Halloween!

Oh, it has been a busy couple days. Friday at the girls school they had a "Just Say No to Drugs" parade. What this has to do with wearing fairytale and nursery rhyme costumes I have no idea. I think whoever came up with this idea was on drugs themselves. Right after the parade Syndey's class was having their "Fall Celebration" (everything has to be so p.c. these days). So Sydney's teacher asked another mother and I to come and help the kids get into their costumes for the parade and then help set up the party. They had cupcakes, chips, and juice boxes, oh my. The teacher had even made little grab bags for them to take home at the end of the day (more candy, just what they need, but also a little straw and toy of some sort). I felt kind of bad because Savannah's class didn't have a party, but I guess they had a birthday, so she got a little grab bag too and they had cupcakes so it worked out okay.

On the way home we went by the house on the corner that the couple who have fallen in love with the girls lives and the man was outside carving their pumpkin. Of course the girls stopped to talk to him and he showed them the pumpkin guts. See they had been asking me what was inside the pumpkins earlier, but since we just had stick in pieces for our pumpkins and didn't carve ours they couldn't see, so I was glad this worked out so well. He told them to be sure and come to their house when we were trick-or-treating later and that was all they could talk about the rest of the way home.

Phone Chatter

Once again we went up to the school one night this week for some little thing they had going on. They were selling pizza for a dollar a slice and then there was a PTA meeting and a 5th grade program. Now last time they did this they ran out of pizza really quickly so I was glad for hubby's obsessive timeliness. I figured that they might do the same thing this time, so I wanted to get there on time, however, there was to be an hour between when they started selling pizza and the meeting and I knew the girls would get bored. I am a big advocate of being prepared. It might just be the fact that I had twins, or it might just be my personality but whatever. There is rarely a time that we all leave the house without a drink, a snack, a toy, and usually a sweater or something for the girls.

On this night I had them put a few things in a little purse they could carry. They took a little notepad, some new mini pens their nana gave them and a play phone that beeps and rings. They drew pictures in their notepads after they ate and then on the walk home they pretended to talk on the phone with various people. It was hilarious to hear the phone conversations of two five year olds who sounded like they were about 13. Here are a few samples of conversations:

Savannah: "Hi Kerieana. Yes, I am going to see High School Musical 3. Well I am going with my sister. You too? Oh that is great! Did you see the 5th graders? That was cool huh?" ("mom, what is another word for bright? not shiny. Like the moon. Oh luminescent.) "Keriana, the moon is really lumnescent tonight."


Sydney: "Jimal? How are you? I am walking home now. You didn't get to go? Your sister is sick? Too bad, it was really cool. You should see the moon, it is really lumessy tonight."

This went on for the entire 4 or 5 block walk home. I'm very afraid for the teen years already.

Halloween Graveyard

Since we recently tore out all the bushes in front of our house and have yet to replant I figured that the front flower bed would make a perfect graveyard for Halloween. I bought a few little "tombstones" at Wal-Mart, some spider web stuff and a bag of bones. Today the girls and I went out and made some mounds of dirt to look like fresh graves and stuck some of the bones out of them, then put the tombstones at the top. We spread the spiderweb stuff in the corner of the flowerbed where the steps up to the front door are. I then strung some orange rope lights around the flowerbed and we were done. The girls loved it. They had their shovels and hoe and rake out and they were telling anyone who walked by that they were making a graveyard.

Making other people want to have kids

Walking home from school the other day the girls added yet another admirer to their ever growing list. There is a house we pass on our walk that has a white picket fence and rose bushes lining the fence. The girls often stop to admire the roses and even pick up petals that have fallen on the ground (they know better than to pick flowers from other peoples yard). This day there were two men working in the yard pulling out some bushes in front of the house. Of course my little flirts said "Hello" and they said "Hi" back. Then Savannah tells them that she loves their pretty roses so the one guy asks her if she would like one (duh!) and picks one right off and gives it to her. Then Sydney runs up to tell him how much she loves his pretty roses too so that he won't forget to give her one, and he does give her a rose. Then they said bye and thank you like 5,000 times and he ate it up. As we continued towards home Savannah says "I found a pretty red leaf and a pretty yellow leaf and a nice young man gave me a flower, it's a pretty good day."

Later we walked back by on our way to the school for the Spaghetti Dinner Night. Hey $8.00 for all of us to eat spaghetti, garlic bread, a brownie for dessert, and unlimited drinks. Plus I don't have to cook. Gotta love it! Anyway, as we are walking up to the house with the white picket fence the guy is still out working in the yard and sees the girls coming. He yells around the house "Hey come here, you have got to see these cute girls, cute little twin girls, come here" to someone. His wife comes over and they talk to the girls for a minute, asking their names and how old they are and stuff. Of course they tell me how adorable they are. But I know that. So we went off and had our spaghetti and they saw a few of their friends and thought it was so cool.

After dinner, we yet again walked by the same house. The woman was unloading groceries from the car this time and the girls talked to her about what she bought at the grocery store and we started to go on. She said "He's still out back doing the yard, make sure you stop and say hi" and the girls ran back to say hi. Then she says to me "I've been trying to talk him into a having a baby and since he thought your girls were so cute I'm hoping it will help my case." I had to laugh. Some days those girls practically drive me to drink, but they do have their moments. They do have their moments.

Pez Directions

I picked up this little pez dispenser at wally world the other day as a cute little thing to send hubby on the ship. I also got one for each of the girls except theirs are a brown cat and a gray cat. They thought they were so cute! Tonight at dinner they asked if Daddy would know how to put the candy in. I tried to tell them that I was sure he could figure it out but they were unconvinced. The conversation turned into a "How To" on using a pez dispenser for daddy. Here it is:

Step 1 - Pull the head back

Step 2 - Pull the neck up

Step 3 - Put the candy in

Step 4 - Push the neck back down

Step 5 - Eat Candy

Step 6 - Call your girls to thank them for such a cool gift!

Dum, Da, Dum, Dum . . . Deployment

Well, hubby is officially gone now and the countdown to his return begins. The girls and I took him to the ship the other day and said goodbye for about 8 months. Ugh! We hung out on the ship for a bit and took pictures for and then it was time for guests to leave the ship, but the ship wasn't actually leaving the pier for another hour. I decided it was better not to wait and see the ship leave just because an hour was too long to be sitting there looking at the ship and thinking about how much we will all miss each other.

As strange as it may seem, I think that it was hardest on hubby this time. Last time he went on deployment the girls were about 3 1/2. When hubby came back and saw how much he had missed it was hard and I think he was thinking about how much he was going to miss this time. He is basically missing their first whole year of school. I was very good and only cried a tiny bit, but then again I am still in a complete state of denial! If I can just stay in denial for about 7 more months I'll be great.

Daddy (aka Mommy) had gotten them singing Barbie dolls from the new Barbie movie The Diamond Castle. Well the dolls were a big hit. They played with them all the way home from the ship and Savannah took hers to school for show and tell. Yesterday they were "rehearsaling" the song and making a dance so that they could put a show on for daddy when he gets back. It was so adorable and they know the words so good already. Here are the lyrics . . . they are kinda perfect for now.

"I feel connected (connected), protected (protected), it's like you're standing right with me all the time. You hear me (you hear me), you're near me (you're near me), and everything else is gonna be alright. 'Cause nothing can break this, nothing can break this, nothing can break this tie. Connected... oooooh connected inside. "

In the movie it is about best friends, but since daddy gave them the dolls and the words are about being connected inside it is so perfect. I told them they can think of daddy every time they hear the song.

Goshin Angry

Hubby was mailing a package to a friend, and in the course of the girls "helping" him Savannah dropped it. The rest of the conversation went like this:

Savannah: I hope it isn't broken.
Hubby: Me too.
Savannah: Because if it is broken then he will be . . . can I say frickin yet?
Hubby: No you cannot say frickin.
Savannah: Oh, . . . then he would be goshin angry.

The first day of school

Today was the big day. The first day of school. The girls were so excited. Last night we packed up their backpacks with their school supplies, and made their lunches to take and they could barely settle down to sleep. I have to admit that I was excited for them too and had a little trouble going to sleep while trying to go over the list in my head to be sure I hadn't forgotten anything. This morning they were too excited to even eat anything but a couple bites of yogurt. Here they are in front of the house right before walking to school.

And here they are walking with daddy, who is carrying their backpacks because they were actually kind of heavy with all those school supplies in them.

Here is Savannah sitting at her table in her class just waiting to start learning.
And here is Sydney at her table (purple, of course. Thank you teacher for remembering). She already has a buddy and is busy "reading".
Walking down the hall to their classes I saw more than one mother red faced and crying as they obviously left their little ones. We saw one father standing outside a classroom holding his tearful little girl telling her he would see her after school. I just hoped mine didn't see that and start getting ideas but they sailed by on cloud nine without batting an eye. They went right in their classes and after locating where to stow their backpack and lunch box found their seats.

As hubby and I were walking out of the school I started to get a little misty myself. Me, who has been so excited for this day. I told myself I was not going to cry. I have been looking forward to this for years. Time. Time to clean the house up more, time to scrapbook, time to nap, time to myself. That is what school means for me I reminded myself. I managed to fend off the tears on the short walk home with hubby, however, when he went to get in his truck to return to work I found myself getting choked up.

As soon as he drove off I found myself doing something that I had sworn I wouldn't do. CRYING! Even now I am still tearing up and feeling like a ninny. It's not that I will miss them so much (hey there are still at least 6 more waking hours for them to annoy me) or that I'm worried about them (which I am of course. Will they like it, will they make friends, what if someone teases them, what if they hate their teacher? etc.) but it is more about this being such a big milestone.

Sydney said to me this morning "Why do you want us to look beautiful today?" as I was helping her put on her tights and shoes.

I replied "Because I am going to remember this day for the rest of your lives." And I will.

Open House Night

Last night was open house night at the girls school. It was basically a time where parents and kids can visit the school, see the classrooms, and meet the children's teachers.

The girls will be in different classes. This is a huge hot button issue in the twin community. Most teachers and educators are pro separation while most twin mom's are against separation. We will have to see how it all pans out, but my thoughts are as follows. I think the separation will be good for them while avoiding some common twin problems.

1. Separating them will foster individuality. A lot of twins act like a unit and I have seen this with mine as well. Often times when someone asks one of them their name they say "We're Sydney and Savannah", as apposed to "I am Savannah" or "I am Sydney".

2. One thing that I would be concerned about with them being in the same class would be the teacher confusing them. They do look a lot alike. I could easily see a teacher becoming confused about who did well at what task and causing one twin not to get the extra help they need in a subject because of it. Already Sydney is very interested in writing and carries around a notepad and pen or pencil all the time, whereas Savannah, not so much.

3. Give them time apart. I have been extremely lucky with my girls. I hear from other twin mom's about the constant fighting among their twins all the time and my girls really hadn't been fighting that often. The last few weeks though have been awful. It has been bicker, bicker, fight, bicker, hit, fight some more. So at this point I am really hoping that being away from each other 6 hours a day will give them a break and make them appreciate each other and their special bond as twins more.

4. Allow them to hone their social skills individually. Just a few weeks ago when we went to this little neighborhood block party while in Texas I had a glance into the different social skills my daughters have. While their friend was off playing with someone else Sydney had continued to play with several boys that were on the water slide, while Savannah walked back over to the adults and was sitting on her blanket alone. My mother immediately went to check on her. I wanted to see what she would do. To my mother this was just another example of why they should be together in school, after all Savannah needed Sydney to help her make friends. I, on the other hand, saw this as something Savannah needs to learn on her own and while I feel for her (after all, in a similar situation I can see myself taking her actions) I think she needs to learn it on her own. After all, in the real world she is not going to have Sydney around to ease her social anxiety for the rest of her life.

So, since hubby was home we split up and each took one girl to her classroom. I got Savannah and he got Sydney . . . after a brutal round of Rock, Paper, Scissors, because they both wanted to go with daddy. As soon as Savannah and I introduced ourselves to her teacher she said "Oh, Savannah has a twin that is in the class next door right?" which made me feel a little better. At least they were aware and I was so glad that they would at least be next door to each other. Then she said "I'm so glad you are separating them." That seems to be the predominate feeling among teachers. Savannah's teacher admitted to being a little strict, but seems to really love the children and said she had some fun times too. She did talk a lot, so much so that even I was tired of it, so we hopped next door to check on hubby and Sydney.

Sydney's teacher admitted to being a lot more easy going than Savannah's teacher even though he said they were friends and she was a great teacher. He did not talk so much and hubby filled me in on his little talk he gave to the parents. He told everyone that he did not need any supplies because he had purchased them himself, that he was a single man and spent a lot of money on his classes. We found out that the girls would have lunch together, so that was one plus. I was a little worried about that since there are 6 Kindergarten classes at their school and I know they have to stagger them so the Cafeteria isn't overwhelmed. I have to say that at first glance it seems that they are in the right classes. Savannah can be a bit headstrong and I think will benefit from having a stricter teacher, while Sydney is pretty mellow and should do well in a little bit more laid back atmosphere.

They seemed to accept being in different classes okay. I have been talking up the fact that they will make twice as many friends this way all summer. We will have to see how it works out when they actually go to school Tuesday though.

Just trying to make it through a few more weeks

I've been so bad about my blogging the last month, but really at this point I am just trying to get through the next couple weeks with my sanity.

Between getting the newsletter done for my Mothers of Multiples group, reading up on my new duties as Ombudsman for hubby's ship and getting the girls ready for school, and knowing that hubby is leaving on deployment in a few weeks I am definitely on the edge.

We got postcards in the mail today addressed to Sydney and Savannah from their Elementary school. They had the names of their Kindergarten teachers and room numbers. School starts next week, but there is an open house tomorrow night and they are so excited. I so hope they stay excited and like school. Mostly because I just need a break from their constant bickering of the last few weeks.

So nice to be home

It is so nice to be home!

I have loved traveling around the country and seeing all my family the last 3 1/2 weeks, but it is so nice to be home. I slept in my own bed last night loved it. I'll probably do a recap of vacation later but for now I am just enjoying being in my own space, trying to get caught up on laundry and enjoying a nice big rum and coke.

Neighborhood Party

Last night we went over to a friends house for their weekly neighborhood get together. It is one of those things where everyone brings something, they just pile it all on a table, someone bbq's some stuff and you just dig in. Everyone had a really nice time, even my parents. Our good friends with the daughter the same age as the girls had one of those big blow up things that is a huge slide with a pool at the bottom. Every kid in the neighborhood was on that thing! In fact, when too many kids got on the top of the slide it sort of started tilting and we had to yell at them for some to slide down before it dumped them off into the driveway!

They have been inviting us to these since they moved into that neighborhood about 5 years ago so by now we know all their neighbors too. It is kind of fun to go back and see all of them and how much all of the kids have grown since we have been gone for a year. It is so funny how time seems to go faster every year as you get older and the kids seem to grow up so fast. Even my girls have been sprouting up lately and have these long legs all of the sudden.

More swimming on the agenda for today, so better get suited up!

Fun, fun, fun!

The girls and I have been having a great time at Nana & Papa's house. They swim at least twice a day and are usually in the pool by 10:00 am at the latest. This past week a friend of mine and her 3 daughters came for a visit and all the girls had so much fun together. We had a 10 year old, a 7 year old, my two 5 year olds and a 2 1/2 year old, yikes! Then today, we finally got together with some friends that live here and their 5 year old daughter and 2 1/2 year old boy, this girl is a friend the girls miss a lot and 2 hours just wasn't enough, they wanted her to stay. We will definitely get together again before we leave.

We have also been SCHOOL SHOPPING! The girls have been hounding me about going school shopping since about May, when we went to the Kindergarten Orientation. They love to shop, just like their momma and nana. It has been so fun seeing them trying on shoes and clothes and getting excited over backpacks and lunch boxes. They are soo big!

Rehearsaling

The girls were in the pool today, of course. They told me that they were "rehearsaling" a play to put on for Daddy and I when he got here. That's right "rehearsaling". It's not a typo it is another word made up by Sydney and Savannah.

Playing Catch-Up

It has been a busy week!

Last Saturday the girls and I embarked on our cross country jaunt, along with my dad, the dog, and the cat. Amazingly, the trip went really well. We were able to drive half way, stay the night in a hotel, and then drive the other half and arrive at my mom and dad's at a decent hour. They were 12 1/2 hours of driving each day, but having my dad to help with the driving made it not so bad. The girls were practically angels! Unbelievable, right? All I have to say is "How did people survive before portable DVD players?" and also "Why does driving make you so tired?" I really don't get how come I am exhausted at the end of a day spent driving. All you do is sit on your butt, move your feet a little bit (even less if you use the cruise control). I just don't get it.

Once we arrived at my parents we had two great days, during which the girls were in the pool no later than 9:00 am each morning. Then hurricane Dolly hit near us, so it has been raining and windy (but still sweltering hot and HUMID, yuck!) for the past 2 days. Luckily Dolly hit far enough south of us that we weren't really effected except for some rain, wind, and a few tornado watches that didn't turn into anything.

Tomorrow is supposed to be nice, so I'm sure my little water bugs will be happy to once more be splish-splashing around. I better get my rest so I can keep up with them.

Kidsitter

Hubby and I have been informed by the girls that they would prefer the term "kidsitter" instead of "babysitter". After hubby got off the phone with the babysitter the other night they informed us of this brainstorm. How old are these kids again? Because I can't imagine being 5 and having a preference on this terminology.

DVR Divas

Watch out! The girls have learned how to operate the DVR.

I guess I should go into a little back story. A few weeks ago at bedtime I discovered that we had run out of pull-ups for Sydney. As you may recall, Savannah started wearing her panties to bed a few months ago and has been doing very well, however, Sydney hadn't even been really trying. So, when we ran out of pull-ups I told Sydney that we were just going to try sleeping in panties. She did okay the first 2 nights, but on the third she had an accident.

Now I think part of the reason that she doesn't go to the potty at night is that she is just too lazy and since she is on the top bunk I haven't pushed it. Then Hubby says that another possible reason is that she doesn't want to miss part of whatever movie they are watching so maybe we should show them how to pause the movie when they want to go to the potty. So I showed them which button was the pause and which was the play. Of course, that night they had to try it out so they each "had to potty" like 10 times in the first hour after they were in bed. She has still had a few accidents so now we have taken to waking her up to potty when we go to bed and that seems to be helping. I still think she is being lazy though.

They are smart little cookies though because the other day they realized that they now knew how to pause and play the TV in the living room (which is the only one with DVR). We were having a lazy day and they were watching Sprout (PBS). Well one had to potty and the other wanted a snack so they paused their show. About that time hubby came in and was putting his stuff away and saw them go back into the living room and start up their show again on their own. He comes into the kitchen amazed and says "They know how to work the DVR now?" "Evidently," I replied.

Now nothing can stop them. I am already dreading the day they learn to read the channel listings because right now I can lie to them and say a show isn't on but soon those days will be over. Then I'll just have to be a mean mom who says "Enough TV" instead of a nice mom who lies and says "There isn't anything you like on right now."

Bedtime torture

What is it with husbands?

He walks in the door at 5 minutes until 8:00 pm, which is the girls bedtime. Now, I am not bitching about how late he was because I know that today was a good friends last day on the ship and they took him out to "play" after work, so fine. But, he comes in here right at bedtime and tells the girls he will play starry (that is what 5 year old girls named Sydney and Savannah call Mario Galaxy on the Wii in case you didn't know). They love to watch him play because they are not quite able to do this game on their own yet. He KNOWS that every time he plays this they turn into complete spazes!

So, he gets them totally hyped up right before bed.

Then to top it off he tells them that the ship picnic is tomorrow. Then they have 5 million questions ("Will there be food? Can we make daddy fall in the dunk tank? Will there be cotton candy? When will we go? Will be see purple Savannah? . . . and on and on and on) and they get all hyped up just thinking about it. We had told them about the picnic that was coming up a few weeks ago, but they had forgotten about it with the other stuff we have had going on, which rarely happens, and he had to go and remind them right before bed. I have to wonder some days if this man is insane!

Needless to say bedtime was complete torture. Thanks honey.

Mini Golf with T & the boy

I'm feeling pretty good today, I beat a 10 year old boy at mini golf. Hey, you gotta pump up the old ego whenever you can.

Today the girls and I met an old friend of mine and her son for a round of mini golf and lunch. We knew each other way back when neither of us had kids, we could shop in the Junior section, and our marriages were brand new. Our hubby's actually went to high school together and they introduced T. and I. Now we are the best of friends and the hubby's rarely talk. I love seeing her. She is one of the sweetest, nicest people you could ever meet, yet she doesn't make me sick with her niceness, and she is a super mom.

We met up at the mini golf place because I figured that would be something her son could do without being too bored and my girls could try for the first time so they would be entertained and that would leave us time to chat without 5 million trillion interruptions. It would have been a better plan if it wasn't so freakin hot, but we made it work. Even so, by the time we finished our 18 holes I think we all would have loved to slide down the decorative water falls even if we did end up in the pond at the bottom with the freaky catfish thing that seemed to be following us around the course.

As soon as we made it down the street to the Cracker Barrel I high tailed it to the restroom to dry myself off. I did get a few startled looks as I mopped my brow and neck up with their paper towel (and thank goodness they had paper towel and not those horribly useless hand dryer things). I explained to the lady with her daughter, who were staring as they washed their hands, that we had been mini golfing and she seemed to understand and ceased giving me the crazy lady stare. T confessed to me that she was carrying deodorant/antiperspirant in her purse on this trip because the relatives they are staying with do not have central a/c. How do people live like that in this day and age?!

I was loving the Cracker Barrel restaurant today. First, it was blessedly cool after our mini golf expedition. Second, the kids love to sit in the rocking chairs out front while we wait to be seated. Third, they serve breakfast all day. Fourth, they have checkers and those little peg games at the tables for the kids. And fifth, after we eat they can look around the little store and pick out a small candy instead of me having to order some huge dessert.

All in all we had a pretty fun day and I think the girls have a little bit of a crush on T's son. Cute!

Don't say uhm

My husband has made me aware of a strange quirk I have developed. It seems that I often ask him two questions back to back that should be yes or no answers but then they would have apposing answers.

Understand? No? Me either, at first.

Here is an example: I will say to him "Do you want another drink?" followed right away by "Are you done?" So any way he answers will be confusing. If he says "yes" I then have to qualify "Yes, you are done, or yes you want a drink." Or I'll ask "Are you coming to bed?" then "Are you staying up?"

Seems I do this a lot. Since he told me about it I have noticed how often I do this and I have tried to stop and I just can't. What is with that? It reminds me of when I had to do an oral report in school and right before starting someone says "Remember, try not to say uhm." Then of course the whole report is like "uhm, uhmidy, uhm". You try not to do something and just end up doing it more.

Mommy you snortled

The other day in the van the girls were telling me a story or something. When I laughed at what they had been saying I sort of snorted (yes, it happens occasionally).

Savannah said "Mommy, you snortled!" My children tend to make up their own words.

This just made me laugh even harder. Now I've told several friends about it and we have all started using the word snortled ourselves. So here are a few other words my kids have made up:

yogrit = yogurt

skippy dipping = skinny dipping

bednight = bed time

pattren = pattern

snortle = snort

Captain Dave's Wild Ride

Well, the 4th of July started out promising, but . . . here is a recap of what came to be known as "Captain Dave's Wild Ride"

Our friends Jeff and Angie came down from Pennsylvania for the weekend and as I mentioned in a previous post Hubby borrowed a boat from someone on his ship to use. So the plan was that we were going to take out the boat, meet our other friends with their boat and anchor in the harbor where we could watch the fireworks. Sounded good but right from the start things started going wrong. Before we even leave my mom has called and thinks she has a ghost, but that is another whole story.

When we got down to the pier our friends were taking their boat off the trailer. That went fine, but it seems that Captain Dave had backed the trailer a little too far into the water and the wheel had fallen off the concrete launch ramp so when he went to pull it out it was stuck. Four guys had to get in the water and basically lift the trailer up to get the wheel back on the ramp. Luckily they were able to do it. Hubby then launched our borrowed boat with no problems. Okay, ready to go right? Wrong!

We then realized that we had forgotten the girls life jackets. I though hubby had already put them on the boat and he thought I got them. At this point we didn't want to take the boat back out of the water, but no one else could drive it and we couldn't leave it docked at the launch pier because there were other people trying to put boats in. So our friends took Hubby over to the launch ramp so he could take the truck and go back to our house to get the girls life vests. Meanwhile we waited in the tied up boat at the boat rental dock. Then the friends were taking the girls and going to anchor right outside the jetty while we waited for Hubby to get back.

Well, while we are waiting this guy that works at the rental place comes out all frantic "You have to move, we have a sailboat coming in right now and they have to dock here." We told him we had no driver and he just says "Well, you have to figure something out because this sailboat is coming in now." I was going to call Captain Dave and see if he could walk me through starting the boat (I can drive a car, how hard can a boat be?) but I didn't have his cell number and when I tried his wife there is no answer. Then I decided to call Hubby and see if he could tell me what to do, but when I called his number I heard it ringing. He left his phone on the boat. Ugh! At least now I could call Captain Dave because hubby has his number in his phone. Captain Dave says they will come back but they don't show up and finally they call and say that their anchor is stuck on something and he is going to have to dive down and untangle it,! Luckily it is only 8 feet but jeesh what next! Right about this time this tiny little Styrofoam catamaran sailboat sails up and ties up right next to us. This is what the guy was freaking about?! We thought he meant a real sailboat not this toy.

Finally our friends called and said they were unstuck and on the way and they arrived right in time to pick up Hubby. Finally we are ready to go. Wrong again!

As soon as we start out Hubby says the engine on the borrowed boat doesn't feel right. When he has it on full throttle it is not even going that fast, so he decides that we better be safe and not mess with it so we have to go back to the pier again and put the boat back on the trailer and all pile in with our friends. So now their boat is filled almost to capacity. Surely nothing else can go wrong. Wrong again!

We got out to where we were going to anchor with no problems and there where quite a few boats out there too. The kids wanted to swim, of course. But right after they got in Captain Dave saw several large jellyfish so they had to get back in the boat. We had some snacks and soda's and hung out waiting for the fireworks that are supposed to start at 9:30. At about 8:45 we started seeing some lightening in the distance and we could hear on the radio everyone was asking the Coast Guard if the fireworks were still on and they said they were so we waited. Then at the last moment the announcement came over the radio saying that they were calling off the fireworks because of weather and everyone should disperse. Ugh! We got out of there fairly quickly and started back to the pier where we launched the boats. We had barely gotten 1/4 of the way back and we start hitting some choppy water and then it started to rain. The rain felt like hail pelting us in the face.

Let's recap, we have 4 small children, a tween, a dog, and 6 adults on this open boat. We are now in pretty choppy water being pelted by hard, cold rain, we are all soaked to the bone and we aren't even close to where we left the vehicles. Hubby and Captain Dave are trying to navigate so the rest of us grab a kid and hang on for dear life. I had Sydney and I covered her face with a towel so the stinging rain wouldn't hurt her and I would have covered my own face but by this time the boat was bobbing up and down so vigorously that I wanted to be able to brace myself for impact every time we crashed through a swell. Finally Captain Dave had to stop the boat because the rain was so bad he couldn't see where we were and after a minute the guys realized that we were closer to the shore (and rocks) than they had realized and the storm is pushing us even closer. Yikes!

Finally the rain let up and they maneuvered us away from the shore and headed us the right way. It was a little hairy there for a while I have to say. Luckily we had no other issues getting the boat back on the trailer. After she was off the boat Savannah informs us that she was just pretending to be scared on the boat. Kids can be so resilient.

We figured we left the fireworks spot about 9:45 and got in the truck to leave at 11:00. So the return trip that should have taken about 30 minutes took an hour an a quarter. Angie said we should name that boat the SS Minnow. We all decided that maybe the problems early on should have been a clue that this was not meant to be but in the end we have quite an adventure tale to tell.

Inner Tube Pictures

Savannah, Sydney, and Vee (friend)

Hubby is on a mission. He wants a boat.

He's been talking about it for a while now but lately it is really coming to the forefront. Last month on our way home from the water park we stopped in at the Bass Pro Shop and ogled the boats. Then our friends went out and got a boat. He's really been pushing the "family time" angle. Like: "It's something we can all do together" and "Think of how much fun the girls will have". The thing that is really cracking me up right now though is that the wife of our friend that just bought a boat keeps telling me the same exact thing about why they bought one. I asked her if she and my hubby had been comparing notes.

We had pretty much decided that it would be nice but that we were going to wait until next summer for a few reasons. First, because we have already missed half the season and second, because he is deploying in a few months for 7 months.

Now though, somebody on his ship has a boat that they are selling that is very close to what we were looking at and it is a good price. This guy is even going to let us take out the boat for the weekend to test it out. Should be a fun weekend, and we'll see how the boat works out.

Yes, the 5 year old is mocking you

We had great time Sunday. Friends of ours just bought a boat so they invited us out on Sunday. The girls had the best time, and not just because they got to see their friend "Purple Savannah", but because they love anything to do with water.

Okay, first I'll explain about "Purple Savannah". My twin girls are names Sydney and Savannah so when we met this couple with a little girl who is also named Savannah who is about a year younger than them it posed a bit of a problem. So the first time we got all the girls together this other Savannah was wearing purple and so hubby asked her if it was her favorite color and she said yes. Then he made a big deal about how our Savannah loves pink and their Savannah loves purple (and Princess Ariel, just like Sydney) and so my girls started calling her "Purple Savannah". Now I just call my daughter Savannah and the other girl Vanna since her parents sometimes call her that, but my girls still refer to her as "Purple Savannah".

Anyway we had a nice day on the boat. They even had gotten this inner tube thing that you pull behind the boat and all 3 girls got in it and they thought that was great fun. Then the husbands had to each try it too and see how fast they could make the other one flip off it so that was amusing also. Grown men acting like teenagers is always good for a few laughs.

When we got in the truck to head home the girls were both hungry, but there is usually a strict no eating policy in hubby's truck because the girls are such pigs and leave crumbs and make hubby crazy. So they were both begging and pleading for a snack and hubby finally gave in and said they could have some cheese crackers but they had to be careful. So I turned and said to them "You better be extra, extra careful because you know how daddy is about his truck." From the back seat I hear Sydney mimicking her dad saying "Oh no, my truck, oh no, a mess, oh no oh no" in this hilarious voice.

Hubby got that look on his face, the one where he is amazed and can't believe what comes out of our 5 year olds mouths, and said "Is she making fun of me, is she mocking me?" To which I had to reply "It certainly sounds that way." We all had a good laugh.

Hosed

So I went out to water the grass today and a funny thing happened.

Had to actually water the grass for two reasons. First, when we pulled out all of the bushes in the front of the house a couple had bled over to the side and instead of planting there we really just want to have the grass continue on that part. This means the hubby has been doing his "man" thing and putting down seed, fertilizer, nutrients and what all and that means we have to water it 3 times a day to get it going. FUN! Second, it has been pretty hot here and it has been a while since the last good rain so the lawn was starting to look a little dry.

Of course the girls ran out with me and wanted to help. I let Sydney take the sprayer first since she got to me first. After a minute I told her it was Savannah's turn and to give her the sprayer. When she turned to hand Savannah the hose she turned the hose too and ended up spraying Savannah. I laughed but Savannah did not find this amusing and promptly started to cry and yell sister insults (I hate you, you are the worst sister in the world and the like). Then she gets mad at me because I'm laughing and yells at me that it is not funny. "It is definitely NOT funny mom" she says in her five year old voice with the 15 year old attitude. After I finally get my laughter under control I tell her how Sydney didn't mean to do it and she loves the water anyway and a little water isn't going to hurt her and cajole her into coming over and taking the hose to do her share of the watering. At this point she is still sort of sniffling and I laugh again and tell her to quit being such a baby. She then proceeds to turn and spray me with the hose in a little fit of temper.

I wish I had a picture of her face right then. She got that "oh shit, what have I done" deer caught in the headlights look. I ruined it by laughing. Again. Then I snatched that hose from her and soaked her good! I felt like maybe I should punish her because it was kind of a bratty thing to do and I don't think her intention was to joke around I think she was just being pissy and did it like I said in a fit of temper. Then again, sometimes you just gotta laugh it off. I did explain to her that this time it was funny but in general you don't spray mommy with the hose. After that I let them get their bathing suits on and play in the sprinkler for a bit. They had a blast, as usual when they do anything involving water. The mystery is how Savannah ended up with 7 mosquito bites, while Sydney only has 1.

Bumpy Chip Breath

I had a late night snack attack last night and busted out some Ruffles and French onion dip to chomp on. When I went in the girls room to put in their second movie . . . yes, I put them to bed with the TV on. Bad mom! Never thought I'd do it but . . . for sanity's sake this is how it goes. They get in bed at 8:00 pm and they get to choose 2 DVDs from their vast collection to watch. They only get 2, and if they are too loud or come out of their bedroom for any unauthorized reason (potty and telling the movie is over are okay) then they get a "strike", 3 strikes and the TV goes off.

But anyway, I digress. When I went in to change to the second movie I gave them both a kiss and Sydney says "Mommy, why do you have bumpy chip breath?" They call Ruffles potato chips bumpy chips. I told her because I was eating bumpy chips. Seriously, I doubt I could tell someone had been eating Ruffles by their breath, especially since they weren't the flavored kind, but she could. No sour cream and onion, or sour cream and cheddar or BBQ, they were just the plain ones. Plus we rarely have potato chips in the house, it isn't like we eat these all the time. I am constantly amazed by the things they know. How did she know this?

She is a breath sniffing genius!

Baby Doll Names

We bought that DVD "The Jungle Book 2". The girls have been watching it as often as I will let them. I have almost never seen them watch a cartoon this much that does not include some type of princess or fairy. I'm glad to see them broadening their horizons. They seem to go through these phases. Like they will watch one movie non-stop for a week, then not touch it for a month, then watch it non-stop for another week. They do this with their toys too. Two weeks ago they played with their Barbie's for 3 days straight practically non-stop. They haven't touched them since.

This week seems to be the baby dolls. They each have a Cabbage Patch doll and then they each have one of those little twin dolls that come in a set. Since they have so many they pretend they have an orphanage. All of the dolls and their assorted clothes are scattered around the house now. The two main doll characters are going by the names of Shanti and Mowgli in honor of the Jungle Book 2 movie this week and they tend to break out in songs from the movie from time to time. Gotta love it.

Pigs eat Push-up pops

Today after lunch the girls wanted some push-up pops for dessert. Those are those ice creams you buy that are in cylinders and you push a stick up through the bottom to make the ice cream come up out of the cylinder on top. They love these, especially because right now Scooby-Doo is on the box.

So, they are eating their pops and Savannah says "Syd, guess if I'm a boy or a girl eating ice cream." She then sticks her tongue out very far and licks at the pop.

Sydney says "Girl."

Then Savannah says "Who am I now?" She then opens her mouth very wide and pretends to bite the pop.

Sydney says "Boy."

I busted up laughing and asked "So girls lick their ice cream and boys bite theirs, that is the rule?"

They both reply "Yes, it is in the rule book."

All righty then.

"The rule book we made in our room mom," Sydney says.

Ookayyyy.

Then Savannah makes a slurping noise while eating her pop and Sydney says "What are you now, a pig?"

Toenail Saga Take 2

The last couple of days my recently doctored toe (see previous post) has been looking a little red and not right. Today I called my Primary Care Manager to get an appointment since I knew there was an ice cubes chance in hell of me getting an appointment with the Podiatrist within the next decade and my toe would fall off before I could see them so . . . the PCM got me in at 12:45. I hate calling the appointment line because every single time you have to give them soo much information and the worst part is you know it is on the computer right in front of them once you give your name but instead of just asking if your information has changed they make you recite it all back to them. I know all the questions they ask by heart and could just blurt it all out as soon as they answer, but that seems rude so I try to patiently go through it all even though I feel like I could choke them through the phone line! Here it is: Last Name (spell it because ours has a different spelling), First Name (spell it too because no one ever spells it right), Yes the appointment is for myself, Hubby's SSN last 4, Home address (including city and zip since they handle a large area of patients), and phone number then you tell them why you need the appointment.

So, they confirm the time and then add on that "no children are allowed." Seriously? Now you have to understand that I'm not going here for some gynecological exam or surgery. The doctor is going to come in the room, look at my toe for maybe 5 seconds tell me he will put in a prescription for some antibiotics, confirm that I have no known allergies and leave. Total time if he is not the chatty type is about 3 minutes. For this I should hunt up a babysitter to pay for 2 hours (adding in my drive and wait time), I think not. Also understand that this is a military facility. They know that most of us move every couple years, probably do not live near family, and our husbands are on ships and not able to just run home so we can hit the doctors office. Add to this that I am a stay at home mom with very few friends, no daycare, and my kids aren't in school yet. Gee, guess what? I'm totally blowing this rule off. And if anyone dares say a word to me about bringing my kids they are going to get an earful trust me on that! Luckily no one said anything, and in fact the doctor even commented on how well behaved my girls were (thank goodness).

BUT . . . just so my life isn't too easy the pharmacy at my regular clinic is closed so I have to go to another base I've never been to on the other side of the next town to fill my prescription. Oh the joy.

Local news watchers we aren't

The other night when I was letting the dog out for his evening business I noticed that it looked foggy. Foggy, here, in June, hmmm? Then I realized it smelled smokey, like something was on fire. So, I told the hubby "something is on fire outside" and he went to check it out. After making a circuit of the house and garage to be sure it wasn't us somehow he looked up and down the street and reported back that he couldn't see anything and we went on with our evening.

The next day at a playdate a fellow mom brought up "Hey, did you see all that smoke last night?" I said we did and wondered what it was. According to her there were fires or a large fire 100 miles south of us and the way the wind was blowing we were getting smoke from that. Hubby confirmed it that evening. WEIRD! It has happened a few evenings since then so I assume the fire/fires are still burning. I have no real confirmation of this because lately hubby and I watch movies or he plays XBOX since there are no shows on we watch right now so we never see the loocal news. Yea, we are a couple of party animals right?

Missing Toddler Simplicity

I was watching a TV program where the main mom character who has a teen and a tween made this comment: "I miss the simplicity of toddler hood". It got me thinking that I kind of missed it too. Most days now I feel like I am happy to be in this stage of Pre-school/soon to be starting Kindergarten. But I also see that I always tend to think things will be better when . . . fill in the blank.

Things will be better when: they start school, they are both potty trained through the night, my husband finishes this next deployment, my darn toe heals, etc., etc.

And it seems that this has been an ongoing thing. When they are born you think, things will be better when they sleep through the night, then when that happens you think, things will be better when they start eating real food. Then when that happens you think, things will be better when they can walk, then talk, then communicate better, then on and on until one day they are going to be moving out and I'll be remembering when. . . Remembering when they were so cute as little babies, when they couldn't run around making mess after mess, when they couldn't tell me NO. Even now I find myself already telling new twin mom's in my support group to enjoy this time while they are young because while certain things get easier certain other things get harder. Which means there is no "perfect" age.

I am not usually one to get caught up and sorrowful about how fast they are growing up because I am usually just trying to get through today but sometimes it is a good thing to sort of stop and smell the roses. Because I am already looking ahead and it is scary. Today we went shopping and my girls love to shop. Right now they are good about me saying "no we aren't going to buy that today" but I can see the future. Me with two teenagers, the pouting, the rolling eyes, the begging, the serious shopping.

Sigh.

Tougher times are coming, and I need to enjoy this time while I can.

I'm really gonna try.

Lazy mom, that's me

Today was just one of those days where I felt like doing nothing at all. My toe is still throbbing a little if I stand too long so all I wanted to do all day was sit on the couch with it propped up and read a book. So I did.

The unfortunate part of this scenario is that I still have my 5 year old twins to keep up with. Luckily today they actually played on their own for more than 15 minutes. They decided first thing this morning that they wanted to get out their dress up stuff and play with it. Believe me when I tell you that they probably have more dress up stuff than any other kids on earth. They have a rack crammed with costumes in their closet, everything from Barbie Fairytopia to pretty much every Disney Princess to a real "wedding gown" that Grandma passed on from a flower girl who was in a wedding. They also have many, many, many assorted shoes, slippers, scarves, veils, hats, and jewelry that we keep in one of those large gray Rubbermaid container boxes you get at Wal-Mart.

So that was great and it kept them entertained pretty much all day. From my perch on the couch I could hear them deciding what to wear with what and they even put on several little mini plays for me. When my hubby came home this afternoon and went past their room to say hello I heard his exclamation about their room and he came right back out to tell me the good news. Their room was officially a disaster area. While I had pretty much assumed that it would be a big mess, even I was unprepared for the full scale riot that had taken place.

There was not a single square inch of floor to be seen! The gray box was completely empty, every dress from the closet was now on the floor, even the bottom bunk bed could hardly be seen. So then we had to have an hour long cleaning session. But the sad part is that I feel it was totally worth it because they were out of my hair and entertaining themselves (without the tv)pretty much all day.

The Toenail Saga

Today finally marked the end of my toenail saga. I've had trouble with ingrown toenails for years. About 9 or 10 years ago I had to have one cut out and they put some acid on it so that the nail would not grow in again. Since then I have had an issue on and off with the other foot having the same problem but I have put off doing anything because it wasn't too bad. Well, about two months ago it finally got bad enough that I decided I had to do something.

So I sucked it up and made an appointment with my PCM (Primary Care Provider) because I have to see him and get a referral before I can go to the actual Podiatrist, even though I already know what needs to be done due to my prior experience. This, in itself, is a problem because, as usual hubby is out of town and I have no one to watch my girls. Well, okay, I have a couple people I could ask but the real problem is me. I hate to ask anyone for anything! HATE IT! I have some inborn issue with asking for any kind of help I can't seem to help it. So in this instance since I knew the PCM would just look at me, possibly give me some meds to keep infection at bay and give me a referral I decided to just bring the girls with me. The nurses all fawned all over them and one even suggested I should start modeling them. It actually went pretty well except for the delay at the pharmacy because for some reason they have me entered in the computer system as my husbands child instead of his wife which causes confusion all around. Frankly, I was not impressed with my PCM (this was my first time seeing him). Is it just me or are there an inordinate amount of doctors from India all over lately? Anywho, I could just barely understand his accent but what really threw me off was that he saw me for like 2 minutes total and I am not even exaggerating. He came in, confirmed that it was my toe. Barely looked at the toe in question and in fact sort of looked afraid to get near it, which was fine with me but seemed a little weird for a doctor. He says he will write me a scrip for some antibiotics and put in the referral and was gone. Of course, when I got to the pharmacy the prescription wasn't entered so I had to go back and then when I called about the referral it was not entered so I had to call back and prod them about that. Finally the referral showed up and I called for an appointment and they had no openings for a month. Great!

The good part is that the Podiatry referral was to the Navy Hospital which has a child care drop off center you can use for appointments. Now one of my friends told me they never answer the phone and it was impossible to get your kids in, but I had no problems. The only problem I ran into with this was that I did not realize that they would need a shot record until Friday afternoon when the Pediatrician's office was already closed. I have one of those little record books that you are supposed to record all the kids shots in, but I have forgotten to bring it several times, so it is not complete and when I took them to get their most recent shots the pediatricians office just filled them in on the school physical form that I needed to enroll them in Kindergarten for the fall which I then took to the school and forgot to make a copy of. Dummy, dummy, dummy! So I spent most of last night tossing and turning hoping that I would have time to run into the Pediatricians office (which doesn't even open until 9 am) this morning before dropping the girls off at the child care place and still making my appointment (which was across town at 10 am) and hoping that they would not give me a hard time about needing a shot record ASAP on a Monday morning. So far I love the pediatricians office and today was no exception. They accommodated me without even a grumble.

Today was finally the day of my appointment. I left the house and headed toward the Pediatricians. Called them on the way and asked for a copy of the shot records. Stopped and picked the shot records up. Hightailed it across the bridge, through the tunnel, and over to the Hospital. Had to drive through the entire parking garage and ended up parking on the top level. Shuffled the girls down to the child care center, checked them in in record time and practically ran next door to the hospital. Made it to the podiatry clinic by 10:03. Whoo Hoo! Next I started worrying if my toe was infected because this is what happened last time I had to do this when we lived in Hawaii.

That time the antibiotics had worn off and the toe was infected and they said they couldn't cut the nail out with it infected which made me have to come back the day I was flying to California to get it done. Then they wrapped my toe so huge that I couldn't wear shoes and I ended up having to don one of those boots for when you have a broken foot and wear that on the plane. But that is a whole other saga.

Luckily, when I got in there everything was go for the procedure. The doctor was a super nice guy, and not from India. Now the most painful part of this whole procedure is the shot they give you to numb the toe so you won't feel them cutting out the nail. It seriously feels like the needle is going to go through your toe and come out the other side and when they release the numbing stuff it feels like there are 5 or 6 needles stuck in you. After that it is all easy. Well, except for having to listen to the doctor's bad foot puns, but hey it's worth it to get this done. Over. Yeah!

Hubby's week off

Hubby surprised us by unexpectedly taking the week off. He just finished some really big inspection that they pretty much aced so he was able to get the time off. He even set up a friend to watch the kids so we could go out and catch a movie and dinner on our anniversary. June 3rd marked 13 years of wedded bliss for us. Wow!

Then Thursday we took the girls and headed out to Water Country USA. Water Country USA is a water park that is part of the Busch Gardens group of parks. Be thought about going to Busch Gardens first, but the girls are still a little too small to ride a bunch of the rides, which would probably bum them out since they are such little dare-devils. Plus they love, love, love the water. We figured this week would be the perfect time to go since the weather has been so nice and school's here aren't out yet so it wouldn't be too crowded. We almost didn't go because Savannah had a little bit of a runny nose and I thought she might be getting sick and poop out, but I am sooo glad that we decided to go. We all had a great time. Savannah said "This is the best day ever" like 5 times during the day. They could do all the rides except maybe 1 or 2 so we were busy. There weren't that many people and no lines at all, we might have waited like 5 minutes a few times and that was it. There were signs posted that said "Wait time 1 hour from this point" on several rides, so I know that in the summer they must be packed but we had no lines. In fact my knee started to feel a little wobbly from climbing so many stairs so fast and my legs have been sore for 2 days now from it! Ha, Ha, must be getting old!

Thursday super hubby decided to tackle a project we have been talking about but I have been dreading. He started to pull out all the bushes in front of our house. Ugghh! We have a row of hedges (about 6) right in front of our house under the living room windows that line the sidewalk going to the front door. They are nice and green, but very dense and have grown too high so they stick up in front of the windows. Then when you cut them back they look terrible and all stickish so we have been discussing taking them out for several months. Then on the other side of the front door are more bushes (7 or 8) that are just out of control and are just too big to prune down to manageable at this point. The older lady next door has lived here for about 35 years and said these bushes have been here that long so that is some history. I have to say this job was a b-i-t-c-h and I didn't even do any of the real work. He ended up having to partially dig them up and cut the main roots then attach a rope to the bush and his truck bumper and yank them out. It already looks so much better even though it is all dug up dirt. I am pretty excited to make an actual border/flower bed in these spots. Well, except for the actual work involved that will require me to sweat and toil in the summer sun. Sigh. Maybe I never should have mentioned this to hubby. Too late for that. I'll be off to the local garden center tomorrow to figure out what to plant since I have no gardening know how at all. Wish me luck.

Biker Babes

As usual Savannah is in Pink and Sydney is in Purple as they show off their new bikes.

The tortoise and the hare

We finally got the girls new bikes. Not just any old bikes but the Disney Princess bikes with the butterfly wheel inserts, pink and purple handlebar tassels, and a special bag attached to the handlebars for their snacks and water bottles. Then, of course, we had to also buy helmets, elbow pads, and knee pads. It still astonishes me the amount of protective gear kids are required to wear these days. Back in my day we didn't wear no stinkin helmets. My dad is fond of saying that this is how we weeded out the idiots. Because, lets face it, whoever was stupid enough to try something that would crack their head open was someone we probably didn't need in our society anyway. But anyhoo, buy them we did, because now most cities require them to be worn.

We also purchased a little playhouse for them because we have been promising them we would. They really wanted a Tree House, but we talked them into the plastic Little Tykes school/fire house that will stay firmly on the ground. It is pretty cute and on the back there is a little mini basketball hoop and soccer/hockey goal.

Then we decided that since we had gotten them new bikes, we should also get new bikes so that we can actually bike with them. Novel idea huh? We found some bikes they label "cruisers" for us. They have those old fashioned handlebars that go up high and a huge padded seat for our large asses, perfect.

Both of the girls took right to their bikes like they had been riding all winter. I thought they might take a bit to get the hang of it again (they are still on training wheels) but no. Biking is one of those activities where their differences really stand out. Savannah gets on her bike and rides hell bent for leather as fast as she can. Even when they were younger and were just learning to ride she HAD to be in front. One day when she was about 3 1/2 she fell off her bike on the sidewalk and instead of getting up she laid down across the sidewalk to block Sydney because she did not want her to pass her. Sydney, on the other hand, is what we would refer to as a "Sunday Driver". She just barely rolls along singin a song to herself and looking at the scenery.
Even I cannot ride behind her and I am not that great on a bike. I find myself riding in the street and circling back to check on her because I physically cannot ride that slow. It is like riding with the tortoise and the hare.

How fast they grow

Hubby got home early from work on this gorgeous day. Always a nice surprise.

So, we were doing our usual. Both slouched on the couch with our respective lap tops. The girls decided they wanted to take "puppy" (toy stuffed dog) outside to read him a story. A little bit later they come in and say "Daddy, can we get in the back of your truck?" to which daddy says "Not right now girls", mostly because he is too lazy to get up and open the tailgate. On a side note I have to say that one of the pluses of having twins is that I don't have to always have my eye on them to know where they are because I can always hear them chattering, and these days they chatter a lot. So we can hear that they are right outside the house but can't hear their whole conversation or what exactly they are doing. A little bit later we look out the window and see that they have managed to open the tailgate to the truck and climb in all by themselves, the little devils. This is not a little Nissan or Toyota pick up, this is a full size Ford F150. They are now having a picnic with puppy in the back of daddy's truck. They played out there for a good hour and a half . . . by themselves . . . in the back of that truck . . . insane! I practically had to beg them to come in for dinner.

At dinner they proceed to tell us that they were outside rehearsing for a show that they will do for us tomorrow. They then launch into a very detailed rundown of this show, which seems to include part of every major fairly tale, Barbie movie, and cartoon that they have ever seen. It was hilarious. Then I asked them about two other girls I saw them talking to. They tell me that those girls were twins too, and they had phones, and they had come from the park, and they showed them their phones, and, and, and . . . Hubby just looks at me with this glazed look and says "Did they just age like 10 years in the past 2 days?"

Sleep Deprived

You would think that now that my girls are not babies any more I should be getting a decent nights sleep these days. You would think. Sadly this is not necessarily the case. There are several reasons for this phenomenon that I shall outline below.

• First I have to accept that in one more way I am turning into my mother. As long as I can remember she has been a raging insomniac. While I am not raging yet, I am starting on the path. I find myself up until 12 or 1 in the morning whereas I used to hit the pillow already asleep at 10. Before the girls were born it was a common occurrence for me to be in bed an hour or sometimes 2 before the hubby, now it has totally flipped. Sometimes I think it is because I just love the solitude that I get when everyone else is asleep, but other times I miss being able to sleep so easily because I really love to sleep!

• I've found that there are actually a few good things about the hubby being gone. One of those things is that I get the whole king size bed to myself (sort of), which is heaven for several reasons. Frankly I cannot imagine how anyone can sleep on any bed smaller than a king, but that is because I have other issues too. You see the hubby is a cover hog. Yes, he is. He will deny this with his dying breath, but since I wake up several times a night I know the truth. But, on top of the fact that he is a cover hog he also has an accomplice. THE DOG! If I break down the bed into percentages here is how it works out: Hubby=55%, Dog=25%, Me, 20%. Add into this equation that once the dog lays down there is no moving him, which effectively traps the covers and you see that I definitely get the raw end of this deal. Heaven forbid I should want to change sleeping positions. It takes some major contortions to situate my legs around the dog, who is complete dead weight, and get the covers back over me.

• Last night was especially fun. For once I was actually ready to go to bed at about 11. So we get in bed and right when I am falling asleep hubby starts tossing and turning and says "I can't sleep." Thanks for waking me up to tell me that!

• A few hours later I had the added joy of being woken up by Savannah because she had wet the bed. Since she just started wearing panties to bed and this is the first accident I wasn't too upset, but it was just one more interruption.

Maybe tonight will be better. I can hope.

Beach Mermaids (and men)

Congrats Savannah

Woo-Hoo! Savannah is officially pull-up free. She has been wearing regular panties to bed and stayed dry this whole week. I am, of course, very excited. Both of the girls have been day trained for about a year and a half, but were still wearing pull ups to bed (maybe this had a lot to do with mommy being lazy and not wanting to wash and change sheets in the middle of the night). I pretty much figured it wouldn't bother me if they wore pull ups to bed forever, but last week Savannah woke up dry 5 days in a row so I told her she could wear her panties to bed and try it out and here we are. Now Sydney is going to take a little more work because she is on the top bunk and I think for her it is more about laziness than anything else. I don't even care, I am on the home stretch now, only one kid in pull ups at night will make me incredibly happy!

Questions, questions, everywhere

Well Hubby is back after a month at sea so the girls are practically glued to his side. It is rather cute, but it can get annoying too. Not for me, mind you, but for Joey who can barely hit the bathroom without them in tow.

Today, they had to play in the living room right under his feet when he was trying to play video games. When they play there are lots of high pitched voices, songs, and various noises so he can barely hear his game to play. So he suggested we go to the Cinema Cafe and see a movie. Cinema Cafe is one of those movie theatres where you sit at tables sort of like a restaurant and you can order food and drinks during the movie. The food is not great and is a little expensive but the movie is cheap and the girls seem to enjoy it so it works out. Of course, the movie was just starting when he suggested it so we had to wait until the next showing to go which meant 2 hours of "is it time to go yet?" for us.

Finally we were on the way and the questions started. "What does this sticker say?, What does CPO mean?, What is that policeman doing?, How does the air get cold? (from the air conditioner), Then, how does the air get hot? (from the heater), Can we roll down our windows?, Are we there yet?, Can we have popcorn at the movie?, Is it still spring?, When will it be summer?, When will it be fall?, and on and on and on.

Stubby

Yes, I know this picture is dark. All the better to see her stubby little inch long whiskers. This is what happens when 5 year olds have scissors. Thank goodness we don't have any fish, because I've heard a story about one of my husbands cousins cutting a pet fish in half when she was little. At least no animals were harmed at the hands of my girls.

Little Mommy's

Here the mommy's are "reading" a story to their Shamu stuffed animal. No, they can't actually read yet, but they love to make up their own stories. And believe me their stories are highly entertaining.

Cleaning the bed, that's right, the BED

In my ideal world I would clean my entire house once a year, however reality constantly interferes. Today the girls and I tackled Sydney's bed. Now I may have mentioned that my kids are pack rats. Sydney is the queen of the pack rats. She has at least 5 purses and 2 backpacks strung around the house full to bursting with a variety of items. But her bed on the top bunk is a veritable "nest". Since I can't see up there on a daily basis I have to supervise the cleaning of it at least once a month. Today the cleaning was prompted by a missing Angelina Ballerina doll (which, by the way, was found on this very bed).

Let me give you a small taste of what I found on this bed, and this is by no means a complete list. I found lip balms, bracelets, necklaces, belts, brushes, combs, used and unused tissues, various stuffed animals, nail polish, a trash can, a mini Barbie Mariposa doll, 5 pillows, 5 blankets, books, play hair styling items, an assortment of hair tiebacks, coins, a sweater, colored pencils, notepads, hats and mittens. I'm sure I've forgotten something, but that is a sample. Every time we do this little exercise in futility I give her a lecture about how I don't want all this junk on her bed. She says "Okay mommy" so sweetly and then the next time I find the same thing. These are the joys of motherhood.

School Registration Paperwork

My babies are starting school in the fall. So, after the orientation the other night I have like 10 pages of forms to fill out . . . TIMES 2. I started filling it all out today. Yes, it is still 3 1/2 months till school starts but since they were "suggesting" so strongly that we get this done early I figured I better get on it. The real reason is that I know that if I put it off too long I will forget about it and procrastinate until I am having to deal with all the other psycho's who waited until the last minute. The worst part has to be that like 3 of the forms are duplications, so not only do I fill everything out times 2 (and it is 12 pages, I just counted), but some of them are like times 3. Then on the last page it asks about my husbands job and, of course, since I am the worst Navy wife ever I know two of the seven answers. Just hope I don't get carpel tunnel! Can't wait to see what I will have to do once school starts.

Then I started going over the guidelines on what they should know and what they were going to learn in Kindergarten. Remember, they already pretty much said that most of the kids were way behind for starting kindergarten. They make it seem way worse than it is. I mean I never went to Kindergarten and I was fine, in fact a I was a fairly good student. Another thing that made me feel better was that one of my friends said that her daughter started Kindergarten knowing only a few letters and she still did great and my girls know almost all their letters and I've been working with them on writing already so they should be fine. I am rather impressed that they should be writing full sentences by the end of the year (spelling doesn't count yet). We'll see about that.

This Dog Can Tell Time!

He is staring at me like this right now because he knows it is almost 8 o'clock and that is when he gets fed his dinner. Some days, lets make that most days, he is the bane of my existence.

As soon as I set foot out of bed in the morning he wants to be fed. To ensure that I don't forget (as if I could) he follows me around at a prance making little clik-clak noises with his claws on our hardwood floors at no further a distance than 10 inches at all times until I do feed him.

While the girls eat breakfast he paces behind their chairs because he knows that sooner or later something will fall due to the fact that they are the messiest eaters in the world (see previous post). If anyone should make the mistake of leaving food unattended for more than 5 seconds anywhere that he can reach it that is too damn bad because it will be his.

At lunch it is the same scenario. I feed him a "snack" at about 3 o'clock because then he will eat that and go outside at my insistence for a little bit while the girls usually have a snack and this saves my floor from the pacing a little bit. He usually starts giving me "the look" (as seen above) and dogging my heels at about 2 o'clock.

Dinner is usually the same scenario, unless the hubby is home and then he will sit 3 feet from him and drool while watching us eat dinner. I started feeding him his dinner at 8 o'clock for purely selfish reasons. We used to feed him around our dinner time, but there is usually too much going on and having him right on my heels and tripping over him and two 5 year olds in the kitchen while trying to make dinner wasn't working for me. Gee, I wonder why? So I started off feeding him after I got the girls to bed when things were calm but once again couldn't stand him being my shadow while trying to get pj's, supervising tooth brushing, and making sure everyone has gone to the potty so it got changed again. It got moved to when I start to get the girls ready for bed because then he will go outside for a bit to do his business and not pester me to distraction.

Talk about training your humans, he is a master.

So what redeeming qualities does he have you may ask. He is just so darn cute. He is very mellow and allows the girls to do a myriad of things to him, including, but not limited to: tucking his ears in his collar, dressing him up with necklaces, veils, and sunglasses, pretend walking him on his leash in a circle around our house, teasing him with food, and using him as a foot rest. He is a good vacuum for the things dropped by my messy eaters. And mostly because he snuggles with me in bed when the hubby is gone.