Happy Birthday Will and Hays!!!!!!

Tiny Baby Will Tiny Baby Hays

Look How Far We've Come!!!!!!!!!





Let's celebrate!!!




Yummy Cake



Mommy and the birthday boys

Daddy and Haysie

Crazy big brother!

My little Devil!

Will's getting some Aunt Bea and Yaya love!

Is it time for presents?

I love cake.......

Mmmmmm.....Cookie Monster

Will's getting a little help from Dad and Budda

Hays unwrapping presents with Mommy

Will decided that he preferred to unwrap his gifts under the kitchen table.

Rawr!!!!!!!!

Hey, this looks fun

Sweet Haysie

Will and Budda

Big fun with the sand and water table

It hardly seems possible, but the twins are two!!!!! And I've got to tell you, February 21st was a whole lot better this year than it was two years ago. Who would've believed that those pitiful, scrawny plucked chickens would grow into the wild indians we know and love today! They have certainly come a long way.

And while we didn't do quite as big a shindig as last year, I think they thoroughly enjoyed their birthday festivities. Yesterday I decked out the kitchen with The Dollar Store's finest assortment of streamers, balloons and Elmo party supplies, baked a lovely yellow cake with chocolate frosting, and gathered lots of family to party down toddler style!! The twins were very enthusiastic about eating cake and tearing into presents. They got that whole ripping wrapping paper thing down at Christmas, so I think they were glad for a chance to hone their unwrapping skills! They got lots of fun toys like a sand and water table, Elmo dolls, a bowling set, a few dinosaurs, lots of books and some other things to light up, make noise, and generally keep them entertained!

They spent the rest of the afternoon playing with the sand and water table and getting soaked in the process! Luckily, it was a beautiful 65* sunny day, so they weren't in any danger of freezing. (Crazy since we had 4 inches of snow on the ground last weekend! I promise to tell you all about that in my next post!) It was another beautiful day today, so they got to spend most of their actual birthday having fun outside.

Mason loves his little brothers and he had a good time at their party, but it's tough to be five and have all the attention on your brothers. This morning he asked if it was Will and Hays' real birthday. When I told him yes, he asked "Are people coming over? And are they going to get more presents?" He was pretty relieved when the answer was no!!

Last night when all the kiddos were in bed, Matt and I reminisced about all the things that have transpired over the last two years. We've had some incredibly tough times, some amazing, miraculous times, days that we want to pull our hair out, and more love and laughter than you can imagine. Our sweet boys are such incredible blessings to us. They are our sunshine daydreams, and they make our lives so much fun. Twins were never on my wishlist, but that's only because I had no idea how fantastically fun and special and amazing it would be to be their mother. I am so grateful for the past two years, and I am looking forward to all of the wonderful years ahead. Happy birthday, my special, wonderful, precious boys.

Poopapalooza

There's a story that's been told for years in my family. It's about my twin uncles, Mack and Frank, and how one afternoon when they were a couple of years old, they used the contents of a poopy diaper to create the most unholy mess imaginable. This is a funny story, sure to receive lots of laughs from listeners. However, I learned yesterday that while it's funny to hear that story, it;s not so funny to live it. You can imagine where this is going, but I'll tell you the gory details anyway.
Yesterday after breakfast the twins went into their room to play and closed the door behind them. Never one to to interrupt a rare occurrence of playing together happily, I let them play without disruption for nearly an hour. Well, I might should have gone in sooner, because the sight that greeted me when I finally went to check on them was like something out of a horror movie. Hays had stripped completely naked, and Will had almost managed the same (he still had his feet in his sleeper and was dragging it along as he walked.) They had both taken off their poopy diapers and used its contents as fingerpaint to decorate themselves, the floor, the walls, the door and several stuffed animals. The only place the shit hadn't hit was the fan. It was awful. Unbelievably awful. So awful that my first instinct was to close the door and leave them in there. As I stood in the hall on the other side of Armageddon, I pondered several solutions:
1. Leave home and never, never come back
2. Clean up the twins, but leave the room for Daddy
3. Sell the house and everything in it- twins included.
4. Start drinking
But being the good and responsible mother that I am, I decided to grit my teeth and clean up the worst, most disgusting mess I have ever witnessed.
I had to put the twins in the tub covered in poop because I couldn't wipe it off. I had to drain the poop water and refill the tub with the monsters screaming the entire time because they don't like to be in the tub with the water running- tough luck, poop monsters! Then I let them play in the tub while I began the gag-inducing chore of scouring doo-doo off of everything in their room. It took about 40 minutes and a couple of floor moppings before the room was no longer a biohazard, but I managed. But I can assure you that I will NEVER leave them to their own devices for that long again.
Oh, and I have an awesome household repair tip for you. If you ever find that you have a terribly scratched LCD screen on your TV because you allowed your five year old to watch tv in your room and he decided to scratch the crap out of the screen with a screwdriver just for the hell of it, you can make the scratches almost disappear by rubbing a thin coat of vaseline on the screen. Seriously, it works amazingly well, and because of that, we let Mason live another day.

Since we're still boring and mundane around here, I decided to do a bit of a photo essay. It's been a while since I innundated you with my kids' cuteness, so hold on to your hats! (and I realize that Mason is woefully under-represented here. It's not that we don't love him, or think that he's less photoworthy. It's just that he doesn't get into nearly as many crazy situations that send me running for the camera!



Mmmmmmm.........bread..........




Last night I left the twins to their own devices while I got their bath ready. When I wet to get them ready, this is what I found. Will had managed to pull a freshly baked loaf of dill french bread off the counter and get through two layers of saran wrap. By the time I found them, they were pulling giant hunks out of the center of the loaf and cramming it into their mouths! I guess they like mommy's homemade bread!



Like a fat kid on a cupcake.....



This is what happens when you give toddlers cupcakes- a delicious chocolate beard!

Peek-a-boo!

Here's some Hays cuteness with one of Daddy's hats



It's naked time!!!!!

I'm pretty sure that Hays has decided to become a nudist. Every time I look at him, he's taking his clothes off. He has become an expert in pants removal, and once the pants go, it's merely a matter of seconds before he's naked as a jaybird. I've tried to thwart him with overalls with only a modicum of success. Onesies are working for now, but once he figures out how to unsnap those, I'm out of options!!!

Strike a pose!

Here's Will modeling his new haircut and his big brother's shoes.

All this in just 100 days....

Mason's class recently celebrated the 100th day of school. Each child had to make a vest that 100 things on it, and here's Mason in his fancy goldfish vest. It is so amazing to see how much he's learned in just 100 days. When he started school, he could barely write his name, couldn't read a word, and still scribbled wildly when he was supposed to be coloring. Now he can read all of the beginning reader books his teacher sends home, he colors neatly in the lines, he can write anything legibly (though he still writes b, d, and s backwards at times!) , he can do simple math and write number to 100, he's amazing! He's growing up so much and I am constantly amazed by the funny, imaginative boy he is becoming. Bring on the next 100 days!!!

Time to make some changes.....

I recently had to rearrange the furniture in the twins' room and this is why. Will always liked peeking out the window while he was supposed to be sleeping. But now that he's taller and more desctructive, mere peeking around the curtains wasn't going to cut it anymore. On this particular afternoon he decided that rather than nap, he'd yank the curtain down, pull out the curtain rod, and beat the window with it. I rearranged their furniture and now nobody sleeps by the window! Soryy for spoiling all your fun, Will!

Cooking with Will and Hays

The twins love to empty out my kitchen cabinets and drawers and pretend to cook. Because of this, my kitchen floor is always strewn with pots and pans, mixing bowls, and various kitchen utensiles. It's messy, but it keeps them occupied, so I've given up on fighting it. Who knows, maybe they'll grow up to be chefs!

Does this bag go with these shoes?

Lately Will's big into headbands and pocketbooks. Here he is sporting his favorite red glitter headband. He loves to throw on a headband, grab one of my purses and his cell phone and tell me "Bye-bye" as he pretends to head out the door! Given this and his fondness for shoes and rearranging furniture, we're thinking he may have a future on the Style channel!!

Ok, so I'm lame and don't post enough. Sorry. But you haven't missed that much. It's been insanely COLD, so we've been staying inside a lot. Honestly, I did not leave the house at all last week- and by the weekend the cabin fever was about to do me in! So the brief update- I redid the kitchen (again). It couldn't be helped. Once the granite was installed I didn't like the blue on the walls. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, but inspiration struck a couple of weeks ago when my mom and I went to an antique store. I found this great, hand-painted pendant shade that Matt did a fantastic job installing for me. I repainted the kitchen the same bright apple green in the den in the hopes that it would make the two rooms flow better and seem bigger. I put up some different pictures and accessories that I had in my cache of old home decor pieces. (I never throw pictures or anything away because you never know when you'll have the perfect spot for something!) And voila', new kitchen. I'll post pictures as soon as I take some!

I accomplished something besides finding a new light fixture that day. I also got a store to carry my tutus!!! and this past weekend, while on another outing with my mom, I got another store to carry them! I also realized that before I could go around to all the stores that I think might be interested in them, I needed to get a business card. So my wonderful husband helped me design the cutest business card ever, and they're currently being printed. I'll tell you what, I'm fixin' to be fancy with my business cards and such! So as soon as I get those, I'll be out pimping tutus all over town!!!

As for the kids, they're all good. Will's latest favorite toys are a red glitter headband and one of my pocketbooks. Yeah, we are also wondering if he's going to turn out to be Faaaaaabulous!!! He loves pretty girls, but he'll fight to the death for that glitter headband, so I guess only time will tell!! Hays is good, nothing new to report- oh well, the other morning he decided his bowl of oatmeal worked better as a hat than breakfast, so that was funny (and messy). He also said "Thank you" for the first time today- very cute. Mason got his report card on Friday and he's doing great in school. We're so proud of how he's growing up and becoming such a great reader.

So that's the past couple of weeks in a nutshell. And I'm not even going to lie to you, right now my focus is on building my tutu empire, and things that don't have the potential to make me money, such as this blog, are kind of on the back burner. I'm going to try to post at least every week or two, but I'm not making any promises that I might accidentally break! Y'all pray that lots more stores want tutus and that we make a gazillion dollars on this little endeavor (I know, I know, not bloody likely.)

Mason's Santa haul


The twins' Santa gifts (Seems a bit paltry
next to Mason's spread, but they didn't mind!)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and that Santa brought you just what you wanted! We had a very happy (and very busy) holiday here! We did Christmas in installments so we could celebrate with everyone. We started on Wednesday with Matt's dad, his brother, Jonathan, and Jonathan's roommate, Matt. We had pizza and presents, and that's a combo that can't be beat!

We had Christmas parts 2 and 3 on Christmas Eve. Part 2 was breakfast and presents at my parent's house, and part 3 was dinner and presents at Matt's mom's house. At this point, we had already racked up some major loot! Mason got video games from all his grandparents, I got a new steam mop, a fancy-pants breadmaker, and some other cool kitchen tools and such. Matt got clothes and a brand new vacuum cleaner. And no, people weren't trying to tell us that our house is dirty, these are things we asked for! So we went home Christmas Eve and mopped and vacuumed!! After we got Mason to bed, Matt and I spent a fun couple of hours playing all his new video games until it was time for Santa to come. And boy did Santa come! Mason got two more video games, plus a bunch of other toys. The twins favorite things were a shopping cart and a farm magnet set that talks and sings, and the humongous pop-up tent and tunnels set they got from my parents. It's been awfully nice having new stuff to entertain them! Matt's favorite present was his new vacuum. Mine was the CDs from my favorite tv show, Glee- I've been listening to them non-stop ever since!!!

We had Matt's mom, brother and his roommate over for breakfast Christmas morning (Christmas part 4) then we went to my aunt's house on Christmas day (Christmas part 5). It was really great to see every one, but we didn't stay too long because the twins were trying their best to get into things and go up the stairs and a host of other things they're not supposed to do. We were so busy trying to keep them corralled and out of trouble that we didn't get to spend nearly as much time with everyone as we would have liked. After we got home, Matt's mom, his aunt, Jonathan and his roommate came over for dessert (Christmas part 6). We were wiped out after such a busy day.

But the fun and celebration didn't end Christmas day. Matt and I always have some of our friends from high school who are now fabulous New Yorkers come to visit the day after Christmas. They're in town to celebrate the holidays with their families and we grab any opportunity we can get to see them. So they came over for dinner Saturday night (Christmas part 7) and we had a big time catching up.

Today was finally the day that we didn't have to go anywhere, but of course, there's never a day that we don't have to do anything! Today's agenda called for getting the Christmas tree out. It was REALLY crunchy, not to mention it takes up a huge amount of space. So we got that sucker out first thing this morning. I tell you what, we could not have done it without our wonderful Mason. He entertained and played with his brothers for well over an hour while Matt and I got the tree and the giant tree cage down. He was a champ! So as a reward, he got McDonalds for lunch and we all took a trip to the park this afternoon. And tonight we are doing nothing but sitting on our butts for some well deserved rest!

But even though we've had 7 Christmas celebrations, we're not 100% done. Matt's parents are giving us new cabinet doors for Christmas, so we're going to do that over the next few weeks. We got granite counter tops a couple of weeks ago, so cabinets are next, then repainting, then we'll have a fabulous kitchen. It will be the gift that keeps on giving!

Did y'all think I abandoned you? Sorry, but things have been CRAZY around here. So, I'm not sure if I mentioned a while back that I made some tutus for my girlfriends' kids that were quite glam. Well, they turned out so darn cute that I decided to try to make a few bucks off of them. So the past week or two has been spent trying to get the tutu business off the ground while simultaneously doing all the 10,000 things that mommies do to make Christmas happen.
I need everyone to say a prayer for my fledgling tutu empire. My cousin's daughter, Charlotte, was wearing her very glam tutu in Brooklyn, and a store owner was taken with it. She's looking for someone to make tutus and hairbows (oh yeah, I'm also hawking hairbows) for her store, so my cousin, Jane, told her about me! I spoke to the store owner, and hopefully she'll place an order after the holidays!!!! It may come to nothing, but I was very proud that someone liked my tutus enough to want to sell them! But y'all keep your fingers crossed that it happens.
For now, we're trying to get our website up and running. It's still in the very early, VERY rough stages, but you can check it out and see what I'm making. Come see me at www.thetutuzoo.com and order a fabulous custom tutu or hairbow (once we get our order page up!!)

Here's a bit of a virtual Christmas card for all of you- those twins can dance!!!!

http://http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/yVe7dk9BRSyFiJUb