Of Course I can tell them apart

Its been almost 4 years and I still get the question, "Can you tell them apart?" Of course I can tell them apart. I am with them from barely sun up till sundown. Seven days a week with an hour break a day. Going thru their clothes and shoes the other day I kinda chuckled out loud when I saw their shoes. I can tell who wears which shoes. The shoes on the LEFT are SADIES and he shoes on the RIGHT are TRISTAS. Sadie likes to scrape her shoes on the edge. Hence another reason NOT to spend a lot of $$ on shoes. I can tell who is who by their: TALK, WALK, THE WAY THEIR HAIR LAYS, VOICE, even by their WHINE!!!! But I love their differences.

Spider Man & Woody...to the rescue

There comes a time when you just have to let go and let them be. And thats what I did. I was really pushing for Punky Brewster or Rainbow Bright but when asked....they or I should say Sadie consistantley said, "Spider Man." I know Trista would have been whatever I wanted her to be but she did mention Woody a few times and my friend, who has BOYS, just so happen to have both costumes! Thank you Kendra for saving me $40 on costumes. Costumes are not cheap and yet they are cheap material. Sadie was so excited when I picked her up from childcare and showed her the spider man outfit. I wish I'd had a camera to catch her expression. I knew then that it was so worth just letting her be what she wanted. I think the inspiration came from when we went to a friends house, who are also twin boys, had both Woody and spiderman costumes that they dressed up in. The crazy thing is that it was a year ago they did that. They evidently did not forget. We brought the cosutmes homes about a week before Halloween. Of course they wanted to play in them right away so I let them. Big mistake. Trista lost the Woody hat within 30 minutes. I combed the yard, the neighbors yard, the house but the hat was not be be found. So, the day of Halloween I set out to find a woody hat. I found that LOTS of people, like me, wait till the day of Halloween to get their costumes. Long day short I tried 4 different places and the last place I checked had a Woody Hat. We were set. We went to a neighborhood just a few miles up the road and walked for about an hour. Race their best bud and playmate went also. Plastic pumpkins were full of candy, their tummys already ached and it was 1 hour past bedtime, so we headed home. Jacob and Katherine, our new neighbors, were ready to greet....SCARE any tricker treaters that came to their door but were very disappointed when we told them that we'd been here 6 years and never had a tricker treater. So they scared the girls. Trista did fine but sadie did not like their face paint and fake blood at all. I know. My pumpkin carving was not real original or creative but that's as good as I get;)

Disney On Ice

A huge THANK YOU to Uncle Phil for the girls early Birthday gift and our Christmas gift. Thank you Uncle Phil. The girls LOVED it. We talked about it all week telling them that we were going and to see the expression on their face when Mater(from CARS) and Buz Lightyear(from Toy Story) came out on the ice was worth all the crazy $$ spent on concession stand goodies. Of course we couldn't leave without getting a Tinkerbell Snowcone Cup!! We were 10 feet from the Ice which made it even more spectacular! Did I already say that the girls LOVED IT!! Chris and I enjoyed it too. I love stuff like that! It was a fun family/date night for all of us. The last time we went to Disney on Ice was with our friends(Jonathan and heather Landers....pre kids:)8 years ago.

Papa (Art) Carlson pays a visit

Papa, We loved having you visit. You made that trip from Chattanooga in that sleek, red, Cadillac of yours and we are so glad you did. The girls loved having you read them their bedtime story and the delicious bread you made for us is requested daily. We put just a little butter, cinnamon and sugar and top it with just a dab of peanut butter. If I must admit I had a bite of Tristas and I decided to slice myself a piece with that same goody goodness on it. While we were eating it Sadie said,"I love Papa." to which Trista said in between bites, " I love Papa's bread." Me too, girls!! Thank you for visiting Papa. Know that you are welcome and have a place to stay anytime!

Sweet Baby Parks Tucker

A post I thought I would never have to make. We got the call on Tuesday, Sept 11, 2012 at 5:30 pm from Angela. She stated between chocking back the tears that Parks had leukemia, ALL-- Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a form of leukemia, or cancer of the white blood cells characterized by excess lymphoblasts. He was admitted to Cooks Children Hospital in Forth Worth immediately following some blood work done earlier that day. Angela knew that Parks was not acting like himself and she decided to take him in to the doctor. Once at the hospital, a blood transfusion was started right away which brought his color back and helped him feel better right away. Tomorrow is the 7 day mark when Jonathan and Angela received the news. Its been a long 7 days for me and I cant even imagine what its felt like for them. They have 102 treatments ahead of them, many blood transfusions, miles back and fort to the hospital over the next two years but Parks couldn't have gotten more committed, loving and strong parents as Jonathan and Angela. I've turned down people who've asked for donations, I had never given blood and the Leukemia flyer that would junk my mailbox would eventually make its way to the trash. It wasnt that I didnt care or that I was less compassionate of a person it was that it didnt hit close enough to home, it was never MY NEPHEW....until now! This isnt the first person I've seen fight cancer and it definitely wont be my last! This time and next time...I'll give a little or even a lot. All I can do is ask WHY? And as of right now there is no good answer for me other than bad things happen to good people and it just happened to Parks. I hope. Oh, how I hope I can look back at this post and think what a crazy ride its been for your mom and dad and ALL of us and now its over....you are a thriving, cancer free little Toddler running around chasing after fire flies, puppy dog tales and getting in to all kinds of mischeif...like any 3 year old should. Parks, you do have enough rolls to make a sumo wrestler squirm in his Mawashi. You have a smile/laugh that is infectious and you eat puffs so cute that I watched the video a dozen times in one day and laughed just as hard each time. I wake up thinking about you. And at night I feel guilty going to sleep with such ease. I'd take that yucky medicine for you if I could. Wednesday is a big day, buddy. We are pulling for you. Hoping that the chemo doesnt make you too sick and that it gives that stupid thing cancer a swift kick in the you know where. LOVE YOU PARKS!!