Evan and Alli's Birthday

Yes, Evan and Alli really are 5 years old. When I think about Drew turning 5 she seemed so grown up to me, but Evan and Alli still seem like babies. They're so little. Another thing that I keep thinking about is when I was 28 weeks pregnant with them I was put in the hospital with contractions 8 minutes apart. It was such a stressful time because I was in the hospital for a week hearing nurses whisper in the corner that I wouldn't be leaving the hospital pregnant, which worried me to death. I remember my doctor reassuring me that he saw a patient of his that day who had premature twins that had just turned 5, and I thought about how lucky she was to have her babies grown and healthy, and that seemed so far away for me. Of course, I did leave the hospital pregnant and held on for another month, and here we are today, with 5 year old normal, healthy kids. I know, the sap is overwhelming. Anyways, back to the birthday party. We took them out to dinner on their actual birthday because they wanted to go to a restaurant where they sing to you. And then we had the big party this past Sunday. It went really well. Of course, nobody knows what RSVP means these days (I myself am as guilty as the next guy), so we had no clue what to expect. A whole bunch of kids showed up. Twins means double the kids and double the presents, so we had a garage full. The rain showed up before the party, and it ended up pretty nice. The ground was wet and soggy, which was why we moved everything into the garage, and the kids still played outside with all their little friends and got nice and muddy. They got a crazy amount of gifts (lots of much needed clothes and several not-so-needed, but much desired toys). I think more than anything they were just thrilled to have their friends at their own house. And, Andy and I were pretty excited about getting to show off the house. It was a really nice day, lots of family and friends around, and a few strangers, including one very odd mother - nice, but odd. Here are some pictures:

Also, here's a little video clip of Drew hitting the ball at her last ball game. Of course, when I thought to get up and take video she hit the ball straight to the pitcher and got out, but she hit it pretty good anyways.

T-Ball

I finally have some pictures of Evan and Alli playing T-ball. I don't know what the deal is, but for some reason the week's forcast is beautiful every day except for Saturday around here. It has seriously rained every Saturday for a while now. In fact, at this game in the pictures, we were sort of misted on the whole time, but they've cancelled so many games I think we all knew the only thing that would stop us was a terrential downpour. And, this week's forcast is the same. Sunny, sunny, sunny, and then rain on Saturday and Sunday. I think it's raining on Sunday just because we have Evan and Alli's birthday party planned for that day and we were going to grill outside. It's me. I'm cursed. Anyways, back to the T-ball games. They're so cute at their games. They look so little after watching Drew play. They're doing so good and are really having fun. T-ball is so nice and so unstressful. There are no outs, and everyone bats and plays the field and we don't keep score, so it doesn't matter. It's just all instructional. Their coaches are 2 girls that I work with, and there are 2 other teachers' kids on the team (which makes 5 of us altogether), so it's nice that we can all go to the games together. So, enjoy the pictures. And, stay tuned for birthday party highlights (and pray that the rain stops before the party).

On to the Bathrooms

First of all, I realize that most of you probably aren't used to me posting this regularly, so if you haven't looked at the pictures of the kitchen, make sure you scroll down and look at that, too. On to the bathrooms. I rarely take baths (meaning, of course, that I always take showers - not that I don't bathe), except for when we go on vacation and stay in some really nice place that has a TV and a bathtub in the same room. It's just really hard for me to shut my mind down and fully relax without thinking of the 10 million other things I should be doing unless I have some distraction, which is what the TV does for me. (Like it or not, it's true. I thorougly enjoy TV, and even use it as my friend to keep me company when I'm alone.) So, last night when I got home from the grocery store, Andy had run wire to our bathroom and hung a TV on the wall for me directly across from the bathtub! I was so excited! There was no electrical outlet on that wall, or cable, so he had to wire all that stuff, which is second nature to him since he works with electricity all the time. He's just so handy to have around! I mean, he's big and warm and makes me laugh, and on top of it all, he's handy! Talk about a bonus! Here's a shot of it from in the bathtub, which I layed in fully clothed (no water of course) just to take a picture for the blog.

Here's another picture of the bathroom. You can see the reflection of the TV in Andy's mirror. My sink is there to the right. You can see the corner of the counter. The shower is directly across from my sink, and then the toilet is in its own little closet next to that.Speaking of bathrooms, I was upstairs cleaning the kids' bathroom today, trying not to vomit from how nasty it was. I clean it as often as I clean the other bathrooms, and it's always exponentially worse. I have a good friend who has 2 kids right around the ages of mine and we've discussed how gross the kids' bathroom gets compared to the adult bathroom. The toothpaste caked on the sink is 100 times worse. Not only do they spit right on the edge so that the toothpaste runs all the way down the sink and most of it doesn't get rinsed off, but they also inevitably spit one big glob that apparently never gets touched by the toothbrush right where water doesn't hit that sits there and dries overnight. Yuck! Also, my kids play outside a lot, and they always seem to get covered in orange mud, which then floats on the top of the bath water in a yucky orange pool of suds, and then when they drain the water, the residue sticks to the sides, so I always have a nice orange ring around the bathtub. I won't even bring up the toilet. What's sad is that I cleaned it all today, and the kids spent the night away last night, so they took a bath over there, but tomorrow as soon as they take their bath, it'll be nasty again. Such is life. I feel the same way about laundry. As soon as I get it all washed and folded and put away, it's time for bed and the kids change into their pajamas, and the 3 outfits they were wearing make half a load already. This is why my laundry gets so piled up at times. My mind goes on laundry strike and I can't make myself get motivated to do it anymore, until we're all out of socks and underwear, and whether I like it or not, it must be done.

Kitchens and Softball

In my last post I forgot to include a picture of the outside of the house, so here it is:

Also, we got our new pretty granite counter tops, faucet, and tin backsplash, which Andy finished today. We also switched out our appliances. We got new ones at the old house about a year ago, and this house had decent ones, but they were all white, so we decided to switch them out to update everything. Here are a couple of pictures:

Here's an upclose shot of the granite and tin, and my pretty new teapot that Andy got me to match the counter tops (the black and brown one).Also, last weekend Drew had her first softball game. She's playing coach-pitch this year, which is why she's standing on the pitcher's mound next to a coach in a different uniform. She played the pitcher position because she's so awesome at stopping the ball, if I may brag on my child a little. The majority of hits go toward the pitcher at this age, and she dives for the ball and lets it hit her and everything. She makes me proud. Evan and Alli's T-ball games start this coming Saturday, so I'll have pictures of them up soon.