when it's possible that your babies are too close together...

you know your babies may be too close together when:
-you call them "the babies" and they are not twins.
-they can share pacifiers.
-they can share diapers.
-the babies have to wait in line to get their diaper changed.
-they can share sippy cups.



-you have not had a good night's sleep in almost 3 years....4 1/2 if you count pregnancy.
-you do the math to make sure they are not going to be in the same grade.
-you foresee breaking them of the paci at the same time.



-you are able to buy the same car seat for the younger one that you bought for the older one because the store still sells the same make and model....in the same color.
-you never stopped using the diaper bag between children.
-the maternity clothes were still hanging in the closet.



-you are confident they will be able to share a car when they turn 16.
-you get to laugh at children walking like drunken sailors one right after another.
-you get to hold another brand new baby in your arms sooner when they are close together.
-about the time one kid grows out of the cute toddler talk...you have another one to replace it.
-you get to see the wonder of the christmas tree lights with two little ones at the same time.
-you get to watch them dance together.



-you have two children that will sing and dance with you at the same time.  instead of one that thinks you're cool and another that has outgrown your silly shenanigans.
-you can use baby food you didn't use the first time around...but kept just in case.  i'm kidding...

it's hard work, i'm exhausted most of the time.  but my goodness, these babies are a lot of fun!

the great real or fake debate

well, the christmas tree is up.  we have a fake tree.  i use to be ashamed of my fake trees, but now i have the most beautiful fake tree on the planet....so i'm not ashamed anymore.  well, i am a little....i have a strand of lights that are out.  and like everything else, do i really want to replace something that i just have to sell in a few months? not really, as i am a very practical person...so i will just have a strand of lights out.   it's a pre lit tree....thus the noticeable strand.

the fake tree was one of those marital compromises.  i had grown up with a fake tree for most of my childhood, where i seem to remember an ongoing "discussion" between my mom and dad over fake verses real....my dad seemingly the winner.  but as a teenager i recall real trees. well, real trees until my mom had this unbelievable skin reaction to something in the house which we eventually narrowed down to the real christmas tree.  since then they've been using a silver tree that has lights shining on it, and is quite another story for another day.

 anyway, when we got married, i was determined to make real christmas trees the tradition.  i had high hopes.  but i did not have the ability to carry heavy things....like, oh, say, christmas trees.  and randy was diabolically opposed to the real christmas tree.  something about needles on the floor and it turning brown and some other mumbo jumbo.  he refused.  and so, being the wonderful and submissive wife that i am,  i bought some horrible looking 5 foot fake tree for our first christmas.  and used it again for the 2nd.  and again for the 3rd.  finally we had hudson and i was resolved that he would experience the joys of a beautiful real tree.  i begged randy for days, and weeks, and eventually we made it to some builders supply place that was the only store in the county left with a real tree.  it was ugly.  it was short.  it was crooked.  it was not at all what i had hoped.  i vacuumed needles endlessly.  it took me forever to get a certain someone to get it out of my house once christmas was over.  it was very dead.  it didn't take apart into 3 pieces....so i could not take down by myself.  the choice was clear.  i either had to buff up and develop the muscle strength to both get my real tree in the house and back out....or i had to succumb to the fake tree fate that i was so obviously destined for.

i'm happy to say that 7 years ago, upon the purchase of my beautiful, 9 foot tall, pre lit tree.   i embraced the fake tree christmas.   there has been peace in our home.  there are no needles to vacuum.  i can take the tree down myself the day after new years......and i do.

some of my favorite things

-the chubby hands of my toddlers patting my back as i hold them.
-sheets fresh from the dryer.
- griffin saying he's two.......when strangers ask him his name.
-when hudson hugs me good night.
-junior mints
-when someone...anyone, but me, vacuums the floor.
-when ella yells at me while standing at the gate at the kitchen wanting food.
-when olivia runs to the aid of her little sister....without being told.
-hearing hudson write songs on the piano.
-when olivia gets a decorating idea....it's a love/hate thing actually...
-when randy is smarter than me....which is a good deal of the time....thank goodness!
-chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.
-when my family likes what i cook for dinner.
-a clean house.
-hudson's sense of humor.
-when olivia hugs me good night.
-pizza...all pizza, all the time....
-taking pictures of my kids.
-chips and salsa
-starbucks with friends until late at night.
-ella dancing.
-reading.
-olivia's fashion sense.
-griffin singing at the top of his lungs.
-roaming around target by myself.
-christmas shopping for my kids.
-when randy teaches.
-when griffin hugs me good night.
-shopping with olivia.
-when randy really does lol.
-when hudson reads me his essays, short stories, and anything else he writes.
-sonny with a chance....i just can't help it!
-kissing ella good night.
-when ella shakes her head yes or no to a question.
-pumpkin spice muffins.
-my mom's coconut lime cake....oh.my.goodness.
-when people's eyes get huge after i tell them we have 4 kids.   4 is the new 2....it really is ok!

can i get a stand in, please?

seriously, i would rather do anything but take a shower.  i hate taking a shower.  it is such a waste of time.  well, you know except for the whole needing to be clean thing.  it's so boring.  the same thing, day after day....think about it....it's rare that one finds something "new" in the shower.  i just laughed a little.

anyway, my kids have been sick.  sickness is sad for a few days.  you feel sorry for them.  you try to be a little more kind to them.  but by day 5,  it's over.  just get well already!  unfortunately, this particular sickness lasted 11 days!  i took them to the doctor on day 9 thinking that he could surely do something about my dreadful situation.  nope.  nope he could not.  2 more days of whining.  2 more days of grumpiness.  and now we are left with lingering coughs that last who knows how long.  welcome to the holidays.  whoo hoo!

ella still refuses to say, "momma."  she did however say, "chase."  chase is her favorite cousin.  she adores him.  he gave her a googley eyeball to play with.  you know the kind you glue on crafts.  she carried it around for hours.  she fell asleep with it in her hand.  it was her most precious treasure.  i'm just trying to figure out why chase had that googley eye in the first place....

olivia wanted a glass of water the other day.  i was doing the dishes and she couldn't get to the faucet.  she decided to fill a glass with ice and put it in the microwave.  she is forever doing things like this....why?

i'm currently looking for a few things.  a camera chord that attaches my camera to my computer,  the sustain pedal that goes with my keyboard, and a person who will take my showers for me so i have back that 10 minutes everyday.  

that is all.   good night.

superman, colons, cupcakes and glue.

hudson's first birthday.

we had decided to make it a family occasion.  nothing big and fancy....we weren't that kind of people.  we decided on a superman theme.  i ordered the cake to be made professionally.  probably days before the party.  then i bought out the red food coloring at the grocery store.  i made his personal cake myself.  i spent HOURS on it.  i cut it in the shape of the superman emblem.   he wore a superman outfit.  there were decorations.  the grandparents were there.  aunt staci was there.  his great uncle jerry and aunt cindy were there.  there was other food besides the cake.  nothing flashy, like things that could be considered hors d'oeuvers, but extra food nonetheless.  we even put a little fake superman  tattoo on his arm.  we were cool parents.  there were gifts.  lots and lots of gifts.  the day had been in the making for quite some time.  we had planned it.  we had prepared for it.  we had quite a birthday party!

olivia's first birthday.

we once again decided to go with the family only premise.  i baked her a cake.  this one was 9x13 in shape.   wait, is that a shape?  anyway,  there was really no theme.  i just purchased some cute little plates, cups, table cloth, and napkins that had flowers on them.  olivia loved flowers after all.  and i'm pretty sure there were some balloons.  but the big event at this party was....are you ready?  i had heard that the colossal colon was coming to dallas.   in case you have not heard of the colossal colon, it is a gigantic colon that you could walk through.  it displays what the inside of a healthy colon looks like.  what a colon with diverticulitis looks like, and a colon with cancer.  now, being the interested in colon health person that i am...i decided this would make for a good time while the family was in town for olivia's birthday.  for whatever reason, my parents couldn't make it...but randy's parents humored me.  they may have thought i was kidding.  i'm not sure.  anyway,  we rode the DART (dallas public transit) into downtown dallas to see the "exhibit".  it was eye opening to say the least.   i will take this opportunity to say, "fiber is important people."  after the good times in downtown dallas, we came home and had cake and ice cream.  i think i may have had some extra candy to munch on, too.  for whatever reason my parents were able to make it in time for the food....as is proven by the picture where my mother and i are standing in the exact same pose.

griffin's first birthday.

once again, a family affair.  the grandparents were here, i think my sister was out of town.  perhaps she heard about the last birthday party where an enormous colon was involved.  and our good friend heather.   i made a cake....i think.  i'm pretty sure there was ice cream.  and i'm almost positive there were balloons.  i probably had other candy on the table.  but i recall no theme whatsoever.  i will have to look at the pictures.   griffin got lots of presents.   he has always been one to get lots of presents.

well, i found the pictures.  no theme that i can see, but there was a table cloth, and cupcakes, too, apparently.



ella's first birthday.

i made a cake.  i wasn't sure of the direction i was going to go with it until right before we were to sing the happy birthday to you....happy birthday to you song.....  we bought plates with a disney character on them at toys r us 3 hours before the "party".  we also bought her a present then.  one present...because we are moving to africa and she can't bring most of her stuff with her when we go....so why buy it?  we did take her to dinner at on the border...as she loves their enchiladas.  when we got home, olivia wrapped her present with wrapping paper and glue....because we didn't have tape.  we had no drinks.  sorry heather, i just realized that.  there was no extra food.  there was no ice cream.   and there were no balloons because ella is scared of inflatable things.  pool toys and balloons send her into hysterics.  she did get so excited when she saw the cake that she started to shake.  griffin blew out her candle before she could get close enough.  did i mention it was just us and heather?  who i invited just a few hours prior to the big "party"?  thank goodness she could make it.  i would post the video....but i accidentally deleted it.  i am so mad at myself for that!  it was a good one, too.  the kind where you can hear me telling people what to do and where to go over everyone else in the video.  in all fairness to us as parents, we were traveling the day before and the day after this event.  orchestrating a birthday party on top of itineration was just not something i could do.  i'm sure others who have gone before me have done it, but i just couldn't.  and have i mentioned griffin and ella were both sick during these festivities?  a first time mom would probably have charged on with the party plans despite sickness, traveling or even a hurricane.....but i didn't.

the thing is, if it weren't for this post....i don't think the kids would ever know.  the reason, because almost all the pics look the same.  the baby in a highchair.  a cake.  the baby with cake all over their face... and the obligatory picture to remember it by.   after all, when else do we take pics of our kids with food all over their faces?  don't we usually try to at least spit clean them before a picture?

i've never been the mother of the year with my ability to remember all the things that i should do.  i don't always take pictures of every important milestone.  i have had to, on multiple occasions,  ask my friends to take an extra picture for me b/c i forgot my camera, my camera battery was dead, or i just plain couldn't find the camera.  i am at times unable to keep all 8 ears clean 24/7.  sometimes i don't keep all 80 fingernails and toenails clipped to perfection.  and i must admit, griffin had birthday cake for breakfast this morning.  the thing is, i have some really amazing kids despite my imperfections.  i guess it's possible that their super amazing dad is the one responsible and i'm just a smiling face roaming about the house....

back to my original point...do kids really care about their first birthday?  i certainly don't remember mine.

Pumpkin Patch

so last weekend we went to the pumpkin patch at the big orange pumpkin farm.

i think the kids had a good time.   at least the little ones did....even though they tried to eat the food intended for the petting farm.  they will eat anything.

we fed cows, goats, sheep.  olivia chased a rooster...at least i think it was a rooster....  hudson roped a set of horns....or something of the sort.  my camera died as soon as the above picture was taken.  i apparently brought my kids to a pumpkin farm to feed animals, pick pumpkins, and go on their first hayride....with a dead camera battery.  it's pretty typical of my ability to be sentimental.  at least i had the camera.  anyway, the rest of the pics were taken with randy's phone.  thank goodness for phones....


ella roamed the open spaces happier than i have ever seen her.  maybe she will some day marry a farmer....she seems partial to the pumpkin farmer kind.

she chose a lovely pumpkin...one that was size appropriate and all.  while we were picking pumpkins i mentioned that we could make pumpkin spice bread.  from then on griffin was convinced that there would be pumpkin spice bread inside his pumpkin when we cut it open.  there was much disappointment.

anyway, after the pumpkins were picked and the animals were sufficiently fed, we went on a hayride.   ella was not in any way impressed, and spent most of her time trying to dig her way off the wagon.... through the bottom.  griffin thought we were saying hair way when we were saying hayride.  i'm not sure what that was all about???  between the pumpkin spice bread and the hair way...no one knows what in the world griffin is talking about when he tells them about his pumpkin farm experience.   and none of the other kids care to talk about it at all.

the spoon making mystery...

-we went to dinner last night to celebrate some friends of ours 30th wedding anniversary. 
-griffin woke up this morning saying they made spoons while we were away.  i said, "you made spoons?"  he said, "yes, spoons."
-we made homemade cookies yesterday.  chocolate chip.  they turned out perfect.  even randy ate them....and he doesn't really eat cookies. 
-hudson and olivia told me they made forts in the living room while we were away last night.
-ella especially enjoyed the cookies.

-ella enjoys her food.

-ella is a lot like her mother.
-i figured out that when hudson and olivia were saying forts, griffin thought they were saying forks.
-i love having a 2 year old....they are so very very funny.

-i love having a 1 year old....they are so very very wobbly.

-8 and 12 year olds are pretty great, too.

-i think that this morning griffin couldn't remember forks, so he said spoons.
-no matter how well a 2 year old speaks, one should take everything they say with a grain of salt....