January Pics

Henry napping on the couch-something you don't see too often around here lately.


Emma napping on the couch-something you don't see too often these days.


Emma being sweet for the camera.


Henry loves trains. He was telling me how they sound-choochooo woo woo


Emma and Henry playing on their piano-it was one of those days that they played with each other all day and didn't fight over toys.

Happy Birthday, Aunt Amy/Yaya!!!!!

Today is my older sister, Amy's birthday. We hope you have a GREAT day, Yaya(that's what the kids call her)! We're sending you lots of hugs and kisses! We loooooveee you! Happy Birthday!

In Loving Memory....

Christopher Neal Forrest would have been 34 today if he would have survived cancer. Chris was one of my childhood friends who I've known forever. It was a rocky start to one of the best friendships I've ever had. We met in kindergarten and hated it each. He ended up going to a different middle school and then returned in high school. It was then that our friendship blossomed into a great relationship. He was a wonderful person-smart, funny, generous in all things,musically talented, a very well rounded person. And even after he was diagnosed he stayed positive-I think that's one of the reasons he lived as long as he did after the initial diagnosis, the surgeries, the chemo and radiation. He was a real trooper. And if only I would have know that my time with him was going to run out so quickly I would have spent so much more time with him. Jason and I saw him before we left that year for a two week vacation-he was in good spirits as usual and he seemed to be feeling alright. The night we flew back in I have about four voice mails on my cell phone all from his fiance Jo hat told us a completely different story. While we were gone Chris' condition worsened drastically. He made the decision to put himself in hospice care at one of the local hospitals and had been there for a week. He had asked about me/us several times and she told him she had called-they knew that we were out of town, but she also knew that I wanted to know if things changed. We came in late that night, but I called her and she asked if we could come first thing the next day. And that's what we did. He had a private room and it was filled with his family. And then I looked over and there was my dear friend hooked up to machines. So I sat down on the edge of the bed and held his hand and told him about the trip. He was on a lot of medication, but could understand what I was saying and that it was me. As soon as I said hi, he smiled. So we stayed with him and the family for a long time and then decided we should go and that we'd come back the next day in the evening. Little did I know that the first phone call that I would receive that next morning would be Jo, his fiance, calling to give me the news. Chris had passed away in his sleep that morning. That was four years ago....He would be 34 today. So my dearest friend, Happy Birthday. You are missed so much every day.

Looking Sharp

It's that time of year again. Daddy and Mommy had an evening out Saturday night. We attended the company holiday party-cocktails,dinner,dancing,casino night,and a raffle. So Jason and I got all dressed up and headed out for an adult evening out and Aunt Suza came to watch the kids for us. Thank you Suza-we appreciate it a lot. Last year we bought $100 worth of raffle tickets and didn't win anything. This year we went in purchased $6 worth and were floored when at the end of the evening, it was announced that we were the grand prize winners-$500!!!! Dinner was nice, Jason had fun at the poker, and we had a great time with two couples that are not only some of Jason's coworkers, but we're all good friends. So here is what we look like all cleaned up and pretty/handsome:)

Sunny Winter

It may look sunny and warm here in big Tex, but it's not! The temp has been dipping down into the lower digits so we've been staying inside. Luckily though, we did get to spend some time outside while we were visiting the family in Richardson and Allen. We just bundled up as best as we can and had a great time in the leaves and making attempts to climb the big red oak in Nana and Papa's backyard. Unfortunately the knit hats cover the new haircuts, but I'll get some pics up soon. Meanwhile, here are some cute shots of the munchkins having a grand old time outside on a beautiful winter day a week or so back.

Oh and I'll update on what we've been up too as well.

Happy Birthday, Uncle Mike!!!!!

Today is Uncle Mike's(my uncle/the kids' great uncle) birthday. We hope you have a great day!!! Sending out lots of hugs and kisses and loads of love:)
Happy Birthday!!!

Mike is on the far right.

Sweet Relief-Alone Timeout-Magic Words....

When we first found out that Henry and Emma were on the way we had said that we wanted to use timeout as the only punishment. Yeah, right.... I know how some people don't like the idea of spanking or anything close, but sometimes that's the only thing that gets their attention. We've done our fair share of spanking our kids as discipline and not excessively. We had tried timeout in the past and it had no effect. Most likely they were still too young to understand it. But we have started back up with timeout again and have found the key to timeout for twins. Our kids share a bedroom for now and we started timeout in their room and quickly discovered it was not a good idea to have them in the same room. So they each had their own timeout room away from each other. And it has worked wonders. At the time we weren't using our brains. For those of you that are parents of single children or twins, you should totally understand what I just said. After some time of being a parent, stay at home or otherwise, parts of your brain turn to mush and well, common sense/easy decisions become complex somehow. Anyway, in the past few days we've used what we call "Alone Timeout" with our kiddos and we think it is finally staring to sink in. After three days, several times a day, of being in "Alone Timeout" they finally listened and obeyed simple instructions and we finally had no timeout today. And it would seem that they are paying attention and it is being comprehended when explaining that they need to ask politely for things and treat each other, as well as Daddy and Mamma, with more respect. They never have been really ugly with each other, but it comes down to the whole respect thing. Respecting others, using your manners, obeying the rules are all part of not just an adult life, but a toddler life as well. I love the days when they don't have to be prompted to say their "please and thank yous". They remember that that is the proper way to ask. They both said this morning that they were done with timeout. Let's hope it sticks because today has been so much better for all of us.

We've got some major changes coming up and I know that I've talked about these before, but it's finally going to happen. Bedtime bottles will cease to exist and potty training will commence. And I'll post and keep you up to date.

And a little side note-tonight before changing for bed Henry had been playing with one of his trucks and a train and instead of just leaving them out, he put them away. And as he did so said, "I done with truck and train. Need to put away."

Jason and I almost fell over. We were so proud, but also wondered what alien life form had taken over our son:)

That's another project/thing/whatever you want to call it that we are working on-picking up toys. I have been a major hindrance on this one. Mamma is a neat freak and I tend to go crazy when toys are scattered all over. So I quickly pick them up and put them away. I should and am now having the kids do it.

More soon and I'll get some more pics posted as well. Remember, they move extremely fast and it's been hard to get good, non blurry pics of either of them.

Happy Birthday, Mommy!!!

Today is my birthday. We did most of the celebrating this past weekend. My family came over Saturday night and brought presents and cheesecake(yummy, yummy cheesecake)! Due to the rest of the weekend not working out the way we had planned; we didn't go out to dinner like the original plan. Today started as a not so good bday and slowly got better. I have received lots of wonderful gifts, great cards, and several phone calls. I thought all of the gift giving was done, but to my surprise I had two more. At about 3:30pm this afternoon the doorbell rang and I got a delivery. A local florist stood on our doorstep and handed me a big, huge, beautiful bouquet of long white stem roses(18 roses)! Jason had somehow managed to sneak that in. And then he stopped by Pappadeaux's and brought home dinner:) My bday stash this year-a new robe, new lounge wear, new slippers, 100% Kona coffee-from Hawaii(really yummy stuff), a beautiful sculpture/ornament, cards that made me cry(in a good way) and laugh(via reg.mail and email), a new watch, a pretty new necklace, and a pair of opal earrings. So...thank you to my family near and far and to my friends for making this year's bday a good one!!!

AAAAAAAAHHHHH-Part 2

So......

Yesterday Jason went and bought new blinds for the kids' room and installed them. Today less than 24 hrs later one set has already been damaged.

I went in this morning and found the beds moved around yet again, Emma's mattress had been pulled off, stuffed animals everywhere, and the new blinds broken and shredded at the bottom of one window. Oh and both children had taken off their pajama bottoms and their diapers.

I proceeded to discipline them and then went and asked Jason to come take a look. The mess has been picked up, all toys have been put away, and the kids are in time out.

We were hoping that today would go better than he rest of this past week, but no such luck. The plan was to go out for either lunch or dinner to celebrate my birthday(officially tomorrow). Now the plan is to stay home. No one is happy. We're all frustrated. Let's hope this works and they don't damage anything else. And they learn what not to do. I know, we know it can't always be perfect. I just wish they would learn and it would stick.

AAAAAHHHHHHHH-Part 1

Have you ever walked into your toddler's room and were met by a scene that looked like something you'd see on one of the CSI shows? That's what happened to me today when I went in for the forth time today during naptime. Everyone is fine-no trips to the emergency room or anything. I entered the room to find that the kids had once again moved their toddler beds around and to see Henry's little hands caked in dried blood. No tears, no crying, just a look on his face that said "look what I did" and "oh no, I'm in trouble". I yelled for Jason to come-he was working from home today and he came running. The kids had removed one of the braces from underneath one of the toddler beds and had broken through the window. Henry had then proceeded to handle the shards of glass. There was blood smeared on the walls, on the curtains, little spots on the carpet, and all over their bedding. And Henry's poor little hands were a dark crimson. We got them both out of the room and cleaned up so that we could see where they were cut. I'm trying to keep it together while doing this and both kids are calm and cool during the entire process. Turns out Emma only had a few small scratches. Henry took a small chunk(no emergency care needed) out of his thumb and it bled like crazy. Now I know how my mom and Jason's mom felt when one of their kids got injured. Window has been taken care of, bedding and curtains are clean, carpet thoroughly vacuumed and cleaned, and everything is back to normal. The kids haven't been napping on a regular basis for a while now, but I never thought I'd have today's issue happen at least not at this age. So not only have they broken a window now, we've had to replace their closet doors, replace a humidifier due to it being bullied by our two little people, countless nightlites, a cd player, and I don't know what else. People say that some of the things they are doing are a sign of creativity. I think they may be partially correct, but I also think that the people that say such things don't have children and that's the nicest thing they can think of to say.

They aren't bad kids. In fact, we get complimentes about them all the time from various people(not related and not friends). They do for the most part behave very well in public and when we go out and at home. Its just every once in a while they go on this crazy spree. Perhaps it's becasue they are about to turn three in two months. When they turned wo las year it was really weird because it was like they changed overnite. I'm not joking...It's like they knew they were two all of a sudden and then the fun started.

We made it from birth to two months, two months to one year, one year to two years, and now two years to three. We've been told that three and four are even more difficult. We'll see. In my opinion, two of the main reasons we've made it this far is becasue we had two sets of parents that were wonderful examples of how to raise our own children. And I don't want to hear anyone(Granny/Grandpa or Nana/Papa) try to argue with me about that. Sure we've read a lot of books about raising twins(which have helped a lot), but I've found that calling or emailing my mom of Jason's mom and just listening to stories about our childhoods and how they(our parents) raised us has helped a GREAT deal.

Happy Birthday, Sarah!!!!

Today is our friend, Sarah's birthday. Sarah we hope you have a great day!!! We're sending you lots of hugs and kisses:) Happy birthday!

Family Portrait

This is the family portrait taken over the holidays-back row, left to right--Jason(Daddy), Emma,Grandpa(Jason's dad),Lisa(Jason's sister),Henry, Brian(Lisa's husband),Ratty(the puppy dog);front row,left to right--Granny(Jason's mom) and Jenny(Mamma). Aren't we a good lookin' group:)

We had a wonderful time and miss them all so much. We miss the rest of our family up in Washington state as well, but will be seeing them sometime this Spring. We'll take another family portrait then. For now, love to all our family near and far.

Thanks for the picture, Mom H.xoxo

Happy New Year!!!!

Happy New Year!!!

We hope everyone had a fun and safe holiday/celebration!

Note:We DID not keep the kids up-are you insane?!