"Party" & "Cake"

Geneva & Lexa learned two new words this weekend--"party" & "cake". We had Mi-Mi's 88th birthday party Saturday night & then Cedar's 1st birthday party Sunday afternoon when we returned from our 4 hour trip! Despite all the travel, the girls loved the parties & the cake of course. I am SO upset that we forgot to pack the camera so we have no pictures of Mi-Mi's party [Mom can I have copies??] So these will have to do from the Little Gym party...

Geneva cried & did not want to go into the party, guess she thought I was leaving her. It took her a few minutes to warm up, but then she never slowed down.
Time for cake! Lexa did not want to sit in the chair until she saw the juice & cake. We didn't realize until then that we hadn't fed the girls lunch! We are such bad parents! We left Hot Springs after breakfast & went straight home for a quick change & then onto Cedar's party. Oh well, I think they were too busy to notice. [They did eat a few graham crackers in the car]
Carter & Geneva playing with the bubbles

No fear



The girls wanting assurance that I was watching
Can you see Lexa's hair? She got messier than the birthday boy. We went straight to the bathtub when we got home.

Geneva all tuckered out. Two days without a nap catching up!

Arctic Blast Continues

-18 last night! No, that is not a typo. And it is already 2 degrees (at 9:00 p.m.) with another night of negative temperatures expected. Despite two feet of snow & cold temperatures, the mini-van & I braved the elements & made it to work by 11:00 this morning (no way we could have made it in the car, just too deep). Patrick dug out the driveway & thanks to my neighbor's Jeep that created some ruts in the road, I was able to coast to the interstate which by the way was NOT clear as was reported on the morning news. I inched along at 30 mph for the 30 mile treck to work. I really could not afford another missed day as I missed several last week. Here are some pics I took on my phone.

Our neighbor's car...don't think they are going anywhere.
Standing in our driveway looking south.
Our recycling bin is buried. We haven't had trash pickup in 2 weeks! Not a good thing with twins in diapers!
Looking at our house & driveway. You can barely see our mailbox.
Another view of our front yard.
Patrick's car...it would definitely bottom out right now.
Front view of Patrick's car.
Pile of snow outside of work.
A view of the side street at the nursing home. This is where I normally park but decided not to today. Instead I parked illegally in 2 hour parking & walked 5 blocks so that I was sure I could get out.

Front of the nursing home. The parking signs are barely visible.

Another view of the front.
The patio at work.
City crews finally arriving to clear our street at work! The nurses who stayed overnight through the storm were stuck because they couldn't get their cars out of the parallel/street parking.
Yeah the plows have arrived.
As hard as it was to make it to work, I am thankful for the hard work the state highway & local transportation departments have done. The streets are actually in better condition than they were last week (because of the layer of ice underneath).

"Once in a Lifetime" Winter

This is NOT a joke... we are buried in 26 inches of snow & -10 degree low tonight. The National Guard is in place & we are trapped for awhile! Am I in Alaska? Canada? I am really confused! This is a record breaking day in our state...the largest snowfall EVER in a 24 hour period. We received 3 inches of snow per hour starting about 4:30 this morning, reaching 26 total by noon or so. The average amount of snow we receive in 4 years...today alone. Did I mention this is our THIRD snowfall in 8 days? Last Tuesday we received 8 inches with a 1/2 inch of ice & sleet underneath which resulted in me missing 3 days of work. When I finally made it to work on Friday (after two days of trying & turning around due to the slick conditions), surprise our second storm which was supposed to be a "dusting" turned into 4 inches. I almost got stuck at work but made it home okay. So, we still had snow leftover & then our surprise storm this morning. We were supposed to get 2-4 inches but the low shifted & everyone was completely caught off guard. I am SO ready for spring!!

View from our living room, looking out our front door

Geneva & Lexa looking out the door hoping Daddy didn't disappear into our 36 inch snow drift
Patrick's car is not going anywhere for a while. It is buried. Since we got the van, we can't fit both cars in the garage. Sorry :)
Geneva & Lexa's bedroom window is almost covered!

Constant Entertainment

The girls are constant entertainment these days!! They love the Disney car & Sesame Street car they got for Christmas. They ride them all over the house, crashing into furniture, honking the horn. Geneva's new trick is to take her clothes off & streak through the house naked, squealing at the top of her lungs. There is a tiny crawl space between the sofa & chair (we call it their tunnel) where the girls like to hide. Geneva will take her clothes & diaper off & get in the tunnel where we can't reach her. Last week while Patrick was filling up the bathtub, Geneva took all of her clothes off & diaper, ran into the bathroom, waved at Patrick, & started peeing in the middle of the floor!! Also if we say "Geneva do a trick", Geneva stops what she is doing, runs to the middle of the rug & makes a funny face, twirls, or starts dancing. She is quite the performer! Lexa has no desire (yet) to model this behavior, just observing her crazy sister for now. Lexa's laughs, however, encourage Geneva to be even sillier!

Two Monkeys on a Snow Day

We were all home today, snowed in. The bad thing about being in the medical field is we don't get any snow days, so I will have to make up the day on Saturday :( Lexa has been a little under the weather so we needed a day to just relax. She has been quite fussy, clingy, not sleeping well, & just not herself lately but luckily all tests at the pediatrician yesterday turned out okay. Hopefully it is just a phase, or as all doctors like to say (when they don't know the answer) "a virus." They did learn two new words today "snow" & "ice cream" (made from the snow).

Church Last Sunday

Well we are 3 for 3 for Sunday church. That is a big step for us. The girls love dressing up & of course taking a ride in the van, however... they do NOT like leaving mommy & daddy. They both screamed & cried for over 10 minutes when we dropped them at the nursery. It was terrible! We could hear them screaming our names all the way down the hall. Needless to say Patrick & I were both tearing up & did not have full concentration during the service. We love our babies & can't stand to see them upset. Hopefully next week will be better.

Our New Year's Resolution

As most of you know, 2010 was not my favorite year. I had a terrible blow in August which I haven't gotten over yet. Most days in 2010 I felt like I was going through the motions, doing what I had to do to get through the work week & feeling bitter that I didn't get to see more of my children. When I began to dig deep & figure out why 2010 was so hard (other than the obvious job situation), I found a common denominator.... somehow along the way, we stopped going to church. Before you judge--have you ever tried to tote twins to church? It is HARD! When we did make it to church, we were so focused on keeping them quiet & still & popping cheerios in their mouth that we got nothing out of the service. We came home & asked each other--what was the sermon about?? and wondering if people were criticizing our terrible parenting!! Unfortunately our church does not have childcare...so we just stopped going. I really love church (I was voted most likely to become a nun in highschool)! I love the music, the fellowship, the advice, the prayers, weekly communion & came to realize without that start to the week, my life became mundane & when I was dealt that blow in August it became almost more than I could swallow without God. I can't do this alone! So as a family we have decided that we are starting 2011 by going to church every Sunday. Which also means, we are looking into other churches that provide nursery care during services so mommy & daddy can enjoy adult services. We had a wonderful visit today at a new church. Patrick & I both felt God speaking to us...exactly the things we had talked of the night before were literally there in black & white this morning (I mean literally on a powerpoint presentation). Kind of spooky! The girls enjoyed dressing up & are always up for a new adventure including socializing with other kiddos. Here are my other resolutions to keep me honest:

--eating breakfast every day. I did this when I was pregnant & when I went back to work... well I preferred the extra 10 minutes of sleep

--no fast food! For the record---I don't count Subway or salads as fast food--I am talking hamburgers, fried stuff, etc.

--eating fruit everyday.

--reading every night. I have given up most TV, yes even All My Children after 18 years! I just don't have time to follow TV shows anymore. So my goal is to replace TV with more reading.

Here's to a happier & healthier 2011!