Just a little summer fun...

Untraining the untrainable.

I admit, I have done things I'm not proud of to 'just get by' when it comes to managing my three little people in public.


I have used food and treats (gummies to be more specific) to..ahem.. bribe my kids into behaving. 


I already admitted my lack of pride for my behavior. But I bet that you'd do the same thing...and some of you, probably DO! It's ok, I get it. I'm there with you. 3 little copy cats...bad behavior is more prevalent than good behavior!


However, I have created 3 Pavlov children using 'destinations' as a trigger for needing food. Not 4 kids because bless his heart, A-Dog has already been trained and untrained.


Arrive at Target? They are all 3 hungry.


Arrive to Church? They are all 3 hungry.


Zoo, grocery store, Grandma and Grandpa's house? Yup, you got it - they are HUNGRY!


I'm sure you are thinking to yourself. "Why don't you just feed them before you go somewhere". I assure you, that is not the problem. 


This week, I have begun the untraining. Trust me when I say, I will be the one paying the price! (I will be needing a reload on my Starbucks card...or is that just another Pavlov issue?)


Before we left the house Tuesday, I warn them all "you JUST ate, I am NOT bringing any snacks. If you need a drink, get it now". 


What do you think they said when we got to Target? 


"I'm HUNGRY".


I quickly told them that I didn't bring anything.  Monkey says "not even GUMMIES???". No Monkey, nothing. AT ALL. I didn't even look them in the eye - I could hear the disbelief as they looked at each other and sighed.


Today we went to the grocery store. Agent P says "I'm thirsty". Making no eye contact again, I just reminded him that there was no water and quickly shuffled them out of the van.


It's not summer here, so I am OK with them being without water for 1 hour. 


They say it takes 3 weeks to break a habit.


I am on day 5. Wish me luck :)

I skipped some things...

I think I may have skipped a few things that we have done recently.  I would never have noticed had I not downloaded some pictures off my camera today for A-Dog.

I will digress for a moment because that is what I do best. I had to get the pictures off that he took for his science fair project and let's get something straight. I HATE THE SCIENCE FAIR PROJECTS. I promise, I am not holding back my feelings about this task. It is awful and frankly I feel it is a project that parents end up doing most of - at least for the first 4 years. It is mandatory starting at 3rd grade. Count them friends - this is our 5th year. I make my sweet husband do the projects. Seriously, I can't stand it. There. I can move on now :).

So, I found some photos from when we went to pick apples and vegetables. I was unable to pick 100 apples this year because I was slightly distracted by my almost 3 year olds picking everything they could possibly touch and putting it in our buckets. I did get a lot of bell peppers, green chiles, tomatoes and pears.

SO glad we are keeping our hands to ourselves! It warms my heart when they really listen to what I say.

I got some green chiles so that I could roast and freeze them. Usually each row of veggies is marked to tell people what they are. Just in case you don't know what a tomato is I guess. I count on that marker to tell me which green chile is mild, medium or hot. This is the conversation I had with the teenager who was working that day.


Me: The rows weren't marked - do you know if the green chiles out there are hot or mild?
Her: Someone else mentioned they weren't marked, they should be.
Me: Yes, but they are not - do you know what was planted there? If that section is hot?
Her: No, but you can figure it out by sampling them before eating the whole thing.

Yup, that is exactly what I should do. Lick each and every one of the 70 green chiles that I purchased and roasted. That is the most logical thing to do. Needless to say, I did NOT do that. I just take a risk everytime I thaw them out. Last night 3 out of 4 were mild - of course the hot one was on MY chicken sandwich. Figures.

The kids discovered that they like to paint on paper and other items.  I had refrained from introducing paint due to my inability to retain my sanity while 3 kids waved paint brushes in the air and around each other. But, they proved to be capable little painters and really enjoyed it.



making caterpillars



Painting OUTSIDE! Much better idea!

I have to say tho, Monkey really doesn't like it on his fingers and I have to keep a paper towel handy to keep him clean. Once he starts freaking out, more paint gets on him and it is a vicious circle. Easier to just wipe the little dab off his finger than a whole mess of paint off his face and whatnot while he panics about the itty bitty dot he started with.

Like the smocks? IKEA. Love them!  Fit perfect and wash easily. Not sure why I told you that, I suppose I got the sense you were curious :)

There. Now you can see we've been busy. All 2 things we've done. Or, really, all 2 that I blogged about today! 

PS - does anyone need about 75 pages of art? I can send you some....cheap!



This photo wouldn't rotate, even tho it was saved rotated. Whatever. It's all in how you look at it anyway!

A well laid plan.

I had it all figured out...ya know, like I usually do. Agent P would go to afternoon Kindergarten. We'd have the morning all together and in the afternoons when he was at school - the twins would have a nice quiet house to get in a great nap. I would get all sorts of things done. I would work out, clean, catch up on stuff...ya know - the good stuff! It was all dreamy and perfectly choreographed!

Apparently my twins have other plans for me. We are 2.5 weeks into this new schedule and I've accomplished zilch.

I had a conversation with Mini P - because really she doesn't just repeat everything I say like Monkey does. She doesn't always agree with me and that's ok - at least I know she's got an opinion and isn't just repeating back what I've said.

So, the conversation went a little like this:

Me: Today you are going to stay in your bed and take a nap - no getting up and playing.
Mini P: But I need to talk to Monkey, in his bed.
Me: No, you need to stay in your bed.
Mini P: No, I need to read books with Monkey.
Me: During nappie time - you can read books in YOUR bed, but you need to STAY THERE. Stop getting out of bed.
Mini P: Stop getting out of bed?
Me: YES!

The conversation went nowhere from there, I'm sure it ended with me saying something like "whatever, go color". As I searched for some hard liquor of sorts.

It is Thursday in in 4 days they have napped 1 of those days. Therefore I have not worked out. I have not caught up on much. I've spent most of the time walking around in my Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones yelling "get back in bed" from all areas of the house. I figure if I can hear them - they are not behaving and are probably not even in bed.

(By the way - when I got these headphones for my birthday - Agent P and I looked at each other and were both convinced there was an airline ticket in there somewhere. Obviously they are for wearing on an airplane - and daddy was shipping me off somewhere like a remote island, or perhaps a nice quiet beach somewhere. No, he was just offering up something to help me get thru the day.)

I wear them. Every. Single. Day. Honestly.

Anyway, I (as usual) have digressed.

Here is what I found this week:

Books that were once on the shelf

Other days I have found their beds completely cleared of any friends or pillows or blankets. I have found puzzles all over the floor half completed. The list goes on and on.

So, my naptime plans have changed. I'm getting good at just wearing the headphones trying to get a 'breather' for the day. It's not real good on the hair, but whatever.

Got any ideas on how to get 2 peeps in the same room who think nap time is one big party - to STAY IN BED AND SLEEP??? I need help. Big time.

These things just can't be made up...

On a daily basis, things happen in my life that certainly shouldn't be true, but are too bizarre to be made up.

For instance, the other day I needed to make a run to our local sporting goods store. I had All Star shirts, jerseys, socks, belts and other miscellaneous items to pick up for the league.   Lucky for me, I have known the owner for the last 4+ years and I tend to bring a lot of money to his store and in return, I leave with a lot of merchandise for our league. Well, yes, and sometimes for A-Dog as well. He requires plenty of merchandise.

The other day I ventured down there with all 4 kiddos. Immediately, A-Dog took off for the bats. He loves to go and dream about the $300 bats he will never own. Swinging and touching and dreaming. The other 3 stuck with me, or not so much.

We have been there before and they LOVE this place. I mean, have you ever seen what they put down on the 3 feet and under area??? There are volleyballs and footballs on wire shelves, baskets of buckles (not sure for what...), flags for flag football, baseballs and softballs - some are even weighted. It is a serious wonderland for the 5 and under sect!

As I am tossing baseball pants to A-Dog to try on, Mini P runs by with flags draped around her neck yelling "it's the BEST day ever!!!"! Over and over. Monkey is not far behind yelling "sissy, catch this ball! Sissy! Wait!!!". Yet, she continues running and yelling about the best day ever. At this point, I'm not entirely sure where Agent P is, but I'm sure he's somewhere rearranging other items in the store.

Like I said, thank goodness I am friends with the owner and we continue our conversation as though none of this chaos is even going on. I am an expert on that. I just tune it out and act like I have no clue whose kids they are. I mean really, who allows their kids to destroy a store like this??

So, as we are discussing what items I was missing and who I'd be sending back to the store to fetch them (cuz certainly 2 visits in 1 week would be over the top) - Agent P announces very loudly "I have to go POTTY!!!", grabs his shorts (you know what I'm talking about - all kids do it!) and starts dancing around.  Seriously. THEN, Monkey does the exact. same. thing.  Don't worry friends. It gets better, because then Mini P starts yelling the exact. same. thing.

Yup, it really happened. I'm praying there is no video surveillance in that store - or he's going to be a rich guy when he wins America's Funniest Video grand prize!

So, here I am with 3 little people running around in circles yelling "I have to go POTTY". Over and over and over. Getting louder and louder. Finally I have to acknowledge they are my children and find the bathroom. (Really, I sent A-Dog and Agent P).

The thing is, only Agent P actually had to pee. I had already taken the other two...they just couldn't resist joining in on the Potty Dance.

No time...

That is how I feel most days. No time to eat, no time to blog, no time to work out, no time to get groceries (or just no desire on that one...).

But one thing I REALLY have no time for is random pieces of technology that enter my life and their need for me to acclimate to them. I need things handed to me with directions - simple put. I don't need something that will take me forever to figure out, I have 4 kids for heavens sake. Hand it over, show me how to download, upload, unload - whatever. But please, don't hand me something and wish me luck.

For instance, I have a video camera - LOVE IT. Love the quality, love that it is small and easy to use and love being able to document things. But I hate it. I hate that we have videos that I have no clue what to do with. Because from what I can read/infer/figure out - it is pretty much impossible to convert the file into a .mpg so that other people who were not blessed enough to own this piece of wonderful item can actually VIEW them.  I thought I had figured it out once. I opened up 3 different programs, cut the movie I was making to exclude a part or 2 and it only took 2 hours to create a 12 second .mpg. Lovely. We have owned it for nearly 2 years and I have one 12 second video to share and it's not even of any of my kids.

Last year for my birthday I got this strange little package with some sort of computer chip looking thing in it. I was clueless and tried my best to act all excited about it - even tho I had no idea what it was for. Come to find out it is some sort of something I can stick in my phone to play music or store pictures on.  Well, that would be cool if I knew how to get the music on it. About 6 months later I was told the music was on the chip - in my phone. Of course, I couldn't access it. I tried everything. Finally went to the Verizon store myself and found out how to do it. Now, viola - it's there. But my birthday is in May...it was February when I actually got the music on there.

Now I have to remember to play it I guess.

So, now I have this new Netbook (got it for Christmas). Which has none of my photo software on it, nor does it have a CD ROM for me to insert and install. But it also doesn't have any of my pictures which are still on my old computer in A-Dog's room. No sense having photos if you can't edit them I suppose.

Until today.

Today I downloaded Picasa. A sorry replacement for my other software, but something had to give and apparently it was good quality photo editing software. So, there will be no awesome edits, no amazing photo tricks...not that there was before, but there could have been. Now there just can't be at all, or atleast how it could have been before. I will now be a sorry excuse for a photo editor. I mean, I have been known to insert certain little peeps into certain Christmas photos and have no one notice that he was merely imported when in all actuality, he was napping. I am known for that. By some.

Now I will be known as the girl who finally stated updating her blog more often, but the photos are sub-par.

Like this:

But I suppose one could really say that it was the "self-portrait" approach that really altered the photo.

Or this one:

Because somewhere there is a shirt I could have imported on DJ Jazzie Jeff's Mardi Gras rapping protégé.

But take a look at this one:

Not even sure I could fix that goofy smile :- )

But this one...

Needs no alterations. The look says it all!!!

Cheers :- )

Ages and Stages!

It seems like life is changing really quickly around here! Kids. They just grow up so fast. A-Dog turning 12. The twins turning 2. Agent P going to Kindergarten soon... Just so many changes. Every day Mini P surprises me with a new sentence. The girl is 2 and she talks all day long, but it's ok. Because one day she will be 12 and not have much to say. Agent P is now reading to me - small books, but he's reading at 4.5 yrs old. Monkey is Monkey - over reacting when someone even sneaks a peek at one of his treasured trucks.

And at 12, A-Dog is a budding tween so close to being a teenager. The dreaded teenager :- )! He is a humorous tween. His sense of humor is amazing and he comes up with some hilarious retorts. Most of all, he gets me. He understands my dry humor and plays along. Most of the time. Sometimes his lack of 'commom sense' takes over. But more often than not, he is quite funny!

I want you all to know and understand, A-Dog does not complain. Ever. Or at least rarely.  He has shared a room with Agent P for the last 2.5 years. A-Dog slept up in his loft and Agent P underneath in his toddler bed. It was tight, but it worked. There were many nights when Agent P was noisy and annoying. But never a complaint, never a plea for space, never. For that I am grateful. I think he understood I was swapping and moving and rearranging as quickly as I could given what I had to work with.

Yes we could move to a bigger house, but we are happy here. So here we stay and out he goes.

I have now lost my office. My home office where I paid my bills, I work on my Little League work, use my computer, hide from my kids...and now that is all gone.

Gone because I gave it away.

I gave it to A-Dog.

Honestly, I'm happy that I did! Happy I was able to give something to someone who really asks so little. And he does - ask for very little. So, this is what I gave to him. A room where he can go and listen to music, watch TV, do his homework, hibernate....so many things. I'm sure he is genuinely happy. Thankful for the space and a place for just him. I get how important that can be for a 12 year old.

I will live with the stacks of things in my room. I will find them new homes. I will declutter it and minimize it.  All for the A-Dog!!! For him, I am willing to sacrafice :- )

I try to be..

Calm, Cool and Collected.

I try to be that mom people look at and say "man she makes that look easy". Cuz really, I have a 2.5 year gap between Agent P and the twins and upon first glance it does appear somewhat chaotic. I like to think that it is organized chaos that I have completely under control.  Or to at least appear that way so that people don't offer up their typical comments that I endure on a regular basis. 

Today I wondered if I was taking that a little too far. I was at the grocery store (a necessary evil) with the 3 younger ones, when out of one ear I heard a small *coughing on my cracker* cough. I was about 3 feet from the cart (looking at juice or planning my escape you decide) and I didn't even flinch or look. Seriously not even a twitch. Then I hear a lady say "oh my goodness are you OK???" Very worried and very concerned. Then I looked (hoping some passerby wasn't going to have to Heimlich one of my kids). But by then, I figured out she was talking to her daughter who was carrying a baggy of crackers and looked to be at least 6. She then continued with her daughter "I thought you were choking it was such a horrible cough!".  There was more but you get the distinctly opposite response to the situation.

Now honestly, I really didn't think the cough was that bad. Certainly to get my attention there would need to be more than one hack at the cracker imbedded in their throat and to really get me moving some gagging sounds or noises.

But for a fleeting moment, I thought to myself how sad that was. One of my chicklets could have actually been choking and here I was just trying to find the juice that the coupon pictured. The juice was for them if that gives me any consolation points...

Perhaps in my attempt to allow chaos to rise to a level 4 or so before reacting, I've permitted myself to tune out the other sounds that may come from the chicklets before the ear piercing screams, hitting, yelling, grabbing, pushing or throwing begins.

And if I allowed this, I do I figure out how to decipher out the emergent sounds and the annoying fighting sounds?

I'm not sure I can.

So, while I may try to be Calm, Cool and Collected...I probably come off more as the mom that onlookers laugh, roll their eyes, gasp, *ahem* real loud in hopes that I might notice that one of my chicklets needs to be handled. And I ignore those sounds too :- )

12 Years Ago Today

My world got rocked by A-Dog. LOL!

The picture quality is awful because 12 years ago there were no easily acquired digital cameras, and if you did have one (Dad) it was ridiculous. Remember having to wait 3-5 minutes seconds for the picture to snap? Ya, that was fun. Good times. Back then you could have your *film* camera put onto a floppy. Not even a CD yet, just a floppy. I nearly had to borrow a floppy drive to convert them a few months ago. Luckily, my computer is composed of random components and it actually had one. Pure luck I tell ya!

But there he is. All *pixeled* up and everything :- ) He was about 1 month old here.

To me, most babies look the same anyway, so what are a few pixels off anyway???

Here he is today. Never mind. I just looked on the camera and those were blurry too. Geez, maybe its user error!  Ok, here he is recently...

OOPS! Did I accidentally insert their silly picture? Oh, my bad!!!  Here we go...

Ok. There. That's better!

Our A-Dog is honestly such a true blessing to us. I can tell you with all certainty that he is the easiest child to discipline in this house. I'm not saying he's perfect - but as a young child he did not like loud noises. Raising my voice 1 slight octave was enough to stop him in his tracks. Obviously by me saying this, the other 3 are NOT like that :- ). Obviously. 

Now that raising my voice is used to simply be heard around here, so that doesn't work. BUT, I have other methods now. Can you say "yard work"? The boy HATES it. I don't know why, but daddy's other kids will spend all day outside with him. Not A-Dog, he would just  rather be outside throwing the ball - any ball - or swimming. ANYTHING other than doing yard work. So, it's an effective threat tool!

He has an obsession for sports, baseball in particular. He loves the game and loves to play it. He has made All-Stars 2 years in a row and is hoping for his 3rd next year. He is loved by all of his coaches because of his awesome attitude and willingness to learn and play.  He also hates criticism of any kind, even if it is simple. That is of course, because he already knows everything :- )

He is a fabulous brother and adores his brothers and sister. They think he is the brightest star in their day. Mini P likes to sit on his stomach (when he's lying on the floor at night) and brush her teeth with her feet in his face. She knows it bugs him, and it makes her (and him) laugh. Monkey likes to body slam him when he's in that same position. (Maybe he should sit up???). Agent P could play hide and seek all day long if A-Dog could tolerate it. There on only so many places you can hide before everyone knows all the spots!!!

We absolutely love spending time with A-Dog! He is so funny and witty - and well, frankly, he gets my humor. Our kids must get humor, sarcasm and understand they will be teased if they plan to survive in this house and with our family! Plus it builds character.  But really, he hasn't quite gotten to that hate my parents part of life yet, so we still enjoy each other!

A-Dog, if you are reading this, which I know you are - we love you. We love you no matter what. We are proud of what you have become and the pride you take in being that person. Always remember that.  Happy Birthday and enjoy the next 365 days until you are a teenager :- )

What I REALLY want to talk about...

I can't. I really want to share my excitement about our upcoming mini vacation. But I can't. It's a surprise. And since A-Dog reads my blog. I just can't. Sorry A-Dog. Really I am. But torturing you is one of our many perks of being your parent! Pretty sure we've decided to just let you endure the drive and see if you figure it out when we get there :- ). We'll see!

So, I could talk about the 12 shirts I'm making (2 for each of us), but then I might slip out a detail or 2. I can tell you this. We will all match :- ). I know, super corny. However, I've learned the more kids I have, the more I think corny is OK.  I mean, how much easier is it going to be to spot our kids? (and yes, look corny).

I could talk about why my kids (twins) are not taking naps today, or why one was stretching her little arm out as far as she could to reach toys on the OUTSIDE of her crib. How do I know this? Because when I opened the door, the lid was off a block bucket that she's never ever bothered before and was throwing them across the room after she removed them that's how.  And that I'm in real trouble when I move them to toddler beds because they will just get up and play. But that whole discussion would ruin my excitement for vacation! Total buzz kill!

How about I tell you about all the very strange things Agent P has been saying lately. Some are somewhat gross. Really. Like how tired of food he is because: "the problem with food is that it just makes me poop". See?? I told you GROSS. That and everything he eats he asks: "what's in it?" Will it give me super hero powers? What will it do?" Breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, in between drinks of water. You name it, he asks about it. Maybe we'll save that for another day, one less gross.

I should mention that A-Dog made the Honor Roll the first quarter of 6th. High Honor Roll actually. 'High' meaning straight A's with a 4.0 GPA. Last week we all went to his awards ceremony. We knew in advance (tho A-Dog didn't) that he was to receive an additional medal from his teacher. Over 50% of his class made Honor Roll of sorts (some High, some not) and of those students, his teacher selected HIM as the 1st quarter award winner. A special recognition for a student who stands out to the teacher. Proud does not even describe how we felt watching him. I could show you the video, but it's filled with "stop that", "get down", "please stop pulling on my arm" and "no, it's not a good idea to sit in a different row honey". You know. Stuff like that. Stuff that makes a video good annoying. :- ). Maybe if I can figure out how to put it to music or something....

We could talk about the fact that Agent P isn't napping today either. But I think we'll skip that as well.

I guess I'd better come up with something GOOD before I leave on our SURPRISE VACATION. I promise, it will be something good.

A Day at the Zoo!

With my wonderful husband out of town for the weekend visiting his family in MI, we ventured off to the zoo. This is not typically an easy feat to do solo as Monkey and Mini P really like to walk around and explore...in different directions. Luckily, I had A-Dog and he is more than helpful...usually :-).

First stop was the Tiger.

He kept pacing right in front of us and Monkey was going crazy pointing and yelling :- )

Look behind the tiger. Really, WHY do we have the garbage can out there? Would it be THAT hard to just remove it??? I could have photoshopped it out, but really, was it my job to remove it??? I have enough to do, so I left it :-).

The elephants and polar bears were somewhere else today - getting manicures or pedicures I suspect. But the giraffes were out. Mini P kept calling them horses, I assume because she can't say giraffe. We did not feed them today, which is a big event here at our small zoo. It's $2 for 2 treats and you get to walk right up to them and they stick their very, very, very long tongue out and eat it right out of your hand. It is kind of freaky, but if you don't mind the very, very, very long tongue, it's fun! Today however, the line was super long and we don't do lines at the zoo - we have a membership and can go anytime to feed them.

The zebras and ostriches were out and right on the other side of the rocks is a tortoise.  He was pretty cool, no tricks or anything, but he was moving around!

My favorite part is the Education Center. Mostly because it is indoors and all my kids are contained. There is window viewing of the Macaque, a fish tank, snake terrarium, bearded dragon terrarium and little activities for the kids. Sometimes they bring in little animals for kids to pet. Once we got to pet a hedgehog. He was pretty awesome!

Agent P with his friend the Bearded Dragon

All in all, it was a good trip! We had to leave when it started getting crowded and I couldn't keep track of my kids :-) But, I did leave with all 4!

After snack of course!

Sleep Schedules

I am somewhat of a stickler when it comes to the sleeping schedules of my kids. I didn't used to be, what happened to me? Twins. Twins is what happened to me. There is nothing that will take your sanity right to the edge quicker than twins popping into your world, especially when there is also a 2.5 year old as well.

I wasn't always like this. I used to be footloose and fancy free. OK. Well, you're right, I shouldn't go that far! But I was better. Or worse. Depends on how you look at it.

Child 1, A-Dog. Terrible sleeper as an infant. Terrible. So terrible I won't even admit to you that I ended up co-sleeping with him, nope, won't even admit that. Totally MY fault though. Someone one should have gifted me a book on sleep and importance of a *scheduled sleep pattern*. Yup, that would have helped. But, no one did. By age 2.5 he was actually a pretty good sleeper and I trained him to only get up with there was a *7* on his clock (I taped over the other numbers). He was/is exceptionally smart and a TOTAL first born achiever, so it was an easy task. :-). Now, being pre-teen, I have to worry about him waking up :-)!

Child 2 - Agent P. Better sleeper. Sleeping all night long by 5 months (at least) and putting himself to sleep. No rocking this one, bedtime was for getting in bed and that's how he liked it.  We have always been able to play around with nap and bedtime without him falling apart or having fits - and when his brother's baseball games went until 10pm, that was a good thing!!! We occasionaly struggle with staying in bed, going right to sleep, getting up before the chickens.... He is a restless child and is certain that *one more hug* will do the trick. He is also a master at squeezing one last drop of pee out if he needs to. It's impressive actually, but still annoying.

Children 3 and 4 - Mini P and Monkey have very different sleeping habits which creates new challenges. They have slept thru the night (in their bed/s) since they were 3 months old. We decided that it really wasn't an option NOT to sleep all night. So they do, I guess, if I hear movement, I turn the monitor down/off. (bad mommy).

Monkey is a morning person and loves to fool around in bed with trucks. The boy loads his bed up with trucks. We've tried to draw the line. Really we have. But, we have 4 kids. We pick our battles. 

At nap and bed (and I've even found lately if you say the word nap this happens...so I have to be more careful) we tell them "time for bed" - Monkey will frantically start swooping up all his favorite trucks and cars and trailers and making deliveries to his bed.

See the full arms? That is just the first load. He will get at least 1 more and sadly, Mini P will carry some for him too. She picks out all his favorites and puts them in bed for him (how sweet is that???). He will try to climb out of his crib  SCREAMING if he doesn't have *just the right ones*, which is why we don't fight it. (Don't worry, when he heads out for a 2nd/3rd load, we do remove some).

Mini P loves loves LOVES to sleep. Adores it. At almost 22 months she will run to her crib (nearly always) and try to climb in. She typically has just her blankies and her baby. She lays down and goes to sleep (90% of the time) while her brother plays trucks and sings.

We have found with the twins, that a very rigid sleeping schedule is the only thing that works.  It's a fine line of compromise to finding the right schedule that meets both their needs. She can go right to sleep and he can play if he wants to (she honestly doesn't care - and we think she fetches his trucks so he will play and stop bugging her...only a theory tho!)

Truly tho, I think the hard core scheduling is selfish on my part. I have to know that part of my day will have some sort of quiet. It's like my own piece of serenity :-).

Photo Software

I have lots of photos - too many to count. I really enjoy great pictures and I like to tweak photos to become something more than a snapshot. My creativity is stunted by the humungous brick wall in my brain that impedes innovative funtions.

However, here is what I did with a few pictures today in some very limited spare time (we are talking very limited).





After a water fight at Grandma and Grandpas



Hangin' by (on) the pool!



Hangin' on the other side of the pool!




Chillin' on the porch