Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Random Fun

Let's have some fun...

1. Are you named after someone?
Yes.

2. When is the last time you cried? 
Friday -- on my Mama's day out

3. Do you like your handwriting? 
I like my cursive writing as long as I'm not rushed... but I don't like that kids can't read cursive anymore.

4. What is your favorite lunch meat? 
Leftover steak from dinner

5. Do you have kids? 
I do.

6. If you were another person, would you be friends with you? 
I think so... especially if the other me also had children.

 
7. Do you use sarcasm? 
I do.

8. Do you still have your tonsils? 
I do.

9. Would you bungee jump? 
Not today.

 
10. What is your favorite kind of cereal? 
I'm not sure if I could choose one favorite -- it depends on my mood... but it would be something not good for me.  Captain Crunch, Lucky Charms, and Fruity Pebbles would be high on my list.

11. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? 
Not very often.

12. Do you think you're strong?
I do.

13. What is your favorite ice cream? 
Moose Tracks or Cookie Dough

14. What is the first thing you notice about people? 
Probably their gender.

15. Red or pink? 
Purple

16. What is the least favorite physical thing you like about yourself? 
Postpartum curves.

17. What color pants and shoes are you wearing now? 
No pants, no shoes -- I'm ready for bed.

18. What was the last thing you ate? 
Does water count?  If not, Mini 3 Musketeers bar.

19. What are you listening to right now? 
Gilmore Girls on Netflix, and Hubby's sleep machine.

20. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?
Morning Mist

21. What is your favorite smell?
Christmas tree or Vail in the Winter

22. Who was the last person you spoke to on the phone?
My mom

23. Favorite sport to watch?
College Football - University of Michigan

24. Hair color? 
Red

25. Eye color?
Hazel

26. Do you wear contacts? 
No.

27. Favorite food to eat?
Steak, pizza, dessert

28. Scary movies or happy endings?
Happy Endings

29. Last movie you watched?
"Facing the Giants"

30. What color shirt are you wearing?
Pink -- wow, that's a rarity, but sure enough these pajamas are pink

31. Summer or Winter?
Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn... whichever season I am in, and is next are what I am excited about.

32. Hugs or kisses?
Hugs for most people... kisses for my Hubby.

33. What book are you currently reading?
Child Development

34. Who do you miss right now?
Myself fully rested -- too many people to list if I actually thought about it.

35. What is on your mouse pad?
NA

36. What is the last TV program you watched?
Gilmore Girls reruns (preparing for the sequel)

37. What is the best sound?
My children playing together happily

38. Rolling Stones or The Beatles? 
Andy Williams, Mickey Poage, or Broadway Musicals

39. What is the furthest you have ever traveled?
Istanbul (the Europe and Asia sides) with Hubby... Rome by myself.

40. Do you have a special talent?
I think keeping my three little ones alive and mostly happy each day takes a special talent.

41. Where were you born?
University of Florida Hospital

1000 Words

1000 Words

 

Language Explosion

Recently Tracey has had an absolute language explosion.

She went from talking her normal amount, her usual subjects, her usual words and thoughts to become a little chatterbox telling us everything about everything, stringing four and five sentences together in order to make her point.

I think i noticed it for the first time a few weeks ago when she was talking to my parents on facetime and told them about our trip to the zoo.  Here I thought I was going to have to prompt the conversation by reminding her what animals we saw, but she just took off telling them everything.  Something like,  "We went to the zoo.  We saw elephants.  We saw giraffes.  I fed the giraffes lettuce.  We saw a bear.  I saw the bear.  Mommy saw the bear.  Daddy saw the bear.  Howard and Caroline saw the bear.  We rode the carousel.  We saw a moose.  And Peepaw saw a moose, and Meemaw saw a moose..." ... and her recount of our trip to the zoo went on and on and on.

That was just the beginning because, depending on her mood, she now tells me every detail of whatever just happened.

"Mommy, Howard's awake.  Caroline's awake.  Howard was crying.  Caroline was crying.  Howard dropped his passie.  Howard picked up his passie.  Caroline's crying.  Caroline doesn't want a bottle.  Caroline's chasing Lexie.  Lexie's running away..."

I absolutely love her sweet little descriptions of our daily activities.  I also get exhausted by her, at times, incessant narration.  I am so excited to hear more and more of what's on her mind has she develops into such a unique and perfectly designed person.

Mama's Day Out

On Friday a very rare occurrence happened around here -- Mama had a day out.  Not a dinner out, not a lunch out, not a meeting out, not a work day out, not an hour out, not a shopping trip out... and ENTIRE DAY OUT.

My parents arrived on Thursday afternoon, spent time with our kiddos, took frantic notes about our routine... and then Friday they took over.

I left the house at 9:30am and returned home at 10:15pm.  

That has not happened since almost a year ago when Hubby and I took a one night baby-moon before the twins were born. 

I absolutely love my children, and I love that most days I stay home with them... but having an entire day to do whatever I wanted without children in-tow was such a treat.

I attempted to document my fun with photos:

My day started with my favorite Christmas Starbucks drink as a treat... my first time seeing this year's red cups.

I got a peppermint mocha and a breakfast sandwich to eat on my way out of town... YUM!

Frankly, I'm really ready for snow... but for my day out, this weather was amazing!

My first pedicure since before the twins were born

And I brought along magazines that have been sitting around our home not being read for a very long time.

I got a haircut... and a BIG hair cut.  I donated 10 inches to the Pantene Beautiful Lengths program and I am SO excited to have a change and less hair.  My hair was long, but has been so thin since having our twins, and now the babies love to pull my hair... and it was just time.  The last time I cut my hair short to donate it was over four years ago.  This is a really nice change.

 Any day away from my babies involves pumping milk.  So I did, several times throughout the day.

 

I went shopping several places by myself, and I didn't take a picture of that.  Then Hubby and I met up for a date night and we wandered around a mall for awhile -- lots of Christmas stuff is up.

Then Hubby and I had a great dinner, which I did not capture on camera... but it was delicious and we took our time and both ate with two hands.

Then, we drove back to Rifle and caught Friday Night Neon Bowling.  We didn't have a lot of time, but played two speedy rounds.

Then we returned home to relieve my parents, get the full report, put still-awake children to bed, and thank my parents from the bottom of our hearts!

For me, this was such a blessing but even moreso given that this was the week before Thanksgiving.  I needed a little time to breathe and regroup... and I spent the day feeling so completely thankful for my wonderful children and husband.  It doesn't always require a day away for me to be thankful... but we are in a stage of life where three little people are very demanding of all of my time, energy, and attention.  It was so nice to have a little space to miss them and be so grateful that I get to spend my days with them and be their Mama.

Making Conversation

Tracey: How was your day, Papa?

Papa: Well, Tracey, my day began at 4:30am because my circadian rhythm has not yet adjusted to the mountain time zone. 

Tracey: ... ... ...

Conversation over. 

 
We're having to work on a middle ground in age-appropriate conversation between our 2-year-old and our 84-year-old.

A Good Spot

Our girls seem to have found a good spot to relax when Grammie and Papa are around:

And its sweet to look at pictures from over a year ago, when Tracey enjoyed the same spot...

These sights make my heart happy.