Woohoo I added a widget! (At least I think that's what I did) and Holiday Wishes

Yay me, I figured out how to add a Facebook like button to my blog!  I am waaay excited now, this is totally a big deal to me!  I am not overly computer savvy and have pretty much been learning about this whole blogging thing as I go.  So please follow me on Facebook, help me feel even more proud of myself.  I would really appreciate it! =)  And it wasn't nearly as hard as I feared it would be.  And bonus, I didn't destroy my site by playing with the HTML!

I have been absent a bit because of the craziness that is the Holidays.  To be politically correct I want to wish everyone Happy Holidays, because I know I have readers of different faiths.  Also Merry Christmas, because this is what we celebrate in our household.  I hope this season has brought your families, happiness, peace, and joy. 

This year I am very thankful for answered prayers, lower levels of stress, the kindness of (near) strangers, our friends and family, and my husband (I don't know what I would do without him).

 I don't really talk about it much, but I have been praying more and attempting to find some sort of faith that works for me.  I'd like to think that my prayers have been heard; there have been several incidents to make me think so.  So thank You! 

To say that our budget has been tight the past 6 or so months would be an understatement.  Lately it's more like what bills can I put off or what can we do without so we have enough money to buy diapers and food.  (I can see our tax refund on the horizon now and I can't wait.)  After months and months of trying John got a job working from home, and his first paycheck literally came just in time.  The fact that he can work from home and choose his hours is pretty amazing.  I am very appreciative of what he has been trying to do for our family.  With his anxiety, I know how hard it can be for him to do this.  I feel like I don't thank him enough.

Even though work has been just ridiculously busy, my stress levels have dropped quite a bit.  I think it's because John is working and even though our budget is still really tight, we have some breathing room.  I am thankful that we can pay our bills and can actually afford to order a pizza every once in awhile now.  (I love you pizza and have missed you more than I realized.)  And our tax refund is so close I can taste it!

Because of our monetary problems we didn't have any money to buy the boys presents this year.  Although I did manage to spend a few dollars here and there on a few little things for them over the past month or two.  I want to thank again our friends, our family, and friends of our family, who helped to make Christmas very special for the boys.  I wish I could show you how their eyes just lit up Christmas morning.  And also thank you guys for helping us through this very rough patch.  Without everyone I don't know how we could have made it.       

How Do I Not Remember Buying That???

Today while cleaning I came across DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) for the 360 (XBox) sitting at the top of one of our closets.  Since it's almost Christmas my thought process went something like this.  "Am I supposed to see this?"
"Wait, we don't have any money, how would John have bought this for me?"
"If he didn't buy it for me for Christmas, just how long have we owned this?!"
"Why can't I remember buying this???"
"Has this really been sitting at the top of the closet since we moved in?" (Which by the way was a year ago. Have I mentioned I am also not the most observant person?) 
I then found the game portion of it open and on the video game shelf (the dance pad was in the closet).  "Huh, apparently we have had it for awhile."

I told John he could have wrapped it up for Christmas and I would have never known.  Really though, how do I not remember having this?!?  When John traded in his original XBox and everything that went along with it, including my beloved DDR game (ok maybe I didn't play it as much as I should have, but still) I made a BIG deal about making sure he replaced it for me on his new (at that point) 360.  Which makes it even more baffling to me that I can't remember him buying this for me.  Like I know my memory isn't always the greatest (I blame hereditary for that), but really, why can't I remember this???  I am very excited that I stumbled upon this, now I just need to find some time to play.  I would have today during nap time, but I caught a cold from the boys and I feel like total crap. 

Recipe: Candied Chicken Breasts

The other night I made one of my favorite dinners, candied chicken breasts, mmmm...  I'm pretty sure the sauce and the frying negate all the healthy aspects of the chicken.  You can find the original recipe here.  After making this many many times I have made some changes to fit our family's tastes and this is how I make it.

Ingredients:
1 package of chicken (between 1 and 2 lbs, or 3 to 4 chicken breasts, it's usually kind of what ever I happen to have on hand.)
2 Cups dried bread crumbs (I usually never wind up using all the bread crumbs, so I cut it to 1 cup the other night and I didn't feel like it was quite enough.  Also I use the Italian flavored kind.)
1-2 Eggs mixed with a little bit of milk (to help make the bread crumbs stick to the chicken better, I like my chicken extra crispy.)
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning (at this point I usually just eyeball it.)
2 tablespoons flour
2 teaspoons black pepper  (again with the just eyeballing it.)
Vegetable oil (what ever you feel is enough to fry your chicken in, I always end up using more than I probably need to.)
Sliced pineapple rings (Used as a topper.  I never cook the pineapple with the chicken.  If I happen to have some on hand I'll stick it on top when the chicken is done.  I've made this with and without the pineapple and I don't think it really makes much of a difference.)

Sauce Ingredients:
1 & 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/4 cup prepared mustard
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
Onion powder to taste (I usually use a few tablespoonsful)
3/4 cup water


Directions:
1- Cut up chicken breasts into smaller chunks.
2- Mix together bread crumbs, flour, Italian seasoning, and black pepper.
3- Dip chicken into egg mixture, then coat with bread crumb mixture.
4- Brown chicken on both sides then place in a baking dish
5- Mix together well the first 6 ingredients for the sauce, then mix in water.  
6- Over low heat bring sauce to a boil (it takes forever.)
7- Pour sauce over chicken
8- Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 45 to 60 minutes. (Or until your chicken is cooked through.)

9- Let cool and enjoy, top with pineapple if you would like. 

I took this photo with my phone so it's not the greatest.  That plate is glass, you know, for the adult who can't stand having their foods touch. =)

Why Does He Put Food Up His Nose?!

I don't know why Owynn insists on sticking food up his nose.  I don't understand the appeal of it.  I've blogged about our previous adventure here and here.  Sunday before we went to the birthday party he stuck macaroni and cheese up there during lunch.

Well last night at dinner he must have thought it would be fun to stick as much corn up there as possible.  (Seriously, why???)  I pulled 4 kernels out fairly easily.  But I was still pretty sure there was more up there, so off I went in search of the flashlight.  Found it, (crap it's dead), pray we have enough of the right size batteries, (score we do!)  I look up Owynn's nose and sure enough there is at least one more in each nostril (this can't be comfortable).  So I go and find a bulb syringe and manage to suction them out.  At least he doesn't mind his nose being suctioned.  I grabbed the flashlight and there are even more stuck in each of his nostrils! (WTH kid!)  At this point I'm asking myself, why this? Why now? Ugh!  So I call my mom for some advice, then I have to hurry up and get the boys into bed, because John has a shift he needs to work.  After more talking to my mom I finally decide to call the on-call doctor, because after googling I've seen way more than I need to about kids getting infections and aspirating their food and I've become completely paranoid.  The doctor said that because I've pulled out so much already and there's at least one piece in each nostril I should probably bring him into the ER to be checked out just in case.  Crap crap crap crap crap, I really don't want to be dealing with this right now.  So I wake Owynn up (he's not too happy with me at this point), put on his coat, shoes, and mittens (ok he does look pretty darn cute), grab his teddy bear, and off we go to the ER.  They got us in immediately, thankfully we live in a small city with several hospitals so we've never had a wait.  Owynn was weighed, 27.4lbs yay!  He had his temperature taken and his pulse, he cried pretty hard over those (at this point I am really glad I remembered to grab bear).  Owynn was looked at by the doctor and there was no corn that he could see. *Sigh* At least I feel better now, somewhat.  The doctor said it was very unlikely he aspirated it, it probably made it's way into his throat and he swallowed it.  He did say to keep an eye on him though just in case.  And if he starts having like a mega runny nose out one side that isn't from a cold, that means the corn is still stuck waaay back in there.  It may come out on its own then, but if it doesn't then we would have to bring him back in.  Joy.

So I bring Owynn home and give him a couple spoonfuls of peanut butter fudge and some milk.  He loved the fudge, he was making his happy food noises while eating it.  I love when he does that.   I change his diaper and jammies, he says night night to Daddy, then goes over to his door and says "bed!"  Ok little man it's time for some sleep.  By this point it's around midnight and I am totally wiped out from the day so John and I head to bed too.  Ugh, is it Friday yet?  I can't take much more this week.

Work has me stressed beyond belief, but I keep telling myself I definitely should not post an angry rant about work, even though I really really want to.  K mini angry rant, they messed up my paycheck this week and I am 4 hours short.  That is a lot of money to me people!  This on top of everything else, I keep wondering when I am going to hit my breaking point.  Friday can't come soon enough.  I have moved from constantly repeating that I love my job, down to I appreciate the fact that I have a job, because right now I most certainly do not love it. 

It's the busiest time of the year!

I really need to work on posting on a more regular basis.  Between home, work, and the Holidays, it's been pretty busy around here.  We had a fun weekend here though.  We spent Saturday over at John's parents doing laundry.  The boys had a lot of fun visiting Grandma and Grandpa.  John watched the Big 10 Title Game, and sadly Nebraska lost (badly).

 Sunday we went to a birthday party at Lost in Fun for P & W's son No No (at least that's what Owynn calls him).  The place was huge and the boys had so much fun!  Inside they had playground equipment, both a ball and a foam pit, those climbing play places like see you see sometimes at fast food restaurants, and sooooo many bouncy houses.  And they weren't like basic bouncy houses (they did have a couple of those), they had multi-leveled bouncy houses with slides and everything.  The boys went nuts.  There was an area for smaller kiddos, but the boys decided that they could do everything the big kids could do too.  And I realized that I am so not in shape to be running around someplace like that after rambunctious toddlers and climbing into and all over the play areas.  We were there for about 2 & 1/2 hours and by the time we were done John and I were more worn out than the boys.  I can't get over how much fun the boys had.  There was a big open room there with a big basketball hoop, a smaller one for kids, and a lot of different basketballs.  The boys spent a lot of time in there running around and throwing balls (which is two of their favorite things to do).  At one point Owynn got accidentally hit in the head by a basketball after it went through the hoop and was bouncing around on the floor, and it knocked him over.  Owynn got up and looked at the lady who had initially thrown it, shook his finger at her, and told her "No No!".  He is one tough little boy.  I spent a lot of time helping the boys up the surprisingly steep "steps" in the bouncy houses so we could go down the huge slides.  I was so worn out, but it was so much fun!   

Work has been crazy, but the days surrounding a holiday always are.  Corporate decided to cut our budget hours again too, it's been more than a little frustrating lately.     Monday was just a disaster of a day, it was horrendous.  When my shift was over I got the hell out of Dodge.  I came home and made Grammy's peanut butter fudge.  It is sooooo yummy.  I used the last of my marshmallow  Fluff (which by the way is hard to find out here), but it was totally worth it.   The boys discovered the deliciousness that is Fluff, they kept stealing my spoons of Fluff off the table.  They loved it and made a big Fluffy mess.  The fudge didn't set quite right, so I'm not really sure what I did wrong, but it still tastes wonderful.  I need to make sure to give Grammy a call to figure out what I did or didn't do. 

We Made An Apple Pie!

A few weeks ago I came across my special pie apples at the store, woohoo!  It isn't very often during the fall season that I come across these particular apples.  So when I find them I buy them pretty much immediately and bake them into a super yummy pie.  I will only use McIntosh or Cortland apples for my pie.  According to my mum, the pie expert, those are the best kind of apples for pie.  You can find these apples all over the place in New England where I grew up, but in the Midwest, well not so much.  So to me it's a pretty big deal when I find them.

After buying a bunch of Cortland apples and everything else I needed at the store, I was ready to bake a pie!  As you can see from the photos I used a Pillsbury pie crust.  Mum advised me that even though I could make my own crust, and she has before, the Pillsbury is pretty much just as good and a whole lot easier to work with.  I love things that are both yummy and easy!  Although she did say, don't buy the off brand, it's worth it to buy Pillsbury.

The boys "helped" me make the pie, they were pretty cute, and we all had a lot of fun.  The boys enjoyed eating apple pieces while I peeled, cored, and sliced the apples.  Oliver helped me out with the pie crust and throwing stuff in the trash.  Owynn held the measuring cup while I measured out the sugar.  Owynn kept sticking his fingers in the sugar and eating it, he really enjoyed that!  Then while I was spooning the filling into the crust the boys kept stealing apple slices out of the pie.  They really had a fun time helping me with the pie.  I really loved it too, and it brought back memories from when I was growing up "helping" my mum bake apple pie.  Our pie turned out absolutely perfect and was super delicious!  It did not last very long here.

Oliver and Owynn.  Please ignore my messy table.

Oliver

Owynn

Our delicious finished apple pie

Owynn really enjoyed eating his pie!

Oliver refused to smile for me.  Eating apple pie is very serious business!

 

World Prematurity Day. Our Story.

Eventually I want to write in detail about my pregnancy, I think mostly because when I was pregnant I had a hard time finding information about twin pregnancy.  There is an overwhelming amount of information out there about having a baby, but not so much about having more than one.  Today I want to talk some about dealing with my preterm labor and the boys premature birth.  I talk about my pregnancy usually in general terms and I joke about it at times, but in all honestly it was the hardest thing I have ever had to deal with.     

According to the WHO today is the second annual World Prematurity Day.  And today I am so very very thankful for modern medicine which helped me carry the boys for as long as I did.  Two years ago today I was in a hospital in Omaha praying that the boys would stay in there just a little while longer.  And thank God they did, they were born pretty darn healthy at 34 weeks and 5 days gestation.

My first two trimesters of pregnancy were a breeze.  I had no morning sickness, just the unrelenting exhaustion that comes along with pregnancy.  I was one of those women who had the glow of a happy pregnancy.  I was thrilled to finally be pregnant and I loved those two little beings growing inside of me from the moment I knew they were there.  Our blissful state came to a crashing end when I was just 25 weeks along.  It was just a few days after my baby shower and exactly one week before Thanksgiving.  I had been at work all day and I just didn't feel right.  I couldn't exactly put my finger on it, but I just knew something was going on.  A bit of TMI here, but I kept having this weird feeling down very low like you have to go to the bathroom but nothing ever happens when you run in there.  So I called my ob office after I got off work and the on call dr. told me I should head off to the hospital.  Not the one I had toured and was thinking about giving birth in, but a hospital more prepared for emergencies that John and I had yet to go to.  I was driving home and was about halfway between home and the hospital, and I remember arguing with John that I was indeed going to come home and pick him up before heading off to the hospital.  We only had one working car at the time and I was not about to go to this new hospital all by myself.  And I am so so thankful that I insisted on picking him up before heading to the hospital so he could be there with me.  When we got to the hospital I still wasn't too terribly worried, I figured they would check me out, hydrate me, and then send us home.  It turned out though that at just 25 weeks I was already 2cm dilated and starting to efface, I was in some very preterm labor.  The memories of the week I spent there are a bit fuzzy, I think mostly because of the magnesium drip I was on the first several days, that stuff really knocked me out and left me with that really drugged feeling.  I remember there being a flurry of doctors and nurses and lots of drugs to try and stop my labor and to help us if they couldn't.  I got two steroid shots to force the boys lungs to develop more quickly in case they were born early.  They were the most painful shots I have ever had, but I am so glad I had them.  When the boys finally did come, they did not need any breathing assistance at all, and that was a HUGE deal.  I remember the hospital sending up a nurse from the NICU to try and prepare me for what may happen if the boys came so early.  They would have about a 60% chance of survival (that would increase every week I could stay pregnant) and a high chance that something could be permanently wrong with one or both the boys.  They would most likely stay in the NICU until at least my due date, which was in February.  The first 24 hours were the scariest, but thankfully they were able to stop my labor, and I was actually able to go home on strict bed rest the day before Thanksgiving.

My big goal I set for myself was to make it to 32 weeks, and I celebrated every week that passed that I managed to stay pregnant.  In all honesty though I was not a happy pregnant lady at the end.  I was in a lot of pain and discomfort and I just couldn't wait to be done.  I was tired of going to the hospital constantly and getting ivs and shots, and then being sent home again empty handed.  I remember calling my mom several times and complaining about how unhappy I was.  She kept reassuring me that once the boys were born and I held them for the first time that it would be all worth it.  I really didn't believer her until I did get to hold them, and my whole life changed in an instant.

I would wind up back in the hospital 8 more times for preterm labor before the boys were finally born.  I was sent to the hospital that final time because my blood pressure had spiked, it was a Wednesday evening in January and I was 34 weeks pregnant.  I had to have a 24 hour urine test to see if there was protein in there, which would show if I had developed pre-eclampsia.  At about 1am Friday morning my contractions started again and luckily my ob was just a few rooms down delivering a baby.  She got my test results and it turns out I had developed pre-eclampsia. That coupled with my contractions returning, I was scheduled for a c-section that afternoon.  I had to have a c-section because Oliver was breach and Owynn was transverse, my ob had told me that if at least one of them were in the correct position I could try for a vaginal delivery.  I was terrified of having a c-section, and I got no sleep that night knowing that in less than 12 hours our boys would be born.  They ended up pushing my c-section up, which sent me almost into a panic, but that way I had less time to worry about having it.  The c-section itself was a whole lot easier than I feared it would be, I was in and out in less than an hour.  It was the recovery that I had the most difficulty with.  Owynn was born at 11:26am on Jan. 14, 2011 at 4lbs 7.8oz 18&1/2 inches long.  Oliver was born two minutes later at 11:28am at 5lbs 2oz and 18 inches long.  I remember I was absolutely thrilled they were born with hair, I don't know why I was so obsessed with that at the time, it was the first question I asked after making sure they were ok.  They needed no breathing assistance at all, which was amazing, and were able to stay with us in the OR until the doctors were done with me.  John and the boys went down to the NICU while I was sent back to my room to recover.  I had to go back on a magnesium drip for the first 24 hours after my c-section because I had pre-eclampsia.  I couldn't leave my bed, never mind see the boys.  It was awful.  I was elated when the nurse finally came in and said I could go see them.  By the time she got me up and prepped, I was so incredibly weak and light headed that I needed to stay and eat lunch before I could head down to the NICU.

Thankfully they boys were born big and healthy, just extra early.  They only had to spend 9 days in the NICU, we got to bring them home on the day I would have been 36 weeks pregnant.  I was discharged the Wednesday evening following their birth, and going home without the boys is by far the hardest thing I have ever had to do.  I cried the whole way home.  The nurses at the NICU were all super nice and very supportive, they all loved taking care of the boys, they said the boys were some of the easiest babies they have ever had to care for.  The boys loved their sleep, and liked to eat.  The nurses would actually have to wake the boys up every 4 hours just to eat.  Before the boys could come home they had to be able to regulate their own temperature, get over their bit of jaundice, and show that they were eating and growing well.

Today the boys are normal 22 month olds, Owynn weighs 25lbs and Oliver weighs 28lbs.  Here are some pictures of them while they were very tiny and still in the NICU.

Oliver being fed by Daddy

Owynn wearing newborn sized jammies

Oliver, Mommy, Owynn

Owynn, Daddy, Oliver

      

 all photos are property of DoubleOTwins.com

Random Tuesday Thoughts A Few Days Late

Brought to you by Stacy

I called the Dr's office right when they opened on Monday and thankfully they had an appointment open at 4:30. Perfect! I was able to leave work a few minutes early, rushed home to pick up John and the boys, then off to the Dr's office. He didn't find anything left in Owynn's nose, and told us what to look out for just in case. Poor kiddo, he even had a little bit of swelling in his face because of all the veggies he put up his nose.  We're supposed to bring Owynn back in if he develops a fever over 101 or starts to smell. He described it as not just normal bad breath, but a smell like something had crawled up in there and died, awesome.  Although the Dr. did tell us some funny stories about stuff he has found up other kids noses.  I didn't feel as bad after that.  So far so good though!  Both boys got their flu shots finally, and they weren't too happy with us.  Owynn got his first, and so when it was Oliver's turn he started whimpering when the nurse was rubbing his leg with alcohol.  I felt so bad, the poor kiddo knew what was coming.  After finishing at the Dr's office we drove by the new Chik-Fil-A, and it was crazy busy! The parking lot was full, and the drive through lane went around the building and almost out to the street.  We were pretty bummed we couldn't stop for dinner, especially John.  I felt pretty bad too, normally when we go up to see the Dr and the boys get shots we all go out to eat as a treat before heading home.  But we are flat broke at the moment and couldn't afford to.  

Work has been getting better thankfully.  It amazes me though the stupid questions I get.  Monday morning at 7:30am I get a call from a guy wondering if his dr. had approved his refill, uh no not yet,and then well why not!?  Maybe it's because you called in your rx at 7:30pm on a Sunday and with it being only 7:30am on Monday, your dr's office has yet to open.  They don't have magic elves that just approve prescriptions over night.  I nicely explained it to him, but honestly people! Please think before you call me and get all upset.  My favorite question I get though is "When will my dr call you back?"  Really? 1- I don't work for your dr's office. 2-I am not psychic.  I think it's kind of on par with "What time is the 3 o'clock parade?" at Disney.  Some days I have a hard time turning off the sarcasm at work.

I can't believe Thanksgiving is in a week.  Where has the fall gone?  Pretty soon John's brother will be coming for a visit during school break, then Christmas, then just 3 weeks later the boys will be 2!  This time of year always seems to go by too fast.

At the dr. Monday Owynn got to stand on the big scale! He is 25lbs now.  Oliver decided that since Owynn got to stand on it, then he needed a turn too, he is 28lbs now.  They are getting so big!














 

We Made A Ball Pit

Owynn and Oliver

Owynn and Oliver

Owynn and Oliver, what goobers!

 

Owynn and Oliver

Oliver

Owynn

During the summer I was having a pretty frustrating day with the boys.  So to contain them so I could finally manage to get something done, I turned the pack n play into a ball pit.  They boys had a ton of fun and my frustration melted away.  How can you be upset at this cuteness?  We got this idea from the one class we took while pregnant, about parenting multiples. 

all photos are the property of DoubleOTwins.com

I've been absent for a bit. Can't. Stop. Watching.

I've been pretty absent from the internet in general for the past two weeks.  We discovered Once Upon A Time on ABC.  And we couldn't stop watching, thank you for Netflix and Hulu.  We watched all 22 episodes of season 1 and are mostly caught up on season 2, we just need to watch the episode that aired on Sunday.  I am both happy and a little sad to be caught up.  I'm happy to be caught up, but at the same time I can't watch multiple episodes back to back, now I have to deal with commercials, and worst of all I have to wait an entire week for a new episode!  The show is the story of all of your traditional fairy tale characters, but they have been brought to our world by a curse from the evil queen from Snow White.  They live their new lives in Storybrooke, Maine with no memories of their fairy tale lives, and it's up to one person to break the curse.  We are totally in love with this show now!

In other news, we need to take Owynn to the Dr. Monday afternoon.  He decided that instead of eating his veggies Saturday night, he decided he should stick them up his nose.  Ew!  I pulled a pea out Saturday night, then he sneezed out a kernel of corn.  I thought that was it, until Sunday afternoon he sneezed out two carrot chunks.  Oh man, now I'm worried that he has more food shoved up there.  I called the on call doctor who told me that it's not an emergency, but he needs to be seen to make sure there isn't anything else up there.  I can't see this being a pleasant visit.  Oh well, we needed to go up to see the Dr. anyways, it's past time the boys had their flu shots.

Hopefully your Monday will be better than mine, and that Owynn doesn't have any more food up his nose!

Carven Der Pumpkin

Owynn, Mommy, Oliver

Mommy and Owynn

I did in fact get stuck working until 10pm on Halloween, I wasn't very happy about that.  Then to top it off I had to be back at work at 7am.  I was not a happy camper.  We did have a pretty good week though, aside from work.  I baked like 6 dozen Halloween sugar cookies.  I rolled them out, cut them into fun little shapes, and frosted them and everything.  I made a big deal about carving a pumpkin and we had a lot of fun!  John had to cut the top off the pumpkin, but the boys and I did everything else (well ok so I did most of it).  Oliver wasn't too into it, but Owynn had a great time.  We tried really really hard, but we just couldn't stop Owynn from trying to eat the seeds and pumpkin guts.  Mr I didn't want to eat my grilled cheese for dinner just couldn't stop! 

Oliver Checking Out The Pumpkin

Oliver stole a cookie off the table

Owynn rolling the pumpkin

Owynn stole a cookie too!

Oliver, Mommy, Owynn

Owynn...mmm...Pumpkin

We had so much fun carving our pumpkin! I am pretty darn proud of how it turned out too.  John and I spent most of the time saying "Carven Der Pumpkin", all we could think about was this video.  Man do we LOVE the Muppets!

Random Tuesday Thoughts

brought to you by Stacy

We completely messed up our sleep schedule yesterday, but man my nap was nice.  I got home from work just before 5 and we put the boys down for a nap soon after.  They weren't too happy about Mommy getting home from work and then putting them down for a nap though.  John and I were pretty worn out so we decided to take a "quick" nap too.  Ya, so that totally didn't go as planned.  We woke up at 9:30pm and the boys were still sleeping! Crap!  So the boys didn't actually go to bed until about 12:30am and I think I managed about 2 & 1/2 more hours before having to get up for work in the morning.  I am doing surprisingly okay right now.

Work has been crazy busy and the grumpy customers have been out in force.  Which I am sure will get even better since they just cut our hours (ugh! Please note the sarcasm here).  I love this video, and seriously this stuff actually happens way too often.  I have literally dealt with everything in this video. 

I am pretty positive I am going to get stuck working the late shift on Halloween and I am pretty bummed about it.   I am hoping to have a Halloween themed weekend at least.  I want to make Halloween shaped frosted sugar cookies.  I have my Mum's homemade sugar cookie and frosting recipe, they are so incredibly good.  I also want to carve a pumpkin or two.  We did this every year growing up and I haven't done it in a long time.  Now that we have the boys I want to start carving them every year.  I always loved it growing up.  It should be lots of messy fun!

Hopefully this week will get a bit better.  Tomorrow is payday and time for more budgeting, that always gets me depressed.  Happy Tuesday, at least the weather here is gorgeous! 

We Had A Productive Weekend

We had a great weekend!  Friday was jeans day at work (yay!)  It was crazy there, and I was so happy to finally be done.  Saturday John's parents took the boys all day.  They went out for lunch and to the mall, and had a really great time. 

Oliver

Owynn

 John and I ran to the grocery store all by ourselves!  I have to admit it felt a bit weird, but it was nice to go someplace alone.  We spent the day with football on in the background, cleaning.  Exciting huh? But it is so much easier to get stuff done without the boys trying to help.  My goal of the day was to completely clean the boys' room and switch out all their outgrown, and summer clothes for bigger, winter clothes.  I managed to get most of it done (yay me!) I pulled all of their outgrown clothes from the dresser and the closet and packed about 90% of it away.  I also reorganized the changing table and dresser.  I put some of their winter clothes away, but I still have a lot left.  I went though everything and pulled everything out from underneath their beds (apparently Oliver is a toy hoarder).  I don't have too much left to do, and their room looks a lot better, and is way more organized now.

Sunday we spent the afternoon at John's parents doing laundry and having a good time.  We had lots of fun playing outside in the gorgeous fall weather.  It really felt more like summer today, it was in the upper 70's.         

Owynn and Oliver

  

Owynn

Oliver

all images are property of doubleotwins.com

Up All Night

It's almost 4am here and I'm still awake.  It's like Friday nights have some sort of weekend magic where I can manage to stay up all night.  I stay up really late most Friday nights / Saturday mornings and I'm not 100% sure why.  Maybe it's because I get alone time? I mean usually we don't have anything going on Saturday mornings, although I always end up regretting staying up so late.  I'm not really doing anything important.  I usually spend my time watching mindless tv, playing on facebook, reading blogs, and working on mine.  It's a nice way to unwind though after a long week.

This week has been long too.  Work was just kind of off all week.  We were pretty busy, like we always are at this time of the year; but it's more because this week has been marked by some pretty significant losses.  I don't think I should go into too much detail (sorry people), but a former co-worker suffered a major loss in their family (this hit everyone very hard).  And one of our great senior techs is leaving; it's a really great opportunity for her and we are all very happy for her, but she is going to be sorely missed.

I have been really looking forward to this weekend though!  John's parents have been nice enough to get the boys haircuts today (Saturday), I really can't wait to go.  Oliver's hair is getting totally unruly, it just sticks out everywhere.  Owynn's hair is so long it's starting to get into his eyes, it's just so shaggy!  At least with Oliver I can touch up his hair a bit between haircuts so it stays out of his eyes, but Owynn won't let me anywhere near his hair.  Sunday we are going to John's best friend's 30th Birthday Party, we are bowling then going out to dinner at the place they all used to hang out at in high school.  Should be lots of fun! 

What The Hell Wednesday

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Wednesdays are great for Wordless and Wordful posts, but we decided to go a different route and create our own Wednesday fun. We figured what the hell. That’s how we started What The Hell Wednesday. Who are we kidding? That’s pretty much how we decide on almost everything.

It's Wednesday again and another payday.  John and I were looking over the budget last night and our money is all gone already.  WTH I hate bills.  I think work should pay me more. 

I'm tired of grumpy customers!  Work is really pushing us to promote flu shots right now.  I had this conversation last week:

Me:  And just to let you know we are offering flu shots now. 

Snotty Lady:  Well I don't think you even have someone here giving them right now.

Me: (In my head: Really?!? Ugh!) Killing with kindness: Actually m'am our pharmacists give the shots, we offer them 24 hours a day. 

Snotty Lady: Oh, well...

WTH I hate it when people presume to know more about my job than me.  I work there, you do not. 

This is not so much a WTH, but... I was laying on the floor earlier today playing with the boys and Owynn decided to lift up my shirt a bit and wipe my tummy with a baby wipe.  I asked him what he was doing, and he says "Poop!"  And then gave me a raspberry, what a goober! 

I have been playing a ton of Song Pop on Facebook lately.  I just can't stop.  WTH, why did they have to make it so addictive?  (Sorry if I've like spammed you trying to get you to play song pop with me; I feel like I am spamming my own fb page with all the song pop.  I just can't stop playing.) 

Beginning Potty Training

I've been generally leaving the when of potty training up to John since he will probably end up with the brunt of potty training.  He's home with them every day, and plus they're all boys and Mummy doesn't have those parts.  We have one pretty basic straight forward potty seat.  We pulled it out today in hopes that the boys may be interested in it and to try to get them used to it before we really dive into potty training.  Well interested in it they were.  They fought big time over who got to sit on the potty seat.  They yelled, pushed, shoved, and cried big tears about who was sitting on the potty seat.  I have never seen them fight like that, it was definitely not the reaction we were expecting.  Apparently we are going to have to get a second potty seat sooner rather than later, because sharing one just is not going to work.  At least they are showing interest in it though.   

How We Try to Reduce Our Grocery Bill

A few weekends ago I was actually able to do some serious grocery shopping, it felt great.  It has been a long time since our freezer and pantry were full.  Lately I've been keeping to the same few extra cheap meals to keep us on our super tight budget.  We spent more than normal and a bit more than I would have liked last time around, but our cupboards were pretty darn bare.

 I have been in charge of our budget and the grocery shopping / meal planning for several years now, and here are some of the things I do that I have found that save us money and keep us within our budget.  Some of these may seem like common sense, but you'd be surprised how many people I know that don't follow any sort of budget or grocery list.

John teases me sometimes about my notebook, but that thing is like my best friend and keeps me organized.  In it I have my master list of all the meals we make.  I keep record of all the grocery sales, my grocery list, and meal plans for the week.  For me grocery shopping is a bit of a process, between organizing and planning and shopping at several stores, it can be time consuming.  I think I make up for it though with the money we save. I get the Sunday paper every week for the coupons.  I'm not into the whole extreme couponing thing, but they definitely save us money.  A few weeks ago our local paper was having a promotion where if you prepaid for a subscription they would deliver the Wednesday and Sunday papers for only $1 a week (awesome!)  I buy the Sunday paper pretty much every week anyways, and was thrilled to get such a great deal.

I shop mainly at 5 different stores, yes 5!  Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, Walgreens, and two of our local grocery stores.

Wal-Mart - Where I get most of my dry / frozen good staples.  I find they usually have the lowest prices on these type of items.

Sam's- I go there usually for only a few specific things that I know I can't get cheaper anywhere else.  Like apple juice, fish sticks, and boneless skinless chicken breasts are only $1.77lb (I keep an eye out at the grocery stores for a cheaper price). 

Walgreen's- Drug stores are typically more expensive, but they have some good sales once in awhile.  I can get milk at a great price and Sara Lee's cheapo brand bread for 99 cents a loaf.  Last month I was able to get a 12 roll package of Cottenelle toilet paper for only $2.75!  They offer "friends and family day" fairly often where you get the employee discount.  It was on sale for $5, then 15% off = $4.25, then they had $1 off in store coupon, plus my $.50 off manufacturer coupon =$2.75, yay me!

Local Grocery store- I get my meat and produce there.  I also am constantly checking the sale ads for good deals.

I do our grocery shopping every two weeks on the weeks that I get paid.  First I go through the sale ads; I've gotten to the point where I know off the top of my head what a good price is for several items we buy on a regular basis.  I write down everything that is a good price and we can use.  I then make a list of all the meals we will eat, starting with any meals we may not have had in the previous two weeks.  I base my meal plans off of what is on sale that particular week and what we have already in the house.  I make my list off of what I will need to make all these meals, then I add on any staples we need that we may have run out of.  I make several recipes from scratch and I tend to bake a bit, so I make sure I always have flour, white and brown sugars, and yeast on hand.  I also try to keep ingredients on hand for quick easy meals, like tacos, in case something comes up and I need adjust my meal plans.  After I have everything planned out and my list made, I go through my coupons, then it's off to the different stores to do all my shopping.

We don't keep junk food in the house any more, which helps keep our grocery bill down a lot.  Occasionally I will buy some sort of "treat", like Oreos, donuts, or ingredients for dessert (brownies, cookies, rice krispy treats, etc).  This summer we also tried to reduce the amount of soda we drank, and that saved us a surprising amount.  We haven't been as good with this lately, we just love soda too much.  At the same time though I refuse to pay any more than $2.50 a 12-pack, so if it's not on sale we don't buy it.  If I do find something that we use a lot on sale for a great price I try to stock up on it.  Lately we've stocked up on things like: 99 cent packages of tortillas, 80% hamburg at $1.99/lb, Kraft cheese for 88cents a bag (amazing!), and bread for 99 cents a loaf.  By stocking up on these type of things, it saves us quite a bit in the long run.  Usually by the time I'm running low on something it has gone on sale again.  I've also been trying to freeze more, I currently have meat, bananas, bread / buns in the freezer.  You can freeze a surprising amount of food that I totally didn't know you could until pretty recently.

By far though the biggest things that save us money is meal planning and sticking to my list when at the store.  Unless I come across a good unadvertised deal, if it's not on my list I don't buy it.              

       

Chicken Bacon Mac & Cheese and Cake Mix Cookies

I made one of our favorite dinners tonight, chicken bacon mac & cheese, we got the idea several years ago after eating at Dave & Busters.  I also made cake mix cookies for dessert, yum! 

We found the base recipe for the macaroni and cheese here.  For some reason I have a hard time finding monterrey jack cheese, and usually just end up using a colby-jack blend.

For this dinner I actually cook the bacon instead of just using bacon bits.  I really don't like cooking bacon, but I have gotten much better at it, and it tastes so much better.  I crumble the bacon once it has cooled and I just kind of eye ball the amount of bacon I want to add, (or whatever is leftover after we've snacked on it while cooking) approximately half the package.     

I use 2-3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut up into bite sized pieces, and pan cooked.  I cook it in a little bit of extra virgin olive oil with some onion, garlic, and italian seasoning.  I usually make extra chicken so I can use it on chicken alfredo pizza later in the week.  (I make my own dough for the pizza, usually adding a few extra seasonings)

I mix in the bacon and chicken before I add the macaroni, then bake as directed in the recipe.  Super yummy!  Even though this dinner is usually in our rotation, for some reason it still takes me quite awhile to make.  So make sure you give yourself plenty of time if you decide to make this.

For dessert I made these cake mix cookies, I found the recipe on one of my new favorite blogs.  These were by far the easiest cookies I have ever made, and they were delicious!  I used devil's food cake mix and added some Reese's peanut butter chips to the dough, I cooked them for 12 minutes and they came out perfectly!   Since dinner was so time consuming, I wanted something quick and easy for dessert.  I can't stress enough how easy and yummy these are!  I did underestimate a bit how much these cookies would spread while baking, so make sure to space them a good distance apart.  I yielded just over 2 dozen cookies.

Enjoy!

The Terrible Twos Are Almost Upon Us!

In just 3 & 1/2 short months the boys will be 2, I can hardly believe it!  And I can already start to see "The Terrible Twos" approaching.  The boys are slowly becoming more independent and trying to deal with all those crazy emotions they have.  One of Owynn's favorite words is "Mine!"   This morning he took a book right out of Oliver's hands, declared it "Mine!", and then lays down to read it.  (Well look at it, they aren't quite reading yet.)  Though Oliver is by far the bigger drama queen of the two; he's always been that way.

They are good at letting us know what they want, and then letting us know how they feel if they don't get their way.  Owynn insists on having naked time while I am getting them ready for bed, and is very upset if he doesn't get to run around that way for at least a few minutes before I put his jammies on.  They like to do things for themselves now too.  They help me get them undressed, and also put their shoes on and take them off.  The boys insisted on coming into the bathroom with me the other night, and while I was in there Owynn threw a bunch of their bath toys into the tub and then tried to take off his clothes.  He wasn't too happy when I said it was already past their bedtime and would take a bath this weekend.  

The boys are pretty good at sharing for the most part.  They do tend to fight over a single toy if they both want to play with it.  Although if one of them takes a toy from the other, we tell them to give it back to their brother, they usually do what we ask but you can tell they aren't too happy about it.  The one thing they refuse to share now is food.  Although, if I hand one of the boys two of something, they will bring the second one right over to their brother.  They each have to have their own now.  Like bananas, I used to be able to feed them one banana together, now they absolutely insist on having their own.  When we give them donuts (they think it's the best food ever!) they really want one to eat by themselves.  Unless they are in their highchairs and I am in the mood to deal with that giant mess, they usually just end up sharing one.

Stick with me here as I go off on a brief tangent to share some of their cute donut eating stories.
Sometime around the beginning of the year we had an almost empty box of a dozen donuts sitting in the laundry basket, on top of some clothes, with the whole thing sitting on top of the couch.  I went to the bathroom for like 2 minutes and I came back to find this:

          

(I love Oliver's face in this photo, he's the one in the background behind Owynn.)

A couple months ago John brought home donuts for everyone, and then was feeding them to the boys.  They boys got so happy and excited about having donuts that they came running over to me and gave me giant hugs.  John was like hey where are my hugs? 

Just last week John brought home some donuts.  I got them out and showed the package to Owynn and his eyes got HUGE and he just started SHAKING all over! OMG donuts, I am soooo excited! (Is what I imagine he was thinking).    

The boys are starting to throw tantrums already.  Oliver freaked out today when I tried to put him in his car seat (both going to and from the store).  Then when we got home he didn't want to go into the house.  He laid down outside the door and threw a fit.  Owynn seeing what Oliver was doing, then laid down and started copying his brother. Ugh!  On our way up the sidewalk I asked the boys to hold hands to keep them from running all over the place (this by the way is the cutest thing EVER) and when Owynn let go to climb up the step to the front door Oliver also started crying.  It really didn't help today though that they were both past due for nap time.  I have to say though, they were very well behaved while we were shopping in the store.  *knock on wood* and I am about to jinx myself here, there haven't been any breakdowns while grocery shopping.  I did take the boys to Barnes and Noble by myself last weekend, that did not go well.  That was my fault though, by the time we made it there after our other errands, they were very tired and ready to go home, and I didn't have the stroller with me.  

Overall though, the boys really are very well behaved.  But I can see the "terrible twos" creeping up on us, and will be here before we know it.  They are growing up so fast!

Holy Baby Talk Batman!

Apparently Owynn has decided he is ready to talk, because all of a sudden he is saying new words left and right.  Before he could say:

All done
More = Mo
Mama
Dada
Drink = Dink
Cracker = cracka
Mine

In the past WEEK or so Owynn is now saying:

Grandpa = Papa
Please = Peas
Door = Do
Hot = Haw
Cold = Co
Poop = Poop poop (he sounds adorably like Poof from the Fairly Odd Parents)
Hi
Bye Bye
Night night = Nigh nigh

When asked what a kitty says he says Maaaooow
When asked what a doggy says he says Woof woof
When asked what a monkey says he shakes his finger and says tsk tsk tsk (which is what the monkeys do in one of his favorite books, Caps for Sale). 
He also now holds his finger up to his lips and says Shhhhh (which he picked up from The Monster At The End of This Book).

Owynn is also working hard at saying his letters, he can say a few.  Dr. Seuss' ABC book is the favorite of both boys, we read it several times a day.  Our board book copy is pretty beat up already, it's been chewed, bent, and had food spilled on it.  I actually bought it while I was still pregnant with them.  When they get a bit older I plan on buying it in a normal paper page book.   

Oliver isn't saying nearly as much as Owynn at the moment, but he is further along in other aspects.  Oliver has gotten really good at climbing up and down the stairs upright holding the railing.  He loves numbers, we count things like crazy now.  He also is pretty good at figuring things out, and catches on really quickly.  The other day I asked him to bring me a diaper and he found one, but it was underneath his highchair (we use the small chair top ones).  He tried to pick it up but couldn't.  He stood there for a minute looking at it, then picked up his highchair and moved it, then brought me the diaper.  He knows how to work a smart phone, and knows what the mouse, mouse pad, and keyboard are for on the computer.  On my phone I have a radio app and a My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic sound bite app.  He can turn on my phone, slide the screen saver up, and navigate around to find exactly what he wants.  He knows what button turns on my in-laws TV, he also knows how to do it at home too.  Home is a bit more complex.  In the morning he will turn on the tv, the receiver for the sound system, then go and get the clicker for the cable box so either John or I can turn it on.  When we are getting ready to go out, Oliver will go up to the entertainment center and turn off both the tv and the receiver.  He is one smart cookie.

I find myself comparing the two of them probably more often than I should.  I have to remind even myself occasionally that even though they are twins, they are two totally different people.  They are fraternal twins which means that they came from two different eggs.  So they are like any other siblings, they just happened to be born at the same time (well you know, 2 minutes apart).     

Budgeting for our Tax Refund

With me currently being our only source of income and John staying home taking care of the boys it's safe to assume that we will be getting another tax refund next year.  We have learned a somewhat painful and hard lesson about what NOT to do when you suddenly have extra money.  And yes I am trying to budget already, I don't intend to make the same mistakes that we did this year.  I have been keeping a running list of ideas that I think will save us money.

We spent most of this year's refund on a couple of big ticket items that I let John talk me into (which let me tell you, was really not hard at all) and two trips.  We did renew our Sam's club membership and made a few Sam's runs that did save us quite a bit, plus we've been saving on gas all year.  We bought me a new laptop (my old one was on it's last legs) and a new camera (which I had been asking for since we found out I was pregnant).    My old camera is a basic Kodak point and shoot, which took decent enough pictures, but I knew once we had the boys I wanted something that would take both awesome pictures and videos.  I need HD memories here!  As far as the trips went, we spent a night up in Omaha at a fancy hotel for our anniversary and we took an amazing 3 week road trip to visit my family in NY.  So I can't really regret spending money on what we did, I just wish we had budgeted better and not blown a lot of it on stuff we didn't need (like getting take out way too often).

I am determined now to make next year's refund work for us.  Here are some of my ideas:

1-Immediately take what it will cost to register both of our cars next year and stick it into savings for this purpose ONLY.  We are terrible at trying to save to do this.  You think by now we would have learned. 

2-Our car insurance renews again for another 6 months in February.  Our insurance company gives us a nice discount for paying it in full.  I plan on doing this, that way we save money and we won't have to worry about paying car insurance again until August!

3- Renew Sam's membership and do a lot of shopping there.  This year we bought a GIANT box of trash bags and we still are using them.  We also purchased a big box of dishwasher detergent, we are currently only on our second box of the year.  We purchase our most often used spices there too.  I also want to buy some baking supplies.  Lately I've been searching online for homemade versions of some of our favorite recipes and I find myself going through a lot more flour and sugar.  I found an awesome recipe for homemade pizza dough (Here) which has been saving us quite a bit (yay me!)

4-I AM buying a fast reading digital thermometer for the boys.  It is such a pain to try and take their temperature under their arms with our current one, it seems to take forever.  And they just get mad and squirmy, it's always a fight.

5-Put a chunk into savings after paying all our bills.  We want to have some extra emergency cash on hand so we don't end up in such a financial bind again next year.

I'm also thinking that John and I need to treat ourselves a little bit.  I don't think it will break our budget to have a nice date night out, and we seriously need it for sanity's sake. So here are a few wants.

6- Date Night! I think this is self-explanatory here.

7-A membership to our local zoo.  Well the one in Omaha.  It's consistently ranked as one of the top zoos in the country, they let you bring in your own food and even have a picnic area with a playground, and it's only about an hour away.  If we do it right we'd only be paying for gas each time we went; I like affordable fun family outings!

8-I want toddler sized chairs for the boys.  They love to sit with us in the living room, but they are always trying to climb all over the couch.  I'm hoping with special chairs of their own that maybe they will be less inclined to climb onto the couch.  The problem with the couch is we keep stuff that we use frequently but that they shouldn't play with on the window sill behind the couch and they are always trying to climb up to reach it (and they don't usually have the patience to sit quietly on our laps).  Owynn has also fallen off the couch more times than I can count.  The boy has no fear, and as much as we try, we can't catch him every time.  I've taken to calling Owynn my little monkey because he loves to climb over and onto everything. 

9-I want to at least be able to take one nice weekend trip to Kansas City.  My husband loves going there, and I know it would mean a lot to him.  We try and go every year over Labor Day, but the past few years between my pregnancy and then our financial problems, we just haven't been able to make it.  But this is a definite want and at the bottom of our monetary to do list.

10- For myself I want to go to a nice salon and get my hair done.  The last time I had it cut was over a year ago, not long after the boys were born. You know though that Mommy usually puts everyone else ahead of her, so we'll see.  But this is my one special want purely for me =) 

While I Wasn't Here

I'd like to say it's been a busy few weeks, but really it hasn't been.  About 2 weeks ago we all caught the stomach flu, it was horrible!  Between Wednesday night and Friday morning all 4 of us came down with it, ugh!  Thankfully John and I had it opposite of each other, so between us we managed to take care of each other and the boys pretty well.  The boys bounced back very quickly except for their poor little tummies.  They were on a bland food and pedialyte diet until about the end of last week. 

On Saturday John's mom took us shoe shopping for the boys.  The boys were in serious need of some new shoes, and it was super nice of her to treat them.  The boys are in love with their new shoes, they spent all day Sunday stomping around in them.  I finally put them away after they went to bed, I am worried they will wear out the little lights before they start wearing them.  John's mom got them a cute pair that fit them right now, and got cute little Cars shoes that they can grow into.  

 

We also went to McDonald's for lunch.  They were putting Paul Frank toys in the happy meals.  The boys both got a bendy Monkey, it's now Owynn's new favorite toy.  

I am thinking we may be having a monkey themed Christmas for him (sorry Mum!).  For Oliver I think it will be Muppets and Toy Story.  Oliver has some Toy Story jammies and he loves them, in fact he picked some out to wear to bed tonight.  I would also love to get some toddler friendly musical instruments for them.  Owynn loves to drum on everything he can.  Oliver has a tiny 5 key keyboard on one of his toys that he loves to play with.  I'd like to get him a more normal sized one.   

Thankfully everyone is feeling better at the moment.  I am really hoping we all stay healthy until at least the New Year, I am almost out of sick days.  Here's to hoping things keep getting better, slowly but surely.   

Who's Running the Company?

Saturday the four of us went up to Omaha for the wedding of two of my former co-workers (Congrats you guys, we are so happy for you!)  I was sad to leave that location when we moved back to Lincoln, although my co-workers at my new location are pretty awesome.  I can not emphasize enough how much fun it was to see everyone, and by the turn out for the wedding I don't know who was left to run the company!  There were soooo many people there that I had worked with, it was so great! I realized how much I miss these people. 

I was a little worried about how everyone would handle the wedding, but my family is amazing (especially John) and everyone made it through.  John is so great; to make a long story short he has anxiety issues.  Although he has been doing a lot better lately, he still has trouble dealing with things outside of his comfort zone.  Especially 1-dealing with people he doesn't really know 2-being in crowded places, and the wedding was both.  But he went with me anyways even though we both knew how hard it would be on him; and he did it because he loves me and knows how much I wanted to go. =)  The boys were great too.  They barely made a peep at the church during the ceremony.  They both got pretty antsy at the reception when they had to sit in our laps for awhile during the entrance of the wedding party and waiting for dinner.  But once we had dinner and cake they perked back up.  Oliver loooooved the dance floor, he spent most of his time early in the evening dancing with the bigger kids (it was super cute!).  After dinner he had fun running off his energy running back and forth around the buffet and bar area.  They boys were a big hit with one of my old co-workers family, his 2 kiddos had the boys out on the dance floor most of the night, and Owynn was pretty attached to his wife.  When he started getting sleepy he got all snuggly, it was pretty cute. 

The ceremony was beautiful, and the reception was fantastic.  The food was yummy, everyone at our table was lots of fun, and I was way too happy with the giant candy bar they had.  Instead of traditional wedding favors they had a big table with different desserts and a big assortment of candy.  They had little baggies so you could make and take your own, I can't get over what a great idea that was!  Oh and the bride's dress was absolutely gorgeous!  It was like a princess dress and was all ruffles, she looked amazing!
  
We had such a great time, I wish that everyone could get together more often.  By the time we got home everyone was completely worn out and went straight to bed.  I was still pretty worn out when I got up this morning even though I got plenty of sleep (apparently my body thinks it's getting older).  For me it was a wonderful weekend!  John toughed it out and definitely needed our low key day today to recuperate.  With everything that has been going on lately I think I needed this.  I am very happy, thanks in no small part to John (because he is awesome).  I hope everyone else had a good weekend too!   

Yay for Windstream and DirecTV

We finally got things figured out with internet and cable.  Yay!  We still have no extra money for the time being, but this will help save us some money.  We signed up for Windstream on-line and although it is a bit slower it is cheaper.  Plus they include a home phone line with unlimited long distance all for the same price.  Which for me is fantastic, because all my family is out of state.  No more worrying about going over my cell minutes!  At first John wasn’t sure he wanted to sign up with Windstream, but after a glowing recommendation from our friends we decided to go with them.  We will have our new home phone (we haven’t had one in YEARS) and INTERNET installed on Monday (8/13)!!!  We are wicked excited!

We had planned on going without cable for a while to save the extra money, but John decided we really need it.  You know, with baseball season winding down soon and football season starting.  We tried to go with Dish Network since they were having a promotion with Windstream, but because our credit is bad, they wanted over $300 up front.  Well that wasn’t going to happen.  So I called up DirecTV to see if they could offer us something better.  I am sooooo glad I did!  We had DirecTV for a couple of years when we lived up near Omaha and had to get rid of it when we moved.  We had a great experience with them and were very disappointed when we had to stop our service.  Anyways, DirecTV was able to offer us (apparently because “we were such great customers”) the current promotional rate for the first year that they are offering to new subscribers, 3 months free of more movie channels than we could possibly need, a free HD DVR, and what John is most excited about, NFL Sunday Ticket and NFL Sunday Ticket Max for free for the coming football season.  All this and only $20 down for shipping costs (awesome!)  Plus the DVR will hold A LOT more programming than our current one does. 

Update:  I wrote several posts while our internet it down (yay me!) and I'm glad I did.  Our install for both internet and DirecTV were scheduled on the same day and went very smoothly.  We had to have Windstream come back out the following day because our phone jack wasn't working properly.  But all in all it went very well.  We are very happy to have internet and tv back.  With DirecTV we now have Disney Jr, and I am loving it!  There is usually something cute on for the kiddos.  Things are starting to look up again, let's just hope it stays that way.