Thursday Thirteen

13 Things i am Thankful for at this very moment:
1. The furnace guys got here within 20 minutes of calling my land lord when i noticed it was 60 degrees in here and -3 outside and the furnace would not turn on.
2. Healthy kids
3. Kendall and my health
4. A wonderful Christmas shared with friends and family
5. Kendall's job, he does an amazing job, works hard, and has a great boss who supports him.
6. Christmas break- I am so sick of school, it is nice to have a month off to spend more time with Layla and Aidan! :)
7. Family and friends, i am always thankful for the amazing support systems and love we have around us!
8. not just one but 2 reliable vehicles, one being 4WD which is GREAT here since there is a half a foot of snow and still snowing.
9. The snow, yes its freezing, but beautiful! Plus we need the moisture its nice to not have to cake the lotion on quite as much!
10. Food, yes it sounds silly, however i am SO thankful that we are able to provide the kids with as much food as they need, as many snacks, and juice to keep them happy.
11. Infomercials: It is just interesting how the kids can be in mid scream/cry and one comes on and their attention is fully concentrated on the TV and the crying stops for 30 seconds. Gives me a quick break from the loudness!
12. Kendall, as always he is such a great guy, boyfriend, father, and best friend. :) Layla and Aidan, they are such great kids, and developing so quick its amazing how smart and SILLY they are!
13. The furnace guys, they got the furnace up and running within 40 minutes of that first call! :) YAY HEAT!

Mr. Teddy Bear

The first night that the kids got this big teddy bear, Layla ran out from being changed for bed and laid down on him with her bottle...guess we aren't needed anymore to hold them while they eat...sigh. :)
This teddy bear is a good backrest/chair for the kids, they are always sitting on him, fighting over him, wrestling him, and dragging him around the living room going "bep"(AKA bear for Layla) and "etty" (AKA teddy for Aidan).

"Yaaa" Wrapping Paper

Layla enjoying opening one of her presents. When she would play with the wrapping paper she would toss it and proudly say "yaaaaa". Very cute.
Aidan enjoying the wrapping paper after all the presents were opened. He would run and jump into the pile of paper over and over.

Today Kendall, Gary, Nikki, the kids and I had our Christmas together since we will all be busy with family and such starting tomorrow. The kids had a good time, we all got REAL nice stuff, i am pretty excited. The kids got more toys, books, and clothes, all very nice :)

This week has been nice being able to be with the kids A LOT more because Layla is starting to make the potty sign a lot more (Aidan is starting to use it too) just so she can go sit on her potty. She is starting to recognize when she is going, now if she and Aidan can recognize BEFORE they are going...haha we will see :) Aidan seems to be picking up words SOO fast, Layla too but i notice it more in him. I counted over 20+ words that he can say, and as long as you repeat a word a few times he is real good in saying it back and knowing what he is talking about. Both kids are picking up sign language still real good, they both learned the sign for "table" just from watching their Baby Einstein videos, i never showed them. Little smarties!

LOST: The Return

Ok, i just watched the longer trailer for Lost Season 4, premiering January 31st...OHMYGOODNESS i cannot wait, it gave me goosebumps. I am REAL excited, i also can't wait till after Christmas to run out and buy the 3rd season...If you are a LOST fan, and want to see what is in store in the longer trailer, go to ABC.com. So many more questions are going to be answered, with a lot more main characters unfortunately dying, that i do not look forward to since i grow to love each character...If you are not a LOST fan i suggest that you catch up if you really want to see an amazing show! :) I love this show.

Where'd December Go?

We love balloons! The kids got these for seeing Santa, well only 2, Nikki brought home extra ones for them...they went crazy. You can see how i tied toys to the bottoms of them, i got tired of having to go grab them and bring them to their reach every five seconds!
Can you believe that Christmas is five days away? Where the heck did my December go? Just seems to be flying by...i guess when a person plays with two 16 month olds everyday you kind of lose track of time completely, i mean they have no concept of it, never to remind me, so why would i think of what day it is when i really have nothing to do outside the house either? It doesn't help that I do not work until classes start again, the joys of a campus job i guess.

Crazy Layla

Ok, those are Layla's tights, pulled up, they were almost up to her neck, and she kept running toward the camera screaming...hehe silly girl!

I went to the Dr. and I now have an inhaler that is supposed to loosen up all of the ucky gunk that has been sitting around in my lungs preventing me from breathing normally, or really at all without coughing...we will see how that goes.

"Ancha" AKA Santa

Today we went to see Santa Clause at Nikki's work. The photographer wasn't a professional but it was free, and we could take our own pictures too. We didn't get one with the kids together since they weren't too enthused with Santa, even though i showed them pictures before and Aidan kept saying "Ancha" meaning Santa, that is until we got there, then they got the most horrified looks on their faces. The only picture that worked was the unexpected family picture we got, so i didn't dress up unfortunately, but hey it is going on our Christmas card since we have failed to take any other pictures and i just realized Christmas is Tuesday! AW! After a wile when we were leaving, Layla would then point at Santa and waved bye, as she clung her little fingers into my shoulder. Silly kids! :)

Here is Layla, she looks SOOO sad, even holding the stuffed moose that Nikki handed her(we forgot Eeyore...oops!) The picture isn't the best since i took it with my camera from a printed photo they gave us..i don't have a scanner at hand but thought i would share this face with everyone!
Aidan wouldn't really look at the camera at all, he wanted to know who the heck this man was holding on to him...Santa was real nice and a sport, and kept coming back to the kids trying to get them to warm up to him.

Still Sick But Still Giving Kisses

Ok, so has most of you know, the kids have been fighting this horrible "cold" with a constant runny nose and it also stuffy so they can't breath well. My brother came up with the term when we were little "stuffed up with runny stuff". Haha. Anyway! WE took them to the Dr. a week and a half ago, the Dr. said oh its a cold their lungs are fine sent us home. Now 18 days later since they got this cold they have not gotten any better and are losing their enormous appetites because they can't breath out of their noses to eat, despite the tons of buggers i have sucked from their noses. So today i decided we better see the Dr. Again, this time it was our first Dr. of choice and he came to the conclusion that they have sinus infections...go figure i said that 2 weeks ago! So they now have a prescription to make them feel better soon! Hopefully VERY soon i am sick of Aidan wiping his boogers on me instead of letting me suck them...I am also having the LOVELY job of watching his poop, he had some lets just say questionable poop that if it happens again i have to put in a bag..and yes you guessed it, bring it in for analysis to make sure he doesn't have an internal infection...Parenting...such an interesting lifestyle that we have for the love of our children!
As for me and my cold, it has all gone to my lungs, and it hurts to breath so i have a Dr.'s appt. on Wednesday morning.

Here is the video that many of you have heard about...so enjoy the sweetness of the "baby kiss" If you notice afterward, Layla follows Aidan smacking her lips for another kiss...when Aidan won't give her a kiss she cries...awww...sweet.

Eat this please!

Tonight I walked in the room where Layla and Aidan were playing to see the cutest thing ever...Aidan was feeding Layla teddy grams, even cuter, he would open his mouth as he reached the teddy gram toward her mouth as to indicate..."hey open your mouth wide so i can feed you." He continued this over and over till she had so many teddy grams in her mouth that she had to start pulling them out. What a sweetheart he is to share his food! :)

The two have been real good about playing with each other more and more lately. Sometimes its nice, other times I start to feel left out! haha.

"How do you do it?"

One of the most common asked questions that i get when it comes to parenting twins and going to school is "How do you do it??" Well, when so many things are demanded from a person, such as kids, entertaining them, homework, and exams, a person adapts. I have learned over the past 16 months to do just that...adapt. I have come up with many little tricks in order to achieve a good study time, and entertain two toddlers. This finals week, it has really helped to have "Baby Einstein" videos. Not that i am one of those parents that lock them in a room and leave, i keep them in the same room as me to play, but with that in the background, instead of looking to me for play, they will turn to that and point, laugh and continue playing...Another is i bring out new items to play with, rotating toys, and books. Occasionally letting them "get" my highlighter when they are being oooh so sneaky, keeps them excited and happy even after i take it away, i think its the whole "Ha i got it for a second!" The occasional person dropping by to say hi is always nice too, that keeps the kids excited to have a new face instead of boring mom's 24/7. So while they get played with, kissed, hugged, and cuddled for a bit i can get in a little more studying. Don't get me wrong, it is hard, hard to concentrate with kids screaming, crying, laughing, and being oh so darn cute! Hard to think, remember where i was, and to even keep all of my papers and pens next to me without little hands wandering off with them before i can react. Without help from friends and family, i am sure Kendall and I go crazy. haha. I try my best to limit studying to nap times, and times where they are being a little more independent in playing together, but when the time comes where i can tell they are getting more needy, and wanting some cuddle time, i put the books down and enjoy some Layla/Aidan time :) This evening, the kids woke up pretty cranky, nothing would stop the tears. If you have been around multiples, i have noticed this and head it from other parents, one crying seems to set off the other one, even if the other one was perfectly happy a minute ago. So i first turned on a Baby Einsteins, oh i got a reaction, they were still crying but watching...i then out of desperation for no cries set Aidan in a laundry basket...crying stops...so i decided, if it worked for him why not Layla? so i set her in their too, it worked. They sat there contently watching the movie, no more tears. Now 15 minutes later, they are out of the basket, the movie is now just a background noise, and they are happily playing together filling the basket with toys. Awww. bliss.

Laughing Quarterback Aidan

I know it is a little dark, however, after you watch you will see why i still put it on here...This is Aidan playing catch with a football...and REALLY enjoying it haha!

Kendall: College Graduate!

Well, Congratulations Kendall, you did it! Kendall Graduated this morning, with a Bachelor's in Marketing, a minor in Finance, and his Real Estate Certificate. :) Here are a few pictures from the commencement...

Here is Kendall be handed his Diploma ( the REAL one will actually come in the mail later this month....)
Kendall showing his diploma off proudly:) We had to trek through the snow to walk up to campus..very chilly, but Aidan enjoyed stomping in the snow.
:) happy family....

Week update:

Ok, i know i have been horrible on blogging lately so i will bring everybody up to date as best i can.

The kids and i have had some terrible colds and have been trying to kick those all week. Kendall and I took the kids to the Doctor to make sure it was just a cold and not going into their lungs or anything like that. They are OK. The Dr. did however detect a light murmur in Aidan's heart, which is nothing to worry about right now, it was so light that she said it is something that may just come and go away completely. I google'd heart murmers in young children and sure enough everything i found said this is true, and apparently happens in 50% of children, it is just something we need to keep an eye on, and have checked at each appointment.

The big news in which Kendall has failed to tell really ANYBODY at all, i swear i didn't know until a week ago....he is graduating, yes i knew in December but apparently he is walking...Tomorrow morning. So congrats to him! Really proud of the hard work he has put out :) Plus he looks real handsome in his commencement black robe and hat.

This week is the "dead" week before finals, so we all around here have been busting our butts to get all final projects done, study for finals, and just lose all insanity..haha after next week i will have more time hopefully.

I am getting my wisdom teeth out FOR REAL this time...its already set up, i am just way scared to go under all the way again, i hate being out of control like that! uggg....

It has been snowing all day and i did get a chance to take the kids out to stomp around the yard for about 15 minutes before i decided they were "cold" hehe :) I think it took longer for me to get on their boots, coats, mittens, and hats than the amount of time we were out there...now is that worth it? Sure, they looked ADORABLE, and had a great time just stomping and falling in the snow.

Ok, thats all i can think about right now...So yea, ill work on getting some more blogging.

Aidan Bites Layla

Ok, So some people may think im horrible for putting this on here, others will get a kick out of it. Here is a video about learning...learning to not stick your fingers in other peoples (or toddlers) mouths. Hehe, Layla did this a couple times trying to feed Aidan a cracker with the same reaction, i guess it takes time to learn!