I want this! Bad!

Oh my goodness!!! I've been wanting to buy one of these awesome little items!!


The super fabulous giveaway queen Shauna over at Trying to Stay Calm is giving one away.
Go check it out if you'd like to try to win one. But really, don't! Because I SO want to win it!
But hurry, the giveaway ends August 4th!

just a dream

She had finally lost her mind. As she slipped out the front door, she looked back gleefully at the chaos she was leaving behind. The toddler sat at the table, with milk and cereal spilled all over the floor, his twin sat across from him, happily consuming his Captain Crunch cereal. Her daughters lay sprawled on the sofa gazing zombie-like as Spongebob Squarepants danced across the television screen. The kitchen sink was piled high with yesterdays dishes and the living room floor was littered with toy debris. Down the hall, in the laundry room, piles of clothing hideously beckoned to her. But outside, freedom called louder. She giggled as she gently pulled the door closed behind her, and took the first step away from the madness inside. Within moments she was running down the street. Away. Away. Away...........

Wordless Wednesday!

Toy...50 cents, packaging....$3.50

See the pricetag? (Ok, nevermind the fact that it's rude to leave the price on the package, they're two, they don't care)

$4.00. That's all this toy cost.

See that ? Right there, in the middle of the red? It's a screw. Where do they think this toy was going to go? They had to screw it into the package? Come on!!!! Is this Fort Knox?????
And this is one of the EASY toys to open. Don't even get me started on those bubble packs, and the twisty wires and the tape and the string, and the ones that require a handyman tool to break into. UGh!

Boys Birthday wrap-up

Well, we had a pretty nice weekend. My little monkeys had two, count them 1....2.... parties. Seems appropriate I guess, since there is two of them.

Of course, our first party was just our little gang on Friday, their actual birthDAY.

I had to work that evening, so we just made it quick and simple with cupcakes..........and a couple presents.......We just had them open two, and saved the rest for their other party.

The big red packages are these adorable little rocker guitars.

They actually play some pretty good tunes for toddler toys. There's "Message in a bottle", by sting and that "You're a rock star" song from Shrek (I don't know the actual title of the song). There's also "Love Shack" by the B-52's and a couple others.

Most of the pics I took came out blurry, so I didn't post them. Cupcakes....mmmm,mmmm good!

Our second party over the weekend, was at Peper Piper Pizza.

Pizza, games, cake, ice cream and presents....what's not to love? Well, I wasn't crazy about the location of the PPP we picked. It's not in the greatest part of town, but we picked that particular one because it would be more central for our guests. It was pretty run down, and it smelled horrible when we first got there. I guess we got used to the smell though, because after a while I didn't notice it anymore. The bathroom only had two working toilets, and one was full. Nice. That aside, we had a good time. Cheesy smiles with Grandma Patty.

They love Handy Manny.

Looks like a happy camper!

Lots more pics, but it takes too long to get blogger to load them.

It was a nice weekend. It was good to see Grandma Patty. We don't get to see her often enough.

Tomorrow's post....

the case of the really cheap toys and the major ordeal it is just to open them!!!

BlessingS

July 24th, 2007 at 8:23 and 8:24 am my two little boys joined our family. I can't believe it's already been two years! The time has rocketed by.
For their birthday post, I thought I'd highlight just a couple of things these little guys have taught me.....

1. Never pray for patience!!!---You'll be tested!
2. Little boys are awesome!---I never knew what I would do if I had a boy. The thought was just alien to me. But man, oh man! They are wonderful. So sweet. So funny. So cute!!!
3. God provides.---Here's where this post gets a little long. When we found out we were having twins, I'm sure you can imagine our reaction. Would they be healthy? How were we going to handle them? How on earth were we going to pay for them? Our insurance at the time sucked! After the first ultrasound, we'd essentially used it up. And we were going to be needing more ultrasounds--like one a month, and not just the care of my OB, but also a specialist in high risk pregnancy's. Can you say $$$$$$$? Factor into that the recommendation that I not work all the way up to my due date, because it's just harder on a multiple pregnancy, and we were stressing over money big time. We really need both our incomes to get by. Well, things have a way of working out and oh yeah, #4 Tithing works!!! Miraculously, Jon got transferred to a different yard at his work, which subsequently entitled us to better health insurance; we got a really good tax return that year, enabling me to take that early maternity leave which consequently in my opinion ensured the good health of my gestation. I carried my little guys to 37 weeks, which is full term for a twin pregnancy. I would have probably gone even further if the doc hadn't already scheduled my c-section.

5. Visiting Teaching is awesome, so is the love and support of your family: My awesome visiting teacher, Tate and my sister in law Laura planned a wonderful baby shower where many wonderful sister's in my ward turned out to support me. They helped provide many of those essentials we needed. I didn't have to buy a single diaper for a full six months!!!! And of course after their birth, both my mother and my mother in law came to stay for a month or so each and really, really greatly helped me in those difficult first few months.

So, there you go. Just a few of the wonderful things these little boys have helped me to see.

I love them so much. I didn't know how on earth I could ever handle two, how I could love them as much as their big sisters, how I could love one as much as the other. But, I look at them every day, and I think to myself, how could I have ever been happy without them? They complete our family. They have brought us so much joy and laughter. I can't imagine my world without them.

SO, Happy Birthday to my little monkeys!!!!!

Thanks for picking me to be your mommy,

though I'll never understand why.

Pay it Forward

♥♥♥sigh♥♥♥
More goody goodness in the mailbox yesterday. This is just too much for one girl to take...(but I love it, and I'll take it anyway!)

Merrianne had a fun pay it forward giveaway on her blog last week, and she picked me to join in the fun. So look at all the sweet goodness she sent me.......

Prettily wrapped in the cutest wrapping paper ever....

I Love LOVE LOVE notebooks and pens.

The tiny notebook is so cute, it's full of sweet quotes on friendship.

And the package of pens match perfectly!

I love word searches.

And that book above is so sweet.

More great reading material.

...and an eighteen month calendar. It's already up on my wall.

Thanks Merrianne!!!!
(I'd link her up, but she's gone private on her blog).

So, now more fun.

If you'd like to be a part of this fun, just leave me a comment letting me know. The first three people to comment get to take part in playing it forward. I'll send you something, and then you can post about it and pay it forward to three people!

Have Fun!!!!

Love me some Loot!!

So, a while back (like a month ago, right about the time I lost my internet connection--that's why I'm just getting around to posting about this now), I was a very lucky winner of Jeri's blog giveaway. She actually gave these sweet items to three lucky winners, she's just that awesome!!

I was so excited, because I hadn't yet read "New Moon". I really enjoyed it. Thanks Jeri!!!

See that tube right there that says "Vanilla Moment"? It's body scrub. Oh. My. Gosh!!! It smells SO yummy!!! Every time I use it, I want to lick my arm!!!! There is in fact a warning on the bottle not to do that. Good thing. I've been sorely tempted.

Thank goodness she sent that bar of dark chocolate, it had little bits of ginger in there. It was pretty yummy!!!! My hubby wasn't crazy about it, but so much the better!!! I got to enjoy it all by myself. I'm saving the hot cocoa for a rainy day.

Anyway, if you get a chance, go say hi to Jeri. She's so awesome!!!!

Long, long list of chores=0 Family time=1

So, how much of my long, long list of chores did I get done today?

Zip

Zero

Zilch

Nada

Nulla

Nichts

Rien ne

A big Fat NOTHING!!!!!!

What did we do instead?

SHARK REEF!!!!

I'm just glad they're behind glass.....

Wanna' touch a stingray?????

Mr. Seaturtle reminds me of Finding Nemo.

and
Jellyfish just remind me of Spongebob for some reason.

Jon called me from work at 6:30 this morning wanting to know if I wanted to have a family day.

I said "Heck yes!!!!"

So that's what we did.

Shark Reef, then we went and watched the airplanes take off for a little bit, and then Cici's Pizza for lunch/dinner.

What a great day!

Crazy week ahead!

Wow! I have a lot to do this week!
Friday my two little boogers are turning two years old!!!! I can't even believe it. Where HAS the time gone?
So, I have a house to clean. Not because we're having a big blow-out party here at my house, but because my mother-in-law will be in town.
She's a good woman. l love her a lot. She raised a terrific son for me to marry. But, she's a neat-nik, and a clean freak and I am nowhere close to either of those two things. So, I'll be spending the week trying to get our house in order. On the side, I've promised the girls a few fun summertime activities, like swimming and a free matinee at a local theater, of course the library, and some craft time.
We are having a little party on the weekend at Peter Piper Pizza, so I have to finish prepping for that. Thank goodness, that really only includes ordering a birthday cake and buying some presents. I also need to make some phone calls and decide upon someone to babysit my little guys one day a week. My work schedule is about to change, I'll have to post more about this later.

sigh.

Hey, I did manage to whittle my google reader down to just over 300 posts that I need to still catch up on. Yeah, I marked a lot of it as read and didn't actually read them.

Now tell me. How can two little kitty cats be so danged cute and so infuriatingly annoying at the same time?

Cue the choir of angels!

WhooHoo!!!!
I'm ba-aaaaack!!!

Hallelujah!! Would you believe my google reader shows 1000+ posts that I'm supposedly going to be reading through for the next month and a half?!?!?!?

I can't believe how much I've missed my computer. It's really kind of sad.

So anyway, just wanted to say Hey!! I'm back and I hope to be catching up to everyone real soon!!!

And the winner is....

What's that you say?
You didn't know I was having a giveaway?
Well, it's kind of hard to have a giveaway when you can't access your blog very often. But, yeah, I've been having a super top secret blog buddy birthday giveaway.
Here's how I picked my winner. Her name had to be Merrianne, and she has to be having a birthday this month. (This day in fact, I think).
So, there you go. My winner is Merrianne!!!
Quick go over and wish her a Happy Birthday. Hope I got the day right. I might be off by a couple. (but it's the thought that counts right?)
Oh and if you are the one and only Merrianne, girl leave me a comment. I need to know your favorite color combinations. I'm putting a little sumpin' sumpin' together for ya'!!!
Oh, and Happy Birthday Merrianne!!!!!

PS I should have internet activity back in the next week or so, let's just hope my computer is cooperative.
PPS Ok, I'm such a dork. Merrianne's birthday is the 20th!!! Not today. But that's ok, pop on over this week sometime and wish her a Happy Birthday Week!!!

Just wondering....

Do Atheists say "Bless you!" when someone sneezes?


(not back yet, but trying to pop in now and then when I can)

Catching up is fun to do

Another quick update. Had to go to the library to use their computer.
Sad.
:o(
~~sigh~~
Missing my bloggy buddies, although I must admit, it's kind of nice not feeling the pull of the computer throughout the day. I do miss unwinding at the end of the day by catching up on my blog reading. I'm going to have some major catching up to do when we get back on-line.

Things are good at my house. I've had a couch for about three weeks now. It was accompanied by flu-like symptoms the first week, and now just the cough is lingering. I hope it goes away soon. I just can't do that really special things guys can do and hock up a big ol' nasty loogy like thing in my throat. I gag on it. Sorry TMI I know.
My little guys are kind of catching it now I think. I've noticed a bit of a cough on Justin the past couple of days.
My girls have one more week of school, then they get about 6 weeks of break before the new school year begins. I can't believe Ashley is going to be a 5th grader!!! And my little Haley-bop is going to be in second. Un-Be-Lieve-able!!!!
I have to come up with some fun things to do, in the heat. We go a little stir crazy in the house, so I need to get us out and about on the way low-down moneywise. Wish me luck.
Well, that's about it for now. Hope you're all doing great.
Hope you have an awesome 4th of July!!!