Silent Sunday

After an hour of door banging, standing at the gate calling 'mommmmmmy', bed jumping...... she sleeps.

Snowy day blanket fun!

A beautiful picture of Ashley taken by Freckles Fotography

Blogs I read........

I am a blog stalker, there I said it! I can sit all day and read other's peoples business, scrap booking techniques, tips on how to redecorate a room or advice on motherhood. For those that are blog stalkers like me you must have Google Reader. Go to google.com and sign in or create an account. Once you have done this you can add stuff to your google page, one of those contents is google reader. I tell ya this makes reading blogs a snap. When you see a blog you like you can click on follow or if there isn't a follow button just copy and paste the link into your add a subscription section of google reader. I am currently following 80 blogs. BUT all 80 blogs are not updated everyday and some I should delete because they NEVER get updated.

Here are a few blogs that have caught my eye this week:

The kid's art display is something I am definitely going to do when we move to the new house.

Kristen's post today, Do Hard Things really made me think. Go read for yourself and see what you think. Here is a little quote from her post "Instead of expecting greatness, we do something worse, we reward our 10 year old for picking up dirty clothes off the floor and our 7 year old for cleaning his plate. I'm not pointing fingers here, we've done it too, but in reading this life-changing book, I realized this has to stop in our home."

Check out this free deal that I found at couponsavingsgame.com from Canvas People. A free 8x10 canvas and 50% second canvas. I have some pictures that Aaron took when we first moved to St. John's that I would look really nice on canvas.

Happy Friday I hope your weekend is wonderful. The twins are taking a good nap, we went swimming then to McDonald's for lunch. As soon as they get up we are heading outside, it's a beautiful blue, not a cloud in the sky, sun shining day!!!! Still 28 degrees but hey that's why they invented snow pants.

Multiples and More traveling tips

Multiples and More question of the week: travel tips

*Did you find it helpful to travel at night?

When we used to go to LA we would travel right after a meal (breakfast or lunch)

*Did you bring a pack'n'play for each child? What were the sleeping arrangements?

As far as sleep it doesn't matter if we travel by plane or car we don't usually bring pack and plays. When we go to TX by plane we borrow 2 pack and plays from family. When the twins were babies my mother in law got 2 pack and plays to keep at her house. It's so worth it not to travel with them. There have been a few vacations that we questioned weather to bring them or not. We have been to Disney and didn't bring them there because they had pack and plays. We often go down to a beach house and have had to bring them because we weren't able to borrow them or the place didn't provide them.

*Did you try to preserve your kids' schedules as much as possible?

YES. No matter where we were if it was time to eat they ate. This makes things much easier when traveling. Always keep snack on hand for those pre meal meltdowns.

*Any tricks for getting your kids to sleep in a new environment?

We have always tried to keep them on schedule but if they don't sleep then they don't sleep. I have found that my kids usually sleep better on vacation than they do at home only because they are so exhausted by the end of the day.

*Do you have any "special" toys that you brought with you to avoid a meltdown?

TOYS are a must for travel I usually carry a backpack as my carry on because it's just easier to keep up with. I go and buy toys that my kids haven't seen before. Last time we flew I got them each a Disney activity pack that had markers, stickers and stamps. I would usually freak out about them having this stuff at home but on the plane who cares. I wiped down the seat and are with a baby wipe before we exited the plane and it was all good. These stickers kept my kids occupied for the whole flight.

*Are you more lenient with your kids on trips than you are at home?

Yes it's just easier. I will give my kids french fries for every meal if it keeps them occupied while in the airport or on a plane.

*What items do you find indispensable for traveling? When the twins were younger and we travelled with their car seats so that they could use them on the plane we purchased the Go Go Babyz wheel attachments for the car seats. It turns any car seat into a stroller so you don't have to travel with a stroller. We bought an double umbrella stroller to keep at my sisters since that is where we stay when we go to TX from Canada. Now that the twins are older and don't need the car seat to sit on the plane seat we purchased the Kids Fly Safe Harness. They are great and they can use them until they are 4 years old. I find it so much easer to use these than the airplane seat belt. It turns the airplane seatbelt into a 5 point harness which my kids are more inclined to sit and stay in.

Twin separation= bedtime success!

Finally got fed up and separated the twins for bedtime. They are always separate for nap time only because Lily doesn't always nap. Preston falls asleep within minutes, Lily not so much! Tonight I put them to bed at 7:50 and at 8:30 still heard the pitter patter and jumping off the bed of little feet. I went to the garage got the extra gate, turned on every light up stairs and opened their door. All I could hear was "momma whata doin? momma?" I wanted to leave them guessing. I got the gate all set up and announced to Lily to gather her blankets because she was moving to a new bed. Both asked where's Laaaalllly, where's Dedson once they were in different beds but after about 10 minutes they were both asleep. Ahhhhh silence!!!!!!!

Maybe this will be practice since when we get to the new house they will have their own room.

Silent Sunday

Railway Coastal Museum

Freckles Fotography NEWBORN SESSION GIVEAWAY!

Freckles Fotography is giving away a free newborn session to one lucky winner. This is an awesome contest. To enter go to Freckles Fotography blog and leave a comment, easy peasy!
Freckles Fotography Giveaway

These crazy days!

These few weeks since I have been back in Canada from Houston have been full of decisions. We have been trying to decide what is the best time for us to pack up and leave the frozen tundra we have called home for 2 years. We still have the house here until April 14th and we didn't really want to just pack up and go back to Houston with Aaron still being here. What we have decided to do is stay here until April 1st then fly down together, Kiki and all, to Houston then go to Louisiana for Easter. Our stuff will be packed and loaded on March 29th-31st. This works out best and Aaron will actually be in Houston next week to close on the house.

As a family we are all doing well. Ashley has adjusted fully to life back in Texas. She is loving being with family down there. She misses us but is happy down there. Ashley and my brother have even started bike riding at night around the trails in the neighborhood. Preston and Lily are growing like weeds it is so funny to hear some of the things those two say. Lily's latest is "dats phunny" with an obnoxious laugh. Preston is a jumper. The kid will jump from the table if I let him. Every where we go he is jump, jump, jump!

Nap time is still a struggle. I really think that they just don't burn enough energy in the morning to go down for a nap by 12:30. They wake up at 7:30 and with the crappy weather we don't leave the house everyday. I have tried quiet time, just separating them and letting them play in separate rooms but Lily gets up and stands at the door and yells for Preston and when he is sleeping she wakes him up. Once we are in Texas I will put them in separate rooms but for now it's just nap time that they are separated. Preston is pretty good about napping but Lily is not she could stay up 12 hours straight with no nap. She isn't pleasant at 6:00 but she can stay up. I am seriously considering just dropping nap all together. I mean it's not really fun (not that it's supposed to be) for any of us. I am making trips upstairs every 10 mins to close doors, put clothes back on, change diapers, put them back in bed.

Tomorrow we are going to a playgroup and I plan to burn some of that toddler energy hopefully that will work.

Silent Sunday!

Some snowy fun with Uncle Andy!

We have enjoyed spending time with Uncle Andy. St John's doesn't have too much to do, especially when it's snowy outside, but we managed to fill our days with some quality time. Thanks for coming to visit us up in the frozen north. We will see you at Easter.

Cape Spear

Lily jumping!

Who Dat Saying Dey Gonna Beat Dem Saints?

Our family is sooooooo excited for the Super Bowl on Sunday. You see my husband has been a Saints fan since way back, even in the bag head days. He has always been loyal to his Louisiana teams, being from Louisisana and all. I however only became a Saints fan because I had no other choice. The Saints have been on our tv every Sunday, during football season, since we got married. So on behalf of our family and all the Saints fans out there........ Geaux Saints!

Silent Sunday!

Uncle Andy finally made it in last night around 11. It only took him 2 days to get here. Although he didn't mind spending a whole day and night in NYC.

Going down was fun but coming back up was another story!

Snow pics

Even though there is lots of snow it's not that cold. I think when we went out it was only 32. This is by far the most snow that we have had since living here.

So this is what a blizzard looks like

Sorry I don't have pictures we have not even opened the door today. I would estimate about 13-15 inches of snow has fallen since last night around 8 pm. We have pretty much had a pj day today. Preston and Lily have spent the day playing games, coloring, reading, and running around like crazy. Aaron's brother was supposed to fly in tonight got caught up in the blizzard of the century in the East coast. Right now he is probably walking around New York City enjoying the sights. hopefully he will be able to fly in tomorrow.

Batten down the hatches baby!

We are in for a big one....... or so they say. When you live in the north Atlantic you learn to believe it when you see it. Apparently there is a storm brewing and it isn't a Texas thunderstorm that I miss so much. It's a blizzard blast and not the one from Dairy Queen.
Here is what the warning said a few minutes ago.

Avalon Peninsula North
10:17 PM NST Thursday 04 February 2010
Blizzard warning for
Avalon Peninsula North
Blizzard conditions are expected over the above areas on Friday.

This is a warning that blizzard conditions with near-zero visibilities are expected in these regions. Monitor weather conditions..Listen for updated statements.

An intense low pressure system southeast of the Grand Banks will move northward to lie east of the island on Friday. Snow associated with this system will spread through eastern sections overnight then move westward across the island on Friday. Snowfall amounts are expected to range from near 35 centimetres over the Avalon Peninsula to near 25 centimetres along the northeast coast. Lesser amounts are expected over the remainder of the island. As well strong northerly winds gusting up to 90 km/h are forecast for Eastern Newfoundland and combined with the fresh snow will give blowing snow and blizzard conditions on Friday and Friday night.

That's about 14 inches for those like me that need an app for that. Thankfully Aaron got back from a short trip offshore today. He was located about 100 miles south of the Grand Banks. It was so cute we saw the helicopter fly over while we were out shopping this morning and Preston said "heli- coc-ter" I said "yes, daddy is on there" His face just lite up. Lily of course chimed in with "daddy at work!" She doesn't miss a beat.
I hope Aaron's brother is able to fly in tomorrow night. He will be our last visitor in Newfoundland before we move back to Houston. Andy, I hope you bring some sun with you, or at least warm clothes.

Videos fixed

There was a technical difficulty with the recent videos I uploaded but it's fixed now. Carry on.....

Twin Tea Party