The shirts say it all!

Twin Pics

Just thought I would share some pics taken today and recently. I've got the twins to myself for the weekend while Tyler is away at Legoland with Dad. From what I've heard, Tyler is having lots of fun. The "toddlers" (I'm trying to get myself used to not calling them "babies" anymore) and I are going to do a little early Christmas shopping with Wendy today. Hoping to get that done early this year as it looks like I will be moving at some point in December/early January (more on that later.....). Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Halloween

Hi Everyone. Again...It's been a while since I've been on here. I've got lots of pictures from Halloween. I've already posted several in an album on facebook, so instead of trying to load a bunch on here.....here is the link to the album: Halloween Album We had a great time trick-or-treating last night. Our group included Myself, Jim, Aiden, Ashley, and Tyler, Dave and Wendy and their son Christopher, and Jan with Seth and James. Aiden and Ashley were very excited about trick-or-treating once they figured out that walking up to a door meant getting candy. I had a difficult time getting Aiden away from the door once he got his candy :-). We also went to the annual "Zoo Boo" on Thursday at the Charles Paddock Zoo. Lots of fun was had this year!

Crazy Day

Ever just have "one of those days?" Well, that was my day today. Not that anything really bad or wrong happened....just a crazy day in the life of being a Mom. Woke up to tons of ants in the kitchen because I didn't do dishes last night(they've been coming and going all week and ant spray does not seem to deter them!)....they hung out in the kitchen until the babies afternoon nap when I finally had a chance to get to the dishes. Tyler managed to clog the toilet, which is still clogged because I don't have a plunger (hopefully I will get to that tomorrow). Grandma called today and I couldn't talk to her at first because two grumpy, just-woke-up babies were screaming in the background, fighting over an empty water bottle. I got my car cleaned, carpets and all today, and within a half hour of getting it home Aiden managed to dump an entire box of Altoids on the floor in front of the car seats (powdery residue and all). One of the kids also managed to break a candle in a glass container in my bedroom (thankfully I found it before any little bare feet attempted to walk around it). Ashley found a red marker hidden amongst the tinker toys that were spread out all over the living room floor...and, well...let's just say she is quite the artist. She practiced the skill of tattooing (should have gotten a picture before I cleaned her up) and also fine furniture detailing(see photo below). Thank you crayola for making "washable" markers! Right now the house is an atrocious mess......and I'm sitting on the computer avoiding having to deal with it. I have to laugh because I'm remembering the nice clean house photos I posted here a little while ago......ha ha! Despite all the silly little messes that happened today, there were, of course some fun and wonderful things, too. I got some quiet time to read with Tyler once the babies were in bed. We went to Templeton park for "music in the park" which takes place every Wednesday during the summer. Tonight administrators from Tyler's school district fed all the kids ice cream. All three kids had so much fun playing. I even ran into a friend I haden't seen since college. She just moved to Templeton three weeks ago. I got listings to begin house hunting (for buying), and had fun looking at those. And, of course, I still got lots of smiles, hugs, and kisses all day from my three angels, which makes any of the challenges so worth it! O.K. Enough stalling....off to my house duties!

Day without kids

Day with kids (ha ha)

My little artist

My Kindergartner!

Tyler is officially a kindergartner today :-). He was so excited and had a wonderful first day. His favorite things were playing on the playground and learning about the classroom "mascot," Mr. Bear. He was also excited that he had the same snack as his teacher today (a banana) and they also got to have a popsicle. Tyler got to bring a stuffed animal to share. He chose to bring his wylee coyote that was given to him by his Great Grandpa Ernie when he was a baby. He looks forward to learning about math and doing lots of "projects."

Excited young man

Proud Mommy

Proud Daddy

With his teacher, Mrs. Wishon

Big Bubba

I can't believe how quickly Aiden is growing and changing. Time is going by too quickly as the twins' second birthday grows closer. It's hard to believe that 20 months ago my little chunky monkey was spending time in the NICU because he was an inefficient eater. I remember the first things I noticed about him were his big cheeks and red hair. Today, he still wears both gloriously. He is now spending much of his time tackling his brother and sister, throwing a ball, and running back and forth between the playroom and the living room with toys (hmmmm....do I see a football player in the future?). He loves his snacks, loves the water (bath and pool-time alike), and loves to be outdoors. I look forward to hearing his giggly voice every morning he is with me.....he is usually the first to wake and does it with incredible enthusiasm (well, maybe some mornings I would rather hear his enthusiasm at 8 rather than 6:30, but I guess I'm getting payback for the early-riser I was with my parents :-).

Ravine Waterpark

This morning the babies headed for Grandma and Grandpa's house in Fremont, leaving Tyler and I to have some one-on-one time for a few days. Today we decided to hit Ravine Waterpark in Paso Robles and brought along Tyler's friend Emily. The kids had a blast, swimming for almost four hours straight between the wave pool and the kiddy slide area. It was a nice way to cool off on a hot day, and I even got some time to lounge by the pool and relax in the sun. The kids weren't brave enough to attempt any of the larger waterslides, but I got "flushed" one time. We all got a bit of color being in the sun for most of the day, despite 50 sunblock. I probably should have re-applied several times. All-in-all a very fun day :-).

The Princess

As the only girl of my 3 kid crew, she is definitely living up to her status as the princess. Just today she was lounging on the couch as her twin brother walked back and forth between the kitchen table and the couch, feeding her cheerios. I don't know how she managed to train him to do this, but she was giving me looks as if this is what her brother's job was and she should expect nothing less. Ashley has become quite the goofball (well, all three of them are, but she has her own unique goofiness). She loves to make faces and will imitate any that I do. In fact, Nana found this picture of me when I was little and I had a recent picture of Ashley with almost the same facial expression.....weird


Ashley is much more of the talker these days as compared to her twin brother (though he is holding his own lately, too). Favorite words include please, book, ball, baby, where are you?, all done, and oops. She will attempt to parrot most anything now, too, especially when looking at books. She loves the park, preferring to play in the sand or go down the slide. She is a major target for 3-5 year-old girls who want to play "mommy." Ashley tolerates them for short periods of time. I often have to intervene when a "mommy" attempts to pick her up and carry her off to another location. Big brother is always looking out for her, too, and makes sure the other kids know she is HIS sister.

Tyler

Tyler has been a busy boy this summer. He started by graduating from pre-school. He WOWED Mommy, Daddy, and Nana with a brilliant singing performance with his classmates, demonstrated in honor of his graduation and leap into big-boy-hood as a kindergartner. This took place in the church sanctuary at Church of the Nazarene in Atascadero (where his pre-school is located). Tyler had an amazing set of teachers, and I know he won't forget the experiences he had while learning at Little Ark.

Tyler, with his teacher, Mrs. Gail

Graduation Performance

Tyler also took two weeks of swim lessons. At the end he got to go off a big slide into the deep end. He did an amazing job (and so did his teacher, Mrs. Jana, with teaching him). He is now, officially a swimmer :-). Mommy and Daddy are, of course, very proud.



We also took a trip to Lake Almanor for the fourth of July. We had a nice visit with Nana and Papa. We went to breakfast at the Elks Lodge, watched a parade, and saw fireworks over the lake (which we weren't sure we would see due to the heavy smoke up there). Tyler enjoyed playing at the park and waiting at dusk to see the bats come out and fly between the pine trees. (You can also view pictures of me waterskiing/wakeboarding during our trip here.)



Tyler has also attended Vacation Bible School at First Presbyterian Church in Templeton, and is currently in a two-day per week pre-school summer program. In a couple weeks he will attend VBS at Hope Lutheran. Busy Boy! We will also attend El Camino Cruise Night on the 15th of August (a bunch of cars- mostly old-cruising up and down the main street in Atascadero, which happens to be just a couple blocks from us). Then Kindergarten starts on August 27. Summer is definitely going by fast.

Our New Home

Well, the kiddos and I are all settled into our new place. Even though it is temporary, as I am hoping to look into purchasing a home soon, we are enjoying the excitement of being somewhere new, meeting new neighbors, and being close to town. We are close enough now to walk to a lot of places we like to go in Atascadero, like the grocery store and places to eat and get ice cream. Our new house is a little quirky, which I think is fun. There are old wood floors throughout and it's a craftsman home, so there are fun little built-ins and unique tile-work. The kids have a play room and they love to play in the front yard while Mommy watches them from the porch. It's been hot, so we've been doing a lot of water play. Hopefully now that things are more settled, I can actually do a better job at keeping this blog going and keeping everyone updated on what the kiddos are up to. (Easier said than done :-) Ha!)


Living Room

Living Room

Dining

Kitchen

Kids Room

Play Room

Play Room

Kids Bathroom

Mom

The best thing I can say to start is THANK YOU! Thank you Mom for always being there....no matter what. Thank you for forcing me to drink yucky vitamin goo when I had mono. Thank you for being there when my children were born. Thank you for encouraging me to try new things as I was growing up until I found things that I was happy doing, and not forcing me to be a part of anything I didn't want to. Thank you for working so hard all your life to help provide for Scott and I. We were never without. Thank you for always letting me be me and supporting me in whatever choices I made, even if you didn't always agree with them or understand them. Thank you for allowing me to make my own choices. Thank you for puking with me when Aiden and Ashley were 2 weeks old.....wouldn't have wanted to do it with anyone else :-)
Thank you for being available.....always, no matter what. Thank you for your friendship and love. Thank you for helping me through hard times.....and thank you for laughing with me and being there during the good. You are an amzing woman. I look up to you every day. I am so proud to be your daughter. I love you Mom. Happy Mother's Day!

My 5K

I did it! I ran an entire 5K without stopping! Funny thing is, I still haven't looked up the exact mileage a 5K is. I know it's a little over three miles. I ran it on April 26th (Nana's birthday by the way). My time was 32 min. 18 seconds. I feel very accomplished and know I've hit a milestone with losing weight and getting back into shape. I guess I'll have to do a 10K next :-)!