Snip, Snip

My little girls look so grown up!!!! Ashlyn is in the picture on the left and Anna is on the right.

Yesterday, we got the girls' hair cut for the very first time. I just haven't been able to bring myself to cut it over the past 3 1/2 years til now. But they are supposed to start pre-school in September and the long, long hair was getting hard for all of us to deal with. So it was time to bite the bullet.

We've been talking about it with the girls for a couple of weeks to get them ready and they seemed to be pretty excited about it other than Ashlyn thinking a haircut would turn her into a boy - funny. Plus, we planned on donating a large chunk of it to Heartstrings which is basically the Locks of Love associated with Vanderbilt Hospital here in Nashville. We showed the girls the pictures of the little girls that are sick and don't have any hair and they both seemed eager to help.

I thought for sure I would cry, but I was able to control myself. It was also a little hectic as the girls got their hair cut at the same time so I was bouncing back and forth between them to make sure they were doing okay. Anna was a little hesitant at first, but did great and Ashlyn was a little ham and kept flipping her new "do" back and forth in front of the mirror - kinda made it hard for the stylist to get a straight line going with her hair.

Here a couple pics of our new grown up angels. I just LOVE their cuts and am so proud of them! We (me, Grandma and Grandpa Cook) took them to Chuck E. Cheese afterward as a reward and they wore themselves out. And they wore us out as well.

Picture time

It has been a while since I last posted pics of the girls, so I thought I had better get some shots on here before all the grandparents start sending hate mail.

These were taken Saturday afternoon when Nana (Chris' mom) and Grammy (Pappy's mom) came to see us for a short visit. Nana got the girls some cute horse toys and this is them playing with them.




















Above is Anna playing with one of her horses.





















This is Ashlyn playing with her horses and their gated area.

Watch out Meredith - Here I come (I hope)

My husband has been on me for quite some time about trying out for a game show. One in particular has been the Who Wants to be a Millionaire show. We only really talked about it when it first came out (evening show with Regis), but it recently came up again.

Chris discovered the show was having auditions in Nashville last Friday from 9am - 4pm. I was in the middle of Vacation Bible School chaos when he told me about it and I told him he was nuts to think I would go right after I got out of the last day of Bible School. He kept pressuring me and I agreed that I would go to Opry Mills (large shopping mall area where the auditions were being held) and see what the line was like. I basically went to make him stop talking about it and figured that if the line was too long then I would just go shopping - no big deal.

When I got to the location there were TONS of people in line. I talked to the lady from the show at the start of the line and told her that I knew she had answered a bazillion questions, but that I had just come from VBS craziness and was wondering how long of a wait I was in for. She told me that I actually shouldn't have to wait too long as they were taking in 200 at a time for testing and there were a few spots still available for the next group that would be going in within the next 30-60 minutes. I figured I would stick it out. As I started talking to people in line I realized some of them had already been waiting almost two hours as each group took quite a bit of time in the testing area once they got in there. And there were a few in line that knew people that had taken the test earlier in the day and told them how hard it was and that only a few people actually passed the test. hmmmm....2 - 3 hours of my life that I will never get back only to be told I didn't pass the test - great!

Once we were finally allowed into the testing area (inside a Dave & Buster's conference room area) we were crammed into rows of folding chairs (cumfy). Then a large envelope and a testing sheet were handed to us. The show was actually testing for two types of show: a special movie-lovers week of shows and the regular shows. The movie one was first- 30 questions in 10 minutes. I felt like I knew a lot of the answers, but had no doubt that I didn't pass that one. They took up that test and handed out the regular show test. This one was pretty hard, but (amazingly) I actually knew a lot of the answers - not sure how that happened, but if any of you know who Bob Ross is then you will understand my joy in knowing the answer to What shade of color is Cerulean?

So both tests were over and we had to wait around for the test results - great, more wasted time - I don't have many moments alone without my kiddies (they were at Nana's) and I'm sitting in a room with 200 strangers when I could be out having a good time.

We were given a numbered magnet when we came in and that was the number we had to put on our tests along with our names. Mine was 185. The tests were finally scored and the producer that was leading the testing started calling out the numbers for those that passed the movie portion of the test - about 4-5 people. Then they started calling out those that passed the regular test. "Number 1, Number 122, Number 67, Number 185"......"WHAT!!!!!" I yelled out loud. Surely there had been some sort of mistake. But no - they had called my number. Holy cow! I couldn't believe it.

Those of us who had their number called out were told to go into another smaller room where we would be interviewed by a producer of the show. Of course at this point I am still amazed that my number was called. A guy with a polaroid camera took each of our pictures so we could put them with our questionnaire that we had filled out while waiting in line. So we had a quick interview with the producer and were then told we would be getting a letter from the show within the next 2-3 weeks letting us know if we would definitely be a part of the contestant "pool".

So now I am just waiting to hear from them hoping to be a part of that contestant pool. I still can't get over all of this, but my husband is having quite a good time telling me, "I told you so". He is also quizzing me whenever possible on various trivia questions and letting me know when the Millionaire show is on during the day so I can "study up". Oh my.

Feel free to email me with any random trivia questions as I know I'll need the help. Even if I get on the show I am terrified that I will be the person that gets out on the $100 question - ha!

The Attack of the Vacation Bible Schoolers

It feels like forever since I posted, but I do actually have a good reason as to my tardiness. Vacation Bible School (Arctic Edge theme) has been going on at our church this week - oh my!

When I was younger I remembered going to VBS and having a ball and then I grew up and helped teach for a few years at our small church in Kentucky. It has been a long time, but I thought I might be able to help. At first we didn't think that was possible as our church's VBS wasn't taking any children younger than 4 (our girlies are 3), but we found out the Sunday before it started that anyone teaching or volunteering to help during VBS could bring all their kids under the age of 4 and there would be a class/childcare provided. Yeah - I told the person in charge of VBS that I would be more than happy to help (what was I thinking...), but didn't want to teach as there would be NO WAY for me to prepare considering VBS started the next morning.

Day One - I was basically a runner all day (great way to get in some exercise) and that suited me just fine. I jumped in where needed and ran supplies back and forth across the church's property. I was "pooped" by the end of the day, but was glad that I was able to help.

Day Two - "We need you to teach 1st grade." WHAT???? Those were the first words uttered to me when I came into church on Tuesday morning. "We think you would make a great teacher (which I'm translating to "we are desperate and you seem like just the type of sucker that would do this" - ha) and there are WAY too many kids (over 40) in the one class we have going right now. We have to split them up." Oh my, oh my, oh my.

I always knew I did not want to be a teacher while in school. Both my parents were educators (now retired) and loved their careers, but I had no doubt in my mind that God did NOT want me to be a teacher.

God has one great sense of humor.

The 1st graders about killed me. I won't bore you with all the details, but I have even more respect for teachers of all grades now that I have endured even just this very short time "playing teacher". Mary (one of my best friends from college and a SUPERB elementary school teacher) - I have no clue how you do it and you are a SAINT!!!!!

Once I got my footing it actually ended up being a pretty good week, but I am exhausted. Not to get too preachy, but I am glad that there were lots of kids there that - from what I can tell - would have had no contact with God or any sort of church had we not had VBS as accessible as it was.

Fast forward to Day 5 - Friday - Final Day - Yeehaw! As a part of VBS, the kids have music time every day where our Director of Music and his two helpers teach the kids some really cute songs that have LOTS of hand and dance motions with them. Being the dork that I am, I jump right in and do all this stuff with them - it is kinda fun after all. Well - again - God has one great sense of humor - the Music Director comes up to me at the end of the day and asks if I would get up with him at church Sunday night (this is when we are having our VBS finale program) and do all the songs with him as one of his helpers will not be there. What????? He says that he can tell I have such a good time dancing and singing with the kids that I would be the perfect person for the job (again, they are desperate and I apparently have "sucker" written across my forehead). "Sure" comes out of my mouth and I immediately start looking around for the person that just said that. Oh - I SAID THAT! So now I will be performing Sunday night in front of everyone. Heaven help me - literally...

God Bless America!

We had a great day yesterday. We started off with the neighborhood parade that included a firetruck, ambulance and lots of kids on decorated bikes. Then we spent the rest of the morning playing outside (in the 94 degree heat).

Later in the afternoon, Mamaw & Papaw Riggs, Uncle Travis and Jamie came over for a cookout. We ate WAY too much food, but had a good time. Then we went to Mt. Juliet to see the fireworks. They were VERY good - lasted about 40-45 minutes and the girls loved it. Of course, they lost interest after about 20 minutes, but they still had a good time.

Here are a few pictures.


Anna (L) & Ashlyn (R) posing in their 4th of July outfits.


Ashlyn showing off for Mamaw.


Anna pulling on Papaw's mustache.


Uncle Travis and Anna goofing off at the fireworks.

Papaw and Ashlyn watching the fireworks display in Mt. Juliet.

Just call me Mrs. Science!

You Passed 8th Grade Science

Congratulations, you got 7/8 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Science?

Wow - I actually did much better than I thought. I'm feeling pretty proud of myself. Thanks to Jen & Bill Beschman for the link.

Ready, Set, Go!

Chris works downtown and just recently found out about these races (on foot) for adults and children that are hosted at Vanderbilt University (close to downtown) every Thursday evening. We decided it might be something fun for the girls to try (not to mention help wear them out before bedtime) so the girls and I met Daddy at Centennial Park beforehand for a picnic dinner and to feed the ducks, and then we headed down the street for the track.

Now let me tell you there were some SERIOUS runners there. The event is sponsored by the Nashville Runner's Club so that is to be expected, but there were also quite a few little kids. They have a series of races and the ones that the kiddies participate in are the 100 M Dash and the 200 M dash. The girls did the 100 M dash and had a ball. Plus, there were a few races before theirs so they spent that time playing in the infield with the ball we brought with us.

This pic is of the start of their race. Anna is in yellow and Ashlyn is in pink.

Fun with Nana

Nana (Chris' Mom) came for a visit yesterday afternoon and had such a good time with the girls. They were playing around on our bed when I took this shot. Ashlyn is on the left/Anna on the right.

And - I have found an amazing new site. http://vickysdeals.blogspot.com/ This lady is from Alabama and finds the most amazing deals. I don't know how she does it, but I plan on taking advantage of her knowledge when it comes to my Christmas shopping. Check it out!

Waving the White Flag

Seven Days! Seven complete days dedicated to potty training Anna and - yes - she has won. We have been held hostage in our own home by this little girl and we have HAD IT! The battle is over. We are throwing in the towel. I have read more information about potty training, and potty training twins specifically, over the past several days and have come to the conclusion that Anna is rebelling against Ashlyn's ease in using the potty. Apparently when twins potty train and one learns more quickly/easily than the other, then the other twin decides she is going to show her independence by refusing to use the potty on the terms of her parents. Our family is a prime example of this. The reading continued on to say that the best way to deal with this situation is to completely stop the potty training process, sit her down, explain that she is now in control of her "potty training destiny" and don't mention it again. So that is what we have done. I HATE that we had to "give up", but I am thrilled that we can resume a half-way normal life again.

Now, if little miss potty pooper doesn't decide to use the potty before she is supposed to go to preschool in September then someone needs to be starting a fund for my mental health as the only thing getting me through the craziness of raising twin toddlers has been the knowledge that they will be going to school two days a week for five hours a day. I have REALLY been looking forward to that "me" time coming my way and if Anna can't go potty by then I can kiss it all goodbye - lovely. Now that may sound selfish, but I don't really care. "Me" time is precious and very rare for mommies and I was SO going to cherish every second of it.

Having vented as much as I am willing to at this point, I have attached a picture of the girls playing in the sprinkler this past weekend. They had a great time. Ashlyn is on the left/Anna on the right.

Poor Matt

That Matt video was great wasn't it? I accidentally deleted him when trying to add an official title to that post and just haven't gotten around to going back to youtube.com and having them send me the video box again. Here's a clearer version for you anyway.

www.wherethehellismatt.com

This means war!

I can't believe I am posting twice in one day, but the occasion calls for it. Today I have declared toddler war against my daughter (Anna - pictured here). Yes - she seems innocent enough, but she's a tricky little thing. Potty training has been an issue with our girls for several months now. Finally, Ashlyn has gotten the hang of things, but Anna is being the stubborn little girl that she is and has been holding out. In fact, I have to be partially impressed with her dedication to "pee-peeing" abstinance. At least she is committed.

Today I stepped over the line in the sand. I told Anna, "No more diapers!" Now she is not too thrilled with my decision, but I think she is realizing that I am not budging on this one. Anna is perfectly aware of exactly what she needs to do to go to the bathroom. There are even times when she will remind Ashlyn to "flush potty" or "wash hands" when Ash happens to forget (are you kidding me). This girl has been playing us like a harp and I'm over it!

Be sure to check back in a couple of days to see if Anna has caved to the pressure or if she has put me in a mental home. Either result should be interesting reading.

Quarantined Family

This has been a crazy week and a half. To make a LONG story short, our entire family has been sick with ear infections, bronchitis and sinus infections - lovely. So my girls and I have major cabin fever and are itching to get out into the real world as soon as possible. I'm trying to keep us in one more day just to make sure we are 100% healthy before venturing out into germ-land once again.

The bad thing is that my parents were down here house/dog-sitting for two weeks and really didn't get to spend too much "fun" time with their grandchildren because we were all pretty puny.

So, since I haven't posted any pictures of the girls for a while, I had better get some on here. We celebrated my Dad's birthday (Flag Day) while they were here. The girls helped decorate the cake (using every sprinkle in the package).



And then helped Grandpa blow out the candles.

One down....one to go....

Well - we didn't want to jinx it by announcing it too soon, but Ashlyn is potty trained! Hallellujah! We had tried this once before with both of them - not long before their third birthday - but had to stop as Ashlyn was holding her urine and her urologist said he didn't want to "stress" her system just yet after all she went through with her issues last year. And since Anna wasn't going to have ANY part of potty training without Ashlyn, we had to stop. Anyway, we had her checkup with that doctor last week and he gave us the go ahead to start again.

Last Tuesday evening we were discussing the girls' teachers for the upcoming fall 2-day preschool. They have not been to "school" before so this is a big deal. We have brought the whole preschool thing up before, but I wanted to re-emphasize the fact that if they don't use the potty then they can't go to school. I said at the dinner table, "...but what do you have to do before you can go to school?" Ashlyn answered quickly, "Go PeePee in the potty!!!!". And then she told us she wanted to go. So - you don't have to ask me twice - I scoop her up and take her into the bathroom where she goes peepee in the potty - YEAH! And she's been doing it ever since. We've had a couple little accidents, but nothing in the past couple of days.

We even developed a chart system as they have both been wanting to go to the Nashville Zoo and see the new giraffes. They adore giraffes so we decided to use this to our advantage. The chart had 25 boxes on it and as soon as either girl filled all the boxes they could go to the zoo and see the giraffes. Ashlyn filled her final square up today (see below).



Now you will also notice that Anna's chart (right behind Ashlyn's head) has zero, zip, nada squares filled. That is because she is being a stubborn little critter (no clue where she got that). She knows EXACTLY what she's doing as she has been "peepee" in the potty before and is just doing this to exert her control over this issue. Well - Mommy's not playin' that! We've been talking about the zoo trip ALL day today and have brought it up during this past week as well trying to encourage Anna to get some stickers on her chart. Anna's not happy about being left behind with Mommy while Daddy takes her to the zoo, but she's not too eager to do much about it. However, I think we have come up with a way to encourage her even more. We invited Chris' Mom (Nana) to go with Ashlyn & Chris to the zoo. That will probably devastate Anna and traumatize her for life when she sees them all leaving together, but she can tell Oprah all about it when she gets older. If it gets her going to the potty then it is all worth it. Nana and Grandma (my mom) think we are being a bit cruel, but you gotta get tough sometimes. Tough love baby!

So I'll give you an update on how tomorrow goes - for both Ashlyn at the zoo and Anna at home with me. Should be interesting....

Pool Time

Mommy got a bit creative and decided to get the kiddie pool out of the garage, spray off any icky bugs and fill the sucker up so the girls can get in the cool water on these hot days (in the 90's lately). Anyway, the creative part came when I decided to slip the pool under the girls' swingset slide. Not terribly creative - I agree - but the girls seemed to like it. Plus, Mommy and Daddy were able to get a little sun. Here are a few pics of our morning adventure. Anna is in the background on the first picture, Anna is the second picture and Ashlyn is the last picture.

I love not having to Cook!

Yesterday was a big day for us. Chris' Mom-Mom (Linda's Mother) and Tantie (Linda's Sister Sherry) came to visit us. They had been in Alabama at Sherry's house and were coming back through this area to go back to Manchester (Ohio). Anyway, we went out to eat at Famous Dave's for lunch - great BBQ. Then we came back to our house and visited for a while before they had to head back to Murfreesboro to get ready for their trip back home. We were glad to get to spend time with them while they were here and here are a few pics from their visit.

Then we headed to our friends' housewarming party in Franklin. Their new home is gorgeous and each time we've gone there we have left talking about how we wish we lived closer to them (Franklin is about an hour away). They grilled out and we all had a blast. Here's a lovely photo of the "girls" hanging out on the hammock. I could have stayed in that hammock all night.

We really enjoyed spending time with our family and friends, but I have to be a bit selfish and admit that the fact that I didn't have to cook for two meals made the day even better. Hallelujah!

I am not known for my artistic skill

But I have to say that I am very impressed with myself right now. I have never considered myself a very creative person which is a shame as I come from an extremely creative/artistic family. There are musicians, artists, singers and actors all within my immediate family. Now I have played my share of instruments and sung at church and in high school without any boos. I was also able to pass art class without too much ridicule, but I am not accomplished within any of these areas.

Lately, I have been trying to get involved in scrapbooking. I have done a few things, but nothing too elaborate. I purchased two very nice scrapbooks when the girls were born with every intention of keeping them both updated for the girls so I could pass them down to them when they got older. Well - that hasn't quite panned out. I've made a few attempts, but haven't dedicated the time I need to. Now that has changed.

As a kick-in-the-pants way to start my endeavor I signed up for a scrapbooking class at the scrapbooking store down the street. It was a great class and I had a good time. The teacher gave some great pointers and more importantly told me not to feel guilty about not keeping things current. Scrapbooking is supposed to be fun - not a chore. And I have found that if I have samples of pages in front of me I am able to pull parts of each sample page to make my own creation which actually ends up looking pretty good. Here are the pages I did.



So, I'm hitting the ground running. I'm trying to get my stuff organized and hope to get moving on these scrapbooks.

Church Nursery Attacks Parents!

Ok - that is slightly overstated, but you will understand shortly.

As in most churches, the parents of children that go to the nursery/toddler rooms take turns caring for the children. We belong to a fairly large church (First Baptist Church Mt. Juliet) so we usually have to take our turn in the toddler room once every 3-4 months which is very fair. Well, this past Sunday (Mother's Day) we showed up at the toddler room and there wasn't anyone in there. We waited a few minutes and another mother came in to drop off her son. She asked if we were taking care of the kids that day and we explained we were not so she stayed in the room with us. Another Dad came in and joined our waiting game. About 2 minutes before church was supposed to start the childcare director came in and said the couple that was supposed to watch our little ones had not come in yet. He then proceeded to ask Chris and I if we would mind staying. I was really looking forward to a twin-free church service, but there were only 4 total kids in the room so I didn't think it would be too tough. The other two parents left and we were ready to start playing with our small group of kiddos - or so we thought.

Within the next 5 minutes - I kid you not - 10 more children showed up. We had little ones everywhere! Some were thrilled to be away from their parents and others had to be consoled. Chris and I just kept looking at each other and shaking our heads at the whole thing - hysterical. We probably did over 25 head counts just to make sure we had the right number of kids in the room. So much for my peaceful Mother's Day church experience.

Anyway, the kids were actually great and we had very few scuffles. I will tell you this though, there is no better birth control then serving in the toddler room when there are 14 children in there and only you and your husband are watching them all.

Now, since I can 't have two posts in a row without a picture of the girls (or I will have mutiny from the grandparents), I have attached a pic of the girls from our recent trip to northern Kentucky. We went to the Cincinnati Zoo one of the days we were there and had a great time. The girls LOVED the giraffes and the gorillas the best. I thought this was a cute one of them walking down one of the zoo's paths. Anna is on the left and Ashlyn is on the right.

Hope all the mothers out there had a wonderful Mother's Day.

And me without a shower....lovely....

The girls and I go to storytime every Wednesday at the local library. It is a small gathering of about 12 preschool kids and their mothers. None of us really dress up for this and since it was raining today I didn't even bother taking a shower or getting too fixed up (not that I do that anyway). In fact, I pulled my hair back with a man-made headband and that was the extent of my prep work before heading to the library.

Who happens to be at the library when we walk in the door - the Governor of Tennessee along with his entire entourage and about 20 photographers and a news crew. Lovely - the Queer Eye guys would have been appauled by my appearance and - frankly - so was I. So - of course - my cute little girls caught the eye of every photographer in the place so we were definitely noticed. The Governor just "had" to meet the mother of these precious children - great, just great. I don't think any photos were taken specifically of me as they were all focused on the girls, but I'm hoping any film of me spontaneously combusts Mission Impossible style.

For those of you in Tennessee, you may want to take a look in the Tennessean tomorrow to see if you see any lovely pics of the girls - and hopefully NONE of me.

Coloring of the eggs

We took several pictures this weekend so I am back-tracking a bit here. The girls colored eggs on Saturday. It was fun for all as it brought back wonderful memories for me and it was Chris' first time coloring eggs.

The girls did pretty well. Anna put all her concentration onto one egg while Ashlyn had fun dunking about 6 eggs.



They made a bit of a mess, but that is to be expected. However, when we were just about done Ashlyn dumped the entire tub of green dye on herself and the floor. Take a look. It took a while to get the dye off her, but it did finally come off.

They said it couldn't be done....

They said there was NO way I could do it. Well....I have proven them all wrong (including my husband). I was able to put rollers in my girls' hair last night so they could have beautiful curls for church this lovely Easter morning. Yes - as my husband shook his head and scoffed at me - I was able to put over 9 rollers in each girl's hair without having to pin them down. There wasn't a tear shed or a cry heard. They even slept in them!!!! Take a look.....Anna's on the left/Ashlyn's on the right.

And we woke up this morning to beautiful curls to wear with our beautiful dresses. We even have one other Easter event to get dressed up for so I'm hoping the curls will hold up for their other pretty dresses. Pictures of that will be posted later. Here's a pic of the girls before we left for church this morning. Ashlyn is on the left. Anna is on the right.

Happy Easter everyone!

Church can be exhausting....

Our girls LOVE church and we are so thankful for that. They have WONDERFUL Sunday School teachers that sing all kinds of songs with them and that is always a big hit with our girls. Now usually they are pretty tired when we get home, but they tend to play quite a bit before even thinking about settling down for a nap.

Today, we sat around the kitchen table and read the paper while the girls ate their lunch and then played for awhile. Around 12:30 I rounded them up to go upstairs to change into play clothes and calm down a bit while watching part of a Disney movie. After they were settled, I proceeded to start cleaning the house up, laundry, etc. I walked into our bonus room and the girls were watching the movie. I left for NO LONGER THAN 10 minutes, came back into the room and saw this.....

This is Anna

This is Ashlyn

Adorable.

You turn your head for one minute....

Let me start off by saying that the age of three is killing me. Everyone says "Terrible Twos", but the two's were nothing compared to the three's. That being said, let me give you an example of how my two angels (yeah, right) are now conspiring with each other to wreck havoc on our house.

The girls pretty much have free reign over our house. We don't have to worry about them on the stairs and we have toddler-proofed every room - - or so we thought. After lunch the girls usually play while I clean up the kitchen. They typically stay on the same level of the house I'm on (we live in a two-story home), but will occasionally go upstairs. I just make sure to keep tabs on them if I can't hear them playing. Today was no exception. They played downstairs for a while and then headed upstairs. I heard them playing for quite a while and then all got VERY quiet. I think it was quiet for a while because I was in the process of doing loud things (loading the dishwasher, laundry, etc.). I yelled for them and didn't get a response - not a good sign. I heard them moving, but no talking which is VERY odd for our girls. Anyway, I marched upstairs and heard them whispering in the bonus room. When I walked in this is what I saw. Ashlyn is in the pink pants and Anna is in the blue pants (we had just had a messy lunch so I took their tops off at the table).



Now, if you are not sure what this is I will explain. We have a paper shredder upstairs. The "shredder" part comes off the basket and is always off the basket and unplugged when not in use (to avoid any accidents). I shredded several things yesterday and hadn't had a chance to empty the basket. Well - the girls did that for me. There was shredded paper ALL OVER THE PLACE. It looked like a ticker tape parade had taken place in our bonuse room. I actually had to move my treadmill (always kept unplugged when not in use as well and HEAVY) to get all the paper up.

Of course, I wasn't too thrilled with the situation, but it was all I could do not to laugh when I saw the mess and the looks on the faces of the girls when I walked in - priceless. I think they actually thought they wouldn't get caught - hmmmmm....... So this is them "helping Mommy" clean up. Sometimes all you can do is just shake your head......

POTATO Easter Egg Hunt

We could not have had a better day for an Easter Egg Hunt. It was gorgeous outside - warm (around 77 degrees) and sunny. As usual, our POTATO club (Parents of Twins and Triplets Organization) caused quite a scene at the park where we had the hunt. It is always interesting to watch others (without twins/triplets) watching us when we are all together with our kids. Instant birth control for some - ha!

Anyway, we had a great turnout and the girls had a blast. Anna is on the left in this first picture. We are getting ready to start the hunt.



Anna is in the first picture below . She was racing to get those eggs. Ashlyn is in the second picture. She was immediately drawn to the metallic/shiny eggs all the way across the field. My little girl is already going for the "bling".



Our friends Nathan and Amy came with us and were a great help. They actually took most of our pictures and all our video footage. A BIG thank you to them.

A local bank has an Easter Bunny coming next weekend so we are going to go see him. Hopefully Ashlyn will be a little more excited about going to see the Easter Bunny than Santa.

Spring has Sprung in Nashville

It is a GORGEOUS day here in Nashville today. The temperature is in the upper 70's and the girls and I have spent most of the morning in our yard - playing baseball (new t-ball set given to them by Nana), helping mommy rake old leaves and get the patio ready for cookouts, playing basketball and just running around. We've had a BUSY morning. Here's a picture of the A's playing around one of our trees.



So we just finished lunch and are getting ready to take a nap. We plan on heading back outside after. Who knows what we'll get into. Hope everyone has a great day.

So much for being on top of things....

I can't believe it was February when I last posted on here!!!! I HAVE to get better at this, but - in my defense - we've had a crazy March. The first week was spent working on the massive consignment sale my twin/triplet group has each year. I not only sold in the sale, but am also the Treasurer of the group so I have a lot of responsibilities during that time. I also had three projects I was working on for my two part-time gigs that were all due within that next week.

Then - the fun part of the month - we went on a cruise!!! Ah yes - one of the wonderful benefits of being a "certified travel manager" is that I can get some KILLER deals on cruises. We sailed on Royal Caribbean's Jewel of the Seas to San Juan, St. Thomas, Antigua, St. Maartin and the Bahamas. It was a hard decision to make as we had not been away from the girls for that that long, but the timing was perfect and we haven't had a chance to get away for a husband/wife vacation for a VERY long time. We met some wonderful people on the cruise and had a relaxing time - it was great. And I actually have a bit of tan - not transparent anymore. Here's a picture:



The girls had a great time at Nana's (Chris' mom) while we were gone and didn't seem to mind us being away at all. One of my rationales about leaving the girls was remembering that I used to spend a week with each of my grandparents (Cincinnati and Jackson, Mississippi) during the summers and I had a BALL. I used to think that those weeks were something special my parents did for me. Now I'm starting to realize that maybe they just needed a break....hmmm....genious!

Now I have to insert a picture of the girls here as my family will revolt if I don't. Plus, that's what makes this website so cute. This one was taken by my Dad when he was staying with us before heading down to the Mississippi coast for Disaster Relief. See - they really do love each other. Anna is on the left/Ashlyn on the right.

It's been too long.

Has it really been that long since my last post? Crazy how time flies. Not necessarily when you are having fun, but having twins can have the same effect - ha!

Anyway, our girls looked so cute going to church this morning that we had to take a picture. They don't get to wear these beautiful coats their Nana gave them very often as it is not always that cold in Nashville, but we've had snow and temperatures below 32 degrees so the snow is sticking and Jack Frost has definitely been nipping at our noses.

This is Daddy with the girls. Ashlyn is on the left and Anna is on the right.

Enjoy and I promise to post again soon.

Birthday Bash

I can't believe our babies are 3 years old! My how time flies.

We had a big party last Saturday (January 28th) to celebrate the girls' 3rd birthday and fun was had by all (well - at least I think it was had by all - I didn't actually take a poll). All the grandparents were there as well as some friends - including another set of twins and our future son-in-law (children of a friend of mine from POTATO - Parents of Twins and Triplets Organization).

We had a Diego/Dora jungle/beach cake and I made individual cupcakes for the girls as Anna wanted a Diego cake and Ashlyn wanted a Baby Jaguar cake. I will have to say that they turned out pretty good considering I am no Martha Stewart.

Ashlyn is the top picture with the purple bow and Anna is the lower picture with the green bow.

Help - I'm trapped with two potty training toddlers!

This has been quite a week. Last week the decision was made to dedicate this week to potty training the girls - no short trips to the store, no story time at the library, basically no leaving the house. We were going to dedicate all our time to potty training - period!

It is always good to have dreams.....

The week started off as I had anticipated - lots of messes and much fussing about the messes, but the girls were thrilled with the fact that they could earn stickers for their Potty Posters. Anna actually went in the potty twice and Ashlyn went once. Well - that was the beginning of the end.

Ashlyn decided she wanted NO part of the potty and started "holding it" for several hours which brought back horrible memories of all the issues we had with her and her surgery in May. After the second day of her screaming at me because she was holding it and would not get near a potty I decided to call her pediatric urologist and our pediatrician. Anna was also holding it, but not for near as long and she was not as traumatized by the whole experience as Ashlyn was. I was basically insane after the end of the second day and there were many moments where I found my head in my oven, but after my husband drug me out of there I was fine (kinda).

The urologist and our pediatrician called back with the same advice - don't push Ashlyn any more, but continue with Anna as maybe that would make Ashlyn want to do it more (nothing like peer pressure). So that is what we have been doing. We introduced M & M's to the mix on the second day and that has been a REAL motivator. Since Anna gets one if she sits on the potty for 5 minutes (and she does a great job at sitting for LONG periods of time) then Ashlyn has been more willing to try out the potty sitting process. They get 5 M&M's if they use the bathroom on the potty and a huge parade occurs. Yes - I'm sure many of you are laughing at the thought of us marching around our house singing "Pee Pee" songs at the top of our lungs. I can live with that.

So we are now on day five of potty training boot camp and things are going okay - Anna is still doing a great job and we aren't pushing Ashlyn, but she is coming around. Wish us luck!

Tons of presents, but the styrofoam "bubbles" are the winner...

I have many more pictures to post, but I wanted to get something on the website since I haven't had a chance to lately. We all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's. As you can see in this picture, we think the girls (Ashlyn in pink & Anna in blue) liked the little styrafoam packing bubbles better than the presents they got - isn't that always the way.....

We spent Christmas Eve with Papaw (Chris' Dad)& Mamaw Riggs, Uncle Travis and Jamie in McMinnville. We had a great time and the girls were on their best behavior. They must have known Santa was watching closely.

Christmas morning was spent at our house with Grandpa & Grandma Cook (my parents). That is when this picture was taken. They must have played with this stuff for about 15 minutes before we got them to move on with other presents - hysterical.

Nana (Chris' Mom), Pappy, Uncle Spencer and Grammy (Pappy's mom) came over later in the afternoon and we had our Christmas with them. We then ate a big meal and spent most of the time playing with the girls. Actually, Uncle Spencer spent most of the time teaching his brother Chris how to play with his new XBOX - not a small task.

The girls and I went to Pearl, Mississippi (near Jackson) the week after Christmas to spend time with my mother's parents (Mimi & Grandpa Ray to the girls) and my Uncle Steven & Aunt Teresa. That was a great trip as well and I will tell more about that in another post.

I plan on getting many more pictures on here as soon as I get them edited. I'm just glad I was able to finally download them all.

Happy New Year to everyone and God Bless!

At first I was afraid.....I was petrified.....

This post is all about me, but I am putting a picture of the girls on this one just to appease the grandparents (hee hee - Ashlyn is on the left and Anna is on the right - they wanted to take a walk a few weeks ago so I bundled them up and away we went). Anyway, about a week before Thanksgiving my twins & triplets organization (POTATO) had a special shopping event at the Toys R Us. The sale was just for us and there were discounts available and door prizes given away. I even sang Jingle Bells over the intercom system to get a $10 gift card (I have no shame). We had a good time and got some good deals.

Well, I received a call this past Sunday from the manager of the store. She said I had won a doorprize, but had not been back to pick it up. She said someone had tried to call but there was no answer. I told her we had an answering machine and she said whoever called must have dialed the wrong number. So I asked what I had won thinking it would be some sort of small toy as that was what I had seen given out that evening to others. She said, "No - this is a big one - you won a karaoke machine". I said, "wow - you mean one of the ones for the kids?" because I think those are great and I think the girls would enjoy it a little later on once they can read. She said, "No - this is one of the adult version - it is worth over $160.' I about flipped my lid! I was soooooo excited! I LOVE karaoke!!!! I just hope there are some great songs that come with it, like that classic karaoke song - I Will Survive! And all those those enter our house should expect to have to sing a song - get your vocal chords ready!

The Best Laid Plans

So my POTATO group (Parents of Twins & Triplets Organization) had "Breakfast with Santa" yesterday. We were so excited! This would actually be the girls' first encounter with "Santa" so we practiced during the week what we would do when we got to see Santa and sit on his lap. The practice sessions went VERY well - however - when the big day arrived Ashlyn wanted absolutely NOTHING to do with Santa. In fact, when they did the big announcement that Santa was coming into the building I had the camera all ready to capture their expressions when they saw him walk in. Well - Anna was thrilled to see him and waved at Santa with a big grin on her face. Ashlyn looked up from her breakfast plate, gave a very bored look in Santa's direction then went right back to eating. Hmmmm - not quite the reaction we were hoping for.

I got in line to see Santa and when it was close to our turn Anna came right to me all excited. Ashlyn had to be carried to me by Chris where she proceeded to have a hissy fit over the fact that she was going to have to see Santa. We didn't think that would end up being the best picture of Ashlyn (nor did we want her to inflict bodily harm on Santa) so we let her get back to her breakfast with Daddy and Anna and I waited our turn. As you can see in this picture, Anna did a fantastic job with Santa and was such a big girl.

Now if you just close your eyes for a second and then look at the picture again, you can pretend that it is Ashlyn too. I'm seriously thinking about delving deeper into my expertise at PhotoShop and seeing if I can just superimpose Ashlyn onto Santa's lap using her image from another picture....hmmmmm....we'll see.

Photo Shoot - Take One

Well - I don't want to give too much away regarding the girls' Christmas card pictures, but we had a first photo shoot this morning as they were in a pretty good mood and mommy thought it was worth a shot. We realize it will probably take MANY shots to get the one we want so we are trying to start early.

Anyway, they didn't do too bad other than wanting to see each and every picture on our digital camera after I took it, and there was one shot I thought I would go ahead and put on here as it was so sweet. Ashlyn is on the left and Anna is on the right. They can fight like cats and dogs one minute and then tell each other they love each other the next. Never a dull moment!

Where have all the days gone.....

I can't believe I haven't posted anything for so long. I'm so bad - and I was doing SO well there for a while. Anyway, let me catch you up on things.

The girls have been doing well until this week. We were supposed to travel to Maysville for Thanksgiving, but Ashlyn has caught a mild virus which prevented us from going. I'm actually typing this post on Thanksgiving day while Chris and Anna are at their Nana & Pappy's (Chris' mom and step-dad) house for Thanksgiving dinner (they live about an hour away) while me and Ashlyn are hanging out at our house waiting on leftovers - YUM! It is a bummer that we couldn't all travel together, but that's the way the ball bounces sometimes.

One exciting thing that happened recently was that my wonderful husband kidnapped me for my birthday last weekend and took me to Chattanooga. We dropped the girls off at Nana's and spent a fantastic weekend away from home which included a massage, pedicure and manicure for me - yeah! We came back on Saturday and Chris took me to see the new Harry Potter movie at the IMAX (yes - I'm a nerd and proud of it). Chris is not as big of a fan as I am (actually he could care less about Harry), so it was quite the sacrifice for him to take me.

We put up our Christmas decorations last weekend thinking we wouldn't be home this weekend to do so, but we are glad it is done. Now I just need to finish shopping and wrap the packages.

I've attached a cute picture of the girls playing in our back yard with their Pappy a couple weekends ago. Anna is in purple/Ashlyn is in pink.



Hope everyone has a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Halloween Pictures

Sorry for the delay...our computer likes to act crazy sometimes when it comes to downloading our pictures - darn that technology.

Anyway, here are our darling daughters as "pretty, pretty princesses". Anna is on the left and Ashlyn is on the right. They are actually Snow White dresses, but there was NO WAY they were going to let us put black wigs and tiara's on them. They had a ball trick-or-treating other than the first two houses had dogs which completely freaked them out (that's another topic for another day). We live in a pretty big subdivision so it was fun going to all the houses and seeing all the other costumes out there. Plus, our neighbors are Halloween freaks and they make a haunted yard out of their front yard. It is great to just sit in our front yard and watch the kids run out of there screaming their heads off. They are very respectful of those will real little kids which is good.

As a side note, Halloween is the anniversary of mine and Chris' first date - awwwwww - how sweet. We celebrated by picking through the girls' candy for our favorites - hee hee.