Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all you Mother's out there and especially to Alison. I'm not sure how to start this, as I have so many things to say so I'll be brief. You are an amazing mother and wife. You do so many little things around here that never get noticed. If it wasn't for you, we would be hurting and unorganized. You are loving and caring towards your children and you always put them first before yourself. You have a lot of tolerance towards me and my goofiness. Some other great qualities you have is your humor, great multi-tasker and your love towards us. This past year has been interesting, trying and great. I wouldn't want to change anything. Remember taping shows during the evening so we could watch them at 2am while feeding the twins, seeing Annalyse after her surgery and sleeping countless night in the Lazy-boy, trying to fit all three car seats in the cars, Megan chickening out to see the Easter bunny, but still got the chocolate. What great memories we have and we have some much more to come. All these memories wouldn't be possible without YOU.

We really don't celebrate these day's (sweetest day, valentine's day, mother/father's days) with extravagant presents, but I thought a nice little thank you to show how much you mean to our family is the least I could do. Thanks for being a great and loving mom, even though we might not show it all the time; we appreciate everything you do!

Here is the News

It really is nothing but kind of interesting. My friend Andy, called me the other day to tell me that our old house was on fire. The first thing I though, "God I hope it wasn't my fault". I was worried it was something I wired as we change all the light fixtures along with finishing one side of the basement and wiring lights under the kitchen cabinets. Thank goodness it started because someone (owner or person checking on the cat and dog) left a halogen end table lamp on while on vacation to Las Vegas. They are assuming that the dog knocked it over onto the couch which eventually started it on fire. The firefighters were able to get to the house before it got out of control. The entire house is in tact see picture below, but it needs to be gutted due to smoke and fire damage. As you can see the windows are boarded up. Did I mention that we replaced those windows prior to selling the house. P.S. Jody, the animals made it out safely:)

It must be Spring

We know it is spring, when our weeping cherry tree blooms (see pictures below). I really enjoy spring seeing which plants survived and which ones didn't. As of right all of our plants/trees/flowers/shrubs made it through our long winter; even Megan's strawberry plants made it. Yah! Last week was pretty uneventful, but on Friday Annalyse had her monthly follow-up with the surgeon and everything went well. It still sounds like June when she will be able to reduce her time in the helmet and be totally done with it in August.

Saturday I went golfing for the first time and Saturday afternoon we went to the Tiger Game. Cristy and Mark had extra tickets so we took Megan and left the twins with Andy and Jenny (bowling, softball and golfing friend) Sunday was nothing.

Stay tune later this week I have some very interesting news to report. (anyone care to take a guess?)

Picture Scrapbook of this past week:

Spring Time is here!

Annalyse is wondering if she should put the branch in her mouth.

Meredith playing with the wood chips.

Voakes rock is from Aunt Annette and Uncle Justin (x-mas present).

On the ballfield before the game started.

Megan's boyfriend! (Magglio Ordonez)

Newlyweds Cristy & Mark (Megan was the flower girl in their wedding, see previous post)

Getting ready to get on the baseball Ferris Wheel.

Who would have thought we all would be wearing Tiger apparel. Yes we hopped on the bandwagon.

One of many snacks Megan ate at the ball game!

As you can see, no injuries yet, but we are 0 - 3, Yikes!!!

Check out my Slide Show!

Happy Birthday Annalyse and Meredith!

It is hard to believe that the twins are a year old already. The time has sure flown by, it has been a busy year and I am sure the next year will be just as busy. I know we will have busy summer with both Annalyse and Meredith being mobile.

My mom and dad stayed with us while I was on Spring Break, it was sure nice to have the extra help around the house.
Mike and I went to Mt. Pleasant for one night for a nice getaway. Mike won a little money at the casino, of course, I lost like normal - that is why I do not like going to casinos. It was fun to drive around Mt. Pleasant and see all the things that have changed since we left there eight years ago.
I had my wisdom teeth pull on Wednesday, it all went all. I was a little sore for a few days but I am pretty much back to normal now.
On April 10th, Mike turned the BIG 3-0. He seems to be handling it fine. He also had his first softball game. Unfortunately they did not win, we went for a little bit but the weather was damp and rainy so we left after a few innings.
On Friday, Annette and Justin came for the weekend. They had a fun time (I think) and the girls had a good time with their aunt and uncle. The weather was not the best, and actually the tornado siren even went off on Friday night so we spent some time in the basement.
Saturday we had a little birthday party for the twins and Mike and Annette (she turned 32 on April 12th). The twins enjoyed the bear cakes that Grammy Hanner and Megan made. They didn't even get that messy.
It was nice having all of the company and was sad to see them go, but Megan pointed out to me Monday after school, "Mom, it sure is peace and quiet here."

This week seemed just as busy. I had parent-teacher conferences on Wed. and Thur. so it made for a long week.
The twins brought cupcakes to day care on Thursday for their birthdays'. Their birthday was Friday but they stayed at home with Jan. Ms. Margaret said they really enjoyed the cupcakes.
Friday we went out to eat and they played outside with the neighbors. Megan also had her first sleepover, her friends Lauren and Morgan spent the night. They all had fun and managed to sleep fairly well, although Lauren said that Megan and Morgan talked too much (hard to believe that Megan could talk too much.)
It was a beautiful weekend. We went to the park on Saturday and did a lot of outside chores. The kids had fun at the park, there was only one baby swing available so the twins shared, it worked out well. Sunday was nice as well, but not quite as warm. Bob came over on Saturday and spent the night, of course we put him to work on Sat.

Hopefully the weather will stay nice and we can start spending more time outside.

Have a great week!

She Did It

Once again Megan proves me wrong and she did a great job. She had a great time all day, she was just one of the girls. The day started with Alison and her getting their hair done, then Alison asked her if she wanted to go back home for a little bit, but she said no. She wanted to hang out with all the bridesmaids. After seeing her yesterday, I am really worrying about the teenage years. All the bridesmaids and guests kept telling us she is unbelievable and you couldn't tell that she was only 3 1/2. YIKES. The wedding went good, beautiful weather and good food. Alison's cousin's watched the twins during the wedding and dinner. Then Alison's parents left the reception early to take Megan and the twins home.

Uncle Bob's

Yep, we know, it is about time for a new post. Things have been busy around here as the twins are still nursing their colds. Alison took Meredith to the doctor's for her cough as it is pretty flemmy. I guess the only thing she has is a small ear infection. I am going to take Annalyse tomorrow morning for her cough and potential ear infection as she hasn't really been eating. Needless to say the twins haven't gone to sleep too easily, so most of our evening (no kid time) has been rocking the sick and spending the night in the recliner. The Joys of Parenthood!

Annalyse had her monthly follow-up appointment with the surgeon. Everything is coming along great as her head in nearly symmetrical now. She will still need to wear the helmet till June as the skull continues to heal and grow. In June she'll have another CAT scan to make sure the skull is healing properly because after the surgery her skull looked like a jigsaw puzzle. A couple of appointments ago we found that she has over 100 screws in her head along with several plates, but they are dissolvable. Here is a website about craniosynostosis http://www.ccakids.com/Syndrome/Craniosynostosis.pdf. She had the plagiocephaly form.

Nothing really happened last week, but on Saturday we decided to visit Uncle Bob at his place. We decided we should see where he works and lives, since he is only hour away and has been there for 6 months. His apartment is pretty nice, a lot of room for one person. While at his work, he showed the girls all the animals they have. Megan was pretty timid with the animals, except for the snake. Some of the animals included: rabbits, turtles, an iguana, snakes, doves, a bald eagle, different owls, a hawk, and several others. And like any good employee, he ended the tour at the gift shop, of which a t-shirt was purchased:)

Meredith is an official walker now, she walks everywhere, instead of crawling.

Upcoming Weekend

Alison's parents will be traveling down here on Thursday as we are all going to a wedding on Saturday, which Alison is a bridesmaid and Megan is the flower girl. Megan is excited, but I'm sure she'll chicken out when it is game time.

Other than that, the van is running good, bowling is going good (average back to 200) and one more softball practice before next Thursday first game on April 10th.

See Ya, MAMAM