Our Maema

A few weekends ago, my mother-in-law (Maema) and her fiance Kevin (AKA HC’s boyfriend) came down for a fun filled weekend. It would take me all day to list all the presents they brought down for the girls. Maema loves to shop …ebay, craigslist, malls, stores .. it does not matter. She is, without a doubt, the most generous person that I know. All those nice clothes you see the girls sporting, chances are their Maema bought them. All of the super cool toys (roller coaster, indoor trampoline, play house, moon bounce, etc. etc. etc.) you see in our house and in our backyard; chances are their Maema bought them. It is unreal what that woman can fit into the back of her Durango to haul down here. Sometimes Kevin’s truck is needed but she always gets it down here. And we are talking MASSIVE amounts of stuff.

The girls opening up all their cool birthday presents from Maema and Kevin.

Not only does she spoil the girls, she spoils Jamie and I. She is always there for us no matter what. If I asked her to baby-sit for us for 2 hours she would make the 10 hour round trip drive down here just to help us out. But the thing I love the most about her is her heart. She is such a sensitive soul. I really hit the jackpot when I got her as a mother-in-law and I could not ask for a better grandmother for my kids.

The girls in the adorable puppet theater Maema bought for them.

Princess Quinn Princess Hassie Clare

Okay .. enough mushy stuff. Mae – I know you read this blog. Dry your eyes and put your big girl panties on. See …. I told you that I can be sweet sometimes. I really do love you and I’m so grateful to have you in my life. I appreciate all that you do for us.

On with the weekend details. We spent Sat. opening up lots and lots of presents and playing with toys. Sunday we decided to head to downtown Memphis or as Hassie Clare says it "head to the town." We had a blast!

Eating lunch a B.B. Kings. I think this was Quinnie's 4th piece of corn. The music and the food was fabulous!

After lunch we hit The Peabody Hotel to watch the ever so famous duck march. This is the girls with Kevin in the lobby watching the ducks swim in the pond.

Maema with her little boy at the Peabody.

Hassie Clare enjoying some snuggle time with her Daddy.

Of course we hit up the gift shops at The Peabody and Maema did what every grandmother would do and bought the girls everything they asked for. The picture is of Quinn pushing a wooden duck on a stick that has rubber feet that roll over and flap. That girl pushed that thing all over the hotel and the entire way up to Beale St. She even told me when it was hungry and needed to go potty!

Sweet Hassie Clare bear.

Quinn warming up for her dance moves on Beale St.





She had all the moves. The second picture is of her breaking it down at Coyote Ugly. Evidently I take my kids into bars now:)

Two tired and hot ladies. Hassie Clare turns into a pumpkin when she doesn't get her nap.

As always with Mae and Kevin, we had a great time and made some good memories. Before I wrap this up, I must also add that my mother-in-law will always be Bluffy Mcliarpants to me. Don't let this sweet, loving grandmother fool you. She is a card shark!!!!

MDO School Spring pic

I finally loaded Hassie Clare and Quinn's Spring school pic from their Mother's Day Out program. They had a wonderful teacher that made our first "school" experience very pleasant. The girls love going to school because of her and can't wait to start back in the fall. She will always be special to us.

Beside the fact that they look 6 instead of 2 in this picture, I think it is a sweet pic!

The girls first trip to the movie theater.

Hassie Clare is a total movie buff. She loves them! Her favorite thing to
carry around right now is a lady bug CD/DVD holder that is packed full of kids
movies. She flips through them at least once an hour.

For Father's Day, Jamie wanted to take the girls to the movies for the first time.
I think they were expecting the same thing little orphan Annie got when Daddy
Worebucks took her to the movies for the first time. There were no dancing girls
or singing ushers. Their disappointment quickly changed to excitement when they
realized they could eat endless popcorn and drink their very own slushie.

We went to see the movie UP. It was a really cute movie. The girls sat
through the entire movie and loved every bit of the experience.

Jamie and his ultra cool 3D glasses (for future reference .. UP
is in 3D).

Blog Neglect

Dear Blog,
I apologize for being so neglectful lately. Of course I have multiple excuses, none of them I'm sure you care to hear. I promise to make more time for you and approve upon my time management skills because obviously they are slacking.

Things are looking better this week. Someone stole Jamie's wallet at the movie theater Sunday night. He thought it would show up and did not cancel his debit card. Wouldn't ya know it, someone charged over $200 at a BP station on Shelby Dr. yesterday on his card. Luckily I put a hold on the other accounts. So he spent the afternoon at the bank, police station and Driver's License Bureau. I spent the afternoon on the phone with all 3 credit reporting agencies putting a 90 day fraud alert on his credit and the Circuit Clerk's office getting his a new voter registration card. He doesn't carry much in his wallet. His mom is working on getting his beloved $100 Harbor Freight Gift card reissued that she got him for his birthday.

Other good news is that Hassie Clare's extremely high fever is finally gone ... for good ...... good gracious I hope I'm not jinxing myself. On Monday it got up to 104.8 - THIS IS NOT A TYPO. I about lost it and I'm sure the poor lady at the pediatrician's office thinks I'm a nut job. Maybe because I screamed at her when I she said she could squeeze me in 4 hours later. I screamed at her "Did you not hear me correctly, my 3 year old has a 104.8 fever." Then she calmly and with a sweet voice provided me with their office hours and informed me that they would be out for 2 hours during lunch. Because my kids might read this someday I can't type in here what I said to her next plus I would hate to offend anyone because let me tell ya .... it was foul! Needless to say, we have changed pediatrician clinics. The "new" doc thought it was a bladder infection and put her on a round of antibiotics but the culture came back negative (took 2 days for the results). So he thinks she has another case of Rosieola (I'm sure I butchered the spelling - basically Measles) but she never got the rash. I guess I'll find out for sure if Quinn starts running a fever sometime next week. Thankfully she is feeling much better. She was 38 inches tall and weighed 29.9 pounds. For the record, I plan on apoligizing to the receptionist at our former clinic when I go in to pick up the girls medical records ;>}

My work life has also been in high gear for about 6 weeks. Not complaining one bit but the long hours are weighing heavy on me. In fact, I'm taking a break from paperwork to write to you Blog and it's 9:30 on a Thursday night. See ... I do still love you!

So basically, I have a ton of new things to blog about but life is just not cutting me any slack at this time. I have lots of pics to load from our weekend with Maema and Kevin. That will be my next project, I promise, in my spare time.......... who needs sleep anyway!

Sincerely,
Kristi

PS - Jamie's Godson was born on Monday (our 7th wedding anniversary). His name is Ben Randell Hammer (Ben after his daddy and Randell after his grandfather that passed away a few years ago). We could not be any happier for the Hammer family and Jamie has been beaming with pride since they asked him to be his Godfather!!!! (FYI - Ben is Quinn's Godfather) I can not wait to get my hands on him for some baby lovin:)

My week... the good and the bad!

I am welcoming the end to this crazy week.

Run down of events from the week-

• Good news is that the HORRIBLE storm that came through a week ago did not do any structural damage to our house - bad news is that we lost 2 big trees, one of them being my favorite tree (Jamie is out in the 98 degree heat cutting them up as I type this).
• Good news is that we had a safe 1 day trip to MO and back - bad news is that we went for a funeral for a loved one (see previous post).
• Good news is that the surgeon was able to fix my Freddie's heart without doing bypass on Thur - the bad news is that he had to have heart surgery (he is home and feeling good now).
• Good news is that my mom finished her 3rd week of radiation and the tumors appear to be getting smaller - the bad news is that she has cancer in her leg.
• Good news is that Jamie fixed the air-conditioning tubing that was completely pulled out - the bad new is that the water leaked into our ceiling and down the wall between my room and laundry room causing major water damage in the laundry room and my room.
• Good news is that I have a job and have been extremely busy this week which equals job security - the bad news is that I'm exhausted and could use a break.
• Good news is that Jamie will have lots of overtime pay on his next check - bad news is that he has been working lots of hours.
• Good news is that I received a check from a credit card company for $200 stating I overpaid - bad news is that it was an error and I believe in karma so I'm sending it back.
• Good news is we have 2 adorable kittens - bad news is that we HAVE to find a home for them quickly.
• Good news is that my little family is all healthy - bad news is that we have to spend the weekend getting our yard and house back in shape after 2 weeks of neglect!
• Good news is that I have wonderful Father's all around me - bad news is that Father's Day is tomorrow and I haven't mailed or purchased one Father's Day card or gift. Same goes for our wedding anniversary that is on Monday.
• Good news is that we are going to the beach for a week - bad news is that it is a month away (if you really call that bad news:)!

Overall, we are blessed but tired and ready for an uneventful, boring week to come.... if there is such a thing!

Funny thing HC said yesterday. We had our water turned off all day because at the time we were not sure of where the water in the ceiling was coming from. Of course this means they could not flush the toilet all day which really bothered Hassie Clare. As soon we got home she told us that the potty was broken cause it needed batteries. Which ... to her makes since cause when one of her toys is broken it is usually because it needs batteries! So she got her tool box and some batteries and we went in to fix it (really Jamie just turned the main water line back on:).

Rest In Peace Aunt Barbie

Saying good bye to a loved one is extremely difficult and I'm lucky enough to not have much experience in this department. We just got back from saying our final farewells to our beloved Aunt Barbie. She was diagnosed with a super fast-spreading cancer 6 weeks ago. She was 66 years old at the time of her death. She is Maema's (my MIL) oldest sister.


I'm 100% convinced after taking the girls to a funeral that Hassie Clare has a 6th sense. I was only 88% sure before the funeral. The girl has the wisdom of a 90 year old man that has traveled the world many times. She was totally into the entire thing (reminder - she turned 3 last week). At the funeral home, before the Mass the family got to say good bye to her in an open casket before they closed it and took her body to the church. Quinn immediately clinched her eyes shut the second we stepped foot into the room where Aunt Barbie laid. Hassie Clare had a million questions and would have crawled up into the casket with her had we let her. We told the girls that Aunt Barbie was sleeping and that her soul was in heaven playing with Jesus and the angels. I finally had to start telling Hassie Clare the truth about everything because she was not buying all of my "toddler friendly" answers (by truth I mean what I think happens). We went to 3 different places during the course of the day ... the funeral home, the church and the cemetery. Each time we arrived at one of the locations, Hassie Clare would look around for several mins and then ask me where Jesus was. Of course I told her he was everywhere but mostly in our hearts. I told her his home was in heaven which was way above the clouds. At the church she told me "Aunt Barbie is sleeping in her bed" as she pointed to the casket. When we got to the cemetery she was very upset when we were leaving. I asked her what was wrong and she said she wanted to see Aunt Barbie. We were looking at the same casket as we had all morning long and she kept saying "Aunt Barbie is not there anymore and I can't see Jesus either." Was she implying that she could see Jesus and Aunt Barbie up until this point???????? when we walked by the casket for the final time before they closed it Hassie Clare leaned into the casket and whispered "I love you." Wise beyond her years I tell ya. Several things she said yesterday during the funeral gave me chills. That 30 pound little girl freaks me out sometimes:)


After the funeral home we went to Aunt Barbie's church for full Mass. It lasted an hour and half and the girls did great ........ yes.....I'm totally shocked. Of course I fed them every snack in the world to keep them quite and still. Oh yeah ... Quinn's panties got wet at the funeral home so she sat through Mass commando in her pretty baby blue dress. Of course I caught her laying in the pew, on her back, dressed pulled up, examining her "lu lu" with her fingers while I was standing up paying attention to the service. No telling what everyone behind us was thinking. WE FROM MISSISSIPPI AND PROUD OF IT:)



Aunt Barbie was a well respected, god loving woman that positively impacted several people's lives. I will always remember her. I prayed directly to her during her funeral that she would help guide me in educating my daughters in Christianity. She devoted her life to educating children through the Catholic School system. I vowed then and there to make more of an effort in finding a church that fits the needs of my family. Aunt Barbie was our "go to" person when we needed special prayers answered (I think every family has one). If I needed a special prayer, Mae would call her for me. The family always joked that she had major connections with God..... now she really has the hook-up and I plan on taking advantage of it!!!


Needless to say, we are dragging butt today. We covered almost 800 miles - round trip - in 28 hours with 2 three year olds and I think Jamie and I whined more then they did. They were not ready to leave Maema's house. Speaking of which, we had an awesome time this past weekend with Maema and Kevin in town. I'll post about our weekend once I get the pic's downloaded. Not enough time in the day!!!!

Seriously ... 3 years have gone by?

When I say my kids are 3 years old it doesn't even seem right coming out of my mouth. It blows my mind. Although it feels like the past 3 years have gone by in a blink, I feel like I have known them my entire life. Throughout the pregnancy, I continuously wondered what they would look like and what their personalities would be like. All that wondering seemed silly after the first time I looked into their eyes. I realized at that point that they had been growing in my heart for years and everything about them seemed familiar.

JUNE 11, 2006

Quinn Rayann. First born weighing in at 5.2 pounds and 19 inches long. She looks so big laying there but she was tiny. The diaper she has on is a preemie diaper and it swallows her.



Hassie Clare. Born second weighing in at 3.13 and 18.5 inches long. This little girl gave me the biggest scare of my life. It took her a while to start breathing on her own and she was itty bitty! They took the ventilator out after 5 hours.

JUNE 11, 2007

WE SURVIVED THE FIRST YEAR WITH TWINS!!!! YEAHHHHHHH

JUNE 11, 2008

The pics of Quinn are on June 14, 2008 - the day of their party. I could not find a decent one of Quinn on June 11, 2008.

I have a huge range of emotions today. I'm excited for the future and very sad that my daughter's baby years will soon be a distant memory. I'm nervous about several things. Are we doing a good enough job raising them? Are they healthy? If I could take a peek into the future in let's say .. ahh 20 years from now, it would help out a great deal!

Loving them and taking care of their physical needs are easy. They make it easy. I find "raising them" or actual parenting them to be difficult. I guess I think it is difficult because of the unknown. I second guess myself all the time, especially when it comes to discipline. Am I teaching them the right life lessons? Am I teaching them the importance of giving, being kind to others and loving all God's creatures? I'm a huge believer in leading by example and I don't feel like I'm doing that well enough. Maybe that is what I will work on over the course of the next year. Until then, I promise to love and care for them as best as I know how.

*

Dear Hassie Clare and Quinn,

My life was good before you came into the world but you have made it great. When I look at each of you, my heart swells up and I fall in love with you that much more. With each year, you change so much and go through so many life changes. I feel so privileged and honored that I get to watch you grow up and experience these changes. Thank you for the best 3 years of my life. Happy 3rd Birthday!

I love you with all my heart,

Mommy

Way Back When-esday: 2 peas in a pod - 18 weeks 5 days

This is a fun little blog thing that a fellow blogger does (http://twinfatuation.blogspot.com/) that I thought was cute called Way Back When-esday. AAAhhhh the memories!

This was the last ultrasound pic of both of the girls together in utero. Hassie Clare is on the left (sitting up higher) and Quinn is on the right. This was my favorite ultrasound pic.

III Birthday Bash

For the past week, Hassie Clare and Quinn have been beaming with excitement while preparing for their princess birthday party. Every day and night we have talked about the party, who was attending, the food, the moon bounce, their cakes and of course the pinata (or as HC says Pimyatta). By the look on their face Saturday, I'm assuming their party was everything they hoped it would be!

Balloon delivery by Paw Paw a few hours before the party.

I'm a planner. I schedule everything and plan things down to a tee. I function best this way and most of the time my life is a "smooth" ride. I mention this because for the first time in my life, I did not allow my OCD planning skills to kick in for this event. Let me start by saying that most of the folks that attended the party, especially the kids, had no idea about my lack of planning. Except for the fact that we ran out of food and drink. Not really ran out of food, but there was not a crumb to spare. Not really ran out of drink because there was water and beer. Of course had Hassie Clare not helped herself to 17 juice boxes out on the back deck there might have been more for the other kids.

We had 58 guests at the party and a hand full of itty bitty babies. We had a moon bounce courtesy of a close family friend, we set up the little roller coaster, got all the motorized toys and tricycles out and let the kids play. Of course they could always come inside to cool down and jump on the little indoor trampoline or play in the girls playroom stocked full of fun stuff for little ones. I ordered 10 large pizzas, had little pinwheel sandwiches, an abundance of spinach dip, mango salsa and watermelon. All of it was gone within an hour. I made 4 gallons of lemonade, had a case of juice boxes and a 12 pack of Sierra Mist. All of it was gone within and hour and a half. I have NEVER ran out of food or drink in all my years as a hostess. Serves me right for not planning better! In my defense, about 15ish folks showed up without RSVP'ing BUT it is so worth it cause the party would not have been the same without them!

We did not see Quinn for the first hour because she stayed in the moon bounce. When we finally dragged her out of it her face was the color of a bright cherry tomato. Hassie Clare stayed by our outdoor cooler (we call it the baptismal) sucking down juice boxes and eating ice. When she would see one of use coming she would dart out to the moon bounce.

Already crusin with a dude in her Jeep!

About an hour and 30 mins into the party Cinderella and her fairy godmother were suppose to make a special appearance. They were 30 mins late (had I had my planning hat on, I would have followed up with them that morning to make sure they were going to be on time!). It actually worked out good because all the little girls were waiting on our front porch when Cinderella walked up our driveway. Let me back up - Quinn had a melt down about 10 mins before Cinderella got there. She got hurt (not sure if it was feelings or physical) on the moon bounce, was overheated, thirsty and tired. She was stuck on me like a baby monkey. In addition, the fairy godmother had a cape on and Quinn wanted nothing to do with Cinderella or the godmother after she saw that. She has NEVER liked anything that was in costume. I thought Cinderella would be different but I was wrong. She kept her eyes shut 98% of the time Cinderella was there. Hassie Clare, on the other hand, LOVED LOVED LOVED every min of it. The excitement on her face was priceless!

Hassie Clare when she first saw Cinderella walking up the driveway.

When you ask Quinn why she was scared of Cinderella she says she wasn't scared, she was sleepy. Funny how when Cinderella and her fairy godmother left Quinn was full of energy!

The only way to get Quinn in the pic was to hold her and turn sideways.

Cinderella helped us sing happy birthday (only once to both girls and I swore I would always sing to them individually but everything felt rushed). We will sing happy birthday to each of them this weekend when we celebrate it again! We opened a few presents and then half of the folks left. The other half hung around for another hour or so and then left. I was not ready for anyone to leave!

It seemed like I blinked and it was over .... and this was a long birthday party. I never got a chance to sit down and talk with anyone. Some of these friends I only see once or twice a year and I hate that I missed the opportunity to visit with them. Most of all, I never got to watch my girls interact with their friends. I wish I had planned things better so that I maybe I would have had a chance to "stop and smell the roses." Although I love having their birthday parties at our house, I think next year we will do a "destination" party so that I don't miss a thing!

This pic cracks me up because she was sitting on the edge of her playground and no one was near her. She was sipping a "pretend" juice out of her Walmart cart and having an intense conversation. We are not quite sure who she was talking too???????

No regrets. My girls had a blast and still talk about it with excitement and that is all that really matters to me. I think our friends and family had a good time. I'm pretty sure all the little girls will be talking about Cinderella for awhile.

After the party, my family (Mom, Fred, Amy, Brad, Karrie, Brent, David, Jennifer and kids) packed up and we headed over to the BBQ joint around the corner from our house (Natural Born Grillers). The girls danced to the music on the jukebox, we ate ribs and BBQ nachos and enjoyed each others company. Afterwards, we came back to the house and parked our hiney's on the back deck. Uncle Dave and the girls caught fireflies. Quinn thought by running fast with her hand in the air she could catch some ....... it was too cute to even describe. Jack, Joise, Amy and Brad started a water balloon fight (water balloons courtesy of Nana... or course). So many memories were made!

The night ended with each of girls curling up in my lap and falling right to sleep. They only do this on the night of their birthday parties. Thank goodness for night vision on the camera to capture the memory. It is the best present they could ever give me!

Quinnie Ray

Hassie Clare Bear

This last pic is of the girls at 3am. They were exhausted! Hassie Clare was turned around backwards in her bed and Quinn was half on / half off her bed sound asleep!