A New Paint

I should have been suspicious when the kids stopped coming in begging for snacks and I could hear the snuffled laughter as the kids took turns running from outside to the kids bathroom and back again. 

What they discovered?  Calk mixed with Water creates PAINT!  

 what was also discovered: Chalk paint is still messy, even if it is made with chalk and water... who knew?

 Fun times had by all... that is until it was time to clean up...

Multitasking

I've never been one to sit around and twiddling my thumbs... not that thumb twiddling isn't an awesome skill... I'm just not that coordinated.... plus I have way to much to do.  I'm that girl who watches movies while crafting or cleaning.  I do the dishes while moping the floor. I can't have a phone conversation without scrubbing something. well having twins has taken it to a whole new level.

Now most everything I do I do one handed.and believe me I can do a lot, but my never ending pile of laundry, sink full of dishes and sticky kitchen floor is proof that something take two hands.  Right now at my house if it can't be done with one hand it probably wont get done... at least until Cameron gets home from work....  

I have developed a whole assortment of skills I never imagined possible. for instance one day I discovered that I can feed one baby while changing the diaper of the other... there are no pictures, if someone had been around to take a picture I would have had them change the diaper.  I can also text and type while holding one or even two babies.... someone in this family has to keep in touch with the outside world...  Cameron came in from doing something and took this picture of me because he couldn't believe that I was texting, and typing at the same time while holding both babies... (in this picture it looks like Lilly is laying on top of Peter, she's not really) I can also feed a baby while posting on my blog.... oh wait that's what I'm doing right now.

And sometimes it's nice to just sit, love, and hold my babies.

Sick

Like most everyone within a 10 mile radius we have had visits from both the throw up and snuffly nose kinds of sicknesses this past week.  currently, besides the occasional bouts of coughing, everyone seems to be over it... everyone except our sweet Lilly who is not only having a hard time breathing but can't seem to keep anything down.  she does better when we are holding her up right against our chest.  she's eating little bits as often as she seems hungry, so my beautifully orchestrated 3 hour schedule is out the window and for the first time in their lives she and Peter are on completely different schedules.

Thankfully Aunt Amy is here to help care for the sick little ones.

Hopefully this will pass quickly but for now we are trading off taking the opportunity to cuddle my sweet little sickie.

Celebrating!

Fall 2008

November has become a monumental month for me, 3 years ago this month I was declared cancer free.  so I celebrate.  This picture is probably when I looked the sickest, it took a while for my eyebrows and eyelashes to fall out, that's when you look truly sick, and by November it was all gone and I started growing old man grey wispies on my head.... cute, I"m telling you.

We aren't really sure when exactly I was rid of cancer. I did chemo first to shrink the tumor and when I had surgery in November there wasn't any cancer to be found.

 There are so many things I am grateful for as I look back on that time in my life.  Hair is definitely one of them. This is Katelyn and me November 2008 with one of my 4 wigs... I didn't need 4 wigs, and I actually perfered to wear wraps over wigs or hats, the Florida summer heat  makes most head wear unbearable, but I wasn't comfortable going around bald.

 Fall 2009

A year later, I had curls, and lots of them.  my experience with cancer treatment was still very real and I was concerned as we moved from Florida to Texas leaving behind everyone who had stood by me, who had supported me and knew what I had been through.

 my curls were the envy of every 70 year old lady, and my developing mullet was to die for. We quickly found our place here in Texas and except for the on going doctor's appointments, life became very normal.

What's the point in having so many curls if you don't have fun with them?

When I no longer had to spend any time on my own hair I started to focus on Katelyn's.  I had a great time looking up fun hair styles on the internet and trying them out on the only one in the family who had hair long enough to play with.

Fall 2010

by the next year the curls had mellowed a bit and my hair became much more manageable. Although I hadn't started cutting the front yet I did realize that the mullet had to go, and everyone was much happier.

 Fall 2011

  This year my hair has pretty much gone straight, I honestly didn't think that was possible, I think it may have something to do with the hormones involved with being pregnant with twins... I think you can blame most anything on that...

3 year out, life is pretty normal... except all the doctor visits... oh yeah and the occasional trying not to freak out at every lump or bump I discover.... other then that we carry on as usual.

 so grateful to be alive. so increadably blessed with a beautiful family. and so thankful for hair.

Bikes Katelyn Style

Katelyn also learned to ride her bike without training wheels this week.  as with most things she has a bit of a different approach then Dallin does...

there was a bit of this....

 and some of that...

 so she decided to try her hand at roller skating...

Skating proved to be more challenging then we had previously thought.

 So she went back to the bike and what do you know, she got it.  she was the first of the three kids to be able to balance on her own and she is by far the fastest rider. Cameron offered her a treat if she could ride by herself to our next door neighbor's house, and she did, no problem.  she just needed a little confidence in her abilities... sometimes bribery does wonders when it comes to things like that.

Bikes, Dallin Style

Grandma and Grandpa decided that on Grandpa's last day here it might be fun to teach the kids how to ride bikes without training wheels,  The kids were so excited!  Teaching someone how to balance on a bike proved to be a bit more tricky then I thought it would be.

 The strategy that seemed to work the best was holding onto the back of their shirts and helping them balance that way.  It seemed to work pretty well.

over and over again we each took turns with each of the kids, riding back and forth, back and forth, over and over and over again.

 Dallin fell a few times and was very nervous about passing a certain rose bush. he preferred for us to hold the handle bars and his shirt... I can't say I blame him... he tended to run into things because it took him a while to get the concept that he was the one steering the bike, not us.

 Grandpa had to show the kids that, once you learn how to ride a bike, you never forget... apparently that's true.

 This is my own blackmail picture.  I'm putting it out there so no one else can use it against me,   it's just to prove that I did just have twins and some shirts are best left unworn for a while and sometimes you need to see a picture to make that obvious...

After practicing for a while with slow progress, Cameron offered Dallin a treat if he could ride by himself for 3 sidewalk squares... amazingly, he did. once he knew he could do it,  it was pretty easy from there,  he road farther and farther  until it was no problem for him to ride to the neighbors house.  we've been practicing every day and now besides being a bit wobbly he is a pro.

way to go Dallin!

School Days

 My kids love school, They love their teachers, and they love learning... they express it in different ways.

 Katelyn has never been one to tell me much about her day, she kind of reminds me of a teenager boy in that sense,
me: Hi honey how was your day? (cheerful smile)
Katelyn: huffy breath grunt, (scowl)
Me: what did you do today?
Katelyn: growl..... mom. I don't want to talk about it.
Me: well, what did you eat for lunch today?
Katelyn: Mom!

so it's a bit refreshing when she comes home and goes on about how she was playing this game at recess, and her friend said this.... and then she said that... and then they did ..... and it was so funny.

Dallin loves coming home and presenting me with all of his school work, he shows me one thing at a time, and is excited to tell me about his day. he comes home  pretty regularly with toys from the treasure chest and notes telling what a good kid he is, and we don't doubt it.

Grant gets to stay home with me.... I don't think he minds too much....

our little photographer

Dallin's decided he would like to experience what it 's like to be on the other end of the camera... He loved it!  in fact he may never go back.

Grandma Louise was generous enough to let him practice his photography skills with her camera... the only camera we own is my Cannon Rebel and it's not that I don't trust him... it's just... yeah.

  He captured a new prospective of our back yard.

What can I say? he LOVES it!

Earings

 a while ago I had told katelyn that she could get her ears pireced for her 7th birthday, then school started, babies came, and an assortment of visitors came and went and I completely forgot... Katelyn on the other hand didn't. so while everyone else in the house was napping, Grandma Louise, Aunt Amy and I took Katelyn to Claire's.

 i hadn't actually gone into great detail about how ears are pierced, I figured we would all be better off if she didn't realize that they would be punching a hole in each ear, maybe she always knew and decided to do it anyways but  I think she only started wondering about that whole process when the Claire's worker kept asking her if she was nervous.... why do people do that?

 Thankfully they did both ears at the same time.  She was so brave, she didn't cry, or freak out. she saved that for later when we had to clean and twist them for the first time...

She of course choose the hello kitty earrings. she has been great at reminding us that it's time to clean and twist them.  My little girl is growing up.