If I was a Gingerbread Gal......

...this would be my winter home.....

...and this would be my summer home!

11:11 am, 7 lbs 9 ozs & 11:41 am, 8 lbs 7 ozs

11:41 am yesterday

11:11 am yesterday

"Twins! We're having TWINS!" "I need a beer!" Yes, those were the words of my husband when he found out that God would be blessing us with 2 more children instead of 1. I was in for my routine 4 1/2 month ultrasound. Granted I was huge and I felt like an octopus was living inside of me, but the Doctors & us thought I was just having another large baby like Adam. Boy were we all wrong! The sonographer squeezed that blue jelly on my belly and took one swipe with the wand and there went two heads! Our lives have never been the same.

My girls turned 12 yesterday! I can honestly say I didn't see it coming!

We had a wonderful day together which started with a trip to the local coffee shop and then a haircut at the salon (as opposed to Mom's Salon). The girls had each picked out a hairstyle they liked and one they thought they could maintain themselves. The most shocking part of the salon experience is when Bethanne's hair came off. 1st with a donation to Locks of Love and next with her new stylin' do! I had no problem with the hair coming off, just a problem with the extra beautiful girls underneath! I think they look so much like Dave's sister Suzanne, which is ok by me, she is beautiful.

After lunch at home we went to a few of their favorite stores, TJ Maxx & Mels. Adam bought each of the girls a present, a large pink cut glass stone for Bethanne & a cute little Christmas decoration for Rachel. It is a little statue of an acorn with a cardinal sitting on top all dusted in glittery snow.

At 6 we headed to our favorite dinner spot Mizuna. Our waiter Chris bought the girls birthday drinks and we had a BLAST laughing, taking pictures & having a great family night. Dave showed up with a dozen roses for each of the girls. They were so excited. Bethanne "tried" to ask Chris to pack up her desert in a to-go box....it was ice cream!

Next we found ourselves at home singing Happy Birthday as the girls blew out their 12 candles in their new snow-man jammies.

I am bummed too. I tried to scan pictures of the girls when they were born but our scanner isn't working. I'm sure you'll believe me when I say they were the most beautiful babies ever born!

Thanksgiving is always around the girls birthday. We actually came home with them on Thanksgiving during Ice Storm in '96. The whole family was without power so we ordered pizza! Very memorable to say the least.

K*N*I*G*H*T*S Halloween

Boy this post is weeks (a month actually) overdue!...

I thought you'd all get a kick out of seeing what we dressed up like for Dave's office Halloween party. Now remember this is an engineering firm...full of engiNERDS, and this party has become one of the favorites for the staff and their families. The Structural Department did an 80's Flashback, the Administrative staff did Alice in Wonderland, the Civil Department made a human Foosball table, & the Electrical Department portrayed all the famous detectives of the past and present. Every department gets to put on a 5 minute skit if they want to and we have "celebrity" judges come to the office and vote for best department. The Mechanical Department chose Monty Python's Holy Grail for it's theme. I'll let the pictures do the talking but I'd like to mention that Bethanne sewed part of Dave's costume and all of hers and...uuhh...theirs!

Oh, & lest I forget to mention, we won the coveted SKULL this year!

Disclaimer: Our kids have not watched this movie, in case you were wondering....you were weren't you!

WDW Day 5-10 Part 1

Sorry it has taken me a while to finish this blog.....

Well we pretty much spent the rest of our Walt Disney World vacation at Animal Kingdom. What an AMAZING park! It's like walking through the best zoo you've ever been to & getting to ride some of the best rides you've ever been on.

Adam's new all time favorite: Mt. Everest roller coaster. It goes forwards and backwards! That's where he got the t-shirt that says "Scream like a Girl", on clearance too, that's my boy!

Dinosaur: the scariest ride ever! I'm afraid of dinosaurs and this was tops for me. Dinos chasing you and breathing their hot breath on you! Yikes! It was also the funnest ride ever with the family. This is the only ride where we purchased the Disney photo they take of you at the scariest moment of the ride. I wish I could post the image, maybe Dave can help me with that. Anyway, at the end of the ride a gigantic dino, just like the fossil above, jumps out at you and breaths hot air on you like it's going to eat you.....& then they snap a photo! So Adam, Bethanne, Rachel, & I are in the front seat with Dave behind us. I have my head down clenching the handle bars, you can't even see my face because my hair is covering it, Beth & Rach are basically in my lap looking at the dino and screaming their heads off, & Adam, well...he's completely missing! All you can see is the blue strip from the back of his shirt....he had folded himself in half and could be barely seen! And Dave, he's like "this is so cool!!" The photo shop lady laughed her head off!

Animal Kingdom is beautiful. Everywhere you look there is a habitat for an endangered species. The best bird shows & an endangered animal safari right in the center. Have you ever been to Disneyland in California? If you have this will help you understand just how big Walt Disney World is. Animal Kingdom is 1 of 6 parks. You can fit Disneyland in the safari Sahara of Animal Kingdom!!!!

As you can tell from the pictures the last 5 days also included rain. We made the best of it and had a blast. On the worst day, at Animal Kingdom, we were in our ponchos eating snacks under the plastic. At some spots the water was up to my ankles! The rain is warm there not like here in Washington, so you could just hang out and have fun. Almost like playing in the bath!

On the last day of our trip we park hopped and went to all of our favorite rides before heading home to good ole' Spokaloo....it's was FREEZING! Hard to go from 89 degrees to 45!

All in all the BEST vacation we have ever taken as a family. A once in a lifetime vacation...actually, I hope it's not, it would be nice to go again!

FYI: we drank 100 liters of water while we were there & my hair was curly at the ends!

WDW Day 5-10 Part 2