A Story to Remember

So the other day I was taking the kids to their Nena and Papa's house for a little quality time. We are in the car and almost to their neighborhood when Elliot says...

"Momma, remember when we were in your tummy and you said 'oh I hope its a boy and a girl' and then you saw us and said 'oh they are just precious' and then you brought us home. Remember that? That was a good day!"

Cute right? Well until she followed up with this question..."So momma, how did we get in your belly anyway?"

I am not ready for that discussion yet so I just said "Well, God put you there like he did with baby Jesus and Mary." Luckily she's only 4 and that satisfied her for now...only we are worried she is going to wonder where they wise men and shepherds are when they don't come for their next birthday!

Just had to be sure and blog that one because we will want to mix that into the Christmas story one of these days!

I've Missed You Blog...

Yep...I've just missed it too much. Sure I like my evenings "free" and not cramming in a last minute post at midnight, but I feel like I am truly missing some things as the kids are growing up way too fast! Elliot completely talks like an 18 yr old but luckily Keaton still says some things that are so cute. Like "Teaton" and "Pleash".

I want to remember what all happened and how I coped. I think that's why the three's got a lot less face time...I was just too tired and too frazzled. But I know one day I will regret not blogging about fits and fights and spills and toilets clogged with trains and animals...

So, I may only blog a sentence or a quote but I plan on being back. FOR REAL THIS TIME!!! I don't want to miss another day of this adventure that "one day I will laugh about"...or so everyone tells me.

*I type this as Keaton tries to turn my face to him and convince me that he needs to sleep in my bed! Last night he cried not wanting to go to bed. He begged me to sleep in his bed. Then he asked for daddy to sleep in his bed. Then he cried and said "I just want somebody to spend the night with me! Where is my Grammy?!"

Master manipulators these two are!

Here's a new family pic and sneak peek of our xmas card.... Maybe one day I'll sit and post all the ones I haven't had a chance to.

Not Dead just Distracted

Yep...we are still here! I know I haven't blogged in FOREVER and I honestly feel like I have missed out on the last few months. I know one day I will be really sad that I didn't document these last few months but hopefully the hard work will make for many more memories and some exciting things to blog about in the future!

We have been busy with two 3 (almost 4) year olds...some of you forgot to tell me how "lovely" the 3's are and Mary Kay has taken off like crazy!

Here are some more recent pics and I hope to slowly catch up on where we've been lately. The kids started soccer this fall and we just got Keaton his first big boy haircut. Yes, I teared up but it will grow! He is still my handsome little man!

Enjoy and we'll be back soon! I've missed yall!

Massive Catchup

So I have a new adventure. Sure I am a stay at home mother of twin 3yr olds, a bible study leader, and a photographer but I guess I thought I didn't have enough of my plate...HA! So I jumped in with both feet and am now a Consultant with Mary Kay. Ok family, stop laughing. If you know me, or definitely knew me growing up, you would never in a million years peg me to be a Mary Kay consultant. But I LOVE IT! I don't know if I will ever not love seeing women transform before me and truly see themselves as beautiful. Better yet, I don't think I will ever get tired of seeing them after a week or two and feel like their skin is changing, becoming smooth, clear and younger looking. There is nothing that makes a woman feel better than having clear, beautiful skin and I admire nothing more than strong, self confident women!

Now most of you know my nature is pretty skeptical. I signed up for this and thought "Ok, I'll give just solely Mary Kay products a try and then go back to my stand by products that (i thought) I can't live without." It has only been two full weeks of using their products and I can't imagine going back to my other products. I NEVER though I would give up my beloved mascara, but I have truly found a new love!

Not to sound like a sales pitch but just wanted to blog for myself how I was feeling as this new adventure begins and how I truly am seeing results in just two weeks. Better yet, I have people who don't even know yet that have told me my skin looks so pretty lately....and then I let them in on my little secret!

So if any of you are interested in throwing a girls night, spa party or just want a facial...give me a call! I can come to you anywhere...even South Africa Cat (wouldn't that be awesome!).

Now here is a catch up of all the past days I have missed! Most of these are shot on my iphone with the "Shake-it" app. If you don't have it, it is a must! (Just know that you can't resize them for blogs that I can figure out.)

53/365

The kids 1st adventure with digging up worms!

54/365

A yummy recipe I am dying to try!

55/365

56/365

A bunch of new Paul Frank shirts from our buddy Harry!

57/365

Ryan's dirty little secret...wrastlin'

58/365

Dinner with Nena at her school's fundraiser night a McDonalds.

K was scared of the Hamburgler

Elliot love him!

59/365

1st Mary Kay delivery!

60/365

Great $1 investment...or so I thought. Check out #65/365!!!

61/365

Another victim of the Duck Tape belt. I really should patent this!

62/365

Birthday party aftermath

63/365

New swimsuits!

64/365

New bedroom furniture from a store going out of business here...Crazy deals!

65/365

Here is what the "wonderful" Flarp does to paint and sheet rock!

66/365

Poor little thing has a busted ear drum.

67/365

My house after everyone is in bed.

68/365

One of my 1st facials. How beautiful is this girl!!!

69/365

Yep, that's Keaton, asleep, with brownies in his mouth!

70/365

1st Friday night circle of the year. Friday was gorgeous and 73!

71/365

Saturday was 32 and snowing.

72/365

We woke up to 6+inches and about 1 ft snow drifts. With more snow falling the rest of the day and then to be topped off with ice!

Here comes the ice!

Hello!

Ok I PROMISE I have been taking pictures everyday...I am just WAY behind in posting them. Even the other night at almost midnight I remembered I hadn't taken a picture that day and I grabbed my camera to get a late night shot of my house.

I HAD to share this picture with you all though. This is a newborn I had the honor of shooting last week. I think I am starting to adore shooting newborns. This little angel was 9 days old and was perfect. I mean didn't open her eyes once! Just had to show this to you all though before I crashed for the night. Much more to come....hopefully tomorrow!

52/365 9 day old baby shoot!

Check out this angel! He was so much fun to shoot and I had such a blast with this family. I can't wait to finish up their pictures so they can see all of them. I can't wait to watch this little man grow but for now I am crazy over all his sweet little newborn features.

I also started a blog for the photo biz. If you would like to follow me there just go to

http://melissahalfordphotography.blogspot.com

I'll post some more of this little guy after I have shown his parents the rest of their photos. Stay tuned!

49, 50 & 51/365

49/365

The many faces of Miss Elliot

50/365

This is Elliot's first real drawing. She told me it was a bunny....not bad!

Thursday we also learned how to play UNO. Not so much for family game night as it was to get my kids to learn their numbers....since they had gotten schooled the day before at a playdate!

And Thursday daddy was finally home...for 24 hrs! Aren't my boys so sweet?

51/365 Our Happenin' Friday night (note the clock)

The kids were asleep by 7:45! But Keaton just woke up crying. I think we may have another ear infection...

48/365

You know by the looks of this its going to be a good story...

48/365

So yesterday we came home from school and I had a splitting headache due to forgetting my daily quotient of coffee. The kids were sitting on the bed, watching cartoons like little angels, and I told them that I was going to lay back in the chair and rest my eyes for a minute. I could not have dosed off for more than 10 minutes and I woke up to complete destruction by a certain set of twins.

First, I was awoken to Keaton crying that he was covered in something sticky. At first glance it looks like he had gotten into the Dawn dish soap. Not to harmless. I wipe him off and as I go down to survey the damage I notice two forks and a dumped out bag of Cheetos in the middle of my bed. Blood starting to simmer but not boiling yet.

I head down the stairs and first see TWO empty egg cartons and a dumped out cup of old chocolate pudding. Yes, it was old and I hadn't thrown it out of my frig. I can only do so much! As I turned the corner of the kitchen my initial shock was quickly overcome by my blood hitting full blown BOIL. There were broken eggs EVERYWHERE, the mysterious blue gel everywhere and something that was really shiny all over the cabinets.

Apparently the kids had made supper while I had dosed off. Remember, less than 10 minutes here. They had cracked ONE AND ONE HALF DOZEN eggs in a frying pan and some that apparently missed and hit the floor. They had also decided that busting open all the dishwasher tabs would be a good addition to their concoction. I then notice that they had two plates with the egg mixture and two spoons out on the kitchen table where they appeared to have dined together. They both said that they did eat some and "it was belicious". (I braced for a long night of terrible #3s but thankfully the Lord spared me of this!)

After yelling at my children and "spanking them hard" according to Elliot, I sent them upstairs and tackled the super bowl of kitchen messes. Have you ever tried to pick up eggs off of wooden floors with paper towels? Let's just say its about as easy as picking up oil with tweezers.

Wondering what the shiny substance on the counters was yet??? Well, to top everything off they appeared to try to fry the eggs as they had emptied out a container full of old fried okra grease into the pan and all over the counters.

Needless to say my kids probably learned some new words yesterday and they have told enough people today that they got spankings for making a mess that hopefully this will be a one time only occurrence.

So, once again, enjoy a laugh at our expense. That's what we seem to be on this earth for.

OH, did I forget to mention that Ryan is out of town this week?

OH and did I not mention that the night before the kids pulled off the shower drain and Keaton decided to drop the kids off???

I need a massage!

Weekend Update

43/365

Spring teaser

44/365

Happy 80th Memaw! We enjoyed celebrating at Monte Ne!

45/365

I'm thinking about renaming my blog...Noodles in my Washer. Seriously, I found this in my washer Saturday morning and after taking this picture, I put my camera up and then washed another load...WITH THE NOODLE STILL IN THERE! I seriously need a vacation!

46/365

Look at these lashes!

I found the kids laying like this after their bath the other night. So sweet.

47/365

Playdoh Love