Friday Fill-Ins Despite Distraction

It’s Friday again already, you know what that means…..Friday Fill-Ins! I’ve been meaning to do this all day but we’ve been running full steam since breakfast. I hope I’m able to form a complete thought here as I sit watching the final game of the World Series. (Just for the record, I can’t believe I just typed that since I would have never foreseen myself watching baseball, yet here I sit totally engrossed.) Any way……..here we go!

1. Beware of coming between a mama and her babies. Seriously, I’ve been seeing some serious stuff here lately and it’s all stemming from messing with somebody’s babies. *shivers*

2. All I want for Christmas is snow. For real though, I would LOVE to see a “white Christmas” but otherwise, Mother Nature can keep it.

3. And since we will be out trick-or-treating Monday night, I carved a pumpkin to serve as a candy dish. I’m crossing my fingers for the “honor system” to come through for me!

4. Do I believe in spirits? Yup, the good book says “things seen and unseen”.

5. “Where in the World is Carmen San Diego” used to be one of my favorite shows as a child. I would LOVE to see reruns to see if it’s really as cool as I remember!

6. My homemade potato soup is one of my favorite meals when it's cold out.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to a long, hot, uninterrupted shower, tomorrow my plans include picking up the house, a birthday party, and then an adult Halloween party, and Sunday, I want to go to church and relax!

Thankful Thursday-Afternoon Naps

Today was one of those days that I’ve been hanging on by a thread. I woke up, too early, on the wrong side of the bed. Murphy’s Law was in full force and I’m pretty sure there was an actual little black cloud floating over my head just waiting to burst out in showers and lightening.

I was such a bear that I actually apologized to my girls for my obscene grumpiness and their response brought me to tears. Toddlers clearly love like dogs-unconditionally.

M told me, “It’s okay mommy. We forgive you.” I swear those are the sweetest words I’ve heard to date.

I was sitting in the floor and was chocked up so instead of saying anything in return I simply opened my arms and they came running. *melts*
The day went a little smoother from this point on and then when their nap time came along, the clouds opened up, my mind was able to take a break, and I actually caught a nap too!

When we all got up I wish I could say that the evening was filled with grins and giggles, but I can’t. It was the girls’ turn to be crabby :o(
Without my nap I may just have been shipped off to the funny farm. I made it through with all of my hair intact and without a one way ticket to a padded room; success!

As simple as a nap sounds, today, I am beyond thankful!

Wordless Wednesday-Cotton Pics 2011

13 Nights of Halloween-Mummies for Supper

Here’s proof that you don’t have to go over the top to thrill little ones. We had mummies for supper during our 13 Nights of Halloween and my 2 ½ year old identical twin girls gave it rave reviews!

For the meal part, I simply wrapped small cocktail sausages in croissant rolls to make them resemble mummies. To spice it up I added cheese to some. These are totally simple and very versatile. You could put anything you like inside or even brush the top with whatever you like. Mine didn’t turn out gorgeous, but for a 10 minute meal and the reaction it got from my two little goblins, I give it a big “two thumbs up”.

To complement our mummy dinner I wrapped juice boxes in white crepe paper and stuck on googly eyes for “Mummy Juice”. Again, simple is too complicated a word to describe this little project but oh the excitement they caused!

Hot Topic Tuesday-Parenting with Confidence and Sleeping Alone

Parenting with confidence can be tough these days with advice flying in from every which direction and most of them too busy contradicting each other to offer anything I find “sound”. So when it comes to raising my identical twin girls I’ve let my instincts do the guiding for the most part, but in no area so much as our family sleeping arrangements.

To be quite frank, before jumping into the blogosphere I didn’t know the difference between co-sleeping, bedsharing, and all that other stuff. What I did know was what I learned from my own experiences growing up.

As a child my father was out of the home 30 days at a time leaving my mother and me alone. Looking back I would suppose that bedsharing was as much for her comfort as it was for mine, but I was the one having to deal with the excruciatingly difficult separation issues when dad came home and I faced an empty bed.

I vividly recall the stress I felt lying in bed alone when daddy was home. I remember the embarrassment I felt when I refused sleepovers at friends’ homes because I was too embarrassed to admit that I was afraid to sleep in my own bed. And probably most terrible of all, I still shiver at the horrific nightmares I had when I laid in bed alone and fell asleep completely terrified.

Before you get any wrong ideas, my mom was, and still is, one the best mothers this world has ever seen. She had no idea that bedsharing would cause me all this undue stress, and I’ve never shared it with her for fear of hurting her feelings or causing her guilt.

However, when I finally got a handle on my feelings and a grip on my fear, I promised myself that I would never, under any circumstances risk putting my children through the torture of bedsharing. Don’t get me wrong, lying in bed next to my mom was a feeling of pure bliss and there are days that I still long to snuggle up beside her, but the terror of breaking that bond is not something I would wish on even my worst enemy.

DH knew where I stood on the sleeping situation and was happy to oblige since 4 people won’t comfortably fit in a queen size bed anyway so before I checked into the hospital we had our family sleeping arrangements set up and lined out.

We placed a pack-n-play in our room directly beside our bed so that we could easily monitor our girls, have easy access to them for night feedings, but also so that the bedsharing habit would not form.

For the first 12 weeks they slept snuggly here and it worked like a charm. After that we moved them to their own room and their own separate cribs.

We’ve had no issues to speak of to date and they are 32 months young.
Despite all the hype of the hippie style attachment parenting craze I do not feel guilty for teaching my girls to sleep in their own space. We are happy with our choices and they work for us.

Check out some other mommies' opinions on Motherhood Looms and the Parenting Patch!

13 Nights of Halloween-Glow Bath

Nothing says spooky like an eerie glow! That's why I fell in love with the idea of putting glow sticks in the tub for one of our fun "13 Nights of Halloween".

In just about any "Dollar Aisle" or "Dollar Store" you can find packages of glow sticks, bracelets, and necklaces. Kids go crazy for them, you put forth next to no money or effort, and everyone has fun! What's not to love?!

The picture here doesn't show much, but that was kind of the point, I mean, who wants nekkie pics of their kids on the net?! LOL, you can clearly get the point and I wish I could bottle their excitement and post it here for you to literally feel/see. They thought it was the coolest thing ever!



I think for older children it would be really neat to make some spooky eyes out of neon paper or glow paint and post around the walls to give this idea a little something extra!

13 Nights of Halloween-Masquerade Ball

My girls love to watch Mickey Mouse club house and one of their favorite episodes is "Minnie's Masquerade Ball". I thought our "13 Nights of Halloween" would be the perfect time to host our very own "mask-carade", so we did!

I found these perfectly adorable and free printable masks on FoldingTrees!

It didn't take any time to print these babies, cut 'em out, and loop a couple of rubberbands to each. I printed out four of the five available masks (I thought the vampire was a bit too spooky for us)and we had a ball at our "Masquerade Ball".

I had intended on not donning them until after supper but the girls spotted them on the counter and pleaded to try them out immediately. We had a grand time eating incognito and then dancing ourselves silly afterward!

Help Me Save the Ta-Tas!!!!

A big hello to all who were kind enough to even open this post!

Unless you live under a rock you probably know by now that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and in light of that, and how close to home it hits for so many lovely ladies I know, I am running this weekend in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure.

Each participant is asked to raise $150, this is approximately the amount one mammogram costs, and I still haven't reach my goal.

If you are so inclined to donate to this worthy cause please do so in my name by clicking this direct link to the Susan G. Komen site!

Thank you, God bless, and please pass this on!

13 Nights of Halloween-Scarecrow Building

So this evening was round two in our 13 Nights of Halloween celebration and we "built scarecrows". Older children may not get a kick out of this but my two 2 1/2 year olds sure did! They colored all of the scarecrow pieces, I cut them out, and then they put them together using Elmer's Glue Dots.


K worked really hard to get his legs on "just right".......


LOL, hope she doesn't plan on being a chiropractor when she grows up!


M was all into putting her scarecrow together......


And she did a REALLY great job!


When they were through of course they had to go on display! They chose to hang them over their table....on their respective sides of course! (This is a new twin behavior I'll have to share with you later ;)

Remember to check back tomorrow to see what's coming next in the 13 Nights of Halloween!!!!

13 Nights of Halloween-Ogre Eye Soup

To kick off our first annual "13 Nights of Halloween" tradition I made us all what I called "Ogre Eye Soup". I got the idea from Pinterest.com where it was dubbed "Ogre Eyes Hot Cocoa" :o) I'll be honest and say that I used packaged hot cocoa and my two year olds were plenty excited. And because I was a goober and didn't take a picture, here is what it should look like:

Thankful Thursday-All the Little Things

Wordless Wednesday-First Day of Preschool

Hot Topic Tuesday-Toddler Leash too Taboo?

To leash or not to leash-that is the question. The answer for my family is a huge TO LEASH when it’s necessary.

Monday Madness-Simple Halloween Craft Keepsakes

Mondays are normally crazy busy around here and today is no exception. The girls both have dentist appointments this morning and it's an hour drive in both directions. Needless to say, they are in the tub and I am taking a moment to share with you a couple of too cute not to do Halloween crafts to help freeze fall memories in time.

You can learn to make both of these adorable crafts simply by clicking this link!

Concert of Inappropriate Dance Moves and Other Weekend Fun

Wow, what a crazy-fun-busy weekend we've had! Friday around noon MIL and I loaded 4 little girls into her vehicle and headed out for the weekend.

Estrogen levels were through the roof running between 3 2 1/2 year olds, a 6 year old (going on 16), and MIL and me (no need to mention our ages). LOL

Our first stop was in Mountain View AR were we walked the square and listened to good ol' "bug-stompin" music. From there we headed to Blanchard Springs Caverns to wade in the creek. I was a little afraid we were going to have go back into town to buy a tent to pitch as the girls fell in love and didn't want to leave.

From Blanchard we drove about an hour over to Mountain Home which is where "the lake" is. Once there, settled, and fed, we got the party started with an out of this world karaoke/dance party. My hoot of a niece wrote the name of the festivities on a wipe board:


The next day we went to Mountain Home Berry Farm and had a GREAT time! And finally, today, we came home! Pooped doesn't cut it, but I wouldn't trade these memories for anything in the world!

Mommy2twincesses Gets a Makeover!

That’s right! My blog got prettified thanks to the fantabulous Mrs. Angie Vinez with Angie Vinez Designs.

I met this lovely lady through the Featured Blogger program on What to Expect.com and she just continues to amaze me!

I’m not totally technologically illiterate, but I could have never pulled off something as grand as the layout she created for me!

Between raising her gorgeous brood, blogging like mad on her site Blessed Beyond Words, and doing this design thing, I don’t know how she keeps up. But, nevertheless she does it, and she does it well!

I’m so grateful for your help Angie and I’ll be tooting your horn forever more :oP

For anyone interested I give her a BIG two thumbs up!

Wordless Wednesday-Cotton Patch Kids

Marriage After Twins-How to Manage

Hey guys! I'm SO excited to announce that my very first article has been posted to Twiniversity.com! If you're interested in ways to strengthen your marriage after the birth of multiples, check out Marriage After Multiples: Building a Team fit for Twinnies

Thanks a ton and feel free to share it with your friends :o)

Friday Fill In

Yep, I decided this meme was pretty fun so I'm on board for good. Okay, as on board as I can be while still living up to the wishy washyness I'm known for :oP

1. How can I get my workouts in with two tiny crazy people clinging to my legs?!

2. I’m just trying to keep my eyes open at the moment.

3. That summer, the one that I was able to rock that teeny Hilfiger bikini, I wish I had that body back :/

4. My Mamaw was hateful and we respected that because we were scared of getting whacked with the cane.

5. What was their names?! 11 years has been a LONG time ago. *head slap* Class reunions :/

6. I’m addicted to Facebook because it lets me stay in touch.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to sleeping GOOD (thank you ambien), tomorrow my plans include a 5K first thing in the morning, followed by the girls’ fall pictures, and then two birthday parties, and Sunday, I want to recuperate from Saturday’s craziness!

In the Minds of Munchkins-Kiddy Questionnaire

I saw this adorable questionnaire on iammomtoo and just couldn’t resist seeing what my two munchkins would say! If you compare our lists you’ll find that mine vary slightly because at 2 ½ years old, my identical twin girls didn’t fully understand some of her questions. Oh, and um, I’m missing a few altogether because they got bored with it and ran away.

1. What is something mommy always says to you? “I love you thiiiiiiiiiiis much!” (M)

2. What makes mommy happy? “Her girls!” (K) Boy, these two seem to know me well ;)

3. What makes mommy sad? “Daddy don’t.” (M) and “When I pee pee in the floor like teddy.” (K) This imagery comes from their book about potty training! LOL

4. How does mommy make you laugh? I got a no word answer here as they both started giggling, doing silly faces, and flapping their arms. *shrugs* They’ve got me pegged, we’re always clowning around.

5. How old is mommy? “7!” Thanks M :oP

6. How tall is mommy? “BIG!” M actually said this but they both stretched their arms up high above their heads.

7. What is mommy’s favorite thing to do? “Work.” Not real sure where M got this answer, perhaps she thought I said “least favorite thing to do”.

8. What does mommy do when you’re not here? This got another round of giggles followed with K’s exclamation, “Play!”

9. What is mommy really good at? “Singing Dora!” (M) Funny to me, they are always correcting me when I make up my own words ;)

10. What is mommy’s job? “Working.” I swear I thought a big “DUH!” was going to spill out of M’s mouth next, LOL

11. What is mommy’s favorite food? “Celery!” (K) Okay, this made me laugh out loud because we NEVER have celery because I despise it!

12. What is mommy’s favorite color? “Green.” (M) “Because your night shirt is green.” (K) *head slap* That explains it all! Perhaps my breath smelled like celery :/

13. What is mommy’s favorite animal? “A cat.” (M) “No, she likes elephants!” (K)

14. What do we do together? “Talk to each other.” (K) Between 3 females mouths, we do a LOT of talking to each other!

15. What is mommy’s favorite place to go? “Running errands.” (M) I guess it would seem that way since that’s my usual answer to “where are we going”.

16. Who is mommy’s best friend? “ME!” (K) “Nana!” (M)

17. What does mommy say? “Aye, matey!” (M in her best pirate voice) Again, I hooted aloud!

I love getting little glimpses into their minds and will probably do little questionnaires with them more often. If you do something similar feel free to post your link in the comments below so I can check it out!

Thankful Thursday-Within these Four Walls

This morning I’ve been busy chasing girls, paying bills, and picking up messes. I admit to moments of frustration, but right now, at this moment, I’m thankful for the chaos contained with the walls of our home!
Crazy active girls remind me how thankful I am too not only having been blessed with one beautiful healthy child, but two. Hence the title of my blog-Twice Blessed ;)

Paying bills isn’t fun by anyone’s standards I’m sure, but I sure am thankful to have a loving and supportive husband who goes out every day and works hard to make sure those bills can be paid and our material needs are met.

And the messes, SMH, well the messes again are just testimony to how greatly we’ve been blessed. Crumbs on the floor mean that we all have enough in our tummies. Laundry scattered about goes to show that we’ve got clothes on our backs. Tripping over shoes reminds me to be thankful that we’ve got shoes on our feet. And so on, and so on.

God’s blessings are everywhere and I know I’m guilty of not saying “thank you” enough. Small day to day frustrations are living testimonies to all we truly do have to be thankful for. I saw a quote the other day that really made me think. It went like this: “What if you woke up tomorrow with only the things you thanked God for today?”
There isn’t a single thing I would want to wake up without! Thank you Lord for your blessings in abundance!

Wordless Wednesday 10/5-Twins' First Fall

How to Train Your Husband

If they can make a movie about how to train a dragon why on earth has someone not made an instructional guide for husbands?! I mean, really now! As much as I love mine, I really do need some help in the “training” department.

The twinks and I are the luckiest three girls in the world to have DH to call our own, and while he’s absolutely fantastic at some things, like being our provider, making us laugh and feel special, he totally stinks at others like doing the small things that would make my life easier.

For instance, I can’t even begin to imagine how I would react if on a daily basis: he put his dirty dishes INTO the dishwasher instead of just in the sink or on the counter, his dirty clothes made it into the laundry sorter and not just wherever they fell, his shoes were taken off at the door instead of being tromped through the house leaving trails of mud and grain, his closet was kept neat and tidy instead of looking like a bomb went off in there, his towels made it to the laundry basket instead of making damp spots wherever he felt like draping them, phones were returned to the charger so we wouldn’t have to run around like crazy people looking for one every time it rang………this list could continue, but you see what I mean!

God love him, he’s never lived on his own, thank goodness or he may have been eaten alive by rats in his sleep. It has to be that right?! Just that he’s never had to do things of this nature for himself?

Whatever the reason, I’m asking for your help to make it better! I’m not a nagger and he’s not the type to respond to that anyway, so that’s out. I’m just at a loss. Is it too late for him? Does the “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” rule apply and I should just suck it up and get over it?

If you’ve got a “well trained” husband and feel like you’ve done it yourself instead of him coming to you already with neat and tidy habits, I’d love to pick your brain! How did you do it?