Just Pictures

Here are some pictures from Friday night at the park.
We got to play with Merr and her family.
K took some pictures of my kids.....good camera....good photographer...or just DAMN CUTE KIDS ! I will let that be up to you.



CAM ! From sweet to psycho in 2.5 seconds :)





















SYD ! My little athlete :) She played baseball with Camden (Merr's son). He's the kid in the red and white stripped shirt. No...the other one.


















SPENCER !! My sweetest little boy. My cuddle bug. My man.

The beginning

This weekend was full of parks, playhouses and drive in movies.
We played at the park with friends Friday and Sunday. Saturday we went to the drive in. It was fun, the kids had a great time. All but a girl who kept walking over AWAY from her children to smoke by MINE. (no offense Jennifer. Freaking Smokers !:) it was perfect.
The weather was great, Syd enjoyed the movie and both boys fell asleep.
We watched Meet the Robinson's, the second part was Wild Hogs....we were SO excited to finally see it. Meet the Robinson's got over and J said...lets go home. SO we packed up the kids and went home. 11 pm is WAY too late for us !

J started the play house. Here are some pictures of what has happened so far.
The delivery




All in a days work. Here's the first days accomplishments.
I know this looks a little crooked, I think it was the picture...or maybe the yard :)
Syd thought it looked crooked too...so she is leveling it above.




The kids played in the back yard helped mommy, went swimming and jumped in their jump castle (purchase for under $100.00 by my thrifty wife on EBAY 2 summers ago..oh ya baby).
Good times.

Keep your eye on the ball !

I almost had my lesbian card pulled. I have been blogging for several months and have YET to talk about or show pictures of my dog.
The thing is....my dog is BY FAR the coolest and MOST loving dog (next to maybe Nanabear)that there is. She is THE most loving, most gentle, most nurturing, most mellow, sweetest, most wonderful dog there is. SERIOUSLY. She's the dog from the movies that you always wish you had.

Her name is Ms. Sadie Benz, and we call her Sad.
She was the twinkle of my eye....and then came Sydney. Sadie was TOTALLY kicked to the curb. I tried to make a come back and then BAM...the boys were born.
She turns to the kids a lot for attention...it's the most pathetic attempt to get love when you stick your head towards a 5 month old....but what do I expect.
I love her with all of my heart. She is like I have said before...the best.



Sadie LOVES to play ball. She will drop it and bat it to you (or because I don't play with her anymore, the kids) This is Sadie playing with Spencer.
Notice how her eyes NEVER leave the ball.


"Throw it, come on throw it for me"










Dear Sadie,
Mommy loves you. I'm sorry that I don't show it more.
I promise to pet you more often....and the reason I'm not yelling at you as often when you bark and wake up the kids is not JUST because Sydney started to yell at you and I didn't want to show a bad example....but because I REALLY and TRULY don't want to yell at you anymore. (please don't bark if someone walks passed the house and wake up my sleeping children any more....school lets out at the same time EVERY day and has done for the 6 years that we've lived here)

Oh and PLEASE go outside when I'm frantically telling you to, when you start horking up the entire 3 cups of food that you just snarfed down, instead of running in to different rooms because you are afraid of me yelling at you and getting overly excited trying to get you to go outside which scares you and then you end up throwing up on several different areas of the house versus just one room.
Because your throw up unlike baby throw up makes me want to throw up....and I sure as shit know that you aren't going to clean it up, although you have tried and that makes me sick too.
Love you Sad.
xoxo,
Mom

Leveled

Sydney : "Mommy your tummy is getting bigger"
mama : ..........uh........(crickets, chirp..chirp..chirp)

And that's all I have to say about that.



Doing sit-ups is a quick way to get stronger abdominal muscles if done properly.

Steps
*Lie down on the floor with your upper knees bent, the balls of your feet and heels on the ground.
*Place your hands behind the lobes of your ears, or even hold your ears.(Grabbing the back of head or neck may cause injury down the road.)
*Tighten your abdominal muscles by drawing in your belly button to your spine.
*Keeping your heels on the ground, slowly lift your head and shoulder blades off the floor with a contraction of the abdominal muscles. Get up off the floor as high as you are comfortable with. Try to keep your back straight, like you were practicing proper posture.
*Hold the position for a second then slowly bring the torso back to the floor but try to keep it slightly off the ground (i.e. try not to "lie" on the floor).
*Repeat steps 3-5 for the remainder of the exercise.

One down- Two to Go !

The Binky Fairy came to our house !
She exchanged Syd's purple polka dotted binky with the hole in the nipple (thus Syd's willingness to give it up in the first place) with Charlotte's Web and some cereal !!!
I don't know that she will give up ALL of her binkies. She's taken the first step and for that I am proud :)
This is going to be Sydney's decision. When she's ready to give her last binky to this magnificent and extremely hot looking fairy, (makes me wish I would have stayed up to see the tooth fairy) it will be her choice....and if she makes it in 2 years....so be it !


OK Seriously....is that what I really look like at 11 pm sneaking in to her room to accomplish the exchange with the moonlight peaking in from her window and creating this silhouetted image of beauty and grace.
NICE !! The wings make my butt look big though....I will have to remember to leave them off next time.

5 questions

Nailgirl gave me 5 questions to answer. She cheated and tripled/doubled up on a couple :) ha ha....it's all good !

1. How in the world did you survive having twins the first few months? Was it hard breast feeding two babies at once? (I am so proud of you for doing that btw). Were you brain dead those first few months??
I'm honestly not sure how I survived the first few months. I was medicated at month 3 with serious postpartum. Only a few people know this.
I'm not ashamed of it, but I did feel like a failure at the time.
My little Spencer almost died at 5 weeks of age. He had a serious respiratory infection and we took him to the hospital JUST in time. That was the slap in the face that I needed. Up to that point I had complained, cried, whined about having twins. When they had to bag him and breath for him I stopped complaining and BEGGED God to let me keep my boy. I still complain about the hardships with 3 kids 3 and under, but I will NEVER AGAIN wish that I didn't have my 2 sweet boys.

Breastfeeding was nearly IMPOSSIBLE. I took every supplement, pill out there. I pumped and pumped....I tried every thing. It wasn't my boys lack of trying...they were great. It was my no milk boobs. It was ok though, I managed to feed them through 6 1/2 months...that was when I called it quits. Breastfeeding is not for sissy's.

I'm still brain dead :)

2. This is a two part question. I am cheating. How old were you when you first realized that you were gay?
How did your friends and family react when you came out to them, and how old were you?
I was always gay. I had crushes on lots of female teachers growing up. I didn't understand it though.
I had a girlfriend at 15, but we didn't admit that it was a lesbian relationship until I was 17. Seriously...I would tell her that I was getting married to a man, and would put roses on a guys car that she was interested in...and then we'd make out :) ha ha DENIAL !
My brothers used to make fun of me and ask me when I'd leave to go with K (my girlfriend) "Where are you going....to make out with your girlfriend ?" (Assholes) I tried to kill myself 3 times in high school. 1 time I was close and remember a voice telling me that it wasn't my time to go. All 3 times I got through it with the help of my girlfriend.
My family knew that I had a girlfriend, but they didn't talk about it.
When I got with J and started bringing her around my mom had a hard time with it. She asked me, "Do you ALWAYS have to bring her around?" I replied, "Do we need to talk about why J needs to come with me ?" She said, "I don't want to talk about this", and hung up :)
When I decided that I wanted a baby I talked to my parents about it and had the drop down drag out fight with them. My dad made it clear that I was CHOOSING this lifestyle and that I am not gay. My mothers idea of my life was to be alone and not LIVE the lifestyle. Lots of tears were shed....I was going to hell. What would people say, think of my parents.
Oh and bringing a baby in to this lifestyle was SO SELFISH.
My mother wrote me a letter and told me that while they don't accept my lifestyle, I am their daughter and they love me.
When I became pregnant with Syd, my mom stopped talking to me for a month.

They now love J and they are MADLY in love with the kids.
We haven't talked about it since that day. J and I don't show affection, hold hands, kiss around them. We talk about bringing the kids in bed with us....my mom has looked at our room. She's also seen the wedding pictures on my chest of drawers. (one of us kissing..hee hee)

My true friends have been great. I've only lost a few "acquaintances" due to my being gay. No love lost there.


3. How would you like to spend the perfect vacation, and where would you go?
I LOVED Switzerland. I would LOVE to go back. I also loved Florence, Italy.
The perfect vacation would be with my whole family...and a nanny :)
No schedule....unlimited amounts of money and time.

4. If money were not an object how many kids would you and J want?
I've always wanted 4. I would probably have 5 if money and age were not an issue. J has agreed to what I say :) of course with the money and age stipulations taken care of.

5. Besides J who is your biggest supporter?
My mom. We really are GREAT friends. Besides our differences, and troubles that we've run in to. I love spending time with her. She's funny, loving, and a great example as a mother.


That's it folks.
Ok, if you want me to interview you give me your email address.....if nobody tells me to interview them...I will interview EVERYONE ! Because that's the kind of girl I am :)

9 Months and counting

The boys 9 month appointment was today.
Stats :

Spencer,
Height 30 inches 95%
Weight 19 lbs 1 oz 30%
Head 47 95%

Very good verbal skills. Will most likely be walking by 1 year of age. Getting 2 top front teeth.

Cameron,
Height 29 3/4 inches 92%
Weight 20 lbs 3 oz 50 %
Head 47 95 %

Already walking. Watch out for food allergies...no strawberries, dairy, peanut butter until at least 1 year.


We also got pictures yesterday. YES WE WENT BACK TO KIDDIE KANDIDS !
The girl was great this time....it was my kid this time. Cameron...GREAT! got really good pictures to choose from.
Spencer....not so much. He WOULD NOT smile. He is getting teeth and kept pulling this biting down face. I was so sad, because he has THE warmest smile.
Oh well. PLUS, he dug his face and gave himself a big scratch while we were taking Cam's pictures. (why-why-why on picture day?)
We were going to give him some Tylenol and go back after it kicked in....but alas, all 3 of them were done and the idea was gone as was their sparkling personalities. We quickly exited the building the way we came. All 3 kids fell asleep within seconds of being strapped in their car seats.

Here are the ones we bought.

"I DO" recall !

The WEDDING ! It's OVER....FINALLY !
Tough work being a bridesmaid. Lots of duties and responsibilities.
My job was the wedding dress. STRESS ! I had dreams for 3 days that I got in a wreck, forgot it, the house burned down. It was almost too much to handle.
When I walked in to the room carrying the dress I said...."TAKE IT !" and then exhaled.

It was BEAUTIFUL, Stephanie was a gorgeous bride. The wedding ceremony was short and sweet. The reception was a lot of fun, good food, GREAT band, and good people.

Here are a few pictures of the night.
First....The Girls














Then there is me and my friend Steph. We have been friends for like 14 years now.
We have gone on lots of trips together and we always get drunk and take a picture of ourselves. Thus our present condition. :)









Me and my wife....J stayed and played with me the whole night. She was so worried that she would get STUCK there with no one to talk to and nothing to do. She had a great time.















We got a little drunk, and started to dance.....














Then we started to sing........(and we sounded GOOD)
















And then we danced some more......see the tattoo on this gorgeous bridesmaid....she just came back from Iraq. She is engaged to marry the minister who married Stephanie and Brian.







We had a good time.

Regrets and Thankful Thursday

I regret being selfish at times.
I regret being strong headed and unwilling to give.
I regret smoking.
I regret that time in Cancun.
I regret not being honest with myself.
I regret letting worry take the place of happiness.


I will not every regret kissing the foster girl down the street at the tender age of 9.
I will not ever regret having a girlfriend in high school instead of a boyfriend.
I will not ever regret those next 8 years.
I will not ever regret that relationship ending.
I will not ever regret jumping right in to my next relationship.
I will not ever regret moving to the South side.
I will not ever regret the 6 years it took to conceive my sweetest little girl Sydney.
I will not ever regret what we gave up, sold, and borrowed to give her brothers.
I will not ever regret being able to keep up to the Jones's.
I will not ever regret living month to month.
I will not ever regret rocking my kids to sleep every night.
I will not ever regret going to them (all night sometimes) when they cry.
I will not ever regret letting them sleep with their mommies when they are sad or scared.
I will not ever regret not brushing my teeth, taking a shower, or even changing my underwear (yes I went there) for 3 days because I'm too busy with sick kids.
I will not ever regret the no adult conversation that I sometimes lack day to day.
I will not ever regret not finishing nursing school to raise my kids.
I will not ever regret staying home full time and giving up the outside world

I don't care if we don't have a trailer, 4 wheelers, a boat, nice cars, the latest electronics, the nicest and biggest house, expensive preschool, or new cloths.
If my house burned down and J lost her job tomorrow. I would still have my family and friends....and for that I'm thankful.
I'm so thankful for my kids.
I'm so thankful for my warm house, running clean water.
I'm so thankful that J has a job that makes her happy.
I'm so thankful that I am able to stay home and play with my wonderful kids.
I'm so thankful for good friends and good times.
I'm so thankful for a supportive and loving family.
I'm so thankful for a wife who supports me and our family, who loves me even with the same underwear on. :)
I'm so thankful to have the confidence in a strong relationship, full of trust and equality.


Now it just sounds like I'm bragging so I will stop.

My wife said that if I can come up with the money (and not out of our savings or checking account:)...damn she always thinks of everything) to do FET then I can try to have another baby. I will be selling Merr's no bake cookies to fund my baby journey.
It should only take me approximately 5 years :) about the time I will be physically and emotionally ready for a baby !! ha ha
If you managed to read all the way to the end of this post, I now leave you with pictures of my talented little artist Sydney painting....and her brothers playing downstairs in the playroom.

Cool Slideshows

Yes that is a Homo Depot bib that Syd is wearing. :)

WELCOME FRIEND !!! I would like to introduce our new blog friends to blogland.
Elyse, Cindy and kids are 1/2 siblings to our kids. Go check out their blog,
Life As A Rainbow.

Wednesday Why's

Why is it that kids will drink a full bottle of ammonia, aspirin, cleanser or bleach....but GAG at the smallest taste of peas.
I have to mix my boys peas with carrots to get Spencer to eat them.


Why do they continue to make products AFTER they make a new and improved Extra strength, or Extra power one.

Why would you buy the original.










Why is it that every time I use the bathroom I think about the Oprah show where they said your poo should be shaped like a soft S.....then I stress out while washing my hands and wonder if I have colon cancer....OR WORSE ! gasp !



Why is it that although practically indestructible to begin with, children's toys are always wrapped ridiculously tight. It takes 4 tools and 30 minutes to even consider opening them. It's like breaking in to Fort Knox to get a little peoples bus unwrapped.




Why am I blogging when I have a daughter at pre school and floors to clean. The only question here that I CAN answer! :)

Peace Out little People !

The night we were attacked while sleeping...or something like that.....

Part 2-

We had been in the new house (with newly installed security system) for a couple of months. I was still jumpy and took NyQuil every night to help me sleep. I don't think that watching Cold Case Files on A&E every night helped either.
It's 2o'clock in the morning, I'm SOUND asleep. I wake up INSTANTLY to J yelling, "THEY ARE TRYING TO GET ME, THEY ARE TRYING TO GET ME"
I tried to look at her side of the bed, but my eyes were not awake and could not focus through the dark to see who it was. She was sitting up and waving her arms in front of her.
I didn't think, I acted. I jumped from the bed, flew to the door, sprinted down the hall and made it to the front door in a matter of seconds. I still couldn't see...everything was black. My hand was on the handle of the front door ready to run for help, when I stopped and listened, I remember hearing J run behind me but I didn't know where she went. Where is the murderer...did he have her.
I turned, my heart SERIOUSLY was JUMPING out of my chest with every beat. My head was spinning and thoughts were moving too fast to even grasp any of them coherently.
I turned and headed back down the hall....I saw J and Sadie BOTH on the bed in the guest bedroom (now Syd's bedroom). I glanced down the hall to our bedroom, nobody was coming after us. I asked J what happened ?
She answers, out of breath and as scared as me, "I think there's a mouse in the bedroom!"
DOPE ! I remember muttering "WHAT!" but I wasn't pissed, I just thought, I had better get in there and make sure it's a mouse and not a serial rapist hiding under our bed.
I walked in, flipped on the lights from in the hall, slowly entered. Looked under the covers, looked under the bed, looked in the closet, and bathroom, checked the window....NOTHING!
Now my body is starting to wake up, my brain has turned on and is powering up.
I walk back in the guest room and said, "There is no mouse in there."
"OH!" J still winded, "it must have been a dream."
I'm awake now....my brain has caught up to my adrenalin.
"A DREAM, A FUCKING DREAM!" I just came THIS close to having my nuts ripped off by a mass murderer. I just experienced what people feel when they know they are about to be killed. "A DREAM !.....G-R-E-A-T !"
"I'm sorry." Sadie climbs down from the bed (pussy) and walks back with J to the hallway. "Let's go back to bed."
"I CAN'T GO TO BED....I WON'T EVER BE ABLE TO GO BACK TO BED !....MY HEART IS RACING 120 MILES AN HOUR AND I CAN'T BREATH ! LET'S GO TO BED.....SLEEP GOOD....FUCK, I MIGHT AS WELL DO LAUNDRY !" at this point I slam open the closet and start doing laundry.
J apologizes again, and tells me to try and lay down...maybe I will be able to fall back to sleep.

WHAT THE.....! I did fall back to sleep, about 45 minutes later, after all of the laundry was done and after drinking another FULL cup of NyQuil.
ha ha ha ha
We laugh our asses off at this story now. The next day we laughed pretty hard...not so much that night, but when telling the story the next day...I joined in.
Well, J laughs her ass off, mine is more of a cynical chuckle my ass off ! :)


P.S. Welcome to blog land Kori !

Robbed at gunpoint !!! Or something like that......

For you Nailgirl !
It was a DARK and DREEEEEARY night, and the MOOOOOON was FULL !
You see, what had happened was this....we lived in a more diverse neighborhood, so to speak. It was in the middle of what some might say the bad side of town.
We always loved where we lived and had no problems thus far. Jan had built the house 10 years prior when it was a newer development. It wasn't the kind of neighborhood where people would leave their doors unlocked (although seldom do you hear about houses like that these days) and it wasn't the kind of neighborhood that you would even leave your garage door open all day while at home.....but it felt safe, and you could play at the park with your kids (the ones we dreamed about having).
Me and J were both home from work and had decided to run to the store. It was like 7 pm. We weren't gone more than 45 minutes and upon returning as we pulled in to the driveway I noticed the garage door open (this is an image that still freaks me out).
My first thought was, did it trigger and pop back up and we didn't notice, or did we forget altogether. No big deal. rule #1 never have a FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY.
We pulled up and noticed our door to the house inside the garage was being propped open by a bean bag chair. I said, what the hell is going on. We backed down the driveway now feelings of suspicion took over. I wasn't scared at this point it was more of a..Cagney and Lacey, white girls are gonna solve this mystery.
We walked up and noticed that our rodeo was full of shit and the door was open. I'm like, "what the...???" Jan had opened the door and moved the bean bag chair...and said, "They took everything!" I came up behind her and pushed her to the side as she was standing there dumbstruck. They had taken the big screen TV, the entire audio system, speakers, DVD player, VCR, CD's, DVD's, VHS tapes...EVERYTHING ! I walked to the back sliding glass door (in this same room) and let my sweet and sensitive puppy Sadie in. I was worried about her, and wanted to make sure they didn't hurt her in the process. She came in very excitable but unfazed. I closed the door and walked back to Jan who hadn't moved or talked but now had her hands up on both cheeks. I of course was walking upstairs to find out what the hell else they took ?! I started up the stairs (it was a multi-level...there were 4 levels. I was on level 3, walking up the stairs put me at level 2 and then there were another set of stairs that lead you to level 1. I made it half way up the first set of stairs and this feeling came over me, it was as if this URGENCY flooded my body and panic finally set in. I turned around and cleared 3 steps in 1. I told Janice grabbing her arm and turning her to the door, "Get the FUCK out of here!!" We ran across the street in to the neighbors yard. Jan kept asking me what I saw, and I just kept telling her that something was wrong. My heart was pounding and my ears were now ringing.
Our neighbors were out of town so Jan grabbed her cell phone and dialed 911.

I heard men's voices and they seemed close, I thought that maybe they were at the park that bordered the back of our house. I told Jan to be quiet so that I could try and listen to where they were coming from...she of course gave me a dirty look because..HELLOOOOO, she was on the phone telling the dispatcher what was happening :)
I turned my attention to her and after she hung up I called my friends who lived a couple of blocks away.
S and T came over....T was an average sized black man with an extremely large and heavy baseball bat :)
We walked in and I noticed that the sliding glass door was open and the parallel blinds were twisted this way and that and hanging on the handle. I didn't even think about it, I just walked upstairs behind T. When we got to the top of the stairs on the 2nd level we noticed the door frame to the front door was lying on the ground. I heard S from downstairs tell me that she knew how they got in..."the sliding glass door!" Me and T said, "no they didn't, they kicked the front door in" THAT was the moment I realized that the men who had just robbed my house, were IN the house when we came home and had escaped through the back door, over the back fence and in to the park.

Now let me put this all together for you. A group of guys pull up to the house, one goes to the front door, kicks it in, enters, closes front door as to not cause any suspicion. He opens the garage door and lets in the car, closes the garage door, as to not cause any suspicion. They load up that vehicle with my entertainment system in the family room....those guys leave. The remaining robbers start loading up J's rodeo with tools, and some other stuff along the way. They would ALMOST finish getting the other 2 big TV's, 2VCR's, 2DVD players, computer, printer, fax machine..etc..there was some killer loot there. Plus they had moved my coke bottle full of money (close to $400.00 in cash and change) to the middle of the floor and had my jewelry drawer (NOTHING of value) open when we apparently walked in and spoiled their plan to then drive the Rodeo full of our shit away.
They had managed to hit 6 other houses in our neighborhood up to this point and did this EXACT thing (taking the car on 1 of them) to all of them without being walked in on.

WHO KNOWS what would have happened had I kept going up the stairs. Would I have scared them and they would have mowed over me to get to the door, did they have a weapon and would have shot/stabbed me before thinking.
OBVIOUSLY it wasn't good or my woman's intuition wouldn't have kicked in to HIGH gear when it did.

It took FOUR hours. 4 fucking hours for the cops to get there. (sounds a little familiar right....VA Tech) We even called dispatch back and told them that the perps were in the house and armed. We called 4 times and it still took them 4 hours to get to our house.
They sent 10 cops when they did finally respond. They all kissed our butts. I saw one cop show another cop a picture of 2 silhouetted naked woman embracing each other :) Just a cute little picture we had in our family room :) ha ha
Sadie licked the hands of the cops and was EXTREMELY friendly to everyone. They told me to get a guard dog.

These guys managed to hit like 12 other houses in our neighborhood, including the house next door to ours. We told them to reinforce their dead bolt...they did...the robbers broke a basement window and got in any ways.

They took our garage remote and had the keys to the Rodeo. We got a call from a guy a few days later that said he found a bag of tools in a dumpster and had a business card of J's in it. We drove to the SEEDIEST part of town and back to the SCARIEST ass house (stupid white girls...I know) and got the bag. It had the Rodeo keys, J's communication tools (worth thousands of dollars...dumb ass robbers) and someones garage remote...we never did get ours back.
The guy told J that these guys dump shit there all of the time. We told the cops...do you think anything happened...hell no.

I kept Sadie, put an alarm system in, moved, put an alarm system in my new house, and drank NyQuil for months.

I need to go listen to oldies music now. I'm a little scared as it's 11 pm and now I'm afraid to go to sleep. MEMORIES, all alone in the moonlight...... It TRULY did fuck me up for life. I will never feel COMPLETELY safe again. STILL, when I come home and this was 8 years ago...STILL, I look at that garage door and hope it's down.
It probably seems silly to you guys reading it...like big deal, so they stole your TV. It's that feeling....that feeling of HOLY SHIT, GET OUT...that haunts me. PLUS...the stupid cops told us that a lot of the time they come back to get the rest of the stuff....or they wait until your insurance replaces it and then they come back and get the new stuff. THANKS YA ASSHOLE !


AND THEN...the night we were attacked while sleeping !!! Or something like that....coming soon !

(how did I do Nailgirl?)

No Bake Cookie Recipe

No bake cookies......WOO HOO ! I know everyone is on a diet, except Jennifer. :) ha ha This recipe is only to be used to take to BBQ's, and birthday parties to be shared with the masses. Except on Tuesdays....on Tuesdays eat up, they are fat free on Tuesdays.
RIGHT!
Thanks to Merr for the recipe.

No Bake Cookies
_______________


2 C. Sugar
1/2 C. Butter or Margarine
3-4 Tbsp Cocoa
1/2 C. Milk
1 tsp. Vanilla
3 C. Quick Oats
1/2 C. Coconut
1/2 C. Peanut Butter

Mix sugar, butter, and milk in large saucepan, bring to boil for 1 min.
Add cocoa, vanilla, and peanut butter (optional), mix well.
Remove from heat and add oatmeal (slowly...may not require all 3cups) and coconut (optional), stir well.
Drop by teaspoonful onto waxed paper and let cool (you can refrigerate to cool)

DELICIOUS !

Weekend Round Up !

I just wanted to say that I really appreciated hearing all of your views (ok everyone and then Tiffany and myself:)on the baby daddy name !

My kids will know exactly how they were conceived and how they came in to this world.
I will probably still refer to him as the donor OR dad when talking with my family and friends. This isn't something that I consciously thought about before hand...it just rolls off of my tongue. I don't have strong feelings either way and that may change later, but for now that's how I will deal with it.
As to the question of what my kids will call him when they don't want to get in to the details of our story with someone.....I decided to wait until the subject comes up and work together with my kids on a name that they feel good about. Who knows, maybe my kids won't care ! I still hope they don't want to trade mama in for a daddy. I honestly don't want to test those waters for fear of the wrong answer. :) ha ha


We had SUCH a great weekend. We got to hang out with family from my dads side who we lost sight of for YEARS ! They were all so warm and accepting. Very nice people whom I'm glad to call my family.
I made Merr's No Bake Cookies and took them, (delicious) dessert however was already planned and served and so they went to Grandma's Saturday and were devoured.

Saturday I had my friends wedding rehearsal. I was DREADING it and tried to think of ANYTHING to get out of it. I had conflicting plans and didn't want to spend time pretending to walk down the aisle when I could be playing with my moms family.
I split it up and did the rehearsal........damn good thing too. Lots of details, elevators, stairs, rooms to walk through. I'm doing it in heels too. HELP !
Girls, you know my ass is going to be the one to fall down the stairs...."SUPERSTAR"
I'm REALLY looking forward to the wedding.
2 words. Open Bar.
2 more words. No Kids.




The rest of the day we went to my grandma's. EVERYONE was there. J stayed home and cleaned the garage and got the sprinklers turned on.
It was a lot of fun. There are 18 million people as my moms family is your typical Mormon or I suppose Catholic family, 5.2 kids each. My grandma had 5, each of them had 5 or more (my parents were the exception only having 3 and so far only 3 grandkids..beaming proud parent) and they had 5 and they had 5. :) There are 45 great grandchildren if that gives you an idea as to how many people were there.
My grandma's friend brought over their pony. Sydney loved riding him and had a ball. They were all very nice. They always wait until I leave to talk crap about me and my "SITUATION" I'm sure :)

Although I did find out that my cousin got a DUI and they found drug paraphernalia in the car. SCORE ! I'm not the ONLY black sheep. baaaaaaaa


While away with the kids, my loving and wonderfully ADORING wife cleaned the garage and got the sprinklers going for the summer. Here are some pictures of the hard work she did, as I did not remember the camera to take pictures of the Easter egg hunt, pony rides, or family. NICE !

This is where J had to trench and run more sprinklers to hit the other side of the fence. I used to get VERY turned on watching her do extremely butch things like build stuff and install a sprinkling system. There's just something about a woman and her power tools :) ha ha


Now although not perfect, there was a before picture that would have made your balls shrivel to the size of raisins :) I know it doesn't apply, but I always LOVE to say that. The tools are now on the wall and in their drawers and you can actually see the floor. And to prove it.

I present you with the evidence.

picture 3 :

All but the lawn mower and stroller are being delivered to the Women's Shelter and the dump. Holy Shit Batman ! All of that shit used to be piled on the ground next to my car in the picture above.
I don't know what people do without a 3rd car garage. Throw shit out like you are supposed to. :) Snappy idea I suppose.

I love my family, I love my wife. I feel extremely blessed. The end !

Who's your daddy ?

Thanks for the book suggestions. If you think of more, please continue to post them.



I would like to know, how everyone is going to refer to the dad/donor ?

Syd knows the different dynamics in families. She will say when playing with her dolls, "she's sad, she misses her daddy."
She will also announce to the nice Mormon lady at the library, "I have 2 moms, and 2 brothers."
The "conversation" about who's your daddy probably won't come up for a few years. I don't know though, maybe sooner. I would just like to know what everyone else is planning to explain to their kid(s).

What does everyone think ? What have you discussed or are telling your kids ?

I've thought about the honest approach, calling him "THE SPERM DONOR" I don't like the way that sounds. I also have very special feelings for this man who gave me my 3 beautiful children. I know he IS a sperm donor, and went in to it for that reason. I just don't love the way it sounds.
I also feel as if I want them to have a tool to use when faced with questions in school and by their peers. Lets face it we still live in a bigoted world.

I do not feel "guilty" or "bad" because my children do not have a dad. I got over that after Sydney was born. I feel as if the guilt was brought on by societies expectations. YOU HAVE TO HAVE A MOM AND A DAD TO BE NORMAL AND HAPPY !
Even though research has, once again proven that statistic wrong. When pregnant with Syd I kept feeling "guilty" because I was CHOOSING to bring this innocent baby in to my lifestyle.
(sounds from my parents, the churches, the government, teachers, doctors, and those crazy lunatics who picket at gay pride)

My children are healthy, happy, well adjusted (thus far) little people.
They are fed, clothed, and given more opportunities than perhaps I was given.
They have two loving parents, grandparents, Aunts & Uncles, friends, neighbors, doctors and teachers who all care about them.
So my thoughts on not calling him the Sperm Donor are not out of guilt, but because I DO want it to be an easier conversation for them later on in life.

Give me your objections, your points of view. Please....Straight, Gay, come one, come all.

Books ???

I need a list of favorite toddler books or authors ?
I will list some of our favorites but we need a change and I am all out of ideas.

Syd's favorites :
**Mercer Mayer's Little Critter books.
My daughter LOVES ALL of the Little Critter books.
I do change *some* of the words as you will catch a dumb or stupid in there.
Really cute. Perfect for 2-3 year olds on up.



















**Todd Parr books.
We LOVE "It's Ok to be Different", "Do's and Dont's", and "The Family Book" (talks about 2 moms and 2 dads)
I don't recommend "Things that make you feel good, Things that make you feel bad"
In it he says that spiders make him feel bad, as does the dark and I think monsters. Not for smaller people who are just building their imaginations.











**Lucy Cousins Maisy books.
We are reading "Maisy's Bus" right now.
I DON'T recommend "Maisy Goes Swimming" you undress her all the way down to her nothings. I just didn't like the phrase (it's a pull tab book) "now pull down Maisy's panties" I just don't think kids should be reading that in a book. (I know, I've gotten soft as a mother)












**Marc Brown's D.W. Books.
We haven't started the Arthur series, just a few of the D.W. books.
The "D.W. all wet" and "D.W. Flips"












**Mo Willems "Edwina The Dinosaur Who Didn't Know She Was Extinct"
VERY cute book. Sydney would have me read this one over and over again.
All of his books are DARLING



**Sandra Boynton. We love all of her books....they are more for the younger toddler. I think 2-3 year olds might need a little more substance....but I do really love her books.



There are so many favorites !

Ok, now it's time to read books. Please let me know some of your favorites.

Bachelorette Parties, Easter and picture not so perfect !

I hope everyone had an EGGCELENT Easter :)

I am a bridesmaid (straight wedding), and with that comes certain responsibilities. UGH!
We planned a bachelorette party for Saturday. We ate at Bombara's, and then went to a local club to watch the Spazmatics. They sing everything from Madonna, to Journey. It's all 80's all night long. It really is a lot of fun. I love kickin' up my heels to Footloose and Oh Mickey.
It was funny because when they were doing their sound check (we had to be there early enough to catch this, in order to get a table) the guy checking has a Mohawk and tattooed sleeves. When he came out to sing at 10:30, he was wearing a neck brace, pocket protector, a nerd wig and bunny ears. It was great.

I brought my camera and took a bunch of pictures to document the evening for Steph. I'd like to say that "I had a bad day...the camera don't lie" but this is much more than a day....this is a good day. This is me showered and dressed. My teeth are brushed for hell sakes.
I AM TELLING YOU RIGHT NOW !
A) I HAVE to get some sun....fake and bake !
B) I HAVE to get in shape....GOD I HATE CAMERA'S !
C) I think I need to either go lighter or darker with my hair color....can you say WASH OUT !
D) whenever you go out clubin' the best color to wear is black ! I thought I was safe with BROWN...it's a cute dress/shirt from Nordstroms. I love that shirt...WHATEVER, never again !
The camera is the reason we hang pictures on our fridges. The camera is the reason that we have photoshop and other programs to touch up, fix and change pictures.
The camera is the reason we don't let anyone take pictures of us.


This is all of us at dinner and some of the girls in the Hummer limo that took us to the club.



So I was downloading the pictures of the bachelorette party and accidentally deleted my Easter Egg hunt pictures of Sydney. I had already deleted them from my camera...because I'm a neurotic freak like that. DAMN IT !

Saturday morning, our neighborhood has a big Easter Egg hunt. They split it up from ages 0-3, 4-6 and 7-9. Houses have flags posted for each age group. After you are done everyone stands around and has a continental breakfast. This year it was fresh hot scones and orange juice.
It's very fun and a nice way to meet the neighbors who have been hibernating since the snow came down.
I would introduce myself to new people and they would say...."OH, you are the one with the twins boys !"
Yip...that's us. At least they wouldn't say, "Oh, you are the gay ones!" which is how I'm sure we are referred to most of the time :)
We are actually referred to (that we know about) as "The girls" :) ha ha

Sunday was more fun. Syd got roller skates and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory....and it doesn't skip !"
We have the video, J got it on Ebay with about 80 other Disney movies. There are about 7 that don't work and that is one of them. Syd always wants to watch it, but it cuts out right when it gets good at the factory...we decided to replace it.

Then we were off to Grandma and Papa's. My mom did a mini Easter egg hunt, we had dinner and homemade - down to the cream - strawberry shortcake. (this was of course before I had seen the pictures from the bachelorette party)

I'm off to tape pictures to the fridge and to throw out the remainder of the candy (that I will no doubtedly eat) left over from Easter.

GAY FAMILY FUN !!!!

I wanted to post before Proud Prowser had a chance to :)
I got to play with Merr, her wife Summer, and their dashing son Camden tonight.
Merr is CHARMING.....absolutely family. She's warm and kind and very inviting. Her wife was a blessing. I was able to wrangle her in to swinging my little Sydney on the swings for...what was it??...15 minutes or so :) (or so) Needless to say Sydney LOVES Summer.
They helped with my boys, introduced us to a very wonderful group of fellow gay families. We are hooked ! We were the last to leave the park.
Thank you Merr for not being a stalker, for not being weird, for not making things uncomfortable for me, for not making me come up with some lame ass excuse as to why we can't hang out again :), and for giving me the recipe to those DELICIOUS no bake cookies. (I'm waiting) GOD I LOVE NO BAKE COOKIES !
Don't you all wish you lived closer and could hang out with us. We are SO totally a lot of fun to hang out with! :) Ok, mostly Merr...I was just along for the ride.

Happy Easter all !

And now for your viewing pleasure......I proudly present......

My children !



Sydney had her 3 year check up today. She's still in the 90th percentile for height, although her weight percentile went from 50th to 80th, the doctor said that it wasn't that she had gained a lot of weight, but that she was following her curve...whatever the hell that means.

My little talker....she didn't STOP TALKING the entire time we were there. She would say "doctor can I look in YOUR ears ?" of course our pediatrician, god love her, would give her the ear monitor scope thing and let her look in her ears, mouth, eyes. Syd would say, "say aaaah" the doctor would follow her instructions talking about this and that with me, and then Syd would follow it with, "GOOOOD JOB!....I have to look in your ears because you are sick."
She told the doctor that she had a doctors kit at home, but that hers didn't have a flashlight. She's a crack up. Needless to say her doctor was impressed with her language skills and when Syd started in with the continents she was amazed.
Syd has been learning about continents at pre-school. Her teacher says that she is very consistent at pointing them out on the map each time and knows, Canada, Mexico, Africa, Australia and Antarctica.
Syd said, "it's where it's sooooo cold, nobody can live there"
The pediatrician asked her where it was really cold and Syd pointed in the air...."waaaay down here." I said, where is that honey, she responded as clear as a bell "Antarctica"
Smarty pants.
She continued to ramble and play and as the pediatrician left the office she turned to me and said, "I'll bet you get a kick out of listening to her all day"
"Yip, that's what I get...a kick out of it" I said sarcastically. :)
I did the distraction thing when the shot came out like Proud Prowser commented on the other day and it worked like a charm. Syd said "owe" and rubbed her leg....we didn't skip a beat and kept talking about the dinosaur book and she immediately refocused.
I LOVE THAT !


My little Spence man is getting his second tooth. Poor guy.
He is such a sweetheart. When you pick him up he clutches you and it's almost like he's giving you this great big hug. He's all over now. The only thing he hasn't mastered is getting down. He pulls himself up and cruises from toy to toy to couch to chair to whatever is in reaching distance...and then he cries for you to come and get him down. He can get down....I've seen him do it. I think it's a control thing. For sure ! :) ha ha


Cameron has decided to crawl on the front of his car. He can't start going up. I'm only ready for them to go forward right now. I'm not ready for him to hit this next step. Climbing is out of the question. I keep asking myself, who's going to break a bone first. I'm thinking Cameron ! We'll see.
He still hasn't taken off on the walking thing. He will take several steps but just doesn't have the courage to take off.
I still feel like they should be these tiny little people. They are getting so big.