Christmas Pictures

Enjoy the Christmas Pictures!!!

Blankets

The extent of my creativity is No Sew Fleece Blankets. But I did make three for Christmas this year. Plus I made two no-sew Fleece pillows. Although I did not get pictures of the pillows yet, I do have pictures of the blankets to share.

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My niece Mona's blanket - it's dragonflies. I also made a pillow in the same fabric.



My other niece Aria's blanket. It's butterflies. In hindsight, I wish I had found a darker purple to use as the solid piece but it still looks good.



And this is my son Connor's blanket. I also made a coordinating pillow for him too.

Christmas

has come and gone. It was a nice holiday. Everyone came over to our house. That was nice since it was raining off and on all day and the thought of getting five people ready and out the door - in the rain - not my idea of fun. Plus my mom was in town and celebrating with us. Surbjit got his infamous Honey Baked Ham from work (wow is that thing DELICIOUS!) so we had that with mashed potatoes, gravy, brown sugar carrots, green bean casserole and Garlic Biscuits (like the ones from Red Lobster). YUM! I've been having leftovers ever since and it's been DELICIOUS. All except the green bean casserole. Don't' ask what I did this year but it was DEVOURED. Even my niece Mona - who apparently doesn't like vegetables - ate it with gusto!

Connor really enjoyed unwrapping his presents. And it was nice. There was no rush. He opened some, played with them, then asked to open more presents. He even helped his sisters and even his cousins open theirs later. So all in all, a very good day. I'll share pictures later. I have to get them off the camera soon. We are going camping for New Years and I need them off by then!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

to each and everyone of you out there! May your holiday be filled with joy and laughter. Merry Christmas!!!!

One Year Check Up

So we went for the one year checkup today. Emily has surpassed her sister! Not by much though.

Emily 19 lbs 11 ozs
Taylor 19 lbs 9 ozs

Emily 29.5"
Taylor 29.25"

They are both in the 50%tile for height and about the 15%tile for weight. He said they could eat more. HA! They both eat like cows! But he said they are both fine and he doesn't see anything to be worried about. They both got 3 shots and then had blown drawn for lead levels and hemoglobin check. I think it's funny he brought up the lead level check. Last year when I had Connor's 2 year well baby check up, I pushed to have his lead levels checked. The doctor said I didn't have to but if I'd feel better we'd do it so we did. Now this year he brought it up with the girls and said due to all the stuff coming out of China that they are checking all kids now. I think that's good. I don't think the kids think that. Or the poor ladies who are drawing their blood. Let me tell you, the lady who drew the blood from the girls did awesome. One prick and they were in and took two vials of blood. Poor girls. But they were troopers and if you look at them now, you'd never know they went through all that. I'm glad they are troopers!

So two down, one to go. Connor's appt is tomorrow. I'm hoping to take him to see Santa tomorrow afterward. Maybe it'll lessen the sting of the shot he's going to get!

Potty and a Date

So yesterday I was very interested to hear how Connor did at daycare. Not ONE accident!! And then last night he pooped in the potty before we got ready for bed. YEAH!!! Now let's hope this lasts! He will be home for the rest of the week after today so we just have to keep remembering to tell him every 20 mins, potty.

Then, Surbjit and I got to go to dinner and a movie. My mom is here for Christmas so we put the kids the bed and then went to El Torito. Had some great mexican food and then went and watched Seven Pounds. Not quite what I was expecting but it was good. A tear jerker for sure! I can't remember the last movie we went to see. I know it was before the twins were born.

Well, I'm getting ready to get going to head out the door to pick up the girls for their doctors appts. Will try and update with stats tonight!!

Potty Training

So in my ever infinite wisdom, I chose last weekend to start potty training Connor. Why do I do this the weekend before Christmas?? Because I have nothing else to do with my time?? Partly because: a) it needed to get done and b) my loving husband demanded it get done. Well not so much demanded but requested rather strongly that he needs to be potty trained. So i guess now the question is how did Connor do?? Saturday started bright and early. We went through SEVEN pairs of underwear and SEVEN pairs of pants/shorts. He pooped TWICE in his underwear and went pee pee 5 - 6 times in them. Sunday we started AGAIN. Not ONE accident all day. He did NOT poop in the potty but I put him in a pull up for nap Sunday (where I did not on Saturday as I didn't want to confuse him the first day) with his underwear over the pull up and that's when he pooped so at least he didn't ruin a pair of underwear. But he never pee'd in his underwear all day. I kept setting the timer on the kitchen stove for 20 mins and every time it went off, "Connor let's go pee pee!". We'll see how he does today at daycare. Yikes! I sent four pairs of underwear and pants with him. :sigh: At least come this week he is home Wednesday - Monday - so maybe we can finalize it and get him to pee pee in the potty all the time now. That would be the BEST Christmas gift I could have ever got!

Recipe Swap Friday

It's getting colder here in Southern CA and although I HATE the cold (especially since I commute by train and standing in the freezing cold gets old!) it's the perfect time of year to start making soups for dinner! Once the holidays are over and I can get back into a routine - I'm planning on using my crockpot more and here is a great recipe for Taco Soup in the crockpot.

Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Stew

Ingredients

1 onion, chopped
1 16-oz can black beans
1 16-oz can kidney beans
1 16-oz can corn (drained)
1 8-oz can tomato sauce
2 14.5-oz cans diced tomatoes w/chilies
1 1.25-oz packet taco seasoning
1-2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

Directions

Mix everything together in a slow cooker except chicken. Lay chicken on top and cover. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours. 30 minutes before serving, remove chicken and shred. Return chicken to slow cooker and stir in. This is good eaten with cheese, sour cream, or tortilla chips.

Number of Servings: 14

For more recipes check out the Grocery Cart Challenge's Friday Recipe Swap!

It is THAT time of year

And by that I mean, cold season. Poor Emily. Ok, Connor got it first but he's older and deals with it. Not that Emily isn't dealing with it. She is still running all over the place. Her eyes are watering, her nose is running, and even her mouth is running. She is DRENCHING bibs by the minute. No joke. I swear I put a bib on her and 10 mins later it's SOAKED. And it's not snot, it's drool. I thought I felt her fourth tooth coming in last week but I haven't stuck my finger in her mouth lately. So anyway, Emily is sick, Connor is getting over his. He just has the cough and occasional snotty nose. And my dear Taylor - nothing so far. I'm hoping it stays that way but unfortunately with Taylor and Emily's likeness of switching binkies, I don't see that happening. UGH.

Tonight is my work Christmas party. Can't wait. It'll be nice to get out of the house with just adults Surbjit and I. Bigi is coming over and watching the kids. We'll get the girls to bed and then leave. My mom is coming down on Sunday. I'm hoping she makes it okay. Weather around here has been horrible! All the major freeways (5, 14 & 15) were shut down yesterday due to snow. Yup - you heard me right. Snow. My mom has to take the 5 to get here so I'm sure she'll see snow on her way in. There isn't supposed to be another storm until Monday so hopefully she sneaks in just in time. Good thing she isnt' coming today like originally planned!

Still haven't taken the kids to see Santa. :sigh: Why does this time of year have to be so busy? And I've barely decorated the inside of our house. We have our small Christmas tree up and that's it! In the coming years I know it will be easier to get things done as the kids will be older but still. Oh well.

The kids have their well baby check ups next week. The girls are on the 12/23 and Connor is 12/24. Merry Christmas - LOL! When I called back in Oct, that was the first dates they had available for well baby checkups. :sigh: I'm looking forward though to seeing heights/weights and percentiles on them all. I know the girls are small but how small and how tall. Connor too.

Well, I will try and upload some pictures this weekend from my family visit last week. Too much to do and NOT enough time. ugh!

One down . . .

and just two to go. I finished the blanket for my neice Aria last night. Now I have to do Connor's and my other neice's blanket. I can't believe Christmas is next week -- NEXT WEEK!! Where did the time go? I guess I should take a picture of it. I should probably take pictures of the ones I made for the twins too. Theirs is Strawberry Shortcake and I gave them to them for their birthday. They are so nice and warm. Anyway, I still have baking to do. I think I'll do my baking tonight and then do Mona's blanket on Wednesday night. I may have to wait until the 23rd when I'm off to do Connor's. I can't start it until he's asleep and he's not really going to sleep at night until late (that booger!). Thursday night I can't do anything because we have my annual work Christmas Cruise which isn't a cruise this year. We determined it was going to be too cold this year (probably 40's - yeah ok we don't want to hear it! LOL!) to be out on the water driving around. So instead, we are heading over to the boss' pad and enjoying ourselves there. Works for me since Bigi is coming over to watch the kids and we will probably be late then. Now we don't have to worry about the boat leaving us behind. LOL!

Busy next 9 days. For me and for everyone else I'm sure. If you are completely done with EVERYTHING for Christmas please don't tell me. I would be insanely jealous and then maybe delegate some of the stuff I need to do to you. LOL!

I'm BACK!

Well, I never really left. Instead, family came for a visit. My Grandma and Ace came out for a visit from Buffalo. Southwest had a KILLER deal and they both came out for the rockin' price of $268. Not each - for BOTH! Killer! So it was great to see them. And since she is my Mom's mom, my mom and dad came down to visit too. =) Connor LOVED having Grandma, Grandpa, Great-Grandma and Ace around. We didn't do much. We mostly hung out and talked, but that was good too. We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful week either. It was sunny and in the 70's all week long. This week - it's started out COLD and rainy. Pouring rain on my way into work today and a balmy 45. (Yeah I hear no sympathy from my East Coast friends but please! I'm not use to it!)

So we had a great time visiting. I'm sad to say we never got a four generation picture while Grandma was here. I guess that just means she has to fly here again. =) And my Mom is coming back down Sunday to spend the week with us and be here for Christmas. YEAH!!! Can't wait. I'll share pics from this past week once I get them downloaded - but I have a TON of stuff to do and only what 10 days to do it. YIKES!

I so can not believe that Christmas is just around the corner! I need to bake and I need to finish making a couple gifts and I still have to wrap everything. Thankfully my Christmas cards went out today so that's one thing to check off my list. What with four birthdays at the end of November and then Christmas and I have a feeling I'll need to be more prepared and organized come this time of year from now on. 'Cause I certainly don't feel organized or prepared this year!!!

Lookie Lookie!

Like my new blog?!?! I LOVE it. Ragan did an AWESOME job. THANK YOU!!!!

So I changed the title. A friend of mine in my multiples group came up with the saying "A Pear and a Spare" and had t-shirts printed up with two pears and then another t-shirt with one pear saying I'm the spare. I thought it was cute. But since Connor was the first, I have to let him have his honor of being talked about first. I mean you hear twingles - twins + 1. But my 1 was first and I like to honor him of that, hence a spare and a pair. =) And you know he is an AWESOME big brother.

Well, I will hopefully have pictures sent out tonight of our camping trip this past weekend. I got a great shot of some of us climbing the rocks (Connor was included! That boy is crazy not afraid!!). I'll make sure I share those here too.

Well, I hope you enjoy my new blog over the next month as much as I do!!!

Oh My God!!

I was just thinking ok I need to change my blog for Christmas now since Thanksgiving is over and I Know I won't be winning that contest I wrote about here. Well Guess what?!?! I WON!!! YAHOO!!! So you will be seeing an awesome cute adorable looking blog here pretty soon! YEAH!!!!!

A GREAT Thanksgiving

So we had a great thanksgiving. Couldn't have asked for a more beautiful camping trip. My idea of a great camping trip is when the weather is just perfect that you don't need to run the heat or a/c during the day. And that is what we got! Well except for Saturday. It was pretty warm in the sun so I had to run the a/c while the girls were napping.

We left Wednesday night in the rain. Well, it wasn't really raining at our house yet but it started raining while we were driving. And did it rain. I mean it POURED. I was getting kinda worried it was going to be pouring where we were camping and since the way in is a DIRT road I was thinking we had a possibility of it being mud and us getting stuck. However, when we got closer to Yucca Valley, the rain stopped. We stopped for gas there and as we were leaving, it started raining again. We must have out drove it and then we stopped and it caught up to us. So we got to camp around 10pm. Not bad. We left the house at 7pm and hit a bunch of traffic on the 91 so 3 hours isn't bad. The girls had woken up in Yucca Valley when we stopped for gas so they were up and raring to go. So we set up camp and started getting everything inside ready for bed. We let the girls roam around (and had to keep telling them NO because the stairs just looked so tempting to them!). We let everyone play until about 11pm and then we all headed to bed (remember Bigi came with us too!)

The next morning the girls woke us up bright and early at 7am. Wouldn't you think they'd sleep in since they didn't get a full nights sleep??? Oh well. Thanksgiving morning was bright and sunny. No rain clouds left in the sky! YEAH!! We woke up, had breakfast and Surbjit got to set up outside finally. Connor went outside and got to play with Roxanne and Seth. Then everyone but me and the girls went on a ride out to the marine base (shh!) and gathered some "finds" - empty casings, empty ammunition boxes, etc. I stayed back since the girls were napping and waited for our last friends to arrive. They got there and when everyone else came back from the ride, we started cooking dinner. Let me tell you, that deep fried turkey - - - YUMMY!! Especially if you are a skin person. Oh, it was SOOOO good. So we all gathered our dinner and ate inside our friends trailer.

Friday started another beautiful day. Surbjit got to finally go on a ride in his quad and the girls played outside and Connor played with Braeden most of the day and Roxanne too. Saturday was more of the same. We left for home Sunday morning after breakfast. Did good time too, never hit any traffic and was home in less than 3 hours.

So all in all, a GREAT camping trip, beautiful weather and Emily is walking so much more now. She is still crawling but is now leaning towards walking more. =) And Taylor is still my lazy girl that won't stand unless she wants too! We had fun and can't wait to go camping again!