Branson Trip in Photos

I didn't take many photos on this trip mainly because it was a beautiful day and we were having too much fun to stop for pictures. Also, we split up a lot of the time so we were all scattered around the park.  Enjoy our photos!

And, if you are looking for a great Christmas activity with the family, Silver Dollar City is our pick! It's expensive, but worth it.

It's Twin Tuesday!

Who's been playing around on Pic Monkey again?  Guilty!  Look at what I did:

Last week I told you about Boy Twin and what shenanigans he's been up to.  This week, it's Girl Twin's turn in the spotlight. Being in the spotlight is where she likes to be; in fact, her new nickname is "Sassy" these days.  I'm afraid that she has inherited her mama's smart mouth, which I know I'll regret for many years to come.

Don't believe me?

Me:  Girl Twin, come over here so I can change your diaper.
Her:  NO!
Me:  Come over here NOW!
Her:  (With hands on hips) You have to say please!!

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Me:  Girl Twin, what do you want Santa to bring you?
Her:  Presents.
Me:  What kind of presents?
Her:  Christmas presents!!

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Last night, playing chase with Boy Twin:
"Bubby, get my butt!"

November wrap-up

As I've been thinking about Thanksgiving over the past couple of weeks, I've had this song pop into my head more than once--

Count your blessings, name them one by one,

Count your blessings, see what God hath done!

Count your blessings, name them one by one,

*Count your many blessings, see what God hath done.

This is one of my favorite songs to sing in church.  I've already written about many of our blessings, but here are a few more to end our month of thankfulness.  

I'm very glad that my kids have two great-grandmothers. I've had fun teaching them about how we are related to everyone in our family. You know, "she is MY mom, but SHE is her mom....." and so on. I'm not sure they really get it yet anyway.

This is my Nanny. My kids totally adore her and she's crazy about them!  We don't get to see her often enough, but they are always talking about her. When anyone sneezes, you'll always hear, "Nanny says scat," followed by a giggle.  And lots of random "Nanny's silly!" comments.

This is my Texas Grandma. I'm so excited that she got to meet my kids for the first time this month, on our recent trip to Brinkley. You might also remember, this was the same trip as the infamous bathroom incident.  As an adult, I haven't seen my grandma as much as I should or as much as I'd like to.  Being separated by distance is a pretty hard thing once you start having your own babies. Note: I'm not sure what's going on in that picture above, but I LOVE IT!


This is my newest favorite photo of my kids.

I am also thankful for our photographer, Kim, who I'm happy to call a friend. She owns Sweet Portrayal, and has done our photos since the twins were born. She also understands that, as a mom, getting kids clean, dressed and wrangled for a photo can be exhausting and overwhelming for me. She has been so encouraging to me (more than once) when I  know we need family photos but I just cannot muster the strength to get it done.

Because of Kim's work, I have a new appreciation for the beauty of  photos done right. (Poor Big Sis, her baby photos cannot hold a candle to the twins').  Kim is a special person with a creative spirit and such a generous heart.  She has blessed my family with each beautiful photo she has taken.  And now, I'm sure she will be really embarrassed by my gushing over her.  : )

Thanks for indulging me. And don't forget to count your blessings, too.

Giving Thanks

Over the past month, people have been writing about things they are thankful for all over Facebook and on blogs. I didn't jump on the bandwagon, like I have in the past. Why, you ask? I think it's simply because most days I am just thankful for weird things.  I'm thankful to get Big Sis to school before the tardy bell. Thankful to get to work with two of the same shoes  on. Thankful to make it through another day without losing my mind.

But this week something happened. I was having a particularly rough week; yelling at the kids a lot, being crabby to the hubs and being overwhelmed at work.  Even my blood pressure was skyrocketing! I blame most of this on that self-imposed need to be Super Mom, Super Employee and Super Everything Else. It sucks. We were planning to round up the troops and head across the state to spend Thanksgiving with my family, but The Universe had other plans. The transmission on our family vehicle went out earlier in the week...it's in the shop and likely will be until the end of next week. That means today, Thanksgiving Day, our family of five is home cooking, eating and celebrating alone. And you know what? It was fantastic! We slept in till 8:00am, cooked a feast and watched some TV.  Sure, I missed my family today.  But I also didn't have to pack a suitcase for five people and travel 4-5 hours across the state with a kid that has to stop at every public restroom along the way. I got to relax a little, hang out at home and take a long walk with my kids. Sure, it will cost a small fortune to repair our van, but we'll manage.  Not the best timing with Christmas coming up, but we'll manage. I have three more glorious days off work to stay home and be with my family. I'm going to remember how lucky I am and enjoy every minute of it.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

And the winner is...

Lindsey, from Tennessee, is the winner in my very first blog giveaway!  She just scored a $150 shopping spree to Country Outfitter, an online western wear retailer.  This is a company based in Fayetteville, Arkansas, just down the road from me. Lindsey can use the money for anything from boots, belts and handbags to any other kind of apparel on the website.  Someone in her house is sure to have a merry Christmas this year!  Congratulations Lindsey, and thank you to everyone who played along and entered the contest.

Stay tuned to the blog for your chance to win a new giveaway coming up in a couple of weeks, from another great Arkansas-based company.

Twin Tuesday: Who Pooped in the Pool?

The face of trouble.

This is a story about our dear, sweet little Boy Twin.  Today's lesson:  do not turn your back on him.  We spent this past weekend at a condo in Branson enjoying the beautiful fall weather.  Saturday morning, my sister and I took the kids to the indoor pool to play before heading to Steal Your Dollar City.  My kids are like little fish; they love the water!  We went back and forth between the pool and hot tub, and played a mean game of beach ball toss.

As we were gathering up our things to leave, I caught Mr. Mischievous throwing a handful of the landscaping rocks into the shallow end of the pool.  I was already dressed, so I couldn't go in and get them.  I tried to get Big Sis to do it, but she couldn't figure out how to stay under water long enough to retrieve them.  I figured it was not a big deal, scolded the kid and sent the little ones out to the playground with Aunt TP.  Meanwhile, I took Big Sis into the locker room to dry off and change.

As we came back into the pool area, I noticed that the other families who had been in the pool were about to leave.  I guess the pool was not fun without us.....yep.  As I walked over to our table, all 10 people in their group start yelling at me, "Don't get in the water! There's poop in the pool!"  It took me all of a second to realize that those brown rocks Boy Twin threw into the water looked like perfectly formed poop logs on the bottom of the pool.  I quickly explained to the parents what Boy Twin had done.  The mom gave me the "I understand because I have four kids" look, and they all jumped right back in with a big joyful splash.  I, however, grabbed our bags and got the heck out of there.

Day 1 Challenge: Thankful Me

This week I'm participating in another Blog Challenge with the ladies from Arkansas Women Bloggers. We are celebrating the things and people we are thankful for in the ThanksBlogging Challenge.  Today's topic: Outside the Walls.  Take a photo of something you are thankful for and use a new online photo editor to dress up the photo.

I'm thankful for this dude. He is my hubby and he's totally going to shoot me when he sees this, by the way.  I am so thankful for a great husband and loving dad for our kiddos. I knew when he changed the twins' diapers before I did that he could handle this. I knew when he could feed and rock two babies at once that he could handle this. I know it when Big Sis says, "I want daddy to tuck me in" that he can handle this. He's not perfect, but he's mine.

** I used Pic Monkey for the first time on this photo.  Awesome tools! Will be using it again for sure.**