The Everyday...

Some random, funny, worthy of remembering moments in the everyday here lately....

My Aunt bought these cookies for the twins forever ago. I recently found them in the pantry and gave them to the kids for a treat one day. They both (Jenna especially) just stared at it and kept saying "Hi!" over and over to the cookie like they were new best friends. I thought it was cute and kept on about my day. The next day, those two rascals had watched me "hide" the cookies behind our fruit basket in the corner and kept pointing to the corner saying "Hi?, Hi?" over and over. It took me a solid half day to figure out they were saying they wanted a "hi" cookie. Hilarious what associations a toddlers brain will come up with!

I've only ventured to the grocery store twice by myself with all three kiddos. This is why. No room for groceries even with the extended limo cart. It is waaaay too cold (and most often some sort of precipitation is coming down!) to mess with putting Easton in the carrier out in the parking lot. So he stays bundled and warm in the carseat which takes all of the grocery cart! I did get alot of assistance shopping, checking out and loading my groceries in the van though :)

Recently while taking Easton in the house, the twins wandered outside the garage into the yard instead of coming in the house behind me. I went out in the yard to get them and almost had a heart attack. No sign of them anywhere. Two seconds from panic, I found them in the rocking chairs not making a sound. Just sitting there like they were enjoying the day!

Jenna loving her new "jenna" shoes (that was the style name of the shoes!)

Whatever time I save in giving her a nice processed, canned Chef Boyardee, I more than make up in cleaning her up. Every.single.time.

While Daddy was snowboarding one weekend, Mommy had to bring out the new and undiscovered finger paint to make the day pass quickly! It was a huge hit!!

Oh my....I love sleeping babies. I could just creepily stare at them all day.

Super Twin Heroes! My mom made them capes to play with and they LOVE them!

 



Plaid shirt twins. Like Father, like Son. :)

Caden lovingly sharing his stickers with brother.

Maybe peer pressure is contagious after all !? After Caden received praise for sharing...lookie, lookie who shared her stickers!?

We are in a MAJOR phase right now of loving our stuffed animals. And apparently we must have 3-4 per child. As if the back of the van wasn't full already.....

Love this sweet smile!

a) People wonder why I'm complaining of Cabin Fever when it has snowed every week in January and February so far. b) Gotta love coming from NC where this would have shut the state down to Ohio where this was a 1 minute blurb on the news. c) doesn't this make you want to curl up next to a fire and a hot mug of cocoa? Me too...and is pretty much what I've been doing most of the winter! :)  

Take a Hike

Once upon a Sunday a few weeks ago, it wasn't snowing. In fact, it was a beautiful day! Clear skies, low wind - a perfect day to take a hike! The twins LOVE to be outside - no matter if it is windy, raining, snowing, sunny - you name it. To combat the wicked case of cabin fever we have all developed, we thoguht it would be wonderful to go to the state park near our house and go hiking.

We threw the twins in the stroller and Easton in the Ergo and off we went! Once we got out on the trail, there was still ice and snow along the trail. When we checked the temperature, it was a balmy 39 degrees! What has this world come to when THIS beach bum thinks 39 degrees is warm? And what were we doing taking our young kids and baby out in the cold to walk? Oh Ohio, what are you doing to me!? haha (no comments allowed from Jenelle S! wink wink).

Here is Easton playing peek-a-boo. :)

And then, about halfway thru our walk, the twins insisted that they both hold my hand. They pitched a fit if they were not holding my hand. For 2.3 seconds, I was annoyed having to bend over and walk side by side with the stroller and dodging slick spots on the trail. But it literally took 2 seconds for me to realize this as a precious moment. There will come a day when they won't want to hold mommy's hand. It was a sweet moment and sweet memory so Ryan snapped a picture for me.

Looooove Day

Oh my goodness, what a week. I have been spoiled rotten by my Valentine! I had an entire morning to sit and think (more on that below!!) and was so blessed, convicted and humored by the irony between this Valentines Day and last year's Valentines Day. Last year, we had just come home from our "scouting" trip up here in Ohio...the twins were SO.SUPER.SICK, then I got it and was sooo sick and after we came home from our trip, Ryan got sick. We were in the middle of showings to sell our house in Raleigh, constantly thinking about our decision to move up here or not....little time for Valentines Day celebrations! Oh wow.

But THIS YEAR...Ryan did.it.up.  The night before, he gave in to my asking for some chocolate. Of course I didn't know what he had for me the next morning, but he went out and got me a chocolate ganache mini cake from non-other than good ole' Giant Eagle...YUM!



He started surprising me Valentine's morning by "leaving for work" then reappearing a few minutes later. That early in the morning is not the time to mess with my mind - it is way to fragile these days :) Anyway, he had my favorite coffee from Starbucks and bagel from Panera, chocolate from Trader Joe's and flowers. Fantastic way to start the day! Then he said my other present was him! He took off work to help with kids. ahhhhh this.is.perfect.

Then, bless his heart, he told me the "situation." I had agreed to keep a friends little girl while she went to an appointment and hadn't told him until the night before. Why would he take off work? Never crossed my mind, so I didn't bring it up. oops. Anyway, he had arranged a morning at the SPA for me! oh yippee. I called my friend and told her about the "situation" to which she quickly let me know it was no problem to take her little girl with her. Awesome. I promised to make it up by keeping her daughter for her to go out on a date with her hubs. So off to the spa I went! Massage, Pedicure, chocolate covered strawberries, sugar scrubs, quiet, relaxation room, whatever I wanted to drink or snack on.... It was marvelous and one of the best spa experiences I've ever had.

 

He is such a sweet Valentine to our kids too - he got them balloons (their FAVORITE!) to play with (which they did all day!)

After a whole day out to myself, eating lunch wherever I wanted, walking through Hobby Lobby coveting most things I saw, not listening to Thomas the train dvd in the car....I came home. We had boring, dried out leftovers because I left the house so quick in the morning, I didn't set anything out for dinner. oops :) After dinner we made strawberry marshmallow's with the kids. They loved it and actually didn't make a mess!

 



 

 

 And then to add to the sweetness of the day....oh my, I can't handle him!  

 

 

 

What a wonderful day - I was spoiled rotten by my sweetheart. Love him dearly! And to top off the week, we get to go on a DATE tonight after the kids go down. Whaaaat???

The Casa in Ohio

Like that spanglish in the title? I knew you would...

So now that we have been here coming on a year, I thought I would post pics of our casa up here in Ohio since so many have asked for pictures. :) No time like the present, eh? This house has taught me a few must-haves and will-never-again haves for our future house when we get back to Raleigh.

You know, to get the full "ohio" effect....with snow everywhere :)

 

First never-have: a garage with two doors instead of one big door. I cant' tell you how many times I have scratchded the sides of those doors. Our Pilot was a tight fit and now the van is SUPER tight. I had to pull up multiple times just to back out for the first 3-4 months living here. Now, it is winter so I just dont go anywhere :) ha

 

Second never-have: 3 steps and call it a "deck." Oh how we have missed our deck! Ohio summers are beautiful! No humidity, no bugs, but we had no where to sit outside and enjoy our grilled dinners. We ended up going camping-style and sitting in our camping chairs while the twins ate at their picnic table, but wow, would have loved a deck up here!

 

 

We have been blessed with a HUGE yard. It was a bit demanding when we first got here with 16 month olds wanting to run two different directions (it is not fenced), but we have grown to love it and let them run, run, run to get their energy out!

 

gotta love a huge cell phone tower in your back yard...at least the sunset adds some backdrop :)

 The inside: as you walk in, you see our "family" room that opens to our dining room. We have huge cathedral ceilings so it feels very bright and open when you come in (a definate plus). 

 

If you look up, you see the loft which makes things feel even more open and airy

 

From the family room, you walk into the kitchen. I'll be honest, I've enjoyed the kitchen in this house...it is open and plenty big. I can see the family room, parts of the dining room, AND the twin zone (aka living room) from the kitchen. I LOVE having an island!! It is so nice to spread everything out I'm making for dinner and have space to prepare it. HATE the white sink. That is an immediate change if our next house has that. ick. It always looks dirty!!

 



 

 

ummmm...a must have if I can help it! Slide out drawers! Every single cabinet has slide outs...it's amazing.

 

 

And now to the "living room" which we have renamed "Twin Zone." All of the twins' toys are in here and they can spread out, play with them, leave them out and no one trips on them. Many a night, we dont even clean up in there since it is in the back of the house and we don't have to see it :) It was very clean on a day we were having company, so I snapped a picture quickly! You usually can't see the carpet :)

 



 

 

 

Upstairs we have 3 bedrooms and the loft. The rooms are a bit bigger than our previous house so that has been very nice! The loft started as a catch all, then became our guest room when Easton came along and needed a room :) We contemplated closing the wall opening in, but decided against it since we didn't know how long we would be here. So, we hung curtains up instead to pull for "privacy" for our guest. ha!

 

Here it is as a catch all....

 



 

 

 

 

And now, our guest "bedroom"...

This is the 3rd bedroom which started out as our Guest Bedroom, then became Easton's Nursery(a whole post to itself!): 

 

 

 

 

A brief pause to show you the highest upgrade in the home...our 70's flower/popcorn ceiling. Really folks? If your going to take the time to stamp a flower shape over the ENTIRE house, just spray it with popcorn!

 



 

Ok, we're back. This is the twins room...bigger than our house in Raleigh so it was nice to be able to fit both cribs (now toddler beds) in the room with some space for toys and such. This is how the room was for a long time - I was taking one todler bed transition at a time!  

 

 

Now, we have two big kids in toddler beds! :( We sold Caden's crib to a family expecting twins up here and it was so sad! We're down to one crib in the house for Easton.

 

 

 

 

 

And last, our very non exciting Master bedroom. I had no motivation to fix it up not knowing how long we would be up here. As you can see, I did nothing fun with my plant shelf. I started, and then miserably failed :) Oh well.