Thankful Thursday

This Thursday, I am thankful that I do not have to mow my own yard!

sorry... I know... lame... but it gives me a chance to post these pics...

daddy and the girls mowing the yard...

they were so cute out on the mower...

daddy actually mowed the yard... the girls just got to ride along to put the mower up!

I will admit though that mowing isn't really my thing. Even when I had my own place, my dad came over and mowed my yard. I have only ever mowed my yard once... and that was when my dad had bypass surgery. Not sure if dad didn't like his little girl mowing or if he didn't like me (the bad driver) using his mower! LOL

Happy Thursday everyone!

Feel Free to post something that makes you thankful today!

The TWINS are 2!!

My babies are officially 2!!

... the girls first thing this morning!


We even had a big party to celebrate it!

We had family and friends come out for the afternoon. The girls got lots of cool things, and lots of great birthday wishes. The big gift was the Barbie Mustang car!
The girls really liked it, but we learned they are just a little short in the legs! They can't reach the pedals yet! However, they didn't let that bother them. They were perfectly happy sitting in it and Annie would push the pedal for them to help them drive around!


Aunt Nea giving Courtney driving lessons....



They got sock monkeys....

... and a new table and chairs set for their birthday from my parents.


They also got little pianos from my parents for Christmas...

We had a little Christmas with my parents as well. My mom was sick when she was suppose to have her Christmas with us and so she brought out our presents today.

I got a couple of new Harley shirts and some twin figurines from Willow Tree. Jason got flannel lined pants and a shirt. The kids got more toys! Just what they needed! Actually, they had already opened their presents at my parents a few days ago... so the only ones to open stuff today was the twins and Jonah!


Emma brought the girls an Aqua-doodle...

...it has been a huge hit, and Thank Goodness Jen knows me so well and got them something they can't mark up the carpet and the walls with! LOL


Emma and Courtney taking a ride....

... at one point Emma was driving and she is able to reach the pedals and knows how to operate a car! We just had to watch out for the furniture and our toes! The girls will have so much fun this summer playing outside in their "cars"!!



By the end of the noc, the girls were happy to sit in their car...

...and watch Dora.


The party went really well, only one major melt down. My Aunt Cindy didn't give Courtney enough M&Ms and Courtney started crying! Poor girl, she knew 6 M&Ms just wasn't enough!

We tried out our new ice cream maker and had homemade ice cream! Daddy did a great job operating it and Grandma made her famous receipe! We had cupcakes and brownies and it was all very delicious. The big kids spent most of their time down in the basement playing guitar hero! Not even ice cream would pry them upstairs!

Missing in Action

Sorry I have been missing lately!

You know I am busy if I miss Candid Carrie's Friday Foto Fiesta!

I am feeling the stress of the season. Christmas presents to obtain, working more hours than normal b/c we are short a nurse, and decorations to put up. I am not even attempting to make my own Christmas cards this year! I don't think I am going to attempt to make Christmas candy either! These are 2 Christmas tradtions that I really hate to give up, but I just don't know how I am going to get everything done this year!

Here is a little of why I have been missing in action this week:
To start off, my Great Aunt passed away this past Wednesday. Marjorie Utsinger Corsaw taught Home Ec at Cuba for many, many years. Majorie was one of 10 Children and 2nd to the youngest. The youngest being my Grandma. The Utsingers were an amazing family. First of all, there were 9 girls and only 1 boy. Any guesses who got left out of the bathroom? Just Kidding. Secondly, almost all of them had college educations. These ladies and gentleman were born in the 1910s to the 1920s. Very unusual for wowen of their generation to attend college, but they did. Many of them even had careers! Some of them I knew well, others I did not. Aunt Margie I knew very well. She even stopped in last year and visited with me and the twins on a couple of occasions. Aunt Margie and my Grandma have always been very close. The last 2 years, my Grandma has faced losing her husband (2-2006), her best friend (1-2007) and now her closest sister. There are still 2 sisters left... Aunt June and Aunt Mary. I hope we have many more years with both of these fine ladies who have been a big part of my life and growing up. They taught us many life lessons and values and morals. They have been compassionate and supportive, stern and guiding. I don't think I would be the person I am today if it wasn't for my Great Aunties!
In case you remember this post, Majorie is the mother to Lyndel, who just passed away on Halloween. If you pray, please pray for strength for this family. They have been through so much. My heart breaks for them.
For Rememberance sake, I am going to list the Utsinger children. I never want to have them fade from my memory...

Daisy Utsinger, died in infancy
Carrie Brown, died in late 1980s, was the oldest of all the children, teacher
Hilda Rock, teacher??
Zella Runk, died 1991, tudored me in grade school, teacher
Ruby Stevenson, died late 1990s, nurse
Maxine Reinertson, died a few years ago, OB nurse
and
Howard Utsinger, died at the age of 40something, had faternal twins, farmer

the survivors:
June Stoneking,
Mary Wright,
and
Arthalene Widger

As you can read, they were smart, well-educated people. I hope to be half the person that many of these ladies are/were!

Now, for what else I have been up to...

Annie had her Christmas concert the other noc. I am just so shocked to see these kids so grown up! Many of these kids, she has went to school with since pre-k. I just can't believe they are now in 5th and 6th grade! Many of the girls I know from being the girl scout troop leader.

Annie had a little skit that she had to perform as a part of the show.

This is the 5th grade choir...


This is the whole group together... 5th and 6th grades...


The twins turned 23mo on December 3rd!

I just CAN NOT believe that in ONE little month, my babies, my twins... will be TWO!

JC drug out our tree and with the kids help started to get our Christmas decorations up. I ran around placing window clings on our windows the other day. I had a brillant idea to take Santa's and place him in the kids bedrooms and at the back door where he can watch all the action! The kids and I strung lights, but only after the littlest helpers were in bed!

The kids are so excited! I can't wait to hang the decorations with them tomorrow! The big kids wanted to do it tonoc, but I talked them into waiting until the twins can also participate! They are worried the twins will remove more ornaments than they will hang, but to me that is what makes it very special and mememorable!

I also was the winner of a contest held by Twinfatuation. I received the book "Christmas on Jane Street"

Thank you so much Cheryl! I am enjoying the book so far!

I promise to not go missing for the rest of December! We have lots coming up, Annie and Sammy both have birthdays, so we have birthday parties, treats at school, a trip to visit Santa, and presents to buy. So, stay tuned... I am back... and in full swing of the Holidays!

Friday Foto Fiesta

It is Friday again and time to have some phun!

I picked this picture to show what happens when Mommy works nocs...


Mommy makes the girls sleep in their crib... but amazingly... they manage to fuss just enough so that Daddy lets them sleep with him! They definately have him wrapped around those tiny pinkies!

Now, skip on over to Candid Carrie and check out other phabulous pictures... and join in the phun, phun, phun!

Baby Picture Sundays

I had to really search to find an animal picture! We have some outside cats, but we don't have any pets in the house... unless you count fish... and I don't.

But, my girls love to watch the outside cats... the cats really love having the attn too!



see who else is playing along at Who Says Eight is Enough?

Friday Foto Fiesta

It is Friday once again! Time for Friday Foto Fiesta!



This is one of my favorites! The girls loved to sit in their rockers and just watch out the window. Now that they are older, they have learned how to climb in the picture window and watch the traffic...


check out who else is playing along at Candid Carrie!

Two for Tuesday

Today is two for two-sday...
however, we are celebrating two for Tuesday!!


the twins are showing their support for their friend who is battling cancer

see who else is playing along at Eight is Great!

Two for Two-sday

Apparently, it was a very taxing day of Oswald and Max & Ruby...

Courtney didn't even lay down... she fell asleep sitting up!

check out who else is playing along at eight is great

Trouble makers

When the girls were born, our 3 bedroom house didn't have a bedroom for them. It wasn't a big deal, we just coverted our dining room to be their room and we placed a crib in our room and the girls shared a crib, upstairs or down depending on where I was at for the time. In the beginning, we spent lots of time downstairs as I had had a c-section and wasn't doing well going up and down stairs.

Since our remodel project is pretty well done... done enough to put their clothes in their closet and the armour I had been using to store their clothes is now empty. You might wonder what you might do with an empty armour. Cadie and Courtney have the answer for you!






they had the best time hiding in the cabinet and then throwing open the doors and scaring me!

Answer and more

For everyone who played along in the "which baby is it"...
Cadie had the Red bottle (right) and Courtney had the blue bottle (left)
if you got it wrong, don't feel bad, I have to ask Jason which is which! They look so much a like in this photo!

We had a very busy weekend and here are some photos from this past weekend. Jason and I have been emailing a gal from Iowa who was interested in our camper. So, on Saturday Jason and I packed up and headed to Coralville, IA. I was so excited b/c Jason had promised me I could go shopping! This is a rare treat for me as he knows I can shop for hours on end!
I didn't think we would have trouble finding a hotel room at Coralville so I hadn't made any reservations and when we got there, one hotel had a big wedding going on and the rooms were $140 a night! Now... Ralph Nader isn't going to pay that price when we could drive 2 hours and be home! So, I talked him into staying if we could find a room for $100. He wasn't crazy about it, but he indulged me! So, we stayed at the Fairfield Inn by Marriott and it was very nice! The girls had fun in the big comfy chair...

Since we didn't pack the pack n plays, we just let the girls sleep with us... a rare treat! Esp since it is never comfortable for me...
as you can see! The bed hogs take up too much room!
When Jason and I got up in the morning and we got to moving around. The girls always amaze me when they sleep...
they always seem to sleep together and it isn't uncommon to find them touching each other some way shape or form!

Last noc was the open house at the school. In 2nd grade they are keeping Journals and I was impressed Sammy had wrote in his about 3 times! This is Sammy in front of his desk...
I think 2nd grade is one of my favorite grades! Mrs. Russell is a great teacher and I really look forward to 'woods day'!

This is Annie in front of her desk. We had to put a puzzle together that had little bits of info about Annie on little peices of paper. When we were all done, it made a face. She also did a little bio poem that hangs on the wall. I am excited and hopefull for Annie this year. Last year she really struggled with school and thankfully, my grandma tutored her. This year, grandma is still going to help her some, but she is encouraged to do most of her homework at school. I REALLY like Annie's teacher! Jacki and I were classmates and I know she is very fair yet, she won't let Annie get by with her antics!

If you are wondering how I was able to take such great, unhurried photos... my friend Jen was there and the twins took off with Jen, Hannah, Emma, Jen's hubby and Jen's mom and dad! My girls love spending time with Jen and her family! She just has a much more relaxed attitude that I am so envious of!

Friday Foto Fiesta

Annie and the twins...


I have many, many favorite photos, but this is one of "the girls" that I absolutely LOVE!

Check out Candid Carrie for others who are playing...

Its The FIRST Day of School!!! (now with pictures)

It is the first day of school here!
The kids only have to attend from 8am til 11am today.

Annie 5th Grade:
Annie has Mrs. Scharping as her teacher. I am excited as Jacki and I went to school together and she is a GREAT teacher!

Sammy 2nd Grade:
Sammy has Mrs. Russell as a teacher. I think they will get along great! Mrs. Russell is also a fantastic teacher and she does 'woods day' every year and it is so interesting and lots of fun!

I am planning on loading up the twins and going into the school to get the kids settled for the first day! my sleepy babies...

I still like going to the school on the first day to get them all settled in for the year! I'm glad we live in such a small community that doesn't mind all the parents that desend on the school the first day!
Ok, so I got to the school and my mom talked me out of actually going in... I drove by several times trying to decide if I was ready to cut them loose and let them do this on their own... in the end, I did let them go on their own. But I picked them up from school instead of having ride the bus!
Sammy's class room...
After I picked Sammy up he told me that he was scared and sure missed me!

Annie and her good friend Whitney...
Sure glad they are in the same class this year!

Skyler and Annie...


The rest of today is going to be busy... we are headed to Canton this afternoon to watch the Budweiser Clydesdales deliever beer to the bars just like they did years ago! I am as excited as Annie... I think this will be really cool!