The most all time memorable Santa trip of all time ever of all time

Was this the most memorable Santa trip, the one with the cutest twin babies (sorry Irene) in the entire world? NO!


What about this one... my all time favorite Santa photo ever? NO!


What about this one where the boys refused to even get on Santa's lap after we waited in line for AN HOUR? NO!


What about this one where Alex took off running away from Santa? No, but it's nice insight into what life would be like with one kid.


Nope, the most memorable Santa trip of all time will be the Santa with the thickest deepest South Carolina accent I have ever heard and who was most likely sipping on moonshine in between children because he told the boys to "GIT R DONE" after this picture was taken.


I stood right there listening to Santa talk to the boys and I still have NO IDEA why he said that. He said the usual stuff about listening to your mom and being good, then he segued into potty accidents and then said "GIT R DONE."

Drunk Santa.

Fall fun list

This weekend, we finished the last of the items on our Fall Fun List (inspired by Mel from The Larson Lingo):




Technically there are still a few weeks left in fall but December is so full of fun Christmas activities we decided to make a Christmas Fun List. While Halloween was a great time to move and meet neighbors, I've started (very slightly) regretting the decision to move right before the holidays because we are SO INSANELY BUSY. Jon took the boys to rake at the old house yesterday and I missed this awesomeness as I was BUSY doing other things:




We did enjoy our Thanksgiving weekend fully, despite the craziness, and this was the first year the boys were super duper into the Thanksgiving parade. My two favorite memories from this year will be Nate eating both turkey legs (that is apple juice in his plastic wine glass):




And Alex KICKING MY BUTT at Wii boxing. A short video will explain why he will be the reigning champ for a long, long time at Casa Case.

The best part of the Best Year Ever

Changing my mentality to make this the best year ever has resulted in an unexpected side effect. I wake up every day thankful.

Thankful for the joy in my home
Thankful for the sorrows that teach me lessons
Thankful for the opportunity to make each day special
Thankful that I am still taking breaths
Thankful I wake up each day in a happy home

I've spent a lot of time in my life looking toward the future. This year, I spent a majority of my time present in each moment. This year, I am thankful to live in the moment and to be truly ALIVE.

Happy Thanksgiving.

This is a ridiculously long post about the Austin trip. You've been warned.

I don't get out to Texas much so I wanted to pack a lot into this trip, but it was important to me that I also get time with every person. The trip was a blazing success.

Friday night Lindsay picked me up at the airport and we headed to Tracey's house. I've read about her identical twin boys Oskar and Abel since they were teeny tiny and I was so excited to see they were just as energetic and giggly as I had imagined they would be. Tracey's husband Jordan was extremely welcoming of all the insanity and Tracey was as warm and fun as I imagined.



(I think I got their personalities with these shots!)




My college friend Libby and her mom Betsy drove up from Dallas. I already know Libby is awesome (I mean come on, she's gorgeous, insanely smart, and super nice) but it was really nice to get a chance to get to know Betsy more. Betsy was a serious trooper, taking TONS of photos of us at Warrior Dash and carting SO MUCH stuff. She helped make race day feel easy, thank you!




We hung out until Sadia arrived with her identical girls, Melody and Jessica. Sadia has a special place in my heart because she is a software nerd, her husband is deployed, and she is INSANELY upbeat and positive. The woman has patience like you would not believe. And ridiculously cute girls. It was a great treat to get to hear her voice and see her live, and I know we will see each other again. (She also gets the "only one cooperative kid" thing.)




Saturday morning, Libby, Betsy, Lindsay and I met up with Erin and her husband Bryce. The conversation flowed easily and you would never know we were a bunch of strangers from the internet. Bryce was a real trooper and it made me like Erin more knowing she has an awesome husband. The only thing that surprised me was Erin is tall! We had a blast and it was over way too quickly. Next time we meet, can I wear make up and regular clothes PLEASE?!




Saturday afternoon was Warrior Dash and it was INCREDIBLE. This might be the most fun race I've ever run. Through the run, I got to know a little more about each woman. I mean... I already knew these things but the run amplified them.

• Tracey showed her love of adventure when she cheered as she jumped off the roof of a burned out car.
• Lindsay showed me true friendship hauling my scared butt over the fire.
  
• Rachel showed her love of fun when she kicked mud all over us during the mud river run.
• Libby showed her ability to do anything when she showed up and ran this with almost no running training.
  
• Jen showed how nice she was when she kept pace with us slower runners despite probably being able to win the whole thing (seriously, she is as nice as Jon which says a LOT).
  
• Lisa and Michelle showed their competitive side when they wouldn't let a guy in a sumo suit beat them (we beat him too, that thing was hot!).

The course was fun. No insanely cold lake with algae like the PA Warrior Dash. Pretty warm temperatures. And free beer at the end.




Afterward we headed out for some delicious Texas BBQ and conversation that ended way too soon. This is always the problem with blogfriend meet ups... not enough time to say everything. I could have stayed all night chatting with these wonderful ladies.

Sunday I took pictures of Lindsay's family and Tracey's family which unfortunately I will not be sharing because they might be for holiday photos. Lindsay's mom Anne and her husband were so incredibly nice, and put me up on the most comfortable guest bed ever. This probably won't make the Christmas card cut, so I'll give them a sneak preview to say THANK YOU for welcoming me into your home!



The biggest shout out of the the entire trip goes to Lindsay, for taking me up on this crazy offer, getting her mom to let me stay at her house, driving my butt around, and meeting all these people with me. From the beginning I've said she's my best blogfriend (BBFF) and that fact still remains. I felt a little sad leaving her at the airport with no plans to see her again but like all my friends, I know time will come when we will see each other again. Soon.

I've said it before and I'll say it again... 2010 Best Year Ever.

How not to get better from a cold

If you are suffering from a man cold, doing this after running 3.1 miles won't make you get better faster:




However hanging out with these people and going from this:




to this:




will do wonders for your soul.

I have so very much to say about this amazing trip with so many wonderful women but I want to go through the pictures to really do this trip justice. For now, let me say my heart is happy as every single woman was more incredible in person.

Expect a photo overload post soon!

Show Me the Mommy!

By the time you read this, I will be on a plane to Austin, Texas to participate in another Warrior Dash.



I SO can not rock a mean face but at least I tried.

Warrior Dash tweeted that they were opening an Austin race. I asked Lindsay if she wanted to do it with me then I emailed everyone I know in Texas and asked if they wanted to join.

I'm running it with Lindsay, Libby, Tracey, Lisa, Rachel, and her partner Jennifer. But that's not all!



I'm also meeting up with Sadia, Erin S, and (hopefully) Dawn while there. I need a tattoo that says "have blog, will travel to meet you." At least Libby is a real life friend so it's not 100% weird, right. Right?????

Something tells me I'm going to be doing a lot of this over the weekend:



PS. Thanks to Jon for the pictures. I set up the camera then generally boss him around to get the pictures I want. The last picture was all Jon though, making me laugh.

Gumbo/randomness/hodge podge

• I pronounce it correctly as "ANT." Sorry all you northeasterners and random Fargo people, it was nice knowing you.
• "Santa can see you doing that" has started to make appearances at our house.
• Do I want a hearing aid? Not really. Yes it is nice to hear better and I feel less frustrated, but there are still times where I hear weird echoes and my voice sounds crazy. I am doing this mostly for my family. I don't want them constantly having to repeat themselves or sit on a certain side or have the tv insanely loud.
  
• I'm taking bets on whether Alex will sit in Santa's lap this year or not. Nate says he will help Alex be brave. Email me if you want in the pool.
• Even though the boys are in the same school they've always attended, pre-K is turning out to be a good warm up for kindergarten next year. Homework, parties, field trips, book orders... lots of things to remember. We're screwed when they're in different rooms next year.
• I LOVE THE MUD ROOM.
• I think I have a man cold. I am not dealing with this cold well.
  

An interesting morning scramble

Since moving to the new house, we've encouraged the boys to be even more independent. In the mornings, they don't go downstairs for breakfast until they are dressed. One issue that has come up is they each hate to be left alone on a particular floor.

Monday morning Jon was gone and I woke up feeling like a truck ran over me. The boys spent more than 15 minutes getting dressed when yelling and screaming started. With my new hearing aid, I could hear that Nate was dressed and wanted to go downstairs but Alex was not dressed yet and was crying because he didn't want to be alone. Nate started out nice, telling Alex not to be afraid but even Nate reached his limit with the crying so he started yelling. I yelled to Nate to come to my bathroom where I was getting ready.

Nate ran to my bathroom and told me what was going on. I told Nate to tell Alex to come talk to me.

Alex ran into the room sobbing. He had on a pair of white tube socks he had pulled over his knees and not one single stitch of other clothing on.

I knew I would laugh afterward but on a Monday morning? With Jon gone? And me getting a cold right before Austin Warrior Dash? And they are 4.5 and can get dressed on their own? Before coffee? And really, you get completely naked and put your socks on first?

So tell me... who are these mythical people who have easy, peaceful morning scrambles?

Another step in the hearing journey

When I first lost my hearing in my right ear, it went quickly. Within a six month time period, I went from slight hearing loss to functionally deaf. My surgery to repair it caused me to go completely deaf. I slowly gained hearing back over a six month period until I could hear almost perfectly although I never regained hearing at high frequencies.

But my condition remains. Deposits continue to build up inside my ear, causing me to slowly lose my hearing. I'm now on middle ground where my hearing is not bad enough to warrant another surgery but it's not good enough to hear. Basically robo-ear SUCKS.... so enter... the hearing aid.

Oh no, this is not your grandma's hearing aid. Can you see it?




It is called an Open Ear hearing aid. A tiny piece goes in my ear canal but leaves most of the ear open. The receiver is behind my ear in my mass of crazy hair, and it comes in a large variety of colors (purple anyone?). It is computer programmed specifically for my hearing loss. It is blue tooth enabled... you can call my cell phone and it will transmit directly to my hearing aid.

This weekend was a massive adjustment period for me. Friday was almost overwhelming with all the things I could hear that I couldn't hear before, aka Super Cranky Laura. I can now hear all those high frequency sounds I haven't heard for five years and I can hear people speaking more clearly. It is taking some time for my brain to learn to selectively hear the things I want to hear rather than hear everything. It is also a huge adjustment to hear my own voice in different situations as sometimes I sound like I'm talking through a microphone.

After just a few days, I am 100% certain I will be buying one (in 2011 when I can take advantage of flexspend). However now that I can hear everything, I do have a few observations about my world:

• Alex farts SO MUCH MORE than I ever knew.
• I should not wear corduroy pants. Ever.
  
• Jon DOES mumble and it happens a lot. It feels pretty good to call him out on it!
  

First (real) weekend in the new house

Our first weekend in the new house also happened to be the weekend of peak color in Raleigh. Despite very little rain, the colors are gorgeous this year! Our house is two blocks from the nearest greenway. Our neighborhood's greenway that connects to Sears Farm Park isn't finished. This may be sad to most people but I am on CLOUD NINE because instead of a wide paved trail, it is a small dirt trail with tons of natural area.

Friday afternoon I bribed Jon to pose for me on the greenway since I wanted to scope it out as a photo location. This is where I've been running every day since we moved.




As I took pictures of Jon, I wondered why I EVER take pictures of children. Look at this cooperation!




But then Jon broke out the jazz hands...




and he pretended to be a lion stalking me through the grass. I guess adults aren't that much easier to photograph than children.




In all seriousness, I'm glad Jon helped me scout out this location. It was good for both of us. It was obviously good for me since I had a cooperative subject. Jon is usually in the background when I'm photographing the kids and he often sees my frustration with the general fiasco-ness of it. It was good for him to see my vision played out and see that I am truly serious about this hobby. Thank you Jon!

(and can you believe how gorgeous this greenway is?!)




We took the boys on the trail a few times over the weekend to hit up the park and collect fall leaves. I saw a craft on another blog about using clear sticky contact paper to preserve leaves and the boys loved that activity. I took them alone on Sunday (without camera, I need to be in the moment sometimes) and they wandered around picking up sticks and attacking the overgrown grass.

Each day, we all fall a little more in love with our new home.



Side note on this picture.... before fall/winter is out, I wanted to get a picture of Alex in his gear. Note that Nate is completely coordinated while Alex is a crazy mish mash of red, green, brown, orange, and blue. I love both of their "styles" for different reasons and encourage them to pick their own clothes. It may look crazy in photos but it's Alex, through and through.

Show Me the Mommy! (times two)

This is a very special Show Me the Mommy! This is a picture of me and my mom that Nate took.




I've always been super into photos. I have stacks of photos from when I was growing up with my brother and my sister. Some of my favorites are seeing what my dad and mom wore in the 70s. But just like me, there are never enough pictures with mom and dad in them.

And while I have plenty of pictures with my kids and the grandparents, I don't have many of me in them. Something tells me in 20 years, my mom and I are going to love this photo even more!

So... Show Me the Mommy! Leave a comment if you play along (or if you'd like to wish me good luck at my annual hearing check today.)

Modeling versus correcting

Everything I've read says when kids are learning to speak, modeling correct language is more effective than correcting their speech. We've gone with that model so far, using correct pronunciation of words when the boys mispronounce things.

But we're DRAWING THE LINE at Casa Case and openly correcting the southern boys we're raising (particularly Nate).

At Casa Case, "well" is ONE syllable not THREE.

At Casa Case, "yeah" is "yes" not three syllable, drawn out YEEEAAAAHHHHH.

Jon and I already argue over the pronunciation of "aunt" (he is wrong!) we do not need any more family arguments over correct pronunciation.

PS. Which way do you pronounce "aunt"? Then I can decide if we can be friends or not. No pressure to be right or anything.

Meals with two four year olds

This will be filed under the "keeping it real" category of blog posts.

For the first two years with twins, we never had family meals together. The boys were so messy in their high chairs that our food would be cold by the time we got to eat. Jon and I were also so tired and busy that it was nice to have dinner together by ourselves after the boys went to bed.

When the boys turned two, we started eating dinner together. And at age 4.5 (those crazy half years!), mealtimes are some of the most stressful times at our house. There is the NON STOP TALKING by TWO small children. The lack of eating, leading to whining and begging for snacks. The yelling. The bad manners. The constant interruptions. The wiggling. We tried 1 2 3 Magic but it was exhausting to constantly send the boys to time out, and it wasn't changing the behavior.

So... we instituted a new rule at mealtimes. The boys are not allowed to talk until they finish half their food. I can not tell you how mean I felt to institute this rule, but we are talking about 90 minute dinners in which almost no food was eaten.

Day care has given us great advice in the past so I asked one of the teachers if they have a problem with the kids talking too much and delaying at meals. They said they have a rule at school that the kids (all four year olds!) are not allowed to talk until they have finished their first helping (they serve themselves). You would think that after four years in day care, I would have thought to ask the teachers first when things got crazy.

We've also taken to setting timers and if they finish their meal by a certain time, they can watch tv or do something special with us.

The longer I am a parent, the more I come to realize my life will be crazy until the boys leave home.

How the boys are handling the move

Alex is one of those kids who has sleep disruptions any time there is change. Time change? 2AM wake up. Molar teething? Easier to sleep in our bed for a month. Travel? An adult has to sleep with him or he wakes up crying. Walking, crawling, talking, potty training, trips... you name it, he wakes up for a couple of nights.

Imagine our great surprise when we:

* Moved to a new house
* On time change weekend
* Separated the boys into bedrooms by themselves

and Alex has slept soundly through the night.

Truly, the boys are excited about the new house. We hyped it up ahead of time and I'm so glad we did!

We also took this opportunity to separate clothes. Since they're the same (shortie) size and they shared a room, we always put all the clothes together. Sunday night we let the boys pick "their" clothes and moved it into their closets. Since the move and separation, we've had less post-bedtime insanity. I think we are all breathing easier with a little more space.

I'm hoping to keep house-related posts to a minimum for awhile and get back to regularly scheduled mommy blogging.

PS. We tried the TJ's meatloaf muffins and yuck. Do not recommend. However they are carrying tons of new items which I will blog about soon.

I will blow your mind

A couple of years ago, I wrote about my Myers-Briggs personality type, ISTJ. This personality type thrives on creating order out of chaos. This personality type loves being industrious and working through details.

The movers arrived at the old house at 9AM Thursday morning.
By 9PM Friday evening, every single box had been unpacked and everything was put away.
By Saturday afternoon, freecyclers had picked up all the boxes and packing paper.

IS YOUR MIND BLOWN?!?!

My mom Grandma Jen came in over the weekend so that Jon and I could finish everything while she watched the boys. This tells you how much fun the boys had since Nate NEVER poses for pictures for/with me:




In addition to organizing the unpacked stuff, grandma hung out with the boys so we could go look at furniture and TALK to each other while shopping. This is huge! She also watched them Saturday night so we could celebrate our anniversary (bar food dinner and Jackass 3-D, which I highly recommend).

I took today off to finish up things like grocery shopping, laundry, and finishing touches. So far, we are all in "pinch me I'm dreaming!" mode as we are so excited to be in our new space.

Thanks Grandma Jen for the help and visit! The boys had a blast and I KNOW we would have felt a lot more crazy trying to finish up with the boys underfoot.

Six

Six years ago today, I woke up in Florida and took a walk on the beach with Jon.

Then I put on a pretty dress




and the tallest shoes I have ever worn




and waited for the best day of my life to happen.




It was, in my most poetic words, a freaking awesome day.

Surrounded by family and friends as we made a lifelong commitment to one another.




Little did I know

the first anniversary would be Expecting A Baby anniversary.
the second anniversary would be Five Month Old Twins anniversary.
the sixth anniversary would be Dream House anniversary.



But if we
lost the dream house,
lost the dream city,
lost the good careers,
lost the dream life,

I would still have everything I need right here with my best friend.




Happy anniversary Jon.

(I'm not sure how we're going to top Dream House anniversary but I'm sure we will.)

(Together.)

Show Me the Mommy!

(I auto-posted these posts. I heart technology!)

Those of you friends with me on facebook know this is my profile picture. I am super proud of this picture because it is really hard for me to make a serious face. This is how I killed time while Jon was out trick or treating with the boys.




Nate has been really interested in taking pictures with the big camera and I let him do it. It scares the crap out of Jon but I make sure the neck strap is in place before handing it over. He's getting good at looking through the viewfinder and taking pictures! I didn't crop this at all!





He is also getting good at group photos! (I did crop this a little.)



Leave a comment if you play along so I can see all of your beautiful faces on your blog!

And don't forget to check back Saturday for a very special post.

MOVING DAY!

That is all.
Please move along.
(Or follow progress on twitter.)

Last sleep in our first house

Many people have asked if we are sad to be leaving our first home together. That is a tough question. While it is the first physical home Jon and I have owned together, it is not the first home we have made together. Being with Jon has always felt like home.

Moving into our first house was a crazy time. We had just found out we were expecting twins and needed a house pronto. We bought the house with so much hope of years of love inside it's walls.




(That picture of us is too far away... let's see that big belly... that grew another 2 months after this picture)




Part of me will miss the home where we first became parents. However with the help of the memories documented on this blog, I will never forget this time. It has been a happy home. I'm confident the next home will be a happy home also.

But if you had to ask me the #1 thing I will miss about this house, I will miss seeing the kitchen island every day because it's where this happened, some of my all-time favorite memories.



Tomorrow is moving day!

October round-up

October was AWESOMELY CRAZY.

• Vegas trip with my Babycenter ladies and met Lesley
  
• Professional photo shoot with Cathy
• Family DC/PA trip to meet Maria and do Warrior Dash
• North Carolina state fair
• No abnormal skin spots!!!!!
  
• Closed on new house
• Star Wars Halloween in new house

Remember way back in March when I shared my Mondo list? That wasn't the complete list. Those were 36 things from the list I felt comfortable sharing in this space. The list also included some other things I thought would not happen for a few years:

• Own a home large enough to host family holidays and groups of friends
• Own a home with lots of natural light and an open floor plan
  
• Have a space at home for creating portraits

There are so many things I love about our new home but when I saw the four huge southwest-facing windows spanning the second bonus, I went from "love" and "ME WANT!!!"

Here are some comparison shots. I took this picture of Nate in our current house. He is facing our picture window in the brightest room of the house at the brightest time of day. I used our white dining table as a reflector and STILL I had to shoot at ISO 640 to get my shot and the paint in the room gives off a slightly yellow glow.




New house, he can stand anywhere in that entire room (and no reflector) for the majority of the day... and ISO 125. Do you likey???




And the room color, wow. It is going to be a great backdrop! I predict some awesome self portraits in this room.




I jokingly refer to it as "my studio" because there are going to be a buttload of pictures taken here. If you visit and I force you to go to the second floor bonus to take your picture, this is why!



There are some great things planned for November (moving Thursday!) then I've got to slow down in December or I might fall apart from the stress.

PS. People who know about photography, I went CRAZY with the defog for these pictures as I am playing around trying to determine how much defog I like. Too much here? Not enough?

The best Halloween ever, of all time, ever

Each Halloween, we have such a great time with the boys that I think there is no way it can get any better. And again this year, Halloween was the best ever.

(except for the part where Obi-Wan and Anakin did not want to be photographed)




(Actually, I have it wrong. They were too BUSY to be photographed. You know, defeating the dark side of the Force and all.)




We let the boys choose where we celebrated Halloween and they chose the new house (even though we don't move until Thursday). Over the weekend, we set up Halloween decorations and brought enough stuff over to the house to spend Halloween there. The boys participated in their first neighborhood costume parade.




Jon and I didn't think about this ahead of time, but if you ever want the perfect time to move into a new house, do it on Halloween. During the course of the day, we knocked on every single neighbor's house and introduced ourselves. What other day do you do that (without being labeled kinda weird)?

And if you want to REALLY want to make impression, they probably won't forget the new neighbors dressed up as Princess Leia and Darth Vader.




Jon and I were afraid we would look like dorks but Alex has never spontaneously hugged and kissed us more in one night and Nate was in the best mood ever.

We've been relatively calm despite the craziness in our lives lately. Halloween showed us how we are making the Absolute Right Decision to move to the new house. Lots of great neighbors excited to meet us. Tons of children the boys' age within walking distance. And truckloads of free candy.

And just wait until tomorrow when I show you the pictures from my favorite picture-taking room in the house!