Egg Coloring

We had a busy night of coloring eggs and making some yummy rice crispy treats that we put inside of plastic eggs. They turned out so cute! The boys had a blast and I can't wait to eat some devil eggs. Yummy!

Looking forward to the weekend. Brett's aunt/uncle and cousins will be in town for some AAU basketball games. Everyone is coming over for pizza/wings tomorrow and we will go watch some games on Sat. Looking forward to some fun. Then the bunny comes Sat. night. So excited for the boys to get their baskets. A big surprise is waiting inside for them......

SURPRISE....

Her smile says it all. She was totally caught off guard! Note: Pictures aren't in order. Blogger isn't great for uploading pictures!

Tyler has sand on his hands. We had a beach theme as Tanya wanted to go to the beach. So we brought the beach to her instead. Kevin brought us up some sand from the Ocean City beaches we so love in the summer time. Looking forward to warm weather so we can go back. Tanya and Kevin after a few. Not sure who had had more. Little Jack. Ok, not so little. He loves his toes and I love to see a baby discover. He is so good and so happy and has the best little smile. Group shot with Grandpa Dave. Parties like this we really miss Grandma but am very thankful Grandpa is still around and able to come to things like this. Cody happy to show off the beach balls all the kids got as "gifts". I got them with hopes they would leave my balloons alone (which they did) and it gave the kids something to do. Darn NY weather was cold and rainy. Imagine that!Dad, Tanya, Karly and Dylan....it was nice also that my Dad could come out for the party. The super yummy cake. I sent the cake lady our napkin and she copied it and added the old lady in the beach chair. Just above the drink says "Now this is a party".....a saying that when Tanya was about 16/17 said at Shaun's high school graduation party after having to much Slow Gin. Dancing to the YMCA....once we played these type of songs the kids got busy on the dance floor.Uncle Brett and Karly dancing. I just thought this was so sweet. I would love a picture of me dancing with my boys - but they are true boys and keep those chairs nice and warm! I just crack up every time I see this picture of him. It was so nice to have us all together. After our incident in town on Friday - somedays I feel like we take family for granted. Mom and Tanya dancing away! Tanya and Jack...she was so happy to see him. Her face was pure Joy when she saw him. On Saturday we pulled off a great Surprise birthday party for my sister. She turned 40 on 3/26. It was extremely hard not to tell her as I tell her everything. She had no idea. We had it at a Rod and Gun club that Shaun had just become a member of. To get her to the club, I sent her an invitation for an Egg hunt. She bought it and was expecting an egg hunt. We had about 50 people and had so much fun. Kevin, Kristie and Jack come home and when Tanya saw Jack it was priceless. Tanya was also very surprised to see Debbi and Christine (her two old classmates from high school) Duane was our DJ and of course we had a blast and danced away. So fun - so fun to plan - Kristie and I emailed a ton to pull this off. The pictures really do tell it all!

Senseless

A shooting...a random act of violence - something that is supposed to happen in other cities. You always see it on the news and think or wonder if that will ever happen where you live. Today it did! While I don't believe I know anybody personally is still settles funny. It didn't happen that far from our house. We were just in this same area over St. Patties day for the parade. For the first time ever as I left work for lunch when this was all unfolding, I didn't want to go to Wegmans. I wanted to come home and stay put. Now we all wonder if we will ever know that very hard question.....WHY?

As this was unfolding today the online blogs for the paper and a site called the BC Voice were on fire with people sending in information. Of course you are trying to sort out what is true and what is not. Then you get the typical "jerks" that should really just stay off their PC's during such times. One person actually typed that "I am surprised that this happened at the Civil Association when AIG is not that far away". Really? That settles so wrong with me. My husband works for AIG - I know they aren't in the news for great things recently but it's not OK for somebody to think that a shooting like this should happen there. Like at the Civic Association where so many families will never be the same - the same would go for AIG. UGh - that just really bothers me. Doesn't make me want Brett to go to work.

I was also reading an online article on Yahoo tonight and they had quoted a Doctor who's mother taught English there and is believed to be among one of the 14 dead. I believe this doctor to be Tyler's ENT. A great man who if it is I wish his family all the best tonight.

Prayers go out to all.

The bunny and stuff....

We saw the bunny tonight. I realized as I was standing there and my 3 robots were saying "cheese" that 1. I take a lot of pictures and they do a great job of knowing what to do to move on to what they want to do. and 2. gone are the days of kicking and crying cause they are afraid. When we were done I asked them if they like the bunny and I got from Dylan "it's the same every year". I thought maybe the mold was broke after Brett was born - I was wrong!

We have been busy re-arranging our bedrooms as the boys got their much needed bunk beds. Our neighbor sold us hers for a great price and they are in great shape. So a week ago Cody and I went mattress shopping and we set the room up last Saturday. And I don't think I've seen my boys since. Just Kidding......but they do spend a lot of time up there. Their toys downstairs are starting to feel neglected. They have asked the bunny to bring them their own sheets. Cody wants Bakugan and Dylan would like Tony Hawk.

Brett's job is so-so. Not sure how many know this but he works for AIG and well they have been in the news A LOT for some really bad choices. We figure it would be only time before we started to feel the true affects of a company in trouble. Thankfully he still has a job and that comes with a big thanks especially today as the company did a big layoff. Several people lost their jobs today and go out into the economy of uncertainty. They will have a meeting in April to discuss major changes. Not sure what that will mean but could mean loosing a shift differential in pay, a change in hours, etc.... So we wait. He's handling the stress pretty good of going to work every day and not being sure if you have a job. Thankfully, my job is stable and our company is actually growing.

Cody and Dylan will be singing up for Kindergarten next month. Seems our district is late in doing them. Many other New Yorkers have done theirs already. Within the next few weeks we will have a parent-teacher conference with their pre-school teacher to discuss how they are doing. She has told me fine - but I have lots of questions as we will start the school year out with 2. I am unsure if I will push to keep them together or let them go their separate ways. Doing lots of research and just trying (like always) to make the right decision.

Until next time....

Happy Birthday Auntie Tanya

The yummy ice cream cake. I forgot how good these were. Tanya and the crew....just missing Jack! The kids wanted nothing to do with dinner but once we said "cake" they came running. Singing "Happy Birthday"....we tend to just let the kids sing. They do a great job! Auntie and Dylan.......he doesn't pose as much but gave in to his auntie on her special day! Today is Tanya's 40th birthday. A pretty big milestone but she couldn't look any better. We had a nice night of celebration. Yummy lasagna that my mom made and a super yummy ice cream cake. She got some great gifts but a couple of her favorites were what the kids got her. I had asked the 3 of them what they wanted to get her for her birthday. Dylan after first wanted to get her a "new shirt" but I told him I was thinking of something cheaper. :) So Dylan got her his favorite candy bar (that Auntie told him she would share with him and he thought that was a GREAT idea)......Tyler got her a lollipop. He wanted a "big" one but I couldn't find it. Cody got her a pack of gum. As Cody loves to chew his gum. I bet she'll share that with him too! They all made her cards. I think she enjoyed her 40th birthday.

Shopping for new beds

The time has come that the boys want bunk beds. At first I was going to get the beds that Kevin and I had as kids (that were originally my dad and his brothers) but while they are old, beat up, they also didn't have great security to them. No ladder - not great sides. So I was hesitating on getting them. Then my neighbor called me the other night and said she is getting rid of her set and if we wanted them - the price was very reasonable. So I went to check them out - and OMG they are great. Nice wood, a little dings but nothing major, a built in ladder on the end. I loved them. So our next move was to buy mattresses. I called around to some furniture places today and just so happen I found a sale. So tonight Cody and I went mattress shopping. Nobody else wanted to go. So Cody tested them out and we pick up 2 new mattresses on Friday. I am so excited for them to be getting their own beds. Our sleeping arrangement isn't one many people like. We co-sleep. Some agree - some don't and that's fine. But we did what we had to to get sleep with twins. So it works for us. But it's time to move on and they are excited about it. They are asking the bunny for sheets. Cody would like bakugan and Dylan would like sharks, spongebob and skateboards. I will have to see what the bunny finds. Now Daddy needs to get out his tools as we have a lot of moving to do. I smell spring cleaning in my future!

Finally an end to the hearing issue....

Cody and I went to see Dr. Tatum today. My major concern was his hearing (although he did pass his hearing test), but I was also concerned with his tubes and if there were holes on the ear drum. Dr. Tatum said he is hearing next to perfect. I told him that every doctor is not able to see past the wax and I am thinking it's time to get it out. So he said while he doesn't like to remove the wax with the instruments while they are awake at this age - we could try it and see how he does. Well Cody did PERFECT! He laid there and winced a little but Dr. Tatum got a great amount of wax out. It was really neat to cause I got to watch it all on a monitor so I could actually see inside of Cody's ear. I got to see the tubes. They are in place however his left ear does appear to be working it's way out. The tube itself is blue in color and almost looks like pvc pipe. Kind of cool to see inside your kids ear. So no surgery as my gut was thinking. For once I am wrong. But that's good because I really don't want to visit the OR any sooner than I have to. So we go back and see the team in July. But really my next step is to get the ball rolling on dental. Let the insurance battle begin.