Happy 2nd Birthday SPF!

On this 2nd birthday of Kristine's SPF we are to recreate the first SPF - "Go open your fridge, stand in front of it and flash me a two finger salute."

So - here's mine. In taking this picture I realized why I HATE having my picture taken and that I really do have a lazy left eye that is more noticeable in some pictures over others (hence why it took me 10 tries for this pic). I also look like a 'gansta' with my hair pulled back when you can't see the cute little turned up ponytail thingy in the back. Oh well - I'll go with what I've got. At least I am dressed and actually have makeup on. Oh - and check out the funky earrings!

And the reason for the STOCKED fridge? We are having about 25 people over to our house tonight for a big pasta dinner before the Country Music Marathon tomorrow. Friends of Chris' from college are bringing a whole caravan of people from Florida so we are putting forth that Southern hospitality we are known for in Tennessee. We love having company so we are VERY excited!

Martha is shaking in her boots!

Every once in a while I am possessed by Martha Stewart. Seriously. I don't think I have much creativity in my body. Really. I have family members that are amazingly creative (Syl, Teresa - I'm talking about you) and always figured the "creative gene" just skipped me. But - every once in a blue moon - a spark goes off and I get a decent idea.

Yesterday was Teacher Appreciation Day at the girls' preschool. Somehow - I drew the short straw and was designated the Room Mom for this activity for Anna's class - oh goodie! I decided to go with an idea I had already heard about from another mom for her school-age daughter - each child will bring a gift card to give the teacher - WalMart, Chick-fil-a, Target, Starbucks, etc. In addition to the gift card I asked mom's to have their child draw a picture for their teacher.

So - as I tried to figure out how I wanted to present these gifts to the teacher a light bulb went off in my head (or maybe it was a firecracker). I'll make flowers out of paper and attach the gift certificates and pictures to them. Sure - sounds simple in theory - but was a bit more involved once I got into it.

I won't make a short story long, so here are a few pics of the end result with all the gift cards and pictures. I was pretty proud of myself and Anna's teacher said she had several people ooooohhhh and aaaaahhhhh over her "flowers".

The Dreaded Letter "V"

So we are going to the Library today for storytime. I know - contain your excitement. It is quite the hoot-a-nanny, or maybe it is a shin-dig. Either one will work...

Anyway, there is always a "Letter of the Week" and this week's letter is "V". We have to bring something in that starts with the letter "V". Now - this can't be just any "V" thing because apparently the mothers have decided to make finding a creative "Letter of the Week" item an Olympic event. All our competitive spirits have made us try to find the most unique item for the week's letter - meaning that we want our child (or children in my case) to have a "V" item that no other child has. We are sick, sick women. I think we are all compensating for not being in the working world anymore. We MUST find a way to be competitive with each other. What the heck is wrong with us!!!

So - as I'm searching the house for unique "V" items I think of a VERY good one that no one else would dare show at storytime - Varicose Veins! Ah yes - those unsightly features on the legs of most mothers (definitely mothers of twins or more) caused by carrying over 70 pounds during their pregnancy. I keep hoping someone will mistake mine for a really cool Celtic tattoo. I'm not thinking that will happen anytime soon.

What is sad is that I have been SERIOUSLY considering using Varicose Veins as the girls' "V" items. Then I get the proverbial smack in the head to myself that makes me realize what an idiot I am and that I need to truly "Get a Grip"!

Okay Shelley - suck it up and go find a presentable "V" item.

10 on Tuesday & Sand Pics

The Riggs household is finally recovering from various illnesses effecting each family member - from strep throat to ear infections. How nice... At least we are back in the land of the living!

So here is my 10 on Tuesday as well as a couple pics of the girls playing in their sandbox (thanks Nana & Pappy) with their new sand toys (thanks Grandma & Grandpa).

1. Both girls went back to school after being off a whole week for illness. All three of us were doing the happy dance for that one.
2. I woke up early and did some strength training and walked in our neighborhood about 3 miles. I'm sure I'll be feeling that tomorrow considering I haven't worked out regularly for over 3 weeks.
3. I was able to accomplish quite a bit while the girls were in school this morning - oil change for Chris' hoopty, bank visit, post office visit, cleaned part of the house, mopped the wood floors. Amazing how quickly you can get things done without two 4-year-olds in tow.
4. I'm ready for a nap now, but the girls are wired so it is play time here. I'm able to post on here because I just gave them their snack. That should give me at least 10 minutes.
5. The girls enjoyed Dancing With The Stars last night. I'll have to figure out how to put our videos on this site so you can check out the girls' fancy footwork. They love to mimic the moves of the professionals.
6. I think I'm ready to go on another cruise and I don't even have to ask Chris if he's interested. That is a given. I just want to be able to eat one meal without having to get up from the table a million times.
7. I found a scrapbook page sketch I really like. It has inspired me to do a little scrapbooking this evening. I just hope I can get started on it before I pass out on the couch.
8. I've been craving a DQ Blizzard for over a week now. I've been fighting the urge, but it is hard! Come to me Chocolate Oreo Blizzard...
9. I plan on going through all the MANY pieces of the girls' artwork/schoolwork. We have a bulletin board for it, but we just have WAY too many pieces right now. I'll be sending some of it to grandparents and great-grandparents.
10. The girls are done with snack - gotta go play!

The Mighty Meme

There is a new version of a Meme. If you are unsure of what a "meme" is then click here for a good description.

Anyway, one of the blogs I visit on a fairly regular basis - Sitting Still - had a newer version that is a bit more personalized. I thought it was a cute idea so decided to jump in and participate. I tend to be a bit of a lurker on some blogs, so this was a good way to let this blogger know I wasn't just a stalker of her site. I've met some great people via blogs - most of them crazy, exhausted mothers like myself.

So, Sitting Still sent me a list of five questions that she is asking specifically of me. I'll give you the rules of this meme at the end in case you would like to participate on your blog.

1) You have twin girls! I've heard other moms of twins use the word "twinshock". Did you experience that (and do you still!) ?
We didn't find out we were having twins til I was 5 months pregnant at our first ultra-sound. Talk about twinshock! It definitely took a while to get used to the fact that I was carrying two little girls. And - once they arrived - we would constantly look at them and say, "I can't believe we have twins!" We still have those moments every once in awhile, but not as often now that they are 4. The twin craziness NEVER ends though.

2) We're new blog friends, so tell me about yourself, in five words or less. (I'm busy, ya know!)
hmmmm......fun, busy, outgoing, organized (kinda) and silly.

3) What do you like best about living in Nashville?
I like that it is a BIG city, but still has that small-town, southern feel to it. I love that there is always something to do here. I come from a small city in Kentucky, so having so much to choose from is fantastic!

4) What do you like least about living in Nashville?
Being so far from my parents (over 5 hours). I get jealous of those moms that live around me that have family so close that they can just give them a call with a minutes notice to come over and watch their kids for an hour so they can get their hair cut, run short errands without kids in tow or just get away from it "all" for a little bit. I have a wonderful mother-in-law that lives about an hour away and helps when she can, but she has another son (16 years old) and a full time job that keep her pretty busy as well.

5) Tell me a memory from your childhood that's especially vivid.
This is a silly memory, but my parents gave me a dollhouse for Christmas one year. I was probably around 10 years old. This was one of those dollhouses that had to be put together by hand. As a child I LOVED surprises (and still do), so when my parents told me to stay out of their room the month before Christmas I happily obliged. They worked on the dollhouse at a friends house for a while, but then moved it to their room once it was almost done. About a week before Christmas I remembered mom having something in her that I needed (can't remember what it was now), so I trotted into their room without even thinking about it. When I saw the dollhouse I ran out of the room, slammed the door and proceeded to cry my eyes out because I had seen the surprise. I was so upset. I didn't tell my parents anything about it until just a few years ago. They didn't have any idea that I had ever seen it. I found out later that they almost divorced (not really) over making that dollhouse as it took FOREVER to finish and there were apparently several moments of things being knocked over or pieces falling down/off. I have several other memories, but this silly one always sticks out in my mind.

Are you interested in playing? Here's how it works:

• Leave me a comment requesting an interview.
• I will email you five questions. I get to pick the questions. BWAAAHAHAHAHA.
• You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
• You will include this explanation (or a reasonable variation) and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
• When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

I would love to hear from you if you are interested in playing.

Sunday Six!

This Sunday's "Sunday Six" is all about music. Just click on the logo above to see how the game is played. Here are the the girls' responses:

1. Do you like music?

Anna: yes

Ashlyn: sort of

2. What kind of music do you like?

Anna: Max Music (no clue)

Ashlyn: Country

3. Who invented music?

Anna: Johnny

Ashlyn: Grandma

4. What is your favorite musical instrument?

Anna: trumpet

Ashlyn: violin

5. What type of music do Mommy & Daddy listen to?

Anna: dino music

Ashlyn: country

6. Where and how do you listen to music?

Anna: at June (?)

Ashlyn: I dance

She put it better than I ever could...

I've been searching for a way to get across how I feel about the tragedy at Virginia Tech. I am saddened by the events that happened on Monday and disturbed by the media's reaction to the whole situation. I read a post this morning from a local "Nashvillian" who wrote it better than I every could.

Check out her post here and let me know what you think.

13 on Thursday

Well - since I missed "10 on Tuesday" I thought I would add this post as some bloggers do "13 on Thursday".

1. I'm in charge of the Community Yard Sale on Saturday. I have to hand out balloons tonight to participants and add some helium balloons to our signs at the entrances to bring more attention to the sale. I hope we get a lot of people here as I have quite a bit of junk (er - I mean treasures) to get rid of.

2. I worked out for the first time in 2 1/2 weeks yesterday. I did better than I thought even though it was still pretty hard.

3. The girls tag-teamed me last night. We didn't get to bed til late (around 11pm) and Ashlyn woke up first at about 12:30am. She was up for 2 1/2 hours and then I finally got her back to bed. Within 30 minutes Anna woke up. I think they planned this out - stinkers!

4. I have to leave the house in less than an hour and we are all still in our pajamas.

5. I have a list of "things to do" that - if printed out - would go from here, around the moon and back. I just love checking things off, but I haven't done as much of that as I would like lately.

6. My bionic thumb surgery had to be moved due to my bought with bronchitis the past two weeks. I'll just have to wait a few more weeks to have that superhero thumb strength.

7. My aunt, cousin and mom are coming down in a few weeks to go to a scrapbooking convention here in Nashville. I haven't taken the time to scrapbook for a LONG time and am really looking forward to it. Plus, the four of us always have such a good time together.

8. That same 4-some went to New York City a few years ago and had a ball!!!! We're already planning another trip up there within the next couple of years.

9. We have a crew of about 15 people (7-8 staying with us) coming to participate in the Music City (Half) Marathon. I plan on running the half marathon with them - in spirit - ha!

10. 8:15am and still in pajamas.....procrastination anyone?

11. I will spend my 4 1/2 hours of child-free time today tagging yard sale stuff. My life is SO exciting. Jealous?

12. I'm trying to think of something fun for hubby and I to do for our anniversary (coming up in May). Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

13. Alright! 8:18am and I have to get my butt off this chair! C'mon critters - let's get ready for school.

Wild Card Wednesday

Brought to you again by TKW suffering in the cold up north...

I actually took these picture last month, but hadn't posted them yet. The girls like playing dress up. Most recently they have decided to do pretend weddings (nice "W" word for Wild Card Wednesday). It is quite hysterical as Anna is adament about being the groom as that is the "handsome" part to play. Of course, Ash is just as adament about being the bride and looking like the "princess". Luckily, this play activity doesn't require a boxing ring and gloves as the girls get along just swimmingly during this short amount of wedded bliss - just like newlyweds should...of course the honeymoon is soon over when a new activity is started.

Wild Card Wednesday

Brought to you by TKW - the flip flop wearing queen of the North.

So, what is my family looking at while on top of some sort of artistic piece of architecture at a rest area somwhere between Jackson, Mississippi and here?

Why - it is a WOOLY WORM of course - the perfect "W" for Wild Card Wednesday. The girls and Daddy found this little creature and for some reason my scaredy cat girlies didn't go running screaming from the thing. Normally they face this type of critter with the same fear as if confronted with the actual Boogie Man, but this day they were apparently oblivious to the obvious scariness of the wooly worm.

10 on Tuesday

Haven't done this for a while. Here goes...

1. I'm still not feeling much better so I called the doctor I went to last week. They are afraid my respiratory problems may have turned into pneumonia so I go back tomorrow morning to find out for sure. That's just great...

2. If I do have pneumonia then I will have to cancel my bionic thumb surgery on Monday and reschedule.

3. I still have LOTS to do to prepare for the community yard sale on the 21st. Luckily, I should be able to take care of most of it by this weekend.

4. I'm hoping to feel better quickly as the girls are going to Nana & Pappy's this weekend. DH and I were planning on cleaning out the garage and sorting stuff for the yard sale. I still don't believe it is a 2-car garage and at this rate we may never find out if 2 cars will fit in it.

5. The girls are sick of me. I literally caught them rolling their eyes at me today. They are 4!

6. I haven't scrapbooked in ages and I miss it. I really didn't do too much of it before, but a few hours here and there would be nice.

7. I haven't worked out for almost 2 weeks and I can feel it. My rock hard abs are getting flabby (I literally laughed out loud at myself on that one).

8. I'm debating about cutting my hair short again. It has been a little over shoulder length for some time now and I am tired of it. Summer is coming and I want a cool new "do" to go with my rock hard abs for bikini weather (oh my - I am cracking myself up).

9. This house is in SERIOUS need of some deep cleaning. I've made a few attempts over the past couple days, but being sick has made me exhausted. It will just have to wait.

10. I'm going to see if I can hold the shortest Homeowners' Association Social Committee meeting ever this evening. I'm talking 30 minutes tops! I'll let you know how I do on that goal.

My Time Flies....

...when things really SUCK!

I promise not to make a VERY long story longer, but the Riggs household has not had a good past couple of weeks.

My grandfather passed away a little over a week ago. He was an amazing man who led an amazingly full life. He was 93 and died peacefully in his sleep after a stroke several days prior. We made the 8 hour trek to Jackson, Mississippi on Friday for his visitation and funeral. Since the Riggs family has to "jazz up" any road trip we take, Anna decided to step up and require an ambulance ride to the University of Mississippi Children's Hospital at 12:30am on that Saturday. All is fine now. She woke up gasping for breath and choking. Since we had NO clue where we were or how to get to the nearest hospital, we called 911 from the hotel. The Fire Dept. and EMT's both showed up and were amazing. Anna ended up having Spasmodic Croup - crazy!

So - spasmodic croup is highly contagious and tends to transfer to adults and most other children as colds. Yep - you guessed it - Chris, Ashlyn & I all caught a variation of a cold and have been sick for over a week now. I actually went to the doctor and found out I have an ear infection, a sinus infection and bronchitis (such an over-achiever) - lovely.

And - just to top things off - Anna woke up last night with her ear hurting. The pediatrician confirmed the ear infection a little less than 3 hours ago. So now she, Chris and I are on antibiotics and Ashlyn is sucking down Dimetapp Cold & Cough. I'm sure she'll be in some sort of 12-step program for that stuff soon.

In the grand scheme of things, our issues have not been too bad and I just have to laugh at all the craziness. And since I haven't posted pics in a while, here is one from the POTATO Easter Egg Hunt a few weeks ago. We had a great time.

Thrilling Video

DH and I just watched this and had to put it on the blog. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did. It starts off slow, but hang in there...

Flip Flop, Flip Flop, Flip Flop

It has definitely been flip flop weather lately in Tennessee. We have broken the record the last two days with 86 degree temps and we have been outside as much as possible. We have either been barefoot or in our new flip flops (thanks Nana & Pappy) all weekend. Check 'em out.

And pre-school started back today after an entire week off (a week off with two four-year-olds is like a year of hard manual labor). I think the girls were as ready for a break from me as I was for a break from them. They literally ran for the door when I told them we were ready to leave for school. I feel the love....

Sunday Six!

Spring arrived this week, so that will be our theme!

Click here to find out the origins of this game.

1. How old is Spring?

Anna: 8

Ash: 30,000 (I hate to ask her how old she thinks I am!)

2. What happens in the Spring? (slight seasonal confusion here)

Anna: Fall

Ash: leaves fall down on the ground

3. What comes after Spring?

Anna: I don't know

Ash: snow

4. What do people wear in the Spring?

Anna: dress

Ash: coats

5. What is "Spring Break"?

Anna: no school

Ash: you can play a lot

6. How will you celebrate Spring?

Anna: go to a party

Ash: play & run with Daddy

SPF - "Two"

Well, I may be back on track with SPF. This week's topic is "two". This was pretty much a no-brainer for me as you can't get more "two" than twins.

Here is another pic from our latest photo session. The ducks look a little pitiful, but the girls' faces are funny. Ash is in the pink and Anna is in the green.





Happy Friday everyone!

Sand up the wazoo - literally!

We've had a wonderful morning. I had schedule the girls to have their Spring/Easter pics this morning (the girls and I are morning people - poor Daddy is not) at 9am. We got up, got ready to go, packed all our crud and headed out the door.

Pictures went very well. The girls were well-behaved although quite silly at times. We wore out after two clothing changes and four backgrounds so we called it quits. This pic was one of the last ones taken and they were "over" the whole process by then. Ash is on the left/Anna on the right. I picked out the ones we wanted - a small number compared to the astronomical amount of pics the little photo chic wanted me to get ($400 on spring pics - yeah, right) - and we headed to the park.

Perfect day for the park except for one thing - it is Spring Break in our area and I think every child in this county was at the same park. CRAZY! Luckily most of the kids didn't come til we had already been there for about an hour so it wasn't too bad til a bit later on.

We started in the sand pit where the girls built a huge mound of sand and proceeded to roll around on it enough to embed millions of grains of sand in their skin and clothes - lovely. I mean - if the shook themselves really hard once we walked in the door we would have a nice beach in our house.

We played for a couple hours, ate our picnic lunch, played a little more with some friends we ran into, picked up our pics (LOVE that they are ready within an hour) and headed home.

Now I plan on chiseling the sand off my kids so they (and maybe me) can take a nap.

Just for fun

I haven't done these for a while - so here are a few that you might find interesting.

You Are From Mars

You're energetic, althletic, and totally hyperactive. You love playing sports and being in the middle of all of the action. You're independent, corageous, and brave. Unafraid to do things your way. Mars can be reckless, quick tempered, and a little too spontaneous. So think before you act - and resist your natural urges to dominate others.

What Planet Are You From?

Your Leprechaun Name Is:

Dirt-foot Luckleaf

What's Your Leprechaun Name?

Bad Blogger - No Marbles For You!!!

Sorry for the delay in getting a post on here. It hasn't been exceptionally busy, but it hasn't been slow either. And I'm getting over a sinus infection - lovely.

Anyway, the girls have been overly whiny and haven't been minding very well, so we (and by "we" I mean I got all the stuff together and made the rules and Chris just shook his head in agreement) decided to start an incentive plan for good behavior that I had read about a few years ago - a marble jar.

Now this is no ordinary marble jar - this jar is full of blue and green "magic" marbles that guarantee good behavior from little girls. Ok - that is not true - but that sure was my hope for the project.

Actually, it works like this (see photo) - there is one large container of marbles and then both girls have their own container with their names written on them. Each time we catch them doing something "good" (sharing, not fighting for an extended amount of time, setting the table, etc.) then they get to pick out a marble and put it in their jar. Once they fill the jar they get a treat (ice cream with Daddy, trip to Chuck E Cheese - you the get the idea).

So far it is going pretty well, but we've only been doing it a couple days. I'll have to keep you posted on the marble count.

Mission Impossible - Riggs Style

Your Mission: Destroy the enemies by throwing things at them

Your Targets: See below

Your Weapons: Small pieces of Kroger Honey Wheat Bread (on sale at Kroger for $1 a loaf)

We had a GORGEOUS day again in Nashville and the girls and I took full advantage of it. We went to Centennial Park near downtown and took a picnic lunch with us. We first took our two loaves of bread to the pond and fed the geese & ducks. The the pigeons decided to get in on the act and hovered WAY too close to us. The girls learned the word "shoo" very quickly and it seemed to work. What was funny is that the girls got a little too excited about pelting the poor birds in the head. They thought that was hysterical. And - even though they seemed a bit annoyed - all the birds liked the snack we brought them. Here is a pic of the girls feeding them.

Then we made our way to the playground area which is wonderful. However, I could have sworn I only brought two children with me. For some reason this 3rd child appeared out of nowhere and apparently adopted herself into our family. She was probably two and there was no sign of her mother anywhere - no kidding. I had to help this child put her shoes on, climb up on parts of the playground, and stop her from running into the street at one point. Finally, as we were getting ready to go back to the van to get our picnic I started looking pretty hard for her mom as this child was not going to stop following us. Surely she had to be around. Yep - she showed up - very unconcerned that her daughter had been out of her eyesight for at least 20 minutes and with a complete stranger. What the ___?!? Sometimes you just have to shake your head.

Daddy met us at the park for our picnic and we had a great time. Then Daddy left and we broke out a book of stories and read those for a while. The girls didn't want to be settled down that long so we jumped back up and started running around the big open area in front of the Parthenon. We then went back to the playground for a bit and then back home.

Oh - and we had an exciting adventure involving a port-a-potty, but that is a tale for another time.