3.28.2011

Impromptu Photo Shoot - We So Crazy

Well, it's Sunday night and I am flying solo as Matt corrals some youth and young 'ins at our church. It is nights like this when I am soooooo thankful to have him home most nights to help me feed the babies dinner and also be the master bather. Almost since we've had both babes at home, it's been our ritual to let Matt bathe the children while I start dinner and prep bottles, etc. I definitely don't mind bathing, but I LOVE having a few minutes of peace to collect my thoughts and prep a recipe. And pour a glass of wine.

After last weekend's festivities, I was looking for some much needed relaxation time for all of us - but such is life --- I think the four of us have spent a combined 5 or 6 hours together. Saturday is usually our day to just be a family, but I had a volunteer engagement on Saturday afternoon and Matt had breakfast plans. Then today was Matt's day for church (we trade since Q can't go to daycare and even if she could, the babies schedule at the moment is not exactly lining up with church. He was sweet enough to bring home lunch for us both and then I had to hit the road to Bible Study, then grocery, then home, then Matt left for his youth meeting 30 minutes later. Exciting stuff.

However, in between that, we did have some fun times --- "Uncle" Greg (who is Matt's good friend from his previous job) came over on Friday night to see the babies with his girlfriend. I had not seen Greg since I almost projectile puked on him in recovery after the babies were born, so it was good to see him -- and not to be nauseauted. "Uncle" Greg locked his keys in his car that night so while we were waiting for him to arrive we had an impromptu photo session with the twins. See pics below. I have some new favorites of the babies! Anyway, we had a great time with the two of them catching up over faijitas and Colby red wine - went to bed way tooooooo late again.


Big boy

May the force be with you

Hanging on for dear life - getting so good at pulling up and standing, but they haven't exactly figured out how to gracefully fall down. Quinn looks concerned.

And we all fall down - what to do?


The best daddy ever

We've mentioned that we like to cuddle, right?

And in black & white because we were getting crazy with the camera functions.

Closest I can get to a cuddle with Quinn

This is a more typical Quinn picture

So is this one. She has NO fear. She will just launch herself off of anything. Including my lap and furniture.


Another typical Quinn pic

Ryan's typical picture. Are you seeing the HUGE difference in their personalities??

Mouth full of teeth. Which he has used to gnaw on my beautiful crib railing.

Yup, lots and lots of teeth. Lots and lots of teeth marks.

Wait, that's the REAL remote. Not smart, Mommy & Daddy

This is what happened when we took away the real remote. The child is not without drama.


Saturday night was my pre-birthday dinner out. My birthday is on a Wednesday this year which everyone knows is a huge bummer. Almost a big of a bummer as actually turning 31. That's seriously in your thirties. Blech. Age be darned, we met my friend Katie (who I have talked about on here once or twenty times) and her husband Ryan for an adults evening for sushi. Actually, when I think about it, I don't think the 4 of us have ever eaten at anything other than a sushi place. This time we went somewhere new and it was wonderful! So good to catch up and the 4 of us always have a good time. We managed to take a couple of pictures as well last night.



So tonight, I am just praying for good bottles and good sleep from the babes & a 9:00pm bedtime for me. Sounds ambitious but I think I can do it.

Love!


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3.25.2011

R&Q Take Dallas, Part Deux

So after recovering from the excitement of Friday night's festivities, we all headed out to a reunion for my old soccer team from middle school & high school days. Actually, I sprinted out the door by myself to frantically help get things organized at my friend's house and left Matt & Gigi in charge of getting the babies dressed in their carefully chosen matching outfits. I don't dress the babies matching too often mostly because it requires too much thinking, but on special occasions I try to pull it together.

Way back in October when I attended my childhood bestie's wedding reception, several of us "Sting folks" decided it was time for a reunion. Now on many occasions before we had discussed this very idea but somehow in the craziness of our days, we never made it happen. But finally I decided to make it my mission to get it together with the help of lots of friends gathering addresses, etc. One of the girls was sweet enough to offer her house and so it began to take shape. In the future, I think planning a reunion from 300 miles away will not be on my top "to do"s list, but it all worked out perfectly. We had a great showing and it was so good to see everyone & all of their little ones.

I played for Sting for upwards of 8 or 9 years, basically from beginning to end. So I saw a lot of people come and go - and actually only 3 of us played all the way through on the same team. Yet, it always remained a very special group, one in which many of the core players and parents still keep in touch to do this day. If I am being honest, my early Sting days were not my favorite. Through most of elementary school and part of middle school, I was teased relentlessly by a lot of people, including a group of my teammates. I remember crying in my room before any sort of gathering like a team sleepover or overnnight trip because I knew it would not be a pleasant experience. I never knew why I was teased so much - maybe an easy target because I was so small, kinda nerdy, or more likely, because of the awesome sports goggles I was forced to wear since I wasn't allowed to get contacts until 6th grade. (Thanks, Mom! ha).  :) At any rate, the teasing was not like anything you hear on the news now about these bullies, but still no fun.

Yet as we got older and the team morphed a bit, I began to make more friends who stood up for me and met girls who did not know about the previous teasing history. Soccer life dramatically improved by my junior year and I loved my team. And ironically, several of the biggest "teasers" are now a few of my closer friends --- we all grow up eventually and find we have much more in common than we ever had differences.

So seeing these women (some of them for the first time in well over 12 years) was so special. Everyone is doing their own thing, some are stay at home moms, some are soccer coaches, some work in the business world - but we all remember the good 'ole days of the Sting '80 Ladies. What a fun afternoon! Here are a few pics - of course we had to break out the traditional soccer team poses...


With all the kiddos


The girls


Girls and coaches



Someone is breaking into the picture - precious!
 
So after the reunion and catching our breath for a second, my good friend Amy came over to visit with her new son --- soooo good to see her although the visit was too brief as always. I think even if we had an entire night to catch up and chat, it still wouldn't be long enough. She is one of those that will forever be one of my "soul sisters" (cheesy as that may sound!) -- and I pray one of these days we can live closer than 300 miles. Of course, I completely forgot to break out the camera, so insert below a great pic of A, C, and baby R with R&Q. :)

And because we cannot rest for a moment while in Dallas, Matt and I hurriedly got the babies fed their dinner and did our best to clean ourselves up for "Twin Mommy & Daddy" night out. One of the many reasons I am on Team Facebook is that I have reconnected with two wonderful girls who both had twins right around the time I had Ryan & Quinn. We have been able to share the ups and downs of twin pregnancy, c-sections, having twin newborns, NICU stays, and all the other wonderful things that go along with twins. Not that I can't relate to my friends who have singletons because they have been a wonderful source of support as well --- but there is something nice about having friends who understand exactly what you are going through. These girls have become so special to me the past couple of years- and I am so happy we all got to hang out and burn off a little steam! I don't think us girls stopped talking from the moment we sat down until we finally said goodbye 3 or 4 hours later. Too fun - thanks A & M for a GREAT night. Must do it again soon. xoxo. Here are a few pics from that night:

M and I - her boys about 3 months younger than mine.

All 3 of us - A's twins are about 4 months older than R&Q

Whoa, these drinks were NOT all ours - I think our husband's drinks made their way into the pic -- oh and something funny happened to my eye when I was editing the pics. It's not usually silver.

Hanging out at Gordon Biersch patio - it was a perfect patio night!

The boys - who didn't get to talk to their wives all night because we never shut our mouths! What good sports - I think they all got along :)

 After leaving our dinner/drink night, it was of course IMPERATIVE that we stop at Taco Bueno. For some ungodly reason, Houston does not have Taco Bueno --- we have Cabana, Bell, but no Bueno. Makes no sense to me. So after getting the obligatory Mexi Dips and chips and a large diet coke, we finally headed home to crash for a few hours before R&Q's wake up call. I don't understand why they don't sleep in on the days that Mommy & Daddy are up wayyy past their standard bedtime?? We're going to need to work on that.

In B.C. (before children) days, we would have had a lazy Sunday morning, drinking coffee with my mom on the patio and then hitting up Chubby's for some greasy brunch, but not so much anymore. We had no idea how long it would take to get back to Houston, knowing the twin's schedule had been blown to pieces over the weekend. I was envisioning meltdowns all the way down 45. So we got the car packed up (or more specifically, Matt packed up the car), said our goodbyes and were on our way.

On the way out, we stopped by my dear friend Lisa's house to see her newest addition, born just a week or so earlier. Again, it was one of those times where I wish there were just more hours in the days to see everyone --- Lisa has been such an amazing friend to me and I just don't get to see her enough! Miss L was certainly 100% precious and perfect and I loved getting to meet her. It was also so neat for Lisa & Adam to finally meet Quinn, who was still in the NICU the last time they were in Houston to meet Ryan. After a quick visit (unfortunately! Love you guys!!!), we finally had to hit the road for good -- and somehow we timed it perfectly with the babies' second nap and again they slept halfway home and were pretty good the rest of the way. Thank God.

So whew, it was quite the whirlwind. It has pretty much taken me all week to recover, unpack,and get back on schedule. We had such a great time in a short amount of time - and feel blessed that R&Q finally got to meet all of these wonderfully special friends. Can't wait to go again. Well, maybe I can -- I need at least a few weeks to gather the energy to want to pack up our life again :)

3.24.2011

Ryan & Quinn Take On Dallas

So I have been meaning to write this post all week... yet time has escaped me. I am finding it more and more  difficult to post often. The kids are WAY active and they do not like it when I am on the computer. And they like it less when I put the baby gate around the living room. They just sit and cry at the gate and wonder why Mommy isn't playing with them - even though they basically have FAO Schwartz in our living room.

Anywho - after making a test trip to Austin a couple of weeks ago and deeming them "road worthy" to Dallas, we took off Friday to the land 'o concrete (I am not knocking Dallas - I grew up there and I love it --- and for goodness sakes, I've lived in the swamps for the last 12 years). The babies did fantastic. We timed our departure with their typical long morning nap and they slept halfway there - and when they did wake up, they played the rest of the way --- amusing themselves with their babbles and feet.

Since we arrived earlier than we thought, we had a little downtime to relax, unpack and get the babes settled. And then make last minute runs to the grocery for my mom who was throwing the babies an amazing sip 'n see. Honestly, I was a bit exhausted already but so excited to see our friends that night. Although we had been thinking about this party for a couple of months, in true Anderson fashion, we really didn't start pulling it all together until the last couple of weeks.

Yet my mom and Stevie came through in spades --- down to every last detail of delicious apps, a roast, ham, potato salad, fruit & cheese tray --- and the decadent cake. The cake was the most special of the event --- it was from Willie Mays which is where my mom got all of my cakes when I was little. They were before the days of all this fondant stuff (not to knock fondant!) but they can make amazing things out of just icing -- and the cakes taste delish. It was just as how I had pictured it for their "coming out" party.

And again in true Anderson/Clanahan fashion we were running late for our own party --- trying to stuff some solid dinners down the twins throats so they would be semi full and happy just right before the party. But of course, they need a hosing off after such an event. Luckily, I had my right hand "Haylee" who assisted me in cleaning, dressing, and accessorizing babies and sending them out to socialize, while I still needed a little more work. Little Haylee grew up next door to us (she's 15 now!) but she has the sweetest heart and wanted to do everything she could to help with the babies and the party - even devein 100's of shrimp. Hay, we couldn't have done it without you. Come visit soon!

Anyway, babies and Mommy & Daddy finally dressed, we made our appearance. Honestly, it can be so overwhelming at parties like that. You want to see everyone and catch up with folks you haven't talked to in a year, but the nature of it is difficult. I must have filled a glass of wine and set it down full at least 4 times. But how blessed we were that so many special friends came out to see the babies (I no longer am under any illusion that people want to see myself or Matt --- it's always like "where's Ryan or Quinn")ha. And that is just fine by me and the exact reason I wear yoga pants and a hat every day --- no one cares :).

The babies were on their most impeccable behavior that night - and predictably, Ryan won the most cuddle/snuggly bunny award. He was just passed and passed and passed some more - and the more he was passed, the more he snuggled in :) Quinn did just as well with the passing but shall we say she was slightly more interactive but nevertheless just as happy.

We had super duper twin sets at the party as well which was awesome. I got to see our friend Kristin who brought her A-Team (we've chatted a million times via FB about our twins - they are only 4 months apart or so) but they've never officially met. Well, finally they did!! It wasn't the love fest that we had pictured in our minds for months, but it was wonderful to meet and see them all at the same time. My friend Amber came with her twin little girl, Finley -- and from the looks of it, I am guessing that if Quinn and Finley ever lived in the same town, they would get into a LOT of trouble together ::) They looked like two peas in a pod. And their body physique is remarkably similar, petite, but these strong little legs and precious faces. Quinn tried to chase Fin everywhere, including down the steps at my house, which Q has yet to master - yikes! Can't wait to see all of these kids grow up!

Here are some pics from the event. It lasted well into the night. For all who were not able to attend, we missed you and hope to see you again soon!! Thank you to my wonderful mother & Steve for making the party so special for R&Q and for us. Love!




























And by the look of Q's face - it's getting late. Have much, much more to post on Dallas. It was a busy weekend. To come tomorrow!

Love!


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