Plugging Along

I know I need to blog more. Well, really I don't know for sure. Maybe no one is reading this, so it's just my own inner critic and guilt fiend telling me that people want to see more here. But then, some of you have become "followers," so I assume that means you want to know what is going on with us. Anyway . . .

I'll try to blog more. Lately life is normal. We're in the midst of busy season, so Tobin is not home much, even though he isn't really doing any tax work this year. Someone please explain that to me. No, don't. I know he is extrememly busy at work. Luckily they have hired a couple new people so hopefully we can meet the guy who sometimes sleeps in my bed sometime soon. :)

Peyton and Maryam are closing on the their fourth birthday. I'm not going to do a big friend party this year. We'll save all that drama for the big 5th birthday next year. This year will just be family and a few close friends (who qualify as family in our eyes). Peyton has been praying for a car race track for his birthday. He started asking for one just before Christmas, but I . . . *ahem* . . . Santa, had already spent his budget for the year. Since then we've heard of nothing but a car race track. He seriously prays for one every night before bed. I think I better get on that soon. I'm not sure what is out there, and I don't want to spend a fortune because I didn't do my homework. Peyton wants a dinosaur or shark cake. He decided the other day that a shark cake is probably better because sharks are more scary to people. I love it! I better work on that too. I'm not too skilled at cake decorating, so I'm thinking a blue cake with shark toys on it. Yeah, that's my style. Too cheap to buy a cake; lack the skill to make a fantastic cake on my own. Maybe there are some better ideas on the internet . . . .

Maryam hasn't mentioned anything particular that she wants lately, so I asked her a couple of days ago. She wants a Beauty and the Beast cake with the real toys on it - just like her Cinderella cake last year. That way she gets a cute cake and a present all in one. She's a smart girl. I asked her what she wanted for a present. She said, "I want car keys like you and Daddy so I can practice driving." I explained that you have to be 16 (maybe it's 18 in Cali now?) before you can drive. Well, she likes to pretend that she is 16, so that will be fine. Seriously, that's her explanation. She likes to push my buttons by telling me that her boyfriend is calling on her toy cell phone. A few days ago she told me that she broke up with Gape (her boyfriend - the name is really Gabe, but she thinks it's Gape). Now she has another boyfriend already, Jesse. Her boyfriends are from a couple different episodes of Hannah Montana. I may have to ban that show for her! This girl is 3 going on 16! She's a serious crack up!

Well, that's our life in a nut shell. We've been battling a nasty cold/virus thingy. It hasn't been too fun, but I think we are all on the mend now.

If you have any fabulous ideas on the birthday cakes or presents, please share! Do your kids have a car track they really love? I'm thinking something compatible with matchbox cars, since Peyton already has a lot of them. And what do you give the girl who wants car keys at age 4??? Do they make toy key fobs? (How do you spell that anyway?)

Feeding the Chickens

This afternoon I suggested the twins go upstairs to play since they were driving me crazy playing downstairs while I was sewing. They were more than excited to play in their room for a while. I didn't hear anything out of the ordinary and figured they were probably building their secret hiding place again (think blanket fort). A little later, I heard them playing at the bedroom door, keeping each other out/in. I headed upstairs to see what they were up to.

I turned the corner in the hallway to their room, and this is what I saw.


The blob on the floor is the inside structure of one of the twins' arm chair style bean bag chairs. The white spots on the floor are styrofoam "beans" from the chair. I stepped into the twins' bedroom and found this . . .

They emptied the beans from both of their chairs onto the floor of the bedroom. I quickly asked them why they would empty out their bean bag chairs onto the floor. Maryam replied, "To feed the pretend chickens, Mom." She used this tone of voice like their actions were perfectly logical. I had to work really hard not to burst out laughing right then. I explained to them that this was probably not the best idea and they would need to help me clean up the floor. They agreed, and I ran downstairs to get the camera and some beach buckets.

We spent 45 minutes scooping "beans" off the floor into beach buckets and then into trash bags. Then the kids were great helpers vacuuming all the remaining beans from underneath everything in their room.

Christmas Sunday

We had our Christmas program at church on the Sunday before Christmas. I sing with the ward choir, and we had planned and prepared to sing three songs. I was also involved in a quartet that was singing another song. The choir director asked us to arrive 30 minutes early for church so that we could do one last rehearsal before we performed.

A few weeks before Christmas I bought outfits for the twins to wear to church on Christmas Sunday. It's a tradition in my family to get a new church outfit for Christmas and Easter. I loved this tradition as a child, and I have continued it with my own children. Each year I search a few different stores for a beautiful dress for Maryam and a handsome sweater vest outfit for Peyton -- and of course the are always coordinating! The night before the "Christmas Sunday" I laid out the twins Christmas outfits so they would be ready to wear the next morning.

Now, I should give you a bit more background information. Tobin is our ward clerk, so he has to attend early morning meetings before church each week. This leaves me to get the twins ready by myself each week. Every Sunday morning they throw a fit about having to get up and get ready. That fit usually involves some crying and yelling about not wanting to go to church. Once we get to church they are happy to be there, so I'm not really sure why they throw a fit every week. It probably has something to do with having to get up and get ready earlier than any other day of the week (since I'm not working this year). I usually do everything I can to motivate them to get ready, including allowing them to choose their own outfit to wear to church (with some guidance from me--I'm really way to anal to just let them have free reign).

So Christmas Sunday morning dawns bright and early. I wake the twins earlier than usual so we can arrive early for the choir practice before Sacrament Meeting begins. I even aimed to arrive an hour early rather than 30 minutes early so that I would have 30 minutes extra time for melt downs, tantrums, and other such catastrophes. Well, I really should have allowed an extra hour. That Sunday morning was the first knock down, drag out battle I've had with my daughter. It was a glimpse of what her teenage years could be like. And it was ugly! This is one of two times during the year that I choose her clothes for church, but she was not having it! She threw a huge tantrum about not wanting to wear her Christmas dress. I tried everything I could think of to convince her to put the silly dress on, and suddenly we were deadlocked in an epic battle. I ended up texting Tobin and telling him that we might not make it to church at all that day. He left his meeting to call home and try his fatherly powers over the phone to convince the twins to listen to me, but to no avail. Maryam still refused to put on the dress.

I finally gave up and told her to choose a different dress to wear. I was nearly in tears, we were running very late, and I wasn't finished getting myself ready for church yet either. At that moment she finally decided that she would wear her beautiful Christmas dress after all. Oh, was I fried! Eventually we did make it to church. The choir practice was already half way through, and I was still on the verge of tears. One of my friends happened to arrive about the same time and asked how I was doing as we walked down the hall. I broke down crying and she lovingly consoled me. She has five children and assured me that these kinds of mornings happen to the best of us. Thankfully, her cheerful attitude quickly lifted my spirits. The choir performance went quite well, and my performance with the quartet was even better. It turned out to be a lovely, spiritual meeting.

I usually take a picture of the kids in the Christmas outfits before we leave for church, but this year that obviously was out of the question. In fact, I didn't even think of taking a picture until much later in the day after they had already changed their clothes. I had to bribe them the following Sunday to get them to put on the Christmas outfits again so I could take pictures. It may be a short-lived tradition at this rate. But next year they won't be three-year-olds anymore. Maybe four-year-olds are more reasonable and obedient. Maybe four-year-olds will better understand their mother's desire for a cute looking, coordinated, somewhat matchy family for the Christmas program at church.

They are such posers! I don't know where they come up with this stuff!

Christmas

Christmas morning is so fun as a parent. I love seeing the excitement in my children's eyes as they hurry down the stairs to see what they got. Here are just a few highlights from Christmas morning this year.




Peyton and Maryam each received a scooter from Grandma and Grandpa Moon. They coordinated well with Santa who brought the matching helmets and knee pads. Mor Mor and Oompa Loompa sent personalized towels for the twins, but somehow I failed to get a picture of them. They also sent fleece blankets for Tobin and me. Those were a fantastic gift for us, and we have used them every day since! Our house feels so cold right now, so whenever we are sitting down, we wrap up in our blankets made by Mor Mor.


This is the toy Santa brought for our family, but really just for Tobin. He has had fun helping the kids play with the helicopter and learn how to control it.

Tobin and the kids playing with the helicopter. The kids are wearing new outfits they received, and Tobin is wearing the apron he received from our brother-in-law.

We had a small but wonderful celebration this year. We hosted Christmas dinner at our home with just the four of us and Tobin's two aunts. We had a lovely day cooking and enjoying being home with the kids. Dinner was great and we thoroughly enjoyed the time we got to spend with Aunt Sally and Aunt Mary. It was really nice to have them come to our place for a quiet dinner. Well . . . as quiet as it gets with two three-year-olds and two brand new scooters.

Christmas Projects

Here are some pictures of the projects I made as Christmas presents. I had so much fun! I haven't really done any crafting for a couple of weeks, and I'm in withdrawal. I need to get a couple of baby quilts done ASAP and I've got a project to do this week for a friend who just lost a brother. (That's a story for another post.) Anyway, I'll be back in the saddle this week!

These actually weren't Christmas presents. I made throw pillows for the couch and chairs in our living room.

A wood crafting project for my sister Sarah's gift. I found the idea on one of the crafty blogs I follow online. These tured out much larger than I anticipated, and I love them. Now I really need to go visit my sister so I can see them in her house!

Bags I made as Christmas gifts for my sister and niece. This was my first time making any type of bag. They turned out much better than I anticipated. And they were so easy that I'm thinking of making some more.

These are my twins modeling their Christmas pajamas. I intended to make matching pajama pants for all of us (including Tobin and me). The day after I finished the pants for the twins, Maryam saw the picture on the front of the pattern and requested a nightgown instead. I wasn't really prepared to make a nightgown, but I decided to do what I could with the fabric I had. The next morning when she saw the nightgown she was not impressed. The picture on the pattern shows lace on the nightgown; this was what she really wanted -- something frilly and girly. (She really is my daughter!) I explained that I wasn't prepared to make that, so I had to just use what I had. She decided she could get along with what I made, and wore the nightgown all day long that day. Because of that little development, I ended up not having enough fabric to make pajama pants for Tobin and me. Let's just say, Tobin was not disappointed. In fact, I think he was relieved that he doesn't have to humor me by wearing some funky bright green PJs with penguins on them.

Going to the Snow

Ok, I know it sounds really strange, but in the Bay Area we don't get snow. So we have to "go to the snow." Well, a couple of weeks ago on Sunday night/Monday morning it snowed very close to our house. I was so disappointed that it didn't actually snow at our house! Then again, I don't really want to drive in snow with people from California. Anyway, there was snow on the hills just outside of Pittsburg and the mountain nearby. And there were some nearby cities that actually got snow in town.

As soon as I had free time Monday, the kids and I packed up to go find the snow. We drove all the way to Danville (about 30 miles) and up the windy road to Mount Diablo State Park . . . only to find that the roads were closed and we could not get to the snow that day. Peyton and Maryam were very disappointed, but we did get to visit Daddy at work instead. On Tuesday, I was determined to try again. This time, I called the state park to make sure the roads were open first. Then, we made the trek to Danville again--ok, it's really not that far for us. Tobin drives farther for work every day.

The twins and our friend's daughter that we babysit during the week and I finally made it to see snow on Tuesday. We stopped at the first big patch of snow we saw. What a great time! We had a snowball fight and hiked around the picnic area for a bit. We tried to eat our snack at the picnic table, but it was much too cold. Our poor little friend was shivering from the cold! So we packed up and headed to McDonalds for lunch.

It was a short trip, but fun nonetheless. The kids and I all really enjoyed the snow! Maybe next time (read: 7-10 years from now) we'll actually get some at our house.

I Have Lost My Mind

I knew it would happen someday, but I thought it would be much later in my life. I just can't seem to get my mind back in gear lately. I had a week off from my babysitting gig for Thanksgiving. Breaks from work always throw me out of my routine, but usually I can get back on track pretty quickly. Well, the week after Thanksgiving was out of the norm as well because I went to Las Vegas with Tobin for a work conference (his work, not mine). I had three days of relaxing with no obligations or responsibilities . . . in the middle of the week!

This week, it's as if my mind has determined that it will stay on vacation permanently. I can't remember what day it is or what appointments I have. I know I'm forgetting things that need to be done. And today I took my twins to preschool 30 minutes early, without realizing that we were early until the mom who was teaching mentioned it. Oops! I'm so embarrassed! I don't know what is wrong with me. If I didn't know better, I would think I am pregnant. But I know better. I'm definitely NOT pregnant. What, then, is my excuse?