Excuse the way sporadic posting. I'm SO BUSY getting everything done for the wedding. And I'm noticing that I have songs stuck in my head 24/7. This happens every time I'm super busy - I get a piece of a song stuck in my head during all my waking hours. When my big twins were tiny babies, I remember sitting on the bathroom floor rocking them at 3 a.m., singing in my head, Baby boy you stay on my mind, fulfill my fantasy...I think about you all the time and see you in my dreams..." Just that one line over and over. And when the latest twins were born, I was running around singing, "I'll tumble for ya...I'll tumble for ya...I'll tumble for ya, I'll tumble for you..." (don't ask! It must have been I Love the Eighties week on VH1 or something.) And for days, I've had that Mike Jones song in my head, just the spooky sounding chorus, over and over and over and over and over. And that new Kanye West song too, just the "Now I ain't sayin' she's a gold digga..." lines. Aughhhh! I'm ready to watch The Wiggles just to clear my head!

(Three more days until the wedding!!!)

Here is our wedding registry. But we really aren't expecting gifts!

Good Monday Morning!

We've been busting mofo crazy ass trying to get ready for the wedding. This weekend, I cleaned bathrooms and did tons of laundry. K and I got pedicures (praying they last until Saturday, because I have to take advantage of babysitting when I can get it!!) and I got my eyebrows waxed. We put a big couch up in the attic that someone (or a pair of girls!) can sleep on. We cleaned the family room, we decluttered the kitchen. We bought a fuckton of liquor, mixers, soda, plates, napkins, plastic forks and spoons, etc. Today, I'm taking the toddlers for haircuts.

Busy little bees, we are.

The steps still aren't done, but they're getting there.

The littlest baby still seems to be feeling like crap, and she's driving us all insane with her constant "hold me or I'll scream my head off" business.

We all watched the VMAs last night. I always associate the VMAs with the big twins' birthday, because we watched them the night before I went to the hospital to have them. Or maybe we recorded them because they were on while we were there? I really don't remember. But I know it all happened at the same time. Anyway. K and the man were both all atwitter over Eva Longoria's outfit - I missed it, because I was upstairs grabbing pajamas for the kids. What was she wearing? Also, didn't Kelly Clarkson put on a great show?? Even if you don't like her, damn - she really gave it her all and put on the best performance of the night, hands down. I happen to ADORE Kelly Clarkson - if she only had boobies, she'd be my favorite girl crush.

And all our folks were here yesterday and we had cake and ice cream for the kids' birthday. It isn't until tomorrow, but we did the cake over the weekend. I have presents here too, but we were too busy to open them. Hopefully tonight or tomorrow. Then I'll have cute pictures, if I have time to post them.

Okay, I need to run. I need to shut down this damned computer and stay away from it all day so I can get something done. It's hard enough to get anything done with a pair of two-year-olds and a pair of seven-month-olds running around all over the place. It's damned near impossible when I have to read blogs too! LOL! Have a nice day.

Little public service announcement, there.

I consider myself to be FAIRLY computer savvy - I can figure out damned near any technical support problem or hardware problem - but this printer baffles the shit out of me. From what I can tell, it is absolutely fucking impossible to print a picture unless it's

a. a picture you're scanning

or

b. a picture you have on your memory card.

I have eighty bazillion pictures on my hard drive, but can't fucking print any of them. Why? I don't know. The Epson interface gives me NO OPTIONS except scan to print or print from memory stick. The end, sorry, buh-bye, thanks for playing, please feel free to upload your prints to Walmart.com and print them there, because this printer sucks ass.

Don't buy the Epson Stylus Photo RX500 printer. IT BLOWS.

So, the playland at our mall opened a weekend or two ago, but we just got around to going today. I must say - it was delightful!! Usually it's HARD for me to take the kids to places like that because they run far off in opposite directions. This playland is just small enough that I can keep an eye on each kid, somehow. And there are benches all the way around it so they can't scamper off TOO quickly without my noticing. Best of all, hardly anyone knows it's open yet, so there weren't many people there. I think the big twins are getting a wee bit more mature, too, FINALLY, so when I holler at them, they will *usually* stop before running out into the mall. It was nice!

We also saw my mom for about 5 minutes. Shit, she mentioned that she bought something for the wedding and I should run by her house and get it on my way home. I totally forgot until this very moment. D'oh! It's hard to visit with her at work, because you know when you're working, you want to remain inconspicuous and not look like you're bullshitting with your daughter and four grandkids. But we're such a spectacle, that everyone in the store has to come over and see us. So I kept it short and sweet, and we just kissed hello and were on our way. The wee baby is grouchy today anyway, and any longer and she would have had a total meltdown.

Anyway - I just wanted to post that. Woohoo! I love it when we find a new, kid-friendly place to play. And this playland is nice! It has lots of neat stuff to climb on, plus a whole reading area with lots of nice books. Someone actually said to me quietly, "Those books won't be here for long with all these little Mexicans running around." !!!! I didn't say anything back to her, but she did look startled when I called for my son to come over and she heard his very Spanish name! People are such jackasses sometimes.

Have a splendid weekend. xoxo

This week has FLOWN by. Like all weeks.

My littlest baby had a high temp last night and slept off and on almost all day yesterday. Poor little bug. I hope she's feeling better this morning; she's still out cold! My big girl also had a low-grade fever and was cranky. Come on, kids, now is not the time to get sick!! I've been so lucky; my kids have only had a handful of illnesses. Last year K had perfect attendance! (But she had *cough* 23 tardies, so they didn't give her an award. Buttheads.)

The boy signed again yesterday for more juice. So far, all we seem to know is "more" - but hey, it's a start!! I'm so thrilled that he's trying to communicate with us, I'll take it. He and his sister spun around and around in circles last night for like TWENTY MINUTES. I was so worried they were going to puke on my carpet or something - ha! Honey got them on the video camera because they were being so goofy!

Have a nice Friday - I'm off to dive into some domestic slavery before the kids wake up!

I actually can cross a whole FLOOR OF MY HOUSE off the list of shit to do! Yay! Well, it's the third floor attic, so maybe that's not so impressive. But - it's all ready for houseguests! I vacuumed tonight and put fresh linens on the bed up there and blew up the air mattress and put sheets on it as well. Woot! I even vacuumed up the dead moths in the window. Don't you girlies feel special? I vacuumed just for you!!

And I ran one of our wedding invites down the street to our neighbors - been meaning to do that for a good month now. They had good ideas about how to keep the mosquitoes away, too - hope we can get rid of them for the wedding so we're not all slap-happy during the festivities!

And! I dusted every square inch of our formal living room today - all those damned dining room chairs - all the furniture - the china cabinet and curio cabinets - all the picture frames, etc. etc. etc. The itty bitty babies kept me company. We're getting there, people - we're getting there!!

Do you think that voice that goes, "Gooooooo, Doodlebops!" is the voice of PLANKTON???

Cute little meme, stolen from Bev and LaDonna. List the top 100 songs from the year that you graduated high school. (You can find lists at Music Outfitters) Bold the ones you actually like. Pick a favorite. Underline that favorite. And strikethrough the ones you loathe. Italicize the ones you consider to be guilty pleasures.

Top 100 Songs of 1990

1. Hold On, Wilson Phillips
2. It Must Have Been Love, Roxette
3. Nothing Compares 2 U, Sinead O'Connor
4. Poison, Bell Biv Devoe
5. Vogue, Madonna
6. Vision Of Love, Mariah Carey
7. Another Day In Paradise, Phil Collins
8. Hold On, En Vogue
9. Cradle Of Love, Billy Idol
10. Blaze Of Glory, Jon Bon Jovi
11. Do Me!, Bell Biv Devoe
12. How Am I Supposed To Live Without You, Michael Bolton
13. Pump Up The Jam, Technotronic
14. Opposites Attract, Paula Abdul
15. Escapade, Janet Jackson
16. All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You, Heart
17. Close To You, Maxi Priest
18. Black Velvet, Alannah Myles
19. Release Me, Wilson Phillips
20. Don't Know Much, Linda Ronstadt and Aaron Neville
21. All Around The World, Lisa Stansfield
22. l Wanna Be Rich, Calloway
23. I Remember You, Skid Row
24. Rub You The Right Way, Johnny Gill
25. She Ain't Worth It, Glenn Medeiros Featuring Bobby Brown
26. If Wishes Came True, Sweet Sensation
27. The Power, Snap
28. (Can't Live Without Your) Love and Affection, Nelson
29. Love Will Lead You Back, Taylor Dayne
30. Don't Wanna Fall In Love, Jane Child
31. Two To Make It Right, Seduction
32. Sending All My Love, Linear
33. Unskinny Bop, Poison
34. Step By Step, New Kids On The Block
35. Dangerous, Roxette
36. We Didn't Start The Fire, Billy Joel
37. I Don't Have The Heart, James Ingram
38. Downtown Train, Rod Stewart
39. Rhythm Nation, Janet Jackson
40. I'll Be Your Everything, Tommy Page
41. Roam, B-52's
42. Everything, Jody Watley
43. Back To Life, Soul II Soul
44. Here and Now, Luther Vandross
45. Alright, Janet Jackson
46. Ice Ice Baby, Vanilla Ice
47. Blame It On The Rain, Milli Vanilli
48. Have You Seen Her, M.C. Hammer
49. With Every Beat Of My Heart, Taylor Dayne
50. Come Back To Me, Janet Jackson
51. No More Lies, Michel'le
52. Praying For Time, George Michael
53. How Can We Be Lovers, Michael Bolton
54. Do You Remember, Phil Collins
55. Ready Or Not, After 7
56. U Can't Touch This, M.C. Hammer
57. I Wish It Would Rain Down, Phil Collins
58. Just Between You and Me, Lou Gramm
59. Something Happened On The Way To Heaven, Phil Collins
60. Black Cat, Janet Jackson
61. Can't Stop, After 7
62. Janie's Got A Gun, Aerosmith
63. The Humpty Dance, Digital Underground
64. I'll Be Your Shelter, Taylor Dayne
65. Free Fallin', Tom Petty
66. Giving You The Benefit, Pebbles
67. Enjoy The Silence, Depeche Mode
68. Love Song, Tesla
69. Price Of Love, Bad English
70. Girls Nite Out, Tyler Collins
71. King Of Wishful Thinking, Go West
72. What Kind Of Man Would I Be?, Chicago
73. Get Up! (Before The Night Is Over), Technotroic
74. Here We Are, Gloria Estefan
75. Epic, Faith No More
76. Love Takes Time, Mariah Carey
77. Just Like Jesse James, Cher
78. Love Shack, B-52's
79. All Or Nothing, Milli Vanilli
80. Romeo, Dino
81. Everybody Everybody, Black Box
82. I Go To Extremes, Billy Joel
83. Whip Appeal, Babyface
84. Oh Girl, Paul Young
85. C'mon and Get My Love, D-Mob With Cathy Dennis
85. (It's Just) The Way That You Love Me, Paula Abdul
87. We Can't Go Wrong, Cover Girls
88. When I'm Back On My Feet Again, Michael Bolton
89. Make You Sweat, Keith Sweat
90. This One's For The Children, New Kids On The Block
91. What It Takes, Aerosmith
92. Forever, Kiss
93. Jerk Out, Time
94. Just A Friend, Biz Markie
95. Whole Wide World, A'me Lorain
96. Without You, Motley Crue
97. Swing The Mood, Jive Bunny and The Mastermixers
98. Thieves In The Temple, Prince
99. Mentirosa, Mellow Man Ace
100. Tic-Tac-Toe, Kyper

I feel like I have nothing to blog about except how my kids behaved at Wal-Mart and what some dork said to me at Sam's Club and how we played outside today. Boring ass life, that's what I have! Well, it's not boring to me, after all, I'm ::sniff:: shaping young minds!! But I'm sure to anyone observing it, it's pretty fecking yawn-worthy.

Anyway! That's what you get. We went to Sam's/Wal-Mart today. The kids were being hellions before we got to the second store, so I kept them in the stroller and WALKED across the parking lot, across the street, across the other parking lot, to the other store. Seemed like a good idea to get them out in the sunshine and fresh air, and I think it did help them. It sure as fuck didn't help ME, though, sweating my ass off in the heat, pushing a stroller full of kids. When I was checking out at Sam's, the lady behind me looked around me to see what I had in my stroller, and she goes, "THOSE aren't all YOURS, are they? NO. Can't be. Daycare, right?" Like, who the fuck runs a daycare and takes all the kids to Sam's Club? Would anyone do that?? I smiled and said no, they're all mine. "REALLY? My GOD, you've GOT YOUR HANDS FULL! You are a BRAVE WOMAN bringing all those kids shopping." I just said, "Well, it's that or starve." and went on my merry way. I know I bitch about this all the time, and I'm starting to think maybe I'm too sensitive. Am I? Or does that seem like a pretty rude comment? Maybe it's just me. Maybe it's just that I get half a dozen, "You've got your hands full!" comments minimum every time I walk out the door. It just gets old quickly, I guess. I think what bugs me the most is that people act as if I owe them a mini-conversation and a chance to gawk at my kids, just because we dared to enter the store. When you see a toddler having a tantrum, do you approach the parent and start going, "What's wrong with him?" God, no. You probably just move on quickly. Or give a knowing, empathetic glance. Or even think to yourself, "What a brat. Thank God he's not mine." But you probably wouldn't ever think to APPROACH THE CHILD and start getting in their face, would you? Yet that's what people do when the tantruming child is part of a set of twins. All the time. Annoying as hell! Go away!!

Well, guess I had a little ranting to do, there. Ha! After we came home, I put all the shit away and took all four kids in the backyard to play. I set up the sand and water table for the first time, and the kids really liked it! They got SOAKED to the bone, though. We played outside for a long time - probably over an hour. Now everyone is eating dinner and I'm sitting here wishing it were bedtime, because everyone's on my nerves and I have a headache. Peh!!

Just think, next week at this time, I'll be freaking out because the wedding's in three days.

People have asked to see our wedding invitation and I'm afraid I'm going to forget to post it before the wedding, so here it is:



Thanks, Echo!

So, it's Tuesday. Playgroup day! One of the moms called me last night and said we were going to the park in K's dad's old neighborhood. It practically butts up against the back of his house! They've been going there a lot, like it's their new favorite park. I can't figure out why? It's not that close to anyone, and it's not super remarkable in any way? I haven't gone to any of those playgroup days, for one reason or another, but I think we're going to go today. I just hate making that trip down memory lane!! I don't need to invent a reason to hang out in my old neighborhood, y'know? Oh well. We'll have fun anyway!

The speech evaluation was great!! I learned SO MUCH. And I got teary a couple of times too. The speech pathologist was a woman who was so nice and she took all the time in the world to observe my children. After we finished up in her office, she sat and played with the big kids in the stroller while I fed the girls some bottles, so she could have extra time to spend with my boy.

She said he's not just behind in speech, but in his motor skills too. I was surprised at first, because the child climbs everything in the world, but as soon as she pointed it out, I saw it too. He is clumsy and has a harder time than his sister with fine motor skills like placing cars on a track or opening doors and drawers. She said when we worked on that, his verbal skills would catch right up.

She also said one of his bigger issues is his lack of "partner play" skills. He really is a loner - he doesn't want to or like to play with other people, so he has no NEED to communicate. So we're going to work on that too. And she gave me the numbers to call for the programs we need to get him into.

Neatest of all, though, was...while we were in her office, she held up a book with four pictures on each page and said, "Where's the cookie?" and he pointed right to it. I have never, ever seen him communicate like that. He has never pointed to anything until today. So that made me happy. AND! Biggest thing of all!! While they were in the stroller playing with a toy, taking turns putting blocks inside a cube thing, he did the sign for "more" - I had NO IDEA any of the signs we were doing were even getting through to him. He clearly signed more when he wanted another block. I was stunned! It brought tears to my eyes to see him do it!

She said we should really push the sign language and lots of one on one play and playtime along with his sisters, taking turns and stuff. I feel great after getting some concrete answers!

Good Monday Morning!

The boy is seeing a speech pathologist today. We had a hearing test done about two weeks ago, which he passed with flying colors, so it's time for us to see someone else. People keep telling me he'll speak when he has something to say, that he lives in a house with four sisters who do all his speaking for him, that boys typically talk later, blah blah blah. I keep thinking: he's two. Or will be two, a week from tomorrow. He should be saying SOMETHING, but he says NOTHING. He says no words. None. The occasional "dada", but not directed at his daddy or anything, just babbling. He doesn't say no or Elmo or bye bye or milk or cup or night night or anything that his sister says. She is talking like crazy now, and he says no words at all. So, we'll see what the speech pathologist has to say.

A rather unproductive weekend here. The mister got a few things done, but he still hasn't finished the steps - a rather significant part of the Big Backyard Project. K had two friends spend the night; one on Friday and one on Saturday. We did end up watching Because of Winn Dixie on Saturday night. It was a great movie. I loved the message behind it. K had already read the book, so I guess it wasn't a big deal that she fell asleep and missed the ending! I did get a few things put away in the kitchen that were bugging me. I'm trying to put away non-essential stuff for the wedding so you don't see, like, baby wash and the bottle drainer and my tiny food processer in the background of photos. LOL!

I'm hoping I can find some time here and there this week to get the attic all cleaned up and ready for our houseguests. Our nanny doesn't have much time for us now that she's started working at her real job! I hope she can give us a few hours this week! The kids miss her.

Well, hell, I'd better get my ass in gear so we aren't late for the appointment. Have a nice Monday!

Well! The attic is still uninhabitable, but I HAVE cleaned out my silverware drawer and washed the cutlery tray, dammit. You have to take what you can get sometimes when you're tied down by all these children. One step closer to being Ready For The Wedding. Clean silverware drawer. Go, me.

On days like today, I wish I would have opted for a puppy instead.

Don't worry. I'm sure in a few hours, I'll be back to my sweet, patient self again. ha!

So. Blogrolling took a shit today, huh? Hope it comes back soon.

I went to the market yesterday, but forgot that honey brought home a huge crate of peaches someone gave him at work. I wanted to make cobbler, so we had to run back out to the supermarket again today for baking powder and cornstarch. We got some gas, we were in and out of the market, and on our way back home, when I realized - hey, it's Friday! Garage sales! I saw two on the way home. One had just a few things - I got my big girl some of those sparkly dressup shoes, y'know what I'm talking about? They don't even match. LOL! She doesn't care. And the lady just gave them to me, so - good deal. Then I found another sale with lots and lots of toys. Score! Fucking bitch lady pissed me OFF, though! This old lady with a beehive hairdo tried to charge me TEN DOLLARS for about four dollars worth of toys. I had two stick ponies, one of those pushalong popcorn popper toys, a little ball with beads in it, and one of those wire balls with beads on it you can wind through the ball like a little roller coaster. Stuff you wouldn't expect to pay more than a dollar apiece for at a garage sale. And it was all filthy, too. She goes, "How 'bout ten dollars?" with a big smile. I glanced in my wallet and said, "How about six?" We dickered for a minute and she said, "Look, this is for a mission trip to Mexico. We can bend a LITTLE, but..." and the black dude with her said, "Six is fine." He took my money and I was on my way. Like I give a shit about their mission trip! I'm sure all their filthy toys were donated, so any cent they make is money toward their trip - they don't need to be ripping people off, charging way more money than the stuff is worth!! I should have told her that people who shop at garage sales are POOR LIKE ME, and don't have money to be throwing toward their mission trip. Every cent we have practically goes toward diapers and formula and baby food, so don't be tellin' me about trying to raise money for a trip. Nobody's raising money on OUR behalf, dammit! Ugh. I HATE when people try to charge an arm and a leg for USED crap. Hello? It's USED. I don't know the history of it; it might work great, or it might have fallen out of your pickup on the way here. Y'know? OH! And the lady goes, "All these toys are brand new!" HA! What? Are you high? They're dirty? Filthy! With little scratches and stuff! Like ALL garage sale crap! Sell it for a dollar, like the rest of the population, don't be giving me this "It's all new!" bullshit. Woman, please. I am the queen of the garage sales, I know what this shit is selling for three streets over!! I just said, "It doesn't LOOK new." I should have said, "If it's new, then LICK IT." ROFL!

Good morning! This is the first day out of about seven where one of the girls didn't wake up in the middle of the night or at the buttass crack o' dawn. Yay! Of course, I woke up earlier than I wanted to because honey's stupid mofo alarm kept going off and off and off and off. His old one broke, so he's using this lame clock, and isn't sure of all the functions on it. I was ready to throw it out the window this morning! But still, I went back to sleep for another half hour or so after he left for work, and for the first time in DAYS, I feel fairly well rested!! But alas, I hear kids whining, so it must be breakfast time. I'll type fast.

K's first week of school has gone great. She really likes her teacher a lot and seems to be digging the routine. I'm one of those old school moms who believes all people function better when they have a specific routine to stick to. I think that's why summer vacation throws so many of us into a tailspin and we can't seem to catch our own asses or get anything done! Everyone always seems so happy when school starts back up!

Tonight, K and I have a date to watch the movie Because of Winn-Dixie. I bought it solely from Cindy's review of it back when she took Shannon to see it at the theater. She said it was one of her new favorite movies of all time! So I think K and I will enjoy it. We've been wanting to watch it all week, but our evenings are fucking chaos, dude. Nobody can sit down and watch a movie!! But since it's Friday and she can stay up late, we're going to watch it at 9 p.m., right after the big twins go to bed. I told her we'd even make popcorn. Yay!

Oh, and all of a sudden, I'm hating having long hair. Why, I don't know. I guess I'm just sick of wearing it UP every single day. Every day, it's up in a little claw clippy, because the kids pull it and it ends up in my mouth and in my eyes and stuff and bugs the shit out of me. I'm seriously thinking (after the wedding!) about going back to a cute little bubble bob. Every time my hair gets to this length, it starts to feel like curtains anyway, just hanging there around the sides of my head. Sucks having straight hair sometimes!

I'm making lasagna in the crockpot tonight. I know it sounds bizarre to make LASAGNA in the crockpot, but it actually comes out AWESOME! I have a terrific recipe I use. Here it is if you wanna try it!

Crockpot Lasagna

1 lb. lean ground beef
1 (26 to 28 oz.) jar tomato pasta sauce
1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
1/2 (9 oz.) pkg. (about 8) no-boil lasagna noodles
1 (1-lb.) jar Alfredo pasta sauce
12 oz. (3 cups) shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese

Brown ground beef and drain.

Spray a 4 to 5-quart crockpot with nonstick cooking spray. Spread 3/4 c. of the tomato pasta sauce in the bottom of the sprayed crockpot. Stir the remaining tomato pasta sauce and the can of tomato sauce into the ground beef.

Layer 3 lasagna noodles over the sauce in the crockpot, breaking noodles as necessary. Top with 1/3 of the Alfredo pasta sauce, spreading evenly. Sprinkle with 1 c. of the mozzarella cheese. Top with 1/3 of the ground beef mixture, spreading evenly.

Repeat the layers twice, using 2 noodles in the last layer. Sprinkle parmesan cheese over top.

Cover and cook on low for 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 hours.

Okay, have a spectacular Friday and a marvelous weekend. I'm getting married in fifteen days and have ten bazillion things to do, so hopefully you won't see me on here until Monday morning. Bye!

I know you're all dying to see pictures of our yard, after I've bitched about it all summer long!

The girls wore jeans and shoes for the first time yesterday!




My boy on his trike - guess I don't take them outside often enough, huh? I never could get him to turn around!




The big girl swinging:







...And walking across the grass. Both kids really liked walking in the grass!




This is my new favorite plant. It's called Agastache. (Ag-uh-stah-chee.) It's very drought tolerant, looks pretty, and the blooms smell like rootbeer!




The yard from the back corner:



And from (almost) the opposite corner. There's still yard behind me, but I was trying to get a picture of both the arbor and the trellis.



The patio, with our furniture - we ate out there last night for the first time!




The boy playing in the sand in the one part of the yard that still needs bark:




Swinging makes you all tuckered out!




All the girls on the swingset:










My whole family!




And here is the back fence - you can see the man's trailer back there.




Neat, huh? Everything you see there - everything - and lots of stuff you CAN'T see - was done by That Man of Mine. He did the sprinkler system, put in all the fences, did 100% of the landscaping, laid the walkways, built the trellis - everything.

Because you know what I'm going to post? Pictures of my yard! Lots of them! Complete with pictures of my children playing out there! It'll be spectacular! You'll laugh! You'll cry! You'll say, "I want to come to your wedding and hang out there, Laura!" and then I'll send you my address and you'll come. You might have some cake. It'll be fun.

<---- More over there. :-)

So, do you have any idea how OLD I feel all of a sudden, with a FIFTH GRADER? Who is TEN years old? And wearing a bra? Yeah. I'm trippin.

K's first day of 5th grade went well. She was SOOO cute, too. Sorry no picture - she changed clothes as soon as she walked in the door! She REALLY likes her teacher, who has a reputation for being strict. I like the "strict" thing! I think strict teachers are great for flaky 5th graders. I really do. I think she'll learn a lot this year.

This year, they have P.E. one day a week. ONE DAY. I told her when I was in 5th grade (and pretty much every year of elementary school) we had P.E. three days a week. And every day in Junior High! They have "specials" now - dig the cutesy name - P.E., music, art, recess, and computer class. One of those every single day. I think it sucks that they only have ONE DAY in each thing. What are they doing the rest of the time, considering she's going back in the middle of August and not getting out until the second week in June? She said the P.E. teacher "worked our BUTTS off, mom! She said she was going to work us hard since we only see her one day a week. I had to do 38 pushups!!" Ha. Good.

Also, her teacher runs the student council, and I think K's going to join. I think it'd be good for her. As long as it doesn't require, y'know, staying after school or anything! LOL!

Today, they were starting their unit in science. K was excited about that. She digs science. And, the teacher was telling me they were doing a lot of cooking experiments to help learn about scientific stuff. Yay! K loves cooking, so she'll really like that a lot.

I'm feeling excited for her to be starting her last year of elementary. Next year, she's going to middle school - a whole new world! I have to live out my "back to school" excitement through my kids now that I'm all done with school. Sigh. No more new Trapper Keepers in my future.

So, guess what? Our backyard is done! I mean, done! Did I say it was done? I meant, it was DONE. Honey still needs to finish building the steps, but hey, the kids can go out and play! The fence is finished and the window wells are covered. We have grass! Big wheels! A sand and water table! A swing set! He finished the last bit of fence about ten last night. I was looking forward SO MUCH to taking the kids out to play in their beautiful backyard for the first time, and now it's raining. Ha! Thanks, Mother Nature, you big fat bitch!

In other news, I took the kids to a petting zoo. There was no petting, as I wouldn't let go of either toddler's hand. Miss M was scared to death by a pig chasing a goat, which was kind of funny. And I didn't get any decent pictures, because it's hard to take a picture when you're holding onto two toddlers. Oh well. Next time!

I'm tired today! Nikki was having issues last night, and was up about three times between midnight and 1:30, when I finally took her and got into K's bed with her so we didn't wake anyone else up. (Don't worry, K was at her dad's house. LOL!) She eventually went back to sleep in her own bed for the rest of the night, but I'm tired as hell today and both baby girls are cranky - so is their big sister, who I'm sure had a bad night listening to the whining.

And I'm having a hard time transitioning the baby girls into daytime napping. One of them will fall asleep okay and the other fights it like hell, kicking and screaming in her crib, even though she's exhausted. So both are up. Why can't I have a six-bedroom house??? I'm currently listening to them crying on the baby monitor. Oh, what fun! STFU and go to sleep, little girls!

They opened up a kids' play area (like the giant food play area at the snobby mall) at our mall, and I thought about taking all the kids over today to check it out, but I just don't see it happening. Being tired or SOMETHING has turned all but one into the spawn of Satan, I swear. I don't want to unleash the rage on the general public just yet. I'd rather suffer here in my own house.

Hey, guess what? The yard is basically done. Honey put the lattice up on the fence and built little covers for the basement window wells. If he hadn't miscalculated how much lattice he needed, the kids could go out and play. But - he was short two pieces and some of the fence is still open. Maybe it'll get all fixed up tonight. I hope? I think going outside in the sunshine would help these kids run the bugs out of their butts! I'm loving the yard, though. I mean, from inside the house anyway. No that I've spent any time out there. But from in here, it looks really nice. The trellis over the patio is beautiful, and it makes it so much nicer inside - it creates just enough shade that the sun isn't in everyone's eyes at the breakfast table.

:::edit:::

Okay, it's like, seven hours later. Ha! The kids were being fucking HELLIONS and I had to save that to draft. Thankfully, the nanny was here today for a couple of hours, and as soon as she walked in, I got the hell out of dodge!! I went to Target and bought storage bins for the playroom. And Swedish fish. I talked on the phone with Kim. I got a Cheezy Gordita Crunch. All was well. I picked up K from her first day of 5th grade and we came on back home. The kids had a better afternoon than morning. Now I'm going to take a wee little nappy, because I'm sleepy as hell, dude.

Yay, only 3 hours and 25 minutes until bedtime!

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention: one year ago today - fittingly, on Friday the 13th - I found out that the little baby we were expecting was bringing a friend along.

My post from one year ago, after heading to the hospital with what I thought was a gallbladder attack:

I'm okay. I guess.

I went to the doctor, who poked and prodded and listened and then sent me to the ER. She thought my symptoms sounded like a gallbladder problem, and was worried about a possible blood clot because of the pain I was having in my shoulder and chest. Great way to spend a Friday night! We got home about 1 a.m. Thankfully, after we sat there with the babies for close to 2 hours, P left and his mom met him at our house so she could put the babies to bed and he could come back to the hospital to babysit me.

They didn't find any blood clot. They didn't find evidence of gallstones either, so I either don't have them or they are really tiny and didn't show up on the ultrasound. I got to see pretty much my entire body on ultrasound last night. Both my legs, from my groin to my ankle, my lungs, my liver, pancreas, spleen, stomach...and my uterus. The doctor decided as long as I was having everything looked at, they might as well take a look and make sure the baby was okay.

I was stunned by what they found. Unfortunately, P wasn't with me - he was on his way back to the hospital - so I heard the news by myself. The technician was taking an awfully long time to make sure the baby looked okay, and I could tell by her expression that something was up. She said she wasn't supposed to tell me anything, that the doctors are only supposed to tell me what the results were, but I insisted. The baby is fine. Both babies are fine. Yes, we're having twins again.

Fucking shocked doesn't begin to describe how I felt. On the upside, I completely forgot about the pain I was in - I couldn't feel a damned thing. I think I was totally numb. I haven't even wrapped my head around what it's going to be like to have four children under 18 months of age. I can't even fathom having two newborns again, along with two toddlers. I'm going to be honest here: while I'm beginning to get used to the idea, I was terribly disappointed and angry when I first found out. I felt like the rug was completely pulled out from underneath me. It's one thing to find out at 6 weeks, it's another to find out at 4 months. We only have a few months to prepare, and it's going to mean a MAJOR reshuffling of bedrooms. Hell, the brand new van in my driveway isn't even going to hold all of us now.

I know after I get over the shock of it all and get past my "selfish" dream of being able to have a normal pregnancy and birth and be able to breastfeed (please don't leave me comments about how women breastfeed their twins all the time; I honestly don't want to hear it. I know exactly what I am capable of physically, and breastfeeding twins is not on the list. It wasn't on the list when I only had TWO babies to care for, let alone four.) and cherish having just one tiny baby - while it's been fantastic having twins, there is a lot they (and I) have missed out on that I got to have with K because there was only one of her. I was really looking forward to going through all that again with just ONE baby. I think once I get past that and realize how special TWO FRIGGIN SETS OF TWINS is, I'll be okay. It may take me a little while, though.

So, that's the big update. Surprised? (Not as surprised as me, I'll bet!!)

And thus began our journey into becoming parents of multiple multiples! I remember vividly how shocked and downright ANGRY I was at the news! Now, honestly, I can't even imagine life without one of the girls! They were just supposed to be here together I guess, and now here they are, big and healthy and happy. Just part of the family!

Gahhh, my head hurts today. And my back hurts, like every day. And my hip hurts when I walk up the stairs. Bitch, bitch, bitch. I read something recently somewhere, I can't remember where - it was a quote from George Clooney, where he said he thinks everyone has a year where they age a whole decade, and this was his year. Well, this is my year too. It's frustrating, because even though I've always been heavy, I've never ACHED all the time. I don't know if it's just being 32 or being heavy or going through two twin pregnancies so close together - maybe the combination of those things, plus the fact that I'm trying to catch up on two years of lost sleep - but my body hurts so much all the time!! It's really frustrating.

Well. Three weeks from today, I'm going to become Mrs. Laura N. I'm trying to work on the attic a little, and get it to where people can sleep up there comfortably! My dad and I went shopping for a ceiling fan today and he's installing it for me. We have central air, but a third floor with vaulted ceilings just gets hot and stuffy, even with AC. I really hope the ceiling fan helps. I also bought curtain rods for the three tiny windows - now I need to find something to put ON them. It's very bright up there, which makes it hard to sleep. One of the ladies from playgroup said she has a couple of air mattresses we can borrow. I have a twin size air mattress already, and a double bed up there. I'm sure we'll figure it all out!

It's rainy and cold here, which isn't really conducive for getting yard work done! Honey took yesterday off and got a fuckton of stuff done, so he's not feeling too badly about the wasted weekend. Today he's at the rental unit doing a walk-through with our new renter, and tomorrow he has to go meet with a friend of ours who is getting married the week after us, because he's DJing their wedding. Always something!!

And my inlaws are spending the night tonight because they're in town today for a wedding. I think I'm making fajitas for dinner, along with refried beans and Spanish rice. Hope they turn out okay! I get SO nervous making Mexican food for my inlaws!! I should just order pizza!!

And I have a MOUNTAIN of dirty laundry. Are you sick of me bitching about the laundry? Because I never have figured out a system for that. You know, the doing of the laundry while the washer and dryer are upstairs and the kids are downstairs. It just doesn't work.

Anyway, the kiddies are finishing up lunch and the little bittie babies are getting up from their naps, so I need to jet. Have a delightful Saturday and a marvelous Sunday, and I'll see you again on Monday!

P.S. Any wedding music for me?

I'm starting to wig out about the wedding. It's THREE WEEKS FROM TOMORROW. The yard isn't done. It's ALMOST done, but you know that thing about "almost" - it only counts in horseradish and applesauce or something. Augh! I hate when I forget sayings. LOL! I'm still not sure what we're doing for food. I don't have the music ready yet. Thanks to Joelle, I have some terrific ideas, but none is sticking yet. Do you have the perfect walking down the aisle song for me? If so, hook me up, dammit. Send me the mp3, upload it to your site, or at the very least, mention it in the comments so I can track it down in my free (ha!) time. I'm also still freaking out about something happening to my four babies while we're doing weddingy stuff. I know I have three friends coming to help baby-wrangle, and countless other family and friends here to help as well, but I'm still freaking out about choking hazards and baby gates accidentally left open and "I thought YOU were watching him!" while my boy plays in the street. Ack! Someone tell me it'll all work out just fine.

Something sort of funny happened when I was leaving Sam's Club the other day. I was parked between a big behemoth Dodge truck and a little SUV, like a Nissan Pathfinder or something. Evidently, all three of us were exiting the store at the same time - three moms with kids. The Pathfinder lady started chatting with me about my stroller - the typical, "Wow, that's a great stroller! I've never seen one like that!" remarks we get every time we go anywhere. I was talking with her for a moment when we got to our vehicles - she was pregnant with two little kids in her Sam's cart - when the Dodge truck lady started up her truck. It was a diesel, and it scared the crap out of both of us and all the kids. It was so fucking loud!! It sounded like a semi or something. Obnoxious vehicle!! LOL! Apologies to anyone who owns a diesel, but it's time you knew the truth: your vehicle is loud and obnoxious! Ha!

So I guess the truck lady just started it up to get the A/C going for her kid, because then she got out and started unloading her cart. I was telling the Pathfinder lady where I got my stroller and she goes, "I'm sorry, I didn't hear a word you said because of that loud-ass truck!!" and the Dodge lady looked over, then she stepped toward us and said, "Did you say something about my truck?" and the Pathfinder lady goes, "Yeah, I said it was LOUD!" and the Dodge lady goes, "Well, THAT was pretty rude!!" and the Pathfinder lady goes, "I'm sorry, was I being rude to your truck? Did I hurt its feelings? Do you want me to apologize to it?"

I was cracking up, man! By this time, I had all my stuff in the van and the kids strapped in, so I left them to their bickering. But it was like, the funniest thing I'd heard in ages. I giggled all the way home.

Stay at home moms, man. Our lives are so dull we have to invent drama at the Sam's Club!!

It's time to meet the Muppets on the Muppet Show tonight!

I went to Sam's Club today for milk and apple juice and shitty pizza and guess what they had there? The Muppet Show, Season One on DVD. Yaaaaaaaaay! (That was my Kermit "yay.") And the cover is green and fuzzy. Hee!

I can't WAIT to watch it.

And since the man is ditching me tonight to go to a concert, I think I'm going to watch it by myself!

Guess what I did yesterday? I actually bought some stuff for our BEDROOM - the one room of the house that has never been decorated in any way whatsoever. Well...we did paint it before we moved in, which is the only thing keeping it from being just horrid. We have our computers in here - tons of CDs and computer equipment - BOXES of office supplies...It would be terrific if we had a home office! At the same time, though, I like having our computers right here so we can get online right before bed. I never liked being online late at night in my living room when I lived at my townhouse. Anyway. The bedroom has looked like total shit since we moved in. We even had honey's old, comfortable, UGLY comforter on the bed. Well, it's not UGLY - it's just - plain. So, I bought a new comforter, some curtains, and some candle holder/sconce thingies for the wall. It looks pretty! The man was so impressed! Here it is:



(If I had a heart-shaped headboard, it could be that bed from The Sims!)

Today is playgroup. I hope it works out today that we can go, because we missed it last week due to immunizations, and the kids have been sort of bouncing off the walls all week. I really think they missed seeing the kids and going to the park. The chick who sort of heads it up has sold her house in my neighborhood (wah!) and the closing is TODAY, so I'm feeling doubtful that she'll be there. And I don't know if anyone else will call me. I feel so bad for these two girlies - the two moms I first met a few months ago who told me about playgroup. They live just two houses apart and they're very close, and so are their little girls. I know the one who's staying is pretty devastated that her friend is moving away! We can all still get together for playgroup and stuff, but it's not the same as having someone right there to call on at any time. Poor chickees.

I'm getting antsy about the wedding. I feel like I am so disorganized about the whole thing, and it's bugging me. I need to make final plans for the food still. My, uh...stepmother-in-law offered to make a couple of big lasagnas and a big salad, but I'm not really going for that and neither is the mister. First of all, it seems like messy food to be eaten at a party. Secondly, I'd like to get it all catered! LOL! It IS our wedding; I don't want it to resemble a potluck TOO much. I'm still leaning toward trays from Sam's Club. I'm trying to remember waaaaaay far back in my memory, about twelve years or so, when I had my ex-sister-in-law's wedding reception in my backyard. What food did we fix? I can't even remember! I guess I've blocked that little memory out. Just as well, she was such a little twat and her wedding day was a pain in my ass. I do remember that.

Speaking of the wedding, I'm having a dilemma. I need a song to have for the "walking down the aisle" part of the wedding. You know, the "Here comes the bride" song. Except I don't like that song. Any ideas? I want something more...summery, y'know? Maybe reggae-ish? I would love any ideas - or even MP3s! Thrown my way. Let me know, people. Help a girl out.

Oooh, and I had a Shopping Coup happen the other day. Ha! I grocery shopped WITHOUT my stroller!! We stopped at Albertson's to get some good steaks, and they have the most kickass bomb-diggity shopping carts for little kids that I've ever seen. They have this little area up front, way low to the ground, for two kids. With little seatbelts and steering wheels. (Our cart was a firetruck, but I also saw a blue cart that looked like a WHALE!!) Then, there's still the seat area in the basket like on a standard shopping cart. See, usually if they have an added on area like that for two kids to ride, they eliminate the seat that's near the handle. But not on these carts! So I put the two baby girls in the seat part, facing each other. They just fit. It was precious. And we shopped! It was overpriced as hell, but delightful!!

In other news: my littlest baby FINALLY cut her first tooth yesterday. Two months after her twin sister!

Have a spectacular Tuesday. :-)

I've recently made some life changing discoveries. No, seriously, LIFE CHANGING. I know that being married to a douchebag for a whole decade of my life left me seriously lacking in the pop culture department, but how is it that I missed what a GIFT Seinfeld was to the world? My ex HATED that show, so we never watched it. Consequently, I'd only seen about half a dozen episodes - not enough to realize what I was missing. But a couple of months ago, me and the man got into the habit of watching Seinfeld reruns at night while giving bottles to the little girls. OMG! This show is fucking hilarious! It is HYSTERICAL. Every night, I laugh my ass off. I find myself looking forward to watching it all day long. It's sick, and sad. How could I have missed all this? And now, it's even funnier, because the shows are all ten to fifteen years old, so they have big giant cordless phones and jeans up to their nipples and spiral perms and stuff. It's great. And I find myself realizing that everything in life relates back to a Seinfeld episode. Now I'm going, "You are sooooo good looking." when honey sneezes. It's funny, but pathetic, too. Ha! I'm SOOOOO 1995. Maybe I should start listening to some hip new music, like Hootie and the Blowfish, or the Spin Doctors. ;-)

Okay, so that was giant life changing discovery number one. Giant life changing discovery number TWO is....

this is so stupid.

Bounce dryer sheets.

Yep, I lived 32 years in a world without Dryer sheets. I mean, I always used the liquid Downy, but these dryer sheets, oh my God. The clothes smell SO GOOD. Even if I leave the load in the washer for too long and they start to smell skanky, I can throw them in the dryer anyway and the bounce sheet takes one for the team. The clothes smell fine and I don't have to re-wash. It's UNBELIEVABLE. And they smell SO GOOD. I keep opening the box and sniffing them. I'm seriously thinking about sticking some in my van, just so it smells nice in there when I get in.

Am I high? Or just easily satisfied?

I'm tripping out a little that we're getting married in less than a month, and we still have so, so much to do. Mostly just anal stuff like getting the house really, really, (no, REALLY.) clean from top to bottom, cleaning all the windows and carpets and hanging pictures we haven't had a chance to hang in the two years we've lived here and making sure people notice We Have A Nice House, Dammit. All of a sudden, half of the mister's family has decided they're coming out for the wedding, and he wants them to know that We Have A Nice House, Dammit. It's understandable. When you grow up poor, it's fun to show off what you've made for yourself after you're all grown up.

So, our nanny is coming for five hours today. And during that time, I am going to ATTACK the attic. K used to have her bedroom up there, and when she moved back downstairs, she left A TON of stuff up there. Mostly toys she doesn't play with. I told her if she hasn't missed them all summer long, it's time for them to either get packed up for the girls when they get older or sold at a garage sale. Mean mommy. And this is practically our last day of summer vacation together, as she's going to daycare tomorrow for their end of summer sleepover party, then it's the weekend, then she goes back to her dad's, and then school starts. Summer: poof. We sure didn't do much! And it sure flew by!!

Speaking of the nanny, she's soon going to be leaving us. :sniff: I really like her and the kids like her too - but she doesn't aspire to be a nanny, she aspires to be a social worker, considering she has a master's degree in social work. I figured she'd be finding a job she loved, and she did, so she probably won't have much time for us anymore. And that's fine. Although I adore her, it really wasn't the arrangement I needed. Four hours a couple of days a week doesn't give me the time I need to get stuff done. It just doesn't. Especially because I usually end up using that time for other stuff, like K and I getting our hair cut and colored, or taking another kid to the doctor or something. What I REALLY need is someone who lives in my neighborhood, really close by, to come over every weekday for an hour or two. THAT would allow me to keep caught up on laundry and housework and wedding plans and all that stuff. I certainly wouldn't expect our nanny to drive clear across town EVERY DAY. I need someone closer, someone who just wants a little extra cash. Unfortunately, most women who don't have kids already have JOBS during the day. See my dilemma? I'm writing up a little help wanted ad to post on our neighborhood mailbox. Hopefully I can find someone.

YAWN! It's raining and dark here, and makes me want to go back to sleep. One of the girls got me up at 1:30 and then was the first to wake up this morning, so I'm extra sleepy today. I hope today the little ones are back to their happy little selves. They've been so cranky since they got their shots on Tuesday!

Well, THIS was boring. Someday, cool things will happen to me and I can post about them!

Oh! I can share pictures of our new hair. Here is K, with her new RED hair! I cannot get over how incredibly SHINY it is! And neither can she! She keeps passing the mirror and looking at herself.





And mine. K took these.







Trying to get pretty for the wedding!! I feel so unattractive these days, with my "mom" hair up in the clippy and my lack of makeup. I'm excited to look really spectacular for the wedding - hopefully I WILL!

Have a nice Thursday. :-)

I haven't sent out my wedding invitations yet. Yes, I know the wedding is in a month. Of course you're invited. I just have five kids and don't have time to brush my teeth, let alone buy stamps. They're coming. Patience.

I'm never even sure what day it is! Even on the weekend!

The girls are cranky, cranky, cranky. I hate when they have to get shots! They're always out of sorts for a few days. I'm trying to officially implement a naptime schedule for the wee girls too, and this isn't helping things. They're currently in their bedroom, in their cribs, WAILING. But they aren't happy anywhere today. They'd be happy if I held them all day long, but it's just not happening, I'm afraid. Poor little ones. I gave them Tylenol; hopefully they'll nod off pretty soon and get some rest.

The neighborhood inspector came today to see our backyard. When we closed on our house (uh, TWO years ago!) they kept two thousand dollars in escrow - one thousand for the front yard, and a thousand for the back. We have specific restrictions here - we have to have a certain amount of sod, five shrubs, and a 4" caliper tree in the front yard and back yard as well. Now that we've fulfilled the requirements for the backyard (yay!) we can get that last thousand dollars back that's been sitting there all this time! The inspector said the yard looked great - she was amused by all five kids sitting around the breakfast table eating waffles together - and she said we need to put our trailer in the garage. Yay.

We have to run out to Wal-Mart today for diaper rash ointment (we need a specific kind, according to the ped) and new diapers for the boy. He's officially grown out of size 4. I mean, I should have moved him up to 5s ages ago, but it's just easier having the two bigger babies wearing the same size diaper, y'know? But every morning this week, he's woken up wet, so it's time for bigger diapees. I'm dreading going out with the wee babies in this MOOD, though! Sheesh! Maybe I can get someone else to go for me later.

Well, I guess that's it for now - I uploaded some new pictures of the kids to Flickr <--- so have a looksee. Bye!

Shaunacat had her baby! Go congratulate them! :-)

The little girls had their 6-month wellbaby checkups and shots today. :-(

My littlest girl really IS little - she's almost 3/4 of a pound smaller than her sister! They were 16 lb 3 oz. and 15 lb. 8 oz. I can't remember how tall they were, but it was good. They didn't like getting shots (duh) but didn't cry too much.

And we missed playgroup, because I wasn't even thinking about playgroup being on Tuesday when I made the appointment. Oh well.

Our nanny is coming over for a few hours today and I think K and I are going to go get haircuts. Yay!

Here is a picture that somewhat shows our new shrubs - and the arbor! Woo!



And here's another:



It's coming along! Now the guys are working on a sort of pergola thing to go over the patio - that's what they're drilling for in the patio there, for the posts to go. Yay!

I don't know what I'm going to do today. K comes home today, so YAY! I have really missed her this past week. Hopefully we can do something fun together. I think maybe we'll make some cookies. Peanut butter with chocolate chips. I saw the ones on Michelle's blog weeks ago and have been craving them ever since! And tonight is the twin club meeting, and I haven't gone in two months, so I'm excited to go.

Yesterday, we took the kids to Hooters and met some friends for lunch. It was fun! I was craving a buffalo chicken sandwich BIG TIME, and it was sooooo good. FYI, if you live in Denver: the food at the Parker Road Hooters is like, TEN times better than it is at Colorado Blvd. Seriously. And the kids got their first helium balloons EVER, and thought these were the greatest things they'd ever seen. Only one made it home, and they broke the string off immediately, so it danced around the playroom ceiling all night. I'm sure when they go downstairs and see it on the floor, they'll be confused as to why it's no longer floating around the room!

As you can see in my pictures, the man has been BUSTING ASS in the yard. He spent *cough* a veritable fuckton of money in Lowe's yesterday and bought a bunch of wood to finish our patio steps and build the pergola. He also bought the lattice to keep the kids from escaping through the fence. (Our neighborhood covenance requires us to keep that split rail fence in place, although we can cover it with lattice to keep the kids in and the critters out!)

I think K and I are going to color our hair this week. She's tired of her half grown out blonde highlights. I just realized yesterday that she starts school TWO WEEKS FROM TODAY! Man, where did the summer go? She just got out, like, the second week in June! I hate this school schedule. They have a week off in the fall, right around Halloween - like, who needs that?? Wouldn't you rather get out for summer a week earlier? I think I would, if I were ten!! So, we need to start getting ready for Back To School! :cue scary music:

Okay, time to get the chitlins up for the day - I can hear them playing in their room. Breakfast time! Waffles today, I think. Yummy. Have a great Monday!