Just can't get enough......

of this song lately! I am a huge Lady Antebellum fan anyways, but this song just really is one of my favorites! It is a song I want my kids to know, that I sing for them. It is a song I need to remember that my Lord sings to me. I want my husband to know the words are to him also. It is just such a blessing in the form of a song! Enjoy!!!

Serenity Prayer

"God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen."

--Reinhold Niebuhr


Just some words that have spoken to my heart tonight. They seem fitting for some of the events that have surrounded me lately. For someone that is a bit of a control freak (well more than a bit) it is nice to remind myself of who is truly in control. That I need to hand over all things to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. For it is not in the things of this earth that I shall dwell with for eternity, it is with him. I am so thankful for my Lord God, with him all things are possible in my life.

Out takes of life!

If our life was a movie, here are some scenes that might end up on the cutting room floor, but are just too good to miss out on!




Keaton and his big smile complete with dimples. There is no doubt he is in action in this photo. But I love how lively and fun he looks. :)



I think this face says it all about my wild, crazy, funny, lovable, over-the-top, entertaining Kyndall! She is a bundle full of energy most days, with just enough sass to keep her tetering on the line and just enough sweet for me to love her no matter what!!



Usually one of the kids will be smiling in the group shot, but this one is just pure chaos! Which laughably is totally us!! I love that Kyndall has my car keys hangin' from her mouth and Keaton is enjoying chewing on a toy. I am not sure what Claire is up to, but lookin' nice for the camera just isn't on her agenda today!


And last but not least everyone needs a crazy hair day once in awhile, and now that Claire can wear a little pony on the top of her head, she has them quite often. This is the look she ends up with after a day of pony tail wearing, and getting too close to Keaton who loves to yank out her bow! I love it! :)

Bathtub Picasso!

Some of Kyndall's newest creations! But don't worry folks those are crayola "tub soap" crayons. Just the perfect thing for the girl who loves all things crayola! I am not sure when Kyndall's obsession with coloring/drawing/writing began, but she loves to create! (wonder where that came from?) LOL! So we figured that why not combine coloring and bathtime two of her favorite things. She got these crayons as one of her little gifts on the twins first birthday. As you can see she put them to quick use. Luckily for us they are washable, but I had to take a few photos before I washed off she and her daddy's masterpiece! She did the scribbles and instructed him to write the names of all of us on the tub! So this was a combined effort! If I could put it on the fridge I would. Nothing is better than seeing the works of art that my girl creates! Move over Picasso, here comes Kyndall! :)

Wordless Wednesdays

I am homesick for the farm. I miss my family and friends in Nebraska. I even miss the barn apartment where the kids and I stay while we visit! I am so glad that my trip home is in less than one month! :)

Exhaustion!

I am tired of being tired. Poor Claire has been sick for a month now and it is about to wear me out too! RSV is the latest lovely illness to attack our house. As crappy as that is, at least it is better than a mystery sickness with no real course of treatment. So now the twins are on breathing treatments every four hours. Which translates into me feeling like I am giving a treatment at all times! But if it gets them healthy, I will do it until I am blue in the face! I want HEALTHY, HAPPY kids back.....not the crabby, cranky, clingy, snotty, coughing, monsters that have been hanging around here lately! :) So for now it looks like the kids are heading in the direction of healthy, thank the good Lord, cause I don't know exactly how much more this momma could have handled. I am not sure I will know how to act if we don't have to make four trips to the dr.'s office this week! I really want everyone to get better so we can get out and enjoy some of this great weather we have been having! I am hoping that the temperatures stay nice and the sun keeps shining...that should keep everyone well too! :)

In other news, I am getting super excited for my trip back to Nebraska to celebrate turning 30 with a bunch of friends from highschool. It is almost gonna be a mini-reunion. But when you graduate with 30 people in your class, any gathering with three or more feels like a mini-reunion! LOL! :) It is always nice to go back to Louisville. It always feels the same as the last time, no matter how long I stay away. It was such a great place to grow up and if I wasn't in Scottsville, it would be my number one choice of places to raise a family. Lucky for me I ended up in a small town that is equally as great. I just wish I wasn't 12 plus hours from my old friends and all my family! Oh well, the visit will be good for me. I am just nervous about being away from my kids for the first time ever. This is my birthday present from Jordan a weekend kid-free. Which in theory sounds lovely, but putting that into practice and not being worried is entirely another thing.

Well that is all the news for now. I hope everyone else is healthier than my house is! Say a prayer for us and our sniffles and coughs! Happy Monday everyone!

Here is what I have been up to when I should have been blogging

So here are some websites/blogs that I just can't get enough of lately. It might explain why my own blog has fallen into such a state of neglect! But I thought I would share them for everyone's viewing pleasure!

This is a food blog that I have been scanning for like a WEEK! Each recipe looks so yummy and I love that she does step by step photos! Just in case some day I might want to make a few! For a girl on a diet this blog is like window shopping and I love it!!!

Of course an old favorite is still Pottery Barn Kids. I love that the whole site looks like spring has just blown in and is here to stay. That is what I am craving right now! :)

This site is one I am just starting to get into and explore. It is called Twinstuff. When you are a mom with multiples sometimes it can feel lonely. It is nice to be able to network with other parents who are going through the same things as you!

Bring the Rain this blog is such a story of courage, heartbreak, faith, and family. I will warn you right now, it is a tearjerker, but the message behind it of God's love and the way he works in our lives through each struggle is AMAZING!!! It is one of the places I visit most often when I am feeling overwhelmed as a mom. It just puts things into real perspective for me.

And of course last but not least is the site I could read on for a week and still find more I wanted to read about Pioneer Woman!! This gal has it all wit, humor, story telling chops, and a cowboy for a husband! Who could ask for anything more??? Not to mention her great recipes and photography ability. These things all add up to make it a must read!


So there are just a few of my daily distractions here lately. It is amazing how you could just literally go for days online and find something new at every turn. I guess that is why my list of bookmarked pages could stretch from here to Hawaii! But I love them all, and wouldn't know what to do if my list was accidentally erased! Don't tell my husband that! He thinks I spend too much time between facebook and Two Peas in a Bucket as it is! He would have my other browsing material wiped out in the blink of an eye! LOL! Have a great Friday everyone! :)

Wordless Wednesdays!

Today has been rough, so I need a little blue sky. I thought what a better place to put it than on my blog to share with everyone! I took this picture last summer while out swimming with Kyndall! I can't wait for the days to turn like this again! :)

Today we celebrated..................

The twin's turning ONE!!! It was a great day with our closest friends and family with us! We had a lot of fun, ate some really yummy cake, and watched the kids enjoy all their new toys and presents! Here are just a few of my favorite parts of the day. I won't add all the photos now, cause as you can imagine I am exhausted and it is already almost one a.m. But here is a sneak peek of the action with more to come tomorrow! :)

I was in love with the cakes that Tammy from www.atasteofwhimsy.com made. AND they tasted twice as good as they looked! They were SPECTACULAR!!!!


Poor Claire is still sick, but that didn't stop her from helping to open presents. Here she is checking out the new pony that Granmom got her.



Daddy and his mini-me are grinning cause they know that cake is about to be served! These boys love their sweets!



The birthday boy! Playing with one of the many new toys that he got! He had such a ball checking everything out. He truly enjoyed every present that he got!



The party cake and the baby's smash cakes on the table prior to the party starting. I told you I was in love with these cakes! I might have taken more pictures of them than I did the twins! J/K!

Keaton was soooo sleepy by this time, but he knew something exciting was about to happen, so he managed to hold his eyes open long enough to see what it was!


Claire patiently waited on all of us to see what was going to happen next! :)


They tolerated our singing of happy birthday but look a little confused as to what these giant things are in front of them!


Keaton decided pretty quickly that he liked the cake, but he liked it much better once Micca started to help him eat with a spoon!


Claire took matters into her own hands! We had no idea that she was such a master of the spoon until today! This girl could give Kyndall a run for her money when it comes to who is the best shoveler!! :)


She really, really enjoyed herself! I am not sure what she liked best though, the spoon, or the cake?


I am pretty sure that I make this same face when I eat! LOL! :)


I for sure see more utensil time in this girls future.....but maybe not with a giant smash cake!



Keaton knows what's good he loved his cold glass of milk to go along side of his chocolate cake!




This was what was leftover when Big Bubba headed to the bath tub! This pretty much sums up the day! Exciting, messy, worked over, and a little tired looking.....but so worth every minute of work that we all put into making the party fun for the twins! I am sad that they are one, but glad that we got to celebrate it in such an awesome manner!

Hope everyone else's weekend was as blessed as mine! :)

Notes from the twin's one year check-up!

Baby "A" a.k.a: Claire Elizabeth

Weight: 19 lbs 4 oz.'s up from 5 lbs 8 oz.'s at birth and 5 lbs even when she left the NICU!

Height: 28.5 inches

Head cir: 46 cm

Still our little petite girl. She seems much lighter than Keaton even though only a pound seperate them. She is pulling up and standing all the time with help from the couches and coffee tables. We just know that she is going to take off walking any day now. Claire has her two top and bottom teeth, and is working on a third. We almost never know when she is getting new teeth because number one she hates to have anyone look in her mouth and number two she hardly ever fusses over it! She is the only child of mine that cut her teeth in the traditional order starting with bottom first. All the others got top in first. She is good natured and a born explorer. A true beauty, she gets compliments everywhere that we go. She is a natural people magnet and that shows in her personality! We are working on moving from a bottle and formula to a regular sippy and milk. So far she is resisting, but it might have something to do with her still being sick. Maybe in a few more weeks she will be transitioned. She loves to eat solid/table food and sneak drinks of Kyndall's chocolate milk whenever she finds a sippy unattended.



Baby "B" a.k.a: Keaton Tyler

Weight: 20 lbs. 4 oz.'s up from 5 lbs. 4 oz's at birth and under 5 lbs. when we left the NICU!

Height: 29.5 inches! Even though he looks shorter than Claire, the measuring tapes don't lie!

Head Cir: 45.3 cm

Keaton looks to me like a chunky boy, but he is only in the 10-25th percentile for boys in all of his measurements. He is a loving little guy, and needs his momma to hug and kiss on him several times a day. (which I don't mind at all) He is just now starting to be brave enough to go off on some adventures with his sisters. For the longest time he would play by himself while they hung out. But now he is starting to get in on the action. Keaton is tender hearted and usually gets his feelings hurt more easily than Claire, but he is quick to forgive and as long as there is an open lap to occupy he is better in no time! He has his top two teeth and one on the bottom too. It seems like it takes him so much longer than Claire to cut his and he gets way more upset while they come in than she ever does. That's a man for ya! He eats Cheerios by the handful and is notorious for reaching over and helping himself to Claire's food and her sippy cups (after he tosses his own on the floor) He is also cruising all around the house, and crawls at the speed of light. He is taking to whole milk much better than Claire. Although he also prefers the bottle still to the sippy. His big blue eyes continue to melt my heart and I can't wait to see what new things he learns to do in the coming months!

I am so blessed to have three healthy, happy children. All of which have distinctly different personalities and quirks about them. But I wouldn't have it any other way. Being a mom is truly the best and most rewarding job I have ever held. :) I love these guys with all my heart!

Wordless Wednesday

Hello Summer, If you are listening we are ready for ya!!!!

Geez, where have I been????

Well friends, I think I may have momentarily lost my bloggin' mo-jo. But have no fear, now that several of the large tasks I was busy with are done, I think it may have found it's way back home! :) So sorry to keep any loyal readers that I might have in the dark about what is going on with me, but let's face it, I have been BUSY!!!! Here is a run down of my past few weeks.

First of all the weekend before my big tag sale with Andrea, Tricia, and Brandie at the Washington Building Claire became really ill. It started with a really high fever that Sunday night. It was 104 and she was shaking and having a really hard time breathing. So off to the E.R. we went. We even went the extra distance to Bowling Green in hopes of getting her the best care possible (which would ultimately not be the case) Anyhow, after a four hour wait, they called us back and saw us for all of four minutes. Diaganosed her with a double ear infection and put her on an antibiotic. Since the extra tylenol they had given her in Triage had brought her fever down under 100, I was okay with the diagnosis. So we decided to go on home and just monitor her overnight. Claire is usually the first one up in the mornings and the next day she was still asleep long after the other two kids were up. Very strange, but I tried to tell myself that it was the late night at the hospital catching up with her. So by 10 a.m. I was on the phone to her dr. cause something just didn't feel right about what they had told me the night before. So that Monday I got to spend ALL day at the graves gilbert clinic with all three kids in towe, having every test run on Claire under the sun, because low and behold the E.R. had told us incorrectly and she had NO SIGN of ear infection AT ALL. Needless to say I was a little hot about the crappy service we had gotten at the E.R. And on top of everything else we were back at square one in regards to what was wrong. So they began the tests at GGC.... Bloodwork, RSV, flu, strep. Poor thing was worked over good! All the illness tests came back negative, but her bloodwork showed an extremely elevated white blood cell count. We still weren't sure what the problem was and had to wait 48 hours for the bloodwork cultures to completely develop. The next day, they thought she would have to be hospitalized since she kept getting sicker and wouldn't hardly eat or drink. But praise the Lord she did start to take her bottle once I got her back over the the GGC and she was able to produce a urine sample for them. So they were confident that she wasn't dehydrated, and gave us clearance to go home and keep waiting. By this time she had been given two Rocephen shots, so I was hoping they would be so strong they would nab whatever was ailing her. Long story short, after almost a full week back and forth at the dr. office, several shots, tons of tests, and a lot of sleepless nights later we never did get an official diagnosis of what was wrong. She basically had an infection somewhere that her body was fighting. Lucky for us, she got better and is back to her old self, and no one else in the house got sick either! That is a blessing in itself!

So the rest of the week, I prepared like a mad woman for my huge tag sale. Luckily for me my friends helped me to unload, price, and sort my stuff until 3:30 a.m. the Friday night before the sale. But man was it worth it. I never realized how much stuff I had accumulated for these kids until it took up half of the building where the sale was! I should have taken a picture of it all! You all would be shocked! But as I said, it was worth every ounce of effort. We had a great turnout and I sold a ton of stuff! All in all it was a great day, condsidering I made money, got to spend time with my good friends and had more space to fill up with stuff in my basement when it was all said and done! :)

This past week was filled with then preparing for the Lil Angels Attic sale. I didn't really pressure myself to much with it. I just put a little over one hundred things in it. Since most of my stuff was still organized from my sale, it was easy to tell what I wanted to include and what to leave out. Weds. I got to drop my stuff off and work my volunteer shift. The kids all went to the childcare that Broadway provided and liked it a lot. Kyndall had a blast and would have stayed all day if I had let her. Keaton and Claire were really good, but when nap time rolled around they definetely wanted to be in their own beds, so we packed up and headed back home. I was glad to have gotten a good time to drop my stuff off on Weds. Last time I didn't bring my items until Thursday and by then the sales floor was so full that my stuff didn't make it out for the pre-sale that night. I think having it there earlier helped a lot. I sold over half of it and was surprised that some of the things that didn't sell last sale were the first to go this year. Just goes to show that you never know. Of course the best part for me was shopping the pre-sale. I got a bunch of great stuff and got everything at great prices! I was totally happy. I went back on Saturday for the half off day and got great items then too. I love a good deal. And to me as long as I make a little more than I spend, then the sale is a success! That isn't the same philosphy Jordan goes by, but oh well! He didn't do all the work getting ready to sell the stuff, so he doesn't get a vote in that matter.

Wednesday was a hard day for me, so it was good that I was busy with the sale. The twins first birthday was that day and I am still having a struggle with the fact that my babies aren't really babies anymore. Since we aren't having any more kids, it makes each birthday that mine have a little bittersweet. Each milestone that they reach, will be the last one that I get to share with an infant. They are no longer so dependent on me. They hold their own bottles, go where ever they want to play, don't want to stay long when I hold them. It is really just a sad, sad realization that my kids are all growing up. I know that I don't need to have any more kids. Three is perfect for me, but I still get a little twinge of wanting when I see a girl who is pregnant or see a newborn baby. I think it is even harder for me to get past, because I feel like I missed out on enjoying so much of the twins babyhood. It is hard when you have multiples plus a toddler to truly enjoy the small things that they do, that you so quickly forget, yet long to have back. I know I am blessed to have three wonderful, healthy, beautiful kids and I am in no way complaining. It is just starting to become real how quickly they grow and if you don't write down or photograph things while you can you might never get that chance again! Boo hoo!!!

Well I think that brings us pretty much up to-date on our household. I am still working hard at my diet/exercise and first place. I have lost almost 13 pounds. So that has been really positive. I am on the right track. I tackled step aerobics again tonight, and no matter how hard it is, I have vowed to keep on truckin'! I want to get lots of use from the YMCA membership I am paying for! :)





A year in pictures/review!


Who knew 365 days would go by so quickly! Above is a photo, from the first few days the twins spent in the NICU. Even though I don't feel like a year has passed since then, their time there in the hospital does seem very far away. I am so glad they are healthy today!


One of the pictures we have of all four of us. Kyndall is missing since she wasn't allowed in the NICU. I still cry looking at their sweet little bodies and perfect round heads. Even though you can't tell here, they each had such distinct personalities right from the start, that they have stayed true to even today. AMAZING!


So small and sweet, they used to put up their arms and turn their heads exactly the same way when they rested. It was like even sleeping, they knew what the other was doing. :)



First fourth of July celebration at our church. I always thought that both kids had a lot of hair then, but looking at it now, they both seem a little bald! LOL!



Claire Elizabeth around six months old!



Keaton Tyler around six months old also!



365 days later, so grown up and independent. Hanging out in the morning having one of their only bottles of the day and watching Sesame Street with their big sister. So grown up! :)



One her actual birthday! I was trying to get a good picture of Claire and Keaton together, but she had other ideas! This was after she crawled away at lightning speed and then turned around and laughed at me when I chased her! This girl is WILD! :)



This was the best picture I could get of Bubby Keaton, he kept shutting his eyes, I guess the flash was hurting him. But you can still see what a little man he is growing into. Those blue eyes and that blonde wavy hair just melts my heart. He is momma's boy! :)


Well that is all the pictures for now. I could upload them all night and never be through. There is one thing these kids don't lack and that is photos! Even though I do look back and wish I had taken a few more to remember everything. But oh well, that would just be more to scrapbook. Hope everyone is doing well and I promise to be a better blogger......just let me get the twin's first birthday party out of the way this next weekend! :) SHEW!