My Favorite Age

2 years, 5 months.It may be my favorite age.

She rarely wears all her clothes. 

She says things like :

Daddy: Who came over today?

S: Natalie. But we named her Jonathan.

and

Mommy: Eat your corn.

S: Is that a law?

and

Mommy: S, sit properly in your chair.

S: Like Jesus says?

I was laying in bed with S and I whispered, “I love you” “I love you too Mommy” she whispered back. “That makes my heart happy.” I told her. “Is your heart happy?” She whispered softly “I don’t know”

She gives great eskimo kisses and does a mean rendition of “So  Long, Farewell” with her sister

At Costco, Kiran told the sample lady that she was 4 and she went to preschool. Sienna said, “I’m 2. I go to…” looks around… “ Costco!”

She turns me upside-down in all the right places.

I love that girl.

Moolala

There is a new website that will offer daily discounts of 50-90% off that we want you to know about called Moolala.

Many of you may be familiar with sites like Groupon, Living Social and Restaurant.com. Moolala is like those except that you earn cash back on everything you buy - and on everything bought by those you refer to the program!

And right now, if you sign up and get some friends to sign up, you have the chance to win a Kindle! You have until noon Friday to add 5 friends to be entered to win. I'd love it if you'd consider signing up under this link. And then be sure to invite your friends!

The founders of this site are the children of former medical missionaries, and they hope to use this as a potential revenue stream for many to support similar work.

Sign up for Moolala

Blizzard 2011

Jonathan and Kiran showing how deep the snow was (we got about 7 inches)

Going for a walk

Snow candles

So…. I only had one snowsuit for the babies so I pulled out the Tigger costume from Halloween and put it on Rhys. It worked perfectly.

My snow babies: They were born during the biggest snow of 2010, their first Christmas was a white one and then the biggest snowstorm in a decade.

Sienna loved throwing the snow/ice on day 2

When did she grow up?

And one of my favorite pictures of all time. I love my symmetrical family.

A Short Story

All this cold and snow and ice made me think about one of the craziest things that happened while we lived in Blowing Rock, NC.

We rented the bottom floor of a duplex. It was just a few miles from downtown Blowing Rock and right off the Blue Ridge Parkway. The back porch had a wonderful view of Grandfather Mountain. The whole thing probably wasn’t 1000 sq ft but it was perfect for the two of us. It had two bedrooms joined by a kitchen/den/dining area. And a turret. It was heated by a gas fireplace in the living room.

One cold December night, our phone rang about 1:15am. It was our upstairs neighbor, Jason. He said their carbon monoxide detector had gone off and the firemen were there. Could they come in and check our levels? Sure.

The fireman came in and his little machine started beeping like crazy. He starts yelling yelling at all of us to GET OUT now. We ran out of the apartment into the 11 degree weather in our pjs.

Any reading over 50 is dangerous. Our levels were over 100. If J & I had slept all night in levels over 100, we may not have woken up in the morning. We huddled together with our neighbors while the firemen did their thing. We praised God that they had a carbon monoxide detector and that we were spared carbon monoxide poisoning or early death. After the levels were lowered, we bundled up and slept under heavy blankets. And bought a carbon monoxide detector the next day.

Moral of the story: If you have any gas in your house, please please please have a carbon monoxide detector.

See. A turret.

Faces of Sienna

I took a picture of this face because Sienna drew it and I thought it was pretty good for an almost 2.5 year old.

So she drew another mouth and asked me to take a picture.

So she drew another mouth and asked me to take a picture. And I’m not sure what that that thing on the right is. Any ideas?

Leaving 2010

52 minutes left in 2010.

What a year. Panthers. Baby Showers. Newspaper Articles.

Meeting Rhys, our firstborn son. And 6 minutes later, Owen, our baby.

Adapting to having 4 kids. 4 young kids. 4 young kids, a full time job and online grad school. Its been quite a year.

50 minutes left now.

Leaving the year my twins were born. No I still can’t believe there are two of them. Two daughters and two sons. I am the luckiest mommy ever. Kiran will say that to me now, parroting what she’s heard me claim. What she doesn’t understand is that it’s not that I have four kids but that I have these four kids. KSRO

just 46 minutes left 2010.

Survival. 2010: the year of surviving. I have put all my effort into basic survival- feeding people, clothing people, keeping the house from imploding on itself. I feel stretched to the limit. No extra. No extra time. No extra money. No extra energy. I don’t like being at the limit all the time. It’s a stressful way to live.

I don’t even have time to blog. Maybe the blog has just run its natural course and it’s time to print and move on. I’ve enjoyed blogging these past 5 years. But maybe things change and people change and that’s ok.

40 minutes (Jonathan was talking. It interrupted my thoughts)

Maybe the babies will become toddlers and preschoolers and teenagers and eventually I’ll have time and mental capacity to think and write and compose original thoughts.

38 no 37 minutes till 2011.

Good bye 2010. My eyes won’t be open to see you officially leave. Babies still need to be nursed bright and early and toddlers will need help to go potty and I need rest. 2010- You made my tent bigger. My tent is stretched to discomfort right now. But in that stretching- even in the weariest of times- peace. joy that brings tears to my eyes. snuggling a baby at 4:30am. hidden talents coming to light. hearing him sing songs from the Sound of Music. a grandmother learning to hold two babies at once. a dance performance. pitter patter of feet. eight feet to wash.

Me: humbled. broken. asking for help. receiving help from so many. humbled again.

only 29 minutes.

Good bye 2010. Welcome 2011.

Ode to Spit Up

My twins are double the fun

This is totally true.

They also have double the spit up

to get all over you. 

They spit up after nursing

and its just plain white.

But when they spit after baby food,

its colorful and bright!

It goes all over clothes,

bibs, hands and chins.

It goes onto my clothes,

my hair, my nails, my skin.

It drips on to the carpet

and coats the high chair trays.

I can’t keep blankets under them;

they up and roll away.

I find it around the circles

of the little lego toys.

And crusted in the plastic hair

of the Little People Boy.

I do too many loads of laundry

and a hot soak every night

Trying to keep the spit up

from ruining all in sight.

I warn everyone you see

“Watch out! They spit”

But warning isn’t enough

you gladly perform your bit.

I long for the day

when you wear the same clothes all day long;

you’ll keep them dry and not wet

from your gurgling song.

My heart is kind of tender

as we reach the end of baby days.

But for sure one thing I will not miss

is your crazy spit up ways.

Jonathan and   Cousin Emily cleaning Rhys up after he spit up at Caesar’s Head. Don’t worry he had more clothes on but he….wait for it….spit up all over them.