Sat What Wednesday!

So while there is a couple of hours left here for Wednesday I jsut remebered a little something that would definitly qualify for Say What Wednesday. The fun chance for us to share a embarrassing or funny or silly things our kids say.

This one happened to us yesterday as the we were out in the front yard with my mom. A man comes jogging down the street wearing only his running shoes and a pair of pretty short running shorts. My mom said sometihng aobut him adn then we turned away. Hunter then starts pointing and loudly saying look mom and look mama. As if thats not enough Ethan then notices him and yells from the front porch that that man is naked. I really wanted to crawl into the bush in the front yard and hide.

for more say what moments hop on over to Two Little Monkeys

Way Back Wednesday- Birthday Edition

date: Sept. 2008

age: 3 years

this is a picture from the boys birthdya party last year. They were (and still are) totally into firetrucks. Hunter loved his cake I made him so much that he wouldnt let me cut it and everytime a guest would come he would take them to the kitchen to show them. Good thing I had some extra cakes. This year we are doing a big combined birthday party for myself, my little brother and the boys since my brother will be here for Labor Day weekend. Its hard to beleive that in a week they will be 4 years old. And 4 years ago today I was huge but hoping they wouldnt come that day because I didnt really want to share my birthday with them.

check out some more photos from way back by heading on over to Twinfatuation

Its getting closer!

Back to school is next week for the boys. They are both ready. Hunter has been asking for like half the summer at least once a week when we get ready to go somewhere "go school?"

This year will be a little different because instead of going in the mornings like they did last year they will go in the afternoons because it will allow Hunter more time working with the spec ed team plus they needed to put some younger kids into the 2 day morning spots that Hunter was in because they had originally put him into two 2 day sessions. I tihnk it might be a good step into getting ready for all day kindergarten for next year if they go next year. But they probably wont becuase if they went next year they would be starting K before they even turn 5 becuase of their early September birthdays and the cutoff being towards the end of Sept. I will probably keep them home a year though because I want them to be able to excel both academically as well as in sports and I feel that being the youngest in their class could pose a threat to that. I know there were struggles for both my brother and and I in school when we were the youngest in our classes.

They will again be in seperate classrooms because of overprotectivness and jealousy issues with both of them. Hunter will look out for Ethan to the point where he will take toys away from other kids to give to him and Ethan gets jealous of Hunter sometimes for playing with other kids and will get upset and start yelling its not fair thats my brother when left behind.

Finally called today about getting Ethan a pt eval but still waiting for that.

I've been slacking at putting pictures from the camera onto the computer so I will share this one from my mom's phone that she took a few weeks ago. This is from before they decided that the mohawks had to go

I dont think I've ever actually blogged about this

I think I've tried a couple of times but it never really worked because of all the emotions behind it.

But I'm sure its been picked up on through my other posts and now that I did update the sidebar not too long ago.

Hunter is my starting to talk but still quiet kid because he has something called Childhood Apraxia of Speech (also called just apraxia). For those of you who don't know what this is it is basically a neuro muscular thing where his brain has problems communicating with his vocal muscles thus limiting his speech. He started speech therapy last July and at the time only had like 5 words that he could say besides his many sounds for animals and vehicles. A year later he is still severe but does communicate alot better. He has alot more words and is even using them in 2-3 word combos. All the words he does use are all one syllable besides repeating ones like papa. He did imitate yellow and purple before but being more difficult words he didn't keep them which is a common apraxic thing to do. He now calls yellow things orange because that's alot easier to say then yellow but that's a big improvement over everything being blue as it was last year.

He really only uses a couple of names and they are shortened versions such as when he talks about Ethan it comes out more like En which makes Ethan call him H sometimes. And his best friend from school last year was Bren shortened version of Brendan. He doesn't refer to himself by a name yet but rather air writes the letter H and says A because he hasn't mastered that ch sound yet.

He does have an Alternative Augmentative Communication device (AAC) which we got a couple of months ago but I have been about working with him using it. We didn't try much with signing because I wasn't sure of how to work with 2 babies on it when they were little. His first SLP did a little with it but trying to use more then one or two signs when copying her just lost him and it was hard for him to pick up new signs after he got more and help and thank you down. His OT figured that it could be his apraxia affected his hands as well which made it hard to communicate that way.

On the topic of OT he also has some sensory processing disorder (SPD) related things that might be tied in with his apraxia. He has some touch things as well as motor planning and postural control issues. He has gotten better in somewhat as far as getting his hands dirty and touching things. He will put his hands in the tub of beans at OT but wont touch the shaving cream. he actually jumped out of his chair the last time she was playing with him with the shaving cream when she patted the table and some flew towards him. For some reason he also has an aversion to pudding but will eat applesauce and yogurt. He is getting better about eating vegetables and will even eat a few different green things now.

The Pod Swaddler Pattern GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

such a great idea. This would be great to ahve to make some gifts because I always seem to have friends having babies

The Pod Swaddler Pattern GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Special Exposure and Way Back Wednesday!

trying something new around here this week...

First off some special pictures from our first picking from our garden. Hunter has been so excited for "his" tomatos to grow and the cucumbers. We would check almost every day to see if anything had grown yet and then he would dance around from plant to plant saying "eat" so when we finally got to pick some cucumbers and a tomato he was very happy.

thats Ethan with just a cuke and Hunter has one of each.

Unfortunatly despite all of Hunter's excitment over the new veggies he didnt want to try them. He wouldnt take a piece of cucumber which he will sometimes eat and I thought he ate the piece of tomato but found it later on the table. Ethan must not have been around becuase he loves tomatos and will eat them like an apple. I think the next thing I will try with Hunter will be some mayo to dip some veggies in because he is loving the mayo right now. Click on the picture below for more Special Exposure Wednesday fun.

Way back along time ago (I cant remember the year but it was many many ago before dad and aunts were born so pre 1940s probably) there was another set of twin babies in the family

I know that the two babies are my dad's twin uncles Ron and Don and I know that his dad standing behind the two ladies but I dont remember exactly who the rest of the family members are.

Now fast forward to August 1, 2009 to our family reunion held in our backyard this year and this is a picture of Ron and Don as well as Ethan and Hunter. Not only were these 2 sets here there was also an 11 year old boy and girl whose grandma is the youngest sister to R&D.
find more Way Back fun by clicking on this button below

Hide N Seek Woodland Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

Hide N Seek Woodland Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

Not My Child!

So I decided to play along with Mckmama this week as we discuss those little things that our children did not do. Some of these things are things they did not do awhile ago and some are more recent things they did not do.

My child did not yell loudly in Target that there were naked ladies on the wall nor did he loudly talk about the "old" man with a mohawk.
And I most certainly did not suddenly start looking closely at the cute skirts while he talked about the guy with the mohawk.

My child also did not try sticking items in grandma's purse and shirt at target and he most certainly did not pick up a movie off the check out belt on our way out before the cashier could scan it for the lady behind us.

My child did not come outside with his pants around his ankles and did not need his butt wiped because I was not sitting outside enjoying some drinks with friends.

My child did not pee on a tree at the park and my brother did not let him do this because the bathroom was a ways off.

Check out MckMama's blog carnival for more stories of the things that children have not done

Hunter read MckMama?

At least after his pajama choice tonight I would be lead to think so. He picked out the mismatched top and pants which made me laugh after MckMama's post and picture the other day. Sorry for the poor quality picture I had to use my phone because my camera is on vacation with my parents and I wasn't sure where the cord for the other one was at so I didn't want to use it.

I like that he does include in his outfit the same pjs that Big Mac was wearing only difference being that he went with the pants.

I was pretty shocked that he would want to freely wear pjs that don't match. He is very adamant about not wearing mis-matched pjs 99% of the time.

We had another appointment day yesterday with Hunter having a hearing re check and Ethan having to go in to get a referral for PT. Hunter did really great he didn't even want me to go into the room with him at first. But having to wear headphones while listening to bird noises quickly got old for him and he walked out of the room with only like 5 more to go. S we will have to go back to finish them up. And Ethan's appointment was a breeze pretty much in and out after she looked at his feet and ankles and said why yes he is flat footed and pronates in. She did try saying that maybe PT wasn't the place to go to get him inserts or whatever but I made sure she realized that it was what was recommended by his OT who I think probably had more of an idea about it then her. I was just confused about why now we had to go all official and get a referral for PT when Hunter got into OT off of the recommendation after his speech eval and Ethan got into OT after Hunter's OT observed him while he joined Hunter in a couple of sessions.

Baby Pciture Sunday - Gimme Some Sugar!

Gimme Some Sugar!

9 months I beleive during a photoshoot in front of one of their Winnie the Pooh blankets. This is the cropped version of the picture.

Hanging out in front of the Old House 19 months old I love getting those special moments between the boys when I happen to have a camera available. I have many pictures of them hugging and loving on each other.

I used to ahve an edited version of this photo that included the most perfect quote that now I cant remember besides something along the lines of when brothers wrestle they are really hugging

Head over to Debi's to see more sweet pictures

Random Thoughts

After pool time today I put Hunter into a pair of plaid shorts that turn out to be the ones Ethan was wearing in the picture posted today in WBW. They still fit around the waist just they are a little short. The shirts are kinda short too but they don't get pulled out very often because the boyos fight over who gets to wear the one with a monster truck on it. Just another reason I buy them identical things these days. All there shorts from 2 summers ago are finally getting too small. Kinda stinks because now I have to go and try and find shorts for them to wear to school in August. Plus all new pants and a few new shirts as well since they have gotten too tall for the stuff they wore last year. I got spoiled these past couple of years where they have been able to fit in the same things because first they wore it long so that it would fit around chunky bellies and diaper butts and then they were the only pants that wouldn't fall down. On that topic Ethan still has a problem with a pair of 3T cutoffs falling down that Hunter's are almost too small to button. Finally his waist is bigger then Ethan's after all this time when it seemed that Ethan weighed several pounds less but was chunkier. Maybe its because Hunter has reached a point where his weight and height are almost the same. almost 44in and about 43lbs. Ethan just hit 40lbs and is almost 42in. Thinking of making some pudding for Hunter to play in but I don't think it will go over to well since he wouldn't even taste it last week. But he did eat a whole serving of mashed potatoes not to long ago with his fingers. First time eating anything off his fingers and the first time even eating more then a tiny taste of mashed potatoes. Plus he ate a whole piece of broccoli last night. Would have eaten more but the rest of it was harder then his first piece. Wow my thoughts were really going tonight. I should do this more often. but I will leave you with a picture of the boyos with Uncle Aaron at the park last week before he went back to New York.

Way Back When-sday! Watermelon!

May 2007

20 months

Hunter digging in to what looks like a quarter of the melon. He had finished his slice and swiped another one from the kitchen.

Ethan chowing down on his slice.

They have always been big fans of watermelon. Ethan even claimed the watermelon in the garden as his. But I dont think its going to make it. I brought one home last week for the fourth though and he told me his watermelon had grown.

for even more sweet memories head on over to Twinfatuation

Two for Two-sday - Cool Dudes

here's a little shot from a recent shopping trip to Target. I was trying on sun hats with the boyos until they spotted the rack of sunglasses. Thank goodness for camera phones so that I could snap this photo.

chekc out more doubly delicious photos by clicking on the button

I ♥ Faces “Spice Up Your Camera” Strap Giveaway

Go check it out now. I ♥ Faces is doing a great giveaway (2 of them actually)this week.

giveaway #1
A one-of-a-kind camera strap from Lori’s business, “Pepper: Spice Up Your Camera”!!

definitly worth checking out. I love love love the prepper and bourbon street straps.

giveaway #2
A 6-month membership to Photo Talk Forum which is set up specifically for those who want to get serious about photography.


2 very great giveaways for your chance hop on over to I ♥ Faces and check it out

It's Here!

Hunter's Talker came today and we are all so excited. He was so happy to see the Fed Ex truck and ecstatic that he brought something fro him.

Unfortunately there is another little boy in the house who just doesn't understand why his brother gets this new exciting toy and he doesn't get to play with it. The whole concept of that he can talk and his brother cant just doesn't make any sense to him.

Let's Hear it for the Boys!

I ♥ Faces Week 24: Lets Hear it For the Boys!!!

I was going to use a picture of both boys but as I was going through pictures I ran across this one and thought it just screamed boy. This is a shot of Hunter at my grad party which was a luau after someone taught him how to lick and stick the confetti. I'm pretty sure his fingers are holding onto some pineapples.

I'm still here

Just been crazy busy around here.

Graduated like a month ago.

took some pictures of me with the boys

been blowing lots of bubbles

and job hunting...yuck...so far not much luck...one interview last month...

Our Mother's Day

So with all the busyness going on with finals this week ( I should be studying right now) I forgot to post about all our "fun" we had on Sunday. It started out nice getting to sleep in because with the rain we had over the weekend it hid the sun and the boys slept in for about an hour. Once they woke up is when the real fun started. Hunter woke up with leg pain and I figured it was just his growing pains he gets every now and then. He walked/hobbled along the edge of the bed and only made it a couple of more steps before sitting down in the door. I had to carry him to the bathroom and then downstairs because he wouldn't walk. Okay still figured it was nothing because once again he will do that when his pains come. He ended up not walking all morning even after some Motrin and after he fell down when I tried to stand him up decided it was time to take him to Urgent care. I figured when all he wanted to do was lay on the couch and watch cartoons something was up because he will usually sit for awhile and then be up playing. It wasn't that bad at Urgent Care and we didn't wait to get a room to long. It was nice that he is already in the system at Children's Hosp. so we didn't have to fill out any paperwork. The Dr came in to check him out and by that time he was getting pretty mad because he didn't want the bracelet on his wrist and that was all he would focus on. Then to make it even better she ordered x-rays to rule out a fracture because she said it is possible for toddlers to get them easily. He was not a happy camper about that at all. And not long after that she ordered another round of x rays of his foot. Thankfully the x-rays all came back good because I don't even want to think about trying to cast or splint him because there is no way he would tolerate that. He got a dose of Tylenol which was another battle because the first one once I got it in his mouth he waited till we moved away from him and spit it on the floor. come back with another dose and some help and they got it in there. He told the nurse away several times after that. To wrap it all up he ended up walking out of there and was running and jumping by the end of the day. She said it could be a mild sprain or post viral joint pain. He was a little sore yesterday but seems good now. We were there for about 3 hours so he ended up missing his nap but didn't seem to cranky when we went to dinner at my brother and SILs. It did catch up with him yesterday at OT but she took it easy with him.

Awesome Giveaway over at Multiples...and More

Their Sponser spotlight this week is on My Full House Designs. This is an amazing Etsy shop with personalized hand painted wall art. She has a lot of awesome designs and I think I have found what to get my mom for her birthday later this summer.

this is one of my favorites that I might get her

Right now though you have the chance to win one by heading on over to Multiples...and more

Locks of Love!

I decided to cut my hair because I figured I needed a new look for graduation since my hair style has pretty much fallen back into almost the same style when I graduated highschool 9 years ago(minus the bangs) and finally was able to go today. I knew I wanted something kinda short but didnt think I had enough to donate to Locks of Love but hurray I did. I'm loving the new look and just couldn't wait to show it off.

Too bad the boys didnt feel the same way. Tomorrow they get their turn for a haircut when I break out the clippers again and they get a much shorter cut for summer.

Baby Picture Sunday!

Flower Power!

Here's another shot from when we lived in Salida and had awesome flowers. Starting to get some more this year. The boyos have always loved stopping and smelling the flowers. Even when we are at a craft store with the fake flowers we have to wait sometimes so that they can sniff.

Check out more flowery fotos by frolicking over to Who Says Eight is Enough

Two for Two-sday!

Ethan, Hunter, Brooke, & Mikayla age 3

I know this picture looks like it has 4 kids in it but really it is 2 sets of twins. Since I havent gotten the chance to post any pictures from Easter I thought I would at least share this one of the boys and their cousins. What a difference from last year when I had to be happy with having them all in the boat to get a picture of all of them. Now if only I could have gotten them all looking when I lined them up to show the difference in height. And I got a chance at feeling like many people feel about the boys about how do you tell them apart (but I did learn after noticing one had curls in her hair and the other didnt that their head size is one way to tell them apart)

check out here for the picture of their first Easter (on the same couch) and the one from last year.

For more double the fun head on over to Eight is Great and see who else is playing along

Stellan is in our Prayers

He is out of surgery ao now we pary that he recovers quickly and is back home with his McSiblings soon.

Baby Picture Sunday!

Here Comes the Sun!

Here's a shot from when the boys were about 20 months old. we were on a picnic at the park and decided to see what they thought about walking in the water. It really grew on them and in the end they didnt want to get out.

Check out more sunny pictures by going over to Who Says Eight is Enough

Keep Praying!

Stellan's on the move right now on his way to Boston. Surgery is scheduled for next week once they get him weaned off the medicines. So please keep him and his family in your prayers.

Pure and Simple

What a great weekend we had. The boys loved the Easter Egg Hunt we went to on Saturday. Though Hunter was ready from the get go to put some eggs in his backet. Haha I tried typing hunt in and started writing Hunter (and did it the second time too). He did great waiting in the lines, actually that was all he really wanted to do. He makes me smile so mcuh. He is getting to be so much more sociable and starting to tell people hi, even without being told to. He was at ot today and another little boy came in and his OT asked him what do you say and he told the boy hi which is like a first for him to talk to a stranger like that and not have to be told to say hi, well anymore then what she said. The girl twin cousins came over for a ltitle bit yesterday and he kept trying to get them to go downstaris with him and play but I'm not sure how mcuh of it was they didn't understand him adn how much was they seem really shy. Ethan had a great time at the hunt too. He rode on the pony cart (which I didn't get a pciture of becuase Hutner had enough of that line and was ready to try out another line). He did the bouncy slide thing. They ran an obstacle course. I have pictures from this weekend but have not yet got them uploaded yet because I had a test today and am worn out from the weekend. Hunter must have been too because my mom told me this evening that he went upstairs after lunch on his own with his blankets and laid down. So I'm off to bed and will hopefully get pictures uploaded in the morning. Got some almost great shots of all the twins yesterday. I think there might even be one of all of them looking.

He is Risen!

THE LAMB OF GOD

Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God

Who takes away our sin

He came the sinless

Son of GodTo cleanse our hearts within

He hung upon the blood-stained cross

Thinking of you and me

Dying like some hardened criminal

His body in agony

His blood flowed down from the cross

His body tormented with pain

He cried out to His Heavenly Father

But it seemed no answer came

People stood and jeered at Him

Mocking to the end

Who Jesus was and why He came

They couldn’t comprehend

Their hearts were indifferent to the Lord

Their consciences grew ever cold

His mother watched on - unable to bear it

As the sword pierced through her soul

As you try to grasp this picture

The pain that Christ went through

Remember that day you were on His mind

He endured it all for you

Just so you could know His love

And forgiveness for your sins

To know His resurrection power

And to have His life within

He cares that much about your life

He endured the cross for you

Like those who jeered, or those who loved

With Jesus – what will you do?

© By M.S.Lowndes ~2006

Baby Picture Sunday - Easter

here's like the only shot I have from Easter 2007 when the boys were 18 months old. They had these really cute outfits but it ended up being too cold to wear them on Easter. Wierd since the year before they were able to wear the same type of outfits. But these were from our photo shoot right before Easter that year.

Way Back When-esday!

March 2007

18 months

Ethan is checking out the daffodils back when we lived in Salida. I love daffodils and was actually missing these flowers recently. We have a few here that have come up last month but nothing like those in Salida that would come up in February and last for a couple of months. So pretty they were and the boys loved smelling the flowers.

Check out osme more pictures from memory lane by heading on over to Twinfatuation

Baby Picture Sunday!

So this week's theme is Creative Moments and even though I'm on a new computer with no old pictures on it I had a bunch I made over on my MySpace account to choose from. It was hard just choosing a few so I ended up with four this week. I use Paint Shop Pro XI to do my pictures.

If you couldn't tell from these ones and some other pictures I have on here I really like the b/w or sepia with color.

Head on Over and see Debi at Who Says 8 is Enough to see some more creative moments

So Excited

So I called this week to get Ethan an OT eval because Hunter's OT thought it wouldn't hurt because she noticed some hesitancy when he came and worked out with Hunter a couple of times. Still waiting to hear back from them. Thats the one of the few complaints I have about Children's is that sometimes it takes a few times to get ahold of someone. Of course it seems like anytime I try and make appointments I end up playing phone tag with them.
I got a copy of the papers Hunter's SLP sent to the company for his talker which means they have the order and it should only take about 6 weeks to get it approved from Medicaid so he should have it soon.
Only 6 weeks left till graduation. Super exciting. Got my dress and shoes. I'll have to take some pictures later because they are awesome.

Magpie Designz in the Spotlight at Mulitples...and More

So I have found the place I will probably be getting my new necklace for graduation thanks to the awesome ladies at Multiples...and More.

Today they are spotlighting Magpie Designz. Great unique one of a kind jewelry can be found there. For more info check out their spotlight at Multiples...and More and leave a comment to be entered in the drawing for this (which I'm hoping to win)

and if not I have the tough desicion of which one to buy including this one

or maybe this one

Great Happenings in Blog Land

First off a great new blog to connect those of us blessed with Multiples

The ladies here are offering great info, interviews, reviews and give aways. Check them out this week for daily giveaways in celebration of opening up. So far they have interviewed Cheryl Lage, author of Twinspiration (the one book I didnt find out about till the boys were past those stages but wish I would have) and fellow blogger over at Twinfatuation and she also owns Twinsights, site where she answers questions about parenting twins and shares exerpts from her book and pictures of her readers cuties. Today is review day featuring the DVD series Signing Time as well as a giving away the first volume to one lucky reader. Coming up in May will be a fundraiser Blog Party in honor of Tuesday. Learn more at Who Says Eight is Enough Gives Back

Way Back When-esday!

Ethan on the left and Hunter on the right

Oct 20005

1 month old

Okay I'm guessing on the dates here but it was sometime during their first month and a half. Maybe it was still September. I don't think we actually went anywhere but just enjoyed some warm weather for a few minutes while trying out our second hand double stroller. So tiny they were and funny that they both were trying to cover their faces. This is still in the period where it was harder to tell them apart. Thank goodness they wore different clothes because the one time they wore identical outfits my mom mixed them up and made me look twice at them.

check out more pictures from days of yester year by heading on over to Twinfatuation.

A Dragon and Snow

So these dragon pictures are from a couple of weeks ago but I had misplaced my camera (found it in my coat pocket from that day which I hadn't needed till a couple of days ago when it snowed). They are at the play area at the art center here in town. It is a giant dragon sculpture that sprays smoke (water mist) in the summer. We had taken the boys last summer and they thought it was kinda cool but it was way better now that they are better at climbing and know what a dragon is.

Hunter doesnt care

But Ethan's not to sure

Dont let it eat me
So we had some fun inside and out this weekend with the snow. While we waited for it to warm up a bit yesterday we made hand print lilies for Grandma since real ones arent allowed in the house because of allergies. We got the directions from Family Fun magazine but they don't seem to be online. Looks like a bunch of other Easter crafts though that we are going to have to try out.

Once we were done with that and had eaten some lunch we headed outside to play in the snow. A couple hours later there were two tired out little boys and one half built snow fort. Unfortunately the sun was out and by the end of the afternoon the front walls had fallen down.