3 weeks!

Ooops, has it really been that long since I last posted?  Well, it's not like we've done that much lately, anyway, since Jared has been out of town, but here are some tidbits (mostly copied from Facebook):

1/26: Jared, look what your girls did during my last piano lesson. Avery also pooped her pants and was screaming and crying. Trying not to beat two little girls right now. Still have one more lesson today. Hopefully, they will be good during this one!!

1/27: I don't know what to do with my girls while I'm teaching piano lessons; if they're not interrupting lessons, they are off somewhere making a mess. Today, they stayed downstairs the whole time--only interrupted one of my three lessons for just a few seconds--but then I went down after the last lesson and saw this! It's Cheez-Its crushed into the carpet! I had given them a snack and turned on a movie and thought they were being so good to not come upstairs and interrupt lessons but little did I know that they were creating another huge mess down there! Argh!!!

1/29: Well, it cost me $450 but my digital piano now has all new hammers; only one was broken but, since the piano is 15 years old, the guy found that there were cracks in pretty much all of the hammers. He also had to solder the plug-in for the pedals chord, as the pedals use to stop working sometimes and I had to unplug and re-plug in the chord in the back of the piano or jiggle the chord around until it started working again (so annoying). I figured since I just started teaching lessons again, I'd better get my piano in better shape. It still plays beautifully after all these years, I still love it, and I'm thankful to have it in like-new condition again. And $450 is way better than buying a brand new piano!
ile emoticon1/29: Well, it cost me $450 but my digital piano now has all new hammers; only one was broken but, since the piano is 15 years old, the guy found that there were cracks in pretty much all of the hammers. He also had to solder the plug-in for the pedals chord, as the pedals use to stop working sometimes and I had to unplug and re-plug in the chord in the back of the piano or jiggle the chord around until it started working again (so annoying). I figured since I just started teaching lessons again, I'd better get my piano in better shape. It still plays beautifully after all these years, I still love it, and I'm thankful to have it in like-new condition again. And $450 is way better than buying a brand new piano! 

Just a few adorable shots of Whiskers:

2/1: Just got home from church and was helping Avery take her tights off and she said, "My feet are sweaty and they smell like Cheez-Its!" Hee hee!

My girls loved the Super Bowl half-time show so much we had to watch it twice. They loved all the props, especially the lion and beach scene, and the fireworks.

Go Pats! That was a great Super Bowl!!

Where my girls are sleeping tonight. We made this fort earlier today and they asked to sleep in it tonight:

2/3: There was a little showcase for the parents at dance class today. Avery actually danced for everyone! YAAAAAAYYYYYY! The video is pretty cute. :)

Video address: http://www.mediafire.com/view/y4aa9lx5c05oq2v/20150203_110511.mp4

2/4: At the request of my sis and niece, here is me with awesome 80's hair; this was taken at the end of my sophomore year in 1989. I need to find a photo from my freshman year--my hair was even more awesome then, ha ha!! 

2/6: I just created this to frame as part of my Valentine's Day decorations. It makes me happy:

2/7: This was one of my Christmas stocking stuffers from Jared and I just broke into it a few days ago. Still have most of the first cup left. It's humongous!

2/7: I stopped making the twins take naps this past week. They were still napping most days but it was turning into too much of a fight. They have fallen asleep on the couch a couple of times this week, ha ha. Although I miss that quiet time during the day, it's nice to put them to bed a little earlier. This was how they fell asleep on the couch earlier today while I was nursing a migraine in my bed late this afternoon. Not sure how Avery fell asleep like that! Probably exhausted from playing outside for a while and running around and playing inside most of the day, since I only let them watch TV for an hour or so when they first woke up. A nice, warm bath after they played outside probably helped, too.

2/9: Ack! My twins came upstairs during two of my piano lessons NAKED with red cinnamon scented candle wax all over them! There is red candle wax all over the couch down there. They also switched out DVDs on their own and left several DVDs out of the cases on the floor. Argh!

P.S. I had sent the twins to their room during my last lesson of the day, after they came upstairs and were running around naked and laughing hysterically, and I told them to sit on a towel and stay there until I was finished with the lesson. When I went in to deal with them, I found that Avery had drawn all over herself with a marker and they ripped a magazine to shreds while they were in there! Getting a sitter during lessons is in the works now!
Oh, and this is all after a hellish time at church yesterday (won't even get into that) and more household destruction after church. Makenna and I fell asleep together on the couch, so Avery decided to break some of my decorative twigs into pieces. Then, I was watching a show while I thought they were playing in their room until I heard hysterical laughing and splashing in their bathroom; when I went to see what was going on, there was a 1/4" of water on the floor, which they had poured there and were splashing in. Had to breathe deep and count to 20 on that one!!! This had better be a short phase!
If I didn't love them SOOOOOOO much!

2/10: We were late for dance class because I got pulled over by a cop. No, not speeding, an expired inspection sticker--I honestly didn't know it had expired, even though it expired months ago. Oops! Can't be mad at getting the ticket, it's totally my fault. Makenna told on me to her dance teacher. She said, "Mommy got in trouble by the cop. He was behind us!" Ha ha!

They are enjoying this gorgeous day by eating lunch out on the deck, jumping on the trampoline, blowing bubbles and using the princess castle bubble machine they got for their birthday, and drawing on the deck with sidewalk chalk.

2/11: My girls have a new obsession with running around naked. They've taken all their clothes off every day this week. Today, I looked out the window to check on them just a couple of minutes after they got on the trampoline and they were jumping naked! And it was a little bit chilly outside! What is up with this new behavior? Kind of funny but inappropriate when others can see (or in front of my piano students)! Little weirdos! :)

2/14: Our Valentine's Day: I had made this "Love Notes" mailbox a few weeks ago and the girls have been putting "valentines" that they drew in it for each other and for me and Jared for a couple of weeks--it was full of notes, ha ha! Jared had also put in a couple of really sweet notes for each of us and I printed a couple of "Frozen" valentines for each of the girls. They had fun looking through all of them and had plenty of hugs for each other and said, "Happy Valentine's Day!" quite a few times. They also got to open a gift, which included a small box of chocolates and a pair of Olaf slippers. They fell asleep on the couch, along with Whiskers, late that afternoon and we ordered pizza for dinner, which I ordered at 5:30 and it was delivered at 8:00! Just a nice, relaxing day at home (besides the migraine I had for part of the day). Valentine's date with Jared to come later when he gets back in town...

Tomorrow is the first time I'll have a babysitter during piano lessons.  One of my students (14yo) is gonna watch the girls for one hour on Mondays and Tuesdays during my lessons.  My lessons last longer than that but the girls are usually pretty good for the first 1/2 hour or so.  It will be a great help to have her watch them and keep them from interrupting lessons and getting into trouble!

Dance Recital portraits, a visit from Michelle :)

I didn't post anything last week because there really wasn't much to post.  The girls and I just did our usual stuff while Jared was out of town--piano lessons on Mon. and Tues., dance class on Tues., gymnastics and shopping on Thurs.  Jared got home late that Friday night (1/16) but we didn't do anything on Sat.  Here are a few things I posted on Facebook, though:

1/13: Avery just told me they can't watch the news because "It's a little bit dangerous. And boring!"

1/15: I picked up the twins' dance recital portraits today. So cute!

Just some snapshots of the girls relaxing in my scrapbook room with Whiskers after their nap on 1/15:

1/16: This is the kind of thing that makes me smile when I look around the house at all the chaos created during the day after the twins go to bed:

1/16: Poor Whiskers. Makenna is pushing him around the basement in a baby doll stroller, along with two babies. He's been in there for a while and doesn't even try to get out, though!

Last Week:
I took the girls to dance on Tues., then grocery shopping. That night, I got to go to a really fun Relief Society dinner/service auction.  I won a set of beautiful Christmas picture crafts and auctioned off my services to make birthday cards and a digital party invitation. Our ward is pretty cool! :)

On Wed. (1/21), we took the twins swimming at the rec. center for two hours, then stopped and got lunch on the way home.  A little while after we got home, my SIL, Michelle, came over with her seven kids/baby and spent the night. The twins had so much fun playing with cousins! I had a great time playing Super Mario Karts and Just Dance with Michelle and the three older kids.  The two oldest girls stayed up really late with me, then I didn't sleep at all that night, so I just vegged and napped after Michelle left following breakfast while Jared took the girls to gymnastics.  The twins wore a set of new biketards that they are SO CUTE in but Jared didn't take any pictures and I didn't have time to take any before they left.  I'll take pictures of them in the suits next time they wear them.

Photos from the fun night with Michelle's clan:

Playing Super Mario Karts

 

Playing Just Dance :)

We mostly just vegged the next two days but I did set up my old computer for the girls and got them started on abcmouse.com, a full online preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten curriculum with games, books, songs, and more.  They love it! They have wanted to be on the site non-stop.  I never really let them play on my computer much before, so they didn't really have practice using the mouse or websites but they sure picked it up quickly!

Jared left on a 2-3 week trip early this morning, so it was just me and the girls to church this morning.  We'll see what mischief we can get into while he's away this time.  :)

All better now!

The girls are all better now!  Hallelujah!  I postponed my first week of piano lessons to ensure that none of my students would get sick from being in our home.  We mostly took it easy this week but the girls did get to do a couple of fun things.

On Tuesday (1/6), the girls had dance class.  Avery didn't want to go in at first and cried as I was leaving the room but stopped crying right after I walked out. She did dance, but with her blankie. *sigh*  Avery told me the next day that she wants to do dance class but "not that other thing" (meaning the recital, ha ha!).

Just a random photo that Avery asked me to take of her and Whiskers before she got dressed for dance class:

The girls had their first gymnastics class on Thurs. They loved it!!!  The videos I took are pretty amusing (trying to get them to upload).  :)

1/9: I found a fake flower arrangement in a box of baby stuff I was going through. Avery saw it and asked to hold some of the flowers. When we went in the kitchen for dinner, I was amused when I saw that she had put them in a cup of water, ha ha!

Today after church, then lunch, the girls and I took a nap (our first Sunday going at 9am, instead of 1pm). While Avery and I were still napping, Makenna got up and thought that Whiskers was really thirsty and needed a lot more water. She filled up his water bowl and both of his food bowls with water, then proceeded to place a bunch of clean towels all over the laundry room floor so water wouldn't get everywhere. So now I have a whole load of towels to wash. Kids! :P

Church was really good today.  The girls were pretty good and my nursery kids were really good.  It was a little hard to get up in time for 9am church but it sure was nice to have the rest of the day to relax!  It will be nice until choir practice starts back up.  The girls went to their new class (CTR5!) for the first time today.  They were a little hesitant to go at first but I was told they did awesome once I left them in there.  This is the first time they haven't had Sister Searcy as a teacher.  She was their teacher from their first Sunday in nursery, then she moved up with their class to Sunbeams.  Sis. Perez, who has been their other teacher for several months, moved up to CTR5 with them and their friend Penny's mom is now their other teacher.  Funny note: their friend, Jason, did not want to go to class the past two weeks because the twins weren't there, ha ha!  Isn't that so cute?!  And the Primary president told me as we were leaving church that she needs to keep a journal of all the funny stuff the twins say in Primary.  Uh oh, ha ha!  She said Avery was particularly talkative today.  They both were telling everyone how their Aunt Kiki gave them the skirts/shirts they wore today, ha ha!  Who knows what else they say in there!!  :D

New Year's Eve was a flop :(

Before I get to New Year's Eve, we thought it would be best to just relax on Monday to let the girls get over their cold completely; and I set up my new computer that afternoon.  Late that night, I sent a neighborhood email about teaching piano lessons again and, by that afternoon, I was already over the limit of students I (and Jared) wanted and there are a couple of people who said they are interested but haven't given a definite answer yet. I really only wanted to start with 4-5 students but I'm already at 6 and it could go up to 8! Plus I have 5 people on the wait list (not sure how many of their kids they actually wanted me to teach).  Guess I'll be a little more busy starting next week. :) Oh, and the girls start dance again and add gymnastics next week, too!

12/31: I was up with Makenna most of the night before, who threw up a couple of times (it wasn't really throw up, since she didn't have anything in her stomach because she hadn't eaten since lunch); she then spent much of the night sitting up in my bed, holding a puke bowl. I guess she felt like she was gonna throw up but there wasn't anything to actually puke up. This really put a damper on our NYE plans. :(

There were a couple of funny things she said that night, though. She had to go pee and I told her that if she felt like she need to puke, she could just puke in the toilet. She cried, "Noooooo!!!!"

At one point, I asked if she wanted to just lie down, instead of sitting up with the puke bowl and she said, "In 9 minutes, I'm gonna puke." Silly girl.
To top off the night, Avery came and got in bed with us really early this morning and was crying/whimpering because of leg and foot pain. Jared took her downstairs and said she cried for at least an hour. We were all exhausted all day!

 We were supposed to go up to Hoytsville that day and spend the night at Grandma's, along with Steph and her family, Laura and her kids, and Teresa and her kids, and have a fun NYE party.  With Makenna puking, we obviously squashed those plans and had a night in, instead.  The girls were in bed by 8:30.  We had crackers with cheese and ham, and fruit cocktail for dinner, ha ha.  At some point during the day, Jared came in my scrapbook room and was commenting on the big mess the girls made while I had been setting up stuff on my new computer. Makenna piped up and said, "We're just kids! We don't know any better!" Ha ha ha! This girls cracks me up!

Facebook posts on New Year's Eve: Sad to be missing the family NYE party due to Makenna being sick. Her fever came back after her nap; it was 101.7 when we last checked a bit ago. Just a boring, I mean relaxing, NYE at home.
I hope all of you are having a blast ringing in 2015! Happy New Year!

Just to make myself feel better about staying home tonight:
It's 8 degrees here in Lehi and -1 degrees in Hoytsville, where we would have gone if Makenna wasn't sick!

FB post New Year's Day: I hate to say it but this has been a fairly miserable NYE and NYD. Jared and/or I have both been sick before on multiple NYEs but Makenna has made this one pretty miserable for all of us. Practically no sleep the past two nights for any of us and almost constant whining or crying, not to mention incredibly clingy to me. She had a fever again all last night and threw up last night and this morning. Poor thing. She hasn't puked all day and doesn't seem to have a fever but she is still sitting here crying. Not a good way to start the new year but it can only get better, right? Happy New Year.

1/2:  FINALLY today, Makenna is feeling so much better!  Yay!  We felt like we just needed to stay home and rest, just in case, though.  I did get the girls all bundled up and let them play out in the snow for a little bit earlier today.  I bought snow pants for them for the first time over 2 months ago and the girls have wanted it to snow SO BAD all winter but we only got a tiny bit, not even enough to cover the ground and last more than mid-morning, maybe twice.  We didn't get real snow until Christmas Day, then they were too sick to go out and play in it. Obviously, they had a great time. :)  They even ate some icicles that were hanging from the deck (hopefully, there wasn't anything gross in them!). Since they each had sweatpants, snow pants, a long-sleeve shirt, a hooded sweatshirt, a jacket, a coat, ear muffs, two pairs of mittens, and two pairs of socks, they didn't get cold at all. :)

Whiskers got in on the snow fun today, too. He was DYING to go outside with us--meowing and meowing by the downstairs door--so Jared let him out. He didn't like walking in the snow (he was only in it because I put him in it, ha ha) but he seemed to like exploring under the deck a lot.  Isn't he so cute???

Well, I thought maybe the sickness was leaving the house after they had so much fun playing in the snow.  HOWEVER, that evening, instead of puking, Makenna had diarrhea and went in her pants, poor thing!!!  We put a pull-up on her and she had diarrhea in them the next morning but was able to make it to the potty when she had again later Sat. afternoon.  Oh, and Avery puked from her bed Friday night at around 1am, too!  Thankfully, Jared had been standing right outside their door to tell Makenna to stop crying (because she wanted to come get in bed with me) and he heard Avery start to gag; we still had a "puke bowl" on the floor for Makenna, just in case, so Avery puked right into it, saving us from having to clean up a mess.

Jared is such a stinker!  Friday afternoon, I grabbed some cheese and crackers for a snack and left them on the kitchen island while I went and checked on the girls during naptime. When I came back, I couldn't find the crackers (thought I was going crazy), so I opened the pantry to get more and Jared jumped out. He scared the crap out of me! He had taken the crackers and had been hiding in there for several minutes, as I had taken my meds/vitamins and did a couple of other things in the kitchen before I realized the crackers weren't there. I'm not kidding, he completely caught me off guard and it was scary! What a turd!

Sat. night (1/3), I had a MUCH needed, awesomely fun girls night out with Amiee Erickson and Kiki Tassin Tolman. Burgers at The Habit Burger Grill, donuts at Beyond Glaze, shopping at Nordstrom Rack and hot cocoa at Starbucks in Barnes & Noble. Such a great night! 

We missed church again (2nd Sunday in a row because of illness) since the twins still weren't feeling well yesterday. We were actually supposed to go to a baby blessing in Jared's hometown but he ended up going by himself. Te girls seemed to be feeling better today so I was hopeful that all the sickness was behind us!  NOPE.  Just when I think we might be in the clear, Avery has a diarrhea accident in her pants! Ack!  THEN, We had a fun puke fest over here. Poor little Avery was on the potty with diarrhea while the rest of us were eating dinner when we heard her start throwing up. Poor little sweetie. I put a handkerchief over my nose and mouth (if you know me, you know that I gag and throw up really easily) but I still managed to start puking into the bathroom sink (with the handkerchief still on!) when I went to start cleaning up the puke. Thankfully, Jared was here to help, even though he thought it was hilarious that I started puking! I'm such a wuss, ha ha!

One last thing:  Thanks to Grandma and Maw-maw for all the ponies with hundreds of tiny pieces, ha ha!  This definitely isn't everything--they're all over the house. And there are several other ponies, small, medium, and large. Notice how they put some of the pony hair clips on Olaf's arms, ha ha!

Hoping and praying that all the illness leaves for good tomorrow and that I don't get sick, as Jared is leaving on a 2-week trip in the morning!