WWJD

Yesterday we had the pleasure of having my aunt and uncle over for dinner. They live in Colorado so we rarely get to see them, but they were in Orlando for the week and decided to drive up and see our little family. It was so fun. I kept thinking last night that I am so glad to live in Florida because people are always coming to Florida and can stop by. I also thought how much I love having family in our house. It just makes me smile to see extended family playing with our kids because I grew up with so much family around.

I was in a bit of a quandary, however, because they invited us to dinner. I quickly told them that the experience of having dinner with my children at a restaurant is one that is not so pleasant. We decided to stay at home but Dendy, my uncle, insisted in bringing in food so that I wouldn't have to cook. Here's where the WWJD comes in...and I ain't talkin about Jesus. My WWJD in these situations is "What would Jeannie Do". For those of you who don't know, Jeannie is my younger sister and my best friend. We know each other backwards and forwards, ups and downs, highs and lows. One of Jeannie's biggest strengths/weaknesses is that she goes above and beyond the call of duty at ALL times to make people feel welcome and cared for. She has a huge heart and would literally bring you a homemade meal the day after she gave birth herself if she weren't still in the hospital. She's a great cook and a wonderful friend. I say this is a strength and a weakness because she is so loved by so many, but she really wears herself out sometimes.

Back to the quandary...what do I do? Do I let Dendy and Margie order in food when I've been at home all day and could have made some delicious feast? What would Jeannie do? No question...she would have whipped up some chicken enchiladas with homemade salsa or standing rib roast with potatoes and salad. And it would have been delicious. And she would have wanted to do it - every bit of it. I wanted to do it too, but not enough to actually do it. I did pull out the crock pot, got out my ingredients, realized I didn't have everything, then packed it back up under the cabinet.

Instead, I made a pound cake. I think pound cake is my new thing. I get to use my new mixer while reminiscing about Nana's pound cakes and the fact that mine will never taste quite as good. I love making it, love serving it, and love eating it. As a matter of fact, the last two times friends have had babies I haven't brought dinner...just a really yummy buttery pound cake. I figure once I get to the point where I'm acutally making real dinners for my own family then I can go back to bringing people meals. For now, though, I'll bring the eggs to room temperature and soften the butter because that I can handle.

Last night we had a great visit with Dendy and Margie. We ordered pizza that Dendy picked up, and I made a salad and, well, pound cake. It was fun and I didn't feel like pulling my hair out trying to get dinner on the table. It was just right for me.

So Jeannie, aprons off to you, sister. You're my hero. Really. I love the way you love people by making food for them. I hope to be able to do that someday. Until then, I'll just keep my WWJD bracelet wrapped around my wrist and dream of the days to come...by the way, I'm kind of having a rough week. I know you have three kids and Watts has strep throat, but do you think you could ship down some pot roast? Mmmm, and sour cream biscuits, and your chocolate chip cookies, and Kelly could whip up a latte....

gooddog?

Hey - love your comments, but don't know who you are! I know you're an NC friend and you have kids, but you didn't sign your name and I can't find it on your profile. I'm racking my brain! Fill me in.

Please tell me this did not just happen...

I was checking facebook and my (ex) friend Melyssa (kidding) posted this on my wall for the world to see...

"I have to share this with. After a rough couple of days without my boys, I decided tonight to make breakfast for dinner, with pancakes (not frozen!), homemade hashbrowns and bacon. Hunter was so excited to help me. During dinner, he asked for more syrup, and if he can pour it. I hand him the bottle, he stops and looks and says "Mom, this looks ... just like Ms Buffy". He was pointing to Aunt Jemima. Hahahaha! He was dead serious and then asked Evan if Evan thought so and Evan was like...."Um....NO". I needed that laugh more than anything!"

I knew Maggie liked Evan better for a reason.

Though I think this woman looks beautiful, I'm still only eating cabbage soup and water for the rest of my life.

Hell hath no fury...

Like a mother cleaning her house after the stomach bug. The bathrooms are scoured, the floors are mopped, and I have washed every stitch of clothing and linens in this house. We have Febreezed the ottoman two or three times and it has yet to smell respectable enough to make it in from the back porch. That's where it all started with Tori getting sick. We're all well, for now, but I'm not counting my chickens.

I wish I had more to blog about but honestly that's all I've done for the past week. It was ugly and brutal and I wouldn't wish it on anyone. I did happen to think as I was huddled up beside Maggie as she tossed her cookies that though the stomach bug really sucks, I have had twins and I can get through this. The bug is miserable and you feel like you and your family are going to die when you're in the middle of it, but you know that in about 48 hours it'll all be over. When you have infant twins the fun really doesn't end until they're...well...we're not there yet. But close to two years ago (wow) we were at the beginning of it all. The all night feedings, the trips to the ER, the puking, the crying, the reflux, the bladder infections, the breathing treatments, the specialists. If we've made it through that then by golly we can make it through the stomach flu.

Some days I seriously just sit and think that I don't know how Jon and Kate do it - or anyone else with more multiples than two. But then I think about how people say that to me all the time..."I don't know how you do it. I couldn't do it." Well, you could do it...you just DO it. I guess that's what Jon and Kate do, but I mean, still.

Cute factors for today, though, have been Tori and Zoe doing tricks and then both screaming, "Ta-Da!" at the top of their lungs. By tricks I mean attempting to do a forward roll or just standing there, throwing their hands up in the air and looking cute. Ta Da!

Also, I went in to get them up from their nap and Zoe was totally naked. She just kept rubbing her hands up and down her belly and saying, "Jay-Buh, Jay-Buh, Jay-Buh" over and over. I realized after a minute that she was saying "Jay Bird, Jay Bird" because, well, she was a naked jaybird. Gotta embrace this while I can.

Baby Emmaline

I cannot believe I haven't blogged about my new sweet niece. It's been a bit of a week so I'll give myself a break, but I am so excited about the new hunk of lovin in our ever growing family.

My brother David and his wife Mary Lane had baby Emmaline a little over a week ago and she is a miracle baby. They weren't planning this - they weren't even sure they would ever be able to have kids and frankly I think they were starting to be ok with that idea. When Mary Lane called me to tell me she was pregnant I seriously think she could have said an alien landed in their backyard and I wouldn't have been more surprised.

We were supposed to go see Emmaline this weekend but decided to stay away so that we wouldn't bring the sickness to Columbia. I just can't wait, though. Maggie especially is dying to get up there. She thinks Mary Lane is possibly the coolest person she's ever seen in real life. I just asked her who Mary Lane is as cool as and she said, "Hanna Montana, and the Jonas Brothers, and Miley". That's pretty darn cool in 5 year old land. Mary Lane, or Hane as we call her, looks cool, has a real job, and doesn't wear sweats and yell at kids like her other aunts with kids. I think I've said this before but Hane definitely ups the fashion quotient in our family exponentially. Maggie loves that. She also loves that for the longest time she was the only girl grandchild in the family and Hane has always given her princess presents for gifts. The first gift she got on her first birthday from Mary Lane was a little play purse with lipstick, a phone and a credit card. She also sends Maggie sparkly stickers and the last time we were in Columbia Mary Lane gave her some oh so attractive skull and crossbones pink and black tattoos (we'll get you back for that one Hane).

Long story longer, Maggie is busting a gut to see that baby. And to see Mary Lane.

Now for all the other aunts that are reading this, don't hate the player, hate the game. Mary Lane and Aunt Miranda win. They are child free (until now). They are fun. They don't make kids eat their vegetables and they send presents. So Jeannie and Leslie - the three of us are doomed. Even now that Hane has a baby I think she's just going to continue to be cool...she's just that cool. And Aunt Miranda, no matter where her life takes her, will always make pizzas with Maggie and spend countless hours playing outside with her. Don't worry, though. The three of us will be there when the curtains close and the cool wears off...yeah right...we're destined for "I love her a lot but if you kick the bucket, Mom, please don't leave me with her. I want to go to the cool aunt's house" status.

BTW, I'm joking about the last sentence. Jeannie, you've already agreed to keep my kids if I go down in a crash. No getting out of it now!

Just before midnight

It's 11:58 pm and Ian's got the bug. It really freaks me out to hear him get sick because he's never sick. Tori's screaming at the top of her lungs because her teeth hurt. Going to be an awesome night.

Bored...did I say bored?

Just hours after I wrote that last post everything started to unravel. Tori woke up with the throw ups and finally settled down by around 11pm. Sure enough, as soon as I closed my eyes I had to jump out of bed and start the puking for myself. Only mine lasted ALL night long - not just two hours. I'm talking every 15 minutes there for a while. It was brutal.

Thankfully Ian took the day off work and Sandy came over so I could stay in the bed all day. By the time I returned to the land of the living all the disgusting laundry had been done and there were clean sheets for all the beds. The kitchen was immaculate and Sandy was headed to the grocery store so that I wouldn't have to go today. What a lifesaver!

The miracle is that no one else in the fam has gotten it yet. I don't expect that to last, but I'll take it while I got it.

On a side note, the things that run through your head when you're up all night with the sickness can be really strange. I thought about the Obamas off and on throughout trips to the bathroom. Were they enjoying their first night in the White House? How were the girls adjusting? Is this stomach bug going around simply a stomach bug or an attack on our homeland by Bin Laden to kind of kick off Obama's presidency? Like I said...too much inauguration watching.

Sadly, the other quote that kept coming to my head throughout the night was one from that girl from The Devil Wears Prada when she says, "I'm just one stomach flu away from reaching my goal weight." Though not true for me, that's still hilarious.

Inauguration-lash

I have been watching tv all day long today. Seriously, I have. And I haven't even cared that I am ruining the minds of my twin girls. I just wanted to see it all. So I sat on my big red chair and ate brownies and drank tea all morning and afternoon. I'm feelin pretty good about myself right about now.

This strange phenomenon is happening with this new year. I am finding myself almost...dare I say...bored. It seems like classic housewifeliness - I look around me and have a lot I could do (i.e. clean up, do laundry, plan meals for the next six weeks), but I only want to do the bare minimum to keep things going. I feel like I need a hobby or something.

Strange thing is that this time last year I had so much more to do than I could ever do. Maggie was only in school three days a week, the twins weren't even one, and we were going to every doctor imaginable to find out what was up with Tori. Even after her diagnosis I had endless appointments and therapies to schedule and go to - not to mention line up child care for Zoe and Maggie. It was a lot. A whole lot.

Now I really only have one thing going on each day. And some days not even that. For the longest time one thing per day was all I could handle with the twins. Now I just find that one thing is good for the morning, but then what do I do during naps and after school?

I had forgotten about this feeling but I am now remembering that I had it when Maggie was a little girl. It's kind of a pain to go anywhere because you'll probably have to leave when your kid throws a fit or hits someone or something crazy like that. And it's also a pain to stay at home all day because, well, then you just go nuts.

If any of you mommies out there have a suggestion for me, then let-er-rip. Only make sure the suggestions are things you can do that require little to no concentration and are things you can do with two small children whining and hanging all over you.

Make new friends, but keep the old...

Why keep the old? Well, what if the new ones don't like you and you insult them the first time you have them over for dinner?

This past Saturday night we had this fun couple over for dinner. We ordered pizza, made dessert, and they brought the drinks. All was going well until I took a sip of the beer and made some comment about how I didn't like it. (It was one of those lime flavored beers and I actually hadn't given it a good college try, so I finished it and it turned out to be quite tasty!). Anyway, that was party foul #1. Luckily our new friends (or so we hoped) seemed to overlook my foot in mouth issue and continue on with the night.

We made it on to dessert and I had made these raspberry thingies that were darn good, I must say. We also had some ice cream that I offered - peppermint, which just happens to be my fave. Anyway, as I was offering it I made some comment about how "I know most guys don't like mint" and as soon as I looked up the wife of this lovely couple was pointing toward her husband as if to say, "he LOVES that stuff...sure he'll have some." Insult new friend's manhood...party foul #2. Awesome.

Thankfully I think his manhood is in tact and he's ok with being a peppermint eating gentleman so I am hoping they will over look my size 10 foot (yes, I said 10 - ever since pregnancy I've been a 10) in my ever flapping mouth.

Here's hoping I haven't ruined things with our lime-lovin, mint eatin new friends.

I hate Joe McCoy

Just finished watching the season finale for Friday Night Lights and it was slammin. Y'all better tune in on Jan. 16th when it starts on NBC. All I'm sayin is that I will watch the entire season again...it was just that good.

Also, here are some pics just for fun. Most of these are from Christmas. The one of the nativity scene with the radio flyer wagon in the stable needs a little explanation. Every night for a couple weeks leading up to Christmas, Ian and Maggie take the characters in the nativity and move them to different places around the house. They start far away and by the time we hit Christmas Eve Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the rest of the crew are at the manger. Well this year apparantly Jesus got dethroned because by Christmas morning all the animals, wise men, et al were worshipping a wagon. Makes me feel like we're doing such a good job raisin' Maggie up right.

Other pics are the girls in their dress up costumes on Christmas morning, Maggie with her Hanna Montana t-shirt AND rocker gloves that Aunt Miranda gave her, and a pic of us with our sweet friends the Hammonds on Christmas Eve Eve.

On a side note...I never thought I could be so excited about an appliance...

Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose

So I just checked out my sister-in-law's blog and she had a hilarious clip from 30 Rock's Tina Fey (check it out at www.ashevillesloan.blogspot.com). Anyway, it made me want to blog about how excited I am about television right now. For example, tomorrow night there is a two hour premiere of 24, followed by another two hour episode on Monday night. Seriously?! That's like two free movies (and by "free" I mean the cable bill that's included in our outrageous homeowner's fees, as well as the extra $84 a month we pay for DirectTV because Ian got a widescreen HDTV).

But I digress. Thanks to DirectTV, though, we have gotten the sneak peek at the entire season of Friday Night Lights. It is about to come on NBC January 16th for all you common tv folk out there. I may have said this before, but this is by far the best show on television and I'm not sure if I can let you read this blog anymore if you don't watch it AND love it. It's that good and the acting's phenomenal.

As you all know I am a sucker for Dancing With the Stars which doesn't begin until March. I have to tell you, though, that I just need them to get some better stars than last time. Last time they were Super B List and didn't have much personality (except for the football player guy who was in the finals - I can't remember his name right now but he was the only interesting one). Susan Lucci and Cloris Leachman...don't get me started.

And, of course, Lost starts soon. I am just embarassed to say that I am addicted to this show. Notice that I haven't said that I love or even like this show...I'm just addicted. If you haven't started watching it then don't because it's so frustrating and you'll have to watch it every week - and maybe over and over because they answer one question and ask at least five more every single time. It's annoying. But it's interesting.

If nothing else, though, please watch 30 Rock. It's just genius and I am constantly amazed at the writing and delivery of the show. So so good. Friday Night Lights and 30 Rock...that's all I'm sayin. They will make you so happy.

Christmas 2008 298

This is possibly the worst camera work ever, but here's a clip of Maggie's first day riding her bike, Tori walking like a champ, and Zoe whining because she had a bad rash under her clothes and I didn't know it yet.