RANDOM

Hola!  I am home.  Jared is at church with the boys.  Addie is asleep.  My usual weekly break.  I was actually going to church this week but Addie woke up this morning with a cold so instead I am home and still plugging away at the picture project.

I thought I'd lost about a year and a half of pictures but found them on our external hard drive because my AWESOME husband had already backed them up and we just forgot.  YAY!

I also FORGOT my age this past month.  Jared and I were on a date a couple of weeks ago and we discussed my upcoming birthday (JUNE) and he said I'd be 37.  I was like "weird, I REALLY thought I was 35 and turning 36 this year, silly me".  This has been messing with my head since then.  I felt SO much closer to 40.  I have been convinced that my hair is thinning.  If you know me you are cracking up because I have a mane of hair, tons!  I also am seeing extra wrinkles and bought night cream.  Fast forward to 2 nights ago.  The boys kept waking for various reasons and as usual I couldn't get back to sleep.  I was lying there contemplating my life and FINALLY did the math and realized that I AM 35.  I really wanted to jab Jared and tell him he was a jerk for lying to me.  When I texted him later that day he couldn't believe it either.  He thought we were both 36.  Yep, we are LOSING it.  But at least we are losing it together.  Isn't that what marriage and parenting is all about??  :)

Speaking of catching up with pictures.  I am printing some from January 2010 and watching videos from then and I am pretty sure that I feel PHYSICAL PAIN when I look at and listen to my sweet wittle bubbies.  Sorry, about the baby talk but really such wittle bitty sweeties. Ugh, melt my heart.

Speaking of my little boys.  We went to Physical Therapy today and the plan is to cast their legs (foot to just below the knee) for 4-6 weeks.  CASTS.  BOTH LEGS.  BOTH 4 year old boys.  I am still in a bit of shock.  We have known it was a possibility but now I am thinking of day to day life with 2 boys with both legs casted.  Yikes.  Deep breaths.

I do know that this is SO minor compared to what we could be facing with twin 27 weekers though.  I HAVE to say that because I sit in the waiting room at their rehab office and see exhausted parents (often single & doing it ALL by themselves) and their beautiful children with severe disabilities.  I don't know why that is not us but I do know that I will try and not complain about casts.  Perspective.  It is a beautiful thing.

Well that's what is going on here.  No pics on this post.  I am too busy trying to cash in on penny prints from Snapfish.  It ends tonight.  Yes, I am the procrastination queen.

The Week Begins

Monday. Not a good start so far. Addie's first Early On appointment was today. This is to make sure she is doing well developmentally. She was referred by our ped. for an evaluation. Long story short, nobody came. So in the midst of evals for the boys and MRI's and OT appointments and dentist appointments all of which are in the next couple of weeks I have to reschedule with someone who didn't show. YAY! Ok venting over. BUT these are the joys of preemies and this lovely system that is in place to help them. Nuff said. (I guess my venting wasn't quite over. :) )

The boys had their last soccer game this weekend. I have more pictures to share but couldn't resist this one.

Yeah, he is hugging her when he is supposed to be shaking hands. My boy has a crush. His first non-mama one, that is. Eli refers to Ayla as "the big one". To him that is a big compliment. I will have to explain that someday she may not be as thrilled to be called that. Nonetheless he keeps asking if she can come over to play. :) Cute. On a side note: He has GREAT taste. She is adorable and is THE BEST PLAYER on our team. She is seriously fun to watch. She kicks butt.

The boys were laying like this and watching themselves in the mirror after bath last night and I ran to grab my camera. I really did not pose them for these.

This is one of the girls in Jared's Senior Class with Addie. These brave kids all let Adds play with their smart phones and she was in 1 year old HEAVEN!

His class is full of good kids. Being around 17 year old girls who are rockin' their skinny jeans can be a bit intimidating for a 35 year old whose had 3 kids however it was not like that at all. They are all really sweet. Even the boys were great with my kids and respectful. I think it would be fun to do an end of the year party for them here. Whaddaya think honey??? :)

Well that's the latest here. Don't forget to enter my Shutterfly giveaway. Your odds are REALLY GOOD! :)

Random Pictures

Shadows and my Lightscoop.

First of all I happened to have my camera around my neck when we ran to the front yard the other day to see if Daddy was home. I saw the shadows and decided to have some fun with the boys. They love shadows during the day just not so much at night.

Such a Peter Pan pose.

Eli was excited to be "IN the basketball hoop".

Secondly, I got my lightscoop a few weeks ago and wanted to the show the before and afters. I really like this for days when there is not much natural light (ie Michigan Winters) to be had or for at night in your home.

Pop-up Flash

Lightscoop

Pop-up flash

Lightscoop

I thought the results were impressive for $30.

Spring, are you there?

Spring may never come to Michigan to stay but we have had some nice "teaser" days thrown in to the rain and snow. I hear a rumor that this weekend is supposed to be nice. I am hoping it is true.

I am up because a sweet little girl woke me. That was 2 hours ago and she has been back to sleep for about 2 hours. :) Don't you love how kids can do that. Anyways, I am up and thought I'd post some pics from a warm spring day a few weeks ago. I think Alex was praising Jesus in the first pic. I know I was. :)

On a TOTALLY unrelated topic...my camera arrived and I am feeling a bit clueless. Can anyone recommend a good beginners photography book and websites or blogs. Thanks.

I am off to bed. Goodnight.

the weekend

I am really happy it is Friday!!!

It's been a long week.

Both boys had SEVERE reactions to cashews.

Not peanut butter. Not walnuts. Not pecans. CASHEWS! Actually cashew (they each only had one).

Never again.

Our Monday included swelling, rashes from head to toe, vomiting and watching our kids throughout the entire night because according to the doctor anaphylactic shock can happen up to 24 hours after the initial reaction. Great.

When you have a Monday like that the week REALLY drags.

BUT.....

It's Friday and Jared is taking me out this weekend.

I get to go to the bookstore downtown that he and his brother have been going to, every time he comes into town, for years.

I think this may mean I am in "the club".

It sells old books and it has 5 floors.

I planned to take a lot of pictures there but alas I broke another camera.

What is wrong with me and cameras?

Forgive the ridiculous spacing in this post. I am ready to shoot blogger. :)

"The one where I go on and on about squirrels"

There are a lot of perks that came along with our new home and our new neighborhood. A couple of the boy's favorite things are the "twin" squirrels, Alex and Eli. They believe that they are twin brothers and the squirrel's names are the same as their own. Not real original, I know, but really adorable, nonetheless. They do not come every single morning but they do visit several times a week.

When we first moved in we attempted to feed them bread or pieces of cracker. This, however, simply would not do. My sister Missy was over one day and said just throw them bread that is what ours eat. I showed her their response to bread. They walked up picked up said bread, sniffed it and threw it down. I'd watched them repeat this several times and was not surprised. These are some high maintenance squirrels.

One day when Jared was on his way home from work I called and said "we NEED a gallon of milk and nuts". He laughed a bit. I'm sure because, feeding the neighborhood squirrels had become such a priority. They were coming to the door regularly and begging. I hated to look at their "sad, little faces". So we got them some nuts, walnuts to be specific. They now LOVE us! No more looking down their noses at us because we had now pleased their rather particular palates. Oy.

Fast forward to this morning. The squirrels came and knocked. The boys began to feed them their walnuts and decided that they would sit down and have their breakfast with the squirrel on the other side of the door. It was adorable. They talked to one another, squirrel to child, and I got to listen. The squirrel brother came along and chased away the smaller squirrel so he could eat also. The chase escalated and the boys LOVED watching. And then Eli suggested that they simply "need to share".

Ahhhhh, some things do sink in. Yes, I went on and on about squirrels this morning but there are few things more precious than realizing a little bit of what you are attempting to teach your children gets through to them. NOW if I can get him to actually share and not just know that it is the right thing to do I will be thrilled!

As far as what's going on around here other than us communing with the squirrels we are bracing ourselves for a huge snow storm. We have been in the house A LOT due to various colds and such. I took Addison to the Dr. yesterday and said out loud to her in the car, "I am sure glad we got out Addie, Mama needed this." I had to laugh at myself. We went to the doctors and to get groceries. It felt like a spa day. Ok, not really, not at all. But it was a welcomed outing and I returned much happier.

I think that throughout seasons of motherhood you have to take what little solace you can get. Sometimes it's 15 minutes with a magazine (or on a really good day a book) and coffee on your couch. Jared and I currently have 3 children, 3 and under. We are quite often exhausted by the end of the day. But it is a season.

I was thinking the other day about grocery shopping and the fact that I can't even go to the store anymore, poor me, yada yada, and I heard a still, small voice (enter: the Holy Spirit) say "You will be able to in about a year, you'll have all day, 5 days a week to get errands done. Your house will be quieter, you hours a bit less demanding." Ugh, it hit me hard. You see the boys start school soon enough. I will just have Addie at home. I have NEVER just had one child at home, ever. I'll miss my boys. I'll miss their demands of my time. I quickly changed my thinking and decided to revert to enjoying their crazy, little, loud selves and wishing they'd stay 3 1/2 forever. Perspective is a beautiful thing. I need it on a regular basis.

I am RAMBLING! O.k. off to play with those crazy boys because Addison is napping. See what happens when I don't get out much. I write huge posts about squirrels.

Really Random Post

Warning: See title before reading on.

Alright you have been officially warned. I have about 1/2 a dozen posts in my head in interest of perserving memories which is the real reason for my blog, however the time it takes to write them is another challenge. That is one thing about starting a blog that no one warns you about. You are going through the day to day and as things happen you start writing your blog post in your head. I actually enjoy that but a small percentage of that "creativity" makes it onto my blog.

In Alex and Eli Soccer News:

*The boys soccer season is in full swing and it is safe to say they HATE it.

*Eli cries as we get ready which makes me feel like a stellar parent.

*He gives us dirty looks from the field.

*We have seen them have moments of independence from one another......

Only to find one another again like magnets. :)

*He and Alex literally play do-si-do at one end of the field (typically farthest away from the actual soccer ball).

*We laugh at their antics and pray for the seasons end.

*Alex is the typical leader with his brother although I am not sure where he is leading him because neither of their feet have touched a ball during a game.

*My nephew Colin used to score 8 or so goals per game. Jared did quite well in soccer. Apparently this does NOT "run in the family".

*They DO enjoy snack at the end of the game.

In Jared and Becky News:

*Our house hasn't sold and yet we have to keep it clean enough "in case" someone actually wants to buys it.

*This is great fun with twin boys and with girl clothes entering the house at a rapid pace!

*We are escaping for a night away. Our first one since our sweet boys came into our lives.

*I haven't let myself think about leaving them overnight yet. Gulp!

*As usual in the midst of chaos, lots of good things are happening also.

*I had a great Mother's day.

*Jared is still putting up with me and the pregnancy hormones. :)

*He has less than 3 wks left of school. Thank you LORD!

In Addison Lily News:

*She is not making the pregnancy easy for her parents. (A total Diva!)

*She is going to have her own post regarding all of the medical woes although as not to sound dramatic "so far so good".

*She is going to have a much better wardrobe than her Mother thanks to all of my sisters and friends.

*We are already in LOVE with this girl (even her brothers have come around)!

*We are 22 weeks along! Woo hoo! Each week is a milestone.

Here's to a day of randomness!

Hola!

In honor of my lack of posting I thought I would share a snippet of my evening. The boys are laying side by side on this crate of maternity clothes, eating lemon wedges and watching Toy Story. I'm gearing up to do the dishes from our yummy, middle-eastern, food that we had for dinner (take-out, of course) and listening to Eva Cassidy's soulful voice. Jared and I are getting ready to watch a movie once the boys go to bed in exactly 17 minutes. It is a good night. A simple one that I am unbelievably grateful for and that I needed. Now the clock is ticking and I have to get those dishes done. :)

Thankful!

So yesterday morning we woke up and realized someone had slashed two of our tires. In the spirit of giving they also did this to all of the other cars parked on our street. Generous, I know. You gotta love the Detroit area. I am sure it was kids out late that were bored. When I was talking to my sister we kind of laughed and said "what ever happened to playing video games when your bored? I mean come on just sit around and become obese like the rest of the nation." Anyways, it is definitely an inconvenience and we definitely aren't jumping for joy (i.e. we've had a few choice words for the parents we imagine let their kids out late to roam the streets) but it didn't put us into a funk either like it might have in the past. Both Jared and I found ourselves thanking God that we had the money to get new tires. I am sure there are some in this economy who could not. We are far from rolling in the dough but God faithfully provides for our needs, a lot of our wants AND mis-haps like this one.

I am actually thankful to live in this area during this economic mess. I find myself appreciating the little things. Jared and I find ourselves thanking God for the food on our table, a house with heat, cars to drive, etc., etc., etc., I just think it is a lesson that will never be forgotten when you see those that you are close to you laid off or struggling to live in this economic crisis or drive 20 minutes downtown and see homeless in this freezing weather. I know we all have are opinions about WHY they are homeless and we may be right but can you imagine being that hopeless? I cannot. Regardless, it whips you back to reality when you are bummed about what you "don't have". So that is what is on my mind this morning. I started writing this thinking I would get my thoughts down on "paper" but not post it. I changed my mind though and plan to hit "publish post". I'm livin' on the edge today, what can I say? :D

and of course it goes without saying that I am thankfu for this sunglasses obsessed boy AND

even Gramps here with his blanket over his shoulders.

I'd love to hear about the basic things that you are thankful for that you sometimes take for granted. Please share!

What's New?

I have a lot of little posts in my head and thought I would pour it all into one.

We went to one of Jared's students home this past weekend for a class party and it was a lot of fun. The live on a farm and the boys were thrilled to visit. It was like little boys paradise filled with cows, hay, a bonfire, swing set, tractors, did I say hay? Anyways they went on their first hay ride and were completely enamored with the tractor. It was such a blessing to watch Alex and Jared who were seated accross from me. I wish I had a picture but my camera battery died after taking two pics. Yeah, it was torture for me but it also allowed me to soak up each minute instead of being behind a lens. After the hay ride the boys wanted to go on another one. I should mention that it was in the low 40's that night and I was faaareeeezing! Eli went up to Mr. Bruck and pulled on his pant leg once were were back inside the house and said "Hey, what doing?, what doing? I want a hay ride." It was pretty cute. The next day when I asked him if he wanted to get out his farm (meaning Little People farm in his bedroom) his eyes lit up and he got SO excited. That is when I realized he thought we were going back to the farm, oops.

This was the sun setting in front of their house. I could have taken a million pics at this place.

I also had fun being around High School Sophomores. It is always fun to watch the dynamics of this group. They informed me of a whole new type of music that involves a lot of screaming. You know you are old when you are unaware of a whole new genre of music. Anyways all I remember was the name of it sounded like "Elmo" to me. Big surprise being a mom of toddlers and all. ;)

Alex, Eli and the "grills". Eli was shy at the beginning of the night and said "I don't want to see the grills (girls)". However he warmed up fast because it was the "grills" who pushed them on swings, had hay fights with them and snuck them brownies. :)

We had Grandma's going away party also. This is actually Jared's Grandma and she is moving to South Carolina. Smart lady, if you ask me. The day she arrived there it was 80 degrees. I can't even imagine that, now! It was a bit sad to watch her say good bye to many of her loved ones. The hardest part, I think was seeing her say good-bye to her best friend. They have been friends since they were 17. My sister in law, niece and I had a good, little, cry over that one. How rare, a friend of almost 70 years. The boys really love great-grandma and she will be missed although she is coming in for a visit in May. Yay!

It's been fun this week because it has been slightly warmer here. It was 62 on Monday, which, in Michigan means throw open the windows and enjoy some fresh air. The boys and I also took a nature walk and found different types of leaves. Actually I found different types of leaves and they enjoyed hearing them crunch beneath their feet like a two year old should. Who am I kidding I still love crunching the leaves beneath my feet. :)

On yet another random note: I find it amusing that despite their fear of costumes they ask almost nightly to walk down to a house on our street that has ghosts hanging from trees, skeletons, pumpkins and a life size Jason (or is it Michael Myers? whichever one wears the hockey mask) in the yard. They call him a scarecrow. They crack me up.

Tonight is the big night. We head to a harvest festival at church where there will be other kids dressed up but mainly LOTS of games, candy, fun, even horses. I am hoping all the hoopla will deter them from the masks and that we will still salvage trick or treating on Saturday, although that begs the question.....WHAT WILL THEY WEAR?

Well that is my VERY random post that kind of explains what we have been up to.

Look out Ladies!

Full lips and hair. I know that both of my boys have full lips. I also know that they have crazy, shaggy, full hair. The following pictures just vividly displayed both of them.

I hope that I can keep the ladies away until they are the right age (35).

Let's do....random!

I feel the need for a random post. Here goes:

• This morning I dreamt of doing the dishes. I am serious. Maybe it was a nightmare?


• Molly watched the boys yesterday so that I could grocery shop alone. It was so nice and I returned to her house to find both of my boys doing their best Elton John impersonation. They had beads around their neck and were playing the piano and singing B-I-N-G-O with gusto.


• When it was time to go Alex didn't want to leave. It wasn't a pretty scene. We were 1/2 way home when I glanced in the rear view mirror to see still mad Alex with a green face. For a moment I thought he was goin' all Incredible Hulk on me but then I remembered that getting him to leave involved prying a piece of sidewalk chalk out of his hand. I am still laughing about this one.
  
  
  

As I was leaving to go shopping I told Bella, whose birthday is today but her party is Friday, that I had to go and find her a gift. Immediately she was intrigued and asked "what are you going to get?" I responded, "I don't know, we will see" and then shut the door to head to my car. I began to hear banging on the window and headed back to the door opened it and Bella who was dressed in full princess attire (dress, crown, wand) pointed ever so slightly to the dress she had on. I laughed out loud. You've gotta love a 4 year old who knows what she wants. Adorable!

Alex has started requesting a kiss and hug at bed time and I love it. This morning he requested the same from Daddy as he left for work. Jared's response was "I love this new tradition". We usually request one but it is always nice for them to want a kiss and hug from us.

Is it weird that I sometimes wish we were independently wealthy just so that Jared could hang out with us all day long? Oh well.

Alex continues to be a walking contradiction. He is a total daredevil who want to swing faster and be thrown higher, yet he is fearful of so many small things lately.

Yesteday was the first day in forever that Jared came home early and I was in bed watching "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants". Seriously? What are the odds? Too bad I didn't have some bon-bons in my hand. In my defense I had a headache. He always tells me to rest when the boys nap but I always feel so weird about when I actually do. Kinda funny.

Recently while in another room a fight ensued over headbands. Thankfully I had two.

As active as the boys are they can veg out with the best of 'em.

We had our first family movie night on Friday. This was our set up so that the boys could eat pizza while watching the movie. We rented Kung-Fu Panda which turned out to be a bit scary for the boys but we still had a good time.

I am off to declutter a few spots in our house that are driving me crazy.

And that concludes this really random post.

Sorry, sometimes I ramble!

It's been one of those days. Actually it was picturesque to start with. The boys slept in and Jared and I sat on the couch this morning and felt like we didn't have children at all for a minute. It was relaxing. We watched a thunderstorm pass by and talked about what in the HECK we used to do before kids??? Jared went and picked up breakfast and more importantly coffee. We all watched "Over the Hedge" and laughed, played with megablocks, played outside on their tricycles. Lovely!

ENTER: Nap time. It is DAY THREE without a nap. DAY THREE!!! This does not sit well with me. It becomes a bit exhausting. It put me in a bit of a funk. Well, that coupled with the fact that I just read "Sarah's Key" AND Jared rented the Changeling all in one weekend. NOT RECOMMENDED, both are powerful and good but a bit heavy. On top of that, Jared church softball games are on Saturday nights and therefore bedtime, bath and dinner were all mine. Jared knew that I had had it and suggested that I go out and do something with the boys. He had also mentioned yesterday that the Shark sweeper that I wanted was on sale AND we had a coupon. A light bulb appeared over my head.....RETAIL THERAPY! It works almost every time. Right or wrong, it.is.the.truth. :) I hemmed and hawed about whether it was worth the effort of getting the boys ready, getting me ready, etc. but Jared said GO FOR IT! He knows me well. I packed up the hooligans (their new names until they start to nap again) and headed to Bed, Bath and BEYOND!!

We arrived and I couldn't find the right model, asked for help and was told "NO, I am helping someone else!" Swallowing my annoyance, because it seems he could have said something like "Hold on and I will be right with you", I found someone else and she was able to help me. Armed with my new cleaning tool I grabbed my plink's (love these) and got in the check out line which was SO LONG. The boys wanted "the balls, PEEEEEEEEES" so I gave in, handed them the dryer balls and decided I actually wanted to purchase them. Already, I am feeling less stressed, ahhhhh. I chat with the check out guy who tried to sell me "all things green". He was on quite a tangent but he meant well and it was a pleasant enough conversation. At this point my "funk" was losing steam.

Those who are not yet married with children may find it sad that cleaning products brought me such joy but you will get it someday. Trust me anything that makes day to day life simpler is a good find! I failed to mention that my plinks now come in lavendar which matches the smell of my Method spray. I mean, come on! (Ok I may have a slight problem.) :)

Now it was off to see the trains which coincidentally is also where I can snag more coffee. I met a nice couple with their ADORABLE son, again we had a nice conversation and it was time to head home. I pried the boys away from the trains and then "made" dinner (popped a whole grain pizza in the oven and steam some veggies), gave baths and put the boys to bed.

On the way home from the store I had called Jared and thanked him for knowing what I needed. After hanging up I was looking for some music and you will not BELIEVE what I heard. PRINCE (formerly known as) was on the oldies station!! Are you kidding me?? I was in shock and kept checking the tuner to be sure I was right. Wow, why am I afraid that I am going to blink and all of a sudden Miley Cyrus or Taylor Swift will be on the "oldies" station singing about their latest heartbreak? YIKES! I quickly changed that station not ready to deal with THAT particular reality and heard Whitney Houston's version of "I will always love you". Blast.from.the.past. You cannot tell me you didn't love that song when "Bodyguard" came out. :) I feel sorry for my dear sons who had to endure Mommy singing the most powerful part of the song "AND IIIIII eeeeIIIIeeeeeIIII will always love YOU OOOO OOOO OOO OOOO" but let's face it only Whitney (pre-craziness) can hit those notes well. So I am ready for a new day and I am even more ready for Girl's Night on Thursday! YAY!

Parenthood has it's ups and downs but neither Jared or I would trade it. Nope, no way!

Happy Friday

Random thoughts:

• Eli and Alex are watching Word World. I attempted to shut off the TV and Eli cried so I caved. I am pretty sure that makes me a pushover but he woke up sick again this morning and I am not up for the fight. I am hoping he feels better soon b/c I can only handle SO much Barney in a 24 hour time span hence the Word World video from the library.


• I joined Facebook last night and I think I am the only person in the world who doesn't like it. I woke up to a bazillion e-mails and I feel bad if I don't want to be "friends" with people. Am I the only one who feels this way???


• I hate to admit it but I am bummed that I may miss church and a BBQ with friends due to Eli being sick. Poor boy!


• Seriously, what do I do about Facebook?


• I like my safe little blog world, what can I say?


• I did get in touch with some old friends which is cool.


• My 8 year old niece "texted" my sister this week. Poor Chad and Missy their heads are spinning. Is it bad that I find it kind of funny?? (Don't kill me Miss)


• I picked up "Twilight" at the library to see what all the fuss is about. Jared's student's LOVE the books so I though we would check out the movie.


• I also picked up 5 other books. Yeah, I put a bunch on hold thinking they would come sporadically throughout the summer which was a good plan BUT they all came in this week. I cannot possibly read this many plus the ones I had before I hit the library in time to check them back in in 3 weeks.


• I'm thinking about doing a MckLinky on my Simply Saturday post. Would anyone want to join in tomorrow?

Well that's about it for my randomness today. Here is and old pic in honor of Flashback Friday.

Eli (10 months old)

Alex (same) :)

Added this afternoon: Jared got to come home early today and he played on Facebook with me for a while helping me decide Facebooks role in my life ;) and his response to the whole thing was "I'd rather take a nap!" See, this is why my husband makes me laugh. What can I say we just "get" each other. Love him!

Random Nonsense

Keep in mind that I warned you about this post in the title and you chose to keep reading.

O.K. so I am somewhat new to this whole Stay at Home Mom (formerly known as "housewife") thing and I must admit some things allude me. I am sure there are more "pressing" issues that should concern me but for today here it is:

I am incapable of picking a good melon! Cantaloupe, to be specific! I am 5 melon picks into this season and I have failed miserably each time. They are either over ripe or not ripe at all. I finally broke down before buying the last one on Tuesday and asked the produce lady if she thought I had picked a good one and she said she thought so. I carefully mushed at it with my fingers and it gave slightly but did not seem TOO mushy and it smelled, well it smelled like a cantaloupe, actually, but I thought that too was a good sign. I thumped it like the lady told me to although still didn't completely understand what it was supposed to "thump" like. I proudly brought it home and declared to Jared that I thought I'd done it, I had actually picked the right melon.

Fast forward to today while prepping lunch for the boys. I cut into it excitedly (well, if you can get "excited" about fruit prep) and found a mushy, mediocre tasting melon. Eli actually liked it and asked for seconds but it wasn't up to par and I threw the rest out. Maybe waiting two days was a huge mistake. Who knows? Ugh, the only good melon that I have had this year was at my friends house or when my sister in law buys it because they obviously know how to pick a melon. Where was I when others were being taught this?

That's it. That is the end of my deep thoughts. Told you it was pretty random. This is in honor of my friend Mariah who always writes this funny type of random post. Yes, her random thoughts are a bit more intersting than canteloupe!

Victory is MINE!

Yes, my friends I am victorious! The boys received 2 wooden train sets for their birthday and Jared built tracks for them over the weekend and they LOVED it. They woke up Monday morning saying "choo choo train". I got out all of the tracks and began to build and they had lots of fun. OK that is what I planned anyways. The truth is what I admitted to Jared last night.....I cannot build a train track! I wasn't trying to build anything monumental. In fact, on the 2nd day that I attempted it I would have been satisfied with a circle. I couldn't do it! Jared said "maybe it is a guy thing." I am pretty sure this is what awakened my desire to try harder :)

This morning with all the determination my pre-caffeine brain could muster I DID IT!!! I even took pictures to prove it. Yep, those oval shaped tracks are my pride and joy! Seriously, I know this is embarrassingly sad but whatever we all have our strengths or in this case extreme weaknesses. My friend Amy has raised a Thomas the Tank Engine lovin' boy and she assures me that I will get good at this. Her and Grant used to spend hours building and her husband would come home to elaborately laid tracks. Oh yes, someday I will achieve this. :) Amy has given me new found hope.

Feeling the joy of my victory I thought I would also conquer a run (aka slow jog) pushing the boys in my jogging stroller. Wow, I kept waiting for people driving by to stop and ask if I was alright. I didn't plan for the fact that I was pushing 50 pounds of baby along with the stroller AND it was uphill and the wind was blowing against me BOTH ways (I know this isn't possible but it felt like it and it's my blog, so there.). The boys kept looking back at me and laughing. I am not sure if it was the huffing and the puffing or the groans but they found it entertaining.

I have to say I HATE running. I don't "hit my stride" EVER! I am content to go back to using my jogging stroller for what I intended it to be for, WALKING! I may actually try it again but truth be told I will not enjoy it! So that is my day in a nutshell. Now the boys are in bed and I am off to look at pictures. The UPS man delivered my first installment of uploaded pictures! I am so excited!

this week with my boys

I don't have much to blog about but I am feeling the need so here is some randomness:

It's Jared's pseudo-Spring Break (meaning he isn't teaching but he is doing maintenance, landscaping etc., etc., at the school which usually involves more hours than a typical work week).

I watched my sister Missy's kids for a couple of hours this morning because as I am finding out Spring Break for parents isn't really Spring Break it is more like Spring Kids Constantly Around. My friend Mariah made me laugh writing about this very thing here. Every stage of parenting has its challenges that is for sure.

We had a lot of fun with the cousins and as I took pictures of them my niece asked me if I was going to put them on my blog. Of course I will not disappoint so there are some "exciting" pics at the end of this rambly post.

I had an amazing date with Jared last Friday for our Anniversary and it was SO relaxing. I thought we might both fall asleep at the restaurant. The low lighting coupled with the music and the fact that we weren't telling the boys not to put food in their own hair or each other's was like taking an Ambien.

I made the boys Thomas the Train T-shirts to wear on their 2nd B-day. This, by the way, is their latest obsession/not the show but the books, trains, etc. The show is a bit like watching paint dry, in my opinion, and well we just don't use the word "cheeky" much in the Big D! :)

The t-shirts don't match the Sesame Street plates that they picked out which in all honesty bothers me a tad but they will be thrilled to have a "character" birthday, matching or not. I will let go (b/c it is a small family party)!

Took a nice walk with Jared and the boys when he got home from work which was refreshing.

Talked to my friend Jenell on the phone for a while and enjoyed talking and laughing with her. On a side note: Jenell is a friend that I was out of touch with for about 10 years and when she hunted me down via facebook (I don't have an account but she found me through friends) we discovered that we both had twin boys. How crazy is that?? Hers are about 10 months old though and she breezed through the twinfant stage which is more than I can say for this momma, let me tell you.

My dear friend Heidi is doing well and did not go through emergency surgery yesterday which is something only insiders will understand but I have never been so happy for a Dr.'s mis-information in.my.life. I truly thank God for it.

Hung out with my sisters and ALL of our children this week. We haven't done this in a while and I have to say I left feeling refreshed which must mean either I have mellowed OR the kids are just getting older and it was a bit easier. I am pretty sure it is the latter.

I snagged a free Step 2 picnic table for the boys. I must say it is U.G.L.Y but with a little paint it will be as good as new and I was hoping to buy one this summer so this was a huge SCORE for Mom.

As far as the boys are concerned I am pretty sure that Eli thinks Alex's name is eye-I (translation Li-Li pronounced Lie-lie which is actually Eli's nickname). Oy, not sure how that happened.

Alex feels that it is his personal responsibility to watch out for Eli and will yell his name LOUDLY if he is out of his line of vision. He does this in the backyard (funny) and in the library (studying patrons don't find this that funny).

I believe they have started a bit of "twin speak" with one another. Eli babbled something recently and Alex responded which was pretty funny. They were also chanting something in unison on our walk yesterday. Twins speak apparently is just one twin copying the others immature speech thereby making it seem like their own "language".

We went to story time on Tuesday and Eli only stole the letter of the day off of the board twice (improvement).

I guess that is the run down of our week thus far.

Here are those pics I promised Celia! They were watching Ratatouille (for about 5 minutes).