Thursday Musings

Well, here we go again ... things have been so crazy with the holidays that I've just been too busy (and exhausted) to actually come on and post on the blog. Let's see, what have we been up to?

We had a wonderful, quiet Christmas this year. The twins really enjoyed opening presents - well, Meighan did, Alex was more concerned with playing with the things that Meighan unwrapped. We were on a tight budget this year so we didn't go crazy with presents. Each of th twins got a little toddler chair - Alex received an Elmo one and Meighan received a Dora one. Very cute and they actually like them and use them. The Elmo one giggles when you sit in it or move it. Let's see how long it is before that starts annoying me and Paul to no end! Meighan also got several baby dolls and she's had the best time taking care of them - feeding them, rocking them, etc. She's so cute. She asks for her 'baby' as soon as I pick her up from Christina's. She's getting to be such a big girl. When did she stop being a baby and become a girl??? It goes by so fast. Alex got 2 new Little Einstein DVDs which he LOVES and immediately demanded that he be able to watch them. He carries the cases around like they are priceless treasure. They also got some more 'kitchen' items to go with their plastic food products and plastic bowls. They got 2 lift the flap books which they love. They got some wooden alphabet blocks and a few other things. But, like I said, we kept things pretty low key this year. Christmas afternoon I went and picked Sami up and we came back home and headed over to my mom's for our Christmas with them. My mom made baked spagetti (oh, it was GOOD) and we hung out while opening presents. Mom and Dave did entirely too much for all of us this year. We are so thankful to have them in our lives. We are now owners of a DVD for our van (thanks Mom and Dave) which Alex and Meighan will LOVE. We're hoping that this will make trips a bit easier so we can take a trip to PA in February or March to see everyone!

So, all in all, we had a wonderful holiday! It was nice and quiet which was a relief. I'm sure that next year (and every year after) will be increasingly crazy as the twins grow up! Tonight we'll be having our Christmas with my dad, Nina, Elizabeth and the rest of my dad's side of the family. It'll be so nice to see them and spend some time with them. And, this is my Mimi's first Christmas without my Papa so I think she'll enjoy having all of us gathered at her house.

Another big event in our household has been that the twins are both climbing out of their cribs constantly now. And if I don't get to them quick enough, which is easy to do since they now know how to whisper to each other as they climb out, they go about making a huge mess, pulling things out of drawers, throwing toys around, and just generally wreaking havoc! It looks like we're going to have to figure out the toddler bed thing a little earlier than I'd hoped. My mom has Emmy's old toddler bed waiting for us to pick up but we have to see if one of the cribs we have will convert. I think one of them will. So, we officially have toddlers. Our babies are growing up! They are talking more and more every day. Learning more and more every day. It's wonderful!

I have some exciting scrapbooking news - Traci Reed asked me to be a Hawt Mama! YEAH! I just love Traci's designs and I had gotten to know her through our being on Rose's CT. I'm so excited to get the opportunity to work with her designs and promote them around the digital community. She sells at ACOT and NDISB.

Well, I'm still downloading all of our Christmas pictures so I promise to upload some for you to see soon!

Monday Musings

I'm so sorry that it's been so long! We've had such a busy time in the last couple of weeks that I just haven't gotten over here to update anything. Between work and the holidays, I've been swamped. I've been working on all of the great holiday gifts that I want to give to folks which has kept me really busy. I haven't scrapbooked a page in SO long! But, once the holidays are over, I'll have to catch up!


Let's see ... what have we been up to? Well, the twins are doing fine. They are growing up way too fast for my liking! At 5 a.m. this morning, Meighan begins screaming at the top of her lungs so I run downstairs to find her out of her crib. She's not even 22 months old and she's climbing out of her crib! YIKES! I was hoping I'd have a bit more time before they came out of their cribs by themselves. Now that Meighan has figured it out, I doubt it will be long until Alex discovers it too! In fact, I'm surprised he didn't figure it out. He's such a climber. But, it seemed to scare Meighan quite a bit which might work in my favor. Maybe she'll stay in her crib to avoid the being scared part. At least for a little while. We'll see!

Alex counted to 3 all by himself the other night. Paul was pulling sponges down and Alex clearly said 'One, Two, Three' as Paul pulled each one off. We couldn't believe it! What an amazing thing! They really are very smart but I was amazed that he actually got the 1, 2, 3 concept and connected it to the idea of counting. Very smart little guy we have!

I found out why Meighan was crying at night when they were put to bed for the night. Apparently, Alex was climbing on one of his toys and reaching over and turning on the light. So, Meighan was crying because he was turning the light on and off on her. I'd noticed the light was on in the morning but I assumed he was doing it when he woke up. Apparently not. As I left their room one night I noticed him reaching over for the switch which made me realize that they'd been sleeping with the light on for a couple of weeks. So, I thwarted all his plans by unplugging the light that was connected to the light switch. Now, they are actually sleeping better all night. Who knew?!?!?

Both of the twins have been fighting colds for a couple of weeks. Mostly just snotty and coughing but they obviously haven't been feeling that well. I'm hoping they will feel better by Christmas!

Here are a few recent pictures I thought I would share ...

Here's my Mr. Cool Dude lounging around.

And another funny shot of Alex. The boy finds the oddest positions to be comfy!

Here's our sweet girl - she wasn't feeling well this particular day, poor girl.

Their new thing is to sit on each other, usually Meighan does the sitting and Alex the laying. Too funny! This night they were cracking each other up by sitting on each other and jumping up and down. Alex took it all in stride. I love that they are beginning to play together and talk to each other (even if it is in their own little language).

On Saturday, my mom and Dave had their Holiday Open House and all of the kids and grandkids got together for food and fun. We were really excited to get to meet Samara, Brian and Monica's new baby. It was great to catch up with everyone and see what everyone is doing these days. Here are a few pictures from the night ...

This is Matlin with the newest Metz, Samara! Is she not adorable? Look at that little outfit!!!

They planned a big ornament hunt in the yard and Meighan had so much fun trying to keep up with the bigger kids!

Here's Dave with Aiden and Samara.

I have more pictures to share but its getting late and I have a lot to do tonight. I'll be back soon with more pictures, I promise!

Tuesday Musings

Hi everyone! I don't have a ton to report tonight but I have done a few layouts that I thought that I'd share. I'll try to do a bigger update later in the week with a few recent pictures of the twins and a report on their recent escapades!

Here are the layouts that I mentioned ...

I just adore this picture of my mom and Alex last Christmas Eve and this kit Melissa Rose just released was perfect for it!

I just had to get these pictures of Alex reading onto a layout right away because I'm so thrilled at his love for books ...

And here is one that I did tonight for the Digi Dare this week (challenge was to have a 'what i'm most thankful for this year' theme, crop one picture into a shape, use a list in your journaling and use a leaf embellishment). The leaf was a stretch but I found a great leaf brush which I think is subtle enough to work with the page I came up with.

And I don't believe that I have ever posted this layout here on the blog - it's one that I did for Rose Farver's November newsletter (I am one of her newsletter contributors and I develop and coordinate the Challenge Feature). This particular challenge involved scraplifting another of our CT members, Kirsty. I loved a page she did entitled Fall Memories and I thought the design was great. So, here is my take on it ...

Okay - it's late and I need to get to bed. More soon. Hope everyone is doing well!

Saturday Musings

Okay - first things first. Here is the other layout that Angie did for me of Meighan that I tried to share during my last post but wasn't able to ...

I'm still in awe every time that I look at these two pages - Thank you again, Angie! I love them!

Okay ... so back to what's going on here. We had such a wonderful day today. Meighan and Alex were so good today. We spent the morning playing and doing laundry (Meighan loves to help me load the washer). Then, Paul watched the twins while I went to spend a few hours with my grandmother. I took over all of the family pictures of hers that I have and am working on scanning and organizing. She and I went through them and she told me stories about her childhood, her courtship/marriage to my Papa, my dad and uncles childhoods. I learned a lot about our family, particularly people that I didn't know myself. It's so fascinating to me. And, I'm so glad that I'm able to spend time with her documenting some of this family history. I'd really like to put together a heritage album with some of these photos and stories as well as photos/stories from my mom's side of the family. I think it's such an important project and I plan to really work hard on it this year. I'm in the beginning stages now and I find that I can't wait to get to work on it!

When I got back home, Paul had the kids all ready and we headed to the mall. Paul got a haircut while the twins and I window shopped. We found great winter coats for Meighan and Alex at Old Navy (and they were on SALE!) Then, we had dinner at Casa Grande and the twins were SO good at the restaurant. Other than one little incident of my Diet Pepsi getting knocked over by Alex (totally Paul's fault, of course, LOL), they were angels. They ate over half of the HUGE soft taco that we ordered for them as well as a lot of Spanish rice and beans. Not to mention all of the chips and cheese dip they ate before dinner arrived. They played and giggled and ate. They were so wonderful! It was a very pleasant dinner with a lot of laughs. I was very proud of them! Then, we were planning to head over to Target but decided that we were too darn tired for Target. So, we just came home.

That's all we've been up to today. I'm working on a few projects that are Christmas presents and I really need to get them finished up. So, I'm planning to spend my evening doing just that!

Here are a few recent pictures that I wanted to share ...

Alex and his new favorite book - this is his favorite page - he can even find the various pictures that correspond with the word on some of them when you prompt him. Such a smart little guy!

And here's my girl. You can see her right eye is a bit puffy and red. It seems to have cleared up now though. Yeah!

Alex is a huge music fan - this is one of his favorite toys. One of the settings on it sings the ABC song and he always sets it to that setting and tries to sing along. We're definately going to have to get him involved in music in some way. One of his Little Einstein videos has a little boy who is a conductor and Alex has begun emulating him by 'conducting' all the time. Too cute!

Meighan watched me talking to my mom on my cell phone and when I turned around this is what I saw - her walking around the kitchen just like me with an electronic timer to her ear like a phone, babbling away. Too cute! It's amazing what they pick up from us!

When Sami was here last weekend, she was messing with the twins by riding their little car. They did not like it and kept trying to drag her off of it! So hilarious! Here are a few pictures from their attempts to get her off ...

Okay - that's it for tonight. I need to get to work on my Christmas gifts ... More soon.