ATTENTION all shoe fanatics!

Thanks to Oprah, get 50% off your entire purchase at Payless Shoes today and tomorrow!

http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20091016-tows-payless

Did someone say sale??? You´d better bet we are on our way to Payless as soon as Hal wakes up from her nap!! Kiddo shoes here we come!

Views from the deck

We were blessed with little bits of serenity amidst the chaos that comes with moving and packing.

a gazillion Japanese Beetles

(all photos taken from our front deck yesterday afternoon)

oooo... chaco!!

My waistline really loves my new favorite snack :)

They really do like each other

When I first knew we were having twins, I dreamed of how they would get along and how neat it would be for them to have a built in best friend. I was also realistic and thought about how they would hate each other at many points like most siblings do. I have to say it's nothing like I imagined it either way. I find such great joy when they get along and play together and one of my biggest headaches is when Hallie they pick on each other. I imagine all parents probably have these same feelings.

So with that said, we still have our struggles, believe me I still pry Hallie and her mouth off of Micah on average once a day and break up countless fights over toys. But lately there have been more and more of the 'good moments' where I hear laughter from the other room or hear one of them say 'hugs' and peak around the corner to find one of them hugging the other. They ask for each other on a more regular basis and cry when the other one is upset (unless they were the culprit).

Bottom line... it's fun (most days), I'm glad I have twins (most days), I can't wait to see what the next stage brings!

Fun in Washington: Part 2

Sadly due to a small stomach flu (which manifest itself when Hallie got sick in the car on our way to see my good friend Ronica and which Micah caught later on the next week and manifest itself when Micah threw up ALL over the Papa Murphy's floor right after going to the park with my good friend Ronica! She must be bad luck!) we didn't end up seeing much of Tyson's family. Thankfully we adults all avoided it and it was a quick recovery for Micah and Hallie.

Anyway, back to the point of the post, we made up for it on the Sunday Tyson was home and had dinner at his parents house with Aaron and Kristen and kids, his parents, and his grandparents. We were even lucky enough to have our good friends Jacob and Jen join us with their kids. We all had a blast, laughed a ton and all in all just had a great time!

Hallie trying on Eli's uniform and Kristen trying to figure out what the heck Ty was doing standing on the trunk with the camera for :)

Kristen and I, and Aaron... yes he is that cool! :)

Mr. T and Carys and I

Eben hated the helmet and Grandma reading to Carys and Hallie

Micah doing what he does best and Carys

Jocelyn and Kristen and I taking pictures 5th grade style :)

Goofing and Jacob, Jen, Stacey, and Ty

Carys and Ethan

Hugs and vacuuming?? and more hugs

Avery and Ty

Fun in Washington: Part 1

The kids and I were lucky to be able to spend the 2 weeks before Kendra's wedding hanging out with friends and family while daddy stayed home and worked and celebrated his 31st birthday. And just so you don't feel too bad for him... he was lucky enough to be able to go to New York with some of his family.

We had a great time with everyone and Micah and Hallie loved having grandpa and grandma's, aunts and uncles, and cousins around. We invaded Grandpa's peace and quiet with lots of chaos, 2- 2 year olds and 1- 1 year old makes for a lot of noise and mess!

But I think with all the hugs given out, Grandpa might have been ok with it ;)

Mr. Turtle... the coolest bean bag ever!

I've been planning a giant bean bag since before Micah and Hallie were born, and soon after I decided it would be a turtle. We had one until I was well into my teens, and quite possibly out of the house and we loved it! So for the last few years I have saved all of my scrap fabric... we're talking little 1/4" strips scraps and used them to stuff this sweet little fella!

So without further ado... meet Mr. Turtle the Bean Bag


He'll be loved for years to come...

And quite honestly, abused for years to come!

(I'm so sorry Mr. Turtle but they really do like you... I promise!)

Dear Santa...

This is all I really want for Christmas, check out the gorgeous turquoise coloring... it's meant for me!


But if that won't work I'd settle for my gorgeous birthstone...

Or the Hope diamond would do...


These aren't so bad either, I could mesmerize my children with these ultimate 'pretties'

Thanks Shelly for dreaming with me through the Natural History Museum- it was fun!

Madison turns 1

The second reason we went home in September is for my niece Madison's 1st birthday. She is such a cutie!

again the pictures are in random order... I think it's time to call it quits on the blogging catch up for a little while, I'm getting lazy!