Camping!!

We just had our first camping trip since the twins were born. It was so much fun!! I really hope that we can start going more often. Gregory and Timothy had so much fun!! I have never seen them so dirty before. They dug in the dirt, ate some dirt, played with their big brother...so much fun so little time. Nathan, of course, had a great time. He loves to go camping!

We didn't know how it was going to work out in the pop-up with the twins, so I borrowed a tent from my friend, Michelle. We ended up sleeping in the trailer one of the 3 nights we were up there...it worked out great, which is fantastic news!!

We are going to try to go camping over Labor Day weekend with Teresa and Allen. Hopefully James will be able to get the time off of work!

Not the greatest birthday gift!

Well, the day of my party at Karin's house, our air conditioner decided to die! It was so hot. We ended up sleeping at Karin's house on Saturday night after the party, then on Sunday night, we slept in my parents' RV in their backyard. It was defenitely tight quarters, but much cooler than our house.

Luckily it was only a switch in the A/C unit that went out, but it was still ALOT more money than I wanted to spend!

Nathan buckling up, even though we aren't going anywhere!

Gregory and Daddy hangin' out in the RV.

30th Birthday

Well, my 30th birthday has come and gone. The girls at work were completely awesome!! They are great friends. They gave me the cutest little digital camera so I can always carry one around with me to take pictures of my adorable children...and they also gave me my favorite perfume of the moment...USHER! It smells so good! :) We wore vintage T-shirts to work for my day, which was alot of fun. That weekend, Karin offered up her house and we had a game party! We were going to play BINGO, but everyone is broke. Playin' games was so much fun! I have a fantastic boss! :)

Thank you to everyone for making my day so special. It was fabulous! :)

Laura, Machelle and I

Hangin' out!

Lenny, Chris, Lisa and Tara groovin' on Rock Band.

Kim and I playin' guitar hero and Nathan playin the PSP.

Karin, Machelle, Jim and Lenny jammin'!!

We all wore vintage T-shirts at work!

4th of July Celebration

We didn't really have any plans for the 4th. Marcella invited us to come watch Catalina perform at MCC before the fireworks. After much debate, we decided to drive by to see if we could watch from the parking lot. Well we ended up going in, and James and I were glad that we did. It wasn't too hot, which was nice. Marcella and her family are all very nice. Nathan of course had a blast playing with Alejandra and Camillo.
Catalina is an AMAZING gymnast. I had seen her do a few things at the daycare, but I had no idea how talented she is. I was blown away by her performance. I have always loved gymnastics, but never had the talent or skill to go anywhere with it.
The fireworks show was so much fun. Timothy just laid on my chest staring at the sky. I don't know if he was scared or just in awe. Gregory watched the show with Daddy, and he was just awe-struck for the first half, then kinda lost interest at the end.
We were totally unprepared to be there as long as we were. We had no blankets, food, chairs, camera...nothing. But we had a really good time, and we will probably go back next year...hopefully with the appropriate supplies.
:)

Kisses and Hugs

We were shopping at Costco on Saturday and the twins started lovin' on each other. Pretty much the entire time we were wandering the aisles of Costco, they were hugging, kissing and lounging on each other. It really was the cutest thing I have seen them do so far. They both have just learned how to kiss with their mouths closed, so I guess they decided that they needed to perfect it. :)


















I love this stage they are in now. They love to give hugs and kisses, both to each other and to everyone else. They are starting to say a few words here and there, it's fun to interact with them.

Good Times Go So Quickly

My Dad, Stepmom, Sisters and Brother just visited last week. It's been over a year since I have seen them last. In the picture above from left to right is Cassandra, Layton, Nathan and Kayla. The kids got along so well. Diane bought them each a Nerf Gun and they spent hours running around chasing each other.


We didn't really do anything touristy while they were here. They found this huge house they rented for the week. We pretty much spent a majority of our time at the house because it had a huge yard with a pool so it's built in entertainment for the kids. :) We had a family BBQ Thursday night, and another family lunch at Sweet Tomatoes on Sunday.


I forget how much I miss my family until I see them again. It is so hard to see them leave and I wish we had more time to spend together. Maybe someday we will be able to move away from this horrible, horrible desert, and we can move closer to them.

We love you guys and we miss you so much already! Next year we are coming up there. :)

The Many Faces of James

Those of you that know my husband, know how

he loves to "pose" for the camera. These were

some random shots that I took the other day

while he was doing his thang. :)

Who needs regular clothes anyway?

Nathan has learned that staying in your jammies all day on the weekend can be a very fulfilling day! Most Saturdays he doesn't get changed all day. He just plays around the house in his jammies or his underwear. When I ask him if he is going to get dressed today, he asks if we are going anywhere, when I tell him no, then he says he doesn't wanna get dressed. When he wants to play outside I tell him he has to get dressed, and of course, he changes his mind and just stays inside.

WHAT A LAZY BOY!! :)

Who is that Masked Man?!

Gregory got ahold of one of Nathan's swim masks and tried for about 20 minutes to put it on. He finally got so frustrated he brought it over to me, crying so that I could put it on for him. He walked around the house for about a half hour wearing it until it got so foggy he couldn't see anymore and kept walking into furniture.

Mini-Pool

James and I bought a small pool for the patio. The twins love it! Every day when we get home, they both try to climb inside, even though there is no water in it. Timothy cries every time he has to get out...just like he does in the bathtub.

On another positive note, my friend Jamie is going to attempt to teach Nathan how to swim. He used to teach for the city and I have convinced him that he needs to teach Nathan. Tonight I will be going out to buy the necessary supplies and hopefully Nathan will get over his fear of water and learn how to swim very quickly. :) I am so excited!

"Hi!"

Last night when I picked the boys up from Daycare, Gregory walked up to me, said Hi then walked away. This is the FIRST word he has said, other than the usual Mama, Dada stuff. It was so adorable. I just can't believe his first little word was "Hi". He is such a cute cute cute baby boy!

Lesson Learned?

I got the Mother's Day gift that a Mother never wants to receive this year. We were out at Lowes shopping for a new kitchen sink; after the purchase was made, we went to El Pollo Loco for dinner. James and Nathan went into the bathroom to wash up while I waited with the twins in the dining room. I heard a strange noise come out of the bathroom and then Nathan cry. I thought he had hurt himself while washing his hands. James came out of the bathroom without Nathan and I asked what had happened. He put a spray nozzle from a kitchen faucet set-up on the table. I asked him if Nathan had broken that in the bathroom (not understanding what was going on). James then informed me that Nathan took it from Lowes and had put it in his back pocket. Needless to say, Nathan was in ALOT of trouble.

After much discussion, we decided to ground Nathan from any TV viewing for the next week. Yesterday I called a friend of ours who works for the Mesa Police Department and asked if he would mind talking to Nathan about stealing and why it's wrong. He agreed right away and met us at Nathan's Day Care in his patrol car and in full uniform. The kids were all shocked to see a police man there and Nathan knew exactly why he was there. Jaime asked him why he did it and explained that stealing is wrong and you can go to jail for doing something bad like that. He then had to explain what jail was and he even put a handcuff on Nathan so he could see what it was like. Last night we drove Nathan to Lowes and I made him return the nozzle to the manager and apologize to him. The manager told Nathan he was sad that he took it, but glad that he came back and returned it and felt bad for being a bad boy. He said as long as he never ever did anything like that again, it would be okay.

Hopefully after all of these experiences, Nathan has learned a lesson and he will never do this again.

How Many Babies Does It Take?

How many babies does it take to fill a bin? The answer is below!! :)

Gregory loves to sit inside of things. There is a big purple bucket with rope handles at the daycare and he loves to push it on its side and sit in it and make it roll back and forth. He tries to climb inside of the laundry baskets every week. We recently bought a new toy storage unit at IKEA for the downstairs to hold the baby toys. Both Gregory and Timothy have finally (after about a month) mastered how to take the bins out of the frame and push the bins around the house. Well, yesterday Gregory turned the bin over to dump all of the toys out onto the floor then proceeded to climb inside and sing a song. :) Timothy thought that this looked like a good idea, so he climbed in as well. These bins are not large, by any means and seeing the two of them squeezed in there was quite amusing...Gregory did not like being sat on though...

Out of the Mouths of Babes

It is true that kids say the darndest things! Last night we were eating dinner and James got home a little bit later than us. After saying hi to everyone, he says he is going to go take a shower while we are eating. Well, we are currently sprucing up the living area of our house so the vent covers to the air conditioner are off. Nathan watches James walk up the stairs, looks at the ceiling and the gaping hole where the vent cover usually is...he looks at me and says, "Mommy, is the water gonna pour out that hole?" It was so adorable, I tried very hard not to laugh while I explained to him how pipes work and where the water goes from the bathtub and what the vent hole was for.

I forget so easily how young he is, and that he doesn't understand how alot of the world works. It is very easy to get caught up in the harried happenings of life, without cherishing all the cute mannerisms of my children while I am raising my children.

I can't believe how big he is

Nathan is amazing. Just about every day he does or says something that just makes me realize how big he is. He has these plastic Kinnex toys for smaller kids that he loves to play with. Well for about the last year the only thing ever made with them were "guns". Not really extravagant or imaginative.

Well, just recently he has started using his imagination and making "guys". The first time he came out of his room and showed me his guy and I was totally blown away. I thought they were the most adorable things EVER!! The one guy turned into about 5 different ones before he ran out of pieces.

Nathan starts Kindergarten in August. I can't believe that my baby is going to big boy school finally. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful family.

15 Months Already!!

We had our 15 month well-baby visit this morning. Gregory and Timothy are doing fabulous! We will start with the older of the two:

Gregory Vance
Weight: 24 lb 12.5 oz 50%
Height: 31 1/2 inches 70%
Head: 18 1/2 inches 50%

Gregory is outgoing and very amusing. He is also very very emotional. He gives the best hugs and loves to just sit on your lap. He is playful, and is on his way to becoming a great soccer player. He loves to kick his big brothers soccer ball and he really is very good at it. His favorite toys right now any ball, cars, stuffed animals and the baby wipes packaging.

Timothy George
Weight: 22lb 20%
Height: 30 1/2 inches 45%
Head: 18 1/2 inches 50%

Timothy is still my quiet thinker. He plays by himself alot, but he is getting more involved with Gregory. He absolutely adores Nathan. They play together alot! He loves to play chase, I run behind him saying "I'm gonna get you!!" and he runs away laughing the whole time. The other day he and Gregory started playing chase together...it was so fun to watch. Timothy loves anything that makes music. He is starting to dance with his little boom box that he carries around constantly. It is so adorable.

I love my boys and am so happy that I have them. Life is defenitely different now, but I could never go back to the way things were. I am so excited to see how they will grow and change as they get older.

First Hair Cut

My baby, Timothy, had his first haircut on April 11, 2008. He had needed one for a very long time, but I was, of course, putting it off as long as possible. I guess I just didn't want to face the fact that my baby was getting so big. Timothy has always had longer hair than Gregory, but it was getting to the point that he looked like a girl to people who didn't know him, and that was really starting to bother James.

So, Gloria (the wonderful woman who runs the daycare that my kids go to) said that she knew how to cut babies hair and she volunteered to cut Timothy's hair for me. I told her that I would bring in my camera so that I could document the occasion, of course! :) So after work when I arrived, I stripped him down and with Catalina's help, we cut Timothy's hair.

He really did a fabulous job being patient and sitting still while Gloria cut his hair. I was so proud of him. I was in denial about cutting his hair because I don't want them to grow up so fast, but in the end, he looks SOOO Handsome and I am glad we finally did it.

Going to Try!

Well, thank you to my wonderful friend Tara for recommending that I start a blog. I am not quite sure of what to do with it...nor am I sure that I am going to have the time or creative juices to keep it up...but I am GOING TO TRY! :) I have seen that there are websites that you can create a bound book with your blog entries, and since I have NO time for scrapbooking anymore, this would be a good way for me to keep up with my memories.

Wish me luck...I feel vulnerable about putting my thoughts, feelings and creativity out there for everyone to see and judge...

More of me to come...please stay tuned.

First Post!

On the fantastic advice of my best friend, Tara, I have decided to start blogging. Tara, you sure are one smart girl. Thank you for being you!!!!