Root Beer Rumble

So, last night my hubby was going to the store. I asked him for some Henry Weinhard's Root Beer, and gracious person that he is, he tried to accomodate me. I had no idea to what extent he had gone until he came home with this:

and indicated he had gone to 5 different stores to find Weinhard's for me. It seems there is none to be had in our neighborhood, so he did the next best thing and bought every root beer he could find to see what might work. In the next few days, I will post the official Root Beer Rumble results, but let me say it's not looking good for Briar which is the one we started with. It seems to be mostly watered down sugar with the faintest hint of root beer. I doubt it will make the favorites list.

Poor Sam

She fell today, face first and bit most of the way through her bottom lip. Immediately after happening, she had two teeth shaped bruises on her lower lip while the inside was cut wide open. Poor baby couldn't eat dinner. I'm at work, but thinking of her and hoping she's sleeping well.

The Lion King

Went to see The Lion King last night in San Jose and I was not expecting too much, but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. The show was fabulous and definitely not geared towards kids. I don't think kids would relate to, nor have the same appreciation for this show that an adult would. The puppetry, acting, and sets were amazing. The way they were brought together really worked to take me to another place. I am really glad I went. Oh, and the 6 packs and biceps on the guys were an added bonus.

Two games in 3 days.

Whew! Tiring, but good and not as bad as Andrea who had 4 games in 4 days. Sundays game we won't even talk about - it will forever be referred to as black hockey Sunday.

Last night however, was a different story. Though my inexperience clearly shows, I felt oh so much better about my game. I was stopping more pucks than I was letting through, I was winning more pucks than I was losing, 7 out of 10 times I was where I was supposed to be. I felt back to my old self, and bottom line is that I actually had a lot of fun again.

As for the game, it was a roust 9 -2. Could have been much worse, but our wise coach (Liz) had us back off and practice our passing game instead of running up the score. I think our very own Cheddah nearly had a double hat trick and Stephanie pulled off a hat trick herself. We played 4 on 4 due to very short benches, and we didn't have goalies for the game, but TQ did an AWESOME job in goal for us. That very well may be her calling although she's also awesome on the front line. Hmmmm, decisions, decisions. Ms. Secret Weapon was in her usual good form, skating hard, slapping shots in from the outside, and picking up the slack on D. Elyssa (sp?) and Wendy had totally solid games, on the puck like white on rice. Couldn't have asked for more from the team last night.

Good game to head to Las Vegas on. Let's all cheer on the Burninators. Go Burninators! I can't wait to hear the reports from Vegas.

One step closer...

to a diaper free household. Yesterday Riley asked to use the potty. Usually this means they want to go into the bathroom to play with all the items in there. Not this time - she actually went in, sat on the potty, and went. We then flushed it down the toilet and waved bye bye. Maybe I ought to actually spend time working with them on this.

The Connection is made

Samantha and Riley have their own unique way of communicating with people and expressing themselves (what parent wouldn't say that about their kids?) Anyway, for the longest time Samantha has been making visual connections as a sort of way of identifying who she's talking about. For instance, with my sister Cathy it's a pat on the head because my sister was bald for some time from chemotherapy and Sam use to always pat her head when she showed up. For Auntie Debbie it's a happy squeal and dance. As some of you know Andrea has an area of deeper pigmentation on one cheek which has lovingly been called a mole. So yes, Samantha started calling her Auntie Mo (her version of mole) while pointing to what she thinks is the matching spot on her own cheek.

Why do I tell you this? Because today we have a new connection. We have been telling her for a while now that Auntie Liz has a baby in her tummy. When asked if she wanted to play with the baby, she said, "No." Anyway, it's been a topic of conversation for a while now. Apparently it has gotten through to Sam. Today as it was getting later in the afternoon, Sam started looking out the windows obsessively. I thought maybe she was just looking at the cars, but when I asked her she said, "Auntie Mo, Baby Auntie." So apparently Liz is now Baby Auntie. She said it a number of times, and was very emphatic about it. Sadly, I had to tell her they were not coming today, but that she would see them again soon.

I need a dog

Seriously folks, I need a dog. If I had a dog, I would not have to spend the extra 43 minutes and 57 seconds it takes me each day to clean up the food the girls throw off their high chairs. Now you may think, wouldn't it be easier to train the girls not to throw food off their high chairs, and the answer is, "You would think so." However, the reality of that is not so simple. Today I thought I had it. Sam actually picked up her eggs and put them back in her dish. I was so happy...for a moment. Then it was over, and the eggs and dish went flying. Sigh.

Just in time

Yahoo!! I found my wallet. Of all places, it had somehow managed to wiggle it's way under the base of the lamp on the nursery dresser. I found it just before I was ready to head out and drive illegally without it, so that saved me some stress.

Cheddah is contagious

Ok, I've been having way too many Speddah moments lately. Liz and Andrea can attest to this as they have been present for many of them. In recent weeks I have lost my stethoscope and badge which I need for work, car keys (who doesn't lose those), the remote control for the ceiling fan in the nursery, and now my wallet. Yes my wallet is missing. I have frantically searched the house, the cars, all clothing, the toy boxes, the furniture, under the furniture. No wallet. Wahhhhhh! What am I gonna do? Other than drive illegal of course, because I don't have my license. I guess it's time to call the banks and credit card companies, and the Board of Registered Nursing, and the NRP folks, and, and, and... Ugh!

The new version of kick me.

Last night, as is our custom, the girls were having a bath. Well, actually a shower since they had bathed earlier in the day. Riley walks over to Sammi and appears to give her a big hug. We all thought that was so sweet until we realized what she was up to. Apparently Riley is a kindred spirit with the person who first came up with the idea of putting a kick me sign on someones back while patting them for encouragement, etc. As she was hugging Sammi, she was casually sticking these foam letters that we have in the bathtub on her back. They both thought it was pretty funny.

Breakfast of champions

Grape juice and a brownie.

Work, work, work

Sounds like it's all I do, but as it turns out it's not what I do. Having gone to a relief position (required to work 24 hours in 2 weeks), I am one of the first people to be cancelled when we're overstaffed. Highly irritating since our manager had taken to overstaffing the unit and our census/acuity has been low which means we don't need as many nurses. Last night staffing mistakenly cancelled me for the entire night when it should have just been for the first 4 hours of my shift. Since they had to call me back, I ended up getting time and a half (part of our contract) which means I got paid for the entire shift anyway. Woo hoo! Tonight I got cancelled for the first 4 hours again, and probably should have been cancelled for the entire shift, but they made a mistake which was again to my benefit. So yeah, I can pay my rent and bills for another month.

A bloggin' we will go, a bloggin' we will go, heigh ho the merry o, a bloggin' we will go

Ok, sorry about the lack of bloggage, and this post isn't really going to make up for it. I've been really busy lately (with what I don't know) and I spent one day just layin' around cuz I wasn't feeling well (Auntie Cathy came over and watched the girls, and picked up toys while I caught a few z's. Thanks Cathy.) Besides, I do things with my life (that's just for Andrea, Liz, Viv, & Cheddah who will totally get it.)

Played hockey twice this week, one game and one practice. Constantly feel like I'm a step behind everyone, and about a quarter step out of sync with myself. Falling down consistently during games - don't know what is wrong. Dr. Liz claims I need to play more and she's probably right. However, and this is a big however, I have fun EVERY TIME I PLAY. Can't beat that.

Had a little insomnia going on this week, so I actually cleaned all the clothes and toys out of the twins cribs - you know those things that are in their room that they are supposed to sleep in? Anyway, they have now napped in their own room for 3 days. They are still spending the nights in our room, but soon they will sleep in their own room I am sure. Well, maybe. ;)

Went to SF to have lunch with Bill. The girls had a great time. Got some new musical instruments for them, more books, and 2 puzzle boards.

Tomorrow the four of us are off to the dentist for check ups and cleanings.

I still need to get back to my soon to be office and finish painting in there, and get the shelves up, so I can move in. I desperately need to move in, so I can file all this paper that is cluttering our house, and actually be able to relax. Right now Bill and I are way too tense, and I'm sure part of it is from all the clutter around us.

Ok, that's it for the past week, and maybe for the next week too depending on how things go.

Diaper Emergency

Tonight Bill and I decided to go out to eat, and not at McDonalds either. We went for sushi. Before we could get to the restaurant Riley filled her pants. No problem, we'll just go to the restroom and change her diaper, right? Wrong. Oh so very wrong.

I took Riley into the bathroom, and there wasn't a changing table, but there was a triangular ledge that was just about big enough. I can improvise with the best of them, so diaper pad out, baby on pad, pants off, diaper off, bottom wiped, no clean diaper. Apparently the last person to use the diaper bag used the last diapers and did not refill. What to do? Can't put a poopy diaper back on, can't go without a diaper, maybe we can MacGyver the situation. Tried peeling inner layer of diaper off, no dice. Firmly attached to next layer, no problem, I'll remove a little more - big problem. That silica stuff they pack in boxes to absorb moisture, that's the type of stuff that's in the middle of diapers and which I have just exposed. Definitely can't use that diaper, toss it. Ok, now what to do? Thinking, thinking, thinking. I've got it. There's a receiving blanket, a t-shirt, and a baggie (had diaper wipes in it) in the diaper bag. Make diaper out of blanket, stuff it with t-shirt (it was pink, how suitable that it would be used to trap bodily refuse), and used the baggie as a plastic moisture barrier in case she urinated. That way her pants wouldn't get wet.

Pants back on, hands washed, back out to the restaurant. After a quick discussion with Bill we decided the situation was under control, we could finish dinner and make it back home safely before any blowouts occurred. Luckily the stars were with us, and we did. Bill giggled uncontrollably when we got home, and he took Riley's "diaper" off to put on a fresh one, and get her ready for bed.

Lesson learned. (I know, it should have been obvious, but even if the diaper bag is empty we usually have a few backups in the car. We didn't this time because I had just cleaned out the car - doh!)

Ice Skate injuries abound

Yesterday, as some of you know from my Flickr files, the girls practiced walking in their skates. Riley got the first injury. She somehow managed to cut her right index finger on her ice skate before we even put them on. Being the trooper she is, she didn't even cry despite the fact that it would not stop bleeding for about 10 minutes. Pictures of her little injury with the bandaid in place were posted.

Sam managed to get the second injury. I believe Riley kicked or somehow stepped on her finger while they were making their "snow angels". Hers did not bleed so bad, stopped almost instantly though it looks a lot worse than Riley's. Though she willingly showed me her finger earlier to photograph, she refused to show it to me after the injury. Pictures have now been posted.

Despite the injuries, both girls still want to put their ice skates on, and both got excited when I asked if they wanted to go on the ice again with Mommy. Woo hoo! I'm gonna have my hockey players.

Christmas tree update

Ok, we took down the tree last night, and all told we had 10 strings of lights on it, 3 of them being double strings. 4 of them were lit the entire season (2 of those were double strings, so it was really like having 6 lit.) 6 of them were left unlit after the popping-lights-go-dark incident. As it turns out, only one of them was bad - the very first string. Now we could probably just replace the fuse (thanks Jennie, I had no idea you could do that with Christmas lights) or we could take the easy route and throw out that string to be replaced next year. It's your guess as to which route we took.

Happy New Year Everyone!

I can't believe yet another year has sped by me at what seems like lightspeed. The twins are growing up way too fast (what parent doesn't say that?) and Stacey is going to be 21 this year. Can you believe it? I am looking forward to the upcoming year, spending time with friends and family, watching my little family grow and mature, going to Germany, letting the girls see snow for the first time, watching with amazement the expressions on their faces as they learn new and wonderful things, holding my breath as Stacey continues to grow and mature, and generally just enjoying life.

I hope that each of you can let yourselves enjoy all the wonder that is around you, and that you can share it with your friends and family.

Ok, the sap fest is over, I now return you to your normally scheduled blog.