Managing Or Thriving...I'm Unsure??

I was worried that it would be difficult to have twins and two big kids. I think I'm thriving....it's too early to know.....they're so perfect so they make it easy!

We're Heading Home As Parents of FOUR!

I'm Still Pregnant....But Not For Long!!

Well....I use to blog a reasonable amount.....until I became pregnant! I had a crazy July. I went on a cruise with my high school girlfriends, returned home for 2 days and went to New York City with my family. The second day there I woke up with full on pregnancy symptoms which shocked me. On our way to the Statue of Liberty, I bought a pregnancy test. I took the test back at our hotel and got an immediate positive! I sat in the broadway show "Wicked" just a few hours later stunned at this news. We came home days later and I immediately started bloodwork since I was high risk. One week later (at 7 weeks pregnant) we only had mediocre results to the bloodwork and we had an ultrasound. I was SO sick & SO tired we were thinking twins was an option...mom & Eric thought that...I was just praying I'd stay pregnant. Right away the tech said "are you taking fertility drugs?". I said "no, is it twins?".....that was an amazing day. Later the tech said "Dr. Morgan Gibbs loves multiples, she's going to be so excited" to which I replied "Well, she told me NOT to get pregnant again since I can't seem to stay pregnant so I'm not sure how excited she may be!". I went home drugged up to stay pregnant and I haven't had the energy to blog since!! That is all history now!

It's been a L...O...N...G pregnancy but I'm having our twins in less than two weeks. I am on full bedrest, I can barely turn over by myself and the hours seem to crawl by! But...I don't care! I am so happy to be pregnant with twins! I feel like God is rewarding me for something, but I'm not sure what!!! I feel so blessed.....for this miracle (miracles!!) and for my friends and family.

The current twins (that's Kiersten & I) will blog about the arrival of the new twins once we have some action!! The big day is March 18th! Keep praying please!

Much love!

~Kim

Perfection, Adorable Perfection

I am simply smitten with my children. You always know you're going to love your children. I guess I just didn't realize I'd be so impressed, amazed, and so proud of these little creatures I, we, created. It's fairly incredible.....they are wonderful children, beyond wonderful. They astound me actually. I could list all the qualities that they exude but it would be a long list! They share so many qualities yet they are so different at the same time. I thank God for them everyday, I love being their mommy.

Oh, since my husband is in this picture I should mention that I'm smitten by him as well, still. I hand picked him so of course I'm smitten. ;)

The word blessed is an understatement yet I can't think of a better word. Cheesy post of the week. ;)

Last Week Of School....Why Bother?

My mommy is a teacher, so is my mom-in-law. I want teachers to have a break, they deserve it, they work hard. It's the last week of school. I understand that not much teaching is going to go on this week and I understand that there are logistical details to take care of.

My daughter came home 2 days prior to school being out to tell me that all the desks in her room are gone. For the next two days she won't have a desk. She'll hang out on the floor all day? She's a little thing, 1st grade, so I'm all for circle time and such. But all day? Why send her? I'm thinking she's not learning a thing. There's no reason to remove desks from a classroom that is in use by children and I can't be alone on this.

I say teachers should infuse fun into school the last week of school but should still have a little bit of instruction time and I certainly think my child should have the privilege of having a desk the entire school year, not just most of the school year.

Happy Mother Day From The Twins

"Mom...I've got issues"

My little ballerina went on a playdate today. She got in my car and said "mom, I've got issues" in a very sassy (yet cute) tone. I said "what honey" and she said "my friend has TWO tvs in her room and one of them is a FLAT SCREEN and she has a BATHROOM in her room and I have none of that and it's not fair". I later figured out that the child has her own room with a tv and her own playroom which is the location of the flatscreen.

I'm not one to judge (ha ha, that was funny) and everyone can raise their children how they would like. But, come on, you're making it hard on the prudent parents don't you think?!! This is the same year that my daughter wrote a note to the tooth fairy to tell her $1 was not enough because all of her friends are getting webkinz for a lost tooth and she didn't want money, she wanted a webkinz.

Naturally, I told her that we thought tvs weren't for bedrooms and I didn't have a tv in my room until I married daddy (the truth...I didn't have a tv in my room until I lived with daddy) and she didn't need one now. I told her I'd her buy one for college. The bathroom....since we only have 2 kids I bet she'll have her own bathroom as a teenager...but I did not tell her that. ;)

-Kim

The Fairest Of Them All

I showed land today and got a sunburn....it's Monday morning. I went to my office & 3 people were in the lobby and one said "did you go to the beach??" Ha Ha...."no"....I patiently replied. I simply have no ability to tan and I stood outside looking at dirt for 20 minutes and I now look like I've been to the beach. People that tan have no idea how hard it is for us white folk. I say white...but come on, we're pink. :) I won't even go into our ability to blush even when we're not at all embarrassed, it happens hourly...I just blush if I think or don't think or whatever and I'm sure people wonder why, there is no why except I'm pink and go from light pink to dark pink daily. I'm sure people think I'm easily embarrassed, that's not it, I just turn pink easily. :) I prayed my children would not get my skin tone, my oldest has daddy's tan complexion but this one came out hot pink. ;) The only thing we have going for us is that when 'they' call us "The Fairest Of Them All" they are correct. ;) I have that written on my pink daughter's wall "You Are The Fairest Of Them All". She is and I am. as well.

-Kim

Bubbly Fun In Augusta GA

We don't get concerts in Augusta. We typically drive to Charlotte or Atlanta for events. However, Masters Weeks is different. Colbie Caillat opened for Hootie. Love Hootie, we've seen him a lot. We were SO excited for Colbie. She was great & we had fun...a lot of fun! We love Masters Week!! -Kim

I Love My Self Absorbed Daughter

I always prayed I would not have a weak, meek child and I do not. Katie is hilarious and enjoys her life thoroughly...she giggles all the time. She enjoys keeping herself happy, just like her mom. My husband thinks I'm a bit self-absorbed but he's amused by me. I told Eric the story I'm about to tell you and he smirked and said "she's your child honey". Today Kate and Derrick were given $20 each for Secret Santa at school. The school buys tons of gifts and pre-wraps them. The kids pick out gifts, for their loved ones, and a volunteer labels them after talking to the child. Parents don't go since this is their time to buy gifts for us. Tonight Kate had her Secret Santa bag filled with wrapped gifts and said "can we open our presents?". I said "No way, they're for Christmas and there's nothing for you in your bag anyway". She said "yes there is" and laughed. I took her bag and took out the gifts to see:
"From: KATIE To: ME".
Some volunteer probably got a kick out of that. She cracked up, thoroughly amused with herself. As a mother who loves that I have a strong decisive child, I was thrilled that she made the decision that she deserved a little something for herself too. She's adorable.

-Kim

Shiraz, Pumpkins, Costumes and Candy

It's Halloween Night. The kiddos are adorable, I fulfilled all my mommy duties: made a special dessert for the kids (not that they needed any more sweets), planned and managed my son's class party this afternoon, carved some pumpkins, bought an easy but fun dinner, roasted pumpkin seeds, lit the pumpkins, handed my husband his one and only Halloween t-shirt and begged him to wear it, perfected the costumes, took pictures & stood by my husband as he opened a bottle of Shiraz.

Eric took the kids out, we have too many neighbors to ditch our home so I stayed here and handed out candy. Our neighborhood is funny because a decent percentage of people own and use their golf cars...so you don't just walk. You ride in your golf car. We walk but I should make it a goal to have a golf car by next Halloween. If you need to buy or sell a home in Augusta, call me, I need a golf car.

I thought about making a drinking game out of this holiday. Every time the doorbell rings, I take a sip. But, I haven't done that. I've barely touched the glass because I've been sampling our candy.

By the way, I was freaked out at a haunted house when I was little and grew up not liking Halloween. I remember everything about that event, someone told me to walk close to a person in a coffin. I was obedient and did as they said. He jumped up at me and I cried and cried. I remember Daddy taking me to a cool toy store while everyone entered another room on the right. I told mom this story recently and she said "Kim, that was Disney World". Ah, I didn't remember that part. Pumpkins, scarecrows & candy....that's more than enough for my kiddos and they're having a great time.

Happy Halloween!!

Kim

Camping is Not For Everyone!

We are a cub scout family and went camping, full of excitement and energy! Well, it rained so horribly from 2-4 a.m. and we got soaked. I tried to tough it out as we were supposed to stay until Sunday. By 11 am on Saturday, I was packing up. Picking up James' sleeping bag and having it pour out water was the end of it for me! We came home around 3 and I have never been so glad to see my house!!!! I don't think I can camp again. I REALLY tried, I swear! I have lots of 'how to survive camping as a mommy' secrets but it still just isn't for me. I attempt to be a good mommy to my two boys but I can no longer pretend to tolerate it. It is horrible. I don't like to sweat and it isn't good for my skin. I don't mind the natural breeze and sleeping under the stars but that usually comes with humidity and mosquitoes and an inability to sleep. So the stars are just perhaps prettier from my spa with wine? I've heard this word 'GLAMping' and I promised the boys when we broke their little hearts and told them that they would be missing their pack meeting and fire and another fun night of camping that I would figure out a way for our family to still camp. I don't know where the word 'glamping' came from but I assume that it could be similar to my new camping plans-
-Invite all my other 'we can't camp' cub scout friends over for 24 hours
-Set up our tent around 3 pm by the pond
-Make the cots and put out sleeping bags
-Put my hair in a headband, wear flipflops with a tshirt and wipe off my mascara which officially means 'roughing it'
-Kick around a soccer ball and play a sack race
-Hop in the pool with wine
-Grill out and eat on uncushioned chairs NOT in the screen enclosure--we are creating an environment here so flies have to touch our food and we can't alway be comfortable
-Toast marshmallows in a fire pit that we can make by the pond for these 'trips'
-Get a mosquito bite or two in the name of 'camping'
-Let the kids run wild outside while we adults get in the heated spa with wine
-Get the kids in bed in the sleeping bags
-Lie on our cots for 15 minutes while they calm down
-Kissy kiss the kids goodnight and go inside to shower and put on pjs
-Turn on the baby monitor that we set up under our cot so we can hear them if they need us--we are good parents
-Wake up in the morning and take a pan to the grill and scramble eggs outside--again, environment
-Shower inside or if we want to get crazy, on the patio deck
-Let the kids swim
At this point, I hoe that they are over this, and we can go inside for the rest of the day. I think I could do that every two months and be a good cubscout parent. I have packed my car with more stuff I would need to leave the country many many times for these camping trips and I have tried to be a good sport. But I just can't do it again. It may be like child birth though. The next time I may not remember all this and think it's a good idea. But as of now, the above is the only way I will ever camp again!
-Kiersten

High School Musical On Ice = Mommy Daughter Heaven

I've never seen less men in my life. But, I haven't been to an Indigo Girls Concert. The men I saw were smiling & carrying HSM merchandise. Which means their smiles were fake because the t-shirt cost $35!

We escorts enjoyed ourselves as much as the girls. Well, I did see someone who appeared to be a nanny asleep. But, all the escorts that paid to get in seemed to adore the show!

One of the girls with us wanted you to know that Gabriella, Troy & Sharpay look nothing like they do in real life. I agreed with her.

My favorite parts:

1. Basketballs falling from the sky

2. The bathing beauties being pulled around the ice on pool floaties during the "Fabulous" song

3. The "We're All In This Together" Dance, of course

4. Our girls beaming with excitement

5. All things Sharpay and Ryan

Disney, as usual, I thank you and I love you. You are magical!! My mommy friend Gwenn is fabulous as well, we had a wonderful day.

-Kim