Healthy Kids Day at the YMCA

Today was Healthy Kids Day at the YMCA.  I just LOVE the YMCA!  They have so many fun activities for my kids and they are helping me get healthy again.  I made this event a special Mommy and Mickey time.  Mike stayed home with the other kids so we could go, just her and I.  She had so much fun, and so did I!  I know it is extremely important to try to make these special times for her - part of why she is so naughty is because she is craving attention.  She was so cute - she got to pitch a baseball (and she has a great arm! ), try her hand at hula hooping, do a little exercise course (her first time doing jumping jacks!  How adorable!), jump in a bounce house, slide down a big blow up slide and the most fun of all ... she and I did Family Zumba in the parking lot!  She actually did the moves with me this time, and she was so darn cute.  She has been walking around the house singing, "Shake, shake, shake, shake, a shake it" ever since!  She also got her face painted and some YMCA tattoos on her hand.

After that, we came home and picked up the backyard for Daddy so he could mow.  I put all the kids to work helping pick up the pine cones!  My nephew, Taylor and Mickey were slacking in the helping only helping a little, but my Haley Bug was very helpful, sticking with me until it was all done!

Then Mickey played outside while I ran some errands and afterward we went to a get together at our friends Nick and Juliane's house so the guys could watch the UFC fight. A very busy, but fun day! 

Haley's Turn and a Surprise For Me!

I got the most AWESOME surprise in the mail today, which I later found out I wasn't supposed to open, but how was I supposed to know?  LOL  But anyway, it is a gorgeous camera bag from Jo Totes!!  I have been drooling over wanting it for a while now.  My favorite color and it's just so pretty!  ♥  When I saw the mail woman with the box, I knew exactly what it was ... I'd recognize that "a very special delivery" box anywhere!  I was baffled, knowing I hadn't ordered it, but tore into it anyway!  The card inside said, "Happy Mother's Day!  Happy Birthday!  We love you, Mike, Haley, Mickey, Callie and Carly."  How sweet!  My wonderful Aunt Terri and my husband were in cahoots to get this for me.  It definitely wouldn't have been possible without her - it's tough living on one income!  I am over the moon happy and so thankful!!!!!

After I sat and stared at my bag all afternoon - HAHA!  Just kidding ... after all the usual chaos, it was Haley's turn for Zumbatomic!  She was so cute and did a great job getting those moves down.  I spaced and forgot my camera.  Darn!  I have to say, I am such a sap.  I was watching her giggling and trying to get the moves, and I found myself getting teary-eyed.  It's just so great to look at her and see normalcy.  From her extremely early birth to her battle with cancer, she has had some pretty big odds to overcome in her life.  For her to be so healthy now is nothing short of a miracle.  It just hit me watching her tonight.  I am so, so blessed with this amazing child!  ♥

10 Months Old & Zumbatomic!

How does time fly by so fast?  How is it possible my little babies are 10 months old!?!?  It seriously feels like yesterday they were born, little tiny in the NICU in their isolettes.  It's downright scary how fast the time flies by these days.  Today was a busy day.  We went to the Y this morning and I did Zumba!  YAY!  I just can't help talking about how happy Zumba makes me.  I love looking forward to working out.  :-)  I wanted to do my Fitquest workout too, but I forgot to print it before I left and then couldn't seem to login there to print it.  FAIL!  (LOL - Mickey said that to Mike one time when he tried to do something but it didn't work out.)

So, we came home and had lunch and Mickey played with the girls next door for a while.  I did my usual Mommy thing.  Before I knew it, it was time to leave for the Y again - Zumbatomic!  Zumba for kids, a class taught by my favorite instructor for kids 4-7.  Mickey will be 4 next month anyway.  ;-)  I thought for sure Mickey would love it!  That girl is full of so much sass, Zumba was made for her!  Apparently Mickey is very shy in a group of kids doing an organized activity.  She just stood there for the entire half hour of class pretty much!  I was helping her do some stuff, and the instructor took her hand and tried to get her involved too.  Another little girl even took her hand and tried to get her to do it!  Oh well, maybe she will loosen up if we keep going.

I wanted to stay and do some Fitquest workout and take Jessica's Zumba class, but when I went to drop Mickey off at child watch, Callie was screaming her little head off, so we couldn't stay.  Mickey was bummed - she had a lot of fun at child watch this morning!  So, we came home and she was being all cute doing the moves we saw in class.  We are practicing them (what this poor Mommy brain can remember anyway!) so maybe she will be excited to do it in class next week.  She says she wants to shake her booty with Miss Jessica next time.  She's so darn cute, when she's not being naughty and driving me bonkers anyway!  HA!

Lastly, I am praying for my mother in law and her family in Birmingham, AL.  There have been several tornadoes and they are saying at least 40 people have died in Alabama today.  So sad and scary.  It's terrible when you know your loved ones are in the path of danger and you can only hope and pray they remain safe.  I am praying for everyone there - so much destruction and devastation!

Now it's time to get a shower and get ready to hit the hay!  This mommy is exhausted!

Double Crawling Trouble!

As of last night, we now have to full fledged crawling babies!  They are all over the place.  I can't imagine how crazy life will be once they start walking!  HOLY COW!  For now, they are contained in the living room since it is a sunken room.  They like to pull up on the step though, and the boos boos ... they will be coming.  Look at the double trouble playing this morning.  ♥

Carly is looking for some trouble to get into!

But she's so sweet and cute!  ♥

Speaking of playing, they are playing together so cute now!  I hear them giggling with each other all throughout the day.  It's so incredibly cute!  Then, they were in Callie's crib playing - like totally wrestling around with each other - before bed tonight.  It is so cute to watch - what a special bond they have.  Ya know, it's funny.  So many people see me with twins and say things like, "Better you than me!"  "Bless your heart.  You have your hands full."  I even had a mom of 8 year old twins say she felt sorry for me because she hated the baby years.  Crazy talk, is what I say!  For all the extra work they are, I get 1,000 times the joy back.  It's so different.  Maybe that's because they are such good babies.  I might not feel the same if I had 2 Mickeys on my hands!  LOL  (That child has been a handful since the day she was born!)  Point is, no one should ever feel sorry for me - I love being a twin mommy!  In all fairness, I do get a lot of, "You are so blessed" comments too, and that is the absolute truth!

They are finally all better it seems.  As suspected, I had a few days that I had to give Callie breathing treatments too.  She did surprisingly well with it!  But their noses aren't running anymore or anything now!  Hopefully the Zyrtec and Benadryl dried up the fluid that was still on their ears as well.  They are both teething, but Carly has been the worst!  Today, those bottom 2 teeth finally broke through!  YAY!  Here's a few more pictures of them today - they look so cute in their little outfits from my friend, Mandie, in Australia!

Since the girls are all better, we went back to the YMCA today.  Mickey was excited to go play with some other kids, and the babies were good about going to child watch still.  Whew!  I went and did Zumba.  LOVE!  I saw a woman there that I haven't seen in years!  Her son went through chemo the same time as Haley.  It was neat to kind of catch up with her and plan to see her at the same Zumba class again next week.  :-)  Feels so good to be shakin' my booty again!  I love looking forward to working out - it rocks!

I'm working on a post for Monday - Haley had a field trip with her "Wetland Watchers" club at school and Mike chaperoned.  They were transplanting oysters into the Chesapeake Bay.  I just love her!  So, that is coming.  I have been struggling to find time these days.  My house is a disaster too!  Oh well.  I just do what I can do and try to keep smiling!

Happy Easter!

What a gorgeous Easter day we had!  It was hot as all get out at 90+ degrees, but such a beautiful day for an outdoor Easter Egg hunt and barbeque!  Not a cloud in the sky.  We painted Easter eggs last night, as we always traditionally do the night before Easter.  We read about doing tie dye eggs using coffee filters and it turned our SUPER cute!  You just wrap the egg in the coffee filter and drop some of the easter egg dye on in different spots and it turns out looking tie dye!  Not too messy and super cute.  Haley, Mickey, my nephew, Taylor and Kasey were all dying eggs.  They did a great job!  (Aunt Tiffany and I did a few too - it was so much fun doing the tie dye, we couldn't help ourselves!  LOL)  Callie and Carly watched intently and then got to play with a few at the very end!  So cute!!  I can't wait to see them next year.  ♥

Mickey was so excited for Easter she woke up much earlier than she normally does at a little after 8 and excitedly woke us up to let us know the Easter Bunny had come!  How cute to have 4 baskets on our table this year.  I sometimes still find it hard to believe I have 4 kids - all girls at that.  :-)

She went and got Haley up and they got into their baskets.  It's always fun to watch them as they see what they got.  Mickey was super happy about her pillow pet and her Disney princess grow pail to grow flowers!  Honestly, she was excited about everything though.  That's what's so cute about this age.  Haley was super excited about her "grown up" chocolates.  Lindor truffles and Godiva truffles!  YUM!

Callie woke up soon after the big girls, but she had to wait for Carly to wake up to get her Easter basket.  She sat with Daddy for a while and watched, then Mickey gave her one of her Peeps to try!  She wasn't too sure about it, but it was cute to watch her.

Once Carly woke up, we put them in the living room floor and let them get the stuff out of their baskets.  They were so cute!  Their first Easter.  ♥

After all the Easter morning fun and once Aunt Tiffany and Taylor made it over, we went outside for an Easter Egg hunt!  (Mickey just about drove us BONKERS asking to have the Easter Egg hunt before Aunt Tiffany finally made it over around noon!)  It was super hot, but it didn't matter to the kids.  They all had a good time!  Haley, Mickey, Taylor, Kasey and Levi all took part in the hunt.  I love that the big kids still think it's fun!  :-)

Carly watched from the stroller and Callie fell asleep in the stroller.

Later on, we put the babies on the ground for their first venture in the grass!  Putting them on a blanket is futile now that they are mobile!  They didn't mind it at all, surprisingly!  They also got to meet our bunny, Cuddles!  Callie, our animal loving baby, was super excited (and therefore not at ALL gentle!) about it.  Carly, on the other hand, could have cared less about the bunny and was super gentle towards it.  LOL

And my plan was to get a picture of all 4 of my girls in their Easter dresses together.  I never could get that to happen!  Once the babies were awake from their nap after the Easter Egg hunt, Haley was in her bathing suit playing in the hose with the other big kids!  Oh well - at least I got pictures of Carly and Callie together.  ♥

I'll leave you with a funny picture ... Mickey LOVES deviled eggs!  She went into the fridge and stole one before dinner was ready and shoved the whole thing in her mouth!  hehe

Our Easter was wonderful.  I thank God for the beautiful family He has blessed me with, the gorgeous day to spend with them and the miraculous reason we celebrate Easter!  He is risen!  :-)