Mother's of Multiples Mondays

Ok, Its Monday again. Here is where mother's of multiples can share some good stories and ugly stories about their multiples! I am just not sure at this point if I can survive the two year old stage. They still don't talk, so it is constant whining. They follow me around everywhere holding on to my legs. I turn around fast and usually knock one of them over cause they are RIGHT there. But, we did invest in a HUGE baby gate. It is really big. So I have it so they can go back and forth on the deck and have some freedom, but still gated in. This helps somewhat, and they really like being outside! The pictures above are from us doing "fingerpainting" with pudding. It was fun...not so fun to clean up though!

TGIF!

Wow, where did the week go? I can't believe how fast time flies by! The kids only have 3 weeks left of school, then I am responsible for keeping 5 kids busy all summer long! Wow. And if I do homeschool, then I am looking at this being the last 3 weeks of quiet during the day! Does anyone have any plans for the summer? Any ideas or tricks to keep the kids busy? I am making up some organizational charts and some calanders to keep them on track, but I don't have any ideas of inexpensive things to actually do with the kids. I don't want to spend a lot of money going to the zoo all the time, usually we invite other neighbor kids over and have picnics and have campouts in the back yard, but I think the kids are getting bored with doing that. What activities do you plan with your kids? Thanks in advance for any ideas you guys have!

And the second part of today's post is Who Are You? I love meeting new people! I posted last week about "I don't know what my real hair color is" and described some of who I was. Describe to me who you are! Some other of my characteristics, I am a debater. I love discussing politics. I love learning new things and reading about new things. I read fiction, non fiction, magazines (yes, I do read People and other gossipy magazines!), I enjoy reading other peoples blogs and learning about their lives. I have found several times when I have read other peoples blogs and learned different ways or options of dealing with things, life events, and I have on more then one occassion used what I have found from other peoples life experiances to transform the way that I look at things. So, would love to hear who you are! Little quirks, anything!

Plastic Surgery

Ok, so I was reading this post, and I really started thinking. I lost a tremendous amount of weight...It's been a while now. But I was almost 500 pounds, got down to 160 pounds. I am up now, since having the twins, but I want to get back to where I was at 160 and then have plastic surgery. Everything sags. Not just from nursing 5 kids either! (Who said that you would looose a ton of weight nursing??? I was hungry all the time and didn't loose anything!) I digress, so is it bad to have plastic surgery? I probably have 15 to 20 pounds of excess skin. I want to look good after putting all this time and effort in to loosing the weight! But the expense of it! Wow, it's super expensive! Would you have plastic surgery? Is it just a vain thing to even consider? Am I letting down all the woman in my life by even considering this?

Thursday

We have had such a good week filled with visitors. My Aunt is coming today and I am really excited to see her. Isn't it great when you have love and support from other women in your life? I had two friends come and visit me this week, and now my Aunt. I have really enjoyed their support and advice. With finals coming up next week, and trying to launch my internet business with birthday party invites, it's been hectic. But I appreciate all the women in my life who have been supportive of me. Who is it in your life whom you have appreciated their love, support, and advice?

Isn't it nice when you get visitors to come and see you and say hi?!

Birthday Party Invites

Ok, so I just got done with my first internet sale of party invitations! It went well. I think I am going to have to rethink some things, and figure out packaging. That was really hard. Typically I have just sold at craft fairs, so there is no shipping involved usually. Sometimes I will ship invites if they want something personalized, but this go, whewie! Here is my first internet order! I will hopefully be getting my Etsy sight done this week, then people can go there!

It's Friday!

I love Friday's. It's exciting to think about what the possibilities of the weekend hold. Sometimes we have people coming to visit, sometimes it's just us. Lately though it seems like my kids are getting busier and busier and wanting to go off with friends and do their own thing. We've found ourselves on Friday nights now with the older kids off spending the night at friends houses, and it's just us and the twins. Sad sometimes. We used to spend Friday nights playing Monopoly, eating pizza, laughing together. I am starting to get a little ache in my stomach thinking about the song by Darius Rucker, "It Won't Be Like This For Long". Above is a picture of my son, it was his 12 year old, golden birthday. We took him to a Rascal Flatts concert for his birthday. The song I have always had for my kids and I is "My Wish"

Here's the verse: My wish for you, is that your life becomes all that you want it to.
Your dreams stay big, your worries stay small
You never have to carry more then you can haul
And while you're out there getting where you're getting to
I hope you know somebody loves you and wants the same things to
Yeah this, is my wish

It's such a perfect song.
Maybe it's the rain today, maybe it's just all of the posts I have read this week, I guess I just woke up this morning and started looking at our weekend and thought, I never believed this would happen so quickly to us. It seemed like just yesterday our kids were here all the time, and my hubby and I just wanted a break!
We are starting to settle into a new routine. We have date nights now on the weekends, we watch movies and don't have to wait anymore till everyone goes to bed at 10pm, twins go to bed at 8pm. It's a new reality. With the approach of the summer, I know we'll be even more busy, and the kids will be off, even when we go camping, they want to go off and ride bikes and off to the playground, they don't want to hang out with us. But I am saving in my heart those little opportunities that we will have. Those times when we can savour the moment. When we will all be around together, laughing, and knowing that we are family, and we are what is most important in each others lives. We will be there for each other no matter what, and not forget that to maintain that, we need time together.
TGIF ladies! I hope you all have some great plans for the weekend! Let me know if you have some ideas that you and your family do together. I would love to hear what you do!

I don't know what my real hair color is!

I love dying my hair. I do it so much, I am not sure what the real color is. So while I think about who I am, and try to write a description of myself, if I look exteriorly, I am not going to do very well cause I gain weight, loose weight, change my hair color, I am always changing on the outside. But on the inside, though I grow and mature and learn, I am a simple person.
I am NOT a morning person. I hate waking up. But I am a night person! When I finally drag my butt out of bed, I love coffee and bagels and cream cheese in the morning. That is my favorite, though I don't get the bagels very often. I think I am a carb addict. That brings me to my next thing. Weight. Oh, what a fun topic! I used to weigh close to 500 pounds. Yes, I used to. I got down to 160 pounds. Then I got pregnant with the twins. Twins are now 19 months and I weigh more now then I did the day I went in to the hospital to deliver them! Ugh. I struggle so much with weight. It makes me so angry.But I know, staying at home is not easy for me to loose weight. I am held more accountable and busier when I work. Ok, so I could write a whole blog about weight struggles.
Next thing about who I am, I am a scrapbook fiend. If there is an addiction to scrapbooking, I have it! I am though expanding my business to sell birthday party invitations and favors and decorations.
Oh, which leads me to another "who am i" moment, I love activities with kids! I love doing tea parties with my daughter and her friends, I love birthday parties with the kids, I have thought of expanding and being a party planner and actually doing that as a business. I really truly love doing that kind of thing.
I am a student at a University here. I have a marketing and sales management degree, but I am now looking to get a math major and secondary education degree. I love math. It's weird but I feel calm about math. I don't know how to explain, but its something that I don't have stress over. Anyways, so there that.
I am not a good cook, but I can bake pretty good and love baking! I hate milk and don't drink it. I love Taco Bell and Chipotle. I love dipping my french fries in vanilla milk shakes. I love listening to the rain and I love snuggling with my husband. I love being outside in the sun, I have freckles on my face which I have always hated!
I am a believer in God. I believe in Jesus. I believe in His salvation. I don't believe that any one particular religion is right or wrong as long as they believe in Jesus and that He died for us. I, myself, do not believe or want to participate in religious rituals or believe there are rules to get in to heaven. I think it's pretty simple, if you believe in God, you confess, and you recieve God's gift of his salvation, you go to heaven. Beyond that, you strive to live according to His plan, but it doesn't send you to heaven, and it doesn't ban you from heaven.
I love beaches! I love the water, especially the ocean. Love going to Mexico. Love margarita's and beer...and really love margarita beers! (hmm, if you have never had one...try one! I can tell you how to make one!)
I was fired from my last job and faced some pretty ugly pubic humiliation. My boss stole from the company, and I reported to a board, who after me working my butt off by myself trying to put everything back in order, decided to fire everyone and start over. But it ended up being good. My job was a high profile public job. It was stressful. And being fired, I have had the opportunity to stay at home. It's been good! (Although, see above about the weight gain!)
I love camping.
I love my husband. I love our life together, the life that we have worked hard for. We have struggled, we have fought, we have had some really ugly times. But we have made it through this far, I can't imagine ever giving up now!
I love my kids. They are truly the biggest blessings in my life. I didn't know if I ever wanted kids, after I had one, I didn't think I wanted anymore. 5 kids later, can't imagine my life without them.
Whew, so that is partially who I am. Who are you?! Would love to meet you!