Way Back When-esday!

Christmas 2005

age 3 months

Here the boys are in their first Christmas outfits. This is one fo the few matching outfits they had when they were little and one of the very few that made me look twice to see who is who because of their hats. I lvoe it that Ethan looks like he is waving to the camera. This photo was also seen on Cheryl's website Twinsights in January '06.

this one doesnt do justice for the amount of hair Hunter had compared to Ethan but shows how much Ethan was always smiling and Hunter rarely smiled for the camera.Hunter in his striped outfit

Ethan in his striped outfit.

I don't know what it is about them but I love stripes. I think at least half of the boys' wardrobe has always been stripes. Between stripes and overalls I have tons of baby pictures of them.

Two for Twos-day

Baby Jesus has a Twin?

Today's picture is Hunter's work on one of the nativity's here. I guess he feels that since there are two boys that there needed to be 2 babies in the nativity. He had done it last week with a larger baby Jesus in there with the one that belongs and my mom put that one back to see if he would bring it back. He found another one though that was about the same size and fit in there better.I wasnt sure who did it so I had asked them and he said "me" and "two" so I would know that there were two babies and he made it sound like thats the way he felt it should be. So we have left his two babies in there for now. The first time he did it I had taken pictures but didnt keep those ones but I should have because there was also only two wisemen with the third one over in the buildings talking to the camel.

Baby Picture Sunday - Peace on Earth

What a great theme Debi has this week. I debated finding a holiday picture to go along with what she had started but there is really only one photo that comes to mind when I think of a peaceful picture.

This is the boys' first photo after coming home from the hospital. Only 3 days old all snuggled up together in the bassinet. Nothing is more peaceful to me then little babies sleeping. They were so tiny and swimming in their coming home outfits.

Check out some more peaceful pictures by going over to Who Says 8 is Enough. And I hope you have a peaceful Sunday as we will with all the snow we are now getting.

Way Back When-esday!

December 2007

age 2 years old

Last year was really the first year we took pictures for photo cards and the beginning of the best of our pictures being with them eating because it was alot easier to snap a picture when they have a treat. This was one of the ones that it wasnt as obvious that they were eating cookies. Add in a little editing to bring out the Christmas colors and we had a cute picture to use in making photo cards.

Check out Cheryl's Twinfatuation for some more memories from Christmas cards past.

Two for Twos-day!

two pictures of two boys on one sit and spin.

proof that they can get along and share toys once in awhile.

it didn't spin real good with both of them on there so this sharing didn't last very long.

check out Deanna's blog for more pictures that are twice the fun.

Way Back When-esday!

My First Christmas

my age: 3 months

Look at that cute baby and Santa has some creepy looking eyes.

I decided to dig out the photo albums for this week's way back when since the boys still don't have any pictures with Santa. I am going to try and get one this year but I dont know if it will work. Their first Christmas they were only 3 months( same as mine since their birthday falls exactly a week after mine) and I didnt trust some Santa to hold both of them plus they didnt go out much at that time. The next year we were still in the mountains with Wal-Mart being the only store in town to have him and we kept missing him. We tried that year at the lighting of Christmas Tree Mountain but after waiting awhile in the cold my mom decided we should just head home, even though we were only maybe 10 minutes away from seeing him because it was so cold and they were starting to get all red cheeked. Last year we went to one that didnt have any line and as we headed over there Hunter saw Santa slammed on the brakes and tried to go the other way. As much as we tried, we werent able to get them both on Santa's lap at the same time for long enough to snap a picture. This year we have tried once so far. It was at the mall last week and they were so excited to go see Santa. When we were on the opposite side of the entrance they both waved at Santa but as we got to the entrance and made our way through the lanes they both stopped and turned around. And both waved and said good bye to him as we left.

check out some more memories from Cheryl and more by heading over to Twinfatuation

Two for Twos-day

my 2 little firemen with their 2 little firetruck cakes. After much debate between what theme to do for their birthday this year they finally agreed. Ethan wanted dinosuars but Hunter doesnt really like dinosaurs that much. He didnt really have much of an opinion till I came up with the idea of a firetruck party. They both love any kind of vehicle and especially fire trucks and ambulances. I made the cakes while they were sleeping the night before the party. When they sae them the next morning they were so excited. Hunter especially and he kept taking everyone who came to the party to the fridge to see the cakes. He didnt want to cut his cake so luckiely I had extras since Ihad to do chocolate for Ethan and carrot for Hunter since he doesnt like anything chocolate (except milk and hot cocoa).

Join in the double fun by heading over to Deanna's at Eight is Great

Baby Picture Sunday

Wrapped in Holiday Cheer

Ethan's 3 month photo
Hunter's 3 month photo

they were finally starting to gain some weight and didnt look like they had chicken legs

here are the boys in their Christmas outfits. I had been so excited when I first saw them at Carter's since they were the smae pattern but one was turtleneck and overalls and the other polo shirt and pants. But I later regretted the big difference in them. They usually were dressed in the same thing different colors or once in a while matching outfits. I dont think they ever wore these much after taking pictures in them.

check out more holiday babies by going to

Who Says 8 is Enough

Something to be Thankful not to have

So in this time of giving thanks and all this talk about what we are thankful for I just wanted to pass along a laugh to ya'll and give thanks that these cakes don't belong to me. So go check em out Cake Wrecks and hopefully everyone will be able have some laughs while they are giving thanks this year.

Way Back When-esday!

First Thanksgiving

age 2 1/2 months

The boys' first Thanksgiving and first photo with their uncles who they share names with. Hunter Aaron is held by my little brother Aaron.

Ethan Sean held by my big brother Sean.

check out more memories by heading over to Cheryl's list at Twinfatuation

Lets Give Thanks

I decided I would share a few things that I am thankful for. One of the big things would be the boys. They have filled my life with such joy that I can't imagine life without them. So a few things about each of them I am thankful for.

Hunter:

I am thankful for his usually cheerful attitude. For the amount of words he has gained since starting speech therapy in July. Last count was about 30 words with a beginning count of 5 or so. His love of school. He has just jumped right in and can't wait to go every morning. The 3 day weekends are so hard for him and he asks almost every morning about school. The way he looks out for his brother. At his Halloween party he tried getting another beanbag from the boy playing with them and the teacher showed him where there were more so he could have one for each hand when he really wanted to make sure Ethan had one.

Ethan:

I am thankful for his sweet smile and big laugh. For his morning chatter about wanting dinner and another hamburger. His hugs he has for everybody. His ability to make me laugh everyday. I think I could fill notebooks with the things he says that make me laugh and most the time wonder where he came up with it. His care for his brother. He always checks on him when he is sick asking if he is okay. Well okay one day he coughed and he took the checking on him a little far by asking him if he was okay a couple of times and then telling him to say something.

Getting ready for the final count down

I'm off from school next week for fall break and Thanksgiving. Then when we go back we have one more week of classes then finals. Yikes. 2 papers, 2 tests, and a presentation finished in the last two weeks. 1 take home exam, 1 lab practical, 2 lab reports, and 2 finals to go to finish up this semester. I'm so glad to have my presentation over with. It went well besides I got nervous and was having trouble saying coccidioidomycosis. Which I guess is a pretty hard word to say when I'm not nervous. Still havent registered for classes for next semester yet because they wont let me register till I get proof of immunizations so I guess I better remember to call my highschool tomorrow.

Way Back When-esday!

After seeing Carrin's twin family picture last week I decided to dig up the one's we have. We definilty have twins running in our family. My mom is actually has a twin brother, who looks nothing like. My dad has some twin uncles and I have a cousin who has twin girls that are almost 3 months younger then my boys. These pictures I share today are of my boys and her girls. We've only seen them like 3 times since they were born and 2 of those times were Easter. Their first one and this last one.

1st Easter April 2006

Ethan, Brooke, Mikayla, Hunter

Boys age 7 months Girls age 4 1/2 months

Here is what happens when you wait to take pictures till after dinner and everyone is getting tired. I love the look on Ethan's face as Brooke is crying and leaning on him. Mikayla sits back and wonders what is wrong with her sister while Hunter could care less about the other babies.

Easter 2008

Mikayla, Brooke, Hunter and Ethan

Age 2 years

And I thought it was hard to get two 2 years old to stay still for a picture. Nothing compared to getting four 2 year olds together for a picture. Putting them all the then empty boat sandbox at least kept them together. Getting them all to look was a different story.

Head on over to Twinfatuation to see some more picture memories.

Two for Tuesday!

So here is my first time posting on Two for Tuesday and I decided to show a picture of my twosome last year when they turned two. So here they are on their way to see Thomas the Tank Engine at the train museum. Being the big train fans that they were they got tickets to go see him and ride the train for their birthday. So they got all decked out and headed off with mom and grandma.

check out some twosomw pictures by going over to Eight is Great

Christmas Pictures

Last weekend I took some pictures of the boys hoping to get some good ones for Christmas cards. I did get some good ones of them both together and then seperately. Hunter is in blue and Ethan is in red. I can't beleive how much taller Hunter is getting to be then Ethan. I was looking at the one where they are standing back to back almost and though there must be some mistake because it cant be possible for him to be that much taller but I checked them later and yes he is quite taller.

And of course there were many that will never get the oppurtunity to grace a Christmas card but will now get their time to shine.

Way Back When-esday

May 2006

age 8 months

I really wanted to share a picture that showed the hair difference the boys had when they were little but when searching for a picture I ran across this from the boys first picnic. This is one of my all time favortie pictures of the boys. You can still see the hair difference a bit in that Hunter had a full head of hair and Ethan was finally starting to get some on the top of his head.

May 2007

age 20 months

Just has to throw this one in as well because its a year later at the same picnic area just a different angle because there weren't any dandilions in that spot as much. This was a month before we moved and we weren't able to go back this year which bummed me. Still a hair difference. I think Ethan had probably had one haircut by this time which would have put Hunter at 2 because he had his first one at 10 months.

Check out more pictues from way back by going over to Twinfatuation

Win Some Baby Leg Warmers

at babysnazz.com. You can enter to win 20 pairs and then post a link on your blog like I am doing to get another entry. Plus they have a bunch of other stuff including twin onesies. And you have to check out the collegiate leg warmers they have called Skid Pants. Super cute. If only I had some girls to wear the Ohio State and West Virginia ones (I can say the WVU ones now that CU beat them back in September).

a peek

I was playing around with one of the pictures from our session on Sunday for a texture challenge and wanted to show off what I came up with. More to come later tonight.

Not Me! Monday

Another Monday. Another chance to declare what I did not do.

I did not procrastinate writing my paper that is due in class tomorrow night.

I did not spend all afternoon trying to get good pictures of the boys for Christmas cards and I did not put off cleaning the kitchen till this morning.

I did not eat most of the bag of toasted coconut marshmallows in one day.

Check out the list over at MckMama's to see what else her faithful followers have not been doing.

Tagged!

There you have it. I have been tagged for the first time by the wonderful Melissa from Twincredible Twosome. So now I must come up with 8 interesting facts about myself to share with ya'll. Let's see what I can come up with:

1. I think llamas are one of the coolest animals ever. My nickname used to be Llama. We own 4 books about llamas including Llama, Llama Red Pajama. (and finding the link for that cuz I know that ya'll are gonna want to check this awesome book out if you havent all ready, I find a new book coming out in March by the same author)

2. I am science nerd. I own 2 stuffed giant microbes. Hepetits C and African Sleeping Sickness in case you were wondering. One of my favorite "vacations" was the trip to the American Chemical Society Conference in Sacremento,CA a few years ago with 3 guys from my chemistry club at school.

3. I can't eat meat that has any pink in it since I was pregnant. I sometimes miss a nice medium rare steak but the sight of it makes my stomach turn. Speaking of eating things during pregnancy I never liked cherry pie till I was pregnant and now think a slice with some vanilla ice cream is pure heaven.

4. I spent 3 weeks in Ecuador on a mission trip several years ago. I had to brave the airport by myself coming home because I left a week early because I didn't want to miss my little brother's highschool graduation. Nothing like being in an airport in a foreign country at 5 in the morning and not knowing where to go to get on the plane.

5. I subconciously seemed to know I was having twins but never gave it any thought till I found out I really was. I joked with my little brother about having twins and if I did then he would raise one and I would raise one and we'd see who raised them the best. Plus my mom kept trying to give the "baby" a nickname like Itsy Bitsy (eww its a baby not a spider) and then Wee Willy (no not happening) so I joked with a friend about calling it Pipsueak but couldn't because there was no Pasquale (I had a pair of kittens growing named that and then used to baby sit twin girls and that is what my dad would call them). Finally I had a dream about having twin boys. Luckiley with that one I had never heard about TTTS because the babies in my dream were affected by that.

6. I like to think that my cousin just couldn't be outdone by me being pregnant because a month after I told my family that I was pregnant so was she. A month or so later I told them it was twins and she made the same announcement a couple months later. So the boys have a set of twin girl cousins that are almost 3 months younger then them.

7. One of my favorite summer jobs ever was when I worked at the dirt track about 5 years ago. I had good friends that raced there so after spending one summer there every Saturday paying $20 to get into the pits I decided to get a job there and then I could see them race and get paid for it. I worked in the pit shack admitting people so I got to know all the racers pretty well.

8. I have attended 4 colleges. I started out at Colorado Christian University and was there for a year. Then I took a year off to help my mom after she had surgery and took a few classes at the community college at home. Then I went to Adams State College for 3 years. I then had the boys and took off a couple of years with them. I went back last fall at Metro State College and plan on finishing in May.

Now comes to the fun part. Who am I going to pass on the tagging to. I am pretty new at this blogging thing so I don't have very many people on here to tag so I'm going to tag 5 people and hope they can continue on with tagging 8 more to keep this going. So here they are:

1. Susan @ Smell the Roses

2. Valarie @ Surviving South Park, Colorado

3. DeniseAnn @ Under A Tuscan Sun

4. MckMama @ my charming kids

5. Cheryl @ Twinfatuation

Way Back When-esday!

date: October 2006

age: 16 months

the boys have always loved books so I have many pictures of them "reading". We had a huge collection of them and last month I decided to sell some of the ones that we didnt used anymore because they were mostly board books for younger kids and was shocked to count up 50 books to get rid of once I had sorted them all out. No wonder there wasnt room for them all in one place.

Now hop on over to Twinfatuation to see her's and everyone elses memories from way back

awww cuz everyone needs a reminder sometimes

10 reasons you are a better parent than you think you are

1. You are the best mommy or daddy in the world for your child - Regardless of what the experts or anyone else says, in your child’s eyes you are their one and only. If you can live up to that kind of love and acceptance, you’ll be happier for it.

2. You trust your gut - Most of us try not to get too worried or upset by the proliferation of news stories about lead-poisoned toys or tragic stories of kidnapped children, but it’s not very easy. When push comes to shove, your gut can be your guide. If you feel more than a tingle of doubt, you’ll do the right thing by your child. You’re wired that way.

3. You give the best love you know how to give - Love isn’t perfect or always kind, but you want to be a good parent and you try every day to be the best parent you know how to be.

4. You feed them every day- Not always meals with enough vegetables or fruit, but you feed them, and you worry about their health. And that makes you a good parent.

5. You smile at them, beam even, and they make you proud - When you smile at your child (and you know you do, often) you are transmitting your love and tenderness. Kids are sponges and they feel every iota of that sweetness.

6. You teach them about wonderful things — You fill their heads with the wishes of childhood — Santa Clause, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny and other wonderful creatures. Even if they don’t believe you, their eyes light up with the spark of imagination.

7. You love them unconditionally, even when you don’t like them very much - Most kids know that you love them no matter what. Even when they have tantrums in the grocery store and hit their sister or brother and refuse to eat their dinner. Even then you love them deeply.

8. You comfort them when they’re scared - Monsters, bad dreams, and things that go bump in the night hold no power over the comfort of your arms and your murmured reassurance.

9. You want your child to be happy - Almost more than anything else, you want to see evidence that your child is happy, well-adjusted, and secure. You want this for them more than you want it for yourself.

10. You are their one true love - For so many years, you are your child’s sun, moon, and stars. You are the keeper of their small open hearts, their only one. This essential truth, when fully appreciated, makes parenting the most fulfilling thing you’ll ever do.

Not Me! Monday

We're back with another edition of Not ME! Monday. The only place where you can read about the things I did not do this week.

I did not bribe the boys with candy corn so that I could get pictures of them on their first day of preschool.

I did not skip lab on Thursday to go to Ethan's Halloween party after I did not skip it on Tuesday to take him to his first day of school.

I did not send Hunter to school with a sore throat on Friday because he really wanted to go and her ate his breakfast great. And I did not wonder about taking him to the doctor when he came home from school and passed out on the couch and had a fever when he woke up.

I did not lose his medicaid card and did not take quarters out of their piggy back to pay for his prescription.

Head on over to Mckmama's to catch what the others have not been doing this week

Not very many treats for us this Halloween

This was supposed to be the boys first time getting to go trick or treating because last year it was too cold and the year before that they were just too young.
Hunter woke up this morning and told me that he had a boo boo and would point to his mouth. I thought maybe he had a sore throat but he was acting fine other wise and ate breakfast great. Because of that I decided it was fine for him to go to school. I went in an hour before they got out for their Halloween parties and he seemed fine. He wasn't really eating his snack which surprised me because he loves strawberries and cantaloupe. Once we got home from school he went and laid on the couch and fell asleep. I checked his temperature when he woke up and he had a fever of 101.3. Gave him some Motrin and that helped and soon he was back to his normal self. Being Friday though I decided I'd better take him in to make sure he was fine. The doctor figured it was a virus at first because she had been seeing a lot of viral sore throats. She wasn't going to do a throat culture since it was the first day of having a sore throat and it his throat was just a little red but his lymph nodes were swollen so she decided to do it anyways. It came back with a faint positive for strep throat so she got him on some antibiotics. So we canceled our plans to go out. At least I had already taken a few pictures the last couple of days of them. Ethan is the big scray bat or so he says and Hunter is a UPS driver. I fixed the jacket after taking the pictures so the letters stand out more

Way Back When-esday!

Dateline: October 2005

At a month and a half old this was the extent of dressing up for their first halloween. Grandfather got these bibs for them so we did have a couple of photo shoots with them so he could see that they wore them.

Check out some more photos from "Way Back" by jumping over to Twinfatuation

First Day!

It went great. E-Dawg told me this morning that he wasn't going to go to school today but then he was excited along with H-Man. They both had great days. E-Dawg told me he learned at school today. Later I asked him what he learned and he told me he learned stuff, lots of stuff. Other then that he didn't tell me much about what he did. I did ask him if he colored because he had marker on his hand and he said he colored his name. H-Man had another good day. His teacher said he is getting better about sitting with the class and changing stations. She did mention that he needed to work on keeping his hands to himself. She said he hasn't had a major melt downs which is good. I guess that means they aren't asking him to do too many things that he doesn't want to do since he has learned that throwing a fit during his speech therapy will shorten the time of doing what he doesn't want to do. I'm hoping that chsnging the time but staying with the same SLP will help change that because right now he goes before class on Wednesday and we are going to change to Wednesday afternoons.

Hunter

Ethan

They both will be preschoolers tomorrow

The H-Man started preschool last Tuesday and tomorrow the E-Dawg will start as well. They are going to be in different classes which will probably be good for them. I just hope the E-Dawg is as excited about going as the H-man was last week. H-Man was so excited that he just kept telling me "go" when I asked him what he wanted for breakfast and only ended up eating half his piece of cinnamon french toast which is like one of his favorite breakfast foods. So hopefully I get some good pictures of the both of them tomorrow since I didn't get any of the H-Man last week since he hates having his picture taken in the first place and just wanted to go. Does it make me a bad mom that I wasn't sad about H-Man going last week and I'm not sad that E-Dawg is starting preschool tomorrow?

Not Me! Monday

Okay here is my first shot at this.

I did not give the boys graham crackers for breakfast because I did not put off going to the store to get milk and eggs.

I did not let the boys watch a movie so that I wouldn't have to make cookies with H-Man.

I did not run out of things to make this post longer.

check out what others are not doing by going over to MckMama's blog by clicking on the orange Not Me! button on the side.

The Family

Here they are:

My Oldest

Ethan Sean

aka:

Ethan Bird

E-Dawg

Booger

older by a minute

loves his stinky dog

the talkative one

My Youngest

Hunter Aaron

aka:

Hunter Bug

H-Man

Bubba

younger but taller

loves his Nemo blankets

the strong silent type

My double delights

they totally surprised me because they were standing next to each other on a rock like they were posing for a picture. Its not very often that I get a picture of both of them looking at the camera.