TGIF...sort of

I'd like to be excited about it being Friday, but it's just been one of THOSE days.  You know the kind I mean.  Nobody uses that phrase and means it as a good thing.  I don't either.  The girls were going to go to school today until two of them woke up with sore throats (again) which prompted me to look in Hannah's throat.  Good thing I did.  Her tonsils were ENORMOUS.  So we spent the greater part of the day at the doctor's office, getting medicine, picking up homework, etc.  The dr. suspects strep throat but said we didn't have to do a strep test unless I just wanted to (I didn't.  I know the joy of  having a super-size q-tip inserted into my throat far beyond the comfort zone and wouldn't choose that for anyone unnecessarily.) because she planned to treat her for it anyway.  With that in mind, she's also treating the other two little loveys.  They're all three on Zithromax (aka the diarrhea medicine in our house - I know, TMI), but only for 5 days, thank goodness.  If it's not one thing, it's another.   We're all looking forward to Meme & Papa being here this weekend.  We're all (myself included) getting a little tired of looking at each other, I think. 

We're also preparing for and grumbling about the snowstorm that is supposed to be on our doorstep Sunday sometime.  I used to like winter.  I don't anymore.  I don't like being stuck in the house for months on end.  I don't like the frigid temperatures that threaten to freeze off both sets of cheeks.  I am a Spring/Fall kind of girl.  I don't do extremes in either direction.  Okay, after some thinking, maybe I'm just a Fall kind of girl.  I don't like storms.  Is there anywhere I could live where it was just Fall year-round?  Probably not.  Until then, I guess I'll just roll with it...

A Lesson in Humility

Kids are so honest, often brutally so.  It's refreshing, though.  I think sometimes that it must be their job to make sure I realize just how ridiculously average I am.  There's a story on this one, trust me.  It took place last weekend.  I've been working out, eating healthy and making an effort to do things that are good, healthfully speaking.  It's finally started to show again, and I was feeling pretty good.  Notice I said was.  Now, I consider my stomach, in all of its stretch-marked glory, to be a badge of courage for carrying three babies...all at once.  That's not to say that I particularly like it, but it's mine.  I earned it.  I'm not going to fret about it.  It's getting tighter...you know, underneath.  I've got a ways to go until I see those 6 pack abs that are currently in hiding (and have been since birth, apparently), but I'm just not overly concerned about it.  Any progress is progress.  Addie, the innocent, sweet, caring, brutally honest child that she is, brought me back to earth quickly.  I was on the bed reading with her and Hope (well, I was reading, they were waiting rather impatiently for me to give up trying to have 5 minutes to myself) when she poked me in the stomach with her finger.  She wasn't being mean, just curious.  Her comment?  Wait for it...  




Get ready...






"Mama, I like your tummy.  It feels like squishy bread dough."   You can almost hear the thud, can't you?

Home Again

So I knew on Tuesday that we were fighting a cold in the house, but I sent them to school yesterday to tough it out.  That's totally not my nature.  Today, when the twins woke up looking glassy-eyed and complaining of crummy throats I had a change of heart.  They're all staying home today to drink hot tea, breathe moist air and hopefully get to feeling better.  I still think it's just a head cold, but let's face it, even a head cold can make you feel rough.  Did I mention how much I'm looking forward to spring?  With that in mind, and as a reminder of what things look like when they're not muddy or snow-covered, I think I'll throw in a few pictures that I took last spring.

I can almost feel the warm breezes blowing and hear the bees buzzing...

Work in Progress

I'm working on a new cooking addition to the blog and have a few kinks left to work out before I get moving on both of them.  The link is above, but you won't find much there yet. 

Ready for the day...maybe.

I am cautiously optimistic about this day. Granted, it's only 6:27 and only one of the girls is awake. Maybe it's more of a "If you build it, they will come" kind of thing. Whatever the case, I have been blessed with another day, and I intend to rejoice in it.

On another note, I've gotten back onto the exercise daily bandwagon and feel so much better! I'm also eating better, but I'll save that for another day. Anyway, in my internet travels yesterday I stumbled upon the Real Age site (http://www.realage.com/) again and found that they have workout videos online. So yesterday, in addition to my EA Active workout on the Wii and my 30 minutes of pilates (much needed as a stress-reliever), I did a resistance band workout and really liked it. My arms are sore today, so I figure that's the sign of a good workout! Here's the link, just in case you're interested: http://www.realage.com/videos/?bcpid=30402252001&bclid=5030523001&bctid=16660446001

New Look

I decided it was time to do a little revamping of the blog. I hope you enjoy the new look! I took the barn pictures at my grandparents' old farm last fall. There are many other pictures that might make an appearance on here, but these are a few of my favorites. There's just something about the colors and skies of fall that I love. At this point, I'm looking forward to any season that might bring warmer weather!

Again...

We'll just pretend that nothing notable has happened in the past couple months. I've avoided writing a blog lately because it had been so long since I updated. I was intimidated by the amount of information I'd have to update. So, to alleviate that stress, we're just going to assume that nothing at all happened.

However, two weeks ago the girls brought home a bug that left them (and me) with fever, congestion, cough, etc. It wasn't fun. They were almost to kick the leftover cough this weekend when Hannah's nose started running. I hoped that it was just because I hadn't given her Zyrtec for a couple days, but I was wrong. We've been invaded once again. I'm being optimistic on this one, though. I think it's just a head cold. I hope it's just a head cold. So they're home today drinking until they float! It's the rule of the house, you know. When they begin getting sick I enforce the drink anything, drink continually rule. Gary started it on me even before they were born. It wasn't pleasant for me, but I don't think I'm quite as hard-nosed about it as he is! :)

We celebrated Gary's birthday Saturday by giving him gifts in the morning, baking & decorating his chocolate chip cookie bars while he was reffing Saturday afternoon, and sharing those bars with him when he returned home Saturday evening. We also got to go out for lunch Sunday. We had planned to go shopping as well, but were interrupted by a short-lived Kansas blizzard. We decided we'd better head home before the roads got bad. Thankfully, the worst of the snow occurred while we were inside the restaurant. It was a memorable day!

We're counting down the days until warm weather finally arrives. This cold, snowy, miserable winter has been way too long. I'm ready for warm days, flowers and days spent playing outside. Spring break had better be nice! :)