“I’m already pretty!”

Cooper and Cassidy and I were getting ready to go do some errands.  I brought them in the bathroom so we could do their hair.  They each have their spots that they like to sit in when its time to do their hair.  Cooper was sitting on the edge of the sink and Cassidy was behind me sitting on the stool waiting for her turn.  We were talking away as we were doing hair.

Me – “ Wow, Coop.  It looks like its time for Daddy to take you to get a hair cut.  What do you think?”

Coop – “Yeah.” (as he digs his little chubby fingers into Paul’s hair stuff)

Cassidy – (who is behind me and I have no idea that she is even part of this conversation) – “I not need a hair cut.  I all weady pwetty.”

Yes, you are Cassidy.  And I hope you always remember it!

I need a CAMERA!

I had to document  Cooper and Cassidy’s first trip to the theater, but alas all I had was my blasted cell phone!  I know I have talked about this before but, it must be stated again!  These crappy pictures are the reason behind the scarcity of my posts.  So I’ll get over it (and hopefully get a new camera)  and post anyways so that I can remember the events.

Cooper is obsessed with the movie CARS.  He loves all cars but especially Lightening McQueen and Mater.  So when Cars2 came to theaters we felt that this would be the perfect opportunity for them to experience the theater.

If you notice, he is wearing his Lightening McQueen shirt and he has his cars with him.  He is a true CARS groupie!

They had fun and did pretty good during the movie.  Halfway through, Cassidy (aka my water-aholic) had a diaper situation and for some reason I didn’t have any diapers with me.  So we had to rely on her to tell me if she had to go to the bathroom.  She and I stood in the isle by the door and made 3 trips to the bathroom before the movie was over.  We didn’t have any accidents so that was good but slightly annoying.  This was just at the beginning of her starting to go occasionally on the toilet.  We have made some progress but I feel a little out numbered and slightly overwhelmed by the whole process right now.

I’m sure that it will happen eventually so I’ll just keep plugging along.

Field Trip

Imagine being a big old fourth grader and yet never having had the experience of going on a field trip.

Now imagine having a sister who got to go on one in first grade.

Oh, the Injustice!  The outrage!  Right?

Well, that is how Allie felt.

So image the pure joy and screams of happiness when it was announced that the fourth grad class would indeed be going on a field trip.  They were so excited it didn’t matter where they were going.  Until they found out that they were going to…… California!  I guess patience pays off!

They got to go to Calico Ghost Town.  On a big bus.  And miss a whole day of school.

 

 

(I know-horrible cell phone picture.  And I am personally against posting really bad quality pictures, but look at the smile!)

I was surprised at my nervousness for her. But, I mean- it was a big bus, and it was the whole day and it was California.

It would have been easier if I was going too.

There was such parental support and volunteers that they had to “pick from a hat” to see who would get to chaperone.  I was not selected.

Thankfully, I had several friends who were picked to be the chaperones so I knew that she would very watch over.

I received updates throughout the day about the activities and reassurances that all was well.  My friends even texted me their location as the bus made its way back to Las Vegas.

Allie had a wonderful time.  The first field was a huge success!

Don’t you wish you had a twin too?

Once upon a time, Cooper swallowed a penny. 

Luckily it was a ‘clean’ swallow and it went right on down with out him choking him.

Not-so-Luckily, I got to spend the next 10 days going through his diapers.

I did it every day in hopes of finding a round foreign object.  Half way through this treasure hunting experience, I had to go to an over night youth conference. 

When I returned, I anxiously asked if anything had been discovered.  To my dismay, I learned that they had forgotten to look!  I continued looking for the remainder of the time, but found nothing.

So off to the doctors we went.

They heard some wheezing in his chest and so Cooper had to have a breathing treatment and they scheduled a x-ray.

When you’re 2 1/2, breathing treatments can be kind of scary.

Luckily, Cooper had a support team to get him through the ordeal.

 

 

He really needed her during the x-ray.  He did not like that experience.  At all. 

And then the real kicker-  No penny found in the x-ray.  That means that somewhere along the way he got rid of it on his own.

Which really is good news. 

I just wondered how many diapers I unnecessarily went through with a toothpick. 

Too descriptive?

Scary Spice and Gaga?

Say it isn’t so!

Dress up gone horribly horribly wrong!

 

                         

Beauty Lou and the Country Beast

Way back, in April, Allie and Kara got to be in the school play.  I really love that our school offers this great program each spring.  The plays are put on by Missoula Children’s Theater.  Mrs. Weise, Kara’s teacher is the one who does all the coordinating to make it happen.  They come to the school for one week and teach the kids the lines and the music.  They provide the props, backdrops and costumes.  I am always surprised with how will it turns out each year.  The kids have to have teacher approval to be in the play because a lot of rehearsing takes place during the day. 

This is Allie’s third year performing in the play and it is Kara’s first year.  The play is only offered to 2-5 grade students.  Kara was so excited to be eligible this year!

Kara landed the role of barnyard pig and Allie was a country girl.  They had a great time.

The pictures are less then good.  Cell phones only do so well indoors.  The poor quality of photos lately have really taken the fun out of posting them.  Hopefully soon that problem will be fixed.  But for now, here’s our piggy and country girl!                       

An oldie but a goodie!

I recently came across this clip again.  It had to be posted!  It is a CLASSIC!  and what memories- some good (and lots bad ) about that stage! 

We sure do love those little babies!

The Rose, Hawthorn Twig and LIly

The Rose, Hawthorn Twig & Lily

Many years ago Japan was walled in as a nation. During that time, learned men studied nature and met with little groups of men and women at night and taught them lessons of life.

One morning, when one of these learned men was about to leave the gates of the city to go out to study nature, a workman stopped him and said, "When you come in tonight from your studies, will you please bring me a rose that I may study the whorl of the petals as you pointed out last night?"

"Yes," said the learned man, "I will bring you a rose." He had not gone far before a second man accosted him, saying, "Will you please bring me a hawthorn twig tonight?"
"Yes," said the professor. And, even before he got through the gate, a third accosted him, saying "Will you please bring me a lily that i might see the lessons of purity that you gave us last evening?" And the professor answered, "I will bring you a lily."

Just as the sun was setting in the west, the professor entered the gate of the city, where the three men met him. To the first, he gave the rose; to the second he gave the hawthorn twig; to the third he gave the lily.

Suddenly the man with the rose said, "Why, here's a thorn on the stem of my rose!" And the second said, "And here's a dead leaf clinging to my hawthorn twig!" And the third, encouraged by the fault finding, said, "And here's dirt clinging to the roots of my lily!"

The professor took the rose from the first, the twig from the second, the lily from the third. He broke the thorn from the stem of the rose and handed the thorn to the first; he plucked the dead leaf from the twig and put the dead leaf into the hands of the second; he took the dirt from the roots of the lily and gave the dirt to the third. Keeping the rose, the twig and the lily, he said, "There, each of you has what attracted you first. You looked for the thorn and found it. It was there. I left it purposely. The dead leaf was left on the twig, and you saw it first. Purposely I left the dirt on the roots of the lily, and the dirt was the first thing you saw. Each of you keep what attracted your attention; I will keep the rose, the twig, and the lily for the beauty I see in them."

--David O. McKay

Shopping Carts

These days if I have Cooper and Cassidy with me, I pretty much only shop at Wal-Mart or Sam’s Club.  Sam’s Club shopping carts (and Costco) are the only carts that can fit two kids side by side up front.  So I park in between the stores and use the Sam’s carts for both stores. 

When Cooper and Cassidy were about 18 months, they had been to the store maybe three times in their whole life.  Such a stark contrast to when Allie and Kara were their age.  I remember taking Kara to the store when she was maybe just 10 days old.  And with Allie, I lived for our weekly shopping trips.

But I have grown more confident in my being-the-mother-of-twins mindset and I now am not quite so scared to go shopping with them.

Probably because they so rarely get to go to the store, they are actually pretty good.  They have had their moments though.  Cooper biting Cassidy’s ear.  Cassidy scratching his face in self defense.   But we are slowly working through those things.

While we were shopping the other day, I noticed something they were doing.  I don’t even think they noticed it.  It was one of those heart melting things for me. 

Footsie!

 

Their feet were touching for a big part of our trip that day.  It was so cute.  They didn’t discuss it and it didn’t bug either of them.  They just sat there as we went along swinging their feet together.

They can fight and whine and make each other mad but they still have a bond that is so unique. 

  Twins.

Water Balloons

Happy Birthday Paul!  Steve was in town and offered to babysit so Paul and I could go out for his birthday.  (Thanks Steve!  That was very brave of you.  Hope it didn’t scar you for life!)

Water balloons are normally a great addition to any birthday celebration.  They are fun to play games with and occasionally even throw back and forth at each other.  And it is even sometimes funny to launch one at an unsuspecting individual.

But in certain circumstances, a water balloon can become a weapon and an unsuspecting individual can become The Victim. And that is exactly what happened to me.

Paul and I were standing outside the entrance to Best Buy talking to Kelly Panter and her boyfriend Sam.  A car pulled up in front of the store a few feet away from us and let out a passenger.  Then the car started to pull away from the store.  Another car was directly behind them.  As the second car passed us, the passenger guy launched a full water balloon out the window directly at me.

And it hit me square in the face.

It took me completely by surprise.  I recoiled immediately from the impact.  It was so shocking.  It took me a minute to comprehend what happened.    I had been standing in the middle of Paul and Kelly.  I was soaking wet and Paul was wet and Kelly was splashed too.  They both checked on me and Sam took off.  He wanted to find the car.  Paul wanted to go too.  I did NOT want either one of them to go.  If that car would do this to a group of people in front of a public place with lots of other people near by, what else might they do?

And I was ok.  My face stung from the impact and the inside of my lip was cut a little bit.  But I was very happy that it was just water.  It could have been so much worse.

Sam wasn’t able to find the car because they had taken off.  I am totally ok with that.

I guess the people somehow knew that it was Paul’s birthday and wanted to join in the celebration.

This would be one of those occasions where the balloon was definitely a weapon.  And I was the poor little victim!

 

 

Paul snapped a picture once we got in the car with his phone.  The flash was harsh and its hard to see but the balloon hit me on the right side of my face and lip.

On the road again.

The spring in Las Vegas is unpredictable.  We have gone from days in the 90’s to back in the 60’s.  And the wind!!  One of the local weathermen said 2011 is in the top 10 for windiest springs on record.  I do love that it stays lighter later and the evenings are pretty enjoyable.

One feature I really love about our house, is how open it is.  We have quite a bit of tile and that has been great because I let Cooper and Cassidy have their bikes inside.  Last year for their birthday I really wanted to get them trikes.  I scoured through Craigslist searching for the perfect one.  Well, I ended up with 5.  I’m not sure exactly how it happened but it did and I am really ok with it.  Each one has it’s own unique characteristic that is keeping it in the mix.  And it comes in really handy when we have little friends over.  Even Allie and Kara enjoy scrunching up on them and chasing Cooper and Cassidy around the house. 

Cooper and Cassidy love wearing their helmets.  Sometimes they’ll wear them around the house just for fun.  They have only ever ridden indoors but lately, we’ve been able to spend more time outside and really put the bikes to use. 

We must look like quite the spectacle.  Some friends of ours gave us a bike trailer.  Unfortunately the winter wasn’t kind to my bike or Paul’s bike.  I need to get new tires or tubes for mine.  So we haven’t been able to hook up the trailer.  The kids were just itching to try it out, so Allie hooked it up to her bike.

They call it the ‘choo choo train’.  I especially love it when Cassidy smiles so deliberately for the camera.  That little girl has the sweetest face and such a great smile.  She just cant seem to make it work for pictures though!

She must have got her training from Kara.  Kiki insisted on posing for a mini photo shoot.  I wanted to snap A picture of her.  She kept wanting to do just one more.  Ten pictures later I convinced her we had ‘the shoot’.

                                    

I just love seeing Coop and Cass riding in the street.  It is so funny to see these two little people out on the big wide road.  And they look like they are peddling so fast.  For some reason they kind of remind me of bobble head toys.  They kind of just bobble on down the street.

I had to drop something off at Bobbi’s house so Allie and Kara and Cooper rode their bikes and I pulled Cassidy along in the wagon.  She wanted to ride her bike too but she only likes to do short distances and I was afraid she would tire out.  I was also worried that Cooper wouldn’t be able to make it there and back and I wanted the wagon for him to be able to jump in if needed.  He had a blast following behind Allie and Kara.  (you can barely see the girls up ahead) 

                         

He made it all the way to Bobbi’s house.  I had him get in the wagon on the way back because it was hot and very bright.  I wasn’t sure what to do with his bike.  I tried carrying it for a minute but that got old really quick.  So I wedged it against the wagon and the handle and we made our way home. 

                           

Thank goodness for cell phones!  It has been great to pull them out for the quick little snap shots.  Almost all of our pictures have been taken with our cell phone cameras.  Allie took this one on our way back from Bobbi’s.  It was too bright for poor little Cass and Coop snagged one of the girls sunglasses!

I know we look like a circus train but we all love it!

A Cowboy and A Princess

The imagination of two and a half year olds are so great.  And Cooper and Cassidy really benefit from having older dramatic sisters.  The other day Cooper came running into the kitchen to show me what they had created.  Cassidy was in the hall as Cooper dragged me around the corner.  They greeted each other happily and were so pleased with themselves!

Cassidy put the straw hat on Cooper and said, “My Cowboy!”  I asked her what she was.  She answered, “A Princess!”

I love that play together.  They really like doing things together.  It about melts me when they will hold hands on their own as they walk somewhere together.  And this is especially cute to me because this was own their own. 

No big sisters were involved in the making of this cowboy and princess!

note to self:  Find Cooper some masculine dress up clothes for the future.

What’s that noise?

Have you ever closed your car door with the strap of the seat belt or the end of rope or backpack hanging out? 

Last week as I was driving to pick Allie and Kara up from school, I kept hearing a clanking noise coming from outside my door.  When I got to school,  I opened my door and checked to see what could be making the noise.  I couldn’t find anything.  I deducted that I must have closed something in the door and that by opening the door it fixed the situation.  So I sat back and waited for the girls to come out. 

A few minutes later, the girls came out and Kara walked up to my door.  She had a confused look on her face.  What was causing her to look so confused?

Perhaps this.

Apparently, the sound I heard as I drove 45+ mph down the road, was the other pair of car keys- hanging out of the lock on the door.  And, if you look closely, you will see that the key that is shoved in the lock- is the key to our mailbox.

Earlier in the day, Cooper and Cassidy had been playing with their bikes and had gone into the garage.  They came in and talked about “mommy’s car yocked”.  I didn’t think much of it.

Apparently I should have.

I think it’s even funnier that I checked to see what the noise was and didn’t see the keys.

I wonder what the guy next to me at the light thought.

I guess I should get the decal “Got Twins!”  Maybe that would serve as enough explanation.

The Easter Bunny

We enjoyed Easter at our house this year.  We even had a visit from the Easter Bunny!

                                     

Happy Easter!

Little Tikes

I’ve been wanting to get an indoor slide for the kids to play on for a while.  I’ve been checking Craigslist and keeping my eyes open, but haven’t been able to find much.  Last week, after I dropped the girls off at school, I turned down a side street that I only sometimes take.  I noticed a slide in the front yard of a house that looked like it was going through a deep clean.  I stopped and drove by again trying to determine if it was for sale or if it was party of the décor.  Deciding it was too early to knock on the door, I went home, planning on checking again later.  I picked my sister in law up from the airport and unfortunately Coop and Cass fell asleep in the car.  Knowing that naps were totally screwed up, I decided to go check on my slide after I dropped Debbie off.  This time a man was outside.  I rolled down my window and asked him if it was for sale.  He said it was and that it was only $10.  I said, “I’ll take it!”  He brought it too the car for me as I was getting the money.  I normally never have money but for some reason I thought I had ten dollars.  Nope.  Only $5.  So I told him and he said that he trusted me to bring him the rest and that I could take the slide with me anyway.  I took the slide home grabbed the money and took it back to him.  I wanted to prove my honesty and allow him to maintain his trust in people.  And it was a great deal at $10!

It was an instant hit! Literally!

 

We had to go through the rules many times.

#1 - No pushing

                               

#2 Climb up the stairs- not the slide.

#3- Wait for the slide to be clear

Oh well!  They’ll figure it out eventually.  Right now, they are having so much fun doing it their way!

I’m “Flipping Out!”

A couple of years ago, I stumbled onto a home improvement show that was nothing like any thing I had ever seen before.  This show was about a man in the real estate game in California.  In many cases, he was the investor, designer, and contractor all rolled into one.  He had amazing design skills and great real estate sense.  It was fascinating to see the before and after's- I was hooked.  And then the rest of the story started to unfold.  And much like witnessing a  horrific car crash- I couldn’t look away.  He had a small staff and the office was in his home.  He was a single man with a live-in housekeeper.  He also employed a ‘house assistant’.   He had an office assistant and a design associate.  And he treated all of them terribly.  He was completely ‘politically incorrect’ towards his housekeeper named Zoila, who I believe is from Mexico.  He insisted on insane rules for bathroom breaks and the way water bottles were lined up.  His house was to be immaculate at all times, no matter what the multiple dogs and cats were into that day.  And yet somehow, through all the berating, obsessing, embarrassing, and insulting things he said or did, you get the sense that he truly does care about the people he associates with and that he has an incredible work ethic. His name is Jeff Lewis,the show is called "Flipping Out",  and  like I said, I am hooked.

Along the way, my sister in law, Ruthie became a fan of the show too.  She emailed me a couple of weeks ago telling me that  Jeff Lewis and staff would be in Vegas for a brief seminar.  She reserved tickets for us and we went to check it out. 

It was really fun to go to an event with some one who knows the inside story about the show too.  Its weird to watch people live who you have watched on TV.  It is a strange sensation because you almost feel like you know them and yet they are complete strangers.  He was very open and honest.  He talked about the design industry and about the reality show.  In fact, his film crew was there filming the whole thing.  Parts of it will be featured in his show next season. 

He took some questions from the audience.  Ruthie waved her hand and the microphone was brought to her.  She got to ask about a high profile remodel Jeff was doing at a great Mexican restaurant in California.  He answered the question and was really great about it.  It was a really short and to the point seminar.  At the end they announced that he and his office assistant, Jenni (she really makes the show good- she handles his moods and craziness and balances the whole thing out) would be doing a photo opt for any one who was interested.  Ruth looked at me and said, “Want to do it?”   Sure I would want to, but would I ever really?  Probably not.  I’m normally a watch from a distance observer on this kind of thing.  But with a partner for courage, why not?  So up we went- and we were about 4th in line.  Now embarrassingly enough to admit- I think I was kind of nervous.  So silly.  It’s just such a weird voyeuristic experience seeing a reality TV show person right in front of you. 

Jeff was great.  The people were really working the line though, trying to make it a very fast photo opt.  They were kind of shuffling us through rather quickly.  They took the cameras of the people in line as they approached and then took the picture with our camera for us.  At one point Jeff stopped them to make sure the photos were turning out and to make sure that at least no eyes were closed before moving on to the next people.

And just for proof-  here we are.

Me, Jeff Lewis, Ruthie, and Jenni.

For the last year or so, I have fantasized about opening a business.  I have all the details worked out in my head and it is going to be so fabulous.  They are a few minor issues to be worked out- like the one million-ish dollars I would need to get started but, this is neither the time or the place to get into that.  I long ago decided that Jeff would be the PERFECT person to help see my vision.  And so since I had the opportunity- I told him so!

 

Well, I didn’t go into details but I told him that once I had money he’d be the one I wanted.  He was surprisingly interested.  He asked if I currently owned property and said that he was wanting to get into the Vegas market.  Oh, how I wish I had the money!  Paul thinks he looks annoyed here.  That’s just how he looks!

On the way to the car, Ruth and I laughed about our experience.  We joked about our dry mouth and twitching cheeks from all the nervous smiling. 

It was actually a really nice morning and Jeff Lewis was very nice and interesting.  I was a fan before and I will definitely be tuning in to the upcoming season of  “Flipping Out”!   http://www.bravotv.com/flipping-out

BTW-it is very difficult for me to post pictures of my self on here.  But I had to have proof.

“NOW”

When Allie and Kara were little, it became apparent that we said the word hate- a lot.  Nothing like a sweet little face saying that they hate something over and over, to make you see how bad it sounds.  We never said it about or to people.  But I hadn’t realized that it was the go-to word for whatever we didn’t like.  So we had to put a ban on the word hate until we could all control ourselves.

Fast forward 5 years and I am seeing the pattern start to repeat itself.  Not with the word hate- we’ve got that in check.  But a new word, not even a bad word, is currently up for banishment.  What is the word, you ask?  The word ………..NOW

Perhaps it is due to getting old, or maybe because of all these little kids running around here but apparently my patience is running thin these days.  When it’s time to go to school- it’s time to go right now.  Or bed time means go to bed now.  Or time to pick up the living room,- means right now- not later!  It is probably my most spoken words these days.

I knew it was getting bad when I started hearing, “empty Sippy NOW”  which means- “Would you please fill up my Sippy cup”  or, “Mity mouse now” which means- “May I please watch Mickey Mouse?”  And you when you look down and see a very cute, very demanding little face, you get the feeling that he really means it.

            

I do realize that my version might be a little much to ask for from a two and a half year old, but something must be done about the demanding orders, and it must be done, now!  (hmmmm, this may be harder for me)

But it reached a whole new level tonight when Cooper was saying the prayer for dinner.  He blessed Lydia, who was over for dinner, and Bobbi (she wasn’t here but since he uses any device- calculator, remote, play phone- to ‘call’ Bobbi, it made since for her to be included too) and talked about the pizza and physically touched the breadsticks and then started to concluded the prayer.  He said “name  Amen, Jesus Christ, NOW”. 

I’m sure we’ve all been tempted from time to time to request our prayers to be answered quickly, but dare are bold enough to demand them to so immediately!

I guess we’ve better get started- right NOW! 

note to self- immediately, instantly, straightaway, straight off, directly, right away, at once, forthwith, like a shot -are all synonyms for now.

 

Florida

Last week, Paul had to go to Florida for some business. I really wanted to go too. I checked on some flights but it was really expensive so I decided to sit it out. About a week before he left, I checked again, just for fun. Low and behold, the prices had dropped half the cost. My fabulous mother had volunteered to watch the kids (without me even whining, begging, or threatening mental break down- which some days isn’t very far from a threat) So early Tuesday morning I flew to Florida to join Paul. I had a fabulous time! I met Paul and his associates for dinner. Did a little shopping. Worked out for a minute. (almost literally!) Slept in. Went to the pool. And Read. I read the Hunger Games Trilogy.

I was completely intrigued by them. I cant say that I loved the direction the ending took, but overall a very fascinating read. I hear they are about to make it into a movie. I will be really interested to see if they get it right or even as close to what it was like in my head.

Paul finished up early on Friday so we took the opportunity to head on down to Boggy Creek for an airboat adventure.

It was so cool to ride in the boat. I have had lots of experience being on the lake. Its always kind of choppy and bumpy. That is what I thought this would be like. Especially with all of the tall grasses and reeds and marshy like water.

At times it looked like solid ground.

It was so loud. Thank goodness for the head phones.

.

But it was so smooth. It was amazing the way the boat just cut through the grass and vegetation. We saw turtles and birds and an alligator making an escape a little ways off in the distance. Then we got the chance to see one up close. It was hard to spot her at first. It totally blended in. The driver cut the engine and we glided right up along side of it. Because of our never ending insurance claim, I still don’t have a camera. These were all done with my cell phone. And I have to say they are not that shabby. However, in my excitement/fear of being so close to the alligator, I only have a 4 second clip and no still picture of it.

 

Alligator in the wild!

After we finished the ride, we went back to the dock where they let us hold 3-5 year old alligator.

The mouth was taped, thank goodness. We don’t have a picture of us holding it though because they wanted $15 for a 4x6 snap shot. Even I don’t charge that much! And boy were we wind whipped after that ride!

We had a wonderful time- and Paul did too even though he worked all of the days. He managed to fit in some golf and hot tub time and eating out. Just having no one to take care of made it wonderful enough.

Grandma took great care of the kids. She even ‘earned’ a candy bar from the piano teacher because she wwas so impressed with how well Allie and Kara sounded playing their music. They told her it was because their grandma help them. (umhum-hello what am I? Only the person who has knock-down drag-out fights with them over practicing- but hey, who’s complaining?!)

We got home a little after midnight- so Saturday morning. Mom got to hang out for the morning and then we went to Allie and Kara’s volleyball game. I think (I know) it was quite an exhausting week for mom because she volunteered to go to the airport 4 hours early just for some peace and quiet! Well, that's maybe not the whole reason- we were near-ish to the airport after the volleyball game.

The trip was great and it was great having mom watch the kids. She even did our trip laundry Saturday morning while I shuffled the kids around to piano recital practice and birthday parties. That right there is a gift by itself!