Hometown Shout Out!

Okay - I realize how lame it is for me to title this post using the words "Shout out", but I'm trying to be "hip" & "cool" - yeah, right.

Anyway, this is a picture I snagged off my hometown newspaper's website. My hometown is Maysville, Kentucky - not too far from Cincinnati, Ohio. A smaller town, but I'm quite fond of it. They had snow last week and someone took this lovely photo of the decorated downtown streets. This town holds a lot of memories and I always love going back to visit.

Our big claims to fame: George Clooney (yep - I've seen him in person and literally lost the ability to speak), Rosemary Clooney (before my time, but I LOVE White Christmas), Miss America Heather French (went to high school with her - very sweet girl) and me - of course.

Breakfast with Santa

Our POTATO crew had Breakfast with Santa this morning. This is a yearly tradition and we had a wonderful time. We have been talking about it all week in the hopes that Ashlyn would concede to getting on Santa's lap (as she wanted nothing to do with him last year) - it worked. She really enjoyed it and actually ended up giving Santa a big hug before the event was over.

One funny note - a friend (also with twin girls) sat with us and brought her friend to help. She said her friend wanted to have twins too. We both gave each other a knowing glance and I told her, "There is no better birth control than coming to one of our POTATO events". So true....of course - I wouldn't trade our critters for the world.

A little more artwork

So we got our hair cut this week and actually had to go back because they were so fidgity the first time that the hairstylist couldn't get a straight line going. Anyway, you can see a bit of their hairstyle as well as their lovely watercolor paintings we did yesterday. Ashlyn is in pink and Anna is in blue.

Chalkboard creations

If you've been to our house, you have seen the great chalkboards/bulletin boards Chris put up for the girls in our kitchen. They are used on a daily basis and hold many of the girls' art projects.

The pics below showcase some of the girls' chalk drawings. Anna (left) has drawn a few different sleds and some "4"s and Ashlyn (right) has drawn a lovely multi-legged spider . The pictures change everyday and Ashlyn has actually been on a kick of drawing pics of Daddy. I'll have to get one of those posted on here soon as that is hysterical.

I love Christmastime!

I LOVE decorating for the holidays. I love turning on cheesy Christmas music, fixing a big cup of hot chocolate and decorating the tree & house. I'm also a sucker for gift-wrapping. Not sure why I like to wrap presents - I'm sure it has something to do with my tragic upbringing as an only child (just kidding mom and dad). Anyway, we actually did our decorating a couple days before Thanksgiving as we were going to be out of town that day.

We bought a new tree this year - finally. Our old tree was actually one brought to this country on the Nina (or the Pinta - can't remember which) and then passed on throughout time - finally ending up at Chris' Dad's & Stepmom's house. They graciously gave it to us and we - being the tightwads that we are - were more than happy to take it off their hands. This is one of the those trees where you have to attach each branch individually cutting up your hands and arms in the process. I literally never put the thing up without cutting myself - lovely way to start the holiday - a blood sacrifice to the Christmas tree.

So we bit the bullet and bought a new one. We shopped around (of course - remember - we are tight wads) and ended up actually getting our tree from Big Lots! LOVE Big Lots! We got a great pre-lit tree with multiple light flashing settings for MUCH less than the other stores were charging. And the great thing is that it only took me about 5 minutes to put the tree together - amazing! It would have taken me at least an hour to get the old one together.

So here is a picture of our decorated tree and an ornament we got for our family this year. Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

I'm addicted to slide shows.

Just one more for now...these are pics from this past weekend. We took the girls to the little pond at the entrance of our subdivision to do some "fishing" with the rods Papaw & Mamaw got them.

Slide show from the Zoo

Just thought I would try out this feature again. Gives you a bunch more pics without taking up too much room. Enjoy.

Warm weather = Zoo!

I can't believe the weather has been so nice. It is the end of November and 70 degrees outside - crazy!

We decided to go to the zoo yesterday because it was so nice and we didn't think it would be too crowded - that is an understatement. There was only one other car in the parking lot when we got there and I swear we were the only people in the zoo for the first 45 minutes. It was kinda eerie actually, but I loved that it wasn't crowded and the girls could run around all they wanted.

This pic is the girls acting like monkeys swinging through the bamboo trees. They had a great time.

Go Buckeyes!

My wonderful husband took me to Asheville, NC this past weekend for my birthday. We had a wonderful time and part of that time was spent watching the Ohio State vs. Michigan game on Saturday along with an entire restaurant full of Ohio State alumni and fans. It was a riot and we had a great time. Since we are so glad the Buckeyes won, I am posting this pic of my hubby along with Brutus - the Buckeyes' mascot - taken outside the bar & grill where we watched the game. I'll post more about our weekend soon.

Another crazy weekend...

One of these days all four of us will be well. Seems like we have just had one illness after another and that didn't change this weekend.

Friday night Chris and I went to see the Broadway Series' The Lion King. It was wonderful by the way. Anyway, Nana stayed with the girls and just before we left I felt Ashlyn's head and she was quite warm. She has had LOTS of drainage lately and I assumed she was just coming down with a sinus infection. We gave her some medicine to help with her fever and cough and then left for the evening. When we got back Ashlyn was still up and just didn't feel good. I think she and I only had about 1-2 hours sleep that night and I decided to take her into the dr. the next morning. To make an already long story shorter - Ashlyn has strep throat. Poor baby.

So we packed up Anna and Daddy and sent them to Nana's for 24 hours (Ashlyn wouldn't be catching after 24 hours on the antibiotic). Ashlyn spent the next 24 hours resting and I spent the next 24 hours sanitizing EVERYTHING. This house has never been this clean.

Thankfully, Ash is feeling better and Anna hasn't shown any signs of strep.

These pics were taken Friday morning when Ash was still feeling pretty good. The girls were helping Daddy rake leaves. Well - Anna was helping rake leaves and Ash was pretending she was busy by pulling off the berries from the holly trees - that's my girl!

Party girls!

This is what happens when you party too hard on a school night.....

Buckeyes Rule!

My husband has become quite the chocolatier. He has also decorated some amazing cakes in his past as well. In fact, I think this might have been his "calling". Now if we could just find a wealthy relative or friend to fund this endeavor....(any volunteers?).

Anyway, Chris' office was having a potluck last week and he signed up to bring a dessert. Since he is from the Buckeye state and is a HUGE fan of THE Ohio State University football team (the Buckeyes), he decided to make the candies known by the same name and made to look just like the nut-like buckeyes. For those of you who don't know, buckeye candy is made with peanut butter and chocolate - yum!

Now Chris had never made these before, but found a recipe on the internet and decided to go for it. The girls and I were at church choir practice and he had them almost done by the time we got home. Here was the final result. I'm so proud.

Story Time

Our local library has a wonderful storytime and we try to go every Wednesday. Miss Sandy does a great job and the girls love it. We've been going to the Mt. Juliet Library since they were little so it has become a bit of a weekly tradition. I have never taken my camera, but this week they were encouraging the kids to dress up since it was the day after Halloween, so I thought I would bring it along. This is a pic of the whole group after Miss Sandy had read the story of the Square Pumpkin. Anna and Ashlyn are on the far right side. Not all the kids dressed up, but several did.

Halloween Fun

We are back from trick-or-treating. We brought home quite a haul and were able to keep the candy eating to a minimum - 20 pieces isn't too much before bedtime right? The girls had a great time and I've attached a few pics for your enjoyment.

Before you even ask I will explain the costumes. Ashlyn is - apparently - a witch. In her words, "an angry witch Mommy"! Anna's costume will need to be clarified. I will do that with the exact verbiage of our original discussion of Halloween costumes a few weeks ago...

Mommy: Anna, what do you want to dress up as for Halloween?
Anna (with no hesitation): A prince!
Mommy: You want to be a princess?
Anna (looking at me like I'm the dumbest person on the planet): No Mommy - a prince - like Prince Charming.
Mommy: Ok Anna - you're going to be a prince.

Now who am I to tell my adorable daughter that she can't be a prince. Sure, it is not the typical Halloween costume for a little girl, but telling her she couldn't be a prince would be like me telling her she couldn't be President of the United States when she grows up. Ok - that's a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point.

So Anna went as a prince (in a costume I made by the way) and Ashlyn went as an angry witch. Fun was had by all and the girls are now racing around the living room on a chocolate high. I think I'm going to stick them on the treadmill til they wear out.

Boo!

So - I don't consider myself Martha Stewart by any stretch of the imagination, but I am pretty proud of myself this morning. It is - of course - Halloween and the girls' preschool is having a party this afternoon. I signed up to bring a snack and the pic is what I am bringing. I found a sample of these cupcakes in the Family Fun magazine (great mag by the way) and they turned out pretty good if I do say so myself. At least the girls think they are pretty "cool".

I'll have pics of the girls in their costumes later on tonight or tomorrow morning. Hope everyone has a great Halloween.

P.S. Today is also the anniversary of my husband's and my first date - how sweet (and eerie).

Scary...

I always forget about these quizzes until I see them on my cousin's site. This one was pretty appropriate considering Halloween is just around the corner. But I'll never tell you which ones I checked off on the quiz - hee hee hee.

You Are 28% Evil

A bit of evil lurks in your heart, but you hide it well. In some ways, you are the most dangerous kind of evil.

How Evil Are You?

Chug-a-chug-a CHOO CHOO

The girls went on their first train trip this morning. The Music City Star just started running a few months ago and a small group of us moms got our preschoolers together for a trip to downtown Nashville. The train left Mt. Juliet at 7:50am and arrived at the downtown riverfront station at 8:10. We then got right back on the train at 8:30 and returned to Mt. Juliet at about 9am. It was fun and all the kids had a great time. Here are a few pictures. The first one is Anna, the second is Ashlyn and the third is all the kiddies line up at the station.

A bit about last week

We had a busy week last week, so thought I would post a few pics from our exciting adventures.

On Wednesday we went to the dentist for the girls' official first cleaning. They did great! We had been talking about it for a couple weeks and had even pretended to be dentist so I was hoping that would help the whole situation. It did. I couldn't have asked them to do any better. Here are a couple pics of them with the dental hygienist - who also happened to be an identical twin. Anna is in purple and Ashlyn is in red and white.



Next we went on the girls' first field trip through their pre-school. I don't think it actually constitutes a field trip since most of the mothers drove their own kids, but we'll just call it that. One of Ashlyn's class friends - Dylan - rode with us because his mom was at work during that time and they all had a blast. Here's a pic of Ashlyn's entire class - take note of who takes center stage... And here's a pic of Dylan, Anna & Ashlyn (in that order) with their pumpkins.

Unfortunately, it started raining on us before we could have the big picnic so we had to cut the day short, but the kids had a great time anyway and the girls and I had our own picnic inside when we got home.

Pumpkins, Pumpkins and More Pumpkins

We had a good time at Walden Farm in Smyrna, TN. We took SEVERAL pictures, so I have made another slide show. Be sure to check out that site at www.riggsslides.blogspot.com. Unfortunately, the rest of our weekend was spent trying to feel better. Anna has a bad ear infection and Ashlyn & I are trying to get over these sinus problems - lovely.

We have to get better though because we have another pumpkin farm to visit on Thursday with the girls' preschool classes - their first field trip - wow! I'll be driving them, but it is still such a "big girl" activity to go on a field trip. Where has the time gone?!?

The girls will be all "pumpkined" out by the end of this month.

Nutty weekend

We've had a bit of a nutty weekend. Anna started on Friday not feeling very good (cough, allergy-symptoms). Unfortunately, we were supposed to go to Gentry's Pumpkin Farm on Saturday morning with our friends, Amy & Nathan. This has become a bit of a tradition and the girls have such a good time. Anyway, after much internal struggle we decided Chris would take Ashlyn to the pumpkin farm and Anna would stay with me at home. Sounds a bit mean to send one away while the other one was sick, but I really needed Ashlyn out of the house if I wanted to keep Anna calm at all. When they are together there is no "down time" and that is what poor little Anna needed. Anna actually wasn't too traumatized by Ashlyn & Daddy leaving so that made it easier on all of us.

My parents came later on Saturday for a quick visit. They had been in Hopkinsville for a Disaster Relief/Kentucky Changers meetings and hadn't seen their grandkids for a little while. We had a nice visit, but Ashlyn got sick Saturday evening. Their cough was more annoying to them than anything else and they (nor I) got much sleep this weekend, but we are all feeling better now. Yeah!

So here is a pic of Ashlyn at the pumpkin farm. She had a good time. And Anna will get to go to another pumpkin farm this weekend as the POTATO fall event is Saturday, so she won't be pumpkin deprived this Halloween season.

The Fountain of Youth

We had a BIG day yesterday. A POTATO friend invited us to go along with her and some other friends and their kids to Centennial Park and Bi-Centennial Park near downtown Nashville. Both are wonderful parks and I can safely say I have not taken full advantage of them. We have visited Centennial Park several times to feed the MANY ducks and geese, but I had not taken the girls to Bi-Centennial Park to play in the fountain area at all - Bad Mommy!

Anyway, we had a wonderful time. We started at Centennial Park feeding the ducks and geese in record time - amazing how quickly 8-9 kids go through a truckload of bread. I'm sure those birds had some queasy tummies by the time we left. We then went over to that park's playground area which is very nice. We then picnic-ed near the playground area and then loaded up the kiddies to go over to Bi-Centennial's Park to play in the fountains. Oh - did I mention it was 90 degrees in Nashville yesterday?

It sounds a bit odd to let your kids play in a fountain, but Bi-Centennial Park's fountain area is different. You'll see in the photos.

Daddy and Miss Amy brought their lunches to the park and watched the festivities as they were so close. It took the girls a while to realize their Daddy was there - funny.

Here are a few pics of our day. Just click on them to make the bigger. The first one gives you an idea of what the fountain area looks like. The second is Ashlyn getting her back wet and the third is Anna playing in the grated area where you can walk around.

New picture format

Hello all - I have found a new way to display some of our photos in a slideshow format. I know there may be a few of you that won't be able to view those photos in that format, so I will still be posting pics here, but I made another Blog that will contain the slideshows. I will provide a link to that site each time a put pictures on here and there. Here's the website if you would like to save it as a favorite now.

www.riggsslides.blogspot.com

In fact, I have already placed two slideshows on that site. I put one on there of more pictures of the girls playing with the worms and the other one is of our trip to Mamaw & Papaw Riggs' house in McMinnville yesterday. The girls had a great time and went fishing at the lake on the property. It is gorgeous up there. Here are a couple pics from yesterday for those that aren't able to view the slideshows.










So, check out the new blog and let me know what you think.

Worms, worms, worms

My girls have been "helping" me pull the numerous weeds in our flower beds. They remembered that in the spring when I was planting flowers that I showed them the worms I found. So - of course - they wanted to see some more worms.

Ashlyn loved the worms and was creating her own little worm family - brother, sister, mommy, daddy - very cute. Anna was more than happy to sit back and watch Ashlyn, but was not happy with me because I couldn't find her any "clean" worms. Yes - Anna is her Daddy all over. I tried to explain that worms live in the dirt which is why they are dirty, but that wasn't going to fly with her. She wanted me to give them a bath before even thinking of handing them to her. She did finally hold a couple worms, but not for long.

Here are a few pictures of our afternoon with the worms. The first is Ashlyn (rt) explaining to Anna (lt) that it is okay that the worms are dirty. The second is Anna holding her worm up, and the third is Ashlyn holding her "Big Daddy" worm up.

This could be addictive....

So - we are starting our third full week of pre-school. The girls and I are all loving it and I couldn't be happier about the whole situation. We were a bit apprehensive about how the girls would react to being in different classes, but they love it and would be more than happy to tell any of you how "cool" it is to have separate teachers and friends in their own classes.

And Mommy is enjoying her "me" time as well. I've been trying to scrapbook on a semi-regular basis and that is what I did with a big part of my 4 1/2 free hours yesterday. Here are a few of my creations from yesterday:




















So I am quite proud of myself and hope to keep it up as I still have newborn pictures to scrapbook - AUGH!

Rock Me Amadeus

You Scored 50% Correct

You are a solid child of the 80s You'd never confuse Tiffany from Debbie And while you may not know Prince's first #1 hit You know every word to Little Red Corvette

How Much Do You Know About 80s Music?

This was a fun little questionnaire to do. I actually thought I would do better than this, but I guess the mounds of hairspray in my BIG hair and the bright neon clothes I was wearing in the 80's marred my memory. Check it out and see how well you do.

Whomever invented preschool....

...is a GENIOUS!!! I know it is only 4 1/2 hours two days a week, but I am loving it so much. And the girls are having a ball - just ask them. They think it is so "cool" that they each get their own teacher and they have so much fun telling each other what they did in their class. It is hysterical. Plus, I found out today that they are both playing with other kids now instead of just each other (during recess when all the 3 year olds are together). That was something we were concerned about prior to preschool so that information is great to hear. In places like Sunday School they tend to only play with each other instead of making new friends. This is one of the reasons we decided to try separating them now. And it seems to be going well.

And I forgot how many errands you can get done without twins in tow. I was able to go to over six places (i.e. post office, bank, Target, etc.) within three hours. That NEVER would have happened if I had the girls with me. Now that is not to say that they aren't good helpers. It just tends to take MUCH longer to do things when they are with me. But I wouldn't trade my little helpers for anything and I actually enjoy our little outings - well - most of them anyway.

So Thursday is the next day of preschool and I hope to actually do some scrapbooking during my free time. I have all this "stuff" ready for me to use, but just haven't made the time to sit down and do anything about it. We'll see.....

And - just so the grandparents don't yell at me (kidding) - I've attached a couple "silly face" pictures of the girls. Ashlyn is in the pink and Anna is in the yellow.

Things that make you go hmmmmmmm......

These are the moments that just make me shake my head....

For those of you with little ones you can understand that a box of Dixie cups (about $2-$3) can be a WONDERFUL toy. Our girls play with them all the time - typically stacking them.

This is Anna on our stairs. Anna is VERY MUCH like her Daddy and for those of you who don't know Chris that well let me just say that he is a bit - well - anal. That's a bit of a crude term, but that truly is the best way to describe him. Anyway, I constantly find Anna doing things that Chris would do. This picture is a prime example of that.

Not only has she lined the cups up on the stairs in freakishly straight lines, but she has also divided them up by their color and the characters on the cups (in this case, Lion King cups). She has basically booby-trapped our stairs and has a fit whenever one of us tries to go up or down them. "Be careful Mommy", "Don't hurt the cups Mommy".

She does this every time we get the cups out now and it is all I can do to stop myself from knocking a couple over just to see what kind of reaction I would get (I'm so mean!).

1st Day of Preschool!

The long wait is over and our big girls started preschool today! 4 1/2 hours, two days a week. We have been talking about it for months and the day finally arrived. They were so excited and had a great time. And the teachers told us they did great.

They are in separate classes which is a huge debate among multiple parents, but they are LOVING it. They think it is so "cool" that they each have their own teacher and their own set of friends in their respective classes. They talked all the way home about what each of them did. The good thing is that the 3-year-old classes have recess outside together so they are able to see each other once during those 4 1/2 hours. Apparently they ran to each other and hugged each other like they hadn't seen one another for 10 years when they entered recess - hysterical. They do the same thing at home if they are apart for more than 10 minutes.

Anyway - this picture is right before we left this morning. They are wearing their Spiderman backpacks. That's right - Spiderman. They were told to pick out whichever backpack they wanted and those are the ones they wanted. I was actually quite impressed that they chose a strong, super-hero type backpack, but Daddy was a little bothered that his "dainty flowers" didn't choose something a little more feminine. Girl power Daddy!

Ashlyn is Anna's biggest cheerleader

Didn't want to leave Ashlyn out as she has been a great help this week while we've been potty-training Anna. She cheers with us and jumps up and down with us - basically makes as big of a fool out of herself as we do. I would hate to find out there are hidden cameras in this house after this week - oh my.

Anyway, we've had two pics of Anna on here lately and I didn't want to leave Ashlyn out. This is a picture of Ashlyn and I while we were in Maysville a few weeks ago. We don't get many shots of us together and I thought this one was pretty good.