So stinkin' tired

Yup, it's 7:30 at night and I'm laying in bed. I just put the girls to bed and I'm done. Luckily I hurried through some chores when I got home.  I worked until 5:00 tonight, the last 2 plus hours I was in a meeting. I have felt like crap all week long. Horrible sore throat, my lymph nodes are so swollen. To top it off Chris was on night shifts the last 4 nights. I sleep like crap when he's not here. EVERY little noise brings me out of a deep sleep and I lay awake. The girls are off to a sleep over at Randi's tomorrow night. I'm hopefully doing my taxes... That's IF my W2's are in my hands tomorrow. So far I haven't received them. According to work they were mailed on the 31st. Ya, right. Six business days to get from Rockport to Warren? There are several of us waiting. So glad this week is almost over. Looking forward to dinner with Chris tomorrow, cheer for my girls on Sat, relaxing Sunday and to be able to swallow without swallowing my tonsils. All in all not too bad of a week could be worse. 

Little Vacationers

As I plan some fun for us in the upcoming months I find myself thinking about all the opportunities the girls have already had. They are pretty blessed! 

Each of our vacations are special in their own way. So many happy memories. For some reason I feel the need to have several get always in their youth. I guess it's the feeling of escaping life to have fun and really enjoy precious moments with my little girls. I never want to look back and think, I wish I had focused more on my kids when they were little. They are obviously the center of my world. They know right from wrong, we don't sugarcoat life's lessons. When they hit the real world they will be well rounded, respectful and determined. Gosh I love them. 

Already haves: 

First trip- Sesame Place in Langhorn PA So fun, the girls, daddy and I went on this trip. We went for three nights and spent two days at sesame place. I highly recommend this park. Very clean. The street parade at the end of the day was the best. The "street" looks like a scene from Sesame Street. The girls were Three on this trip. 

Next up- FL, the girls were just five, this was the winter before they were in Kindergarten.  Just the girls and I went to Sarasota FL for seven days. Daddy wasn't able to get time off at the time when plane tickets were at their cheapest. We stayed with Karen and Bill, it was a blast. First plane ride for my girls and they handled it like champs. We went to the ocean, played in the pool, rode bikes, ate summer food and made wonderful memories. 

Vaca # 3- Aurora Maine. Camping with Sean Crystal and the kids. We had a two story camp directly on Spectical pond. Add canoes, camp fires, little ones splashing and playing on the sandy beach <3 This trip was awesome. We explored, the beach, the pond, the cabin, and woods. There may have been some fresh blueberries stolen from the Wyman Blueberry fields for pancakes. This was the summer before Kindergarten.  

NH, white Mountain tent camping. We were at a family friendly campsite that Chris's fathers family goes to yearly. We spent two nights. This was the girls first trip to Story Land. We drove on the Kangamangus highway, the scenery is beautiful. Check out Lower Falls if you find yourself in the white mountains.  This was the same summer we went to Aurora. 

Next up- Back to Aurora the following summer. The girls had just finished Kindergarten. This time the four of us went with Sean, Crystal and their family. Such a wonderful time. We remembered all of the familiar things we discovered the year before. This year we took the Kayaks, Crystal the girls and I paddled out to a huge rock in the middle if the pond to jump off and swim. My brave little girls. 

Our latest trip- NH with Sami, the boys, and her sister. We had a whole mess of kids, eight to be exact. We stayed at the Attitash Mountain resort. We had a close encounter with a black bear. Played In the pool and chased kids in every direction ;) Story Land was on our agenda! This was the girls second time going. This was a very exhausting trip. We squeezed a lot in, in two days. We saw so much that we wished to explore. This was the summer after 1st grade!

This upcoming summer we have our NH trip booked already. Crystal, Randi and I, oh and our kids ;) We learned from the year before to go longer than two days and a day or two to just explore. We are going for four night! 

We will also be going back to Aurora this year <3 it's been a year since we have been there. I can't wait to make new memories and remember old memories. The kids have grown so much! 

We may throw in a trip to FL to see Karen and Bill this year. That is if we can find plane tickets at a reasonable price. 

This list does not include half the fun we have had, small day trips packed with adventure. Being a Mom is the very best thing that ever happened to me. 

I am so thankful for all the opportunities we have had. I am one lucky lady. 

Phone dump and plans in the works.

Time to delete pictures off the ol' phone. I take so many pictures both on my phone and with my camera and never do anything with them. I need to get better about this! 

In the works: first, we are booking our NH trip this week :) this year it's Randi, Cody, Hailey, crystal, Julian, Sophia, the girls and I! 

Heading out in mid June 

We are pumped! Looks like we are going for four nights. Story Land, pool, outdoor adventures and more. The men won't be coming along due to busy schedules. Good thing we can handle a whole mess of kids without them. We are staying at the Attitash Mountain Village Resort. It's a two bedroom, two full baths, full kitchen, laundry, fire place, indoor pool, outdoor pool awesome place! Last year a black bear walked right into our parking lot looking at us like, nothing to see here. I can't wait for the trip! 

A FL trip may be in the works as well. My Aunt and Uncle live in a resort in Sarasota FL that is packed with fun, other than leaving to go to the beach there is no need to leave the resort. We pay for plane tickets and we have a vacation! We shall see! Chris mentioned driving but it takes so much time and my vacation time is limited. 

Come on spring! Woot woot! 

Oh I have to mention that I'm snuggling my Devan on the couch while she plays DJ, her favorite song right now, My Home Town. She loves when it says get together at the Pizza Hut. So cute.  

Weekend in review

Saturday morning the girls cheered at their first basketball game. They are so cute, they giggled with each other the whole time. They have a few sidelines cheers down, they are almost always looking to their peers on their side to make sure they are doing the correct moves.

After cheer we drove to Sean and Crystals for the night. We started off with ice creams for the kids. The girls LOVE their cousins so much, they love our visits and hate when they end. 

Ryleigh and uncle Sean 

Devan and Sophia 

Today was pretty boring. I made chopsuey with venison and the girls chilled. Back to reality tomorrow. Blah 

Identity Theft

We have been having some identify issues lately. These issues come and go and it is ALWAYS Devan who takes the blunt. My heart hurts for her. We have the, you are you nobody else be yourself, talk all the time but I guess you can't help what you don't know. The girls are fraternal twins, this has not been proven scientifically but we assume. There is a chance they are identical, if the egg splits within 24 hours of being fertilized then identical twins can have separate sacs and placentas, which the girls had. I look at them now and think no way they are identical, however their baby pictures, unless the picture is labeled I have not a clue. They look just enough alike where people who don't know them well can't tell them apart. Kids at school are fascinated with them being twins. There are several sets of twins in their school. There is a set that look JUST alike and others say mine look more alike than those girls. I guess we are all confused. My poor little Devan wants so much to NOT be like her sister. She wants to be known as Devan. She is so persuasive. One day she is all dresses and sometimes it last months, then there are times when it is a plain shirt and jeans for weeks. She does back and forth. The bottom line, she likes to be girly but HATES it when her friends and others tell her she looks or dresses like her sister.  Poor kid. She has worn fake glasses EVERY SINGLE DAY since before Christmas because nobody ever mistakes her. Don't get me wrong she loves her sister so very much, she likes being a twin but she is struggling.  The other day in the bathroom while combing out their obnoxiously uncooperative hair, I told them they were getting cuts, especially if we were going to Florida this year. Ry instantly said she didn't want her hair cut, she wanted it long. I made the mistake of telling her she had to put in a bigger effort of doing her hair if she wanted it long. AHHHHH, every day she half combs it out and puts it in a low ponytail. The top of her hair is rarely ever combed. Devan said eh, I don't care. I have always kept their hair the same way. As for clothes they have a lot of similar pieces but don't really wear them at the same time. The funny thing is once in a while they come out dressed the same. More so in the summer when they are around people who can tell them apart.

Last night I had a genius idea! I asked Devan if she could get her hair different from sissy ANYWAY she wanted, what would you pick?  She opted for the bob type cut they had in kindergarten that was chin length. She followed her request with, "when are we doing this, this weekend?"

This is a big step for me, I hope I am not to blame with her stressing out over her identity. I am not a twin so I don't know what it was like. Ever since I was a little girl I talked about wanting twins. Sometimes it still feels like a dream. Twin girls, I am a lucky Momma for sure, not just because of them being twins but how awesome they both are. The older they get the more the whole twin things fades anyway, yes they are twins and will always will be but the attention they get from it fades.

SO, I plan on making Devan an appt for this afternoon if I can, for a short cut. I'm excited. I think she is going to have enough hair to donate to locks of love too! her hair is sooo long right now. Eeeek I don't know who is more excited, me or her.


Here she is with her haircut back in Kindergarten :) So CUTE. It fits her well.

Devan on the right in BLUE of course.

Busy weeks.

This post starts with I JUST CLEANED MY WHOLE HOUSE SPIC AND SPAN. This was no biggie at one point in time when it was always clean. Chris actually had to have a talk with my about being the only one who cleans.  I listened while busting a gut on the inside. Sorry Dear. In the end I have stepped up a little. He sounded like such a housewife though. He was said "I feel like all I ever do it clean and nobody else contributes" HA I guess I will count my lucky stars for all his help and lend a hand now and then.

I want to be able to relax a little more on the weekends and have fun so a clean house I will have on Friday.

The weeks are busy but not like they once were. I fear this may be coming though. I have an AWESOME schedule. I work Monday from 7:45 to 5:00 5:30 or sometimes even later. No biggie Chris gets the kids off the bus on Monday's. Tues - Fri I work from 7:45 - 3:00. The girls are in the before school program so I drop them off at 7:30 and FLY from Warren to Rockport to be at work by 7:45. I leave at 3:00 and meet the bus at 3:35ish. Works wonderful. I have been on the other side of this marvelous schedule and I wont lie it SUCKS, A LOT.

In Kindergarten  I dropped the girls off at the school at 7:30 and picked them up at 5:30. I drove 45 minutes each day to Belfast for work. They were exhausted to say the least. I LOVED my job and the provider that I worked for but it just wasn't working. I had mom guilt like you wouldn't believe. So I got a job at Penbay and my schedule changed for WAY better.  Most Medical Assistant's in our office work from 7:30 - 5:30 four days a week. I fear that is where my schedule is heading. Chris and I have talked several times about my schedule and agree that I need to be flexible and available for the girls where he is on swing shift. The only problem is finding something that works around his schedule. IMPOSSIBLE.  I am still working on that one, but it's stressful because I fear if my schedule changes I wont be able to find work. To top it off after school care is about $300.00 more than we are paying a month which basically doesn't make it worth it.

I feel like a lost soul lately, I have been thinking about career options, doing something I love and just living for me as a person. Time, there is never enough time. I rarely put myself first, it's all about the kids all the time. With Chris's schedule we never get time together to do things as a couple. This year I want to change a few things and really live life because it is too short.

Goals for this year. The biggest is having more fun Live life a little, more times with friends, family and doing things for ME as well as my children. Memories, creating plenty. Becoming more active. FIVE, 5k's between now and next winter. Find a path of happiness in a job and jump on track to enjoy working every day. BLOG a lot. Print some pictures and plaster my walls with those I love. Be a better friend. I am going to live and love like I don't know when my sand will run out because, we don't know. Also cutting back on things we don't need. I plan to use my blog more than facebook. BE happy and keep my battitude in check. Be proud of me. Life is too short.

 So I don't really know what is to come if any changes at all. I feel like my life is on pause. I never have REALLY pushed myself to accomplish what I want in life and for years haven't thought about what I want in life. I hope I can look back at this post in a year and see a lot of changes for the better. 

 

Weekend shenanigans

The girls and I had a great weekend l, Chris was on twelve hour night shifts all weekend.

On Saturday the girls and I went to Randi's for the morning. Coffee, baby snuggles, Mario, and great company. That afternoon Sarah and Levi came over for the night. I rarely get to see my ADORABLE little nephew so this visit excited me beyond belief. We went out to eat at Applebee's and Sarah was a bit excited to say the least to enjoy a meal while I took care of the baby. She litteraly ordered herseld a serloin and eyed me from across the table and said "Are you OK with him, because I plan on enjoying this meal" I replied with "I got this, eat up" and that is when the little stinker fussed when I put him in his seat. I ate one handed with a baby in my lap for the first time in a LONG time. I fear I am losing my touch though, I forgot how to feed a baby and couldn't get the darn carseat in it's base for the life of me. If you know me then you are thinking, really?   We headed home to have a dance party. It was so cute to watch the girls bust a move ;) They normally listen to country because they often listen on their tablets,  they ALAWYS have music playing. and country music makes me feel like they won't be completely corrupted. New hip and newer music they listen to once in a while in the car but I'm picky. For reasons like, "Hey Mom, this lady on the wrecking ball looks like she is naked" I replied with "yeah she has underpants on girls"  Some of these songs these days are awful.  I had no idea, or the girls for that matter, that they can dance. It was so cute. Ry said "I'm so glad my Dad is not here, I would be so embarrassed"  what a fun night. The next morning Sarah and Levi headed home and the girls and I headed outside to play in the snow.  We walked into the woods, less than a half mile from our house there is a beautufil trail in the woods.  We love to explore and go four wheeling, we can get to the pond on the snowmobile, or just take walks. My plan was to go on a signifigant walk pulling the girls in their sled. That is when I thought, if we run into a bear, it will most likely be hungry. I should have at the very least brought the dog. We only walked a bit longer before heading back home. BUT while we were out in the woods we took in the beautiful world. I love weekends with family time! I loved getting to see my sister and nephew, I hope to spend some time soon with my brother and his wife (also my BFF) I usually go there for the night because spending a few hours with my nieces and nephews once or twice every couple months just isn't enough. Our family certainly is not perfect but we definitely love each other and want to be big parts of each others lives. I loved watching Ry scoot closer to Sarah on the couch and look at her like she thought she was so cool , the girls love their auntie so much. My heart is happy now.