We had a Sunny Sunday! : )

We had a great day today! The weather was nice, and we got to spend time with friends, what could be better? For starters, we met Brian and Julie at the park this morning. The kids ran off bunches of energy, and they got to feed the ducks with Reese and Quinn. After nap we met Chels, Brenda, and Carter at our mall (Grapevine). Sam stayed home with Carson because he had started running a fever after nap. We visited our usual stores with Cade complaining all of the way. Cade really doesn't like to shop, but he had to tag along because Grancie met me at Grapevine Mills to bring him to me after his overnight stay with her. We made a new stop tonight at The Rain Forest Cafe. All of the kids (including Cade) enjoyed the giant fish tanks. The girls were not to fond of our walk around the inside of the restaurant though. I think the life size gorillas who were moving and making noises scared them just a bit. I'm glad we didn't stay there to eat...we went to Chili's, which is our usual spot. I got to get some good use out of my new stroller that Grancie got the girls for their birthday! I just LOVE it! In the picture above Carter and the girls are posing in their matching strollers in front of our FAVORITE store...The Children's Place!

The girls in front of The Rain Forest Cafe.

Carter and the girls looking at the fishies.

Cade and Carter...the only boys in a sea of girls today.

Ella Cate had her hair braided for the very first time today by Chels. I am going to see if I can recreate this cute look for school tomorrow. : )

Sesame Street Live!

Today, thanks to my sweet friend Julie, the girls and I got to go and see Sesame Street Live! Julie had 3 extra tickets and a free VIP parking pass (that allowed us to park 10 steps from a side entrance) that she gave to us. We had a lot of fun seeing the show with Julie, Reese, and Quinn. The seats were great, and the girls were thrilled to see all of their favorite characters dance and sing. Their favorite part was the Elmo's World segment complete with Dorothy (Elmo's fish) and funny Mr. Noodle. Since the tickets and parking were free I felt like I could splurge and buy the girls an $18.00 Sesame Street Live shirt that probably won't fit them for a year. If you've ever been to a concert/ show of any sort you know how overpriced everything is! There were helium filled Elmo balloons that cost $10.00! However, no complaints here! We had an awesome time! Thanks Julie!

A picture of the group after the show.

The show was too cute!

This was taken right before we found our seats. The girls were a little shell shocked. They had NO idea what we were doing, since this was their first performance (of any kind) to attend.

The girls' favorite part. They watch Elmo's World every morning while they are eating breakfast, so they were starstruck!

Emma Claire

Emmy wanted me to take her picture tonight before her bath. As you can tell she has chosen a headless green Power Ranger to take in the tub with her. Carson and the girls choose different toys to take into the bath with them every night, it is a part of our routine that they NEVER forget! Noone else wanted their picture taken, so on this rare occassion Emma Claire shines solo on the blog!

My latest deal!

I love getting great deals, and the shoes above just happen to be my most recent steal! My babysitter brought it to my attention that the girls shoes seemed to be bothering them. She said that they complained when she put their shoes on, and she had noticed that their toes seemed red on several occasions. Anyway, the girls and I went on a mall outing on Thursday afternoon. We started off in The Stride Rite Store. I had the man that was working there measure the girls feet, and sure enough they measured a 7 1/2 (which was a 1/2 size bigger than their old shoes). I felt very guilty...why didn't I notice there shoes were too little? Needless to say I decided to buy them a new pair of shoes. However, Stride Rite had NOTHING on sale, and the adorable shoes that I wanted for them were $48 a pair! We decided that we better not spend over $100 on shoes so we strolled elsewhere to look for a better deal. We went to Dillard's first because I have had good luck in the past finding great deals there on kids' shoes. It turns out Dillard's was a good choice. They had marked down quite a few shoes to 75% off. I saw the shoes pictured above sitting right next to each other on a table. They were the only 2 pairs that were left of this particular shoe, and they both just happened to be a size 7 1/2!! They are a Stride Rite shoe, and the regular price was $50. I paid only $11.50 a pair for them! I felt like I had struck gold! I know to some it is probably really sad that this find was so amazing for me, but I am still 24 hours later super excited! Oh the simple joys!!

I thought it would NEVER happen to us!

Recently I have read several horror stories on blogs about people accidently locking their kids in their cars. One lady said that she had heard that it happens to every parent at one point in parenthood. Well.....not me I thought! I have been a mom for nearly 9 and a half years, and I have never even come close to accidently locking my children in the car.
Anyway, that was all changed today. I recieved a call in my classroom at about 2:20 this afternoon. It was Sam and his first words were "Guess what crisis we are having now?".....oh no...all kinds of things raced through my head, maybe he had been in a wreck, maybe he had lost one of the kids, maybe LilliAnn (our sitter) quit, maybe he was laid off. He then proceeded to tell me that the girls were locked in LilliAnn's car.
The story goes....Sam was helping LilliAnn get the girls in her car after they picked them up from school. LilliAnn had laid her keys on her front seat, and Sam closed the door for some reason. Her car was then locked with the keys and Ella and Emma inside. When I talked to Sam he said that the locksmith was in route to the church where the kids go to school, and it would be about 20 minutes. He said that the girls were fussing off and on, and seemed very confused about what was happening. When the locksmith arrived it took only seconds (and $45) to open LilliAnn's car. Thank goodness it wasn't August!! We did learn that we could have called the fire department to unlock the car, but we were worried that they could possibly damage LilliAnn's car. The girls were not traumatized, and came through the experience without too many tears. I seriously hope that this was our one experience with this crisis!! I know Sam and I will be VERY careful from now on!!

Wishful Thinking!

Dear Chelsi-Thank you so much for our potty. We don't really get what it is for, but we are sure that it has many uses. We have tried putting our toys in it, throwing it in the bathtub, standing on it, and sitting on it. We found a special spot for it in our bathroom, and Mommy points it out everytime that we see it. She says that we are going to learn to go pee-pee in it, but we hate to tell her that she has her work cut out for her. Anyway, we really think that you have good taste, the bright shade of pink and the little bear on the front are "so us". We hope to see you at our meeting spot (Grapevine Mills) next Sunday. Love-Emma and Ella

A Tornadoe of a Tea Party

I will admit that the title is exaggeration on my part...but not by much. ;) All in all the girls had a good 2nd birthday party, but it did not go exactly as I had planned.

Let me rewind to late January 2008. I began to ponder places that I could have the girls 2nd birthday party. Since I will never be able to host a birthday party in our tiny house I am always left wondering what to do. This year we were working with a pretty tight birthday party budget, so that cut out some places that would have been perfect for the girls' 2nd birthday party. The top of the list of places that I wanted was The Little Gym, we recently attended a party there and it was totally age appropriate. For only $225 ( I am being sarcastic) they will supply you with a hostess, paper goods, and an hour and a half of playtime. After a lot of thought I came across the spring brouchure from the Arlington Parks and Rec Department. I remembered that they offered theme birthday parties (tea party, sports party, scavenger hunt party etc...). We had even done Caden's 6th birthday through the rec department (he has a sports party), and it went super smoothly. The rec party came with 2 hours in a reserved room, a craft, a cake, paper goods, goody bags, drink for the kids, decorations, and a party hostess for only $125. I decided to book with the rec, and the person who helped me book it suggested that the tea party birthday would be the best suited for the girls.

Fast forward to February 16, 2008. We walk into the rec ready for Ella and Emma's 2nd birthday party. The party was held in the same room where Cade's 6th birthday party was held. There were balloons, and a personalized sign for the girls, everything looked really good. The under 17 party host shyly smiled at us, said nothing, and walked out of the room. Uh-oh! After 10 minutes it was 4:10 guests had arrived, and the hostess still wasn't back. I sent Sam to find her, and she finally returned. When she came back in the room she asked me what I wanted to do first....what!? Wasn't she supposed to run this party? I asked her what all we were going to do. She said that the kids would be decorating flower pots, making necklaces, having a tea party, eating cake, and playing a game. It sounded a bit scary to me since most of the party attendants were under 5. I decided that we should make necklaces first. That went ok, and despite my fear of children choking on beads everyone came out unharmed with very creative necklaces. Thankfully the girl then told me that they had run out of flower pots....wheww! We moved right into the tea party. At this point my mom was doing way more than the hostess who stood back and looked confused. The kids did great with their lemonade (tea) and cookies, and we came through with only a few minor spills. Next came birthday cake time.

Let me just stop here to mention that Carson was acting like an animal that had been caged for years and finally set free. I am sure that everyone at that party wondered what Sam and I were doing to parent him. He was very wound up because 2 of his favorite friends, Ethan and Corbin, were at the party. He was running (sometimes out of the room), play fighting, and engaging in other activities that I hate to permenantley record in this blog. He was acting terrible, and Sam and I really couldn't even watch him because we were having to coordinate this party. Thank goodness for my mom who helped to keep him under control as much as possible. Brenda mentioned something about him pinching someone, and I didn't even know that had happened.

Back to the birthday cake. The poor party hostess didn't have a working flame, and when someone pulled matches out of their purse the girl still couldn't light the candles. My mom stepped in, lit the candles, and served cake as I helped out with the eating of the cake. Then the girls opened their presents. They got many great things including, spring clothes, cool toys, money, and my favorite a pink potty from Chels. After opening presents there was just a few minutes left so everyone played musical chairs....that was funny!

After musical chairs it was time for the party to end. We gathered everything and headed out to the parking lot, and saw an amazing sight. There was a double rainbow in the sky. It was the most beautiful rainbow that I had ever seen. I guess it is true that a rainbow represents calm after the storm! Chels and I definintley saw it as an amazing sign. Double rainbows on the day that my 2 year old twins celebrated their 2nd birthday party.

sidenote: I didn't mean to come down so hard on the poor clueless hostess, but the whole atmosphere could have been changed if she had taken charge (no excuses for Carson). I guess you get what you pay for, but my sweet father-in-law gave her a $20 tip which she didn't deserve. I am bitter...I know!

Thanks a million to the party photographer, Chels, who worked very hard to help documernt this experience! My sad pictures of the party are really bad. Here are some piuctures that Chels took....Emma Claire really had the "blowing the candles out" thing down

opening presents with Mommy

Carson having fun with the party horn

musical chairs...the party hostess is the one that is leaned up against the counter with the dark hair and gray shirt

the beautiful rainbow that was waiting outside for us

Happy Birthday to You!

Thank you for being the best friend I could ask for! I hope you had a great b-day! Scroll down for some funny memories! Love you! ; ) Erica

Happy 30th Birthday to My Chels!

Today is a milestone for my best friend in the whole wide world Chelsi Lynn Wimbish-Henry! 30 years have come and gone for one of the most loyal, trusting, loving, and forgiving people on Earth. I have been lucky enough to have Chels as a part of my life for over 18 years! We have been through so many things together, but we have remained friends throiugh it all. She has seen me in good times, and really bad times as well. Chels has always understood me no matter what the situation was, and I will be forever grateful to her for that. What would I do without you Chels!? Thanks for all of the memories, and the many that will come in the next 30 years!


Since I don't have a scanner I took pictures of pictures of Chels and I. We grew up in the days long before digital pictures (sadly-because we both love pictures so much), so the only pictures that I have of our early days are actual photographs.

Chels and I in the halls of The Colony High School...I think we were Sophomores.

Chels and I shaving our legs at church camp in Bridgeport. Notice our matching shirts...we loved to match. I guess it gave me practice for dressing my girls years later.

High school graduation-May 1996

Silly young girls in the halls of TCHS.

Who knows what we are doing here.... I remember thinking that Chels was really tan because she had just gotten back from a Florida vacation to Disney World. Chels should have given me some hair advice. Hers is cute....mine is a mess!

New at Being Two

Scroll down for our Mommy's sappy post about us turning two, but in this post we posed for some birthday pictures. As usual we really didn't cooperate, but Mommy tried, we will give her that! Can you believe that today at 2:04 p.m. and 2:06 p.m. we turned 2!? Love-Ella and Emma Ella was really working with me at this point....Emma not so much!

See our #2 on the wall?

Ella Cate

The best picture that I could get of Ella Cate and her #2 fridge magnet.

Emmy who was showing her true 2 year old colors and being just a bit stubborn.

Two Twins Turn 2

How can it be that 2 years have come and gone? It seems like just yesterday that I sat in Arlington Memorial Hospital on the eve of February 14, 2006 watching American Idol still shocked that I had delivered twins. I guess even though it feels like just yesterday, we have come along way.
Here are some things that my girls did during their 2nd year of life....24 things for 24 months.... 1. the girls learned to walk (finally at 14 months of age) : ), 2. the girls gave up their bottles the day after their first birthday party, 3. the girls outgrew their torticolis that had caused their plagiocephaly (flattening of the skull), 4. the girls started preschool at All Saints Lutheran Church CLC, 5. the girls stopped messing with and pulling out their hairbows-yea, 6. the girls developed a love for The DoodleBops, Elmo, and Dora The Explorer 7. the girls learned to say many new things my faves..."no", "where are you", "go go", "jackety", "watery"...I could go on forever, 8. the girls learned to recite their 2 favorite books Please Baby Please and Please Puppy Please...it is too cute, 9. LilliAnn taught the girls to sign "please", "thank-you", "milk", "more", and several other words, 10. the girls have learned how to survive in a family of 4 kids which sometimes includes fighting for your rights, 11. the girls learned to climb out of their cribs, but only tried once after their first spanking from Daddy, 12. the girls became poster children at Sears after Sears asked our permission to display our family picture, 13. the girls taught mommy that baby girls and boys are very different...oh drama!, 14. the girls decided that being girly is quite fun...this past year they aquired purses, high heels, jewelry, princess costumes, and "lipstick", 15. the girls got their first stomach bug, but still have been so healthy that they have never taken antibiotics, 16. the girls love to talk on the phone, and can actually hold a bit of a conversation-sort of, 17. the girls have developed a stronger relationship to their lovey "Raffi" and their "paci"...I'm thinking we are going to have to weaken that relationship real soon, 18. the girls adapted to skim milk very well around 21 months of age, and our household goes through 7 gallons a week, 19. the girls finally stopped being scared of Uncle Caleb (and larger statured men) this fall-yea, 20. the girls had an undeniable fear of Santa this year, 21. the girls have decided that it is much more fun to keep each other awake at bedtime than to go to sleep, 22. the girls got their first haircut in November 2007, 23. the girls know the names of and recognize close family and friends, 24. the girls will still sit in their high chair and stroller very well at 2 years of age (something that my boys had long stopped doing by this time), I guess my sweeties are looking out for me and know that for Mommy's sanity they must keep doing these things, thanks girlies!
It has been more than a blessing to watch Emmy and Ellie develop a special bond that I know only twins could possibly have. When they are coloring at their table and one gets up to leave the other one says "bye Emma", or "bye Ella". They fight, but also play their little hearts out. When there is a RARE occassion that they are apart you can tell that they are wondering where their twin is. What lucky girls theya re to have each other, and what lucky parents we are to have these precious girls that have completed our family.
Happy birthday to my brand new 2 year olds! I love you sweet Valentine girls! Love-Mommy

disclaimer:these pictures were taken off of Kodak Gallery, and that is the only reason that I can figure that they are tiny

One day old.

Preggo with the girls early February 2006.

One of the girls (Chels knows who) on the night of their birth

Carson giving his brand new sisters a bath...look at what a baby he was!

My big girls-December 2007

Very Vivacious Valentines 2008

What a memorable Valentine's Day we had this year. At the top of the memories that I will hold from this day was Caden recieving his first real Valentine from a precious little girl. Below is a picture that I took of the sweet Valentine (Cade wouldn't hold it and let me take a picture...too embarrissing). The little girl's mom volunteers at our school so she and I had arranged to meet up after school so Elisabeth could give Caden the Valentine. Caden was most embarrassed, but he was very polite and thanked her for the card. I encouraged him to write her a note this evening, but he refused, and I didn't want to force him. He is just not into all of that yet I guess, which is fine by me. However, when girls become more appealing to him this precious girl would be agreat catch! ; ) I will treasure this letter forever, and someday Caden can look back on it and know what a stud he was. ; )

Cade headed to eat a Valentine dinner at Jason's Deli.

Ella Cate and Cade sporting the gangsta' look. Minutes before this picture was taken they were dancing in Cade's room to Bow Wow.

Carson wearing his red Bob the Tomatoe shirt for V-day. We were getting ready to head to Jason's Deli where this evening Car finally learned his lesson about standing on the back of rolling high chairs. He always stands on the back of the high chairs despite scoldings and warnings. Tonight the high chair toppled over, and he fell face first on the tile. What a scene we caused, but I think Car had a lesson learned moment.

Miss Ella Cate cuddling with a Valentine puppy from one of my students.

Never buy ANYONE under 10 a....

WHITE shirt!!!!!I have always had the philosophy to steer clear of light colored shirts when shopping for my kids. Caden taught me that as a new mommy many moons ago. However, when I saw the adorable shirt pictured above at The Children's Place Outlet (mine and Chelsi's favorite place) for only $3.00 I couldn't pass it up. I let the girls wear it today since they brought cupcakes to school for their birthday. I know, I know their birthday isn't until Thursday, but we had to bring the cupcakes today because Thursday is the class Valentine party...(sidenote- I did get to choose the day that I delivered my girls, and I did not consider what an inconvenience this might become to share a birthday with a holiday...I just thought...how cool... twin girls born on the sweetest holiday ever Valentines Day.) Anyway they wore this shirt today since they have even a cuter darker colored "birthday girl" shirt to wear on their actual birthday. You might think that their birthday cupcakes caused this mess, but it was actually their "where are you yoyurt" as they call it. It is GoGurt that has Scooby Doo on the package. I was under the impression that it was lighter in color. I guess I know now to find a new color of GoGurt, and stick to my guns....don't buy white! By the way this shirt is Ella Cate's. Miss Emmy got only a dab of "where are you yoyurt" on hers. Ellie's shirt is now soaking in a gallon of Spray N Wash.

Ms. Elizabeth took this picture of the girls ready for their cupcakes.

Yummy cupcakes!

We love dressing up!!

A new favorite activity for the little ones is dressing up. They love to get in their costumes and put on a show!

Carson as the one and only Spiderman.

Miss Ella Cate as Snow White.

Miss Emma Claire as Cinderella.

Words About My Weekend

It has been awhile since I posted about a whole weekend, so here I go.... We arrived home from Pa's funeral on Friday evening. The whole experience was very very hard for me. The funeral was only the second one that I have been to in my life, and the first funeral for a very close family member. I hope not to relive this experience for a VERY long time. I know that Pa is in a better place, but it has been hard for me to come to terms with the fact that I can't just pop in his house and hear his voice and see his sweet smile. He has been on my mind nonstop. I have started to have memories resurface that I have never remembered before. A very random memory that surfaced just yesterday...I remembered everything about their motor home that they sold when I was about 8. That motorhome was something that my Pa was very proud of so I am glad that it all came back to me.
One really neat thing happened when we pulled into the funeral home for Pa's viewing on Thursday afternoon. The radio was on the local country station of course, and Alan Jackson's "Small Town Southern Man" came on. This song has been out for a couple of months, and it has always reminded me of my Pa. I sat and cried in the parking lot listening to this song that I will always believe was my Pa speaking to me.
On to a lighter subject...Saturday morning I tried to pose the girls on a bench outside of Gold's Gym. I am desperate for a picture to put on their birthday invitation, but as you can tell they NEVER cooperate!

Saturday afternoon we went to Reese's 5th birthday party. She had her party at her house, and "The Creature Teacher" came and showed off some animals.

Saturday evening I went to Austin's concert at The Door in Deep Ellum. Afterwards we went to eat at Chuy's. Here we are pictured in front of the Apple Store on Knox Street. This was taken only seconds before the random drunk man that we asked to take our picture dropped my camera. From now on this location will give me a great laugh....thanks Brenda! ; )

Sunday morning the kids helped me give Slick a bath. He was sure stinky!

Sunday afternoon we headed over to Alley Cats for some bowling to celebrate Nathan's 12th b-day. The party started at 12 (straight up naptime) so the girls sucked their paci and carried "Raffi" the entire time!