DISNEYLAND OR BUST!!!

I'm off to the Happiest Place On Earth with my peeps; Mike, Katie & Jessica. The girls turn 3 in 2 weeks and we are off to meet Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy and Pluto. Oh and we are having lunch with some chicks that think they are all that: Ariel, Belle, Briar Rose, Cinderella and Snow White. Princesses... I'M a Princess. You don't see a theme park dedicated to me do ya? Whatever. Give me the Mouse and I'm a happy gal. So, I'll be off the Blog for a few days. Miss me.

88 is GREAT

Happy Birthday to my loving, wonderful, one in a million Grandma Bea on Sunday. She is 88 tomorrow and she is the best person I know. She is generous to a fault. She gives and over gives to all people. She is one of the only people I know to feel true empathy for others sufferings. When I was going through infertility I was afraid sometimes to tell her about set backs I had or when things didn't turn out because I honestly think she suffered more through that trial than I did. When someone is sad or troubled that she loves, she literally feels their pain, cries their tears and walks through the fire right with them every step. She was amazing when I was little. Grammie Bea's house was my favorite place to be. She would make me (and my other cousins) breakfast in bed (to order) always with hot chocolate. You could stay up late, sleep in as late as you wanted and she had a MILLION "ay-eeees" (her cry of affection) and hugs and kisses for you. She was such a good Grandma when I was little and now that I am a mother and my mother is a Grammie D (instead of a Grammie Bea) I realize how lucky we are to have her in our lives. She was married to my Papa John for almost 65 years before he passed away in 2006. She has served our family tirelessly with love and devotion. Her family is the thing she is the most proud of. I am so lucky that I lived near her my whole life and got to spend a lot of time with her. I am extra lucky that we now live close by again and that my girls know her and that she knows them. They love their Great Grandma Bea so much. We had her birthday party tonight and I was so glad to be able to celebrate her 88th birthday with her. We LOVE you Grams...even though you don't know about the computer and you call this thing my BLUB instead of BLOG. "Ay-eeeeee" to you. xoxox

Happy Birthday To My Mom

Today is my mom's birthday. She is the best mom in the world. She raised me to think for myself, to be independent, to know I can be anything I want to be and to love people for their differences. I'm sorry to say I am not very independent. But the other things worked their way in. She was a great mom. She's not the chocolate chip cookie baking, stay at home, never speak above a whisper and always tell me I'm awesome no matter what mom. THANK GOODNESS! She's real, she's totally loyal, she was successful in her work, she made time for me and she lived her own life making her own choices even if they weren't popular. I respect my mom and I know she loves me more than anyone on the planet. Happy Birthday Mom, you rock as a Grammy to my kids and you rock as a mom. Thanks for waking me up at 8am on Saturdays to Classic Rock blaring and house cleaning to be done. It made me avoid housecleaning, loud music and early mornings forever. But you still rock.

Friday Confessions #4

i don't have a lot to confess this week so I thought I would fill out one of those silly surveys my friends sent me on the email.

My "3 Favorites"
My 3 favorite movies: The Wizard of Oz, The Shawshank Redemption, Grease.
My 3 favorite tv shows: Grey's Anatomy, October Road and Brothers and Sisters.
My 3 favorite CD's: Wicked Soundtrack, Evita Soundtrack and Best of Billy Joel
My 3 favorite books: Circle Triology, Harry Potter Series, Zorro.
My 3 favorite hobbies: Ha ha ha, I take care of twins full time. There is no time for hobbies.
My 3 favorite foods: Lobster, Filet, Baked Potato (on the same plate)
My 3 favorite vacation spots: Hawaii, New Orleans, Disneyland/world
My 3 favorite months: October, April and September
My 3 favorite outings: Going to the park with my kids, going out for a fancy dinner, going somewhere and just reading all by myself
My 3 favorite animals: Dog, Katie and Jessica
My 3 favorite items of clothing: Reef Flip Flops, Ralph Lauren jean capris and my Nebraska Huskers T-Shirt
My 3 favorite games: I'm not allowed to play games because my husband is ultra in your face competitive and we lose friends, ruin relationships with family members and get in major fights.

Martha meet Katie. Katie Meet Martha.

Katie just came out into the living room after playing in the play room with a big fat red crayon in her hand. With glee and happiness she exclaimed, "mama, you be so happy with me. I decorating!" "What are you decorating Katie?", I asked. "Me playroom, it so so pretty." I now have a mural in our playroom created by Katie Meeker. The medium used was crayola. I would describe her style as early toddler with a definite Elmo influence. UGH. Decorating??? I don't think so.

I 50% love it when my kids are sick

I would normally save this for Friday confessions but I think it's so heinous it needs it's own post. I 50% hate it and 50% love it when my kids are sick. I think of every mom I know who says "I HATE it when my kids are sick. They are so sad and it's so hard etc etc etc" I always reply to their statements with a "yeah, i totally hate it to." But I really don't. Take it point right now. Jessica has a fever of 103 and Katie has 102. I feel really badly for them. They are super sad and feel awful and I really do suffer for them. But they also want me to snuggle them all the time, they are quiet and sweet in their footie pajamas and messed up hair. I don't have to deal with messed up toys, continuous requests for trips to the play park, snacks, riding bikes, going on rides in the car etc. They just like to lay on me and watch cartoons and have me hold them. They like to go into my big bed and snuggle with me and take an extra long nap. And they always are saying "mom, i need you. hold me." Secretly, (until now)...I love these kinds of days. I love love love these kids. The little sickos.

My BABIES are going to leave the nest...

I just registered my teensy tiny helpless BABIES for preschool starting in the fall. I can't believe they are going to enter the cruel, dog eat dog world already. Granted it's only 2 days/week and they will be with other 3 year olds and it's only for a couple of hours each time but still, kids will be mean to them, and maybe they'll make friends and maybe they won't. What if they don't? What if they get teased or hit or BITTEN? What if one makes friends and the other one doesn't? What if there is that one mean girl that is in every class who you are dying to be friends with even though you know in your heart she isn't a good person? But she has designer Jordache jeans and perfectly feathered blond hair and seems to have sparkles and butterflies on everything she wears. She comes with the tag-a-long girls who are also mean but will never be quite as cool as THAT girl. She's the one you laugh along with while she verbally abuses nice, shy, smart kids just because you want her to think you are cool. Then you go home and cry at night because you can't get the picked on kid's face out of your mind and you can't believe you didn't stick up for them. You vow that tomorrow you will play with that kid at recess but when recess comes you line up for four square with blondie and her tag -a-longs hoping they will accept you and dreading the day when they turn their taunting on you.

Okay, I need to get a grip. It's a bunch of 3 year olds. They'll be fine right? RIGHT? Oh, crap, what have I done?

Twins Terrorize Target

I took the girls to Target tonight. Our mission was to have the girls pick out presents for Grammie and Great Gramma Bea for their birthdays this coming Friday and Saturday. The girls were allowed to walk around the store instead of their usual strapped down into the cart experience. By the end of the night the following things were in our cart:

• A turquoise blue and a traditional brown Wilson football.


• A brightly colored flowered doormat


• Lipsmackers Dr. Pepper Lip Gloss


• Burt's Bees Lip Balm (Gramma Bea/Burt's BEE's ...get it?)


• A frying pan


• Dora The Explorer puffy stickers


• Post-it notes


• A green dish towel


• A blue necklace with sort of matching earrings


• A green and gold head band


• A evening black beaded bag


• A bikini


• A straw hat


• Little Einstens band aids


• Chocolate


• A coffee cup


• A fake silk flower plant


• A kermit the frog green purse


• Sunglasses


• A diet book


• A winnie the pooh bubble machine


• A hot pink fuzzy pillow


• Several birthday cards (I think there were like 8 of them)


• oh, and a lighted mirror

Needless to say, Grammie and Great Gramma Bea will NOT be receiving all of these lovely items. At the checkout stand, our WONDERFUL cashier Tamara allowed closed her line down and allowed us to go through each item and very slowly and SERIOUSLY pick our favorites. They had a JOB to do and they took it so seriously. They debated in each department about which items Grammie would love and picked out things specifically for Grammie and others for Gramma Bea. It was very exhausting for me but I don't think I've laughed that hard in a LONG time.

Friday Confessions #3 (on Saturday)

I'm late this week with my confessions due to an awful case of the flu right after I got back from my "moms gone wild" trip to Portland. Here are the burdens I would like to release this week.

1. When I went to Portland with Mike, I didn't read any of the books I brought. I watched TV, slept, went to the mall and watched more TV. Sometimes I sat in my hotel room with my book on my lap in silence until a giggle would burst from my throat because I was sitting in a hotel room in silence.

2. I really didn't see Mike hardly at all while in Portland. And you know what? I was so fine with it. I know it was supposed to be this reconnecting, couples, spend time together like the good ol' days trip but instead it was a spend time with myself doing whatever the hell I pleased trip while he was stuck in medical lectures about billing and coding insurance claims correctly.

3. I was supposed to go eat at the free buffet breakfast in the hotel each morning but guess what? I slept through the breakfast time and didn't tell Mike I missed breakfast. I just treated myself to an extra nice lunch after I rolled out of bed.

4. I got the flu when I got back. I never unpacked. I still have not unpacked. Doesn't that just drive you nuts? I think it makes my mom itchy.

5. I'm secretly in love with Bobby Flay from the cooking channel. I'm not joking, I would very much like to go on a date with Bobby Flay and I would if I had the chance. Of course, the date would entail him cooking a 5 course meal for me on his BBQ grill while explaining every step to me in his cute New York Irish accent while he flipped my big fat juicy steak in his Iron Chef America apron. But my lust for Bobby is real and sinful. There...it's out there and I guess we are all going to have to deal people.

Happy Easter!

Katie & Jessica in Auntie Rita's front yard
Jessica & Katie at Grammie Bea's house

Jessica decked out in her zebra sunglasses, zebra (striped) dress and her favorite zebra puppet.

Just wanted to wish everyone a very "HOPPY EASTER" (puke) to everyone. Our Easter festivities have so far included enjoying Auntie Rita's Easterland front yard and candy dish. Today we went to an Easter pancake breakfast at the Pavilion in Elk Grove Park and after the girls had fun at an Easter egg hunt, a petting zoo, the fishing pole everyone gets a prize game and visiting the Easter bunny no less than 4 times. Tomorrow, we'll go to Bill and Marilyn's for breakfast and then to their ward for church. After church, we'll go to mom dad's for naptime, looking for more eggs and a nice Easter dinner with mom, dad, the 2 great grandmas and Auntie Lori and Uncle Terry. I got sick when I got back from Portland (I think the flu) and was laid up on Thursday and Friday. Luckily, Mike had Friday off and mom and dad pinched hit on Thursday so I could actually BE sick. I am feeling much better today and am ready for a jellybean, pastel wearing, egg hunting, church going, lamb eating festival of fun tomorrow. I am so thankful for my parents for all the time they spend with us and how much help they give to me. I think they are tired and in need of a vacation from life. I don't think they knew how busy they would be once they retired and we blew into town. But they keep swearing they love it so I'm just going to take them at their word and keep saying thanks (a lot).

Here are some pix of us going to Auntie Rita's. More Easter pix to follow!

Look Out Portland!

Mike and I are headed out for a trip sans kids to Portland. Mike is going to a medical conference and will be stuck in classes most of the day. Me? What will I do with all that time on my hands you ask? I'll be in our fancy schmancy hotel mooching per diem, reading, sleeping in, ordering room service, walking around the city and possibly catching a flick or two. I will be dining in restaurants that have no kids menu in which I will be cutting no ones meat and there will not be a color crayon in sight! Oh the JOY...Oh the Freedom!!! (Mike just read this and he sighed and said "I'll be missing the kids." - Not me SUCKER!) The girls are going on their very own vacation to Grammy & Papa's in which they have been promised play parks and Chick Fil-A. They have asked every day if it was time for their vacation yet. They have no hesitation whatsoever about us leaving. They are like...see ya - wouldn't want to be ya. I'm glad we are such a well adjusted, independent sort of family. It would ride my last nerve if they were the clingy whiny type. It's enough for me when my mom tells me they tell her they love me when I'm not around. I like that they love going to Grammy & Papa's house and that they don't give us a 2nd thought. It's because Grammy & Papa are WAY more fun than Mike & I. They go fun places, they focus their attention on the girls, the girls get to sleep in their bed at night and at nap time, they get M&Ms and they get to play with their best friend that is a boy...Papa. Thanks Mom and Dad for being so awesome to my kids, for taking them places and building memories with them. They love you guys the most of anyone and I'm so thankful the girls have you as Grandparents. You guys rock.

VISITING

We went “visiting” last night. When I was a little girl, my favorite thing to do on a Friday night or a Sunday evening was go “visiting”. This usually meant swinging by my Grandma Bea and Papa John’s house or by Grandma Houlie or Papa Tom’s. Maybe we would include a stop over at Auntie Rita and Uncle Stan’s or we’d go get a cone at Gunthers and visit just the 3 of us. I am happy to report that my love for this activity has been passed on to Katie. On Saturday she announced that she wanted to “go visiting”. Our conversations basically went something like this: “Mommy, tomorrow, after we go to church, can we go visiting?” (me) “Visiting? Well where would we go?” (Katie) “Okay, mom, first we go visiting to Grammy & Papa’s, then Grammie Bea’s, then Grandma & Grandpa’s then Houlie Grammas, then Auntie Rita, then Tanners then Grammy & Papa’s okay Mama?” (me) “well that’s a lot of people and I don’t think we can go visit all of them in one day.” (Katie) sits on the floor in desperate crying with real live tears.

So we went visiting. We went to Auntie Rita and Uncle Stan’s so the girls could give Uncle Stan’s knee a kiss to get better from knee surgery. Oh, and they had to do a dance to help his knee feel better too. And they LOVED Auntie Rita’s house which looks basically like EasterFairyWonderment Land all rolled into one with eggs, and giant bunnies and dishes of candy all around. It’s the best for a kid at a holiday. Then, we went to visit Auntie Lori and Grammie Bea at Grammie Bea’s house. Auntie Lori gave them 2 books and one of those was Stellaluna which was my cousin Susan’s favorite book as a kid. So the girls got a full fledged Stella Luna performance from me last night before bedtime. It was the best. The girls had a blast and have both asked several times today if we could go visiting again. They are enthralled with the fact that Auntie Rita and Auntie Lori are Grammy’s sisters. I guess because they are sisters. Sisters Rule. I wish oh wish I had one. Well I have Amber and Heather and they rock. Shout Out To Sisters!

PLEASE OBEY YOUR MAMA

My kids have Spring Fever. They've been couped up all winter and have had a taste of freedom these past 3 weeks since the weather has gotten warmer. And they are fed up and are revolting against being inside. Today, I needed to clean my house. It had gotten to that certain level of stank so I could put it off no longer. However, the girls had other ideas. They think as soon as the sun rises they need to go to the play park, and visiting to Grammy & Papa's and go eat at The Donalds (McDonalds) and go to Costco and have a picnic. Staying inside and playing with their gazillion toys while mom attempts to clean out the fridge and do some laundry was not going to fly.

So being inside all the time has brought out a side of my kids that I'd rather not have rear it's ugly head. They join forces to take me down. They climb on counters, get into closets, take off their clothes and jump on couch. They litter toys, clothes, stickers, food etc. all over my house. As soon as I clean one area it's trashed before I clean the next. ugh. ugh. and ugh.

I'm so over it.

Fun At The Carnival!

Mike & Jessica on the airplane ride.

Did you ever have this sort of wonderment on a merry-go-round? I know I did.

Waiting in Line For The Fish Ride

Katie & Jessica at the carnival, Saturday, March 1, 2008

Last Saturday, we went to a carnival in our hometown. When I was a kid, it was a special treat to go to this carnival. I rode the exact same merry-go-round when I was a newborn baby. I have taken the kids there 3 times since they have been born and my parents have taken them there a few times. All the rides are designed for kids about 8 yrs old and younger. It's the best place. Old fashioned rides without all the modern safety features. They have REAL cotton candy made right before your very eyes instead of prepackaged in bag with no stick. And the best part is each ride is just ONE ticket. Too much fun. Here are some pix from the day.

Friday Confessions #2

Wow, I didn't post anything all week. It's been a busy and boring one I'm afraid to say. However, just because it's been boring DOES NOT mean I don't have things to get off my chest and confess to you, my one lone reader...okay maybe two.

1. I have a bacterial infection called follicularitus where I get tons of bumps (like a rash) behind my neck and ears. I have to take antibiotics to cure it. My confession is that I thought maybe somehow from the McDonald's Play land or something I had contracted head lice. I was sure that's what I had so I went to the doctor to find out what to do. I am confessing because I was 100% sure I had head lice and I was 100% sure I would not tell anyone. How prideful of me.

2. I love reality television. I am a Survivor freak and I love Big Brother, Amazing Race, American Gladiators, The Hills, The Apprentice you name it...I love it.

3. I promise my kids rewards if they take a good nap for me and then I don't deliver unless they remind me. Today if they take a good nap they will get a bath with a Popsicle in the bathtub. They'll get the bath because they are grimy little suckers but not the Popsicle if they don't remember. How mean am I?

4. I don't answer my phone and I don't listen to the messages. I should just leave a message saying "hi it's amy, don't leave me a message because I will not be listening to it. " Right now, my mailbox is full and I will be ruthlessly deleting messages without listening to them ASAP.

5. I don't want to delete messages because all that will do is clear up space so people can leave more messages I won't be listening to. I swear it's not because I don't care about the people in my life. It's a reverse form of agoraphobia, where I'm fine to go out of the house and see people but I am freaked out about other people invading my cocoon and causing me to have even more responsibilities than I already do. I'm afraid then I will be an even bigger flake and have an even longer to do list that I don't accomplish.