Disney On Ice IV

I'm not sure who gets more excited, Jamie or the girls. He LOVES taking them to these types of shows. This is the fourth year in a row to go to Disney On Ice. He surprised them with tickets and didn't tell them about it until they got downtown - even though I'm pretty sure Investigator HC figured it out.  I think all in all they were pleasantly surprised (even though they were thinking that the surprise was a Disney World trip, going to the Eiffel Tower or going swimming). They said they had an "awesome" time with their Daddy and Nana (I stayed home and managed Kristi's House of Laundry).

Will there be a Thurman Family Disney On Ice V? I hope so because if not, I will have one sad 40 year old to deal with!

Mid-South Fair 2011

Where do I begin ... it was the perfect evening. Jamie and I snuck out of work early, picked up Nana and the girls from school and headed down to the fair. The weather was perfect, the atmosphere was relaxed, the crowds were minimal, the grounds were clean and we had a fantastic time. And let me tell you, I can still say all those pleasant things even though we spent about $175. NUTS! We were $110 into it before we stepped foot on a ride or dove into a foot long Pronto Pup. But totally worth it.
Hassie Clare was immediately bouncing off the walls when she saw all the rides. She is officially an adrenaline junkie. The higher and faster she can go, the better.

I'm afraid Cirque Du Soleil might want to recruit Hassie Clare! 

Quinn on the other hand, likes to take things slow. She has to watch a ride several time before deciding if she wants to ride it ... with her Daddy. But by the end of the night, she built up her confidence and was riding everything by herself and loving it!

 It was just one of those afternoons when the world was perfect. Everyone was happy and carefree. Our cheeks were sore from smiling so much!

Jamie was so cute with the girls at the fair. He should get father of the year for squeezing into all of the kiddie rides and climbing miles of steps, over and over, for the jumbo slides.

Jeep girls rule!

I'll be the first to admit that the fair usually grosses me out. Between the germs, greasy food, long lines, out of control kids jacked up on sugar, the heckling carney's, rude people and all the money it cost to get this .... YUCK ... why submit yourself to this torture. But my attitude will be forever changed about the fair. And even though there were still some of those things about the fair that gross me out, I found them entertaining this time. Have I changed or was it really just the perfect fair night?

Watching my beautiful Mother watch her granddaughters enjoy the fair on this magnificent evening will be forever etched into my memory. She was glowing with happiness and pride.

Hookie

The girls played hookie from school for the first time today. It was not planned but it was much needed! They have been at each others throats lately and I have been ALL OVER THEM about everything lately. I was at whits end and something had to give. So me and the girls slept in (7:30), snuggled and wrestled in my bed for an hour, laughed, smothered each other in kisses and told each other I love you in as many ways as possible. Quinn thinks she won because she came up with, "I love you disco one hundred thousand hundred thirty times."
After we were covered in each others stinky morning breathe, we jumped in the car and headed to Hazel's for pancakes. It was hands down the best start of the day that I have had in months. Then they spent the rest of the day loving on Nana.
And a funny thing happened today, the girls didn't fight as much, their manners were impeccable and I didn't raise my voice ... not one time all day! Even though I had to stay up working until the wee hours of the night to make up for the time away from work, it was totally worth it.
So, lesson learned. I have got to stop and smell the roses on a regular basis. And my roses are those precious little girls that are curled up sleeping in the room next to me. 

Quinn nailed me between the eyes about .02 seconds after I took this pic with my phone. We all laughed so hard that HC pee peed a little in her panties and we had to go take them off in the bathroom!

Goodbye summer ... hello fall



Our new nanny ... the trampoline.

 I realize that this could qualify me for mother of year. The girls get home from school at 3. I still have 2+ hours of work left. Of course I could spend $30 extra per day to send them to aftercare at their school but why would I spend $150 extra bucks a week for them to be away from home even more then they already are???? The weather has been nice so the only logical thing would be for them to get in their trampoline and let me zip them up inside it while threatening bad things if they get off the trampoline. OR, they have a choice of watching a movie or playing in their playroom. They ALWAYS pick the nanny trampoline.  They are never out of view from me in the house, they are burning off tons of energy and they are becoming quite skillful at trampoline tricks. We are talking potential circus stars here!

We have been busy little beavers around here. It is a shame that I have to look at the pics on my phone to remind me of what all we have been doing this past month. So ... I'll let the do pictures do the talking:

COUNSELOR THURMAN

HC's teacher called me last week and I could hear HC crying hard in the background. My heart skipped a beat.... because HC is not normally a cry baby. Her teacher asked if I could talk to HC because she is hysterical because she had to move her name to the yellow light for not following directions. Her teacher said that HC kept saying "My momma's gonna beat me." After I laughed out loud, I tried talking to her but she was inconsolable. Finally, with me on the phone, the teacher told her that if she was good the rest of the day that she would let her move her name back to the green light. Within 5 seconds HC dried up her tears and was playing with her classmates. I've said it once and I'll say it again, that child has some seriously wicked negotiating skills. Oh .. and for the record ... the "My momma's gonna beat me" statement actually means "If I don't get green lights all week I can't get Gracie Blues (frozen yogurt) piled high with toppings at the end of the week." Later on that night I asked HC what "a beating" means and she said, "You know Momma, when your heart goes beat, beat, beat. And if it stops going beat, beat, beat it means you are not happy with me."



ADULT RETREAT





Jamie and I had a grown-up weekend at the lake with my bunko gals....thanks the Penney Lane. It was great to get away and do grownup things. Some of us got a little carried away with all the freedom ... not mentioning names but he is the father of 5 year old twins. But all in all, it was a great weekend! A special thanks to Nana and Paw Paw for keeping our little tinker toys all weekend. They LOVE it at their house and beg to go all the time. And who am I to stop them .... so they have been over there a ton lately!

 THE TEXANS

We enjoyed a nice weekend with Grandpa Hagel and Glenda. A little birdie told me that we might be seeing them more then 2 or 3 times a year:)

 RUBY RENEE

Poor Rubes had a birthday ... big number 8. The following week she had to go to the vet for a sprang hip. Poor old girl was in pain. The good news is that she can still see some out of 1 eye and the hip healed in about 10 days.





CHUCKY CHEESE



The girls got invited to their first birthday party at Chucky Cheese from Quinn's little BFF at their new school. Anyone that knows Quinn understands her freakishly, deathly fear of characters in costume. She shakes, screams and bolts. Sometimes her fear is so great she wets herself. It is like nothing I've ever seen. But she assured me that she wanted to go to this party. Her and I spent 3/4 of the party in a germ infested booth by the front door with her under the table and squeezed between my knees while screaming "TAKE ME HOME. WHERE'S CHUCKY? IS HE COMING? TAKE ME HOME." Meanwhile, HC is stalking Chucky to tell him a) that she loves him and b) to not go near her sister.  Finally ... he left and Quinn was able to enjoy herself ... somewhat. She looked like a kitten around a herd of large dogs ... very on edge.


 OSCAR

While Jamie has been busy playing with his new toy, Oscar (AKA a 69' Road Runner) I have been attempting to become a real Catholic because evidently I've been a fake one all these years. So, for the next 6 months, I will be in RCIA classes at the church for a couple hours every week. I missed the first weekend of classes because of the "Adult Retreat" mentioned above. Jamie about chocked to death when I told the Nun that I would be missing the first class because we already had an adult retreat planned. What .... I didn't lie! We retreated to the lake with adults.

OSAKA



After a day of shopping, we decided to take Amy to her first ever Fire Ching Ching restaurant (AKA Japanese food).


TRAINING WHEELS





This was the first day Jamie took the girls over to the park to ride their bikes. He is in the process of weaning them off of their training wheels. He sent me this video, via phone of course, and I immediately went and made a sticky note to put on the door that read, “must wear tennis shoes when riding bikes and fix Quinnie’s helmet.” So don’t worry Grandma’s, those corrections have been made! They have done this 3 nights this week and they look forward to it all day. Last night I didn’t let them go because evidently a sassy, smart mouthed 13 year old took over my sweet baby girls mouth.

We also went to the Cooper-Young Fest, the Big One flea market and the Farmer’s Market in downtown Memphis. So girls, the reason you don’t remember most of your childhood is because we stayed too busy….. in-between all of the beatings of course.



Mother of Twins Prayer

There's two to wash, There's two to dry;

There's two who argue, There's two who cry.

One's in the mud, Having a ball;

The other holds a crayon... Another marked wall.

Some days seem endless, My patience grows thin.

Why did God choose me To be a mother of twins?

The answer comes clear- At the end of the day,

As I tuck them in bed And to myself I say...

There's two to kiss, There's two to hug;

And best of all, Thank You, God, for two to love.

Brown & Peach & Pricks

One of the things I worried about when we decided to send the girls to private school was that they would not get the "cultural exposure" that they might get in a public school setting. I'm all about sheltering them but I would prefer them not to be kept secluded in our white middle class bubble. Thankfully, their little school is full of multi-cultured families ... at least in the Pre-K.

The first few weeks of school I was very eager to hear about the girls school day. I was obsessed with finding out if they made any friends, especially since they were separated for the first time and especially Hassie Clare since she usually just tags along with Quinn and her friends. So each day I would ask who they played with and what their new friends names are. After a few weeks of school, this was the conversation in car ride home:
ME: "Did you make any new friends today?"
QUINN: "All my friends in my class are peach and all Hassie Clare's friends are brown."
ME (trying not to giggle because it the first time they have ever mentioned skin color): "Well, there really aren't any differences in the peach and brown kids are there?"
HC: "Yes Mommy. The brown girls have pricks in their ears and the peach girls don't."
Now ... I really had to stop and think about this because there are families from India, Japan and Africa in their class so I'm racking my brain trying to think of what they might have around their ear.
ME: "Pricks ... in their ear? What do they look like?"
QUINN: "Some of the pricks sparkle and some are colored."
HC: "One of the girls pricks is a flower."
ME: "Ohh .... you mean ear rings. Well, besides that ... there really isn't any other differences in peach or brown skin people is there?
HC: "Yes Mommy. After we come inside from the playground, we wash our hands. When the peach girls wash their hands the brown dirt comes off. When the brown girls wash their hands the brown stays on."

A few days later I asked Quinn who she played with and she told me a couple of names. I didn't recognize one of the girls names so I asked her, "what does she look like so Mommy knows who she is?" Quinn said she is a girl and has straight hair. I asked her if she was brown or peach and Quinn said "she is brown with a little  peach mixed together ... It think her mommy forgot to put sunscream (AKA sunscreen) on her this summer." I'm pretty sure she is talking this adorable little Asian girl.

We have a ways to go on teaching them about cultural differences but hopefully we are on the right track. Their little minds are so pure and innocent. I know that someday they will be exposed to racism and hatred but I will do everything I can to educate them so that they know how to react to it when that time comes.

In other news, I'm officially a morning coffee drinker. It happened the week the girls started school during my ritual phone conversation with my sister. We both mentioned that a cup of coffee sounded good ... thus began my new love affair. The reason I never drank coffee before ..............
One summer in undergrad I took Bio I and Bio II. Didn't study a lick all summer (spent a lot of time at the beach that summer) and 2 days before the finals my girlfriend and I decided to pull a double all nighter and cram. The only 24 hour place open in our college town, at the time, was Subway with free coffee refills. For 48 hours, we crammed like mad women and downed black coffee. The first final was Bio II at 9am. The first part of the exam was identifying internal parts of a cat and pig. We would walk into a room with our notebooks and examine these animals cut open and laying on metal slabs with little flags sticking out of their brain, abdomen, etc. I'm not sure if it was the lack of sleep, the black coffee or what but as soon as the formaldehyde smell hit me I puked ...luckily in the lab trash can. And once I started I could not stop. Black coffee out your nose is not fun. So ... Even tough I pulled off a B in that class, I vowed never to drink coffee again. So girls, if you are reading this during your college years, never never never wait until the last minute to study drink black coffee all night while cramming for a test ... make sure you add creamer to it to help coat your tummy!

This picture was taken at our friends backyard wedding last weekend. Jamie said he looks "touched" in this pic but I think he looks handsome. Please take notice of my 2 different earrings.  I tried them both on to see which one looked better before leaving the house and I obviously forgot to change them out. My girlfriend Shelley thought I was trying to be a trend setter .... I love her for thinking I'm cool like that ... but I'm just a forgetful D O R K!  

 

We live in Mississippi ... so it's okay! Pickwick 2011

One of our many summer adventures led us to Pickwick lake for a 4 day trip with 3 other couples. The total count came to 8 adults and 11 children. Many of you might shriek at these numbers but I tell ya ... it was wonderful.  Most of the kids are under 10 and they all played so well. We stayed in this outdated, musky, cobweb infested lake house that was perfect for 11 kids to destroy. I dubbed the house Arachnophobia Inn after being there for an hour but it was nothing that a big bottle of "hot" bug poison could not handle (it was hot because Aunt Jenny accidentally lifted it from the 1975 Walmart).  It was on a PERFECT spot on the lake (thanks Aunt Jenny for making it happen)!
Anyway, the kids either had their swimsuits on or their night clothes for 4 days straight. We boated, swam, ate and drank the entire 4 days. We wore the kids out every day which meant they were early to bed .... smart planning on our part. After the sun went down, we had kid-free deck time on the back porch. We talked about our kids, work, life. We sang, danced and swam by the light of the moon. Fun was had by all. For some ridiculous reason, I didn't take my camera. The Ofenhuesle's and Hagel's ... and maybe the Carroll's got some great pics of the kids but I can't seem to load them onto here from Snapfish (hint hint hint to Aunt Jenny - email some pics sister)!  I took my phone with me one day to field work calls and I happened to catch a few pics:

Quinnie, Noah and Hassie Clare - We will have to watch these guys MUCH closer while on vacation as they get older. They perfected playing "doctor" on this trip!

The Momma's

I foresee many more vacations with this crew. The kids played together flawlessly, the adults played together flawlessly.  The only drama with all 18 of us was Hassie Clare falling off the top bunk on her head. It was scary enough for me to switch to H2O and wake her up every couple hours throughout the night. But all was well.
The memories of our night swim in the buff will be etched in my memory forever ... I've just erased the parts that included my brother. That is how we roll in Mississippi!

I'm pretty sure this is just the beginning ....

Today is the 5th day of school and HC has a stomach virus that has single handily wiped out most of the second grade. Damn PTO meeting. Had I not attended my first PTO meeting last night and put the girls in the childcare room - that happen to have 2nd graders in it  - she would probably be at school today and not puking up her toenails. Awesome.

Ohh ... and for the record, I will NEVER be on a PTO committee but I have a ton of respect for the ones that do. I had no idea that parents were such whiny little bitches people. Just follow the rules and read the handbook ....stop trying to skirt around the rules and then complain about it when you get busted. There is a reason why you spend a ton of money to send your kid to this school, a school with strick rules. Get a life .... or better yet, come help me with mine since you have all this spare time on your hands. I'm drowning over here!

First Day of School EVER

It was a slow start but excitement was in the air.

They picked the same backpack color. When I asked them why they both said "Cause we are twins and we like the same thing." I have a feeling this will be the last year they feel this way!

It is only customary that the Grinch attend the first day of school with Hassie Clare. He has been a part of all of our big events.

Hassie Clare's teacher Ms. Ann.

Quinnie Ray's teacher Ms. Beverly (Q calls her Ms. Betherlie).

After our big day we celebrated with our favorite summer treat ... Gracie Blues.  I even let the girls put a fruity pebble topping on their frozen yogurt. They were in heaven.

So far so good. Today is day 4 of school and I didn't cry when I left them this morning. My mom and I always tell each other to "put your big girl panties on and suck it up."   I guess I wore my big girl panties today!

Preparations for "big girl" school - Junior Kindergarten

Way, way behind on blogging. We have had a fun filled summer and I will catch up on creating those memories later. First and foremost, my little girls have their very first day of school tomorrow. And I feel like someone has punched me in the gut. BARF
I'm putting on a super smiley face and nothing but positive slogan are pouring out of my mouth. But I'm weeping on the inside.
I think the part that bothers me the worst is that I feel sorry for them. They will be in school for the next 18 plus years. Hopefully. Their lazy fall, winter, spring days are a thing of the past. No more Nannies to spoil them and cater to their every need. No more impromptu fun days in the middle of the week. Our lives from here on out will revolve around their school.
When I asked HC if anything about school made her nervous she replied with "I'm not looking forward to all the work. And I don't want to be away from my sister." Quinn's reply to the same questions was "I don't want to be away from you all day." sniff sniff
I feel a bit overwhelmed with all the new rules, hours, dress code, etc. It will be a huge change for all of us.
But I've been working on getting everything in order for the past month of so.

First we started with shopping for uniforms. I took Maema, Nana and the girls to the uniform shop that was set up in 2 small hotel rooms near our house. It was hot and there was zero space. But we got it knocked out in an hour and I about burst with pride when I saw them in their little uniforms. They wear the smallest size they have available and some of it is still too big for them.

Thank you Maema for the camera phone pics! Hassie Clare never stood still long enough for a picture.

Afterwards, we went shoe shopping and found their little Saddle Oxfords. Thankfully they liked them because according to the girls, they could run super fast away from the buys in them (I have a feeling Daddy must be talking to them also). A few days later I knocked out all of the school supplies one night during a Target trip.

And finally, the moment I have dreaded for the past year arrived. Their 5 year old check-up. I told them a few weeks before the appointment what was going to happen. I explained to them that they were going to get a few shots. They handled the news fairly well, minus a few tears. I told them all of this in advance BECAUSE ... my mom took me to the doctor once and promised me that I was not going to get a shot or even see a doctor. She was back in the back with my sister and they came out and called my name. I assured them they had the wrong Kristi Hagel.  But they insisted on taking me back to "talk." Before I knew it, 3 lab coats were holding me down and they were giving me a shot in my leg. As you can imagine, I was highly pissed off. In fact, I'm still holding a grudge against my mother:) Of course, she has a different version of the story but I'm positive my memory is more accurate. I wonder what stories my girls will twist all around when they get older.
Anyway, the appointment day finally arrived. I didn't tell them that "the day" was here until we were eating lunch at Chick-fila before the appointment. That was a mistake! They were hysterical. Rookie mom mistake obviously. Wasted $10 in food because they barely ate anything after I broke the news.  By the grace of God, my mom was able to go with me even though she has a killer UTI. The girls were the most devastated because I did not tell them about the finger prick. I had no idea ... honestly! Overall, they did great. They spent about an hour before the shots crying and only 30 seconds after the shots crying. Then we went to Gracie Blue's for some frozen yogurt and Target for a new toy:)
Here they are in their little hospital gowns:

"Maybe if we give Mommy a really good, fake smile she won't make was get a shot."

I was super stoked to find out the L.L. Bean has Junior backpacks. I let them pick out the color (both picked pink) and had their name put on it. I still have mine form high school! Of course I had to get the matching lunch boxes. Then I ordered bows that match their uniform from our bow lady.

Let's see ... what us. Oh yeah ... I paid tuition. Ouch.

Yesterday we had "sneak a peek" at their school for an hour. They got the meet their teachers and both of them are as sweet as can be. One of them has taught at this school for 43 years. Can you imagine????? And teaching Pre-K on top of that! I don't think I would last a week without ending up in jail or the psych ward.
Last night we went to the "New Family Orientation." We all had a good time and we left there feeling confident and excited about new beginnings. It was exactly what we all needed.

So now it is the day before school starts and we are ready. I have spent countless hours talking to the girls about school, danger situations, trusting your teacher, asking for help, honesty, friendship, loyalty, hard word, fun, etc. I still feel like someone kicked me in the stomach but I feel confident that we picked the right school for us and our girls are ready to start this journey!