what you are thinking....she must have gained 5 pounds since you saw her last........Nope, she was just "prepared" for her spanking. She has on 3 pairs of pants, a long sleeve shirt, and a night gown tucked in for extra coverage. I am not really sure what kind of spanking she was expecting a long sleeve shirt to cushion, but nevertheless, I had to give her credit for being smart enough to plan ahead for that dreadful spanking that was coming.....

***Please note: Kate did not receive a spanking tonight. It is a little bit difficult to spank a child when you are laughing and taking pictures. Please also note that this tactic worked for her this time, but it will not work again. Next time I WILL be sticking to my guns.*** Pin It Now!