Thanksgiving in Goliad

This year, we drove down to Goliad, TX for Thanksgiving with Aaron's family. We broke the drive up on the way down...but drove it in one day on the way home. We got to Goliad on Wednesday afternoon. We enjoyed an awesome Thanksgiving day with our wonderful Texas family. We had lunch at the Goliad Club, hosted by Aaron's grandma, Florine. There were probably close to 50 in attendance. It was neat because we got to meet Alec and Emma's twin cousins, Cooper and Collin, for the first time. Their other cousin, Cira, was also there. Alec and Emma are almost 20 mos old. Cira is 14 mos old and Cooper and Collin are 13 mos old. You can see the "Baby Patch" pictures with all 5 of them. Wow! There's something in the water, I guess! Afterward, the kids and I took a nap back at g'ma's house for almost 3 hours. Then we went to Aaron's other g'ma's house (Abuelita) for dinner. We all had an awesome time with all of the family, and definitely ate enough to last us a while.

Friday, Aaron's parents and brothers watched Alec and Emma while we did a little shopping in Victoria. We didn't get up for Black Friday...but we did battle crowds none the less. Also got to meet up with my good friend, Jenny, and G'ma Florine again in Victoria for a little while. We had BBQ at his Aunt Linda's later for dinner...but not until I forced us all to take "Christmas pictures" in front of G'ma Florine's house. You see, G'ma has moved into an assisted living apartment since her several back surgeries, and is planning to put her beautiful and historic old home on the market in the new year. This makes me sad, because it is a gorgeous plantation style Southern house and Aaron's family has made many wonderful memories there. In fact, I think he spent every single Christmas morning there as a child. We would love to buy it and make it our own...but I don't know that there are any IT positions open in Goliad! I wanted to have pictures of us as a family outside the house. The kids were super cranky and in desperate need of a nap by the time we got home from shopping, but we had to do it then because it wouldn't be light out after nap. So, Grandpa took some pictures of us out in front of the house and of the kids walking around the yard. I'm glad we have the memories...even though they didn't really want to cooperate for the family shots. I will post some...but I'm debating on whether to wait until after the Christmas cards go out!

Saturday after breakfast we hit the road. We made a stop in Houston for a few hours to see Tia V, and to try on my dress for the wedding and have it altered, and to have Emma fitted for her custom made dress. I know! What other little girl gets a dress custom made just for them? We hit some traffic heading out of Houston and a little congestion heading up I45 to Dallas...but nothing bad! We left Goliad at 9:15am and got home at 11:15pm. What a day! The kids were troopers. I don't blame them for getting cranky. It stinks being in the car that long. I just try to keep them entertained with books, music, dvds, food and hopefully...naps!

If you are reading this, I hope that you had a super Thanksgiving spent with family and friends. We have so much to be thankful for. We are so blessed!

At the club

With Uncle Alex

The Baby Patch- Alec trying to "sneak" off

Alec with Uncle NuNu (Andrew)

Pooped and parched at the end of a long day

5 Cousins

Emma, Collin, Alec, Cooper, Cira

All of us with Grandma Florine

At the club

My silly Alec

Emma and Uncle Alex

Alec and NuNu

Sleepy babies!

The Beginning

Yesterday, we bought potties at Walmart. Alec has a white and green one, and of course, Emma's is pink. From what I've read on potty training twins, it's advisable to have two potties. So, that's what we did. I'm starting VERY slowly. I don't want to dive into this wholeheartedly just yet because they aren't really ready. They aren't aware of needing to peepee yet. They can tell us if they are pooping or have a poopy diaper...but I don't think they are able to communicate the urges yet. (Sorry if this is freaking out people who don't have to deal with the "output" of others on a daily basis!) Also, we are making three trips to TX between now and the end of February. There is no way I'm going to get serious about this until those trips are out of the way.

But anyway, I thought a good place to start (pre-training, if you will) is just to have the kids follow me to the potty, watch me do my business, and start associating the words we use with what Mommy is doing. This morning, all I had to do was say, "Mommy has to go use the potty," and they followed me right into the bathroom. Right away, Alec pulled up the lid to his potty and sat down (we're just keeping our clothes on and learning that the potty is a place to sit to do our business for now). Emma soon followed suit. I was pretty pleased with pre-training lesson 1. :-)

Elf Yourself Videos

Okay, the two videos below are different. I've been wanting to do this for a while, after seeing versions with some of my friends. This is hilarious and totally entertaining to me. Hopefully, you'll get a good laugh too. Aaron's comment "umm...we all look normal, but Alec is totally white!" I'm pretty sure it's lighting, but he is my pretty pasty boy!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Headpiece Take Two

With flowers all the way around.

Big Shoes to Fill

Self explanatory! :-)

Flower Girls' Headpiece

Last night I worked on a flower girl headpiece for Emma...for Tia V's wedding. I glued the last little rhinestones in place this morning. Here are a few pictures. Reminds me of all of the headpieces and costumes I worked on for WAB...usually this time of year in preparation for Nutcracker. :-)

V~ let me know what you think. I only bought one base headband and made this one. Wanted to get your approval first. If this looks good, I will buy the other headband. I already have enough floral leftover to make the other one.

Hat Hunt for Veronica

Here are some pictures of Alec in his black velvet newsboy cap. Tia V has been dying to find him one for the wedding (the one that came with his suit is ridiculously small). Found this one at the Children's Place for under $4.00. Sweet! Here ya go, Tia...he even "cheesed" for you. :-)

A Little More Cheese, Please!

Hey everyone, I know it's been almost a whole week since I've posted, and I know you're itching for pictures or video or something. I've just had A LOT on my plate lately. This morning I caught a little bit of video of them playing in the foyer. I didn't even prompt them to say "cheese!" They just did it as soon as they saw me bring out the camera. At one point I think Emma says "love you" and then she repeats after me either saying "sorry" or "outside" because I told brother he couldn't go out the front door. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday, Uncle Alex!

Happy Birthday to YOU!
Happy Birthday to YOU!
Happy Birthday, Uncle Alex!
Happy Birthday to YOU!...and many more!!!

We love you, uncle! Have a super day! We can't wait to see you at Thanksgiving!

XOXO,
Alec & Emma

Happy Birthday, G'ma Wanda!!!

Today is G'ma Wanda's birthday! We wish we could be with her to help her celebrate, but we will be heading down to TX soon for the Thanksgiving holiday. We can't wait!!! We love you very much, G'ma and are sending you lots of hugs and kisses!!! Have a super day!

XOXO,
Alec & Emma :-)

Halloween Weekend

For some of you, this post will be disappointing. We didn't dress the kids up this year for Halloween. I know...gasp! Alec and Emma were both feeling puny for most of last week, and I wasn't convinced that they'd even feel well enough to take part in any festivities. So, I held off on buying costumes. But the other thing was that we were only planning on going to the Multiples Club Fall Festival anyway (for maybe an hour or so) because we didn't want to take them to Aaron's work trick or treat (too much exposure to other kid germs- there has been a TON of swine flu up here) when they were already kinda feeling bad AND I don't think they're ready for trick or treating. They just want to run anywhere and everywhere and don't want to be held...so that might have been tough. So, we just went to the Fall Festival because they were feeling okay (no fever...just runny noses) and they looked cute dressed as normal kids. We will do the whole big deal next year when they actually care about it and will remember.

We did have a rather busy weekend, however. Friday night we took some friends out to Monte Ne Chicken- a family style all you can eat fried chicken joint. Saturday we went to the gym and did the Fall Festival thing. Saturday afternoon we played, napped and Mommy cleaned and made some yummy fall food for another couple of friends that came over for dinner (Carmel Apple Pork Chops, Butternut Squash, French bread and Walnut Chocolate Chip cookies). Jess and I worked on organizing Angel Tree for our church. We made out the tree tags and prepared our master list of children to sponsor. That night, Alec was climbing across the couch and as Aaron was pulling him down, Alec managed to kick me HARD with his heel in my left eye. It still feels scratchy and hurts. It folded my contact in half over my eye and broke some blood vessels. I had to try so hard not to cry. Man...that kid has some strong legs.

Sunday, we enjoyed the extra hour that morning. The kids were able to get a nap in before church, which made the morning and afternoon much happier. When we ate at Lin's Garden Chinese buffet afterward, they weren't falling asleep at the table, so that was nice! We were a little annoyed that Lin's charged us for two "under 3" buffets. $2.75 each. They've never charged us before. We paid it though, because I felt like they totally at $2.75 worth of food each.

Sunday afternoon during playtime, both Alec and Emma managed to get a busted lip. Twins...they have to do whatever the other one does! Alec was wearing Daddy's coat and tripped and couldn't catch himself with his arms and face planted into the carpet, but his teeth busted his lip. Then later, Emma fell down in the foyer on the tile and did the same thing. They both bled profusely...looked like they'd lost teeth or something. He drooled blood on the rug and she drooled blood on a couch pillow. It made for a fun afternoon! They're fine though...and it didn't take long for the bleeding to stop and for them to get back to playing. Took longer for Mom to get the blood out of the pillow!

From the hours of 2am to 4:30am, Emma had issues. She woke up fussy, because she'd lost her paci (fell out of the crib on the floor). I gave it back to her and she was fine. Half hour later she was crying harder. I went in and cuddled her for a little while, but she didn't want to go back down. We laid on the couch together for a while, and she was happy until I tried to put her back to bed. Ended up bringing her to our bed, but she tossed, turned and kept sitting up awake. I don't think she felt bad. I changed her even though she wasn't really wet. I think she just had a little case of insomnia and didn't want to be alone. Finally, I did put her back down and let her cry it out. I think we finally all fell asleep around 4:30 or 4:45. Needless to say...I ignored my 5:45 run alarm. I figured she'd sleep late since she missed two plus hours of sleep, but nope, wide awake before 7:30. I'm still recovering, and so is Daddy. Luckily, Alec slept through the whole thing. Twins!

Thankfully, they are napping now. So, when this post is up, I'm going to go do my devotion...if I don't nod off. :-) Hope you all had a Happy Halloween!