Disney

We (as in Paul, Madilynn, Quinton and I) are leaving for Disneyland in exactly one week. I am so excited for my two oldest children to experience the magic that is Disney. But at the same time I am scared to death to leave the twins. Landon and Preston are going to stay home and my neice and two best friends are going to take shifts in watching them. I know that these three ladies are going to do a wonderful job caring for them and they love my kids as if they were their own. But it is still going to be hard for me to leave my boys for five days.

Yes, I have left them before. For my birthday this past February, I went to Eugene for a girls shopping trip. But I left the boys with my husband. Paul and I are both going this time.

Everything will be fine. But I will miss the boys terribly.

I have instructed all three ladies to not tell me if the boys do something for the first time while with them. For example -- If Landon takes his first steps while we are gone, they are to never tell me. They are to pretend (at least while in my presence) that it never happened. That way when he does it when I am around -- I can believe that it is the first time.

Sound fair to me.

daddy love

What's for dinner?

Me - "Hi, honey. So glad you are home!"

Paul - "What's for dinner?"

Me - "What would you like?"

Paul - "Um, isn't it ready yet?"

Me - "No, it is only 4 pm."

Every single day. No matter what. This is our conversation. The first thing Paul want to know when he gets home is what are we having for dinner. Just once I would like to hear "How was you day? How are you? " But no.... Never going to happen.

I have a plan. I am going to say something new as a response to the every present question of "What's for dinner?"

My responses

-- Food

-- I don't know, what are you making?

-- Placenta (you know -- just to see if he is really listening)

-- We are eating like babies tonight -- formula and cheerios.

Ugly

Yesterday, my beautiful, amazing, thoughtful daughter was called ugly. We were playing at the play area at the mall. Paul and I were busy wrangling the twins. They kept trying to escape from the play area! When I overheard two young girls (maybe 3 or 4 years old) tell Madilynn that she was ugly. All Madilynn wanted to do was to play with them as they were the only other little girls there. Instead she had her heart crushed by being called a short four letter word.

It is so hard to watch our children learn life's lessons. Most days, I just want to package up all the lessons I have learned throughout my life and hand them to my kids all wrapped up with a pretty bow. I want them to learn from my heartache and my stumbles. I do not want them to have to go through those things themselves.

In the end, all I could do was hug her and stroke her hair. Hopefully, she will remember how much this lesson hurt and in the end, she will never call another person ugly or any other name. Hopefully, she will never become a "mean girl."

Happy Sunday

Sunday nights are my favorite time of the week. All the kiddos are in bed. My husband is in bed. The house is still. And tomorrow? School is back in session! I only have one child in school so far, but it still makes my days easier when I am short one kid. And the best part is being short one husband!

Don't get me wrong, I love having my husband around. But I also love when he goes back to work and we can start doing things my way again. You see, when Paul is home, nap time get messed up, meal time is random, and our schedule is pretty much thrown out the window. Any mom knows that when the schedule is gone -- moms job is so much harder.

So here I am enjoying my Sunday evening, and knowing that I get five days of doing things MY WAY! (Yes, I might be back on Friday posting how much I love the fact that my husband will be around for two days to help me out, but give me my moment).

eating out

We all went out to eat tonight. Yes all 6 of us. We took everyone to Red Robin to eat. Before I had even sat down, Preston was crying in his high chair, Quinton was standing on his chair, Landon has thrown all his toys on the floor and Madilynn had to go potty. We ordered and while waiting for food, Quinton would scream every few minutes because Landon kept eating his coloring page. Our food came, I ate 2 bites and then I had to take Madilynn to the bathroom again. When we finally got back to the table, I ate 2 more bites and Paul had finished his meal and it was time to go.

I thought eating out was supposed to let me actually eat my dinner with my family? Normally, by the time everyone is dished and babies fed, my food is cold and everyone else is done eating. Eating out is no better.

I am going out to eat alone tomorrow. I am going to savor every single hot bite!

Preston can walk.

already one?

The boys are now 11 months old. They will be one year old in just one short month.
I survived a year with twins.
I never thought I would get through this year.
Everyone is still intact.
No major catastrophes occurred.

I am stronger than I thought.