Where do these stairs lead?

NO WHERE! Ok, I am not climbing stairs but I don't know how else to describe those elliptical machines. I guess it is in between climbing stairs and walking -shoot I don't know but I do know that I so dislike that machine in our basement! Not b/c it is taking up what could be valuable floor space (which it is) but b/c I just don't like that sort of work out.

Truth be told I really don't like ANY workout but... Want to hear something funny? I HAD TO HAVE IT! It is 3 1/2 years old and I might have a few hours on it but I HAD TO HAVE IT RIGHT AWAY! Now that I do I wish it would disappear and a treadmill would appear but it seems that won't be happening so for now I have to ignore how much I don't like it and deal with the fact it is the only exercise I will be getting until it starts to cool down and I can get out and walk with the girls - living in NC that could be November. Saturday I managed to stay on it for 6 minutes, not b/c I was completely out of breath and dying but b/c it is the most boring thing EVER and it felt like I had been doing it for hours! Sunday I did better b/c Snapped was on so I made it 12 minutes until I called it quits. Maybe I should have brought a cupcake down there to eat while I was doing it to make it more appealing :) I am hoping to bring it up to 20 minutes tonight - baby steps you know? At this rate I will have this baby weight off some time around my 40th birthday in 2 years :)

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There you sit taunting me

I have the strength to walk by you, maybe. It was almost as if I was in a daze last night in the kitchen mixing, filling, and frosting. Why? Why do I do this to myself? The scale and I are far from being on friendly terms with each other. My clothing sits lonely in their drawers and hanging in our closet. Yet in a moment of weakness there I was hand in hand with the enemy and happy. Now the day after I am faced with 22 more enemies. Part of me wants to open the trash and throw them in but I know I won't, I know myself too well. There are 2 little girls BEGGING to help me eat them and after lunch I will let them have 1 - but what will happen to the rest?

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Why doesn't it just rain

and get it over with! It will rain a little and then quit. I heard that "Danny" would be bringing us a bunch of rain and it has looked like it has wanted to all day but nothing worth writing about. It really makes planning things tough. Our big Friday was food shopping for the month at Walmart and then I have been keeping the girls busy after their "naps" this afternoon coloring and putting together puzzles. I write it that way b/c they just stayed in their rooms today and did not sleep. Bummer for mama :( Ruby is sleeping right now and the kids are doing their moves in the living room so I do have a few minutes - not uninterrupted but enough to shower and blog. I was out there and they were showing me some real good ones - camera came out so the moves stop but like I said they are out there doing more now. I have ruined them and took far more photos of them than a mama should :) This morning to my surprise they were cutting a rug to Miley Cyrus (on the Today Show), yes that is correct - THE Hannah Montana. Before going on our Tour the girls didn't know who this was but now they also know who the Jonas Brothers are AND have got a glimpse of High School Musical. Neither girl shows any interest in movies with real people in them yet but it is coming I am afraid. Once it will happen to Piper Violet will be right behind. Piper is really into Cinderella right now so maybe I have some time :) I want my babes to stay babes for as long as I can :)

They have been wearing "ballerina" clothes all week. I thought we would be going to Walmart with Violet wearing hers today but she decided at the last minute to wear her regular clothes. We came home and they both immediately put them back on though :)

For any bloggers that might stop by did you see the giveaway I posted about this morning. OMGosh - go and enter!

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Teachers Pet Cardi, Simple Tee and Poppy Skirt GIVEAWAY!!!!

You must go and check this out! Tell me how adorable Piper would be in this - then Violet, and finally in 3 years (smiling) our Ruby? Enter!
Teachers Pet Cardi, Simple Tee and Poppy Skirt GIVEAWAY!!!!

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The Girl's Room - A work in progress

Our girls have been in their room since January but it is still a work in progress as is everything else in our lives :) We threw 2 twins on the floor and that is what they have been sleeping on. When we got back from our Summer Tour I separated the beds and moved them away from the walls since I don't worry that they will fall out anymore. Today though was a big day. Today we let them pick out their own beds. A lady here paints and embellishes old beds so we went down to her shop and each girl picked one out. We are hoping they will be done next week sometime. How exciting huh? Next they will get to pick out their bedding and then, could it be (???), their big girl room will be done. Really? A room will be done in our home? Oh wait, they still don't have curtains or a curtain rod, I knew it was too good to be true :) Someday it will all be done and they will love it and we will have loved doing it for them!

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Beauty

I have such mama goggles :) Sometimes I look at Piper and she is just so beautiful she will take my breath away (then there are other days...). Ballet will start again in a few weeks and she is totally ready for it! When we asked her if she wanted to do another activity or do ballet again she didn't even hesitate to answer. We signed her up last week. This is not her outfit for class but she was more than happy to wear it and let me take some shots of her with her new shoes b/c she has outgrown her old ones. Typical Zoo girl that she is won't smile at mama anymore when she is holding a camera but I just love the way these turned out anyway.

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Classy little lasses

The other day we were sitting at the kitchen table eating and an enormous belch came from Piper. "Oh dear" I thought, "she is going to be in school in just a few short weeks, what is she going to do there?!!" My daughters don't know how to do anything quietly (if you know what I mean). Thankfully (or at least) they will say "Excuse me" if some sort of noise comes out of them. Matt laughed at my task for the next few weeks of unlearning this "normal" behavior. I am in trouble and will no doubt have some embarrassing conversations with teachers ahead of me. *blushing*

As usual what starts out as me trying to take their picture...

ultimately ends in this :) They know their faces won't stay that way, don't judge us :)

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Ruby is 5 months old!

Yesterday morning I woke up after nursing Ruby the night before every 1.5-2 hours trying to figure out what was wrong with her. My head was still groggy and I couldn't think of much b/c she had been fine the day prior. Our little one was cooing happily next to us though, it seems the night before was only hard on 1 of us :) It came to me that it might be a growth spurt and that she was just about 5 months old. I got up and after a near panic attack at the thought of no coffee then relief at finding some I headed to my computer to see if an odd month like 5 was even a growth spurt. Nope - unless she is advanced, which...well I am a proud mama :) What is Ruby up to at 5 months old? The last time we went to the doctor (emergency visit on our way home from IN) she weighed 17 lbs 14 oz and I got home a few weeks ago so she is probably over 18 lbs now. She rolls both ways and has started to sort of slither to get places. I honestly would have thought that the army crawl would have started last week the way her arms and legs move but she doesn't quite have them moving at the same time :) No teeth yet, both of my other girls had both bottom teeth by now - I know, I know every kid is different :) Obviously from this post she is no longer any where near sleeping through the night! All of her hair fell out (or was rubbed off) from rolling around so what she is left with is a bunch of hair that could look like a mohawk :) Neither Piper nor Violet ever had hair so that is different for me too. It takes a lot of will power not to cut it off :) Here is our big girl - looks like we just rolled out of bed!

Oh I am not sure if I posted about these fingers before but Ruby has found them and taken quite a liking to them :) No paci for this one she has a built in nuk unfortunately.

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Is it the weather?

You know it still is as hot as heck here so maybe. My life has been CRAZY the past month, self induced but still. The girls are at an age that they are testing Matt and I all.the.time, could that be it? No clue but I have been in a real funk lately. My camera sits lonely in its bag and my computer unused. I wish that I could say that I am living large and going here and there with the kids or running them ragged outside but that isn't true. We do a few projects every day and play with Ruby but I am too tired right now to play outside let alone going on field trips. Maybe I am just an old woman but I haven't been the same since I got back from our trip. My back is hurting again, I am just exhausted everyday, and I am yelling at the girls more. I was raised with yelling and I hate that I am doing the same thing right now. Some how I am going to have to figure out what is going on with me so that I can get my old life back. We have another small trip that we are taking over Labor Day and then Piper will start school the Wednesday after that. 2 years ago we tried preschool and it lasted less than 2 months. My heart isn't really in this and I wish that Piper didn't want to go as badly as she thinks she does. I owe it to these lovelies and my husband to get myself back to good again.

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Pretty Ballerina

How cool is the internet? It is hard to imagine that there was a time that it wasn't here. What did we do when we couldn't look something up and in seconds get back thousands of links to whatever we need? Sure we read about things, talked to people more, and hand wrote cards but that isn't what I am referring to. There are so many talented people out there that I would never have crossed paths with had it not been for the www. So thank you internet founders - I <3 you :)

Ok, yesterday I decided to try and make the girls a little holder for their hairbows to keep them all in one place. In my head what came to mind was a little piece of wood painted with a long ribbon glued on that would hang in their room. What I found were so many ideas on different holders that I had to actually choose which cool one I wanted to make. Of course living with 2 little prima ballerinas the choice sort of made itself. This mama on eHow gave a tutorial which I followed - so darned easy! I worked on it during naps yesterday and then after the girls went to bed so it was a surprise for them this morning, which by the way they LOVE IT! As I said in yesterday's post all of the things that I needed to make this were in the tarp room. Most of it was scraps from other projects that I just couldn't get rid of and yesterday they found their calling :) The only thing that I might do differently if I were to make one of these as a gift would be to add more tulle to make it fuller but I don't think it looks bad this way at all. Now that it is done though I can't get this ABBA song out of my head (Nina, Pretty Ballerina), I am going to be singing it all day long I just know it.

and in its home - the mirror in the picture is on Matt's "to do" list but it is a new addition :)



The only problem with me getting crafty is that I immediately want to do something else but today the house must get cleaned so my glue gun will be put away until further notice :)

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The Tarp Room

Seriously this room deserves its own post :) While we were on our crazy trip my husband and I kept in contact with texting, pictures, phone calls, and an occasional skype call. My favorites were the pictures we would send to each other - nothing x-rated but just a quick shot of something the other might be interested in. I purposely did not give Matt any sort of list to try and accomplish either, he knows what he needs to get done and I figured if he had time he would try and tackle a few projects. Here is one of like 5 pictures that he sent to me, it is a shot of our basement which has altogether too.much.crap in it but neither of us ever seem to go through any of it. You can't see any of the boxes can you? Nope! That would be b/c he has created a tarp room. It is about 6 feet wide by the entire length of that room long. Barely enough space to walk down but full of all sorts of things that we still want around but need "hidden".

You can imagine how disappointed I was to see the picture that said all he was doing was hiding our junk and secretly I have been fuming over it ever since I have been home. Walking by this eyesore I grit my teeth w/o even knowing I am doing it until I get by and realize. Today though I decided on a whim to start a project for the girls room and needed a few things. All be darned if I didn't head into the tarp room and find most of the things that I needed and then tonight I found the rest with his help. It still isn't the most organized room around but this is us we're talking about not neat people :) Gone are the feelings that I was holding and instead I am feeling happy. The alternative to this would be throwing away my craft and sewing stuff. I am thankful that he lets me hang on to these things so that on days like today I can create things. We might be pack rats but hey wait until you see what I made for them and all of the items were right here under our roof - well in the tarp room :)

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Finally

We are finally caught up on sleep but not quite yet from laundry from our tour :) Yesterday the girls and I hosted a summer party at our home. It has been HOT down here so we set up all the water toys and let the kids go. I had a great time and so did everyone else I think. The best part was it was a pot luck so we got a few new salad recipes out of the day. It was sort of busy for me so I didn't really get many pictures :( Thank you to Leslie who got this one and a few others for me at least. Check out the guilty look on Violet's face here though - was she eating the carrots that I put out for a snack or was she already in those Cheetos?

Today I woke up and remembered I had forgotten to take out the garbage from the party yesterday and as I was walking out to the road saw a beautiful sailor's sky and then as I was walking back to the house I noticed a full rainbow! Why no picture? The rain started while I was coming outside to take one :)

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Summer Tour 2009 - Wisconsin (take 2)

A friend told me that the photos did not work so I am trying again :) I am bummed b/c the other one actually had captions to say who everyone was :(

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

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Summer Tour 2009 - Indiana

We only stayed in Indiana for 2 nights but it was very nice to see a friend of mine that I haven't got a chance to see in about 5 years since she moved there. I have always been amazed watching her be a mom b/c it comes so naturally to her and this visit was no different. She is a beautiful mama inside and out and so are her kids! I wish we lived closer :( My kids immediately took to her w/o any shyness - amazing!

Hey, I know this face :)


Family Shot

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Summer Tour 2009 - Wisconsin

Hello Wisconsin!
We were trying to figure out how long it had been since I visited WI and I finally decided it was 8 years. It is crazy how much things change but how much they still stay the same. One afternoon while the kids were napping in the van I just drove around and checked things out. So many wonderful memories in the house that I grew up in unfortunately now very run down as it is a rental. I wish that the girls would have been awake to see the locks and watch how the boats go through it to get from the little lake to the big one. My great grandfather would ride his bike with us down there so that my sister and I could watch and it is a memory that I won't forget. The park that my great grandparents would take us to in the summer for swimming lessons, soft ball, and tennis lessons. My cousin from CA chose the same time to visit so I got to see her. I was able to enjoy some of the food that I so miss now that I don't live there anymore - a trip to the Valley wouldn't be the same w/o lunch at Mihm's :) It was pretty stressful at times b/c the girls were overly tired and cranky A LOT but everyone was more than happy to hold our Ruby so that I could deal with them :) This was a much needed visit and I had a wonderful time visiting with my whole Wisconsin Family.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

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Summer Tour 2009 - Ohio

Oh what fun the girls and I had visiting with their cousins in Ohio. Addi and Chloe had just been here in June so the girls knew good times were to be had when we visited with them at their home. Not only did they visit with cousins but also Great Grandparents. It is very important to me for them to meet their Great Grandparents and have memories with them since we are so far away. The girls had their first taste (and hopefully not last) of Marion's Pizza (can I say YUM!!) and also got to enjoy a wonderful afternoon at a local children's museum. The cherry on top of an almost perfect Ohio trip was an afternoon with Great Grandma Edith at her retirement home's fish fry - serious fun! We are talking (fried) fish, balloon animals, trains, swing sets, and caricatures which will be framed and hung very soon :) Rather than having a camera connected to me the entire time I instead visited more so there aren't many pictures from our trip. In fact I am not sure that I actually took any of these but w/o further ado here they are - The Ohio Stop :)

Cousins


Great Grandma Edith


Great Granny & Grandpa


Children's Museum


Lego Table Fun :)

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The 2009 Whirlwind Summer Tour of the Midwest

My husband tells me that I can do nothing easy - maybe. What started as the girls and I heading up to visit with the cousins in Ohio turned into a trip traveling 2050 miles, across 9 states (NC, VA, WV, OH, IN, IL, WI, KY, & TN), making 4 stops, in 17 days. Needless to say we are a bit tired as I type this :) The girls did fabulous though and we got a rare chance to see family and friends that we rarely get to see living so far away. For instance I got to see a cousin that I haven't seen since her wedding almost 16 YEARS ago and meet her beautiful 3 children :) Ruby was the easiest traveler of the bunch since she would literally fall asleep in anyone's arms who was holding her but the older girls got crabby skipping naps and not sleeping long enough at night. Piper developed a cold which Violet in turn caught and then to my surprise my poor babe got the same thing. I literally left the house we were staying at Wednesday morning at 4:30 am to get home to be told by our doctor it was just a cold. If you would have heard her breathe though you might have freaked as much as I did. FYI, I don't bring the girls to the doctor often, friends generally tell me "Maybe you should take *insert name here* to the doctor b/c that doesn't sound good". I guess it was how I was raised *shrugging shoulders* :)

Pictures to follow when I recover :)

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