Happy Halloween from Cinderella and Tinkerbell

The girls had a photo shoot with Poppy to show off their Halloween costumes. They absolutely love getting in front of the camera and showing off their beautiful dresses. They spun, they twirled, they danced and they sang. They even invited Kitten over since she (and our other black cat Little Foot) are our best Halloween decorations. She’s a really great cat and doesn’t mind being held.

My beautiful Hannah is dressed as Cinderella this year. She isn’t a big fan of wearing a blue dress (she’s a pink girly-girl kind of chick) but once she got her big beautiful hair bow and her crown she was ready to go! She was a little upset that I was unable to find real glass slippers in her size though. But let’s be honest, glass shoes on a three year old is bad news and with their teeny-tiny feet it’s hard to find shoes anyway. I think my favorite photos are the cutesy pose she did in the second and her “do what I say servant” finger point. She’s officially ready to be a real princess!

Hailey chose her Tinkerbell costume because, well, she loves all things Tink. She loves to flutter around and pretend to fly and her favorite activities are tinkering with everything. It is a perfect fit for her. I was able to find her costume last year at yard sale and fell in love with how feminine it was. It’s not your average plain green Tink dress. It has a row of pink roses around the waist and pink tool over the green skirt and is very glittery. She spent most of the photo shoot smiling adorable and hopping/flying from bush to bush looking for other fairies.

We’ll be leaving in about an hour to go trick-or-treating. I’m hoping that they are able to keep their stamina up since they’ve still been getting really tired since they’ve been so sick last week. Wish us luck!

Dearest Vacuum

I have been reading and loving FourSons’ “Letters Of Intent” (and those of which are linked) for awhile now and have decided to add to the mayhem fun! I highly recommend heading over there and reading all the letters.

 

Dearest Vacuum:

Everyone in the house would like to let you know we are saddened by your upcoming demise. I know that you are relatively new and I have only been using you for about four months but you need to know that you will, eventually, die a horrible death. You have had many, many predecessors who have all met their unfortunate early end. I will use you everyday when I can and multiple times a day if I need to. I will force you to suck up things that you probably will be unable to clean and if you don’t clean it I will be upset with you. I will fill your bagless canister to the brim and most of it will be hair of both the human and canine variety. You will see your share of bugs both dead and alive and once you have sucked them up there is a strong chance that I will run away from you making strange squealing noises. My children will use you to play with and most likely knock you over. As much abuse and torment I put you through please know that I love you and cherish every back-and-forth, every whirl of your engine and every switch of your floor/carpet button. I apologize in advance for the horrifying noises and possible smoke that will inevitably rise from you as you reach your final moment.

 

Sincerely,

H2Mommy

Cleaning Out and Giving Away

As the time we need to move in slowly creeps up on us I’ve been (very, very) slowly going through our things, cleaning out and giving away as much as I possibly can. I want to be able to move with the least amount of useless things as possible and have a type of “starting over” process.

With Christmas quickly approaching my first priority is to go through the massive amount of toys that the girls have accumulated over our past three and a half years of life and get rid of the items that they either no longer play with or that will just take up too much room in our eventual smaller space. We are extremely lucky at the moment to have a absolutely huge sunroom that is used as a toy/playroom but I know that we won’t have that much space so it’s time to pare down. We are also very lucky to have been blessed when it comes to Christmases and birthdays because the girls have always been given so many amazing toys but I have yet to get rid of a single toy! I still have infant toys in their playroom!!! I am going to wait until the girls go to their Dad’s house to clear out because I know that if they were here it would be a Greek tragedy. I also need to decide what I want to try and sell and what I want to donate and then decide where I want to donate them to.

Lately I have also been reading a lot of blogs of large(r) families and have been learning a lot from them when it comes to keeping things neat, organized and simple. We live in such a materialistic world it’s very hard sometimes to not just keep piling more and more things into our homes but in the end it isn’t worth the hassle and frustration. The hardest part of cleaning out for me is seeing something that I paid money for or was gifted that I know cost good money and feeling guilty for getting rid of it. In my materialistic brain it seems like a waste to get rid of something I paid for which is, of course, silly. If I never got rid of anything I or someone else paid for you would see our home on the next season of Hoarders. I hope that I can pass on to the girls the knowledge of Luke 12:34, “For where your treasure is, there will be your heart also.”

Why Not Mommy?

I’ve had a few people ask my why I don’t write more about what I’m doing and what I’m going through. Well, to be honest, my life really isn’t exciting enough to blog about. It would probably look something like:

Monday: I did laundry, dishes and vacuumed today while I watched the kids. Then I put the girls to bed, got online for a bit and watched tv before going to bed.

Tuesday: I did laundry, dishes and vacuumed today while I watched the kids. Then I put the girls to bed, got online for a bit and watched tv before going to bed.

Wednesday: I did laundry, dishes and vacuumed today while I watched the kids. Then I put the girls to bed, got online for a bit and watched tv before going to bed.

Okay, you get the jest. Everything that I blog about really is about me because my kids are my life and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Many times I’ve had people tell me I need to get my own life but I know that what I do with and for my children is more important than any other things that I could be doing. I also know that one day my girls will be grown and out of the house and that when that day happens I will have more than enough time for myself.

Waiting For Halloween

While we count down to Halloween (and the girls slowly get over their sickness) I shared some photos with the girls of their three trick or treating experiences. Our first year we didn’t really do anything because they were neither able to eat candy due to their lack of teeth and they were nearly half asleep by the time anyone started turning on their porch lights. The girls were “ballerina princesses” which consisted of a pink tutu and crown headband. I just didn’t seeing paying more than two dollars for a costume that they would only wear for maybe an hour. We went to visit our Nana and Papa and then the people in my Mom’s neighborhood rented out the pool house and hosted a little Halloween part with food and music so we slid up there for a little while. We ran into an old friend of mine from both school and work and her son who is the same age at the girls. It was nice to see her and the girls thought her son looked hilarious in his monkey costume and then we all went home and went to bed.

Hannah and Hailey

For our second Halloween we went with Aunt Tes, Uncle James and PJ trick-or-treating as a flower fairy and a bumble bee. They had an absolute blast and ran from house to house saying “Twip O’ Tweep!” I wasn’t sure that they would truly understand how how Halloween worked but it really clicked with them and they did an awesome job. We met another set of twins our on the sidewalk who were dressed as Thing 1 and Thing 2 which was adorable.

Hannah as the flower fairy and Hailey as the bumble bee.

Last year the girls went with their Daddy trick or treating. I went along as well but I did my best to stay in the background and let them have this special time with their Dad. They got to go on a hay ride when Papa drove the tractor with the trailer behind it since where they went treating there were some spots that were a little too far to walk. The girls also got to bring along their skull flashlights which they thought were super cool and super scary.

Hannah as an angel and Hailey as a lady bug.

Halloween is closing in on us and we are excited to go again. Now I just have to decide where we want to go. Our house is in a very rural area and between houses is a huge walk so it’s not practical to try and trick or treat and no one in my Mom’s neighborhood hands out candy anymore so we have three choices that I have to pick from and it’s a tough decision.

The Sickness

We are officially sick. The girls have been spiking 104 fevers every two to three hours since Friday and so far I don’t see them getting any better. They have sore throats, coughing, lethargy and super high fevers. Please pray that they are able to get over this soon and start getting back to themselves.

Christmas Suggestions

I officially have NO clue what to get the girls for Christmas. The only thing they've asked for is a Barbie but beyond that I'm stumped. I'd love to hear your suggestions!

Horrible Terrible Troublesome Threes

Most parents have moments where their kids really test them. Mine have been testing me a lot lately. I'll be honest, for awhile there I thought I'd been lucky to escape the "terrible twos" and that I had such wonderful, good eating, good sleeping infants. Little did I know that they were just saving it all up for when they turned three. Their ears don't work 99% of the time, they no longer sleep through the night, they tried to disassemble their beds so many times they are now sleeping on their mattresses on the floor (maybe they'll be engineers?!?) and destroy nearly everything they put their hands on. I say a little prayer each morning for guidance and patience but it is difficult at times.

"This too shall pass. This too shall pass!"

Wild Adventures Theme Park

We went to Wild Adventures Theme Park in Valdosta, GA with our friends Bonnie and her daughter Elizabeth. It was an absolute blast and we can’t wait to go back again.

We crammed the girls in my car, popped on a Barbie movie and hit the road. Valdosta is only about two hours from our town but we haven’t been on a car ride in awhile so I was pumped.

Hailey, Hannah and Elizabeth

When we got to the park we were able to go straight in because we bought out tickets online which was very nice although I thought that the price for parking was a bit steep. Since we went to Sea World Hailey has asked me nearly every night when she could ride a roller coaster. It’s her greatest goal in her young life to go on one so that was our first stop. Bonnie and Elizabeth hit the carousel while the three of us stood in line for the mini-coaster only to find out 10 minutes later that I would not be able to take both of them at the same time. Hailey, of course, burst into tears which was terrible but I was able to quickly divert her attention to more rides and we joined our friends at the carousel.

 

All the girls thought they were hot stuff being able to go on several of the rides without adult accompaniment. They would constantly wave and say “Hi Mommy!” and because the three of them all have very similar voices Bonnie and I did a lot of waving.

 

 

 

 

We had quite a few people ask if the girls were triplets. This picture really explains why. They just happened to all have their hair in ponytails and all that blonde hair and tiny stature really made people wonder.

 

I went on the Frog Hopper with the girls and they had a blast. It drops you in small increments and because they are all so small in the mass department they would fly up out of their seats and laugh hysterically. Mommy would have enjoyed it much more had the seat not been so teeny tiny. I am not the largest person by any means and I was super duper squeezed.

 

And let us not even pretend my children have zero fear and strong stomachs (which is probably due to the fact that before I knew I was pregnant I went on a ton of wild rides including a roller coaster!) They saw the Scrambler style ride they call The Wild Cat and they couldn’t wait to get on. I was lucky to be able to take them both on it at the same time. The looks on their faces were amazing!

 

 

They have a little train ride that goes around a small(ish) circle where you an view different zoo animals. All Hannah and Hailey wanted to see was the giraffes (their favorites!) and the tigers. We unfortunately missed the tiger show but we did get to see a few of the big guys out napping which they all thought was so funny.

 

Then the girls hopped into their turtle cars and drove home!

Friends

As many of you know I've been watching other kids since the girls were 6 months old and have come to really love what I do. I have a passion for children and I have been blessed to be able to make a little money doing what I love. I also feel like having other children around has really helped the girls in many ways from socialization, how other people live, sharing both our things and Mommy and learning to handle disagreements in a healthy way.

Lately I've been watching two siblings in addition to the girls. Hannah and Hailey are really enjoying their time with their newest friends. Each morning they come bursting out of their bedroom and can't wait to start playing. This is also the first time we've had an older kid (he just turned four) here with us and they are reveling in it! He helps step their speech and manners up a notch. The youngest is nearly two and having her here helps emphasize gentleness, helping those who need help and teaching. They are both wonderful children and we are blessed to have them sharing our days with us!

Of Photo Folders and Sleep

I have been trying to sort through my photos lately and get them organized because the photo folder on my computer is a big, huge, giant mess. Oof! As soon as I get it done I will have more to post but right now I'm having some technical difficulties.

Lately the girls had been having some serious sleep issues. They went one day a few weeks ago being awake for over 27+ hours! No naps, no night time sleep, no nothing...it was ridiculous. Let's just say Mommy was a complete zombie. Luckily this week I started doing something, a little controversial, but extremely effective for the girls. I started closing their door so they couldn't get out. They have been falling asleep in a matter of an hour (instead of the usual 4 hours!) and have been sleeping completely through the night. No waking up with bad dreams, no fussing in the middle of the night for drinks just good old fashioned restful sleep for everyone. I was really worried at first that they would not like being locked in their room or that they'd get scared and was ready to scratch the whole idea as quickly as I got it but I was proven wrong. They even told me "Mommy, big girls sleep with their door closed!" I am both shocked and grateful, oh, and did I mention rested! Let's hope that they keep sleeping and this isn't just a fluke.

Hannah and Hailey in their beds all snug as bugs in a rug.

In Honor of Football Season!