CB Reunion Picnic

Is anybody out here in blogland planning to go to the CB picnic this coming weekend in Ottawa??? 'Cause we ARE!! And I am soo excited to see our travel group mates (it's been nearly 2 years!!!!). Can't wait...and I would love to know if any of you out there are planning to go???????????????Do not be afraid, I only stalk in blogland, the stalkerazzi queen doesn't do real life!

Nickname Meme

I was tagged a looooong time ago by the Seventh person, but I have the memory of an elephant and I haven't forgotten, just been a little preoccupied. Our family nicknames are kinda boring but nonetheless here they are. (after all a tag is a tag is a tag I say)



Will start with the oldest and then progress to the youngest family member, so I guess I go first. I was called "Lady Di "after Lady Di became known, "Di", "Dee",(I don't really like Dee), and "Diana Banana" by my pesky brothers. I actually was called "Diane" by the entire world until I got into highschool when a very perceptive teacher said your name is actually DIANA, I said WHAT TF???!?!?! I went home interrogated mom and sure enough my name WAS DIANA and NOT DIANE (never realized that I was writing Diana, but pronouncing it Diane). So from that day forward I pronounced that EVERYONE was going to start calling me by my correct name. So then my nickname became "NA".............because whenever anyone would say "Diane", I would immediately correct them and add the NA, (firmly and emphatically and thus more than likely annoyingly). It is sooooooooooooo hard to teach an old dog new tricks, to this day my family still calls me "Diane".



Then theres HIM, DH. Flavio is his name and "Fabio" is his nickname. "Flip" is also another teenage nickname which has now become extint .



Next is my darling little Alyssa. She gets called "Alpha", "Sa Sa", and Alise. Nonna and Nonno call her "Elisa" (a pronunciation difficulty in the Italian language). And of course she gets called "Sophia" quite a bit by everyone other than her Momma.







Our baby of the family, by a whole 40 minutes is Sophia. She gets called "Sophie", "Fia", and "Sophia-Bea". Same problem as sis, she gets called "Alyssa" alot too.



We have generic terms that we use when referring to both of the girls such as, "The Girls", "Double Trouble", "Monkeys", "Chickadees", "Chicklets", "Chickies", and "Sweet-Sweet". We NEVER, EVER refer to our girls as, "The Twins".







There you have it the nicknames for the gang.
"Flip with the "Sweet-Sweets".
"Sweet" on top is of course, our "Alpha", and the bottom Sweet is our "Fia".


He kinda looks like he needs a little help, Momma was too intent on getting the photo. Look at that, there's a third baby balanced on his head! A regular juggler my man is.

New Developments

I knew I shouldn't have laughed so heartily at her twin escapades. I should know better than to think that I would get through the terrible 2's with only a few not-so-terrible occurrences (am NOT including the excessive whiny times-they ARE terrible)

Sophia and Alyssa are Not attempting the great escape from their cribs. Yes, my girls are content to remain IN their cribs and create havoc from there just as nicely as some other children prefer to do out of their cribs. Both of my angels decided that nap time was going to be a good time to have some fun experimenting with liquids and solids. Off went their shorts, next came the very dry diaper that Momma had just firmly attached to each girl. Not firmly enough though apparently.

That wasn't quite enough though, Sophia, who seems to be able too pee anywhere and avoid tinkling on herself , wet every sheet, quilt, and blanket that WAS in her crib. After thoroughly soaking these items they were all tossed out of the crib. I guess she enjoyed the experience but draws the line at sleeping in her own urine. Alyssa, not so pee suave, ending up soaking all her bedding plus the shirt on her back and her legs etc.....She had tossed all of the pee-drenched items out of the crib also, but was in discomfort due to her urine soaked top. Alas, nap time was shortened, and Mommy enters the room to the disaster described above. No pictures were taken to protect the innocents' nakedness.

Note to Mommies in waiting: Mattress protectors are a MUST have item for your beds/cribs.

So in lieu of pictures of the episode above, I have some other pictures of the girls looking much more civilized and frankly, looking incapable of the pee drenched scene described above. Sophia actually did her first twirl ever in her dress completely initiated on her own. Oh, my aching heart! And of course Alyssa followed suit.

Sophia was pretty peeved with me in these pictures for not putting the GREEN barrette in her hair.

CLOSE UP

No, not of MOI! I wouldn't do that to you without fair and ample warning so you could say, shield your eyes or better yet but on a blindfold. Just a close up of my cupboards to satisfy the gawkers (said with affectionate undertones of course). The look is antiqued and the pictures still don't really reflect what it actually looks like in reality. But these pictures are better than the others down below.

Kitchen Facelift

This picture to the left is one of the before pictures of the kitchen. It is quickly becoming a distant memory as the new and improved kitchen is replacing the old and dated. Enjoy the before and afters of our nearly done facelifted kitchen.

Halleluia, praise the Lord...Kitchen upstairs is now complete. Ah, who am I kidding? It is almost complete.....Out went the cooktop and in went our stove that had been in our furnace room for a year!!!

Anybody looking for a perfectly good used cooktop? It is gas to boot. Great deal.....I'll let you in on a secret, I originally wanted to keep the cooktop and this beautiful stove was to replace the electric stove in the basement. Alas, no right-minded pipefitter would attempt this feat since our basement is completely finished, would cause way too much damage and would be exorbitant in cost. Not worth it! Decision made, sell cooktop keep stove upstairs (this way I get an extra oven to boot). Now have 3 ovens in the house. No need for S + A to have an Easy Bake Oven. 4 ovens in one house would be over-the-top! They can go crazy baking mommy, (and daddy) some delicious baked goodies, souffles, gourmet meals. Don't laugh they have already mastered making Jell-O. Alyssa learned pretty quick what hot meant when she stuck her finger in the liquid jell-o right after I added the HOT water. She is still fearful to do the finger taste test after the COLD is added. A lesson well learned.

Speaking of S + A here are some pictures (taken today), of the lovely's clearly reminding their mother to take some time to smell the flowers on the way. Gotta love these girls.

I don't know why these pictures turned out a little blurry. I guess ya'll know what to get me for my birthday! (insert chuckling here) Photography lessons would be nice too. (iinsert more chuckling here)

Trades, Shmades

Have I told you lately how much I detest tradespeople in my house?? Well, I do. I am a control freako and when these people are here they take over my control. For instance, right at this instant I am holed up in my beaudouir (no Dh is NOT here with me), because elle tradeswomen is in the kitchen glazing my cupboards. Our lives are held ransom to the times that these people can come. What would I rather be doing right now? Sleeping, of course! Grrrr......

Wordless Wednesday

Sophia giving me "the foot".

Wordless Wednesday

A blast from the past.....these are a few of my favourite pictures of the girls when we first arrived home from China....Sophia's first diaper change at "home sweet home".
Alyssa hamming it up with her bib (above photo).Belly laughing (Sophia above)Sophia examines Alyssa's orifice.............

Blissfully Happy?

No, I haven't been enjoying some pints. Lack of blogging (and stalking) is simply due to the continued renovations going on at our house. I miss those days of blogging and stalking at whim. (sigh)

Potty Updates:
Sophia has done her #1 business twice now, once on the potty and once in a pail in the backyard, (that's my classy gal). She has also broken one of the changing tables by performing her gymnastics on it. Alyssa has continued to "fake" her business whenever Sophia goes. (Seems we all need a little praise). We are definitely going to go commando around here when the time comes for some serious training. Thank you so much for all of your helpful tips and suggestions.
We have taken back the trampoline that was still-in-the-box-from-Costco because DH got scared when our neighbour sprained her ankle on hers. It will be back next year, no worries.
I am a phys. ed. major, and a trampoline is a MUST HAVE item. Too tired from reno's to really put up a fuss about it right now. Gotta run, the mud -slinging drywaller is aknockin' at my door.

Quote of the Day

"Life is far too short to wear bad clothing."

Welcome All!!

I guess I don't drink enough before blogging.

Mingle² - Online Dating

Updates

Craziness over here. Reno update, the kitchen island came in on Thursday, and the new and improved fireplace arrived yesterday. Out went the old one with the $300 receiver attached to the back. Yikes! Quick call to JOE, (the remover, dry waller, and framer) and maybe , (if we're lucky),we will get it back today. Crown moulding went up in the kitchen last night, and finished around 12pm. Girls decided that last night they would have a night wake up....finally fell asleep at 4 am. Painter for the kitchen cupboards is here today, as well as the granite guy (maybe ...this is the 3rd rescheduled time, dam tradespeople), and of course JOE the drywaller (hopefully with the thermostat) to finish surrounding the fireplace. At times, our house looks like an episode of Debbie Travis with all of the tradespeople traipsing around. On top of all of this craziness had to deal with a "rodent" problem in the basement, hence the post from yesterday.

New Fireplace on left, out with the old on the right.

As if renovation mania isn't enough we also had some S + A issues surrounding elimination of food wastes. As I have made it very clear, I am in no way, ready to begin training S + A to do their business on the potty. Diapers are just way easier right now because there is WAY too much going on and I know my limitations. However, I am ready for the big event. I have all the necessary paraphernalia including new Pooh undies, a jar of M + M's (which are slowly dwindling) , and 2 pottys.

Hello Mr. Potty x 2.

It all started during dinner, Sophia was complaining that her belly was itchy, I checked it out and noticed that SOMEONE had put on her diaper a tad tight, (doesn't take a detective to figure that one out) and it was cutting into her belly..

So I undid the diaper, to allow her some relief, then thought, "what the hey, let's let her run free, sans diaper" ........I gave her strict instructions to let me know if she had to pee and we would put her on the potty. I pulled the potty's out of hiding and they were standing on guard. I remind you, this was a spontaneous, off the cuff decision.....I think I am screwing my potty training success. So of course, Alyssa had to run free as well even though she had no diaper -cutting-into-her belly issues. A fringe benefit of having a twin.

Sophia eventually did a pee-pee on her potty (first time), so the fanfare began. M + M's were distributed (supposed to get 1...hahahaha,as if)...twin sister benefitted as well. Pictures were taken, "special" Pooh underwear was donned, , did the Happy Dance, and of course lots of praise. We did everything to make her feel extra special except perhaps calling the Pope, however we did call Nonna, (she is pretty POPE-like if you know what I mean). Alyssa, of course received all of the benefits attached to Sophia's big moment...she grabbed a handful of M+M's and got to wear her "special" Pooh undies also.

Pooh stayed dry for all of 15 minutes. I had left the girls with DH for all of 15 minutes and that's when the havoc broke out. Alyssa sat in the hamper and peed in her new undies. Sophia, I guess wasn't quite finished on the potty, and peed in her Pooh undies, somewhere, and am still looking for those undies. (Dh removed panties, and alas they must be somewhere , probably with all of the lost dryer socks).

Lessons learned:

-M + M's won't work as a reward with twins, (and 1 will definitely not satisfy). Guess I'll just have to eat what's left in the reward jar.

-Need to purchase many, many more pairs of "special" undies

-Never leave the girls unattended during potty sessions

-Hide all hampers or items that may be mistaken for a potty

-Teach certain someone not to strangulate children with diaper, and therefore the WHOLE issue could have been avoided.

-Be prepared for many extra baths.

*If I have missed any lessons, please feel free to add to the comments section.

**Now, the girls sit on the potty fully diapered and make the necessary grunts, jump up and say, "chocklit".

I am so, so, screwed when potty training happens "for real".

A picture of a proud Sophia with her M + M's, sporting her "dry" Pooh undies.

Here Mousie, Mousie

Mousie says "HI", but we prefer he was OUTSIDE.

Quote of the Day

"Why buy the whole pig, when all you really need is a little sausage?"

This quote applies particularly to the "Rambling Mother".

Wordless Wednesday

Some Fun

Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadian bloggers! We managed to tear ourselves away from the craziness called renovations to enjoy a few hours of some fun with the girls. Their beauty depicted in these pictures takes my breathe away. Alyssa is the first photo below.

Dino the Dinosuar was a hit with the girls. Awww don't they look cute patting his head? Do not be fooled...they are bashing his head so he would bob up and down.
Alyssa leading Sophia back to Mommy. Walking by their friend "Max" to which Sophia adds, "and Ruby". For the Mommies-in-waiting "Max and Ruby" is a television show for the wee ones. Proof that the girls actually do have a mother, who can brush her hair and get dressed to go out. Life is good when you have 2 darlings to hug and you don't have to worry about dinner.

Looky here, another rare, and coveted family photo. Sophia looks like she may be gagging. Here is my DH with his "come hither" look! Such a friendly guy, but why am I the only one wearing a black top???

I am challenging all of my Canadian lurkers to come on out of hiding and de-lurk in honour of our country's birth. Show your Canadian pride, reveal and be seen.

I also have a request for my talented computer friends. I am using the smallest font size because I am ashamed to say that I cannot insert a picture from the web into my blog, even those pictures that say "insert picture to blog?"...Still no can do. HELP me please somebody!

"They know not what they say......"

Have to share this story, right after reading A Special Family's run-in with a tacky e-mail I had a run-in with a tacky lady. Yesterday we had the entire entourage together to go for a quick grocery stop. The girl's really enjoy the grocery store and love to name and identify all of the produce and grocery items. We ran into a beautiful elderly lady, who I knew immediately (Mommy radar), was itching to come over to say something or other to us. She approaches and starts off swimmingly by exclaiming how beautiful S+A are and asked what their names were etc. The usual bullshit stuff. Alyssa responds appropriately by crying. Nice, very nice comments yeah. This is the point where I always hold my breathe and wait for the "other" type of questions. If you have adopted internationally you know the kinda questions I mean. The kind you would NEVER think to ask another living creature but for some reason think it's okay to ask parents who have adopted internationally. So here comes the question, "where did you get them?" I walked off in efforts to secure a ripe luscious cantaloupe for our dinner and left hubby to deal with the nice, elderly lady's nosiness. Urghhhhhhh
After hooking back up with hubby and kids, DH informs me that the nice, elderly lady had said that we will be blessed. Whatever. Hubby believes that her tacky questions were well-intended and she was being sincere, hence, "she knows not what she says". Yes, I agree HOWEVER, what kind of effect are these types of questions going to have on Sophia and Alyssa? Yes, I can handle them, but what about them?
Should I quickly divulge all private information (read none-of-your- business) to spare my children from those questions?
So something like: "Yes, Sophia and Alyssa are beautiful, and their beauty comes all the way from China". Get my drift? I am at a loss...I just want to protect my kids from these nice, well-meaning people and what about the mean bitchy ones????

Giddy-Up!!

This weeks challenge at Donna's place is to post pictures of the Wild West. You have to close your eyes and say to yourself "I believe, I believe, I believe", before you look at our pictures of the girls on their "horse". Sophia and Alyssa climb on on their horse and yell, "giddy up" and merrily gallop away in their imaginations. Farm girl, not all of us have a vision of beautiful horses upon awakening, so we just have to make do with what we have. So there you have it one city girls interpretation of a horse. It's very practical actually, it's portable, it can stay inside or make the trek outside, no clean up, no feeding, just plain fun. Sophia has even brought along her 45 pistol that is how much they believe. Oh, and the cowboy hats are surely a give-away. Just don't tell the girls they are actually sitting on Mommy's favourite, height enhancer, step ladder.

Housekeeping

I need some answers and I'm hoping you guys can help me out. I spent quite a bit of my precious blogging time yesterday responding to some of the comments posted on my blog. Some of these responses may even have been a little witty and entertaining, but no one will ever know because ALL of them have been returned to me as undeliverable. Is everyone that is reading my blog aware that you have to go to your settings and accept e-mail responses? Just wondering. I know there are some privacy issues around this, but I just wish I knew which bloggers I can't respond to so I won't waste my time responding directly but instead I will respond on my blog. I find this a tad frustrating. Of course I have my e-mail option on since I relish every morsel posted and I have come to rely on a daily fix of comments from my blogger friends. So what I am actually trying to say is, "turn on you e-mail option" , but of course it is totally up to you. Just a suggestion.

All done with the houskeeping blues. We have had a super busy weekend here. I wish I could say it was all good. But as I have said before we have issues here. Issues that make having a great weekend with a crowd of people impossible. Oy, oy,oy, my aching head, and NO I did not drink excessively just excessive "clingy and whiny" x2 hangover. Here's some pictures of the weekend. It certainly doesn't look all that bad does it? Do not be fooled, pictures can be very deceiving.

They enjoyed the watermelon eating contest.Sophia finds a "Mumble" at the birthday party.

This little girl (Mia) LOVES the twins and just wants to hug, touch, and take care of them.

Poor Mia, Sophia and Alyssa have no interest in a budding friendship.

And again, no pictures of Mommy. Why is it that whenever anyone wants to take a picture it is always after the lipstick is worn off, hair is dishevelled, and clothes are wrinkled? Why? Why? I need my picture taken right after I get ready and even then the picture still needs airbrushing.

Clothing Renovations

More wizardry with the sewing machine. This time I took a really cute pair of pj's that were a gift from MIL and the girls wore only once. maybe twice. They did not have the non-slip stuff on the bottom, so they were awkward to begin with. Note to mommies-in-waiting: do not buy any sleepers without the non-slip stuff on the bottom of the feet. Unless you are a carpet gal. Also try to avoid the snap closures, and get sleepers with the looooong zippers (good quality of course, if not that zipper will drive you to distraction), much, much easier to get your little one dressed quickly, and easily. Also, my arthritic neighbour-but-the-girls-call- grandma hands have a lot of trouble doing up the snaps. Nothing is safe from the Singer, or my scissors. these ladybug sleepers were calling to me.
BEFORE

One snip with the scissors, one quick hemming and voila they were transformed into cute little tops....no more worrisome slipping, and they were spared from entering the dark basement in a box labelled, "outgrown" for just a wee bit longer.

AFTERAnd of course this post wouldn't be complete without a picture of the Chicklets sporting their new tops.

Alyssa pointing out the items she would like on the grocery list.Sophia takes her grocery shopping very seriously.

Just when you thought I had forgotten, thought you were safe, I make my move. Seems I need to tag a few victims, I believe the number is 4 ,to reveal the inside of their homes, remember mine? If you have already been tagged there is a reason you're being tagged again.

Hit List:

1. Monkey King (she has a hidden creative side)

2. CrazyLady (play the game baby)

3. Never Too Many (except tags seems like) ditto Crazy's comment

4. Bubble Queen (I'm sure there's a princess in there somewhere)

Have fun tidying, I know I did. Smooch to all.