The Big Reveal

Ok, I know - you have all waited about as long as you possibly can - and I appreciate your patience! Please, don't just start dropping by because you are dying to see the new room. Please. Often things here are in a state of complete chaos and a good 15 minute warning is often required in order to clear a path and make it look like I have complete control of the chaos. Ok, maybe 20.

SO - here we go.

At little background because with me, no story is short! Originally our house was 3 bedrooms - then we put in the *man garage* in the backyard (if you have seen it, you know why it is called that) and enclosed the attached garage and made it into a bedroom and laundryroom (completed 3 weeks before Agent P was born over 4 years ago). The enclosed room became the "office/den"  and the 3rd bedroom became Agent P's.  Then the shock of the immenent arrival of twins wore off (barely) and we moved Agent P in with A-Dog and made the little room into the twins room and the office remained the office. 

The twins lived there happily squished. Barely room to walk between the cribs. They slept in our room for 3 months, in 1 crib until they were 6 months and so only 1 year of 2 cribs in that room. 1 year too many I say.

Until recently. You've already seen my new office - so here is the latest and greatest!


Here is us (by us I mean my sweet husband - I merely photographed the move!) moving them out of the "littlest room"

You can see from the pictures, they were both side by side. The wall on the right (when looking at the photo/bed) is useless slanted and serves no purpose in that room except to make arranging furniture in there impossible.  The only thing that fit in there with the cribs was a dresser and toy shelf from Ikea.

In their new room, here is what fits:

Both cribs along 1 wall (of course, try to envision it without all the mess on the floor - we are in the middle of some serious playtime.) The wall is set back a bit so that the cribs sink right in without sticking out. Very handy for not stubbing your toes!

This is panning right from the cribs - they have a baby crib (for dolls), lego table and chair, wooden table and chair (borrowed from some amazing friends), a wooden stove (made for me when I was a little girl) and a table from Ikea - plus the new rug!!!  Not very girlie I'm afraid, but she will learn to love it!

Panning right again this is in between the two windows. This is one of my favorite pictures of them, mostly because after this age, they absolutely refused to take decent pictures and I don't really have one with them both in the picture, much less smiling.

Panning right some more takes you across the wall - to the closet.  The closet is pretty big and has their dresser and a storage shelf inside (I will spare you the closet shots!) and then the door (you can see the handle. All in all - a very smart move. They absolutely LOVE their new room!

Cheers!
(oh, and I still don't have spell check - the new layout accounted for the pictures being inserted into the spot you choose, instead at the beginning of your blog. Very handy for long winded bloggers, but not so much for hurried typers)

More changes...

Of course, I know, you are all waiting for the BIG REVEAL of the twins new room. Patience please. I'm waiting for their new rug to arrive and then I will post all the new pictures! I realize the suspense is about making you crazy, really I do understand, but I just know you will make it a few more days!!!

On to the newest changes.

Twins and highchairs.  Always a space issue when you have twins, or more than 1 child. Perhaps those of you with 1 child have space issues too, that certainly could be!  Me, I have LOTS of space issues, but I again digress. 

Instead of traditional highchairs - we opted for the Fischer Price Space Savers. They attach to your diningroom chair lickety split.

Using them early on - 6 months old.

And they really are a space saver. I have a table that seats 6 but no where to put the extra chairs. This made things simple (please know I agonized over where they would sit without impeding the flow of our house, ie: running into a high chair trying to get to the kitchen so when I say simple, I mean after I reached the decision on where they would be placed). They sat at one end, we 4 all sat at the table...life was good.

Twins 1st birthday

Or, ya know, pretty good. (Mini P did NOT like her birthday cake. In fact, I still find little pieces of frosting that she THREW all over the place. We were all too busy laughing to see where it all went!)

Until....

Mini P decided last weekend amidst her getting a new room that she was absolutely done sitting in her high chair and wanted to be a big girl a the table. All week long she kept pulling the chairs out and climbing up to sit (or more like mess with the napkins and salt/pepper shakers).  This, like any other task with twins, did not go unresearched. I wanted boosters that would slide under the table and not keep the chair sticking out a foot.  The ones I kept finding that were small like that were $40. Which means $80 for me. UGH!

So, after our *date* last Friday, we bit the bullet and went to Target to get a couple of chairs that I thought might work. This is to say that I knew the measurements but you just don't know until you try it. For $10.99 each it was worth a shot!

Check it out - I can still get it a little farther under the table too!!!

First thing the next morning Mini P was already making herself at home in her new chair.

She couldn't be happier! Well, let's not go that far, OK? But she is enjoying it. Monkey on the other hand took about a week to acclimate. Too much change for him in 1 week. He kept the security of his highchair for another week or so and then as the saying goes "Monkey see, Monkey do".

Thankfully the old highchairs sold quickly on Craigslist and didn't take up even more room unattached and sitting in my laundry room blocking a door for too long - what a safety hazzard :-)!

(PS I'm using Bloggers new format for posting blogs - and I can't find the stupid spell check. It is improved, but only for the perfect typers is it better. Sorry in advance for typos)

Happy Birthday Hank!

3 Years ago, the cutest puppy in the world was born. A-Dog's 9th birthday was upon us and I had been wanting to get him some sort of *animal*. Something simple was what I had in mind. The beta fish tank had long been packed away (and recently moved completely out of the house into the garage hoping to never subject myself to that again...I digress...). I had talked to friends and kids - trying to figure out an appropriate pet. My sweet husband suggested a dog (not to be confused with A-Dog).

REALLY? Geez, do you know how much work dogs are???

Our land is not fenced.

We do not plan on fencing our land.

Plus, they poop on the ground. And shed. And bark.

Where are we putting a DOG???

Apparently in our unfenced back yard.

My quest for a dog got me this:

Hank a chocolate lab - 6 weeks old.

Seriously, could you not just pick him up and snug on him??? Honestly, puppies have to be the sweetest of creations (next to newborn babies!)!!!

So, very unpreparedly we brought this puppy home. A quick trip to Petsmart made it all better and with food and toys in hand - "unnamed puppy" moved in.

A-Dog was not home that week, it was fall break. So, "unnamed puppy" acclimated nicely and served as our newest "wake up in the middle of the night to pee and get attention" pseudo child. I had long been past getting up with a baby (Agent P was 16 months). Living in a crate in our hallway was probably not his idea of a good home, but it would have to do for now. When A-Dog got home a week later, the big SURPRISE was a HUGE hit! Never in his wildest dreams did he think we'd ever get him a dog (mine either frankly)!

He named him "Hank" after a book series called "Hank the Cow Dog". He was leaning toward "Viper", but boy, that just wasn't sticking for me. Hank is a very fitting name..it suits him.

And this super sweet puppy grew into THIS:

And then into THIS: (this look is his trademark.)

Certainly you can see the strings of drool coming off his face?

Here is a shot of him sans drool. A much better look really, and more accepted by the general population of people who might want to stick their hand down to give him a little pat.

Hank lives in our unfenced yard with a boundary shock collar. He is fully aware that when the *beeps* start, he has gone too far and should head back toward the house. He's been known once or twice to sustain a bit of a shock, but slow learners take a few times I suppose.

He is absolutely fabulous with all of our kids and is never short time to wander over to them and stick his nose in their ear :-)


Happy Birthday Hank! Sorry you got nothing for your birthday, but I did just spend the last week nursing you back to health after your bout with Montezuma's Revenge (with ice chips, Gatorade, homemade rice and beef.) Remember all of that???

We love you Hank!!!

Ch-ch-ch-ch-CHANGES!

Ok, so I know you've been dying to know (or maybe not?) did I move the twins into a bigger room? Was I that daring (and amazing!)? Was I able to clear out the office and give them a room they could actually live in? I'm here to say - I DID!

Some how, we got from here:

to here:

And the amount of toys these 2 have, well let's just say it's enough :- )

I wish I did a better job of the *before and after*, but, I didn't. Here is the office before

Couches on the right TV and computer on the left.

My new *office* is in a room less than half the size of the original. Couches and chairs sold a few weeks ago. Only thing in the new office is the computer desk and tv/tv stand - oh, and of course the plant and chair. But the room is so small, it's near impossible to get pictures of it.

Next post? The twins new room! I need to take some pictures of it - and it still isn't all the way done!

Love Languages of a Toddler

Quality Time

Words (and smiles) of Affirmation!

Acts of Service (or just gettin' love from the blankies!)

Gifts (or in this case, just chocolate)

Physical Touch

What are your Love Languages?

Goin' Under.....

We put a pool in our backyard this year - put UP a pool I should say, but it sounds so...cheap. Well, I guess we are cheap, or practical, but mostly just cheap. Anyway, we put UP a pool this year in our backyard.

A-Dog and a friend making the most of the day!

I have to say, it is a bit of work since I don't have *pool guy* per say (my pool guy is a very busy guy and *pool guy* just adds to his many job titles and frequently shifts those duties to the bottom...). We are the ones in charge of maintaining the level of chemicals, water, salt (because we invested in the salt water generator instead of the regular chlorine method), bugs...etc. And then once a week we have to pool vacuum the bottom. I know this sounds ridiculous, but I actually enjoy the pool vacuum. I'm a freak that way. I like vacuuming the house too. Again, I know, I'm a freak. Plus, no one can be in the pool with me while I clean it...an obvious perk!

This pool is used probably 5 days a week if not more. Since I can walk out my back door and hop in (after removing some floating bugs) - it has been well worth it! I don't have to pack up 4 kids and their significant amount of needed items just to find out someone isn't interested in swimming that day. My kids like the water a certain temperature and off a degree or two can make or break the deal.

ANYWAY.

Agent P is was not a swimmer. He happily spent his time on the ladder, on the side or in the warmth of someone holding him in the pool. That is until...A-DOG! A-Dog taught him how to swim last week.

After school and homework they go out to the pool together. Each day, Agent P showed more and more progress. He started putting his face in. He started getting his hair wet. He started going under and holding his breath. He started swimming while holding the ladder. UNTIL this happened:

(I know it's hard to see (not really), but can you see the proud look on A-Dog's face?)

Agent P is by no means an Olympic swimmer, but finally finally FINALLY he moved past sitting on the ladder! Next step is coming up for air :-). He talks about swimming now ALL the time and can't wait to get in the pool each day.

Except today.

Today the water was 78 degrees. Like I said, temperature can break the deal. 82 is tolerable if the sun is out. 78 was a might chilly!

Technology

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. No, I'm not talking about the movie (I haven't even see the movie). I'm talking about my computer. My computer is not state of the art. It is not even what anyone would consider *new*. It is ahem a throw together. That means it is a little of this, a little of that and some other stuff thrown in as well. Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to complain about it (when it's working), but sometimes.....

The thing has been acting up for months now. I've lost data that I've had to reenter when it would freeze up for no reason. I've restarted it more times than I can count. Finally on Sunday, it just kept restarting and never moving past that. Piece of junk. Luckily, at my sweet husband's work, they have lots of junk laying around (because again, my computer is old and near anything they find for it will be newer, better and faster). 1 new hard drive later, I'm nearly back in business. Of course, I have absolutely NO data files on my computer and my software is very skeletal. But that should be resolved very soon I'm sure.

So, this week I could not work on little league stuff like I should have, I could not play around with my pictures, I could not pay bills, I could barely check email (from A-Dogs computer), I could not blog. It's been tough :-).

However, I do have pictures from our weekend at the pool and playing in the yard. I had to reinstall all the software, so I thought I'd do something with it to make sure it installed with no glitches!!!

Boy oh boy am I grateful for having the pool this year! It may not be be the best (just like the computer), but it's wet and it's close!!! We all played and swam in the pool (which I did not take pictures of - safety first - I must hold a twin while in the water) - and then played on the play set to dry off. (which is why all the boys have no shirts on!)

Now, back to fixing my computer!!!